160 Year Old Fraternal Organization
The oldest continuously running chapter in the Greek system the Lambda Chapter of Sigma Chi’s original 150 year old structure is of castle like construction. Containing new additions and 4 floors of Indiana limestone construction this venerable fraternal organization hosts more than enough room to house 100 live in college students.
Objective:
Design and install a rugged property wide wireless network to allow fraternity members, alumni and guests to access the World Wide Web to perform student as well as personal activities. The system must meet Indiana University network requirements, handle the demands of today’s college students, and endure in a fraternity environment.
Challenges:
The rock solid building construction was only the first hurdle in designing and installing a primary wireless network for 100 college age men. As the network would be connected to the existing Indiana University network it was necessarily to meet university specifications and be rugged enough to handle the continuous multimedia needs of the modern college student. At the same time it had be designed so that it would withstand the harsh surroundings that can sometimes be found in a college fraternity. Budgetary concerns were an issue along with equipment placement to prevent and discourage physical damage.
Result:
eWireless married technology from a variety of commercial class original equipment manufacturers to architect an efficient, rugged yet cost effective wireless network. Camouflaging equipment throughout the structure such as “smoke detector” antennas and mounting wireless access points within the walls helped to seamlessly blend the wireless infrastructure into the environment.
The successful implementation of this project has lead to other projects such as design and installation of a 10 camera server based DVR Security Camera System and complete equipment upgrade to all network (wired & wireless) switches and firewall.