Smart campus

How to build a smart campus network

As colleges and universities strive to attract students and recruit faculty, smart campus technology can play a big role in achieving competitive advantage. Incoming students today are more connected than ever – they can’t remember a time before smart phones and touchscreen tablets, and they expect reliable, ubiquitous connectivity wherever they go. Faculty increasingly rely on technology for communication, research and classroom instruction.

A smart campus is built on an advanced network infrastructure and uses smart technologies to deliver more convenient, engaging, automated and efficient digital experiences. From connected classrooms with smart lighting to streaming video services in dorm rooms and online portals for student services, a smart campus transforms all aspects of education to drive success and satisfaction for students, faculty and staff.

Spectrum Enterprise serves as a trusted partner to hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide as they adopt smart campus technology. With a reliable, nationwide, fiber network, we offer comprehensive solutions and expertise that empower higher ed institutions to build a smart campus network for the future.
 

What a smart campus looks like

As the technology expectations of college students and faculty continue to grow higher, smart campus solutions at every level of operations are helping universities keep pace.

• In classrooms, telepresence solutions help bridge physical distances, and virtual and mixed reality technologies immerse students in learning in powerful ways. Video walls create a dynamic, interactive learning environment, and student engagement platforms promote deeper interaction and engagement inside and outside of class.
• In dorm rooms, reliable WiFi connectivity gives students constant access to entertainment and education resources. Smart laundry systems let students see which washers and dryers are currently available via an online app, and streaming video services let students enjoy entertainment on any device, wherever they are on campus.
• In dining halls and food kiosks, students use self-service portals to view menu options, review nutritional information and place orders online.
• Athletic stadiums use smart technologies to securely manage crowds and give audience members more ways to interact online with sporting and entertainment experiences.
• Smart spaces technology enables institutions to save money through more efficient utility usage.
• Smart technology improves campus security with automated alerts, networked cameras, location sensors and smart emergency beacons located throughout campus.
• Libraries provide more digital resources online and automated lending kiosks make it more efficient for students to check out books, laptops and other resources.
• Admissions departments engage students online with intelligent chatbots manage the recruiting process with sophisticated data analysis software.
• Esports technology supports the needs of fast-growing esports leagues at the intercollegiate and intramural level.
   

Build a smart campus network with Spectrum Enterprise

Spectrum Enterprise partners with colleges and universities nationwide to provide education technology and managed services that enable smart campus solutions. Our dedicated education IT experts help our education partners build networks and adopt solutions that are engineered for smart technologies, exceptional performance and end-to-end accountability.

• Dedicated Fiber Internet  ensures exceptional student experiences with consistent, high-performance connectivity. With symmetrical upload and download speeds and bandwidth up to 100 Gbps, Spectrum Enterprise Dedicated Fiber Internet  delivers a reliable network that’s ready to grow and scale to support smart campus initiatives.
• Managed Network Edge is a modular, all-in-one solution that simplifies deployment and management of an educational institution’s network. Bringing together connectivity, equipment and network management, Managed Network Edge delivers a seamless experience while providing services like security, routing, SD-WAN, WiFi, remote access and other solutions essential for a smart campus.
• SpectrumU TV exceeds student expectations for on-demand access to streaming apps for entertainment and sporting events. With SpectrumU TV, students can watch content on mobile devices, tablets, laptops or desktops anywhere on campus by simply logging in with their university credentials.
• Managed network services support university IT teams with DDoS protection, manage router services, cloud security solutions, SASE implementation, hybrid remote solutions and other services to support the smart campus.
• Unified communications and collaboration solutions provide University staff, faculty and students with cloud-based communications technology for voice and video calling, instant messaging and desktop sharing on any device, from anywhere.
   

Managed WiFi

Students and faculty expect fast reliable WiFi no matter where they go on campus, yet maintaining, supporting and troubleshooting WiFi service can be an enormous burden on IT staff. Spectrum Enterprise Managed WiFi is a fully managed, turnkey solution that offloads these responsibilities to Spectrum Enterprise experts.

With Managed WiFi, universities and IT teams can:

• Deliver highly reliable, fast, WiFi connectivity everywhere on campus.
• Scale easily as needed to meet growing demands.
• Ensure students and faculty have the bandwidth they need day and night.
• Resolve dead zones on campus quickly and easily.
• Let Spectrum experts handle support and continuous monitoring of the network 24/7/365.
• Move from a capital expenditure to an operating expenditure model, leasing WiFi equipment for a small monthly fee rather than purchasing expensive equipment upfront.
• Reinforce branding with customized WiFi login pages.
   

Why partner with Spectrum Enterprise?

As a partner, Spectrum Enterprises is committed to helping colleges and universities reach their boldest ambitions. Our teams of experts help institutions identify their unique technology needs, create plans to meet them and implement reliable and scalable solutions that foster growth.

Our wholly owned fiber network is engineered for growth and is the foundation of all our services and solutions. With a broad range of offerings in internet, networking, TV, voice and communications, we help colleges and universities easily evolve their technology infrastructure to stay ahead of the rapidly changing demands in the field of education.

With Spectrum Enterprise, educational institutions can always count on a dedicated team with a tireless work ethic, unmatched commitment and hands-on local support.
 

FAQs

What is a smart campus?

A smart campus is an educational institution that uses next-generation technologies and a thoughtfully architected network infrastructure to provide engaging and automated digital experiences for students, faculty and staff. On smart campuses, humans and technology-enabled systems interact to create experiences and processes that are more immersive and data-driven, helping institutions to improve learning outcomes while operating more efficiently.
 

What’s SASE?

SASE is an acronym for secure access service edge, an IT framework that combines networking and security functions to provide access to fast, reliable, secure connectivity for users while simplifying the complexity of managing enterprise networks.
 

What are SD-WAN benefits for colleges and universities?

Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) meets the needs of educational institutions more effectively than traditional WAN technology. SD-WAN is more resilient, ensuring students have constant connectivity by reducing the risk of outages and data loss, and it can increase bandwidth for critical applications like live-stream lectures or videoconferencing. SD-WAN improves security by protecting against external threats and data breaches. And SD-WAN technology lightens the burden on IT teams by simplifying management of networking infrastructure.