BETHLEHEM, Pa., June 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Enterprise division of Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) has today announced the deployment of advanced networking technology at Moravian College, one of the oldest educational institutions in the United States, creating a new learning environment to serve the digital technology needs and expectations of today's students.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has provided its Unified Access network technology to provide students and faculty staff with secure 'anytime, anywhere' access across the entire campus. The network enables all data, video and multimedia traffic – important elements for today's higher education environment - to make use of a single secure network, and be accessed by any device without overloading IT with network management and support needs. The network capacity meets the needs of the college today and is prepared to support future expansion.
Founded in 1742, the private, co-educational Moravian College is America's sixth-oldest college and the first to enroll women. Always a leading provider of opportunity, Moravian has recognized the importance technology plays in the lives of students, creating a stimulating education environment and an even playing field for students' future opportunities through an innovative approach to both corporate and consumer technologies.
This vision led the college to launch an initiative, built on an all-Apple® device strategy, to provide each student with Apple laptops and tablets, along with a new network that supports connectivity everywhere on campus for students. The new initiative encourages a more collaborative, knowledge sharing environment designed for tailored and interactive learning.
With technology availability playing an important part in students' choice of schools¹, Moravian College conducted a survey of students last year and found that many were unhappy with the performance of the institution's existing network. The survey also revealed that existing network connections at Moravian were less than satisfactory, with connectivity dropping as students moved from one place to another location due to lack of coverage and capacity.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and channel partner Advance 2000 worked to design an integrated wired and wireless network. The result was a Unified Access environment tailored for the Moravian College campus that addresses this problem, simplifies the operations via automation and improved network management, and overall provide a better user experience.
Quotes
Scott Hughes, Chief Information Officer, Moravian College
"Our vision was to assure each student would have modern technology to enhance their learning and living experience here. When we committed to issuing multiple devices to our students, we realized they would also be bringing more from home. Students have high expectations of what wired and wireless networks should provide to support their research for classes and their social interactions. We needed a network that could effectively handle the academic load that would be placed on it and easily support the social and entertainment load the students would generate.
Working with Advance 2000 and Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, we've designed a network that can handle that level of use and deliver a high quality experience anywhere on campus. With this new network, Moravian College can achieve its vision for a new education environment in which everyone has the same tools and same access experience regardless of where they are on campus or which network they are using. The classroom walls are totally removed with the availability of a full blown modern wireless network. And teaching, learning and collaboration can happen anywhere on campus, anytime it's appropriate."
Additional information
Moravian Chief Information Officer, Scott Hughes will share the school's success in a free webinar with Information Week titled "How to move Unified Access to the Front of the Class" on June 19, 2014. Register to learn more about Moravian College.
Converged Campus Networks
Unified Access for a Converged World [video]
New OmniSwitch 6860 arrives on the scene
¹ Top Hat's Modern Educator Blog
ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)
We are at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, and to enterprises and institutions throughout the world. Underpinning us in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of the Group and one of the world's foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Our innovations have resulted in our Group being recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as amongst 2012's Top 50 "World's Most Innovative Companies". We have also been recognized for innovation in sustainability, being named Industry Group Leader in the Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review, for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the Group's mission to realize the potential of a connected world.
With revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2013, Alcatel-Lucent is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges (Euronext and NYSE: ALU). The company is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.
For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.
SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise