The Challenge:

Universities, colleges and teaching hospitals have a long history of sharing ideas and innovation through conventions and correspondence. With the advent of new, affordable metro-area networks, the higher education community has identified an opportunity to enrich and advance learning. The challenge is finding a way to keep costs low enough to make the MAN viable, and connecting schools and medical facilities in the outlying communities they serve.

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The Solution:

Wireless metropolitan area networks are a perfect solution for linking higher learning and research institutions in a region. Because wireless equipment can be installed simply and affordably relative to fiber optics, a service provider could afford to offer an inexpensive MAN to school districts at a monthly fee. Or, the academic & research consortium could opt to own and maintain the infrastructure itself. Either way, the shared network brings high-speed Internet and academic network connectivity at a lower cost than provisioned separately. Even more importantly, the MAN fosters a community of learning, enables shared high-performance computing and visualization, and links library services throughout the region.

As an added benefit, the academic MAN consortium may choose to extend access to the public sector as a source of additional revenue to defray costs.