Why Use Ruckus For Wireless in Education?

Ruckus Wireless specialise in Access Points and Controllers designed for deployments with high levels of connecting client devices. Ruckus are a popular choice for deployments within the education sector due to their ability to create a high performance, yet hassle-free, network that can easily be managed by on-site IT teams.

Why use Ruckus for Wireless in Education?

From the important foundations of primary school, to the fast-paced environment of higher education, there is no doubt that education is embarking on a digital transformation. Ruckus can help to provide a smooth transition from more traditional methods to this smarter way of learning, through a vast range of secure and reliable access points. With this, where education was once confined to four walls, it can now be accessed by students and faculty alike almost anywhere.

Smart Classrooms

With smart products continually emerging to make our lives easier, deploying these technologies within educational institutions is a trend that is enabling teaching and learning opportunities like never before. Smart classrooms are technologically enhanced and encourage fun, interesting and smarter learning for students of all ages. By introducing digital learning technology that incorporates specialised software and audio/visual capabilities in the classroom, there is no doubt that digital learning is opening infinite methods of teaching and growth.

Digital Studies

In addition to smart classrooms, digital study materials are becoming more commonplace in all levels of education. Primary and high school students may be managing both their school- and homework via a dedicated school portal, not to mention a plethora of digital education resources. Meanwhile higher education’s institutions, such as universities, rely on centralised digital platforms not just to provide students with access to the lecture and research resources they need, but also to administer student records and much more.

On-Site WiFi

On-site student and faculty WiFi access is also becoming more of a standard expectation. In tandem with the increasing use of digital study resources, individuals also expect connectivity access almost anywhere today so that they can maintain their personal and professional networks while on campus.

With educational institutions often being large and expansive, there are some challenges that are faced when implementing the network requirements involved with these new and improved styles of learning and day-to-day connectivity expectations;

High Density: Not only do wireless networks in education need to be fast, easy and secure, they also need to have excellent coverage and sufficient density to be able to deal with high numbers of students trying to connect in high density environments such as lecture halls, gymnasiums and theatres. Ruckus solutions are specifically designed with high levels of connecting client devices in mind, making them perfect for expansive education institutions.

Wide Spread Coverage: Whether it be a primary school or university campus, educational institutions often encompass large properties with multiple buildings. Therefore, getting reliable Wi-Fi coverage across every part of every facility can be a tough challenge to face, often meaning a large number of access points. Also important is seamless connectivity roaming, as students and faculty move between locations and access points. The Ruckus ZoneFlex family of products deliver the best possible coverage utilising patented BeamFlex™ technology that directs signals toward associated clients, picking the best performing path and constantly mitigating interference.

Security: With bring your own devices (BYOD) being encouraged more and more within the education sector, it is vital that security architectures are in place to allow BYOD initiatives to work safely and efficiently. Ruckus Cloudpath delivers secure network access for any user, and any device on any network, meaning that every connection in secured with WPA2-enterprise, while Cloudpath software continually checks the security posture of every active device to ensure it is compliant with organisational security policies.

No Ethernet: For many educational institutions Ethernet is not in abundant supply. Unlike other WLAN solutions though, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system allows Smart Mesh Networking, allowing educational institutions to quickly introduce Wi-Fi by simply plugging the APs into a power supply – eliminating costs associated with the installation of Ethernet cabling throughout the campus.

Cost: A Wi-Fi solution for education must be high performance while meeting budgetary requirements. Many schools and higher education facilities pay considerable fees to run fixed broadband lines to each location to achieve high performance, but with new 5GHZ, 802.11ac high-performance bridges from Ruckus, institutions can effectively eliminate these costs saving tens of thousands each year.

Unbuffered Video Streaming: The use of video has become an essential application, especially within higher education institutions, and IP-based video content over Wi-Fi is now taking centre stage. Through the use of patented adaptive antenna array and heuristics-based traffic classification and prioritisation, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system can deliver a smooth, flicker-free experience to those using video on laptops, tablets and even television.

Ruckus Solutions:

Ruckus provides indoor and outdoor wireless access points to fit just about any budget, performance requirement or deployment scenario – making them an excellent solution for educational institutions. The Ruckus R730 suited for ultra-dense environments and R510 suited for medium-density environments both offer powerful performance and flexible deployment options. So, if you have an education deployment that is challenged with high user density and Wi-Fi unfriendly locations, or any of the above challenges we’ve discussed, please get in touch.

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MS Distribution are key resellers of Ruckus Wireless – please contact our sales team today on +44 (0) 1295 220 330 to discuss your requirements.