While summer means it’s relatively quiet on most college and university campuses, academia’s IT managers never close their books when it comes to their institutions’ growing and unique connectivity demands. Whether it’s enhancing the educational experience through streaming classes, or increasing bandwidth to assure students, faculty and staff members can integrate ever-developing smart devices and systems into their on-campus experience, the quality of a college or university LAN is essential. But, in this cost-conscious era of higher education, how can it be done? The answer: POL (passive optical LAN). Traditionally, campuses have relied on copper-based LAN infrastructure, which is space-consuming, limited in its reach and bandwidth capacity and costly to repair and upgrade. But with a single fiber, a POL can support every building on campus. This future-proof network also provides virtually unlimited bandwidth that can easily keep up with connectivity needs for decades to come and is flexible enough to support next-generation technologies. In addition, training and certification is streamlined compared to what’s required for active Ethernet LAN. And, from a financial perspective, both short- and long-term capital and operational expenses don’t bust budgets in the way constantly updating copper systems can. Beyond its technical capabilities and cost-saving features, passive optical LAN offers another big plus: they’re environmentally friendly. In a 2015 survey of nearly 10,000 college applicants conducted by The Princeton Review, 61 percent said, “a college’s commitment to the environment would impact their decision to apply or attend a school.” Those potential coeds will rest easy knowing that POLs present a smaller carbon footprint, produce less greenhouse gas emissions and spew fewer toxins into the environment compared to copper-based networks. As universitybusiness.com put it in a recent article: “Unlike copper cabling that’s been in place for decades, a fiber-based passive optical network (PON) offers faster, cheaper and more secure networks compared to legacy systems.” Schools may be out for summer, but to learn more about the value of POLs both on and off campus, check out our resources and videos pages.
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