UK ITS invests in new point-to-point wireless technology for more reliable connectivity and cost savings

At the University of Kentucky, most buildings on campus connect to the internet and UK’s network via fiber optic connections to UK's core network infrastructure.

These fiber optic connections provide internet and access to the UK network without monthly recurring costs. After making an initial investment in a fiber optic infrastructure, that infrastructure can be accessed by many buildings on campus.

However, logistics and costs change when a University of Kentucky department or unit is located outside of the main campus. Off-campus UK properties and remote locations rely on the services offered by telecommunication service providers to connect them to the internet and UK’s network.

But thanks to a recent initiative by University of Kentucky Information Technology Services (UK ITS) Networking and Infrastructure team, one off-campus location now has a point-to-point wireless connection, which will avoid recurring connectivity costs for this location.

Recently, UK ITS purchased wireless equipment from Ubiquiti, so that UK Philanthropy could connect to the University's enterprise network from a leased building in the Lexington area.

UK ITS Network Design Engineer Nick Rhodes said this is the first off-campus location to utilize this technology.

“The connection is basically two dishes that point at each other, and they beam the internet from — in this case Kentucky Clinic South to a new UK Philanthropy leased space on Alexandria Drive,” Rhodes said. “And because we're able to do that by only spending a couple thousand dollars on equipment and installation, we’ll save over $10,000 each year on that one connection.”

Because of the cost-savings of this initiative, UK ITS is considering the installation of a point-to-multipoint tower on the main UK campus. Rhodes said it will have the potential to provide coverage to many UK customers located throughout Lexington.

“With this new tower, we would be able to offload up to 160 departments, buildings or individual sites, providing a coverage area encompassing much of Lexington from I-75 to Man O’ War,” Rhodes said.

Another advantage of point-to-point wireless connections — more uptime and far less disruptions to internet and network connections.

“Over the last four years, point-to-point connections in use on campus have experienced 99.99% uptime,” Rhodes said. “The limited downtime that we have experienced by those links has been the result of firmware updates, which create a couple of minutes of downtime and is expected when any network needs to be updated.”

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