TAMPA, FL--(Marketwire - Dec 18, 2012) - Xirrus®, the leader in high-performance wireless networks, today announced the deployment of its Wireless Arrays at Academy of the Holy Names, a Tampa-based independent, Catholic, coeducational elementary school and a college preparatory high school. The Arrays deliver high-performance Wi-Fi across campus supporting 1,400 mobile devices, including 900 Academy-owned iPads used by faculty, staff and students. The new Arrays provide complete coverage across the 18-acre campus, which serves 850 students in eight buildings and also provides coverage in sports venues and campus facilities.
With comprehensive coverage in place, school officials report numerous advantages to always-on connectivity made possible by campus-wide Wi-Fi. These include 24x7 access to email, vital materials such as electronic textbooks and manuals, and information on a host of Academy services. Officials also note that students are no longer burdened with weighty textbooks, which are now available electronically on iPads and on the students' laptop computers.
"We're delighted with our new cross-campus wireless coverage," said Seth Hendrickson, technology specialist for the Academy. "The new wireless links are critical pieces to our campus network, which is served by a 10Gbps fiber backbone and a 200Mbps pipe. Now, with wireless service extending to the perimeters of the campus -- which took only one day to deploy, start to finish -- we have the reliability, bandwidth and coverage that are the hallmarks of premier educational institutions."
Kent Smith, Director of Technology for the Academy, said that the Academy has been able to reduce the number of access points on campus from 68 to 30 as a result of the greater performance and range of Xirrus Arrays, simplifying management and the cost of the Wi-Fi network.
Smith added that the selection of Xirrus resulted, in part, from the company's highly and easily scalable Array design, which enables upgrades for greater bandwidth or coverage with the addition of plug-and-play radios to Xirrus arrays when required. "A single Array with eight radios can serve over 300 students and deliver the application performance they need. With growth in the student population, we have the ability to scale any Array to support more students, and we can do it nondisruptively -- that is, without taking the network down."
"Xirrus arrays also are unique in delivering the greater signal strength required for reliable wireless access from iPads, whether a student is in close vicinity of an Array or is roaming between Arrays," said Smith.
As a college preparatory high school, The Academy of the Holy Names is committed to providing students every educational advantage, including the tools to help them excel. With a pledge to provide iPads to every student, together with a network to support 24x7 connectivity across the campus, the Academy provides another example of its dedication to fostering high academic achievement.
About Xirrus, Inc.
Xirrus is the leading provider of high-performance wireless networks. Xirrus' Array-based solutions perform under the most demanding circumstances with wired-like reliability and superior security. The Xirrus wireless solutions provide a vital strategic business and IT infrastructure advantage to the education, healthcare, government and enterprise industries that depend on wireless to operate business-critical applications. Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA, Xirrus is a privately held company that designs and manufactures its products and solutions in the USA. For more information please visit: http://www.xirrus.com/ and follow us on Twitter: @Xirrus.
Xirrus is a registered trademark of Xirrus, Inc. Other trade names used in this document are or may be the property of their respective owners.