NEWS RELEASE
STANISLAUS STATE DEPLOYS FIRST CAMPUS-WIDE CBRS NETWORK IN THE COUNTRY
New 5G LAN technology from Celona is being used to address the latest outdoor wireless connectivity challenges now facing higher education institutions
EDUCAUSE, Philadelphia – October 26, 2021 - Celona, the leading innovators of 5G LAN solutions, and California State University (CSU) Stanislaus today announced the first campus-wide deployment of new Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS) technology within a higher education institution.
Leveraging new unlicensed 4G/5G cellular spectrum recently made available by the FCC, the 4G/5G private mobile network is designed to blanket the 228-acre CSU Stanislaus, delivering pervasive wireless broadband access and wireless backhaul for a range of vital applications.
The new CBRS infrastructure, currently in production, is initially being used to create dynamic and collaborative outdoor learning centers around campus for over 10,000 students and staff as well as to enable a range of new IoT, safety and operational applications in the future, all of which support CSU 2025 graduation initiative.
“We see CBRS technology as a real game-changer,” said Geoffrey Cirullo, Deputy Chief Information Officer at CSU Stanislaus. “Not only does it fundamentally change the speed and flexibility by which we can deliver a more deterministic wireless service, it opens the door to a wide range of potential use cases that enhance teaching and learning outdoors and can support new applications that simply can’t tolerate any sort of network latency.”
During the global COVID-19 pandemic, fast, reliable, and secure wireless connectivity has become a lifeline for the education sector. Schools, colleges, and universities are facing more and more connectivity challenges while serving their students, faculty and staff. Consequently, universities have had to quickly adapt to e-learning and utilize new technologies such as augmented reality, digital record keeping and high-speed campus-wide wireless services to keep up with unprecedented connectivity demands.
And for many universities, COVID concerns have created new challenges to quickly create outdoor locations across campus where students can collaborate online. While Wi-Fi continues to be the primary access method within schools, private 4G/5G cellular technology is now being used to quickly extend these services while providing new means by which higher education institutions can enable unique services that require more deterministic and reliable wireless connections. IoT sensors, video surveillance cameras, public safety and notification systems for parking spaces and meters are among the most popular new services to leverage private CBRS networks on campus.
CBRS IN ACTION
At CSU Stanislaus, CBRS access points deployed atop campus buildings communicate directly with remote cellular-to-Wi-Fi gateways to seamlessly extend CSU Stanislaus popular Eduroam network throughout the campus. Meanwhile the CBRS can provide seamless mobility and native private cellular connectivity, as needed, to CBRS-enabled mobile devices.
By backhauling Wi-Fi traffic over CBRS Stanislaus State can effectively eliminate the costly and cumbersome task of trenching additional fiber while speeding its ability to deliver broadband wireless to permanent or temporary locations where it’s needed the most.
BIG BENEFITS WITH CBRS
“Finding low-cost, quick and effective wireless connectivity solutions is no longer an option for educational institutions,” said Özer Ddondurmacıoğlu, VP of Marketing at Celona. “CBRS is really the secret ingredient in addressing the growing challenges of reliable connectivity.”
With CBRS LTE, educational institutions can offer a better student experience, enhance campus safety, and reduce operational costs. Not only can these high-performance private LTE networks deliver reliable on-campus connectivity for universities, but they can also bridge the digital divide with off-campus connectivity for disadvantaged students at home.
“Looking forward we see some real value in CBRS for indoor neutral host applications that would allow us improve cellular coverage by bridging our private 4G/5G network with public service offered by mobile network operators,” concluded Circullo.
Interested parties who would like to see Celona’s 5G LAN solution in action can visit celona.io/journey. Higher education technology leaders can also visit Celona’s Booth #1327 at this year’s EDUCAUSE Annual Conference taking place online and in Philadelphia this October 26-29, 2021, or by emailing team Celona at hello@celona.io.
Celona Media Contact: Jay Nichols, Nichols Communications, jay@nicholscomm.com
Celona Company Contact: David Callisch, Celona, david.callisch@celona.io