Taking 802.11n Control to the Clouds

One college has adopted technology that allows it to save money on Wi-Fi controllers and expand its 802.11n network across the entire campus.

by Bridget McCrea

December 2009 — One of the biggest expenses with a new wireless network can be the controllers. After all, for every 50, 100 or 200 access points (APs) -- the number of APs a controller can handle varies widely, depending on the network type and the vendor, among other things -- you need another wireless controller. That single item might run $25,000 or more, punching a significant hole in a wireless budget.

Sweet Briar College, a small, 108-year-old women's college in Virginia with a nine-to-one student-faculty ratio, got around the controller issue completely by going with a wireless 802.11n network scheme in which the controllers are located off campus, or "in the cloud." That decision saved Sweet Briar enough money that it was able to buy half as many APs as it had originally planned, and to jump from an 802.11g network to state-of-the-art 802.11n.