Reshaping Education with Private Wireless Solutions
Today’s schools and institutions of higher learning were designed to meet the needs of the 19th-century workforce. Experts have long noted that we need to overhaul our current educational model and technologies in order to accommodate the jobs of the 21st-century and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Government strategies were already underway to introduce a more robust digital presence into the classroom when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and changed everything.
As states and school districts scurried to respond to this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, they were faced with only one solution: classroom teaching needed to stop, and schools across the country closed.
1.6 billion students worldwide had their education suddenly halted. Millions upon millions of students missed months of learning, setting them back years.
The challenge that suddenly faced education was that they needed to ensure continuity of student learning. A solution that should have been years in the making—ensuring that students had access to high-speed broadband internet coverage—suddenly became a pressing and immediate need.
Bridging the Digital Divide with Nokia Private Wireless Solutions
We have heard the heartbreaking stories of families parking in the lots of fast-food restaurants to “borrow” public Wifi so that kids could complete their homework during the height of the Covid pandemic.
Local school districts can play an important role in overcoming the digital divide in education that the Covid pandemic laid bare.
In our partnership with Nokia, Infinity offers private wireless solutions in the form of the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (NDAC) and FastMile.
We offer broadband solutions that connect schools with their students that are fast, easy to deploy, and manage.
The same broadband solutions can also be leveraged to ensure connectivity in our city community centers, hospitals, libraries, and other public institutions.
Government Initiatives to Establish Broadband in Education
In response to the pandemic, federal, state, and local governments rolled out Covid relief packages that included initiatives for building broadband infrastructure.
A good portion of this was invested in residential broadband infrastructure to facilitate distance learning, which was especially important to students in rural and underserved school districts.
Independent school districts have played an especially important role in working to offer students and families affordable internet access and devices such as laptops and tablets.
While some schools have chosen to take a DIY approach that consists of building a mix of solutions—additional Wifi access points, internet routers, and open-source software—these efforts have been haphazard at best. Most schools lack the technological resources and skills to solve the problem of providing Internet access to their students.
Partnering with an established network solution expert like Infinity is a much better tactic—we can help school districts build a network based on proven technology and future-safe industry standards.
CBRS Makes Wireless Networks Even More Attainable
While government-back initiatives and funding have played a major role in enabling schools to build their own broadband networks to connect to their students, the greater availability of spectrum has provided another important boost.
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) has been a joint venture between the FCC and industry to share the 3.5 GHz radio spectrum, making it available for private wireless networks.
PLTE networks for education can now use the CBRS band, which provides a unique opportunity for schools and other public institutions. Utilizing the CBRS band, schools can provide ample coverage and capacity in suburban and rural areas.
Private Wireless Networks for Higher Education
Along with school districts across the country, institutions of higher education are embracing private network solutions to better meet the needs of their students, professors and staff.
Until now, the main way that universities have been meeting their evolving and increasing need for campus-wide broadband has been through installing new, or upgrading existing Wifi networks. But Wifi technology has begun to show its limitations. Simply put, traditional Wifi cannot meet the increased demands of mobility, latency, throughput, and TCO.
Private wireless networks—both 4.9G/LTE and 5G will power the next-generation campus. PLTE networks will give universities the ability to power mission-critical campus services and meet new operational challenges, all while reducing the total cost of ownership.
Networks for Research and Education
High-performance private wireless networks and edge computing platforms allow for “living labs” for the research and development of 5G applications, the Internet of Things (IoT), and AI technologies.
These new lab capabilities, powered by PLTE networks, will foster innovation in critical sectors of the American economy such as energy, healthcare, and more.
Use Cases for Private 4.9G/LTE and 5G Wireless Networks
Some possible use cases that PLTE for education makes possible:
- Outfitting classrooms and other campus venues with smart boards, smart podiums, and smart lighting
- Offering teachers, students, and staff the best in broadband access for their mobile devices
- Developing VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) classrooms, accessible for students across the globe
- Empowering research labs to study mission-critical IoT for industry
- Automating control systems for building, water, power, and environmental management
- Deploying surveillance cameras, smoke detectors, and emergency call stations across campus
- Connecting operational staff through push-to-talk (PTT) and push-to video (PTV) group communications
- Building a system of interconnected digital billboards and signage to spread general information, make emergency announcements, and engage students, staff, faculty, and campus visitors
- Providing POS terminals across campus for ticket sales, food and beverage service, and concerts and other events.
Infinity’s PLTE Solutions for Education from Nokia
Nokia is the leader in private wireless networks and communication. At Infinity, we rely on their cutting-edge technology in wireless networking, broadband access, IP and optical transport, cloud computing platforms, and cybersecurity.
The Nokia Digital Automation Cloud
Nokia DAC is an end-to-end digital platform for private wireless connectivity and automation. Our cost-effective private wireless platform offers superior performance, coverage, capacity, security, and reliability, all with the ease and affordability of Wifi.
When you’re ready to upgrade to 5G, your school’s IT professionals can configure and manage NDAC with ease. Nokia DAC also allows them to implement their traffic and security policies, as well as manage the access of individual users.
FastMile Fixed Wireless Access
Nokia FastMile FWA Gateway is a small beacon that transfers private LTE into Wifi. Installing FastMile gives your students a Wifi hotspot in their homes. This indoor gateway will meet the internet access needs of the majority of your students.
Passive Optical LAN
Nokia’s Optical LAN solutions expand network performance to meet increasing service demands. They allow schools and universities to deliver better network service and reduce their TCO.
Private Wireless Networks Are the Future of Education
Elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities will benefit from PLTE.
Installing a fast and affordable private wireless network will give your students access to the Internet for distance learning. It will help universities pave the road to the future by allowing them to participate in the coming 5G and IoT revolution in industry.
