The Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH) is a leading independent university in Mexico (www.unach.mx). Founded in 1975, it offers courses including law and sciences with campuses in nine different communities, 2,500 faculty and administrative staff, and has more than 21,000 alumni. The Virtual University, also part of UNACH, is a primary supplier of distance education services within the region.

Faced with a growing demand for distance learning, access to digital education tools and the Internet, UNACH chose Proxim to deliver a wireless connectivity solution for all eleven of the University’s municipal campuses and sites. The solution includes Proxim’s Tsunami QuickBridge® and GX Series products for wireless backhaul and Proxim ORiNOCO AP-8000 and AP-4000 wireless LAN access points. Proxim’s Vision ES product provides wireless network deployment and management tools for the university.

“The University is committed to its students and the community by providing high-quality education while strengthening our academic and administrative processes,” said José Samuel Ordaz Ruiz Technology Coordinator of Information at UNACH. “During the equipment selection process, we conducted performance tests to ensure that the infrastructure will meet and exceed our accreditation standards and multi-campus communications needs. We were pleased with Proxim’s equipment stability which allowed us to expand our virtual university.”

As the demand for higher education through distance learning continues to accelerate at a rapid rate, UNACH has created “Red UNACH, CERO MAYA,” a cutting-edge information and communication network to support that educational mission. This new infrastructure strengthens the technological and telecommunications capabilities of the University in its various centers, schools and colleges. It also benefits the University community as well as the development of the State of Chiapas.

Inherent to higher-education environments, particularly those that support distance learning, comes a requirement to support for not only voice and data services but also for video applications. Proxim’s solution provides a number of important features to deliver these requirements including Power over Ethernet (PoE), 802.11n wireless access point capability, Quality of Service (QoS) support and non-line of site (nLoS) operation and flexible frequency selection for backhaul links.

“It gives us great pleasure to supply UNACH with an infrastructure that will allow students, not only in Mexico, but around the world to receive advanced education,” said Geoff Smith, Vice President of Sales of Proxim Wireless. “As the University continues to grow its student base and innovative virtual training, we are proud to play an indirect but important role in contributing to the future leaders of the world.”

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“During the equipment selection process, we conducted performance tests to ensure that the infrastructure will meet and exceed our accreditation standards and multi-campus communications needs. We were pleased with Proxim’s equipment stability which allowed us to expand our virtual university.”

– José Samuel Ordaz Ruiz Technology Coordinator of Information at UNACH.

Challenge:

• Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas required high bandwidth, high-availability broadband connectivity to support Virtual University, distance education
• 6 of 9 campuses lacked any form of broadband connectivity and were unable to access digital education tools or the Internet
• Cost–effective solutions needed to provide support for voice, data and video

Proxim solutions:

• Proxim Tsunami® QuickBridge® – Quick, easy-to-install point-to-point wireless backhaul that provides a complete hop in a box
• Proxim Tsunami QB-8100 – High-speed, carrier-grade point-to-point wireless backhaul with nLoS capabilities
• Proxim Tsunami .GX Series – Carrier-class, long-range wireless Ethernet bridge for voice and data backhaul
• Proxim ORiNOCO AP-8000 – 802.11n wireless LAN access points
• Proxim ORiNOCO AP-4000 – Enterprise-class access point with dual radios, QoS and mesh support
• Proxim Vision ES – Wireless network management, deployment and device configuration management solution

Results:

• All 11 campus facilities of Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas are connected creating “Red UNACH, CERO MAYA,” a cutting-edge information and wireless communication network providing access to distance learning, digital education tools and the Internet
• Proxim’s wireless solutions cost-effectively delivered voice, data and video connectivity along with management tools to previously isolated campus locations
• Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas is now able to extend administrative support to all its campuses as well as providing the opportunity for connectivity to other entities such as health, security and educational organizations