Xirrus, Inc., the only provider of high-performance, long-range Wi-Fi products, announced today that Charleston Southern University (CSU) will deploy the first ever all wireless network to deliver live video and audio streaming of its NCAA soccer and softball events starting this month. A technology trailblazer among educational institutions, Charleston Southern University was the first all wireless campus in South Carolina and the Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays will supplement the university’s existing wireless network to span an outdoor area stretching from the Learning Center to its soccer and softball fields.
Charleston Southern selected Xirrus, because it was the only solution that could provide sufficient Wi-Fi bandwidth to deliver live audio and video streaming of the NCAA events; meeting the university’s requirement for the Big South Conference to have all sports enabled for live streaming. Xirrus’ deployment also provided significant cost savings as the only viable alternative involved boring underground fiber backhauls, ultimately saving the university over $15,000.
“Most NCAA conferences require their conference teams to provide live audio and video feeds of all sports venues,” said Rusty Bruns, chief information officer at Charleston Southern University. “Current generation Wi-Fi Access Points lack the throughput, capacity and range to support our application. With Xirrus, we now have a high capacity wireless network allowing us to stream live video and audio coverage of two different sporting events while also satisfying various Title IX requirements.”
“The live video feed for home games provides fans the opportunity to watch their favorite teams play and is very desirable for those distance or out-of-state families whose student athletes participate in these events,” said John DiGiovanni, director of marketing at Xirrus. “This deployment sets precedence for other schools that face the same requirements to connect locations within their campuses as they now have an option other than expensive wired solutions.”
By using the multiple radios and the internal, high gain directional antennas of the Wi-Fi Arrays, Charleston Southern University was able to connect various points on the campus with high bandwidth wireless backhauls capable of supporting multiple video and audio streams eliminating the need to run thousands of feet of cable.
“Trenching to run fiber would ruin the fields and tear up a lengthy stretch of our campus and direct boring to lay fiber is very expensive,” said Bruns. “By using a Wi-Fi solution, no one will ever cut the fiber and the fields will not be disturbed. The fast, easily upgradeable Xirrus deployment sets a standard that until now was not possible using Wi-Fi technology.”
via Xirrus
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