Cisco lands University of Queensland multi-million dollar deal

This network includes the 7 millionth Cisco wireless access point deployed worldwide.

The University of Queensland serves close to 38,000 students from more than 110 countries and has around 15,000 staff, 774 buildings and four major campuses, with another 45 sites throughout Queensland, including two islands in the Great Barrier Reef region of Queensland.

Nick Tate, director of information technology services and AusCERT at the University of Queensland, said it is a significant network upgrade.

He said the partnership will enable its vision of a connected campus environment, filled with mobile students and teachers communicating and collaborating at anytime from wherever they happen to be.

"The flexibility this provides means busy students will be able to more easily keep up with university demands whilst staff will have a world-class network to support their teaching, research and administrative endeavours," he said.

"The University of Queensland is extremely proud to be leading the way, internationally, with this substantial technology investment."

The network will provide students, teachers and staff with access to university resources anytime, anywhere from any device.

With 4,000 Cisco Aironet 1520 and 1140 Series 802.11n wireless access points across campuses, including those on the 'City Cat' ferry in Brisbane, students will be mobile with next-generation access to resources whether they are at home, on campus or travelling to and from the university.

Students will no longer be tied to lecture rooms or libraries, allowing them to access and download classes, recorded lecture materials and other resources from laptops, iPhones or smartphones.

The network will extend to the university's working mine site at Indooroopilly, the marine research centre on Herron Island, 80 kilometres off the coast of Queensland, and the agricultural and veterinary science campus located in Gatton, also situated 80 kilometres away from the main campus at St Lucia.

"We are continuing to evolve the relevance of ICT to deliver 21^stcentury teaching and learning outcomes," Les Williamson, vice president Cisco A/NZ.

"This Cisco network will help the University of Queensland further enhance its reputation as a leader in changing the way education is delivered.

"It is a great example of the kind of real world benefits which can be achieved when an overall architectural approach is taken to provide an environment where students and teachers connect, share and collaborate."

The network includes four Cisco TelePresence System 500 units and two Cisco TelePresence System 3200 units - the first deployment of its kind for education and learning in Australia and New Zealand. 

The Cisco TelePresence System 500 seats two participants for virtual face-to-face meetings, and the Cisco TelePresence System 3200 seats up to 18 participants in the room.