Corporate Conversations: Spectrum Enterprise on the Challenge of Scaling the Network for Higher Ed

Richard Twilley
Vice President of Vertical Markets
Spectrum Enterprise

Richard Twilley: The challenge facing higher education is ensuring that the network can scale with security protections and bandwidth expansion to meet the access and data demands that continue to grow. Allow me to expand. The exponential growth of personal student devices connecting to the network, including smartphones, laptops, and tablets, is resulting in real challenges for IT teams at colleges and universities, and requires high speed connectivity throughout campus. In fact, at Pew Research Center found that 48% of Americans between 18- and 29-years old report that they are online almost constantly. To add to the complexity, faculty are increasingly employing hybrid and flexible, or what's also known as high flex environments. This combination of online and in-person learning relies on connectivity for on demand coursework, as well as streaming videos or conferencing for class meetings. Managing this growing demand on the digital infrastructure while also protecting a network from cybersecurity threats can make ensuring a secure network difficult, especially when working with Lean IT resources or inexperienced staff. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, about three quarters of campus leaders say that hiring IT employees is a moderate or severe challenge. Spectrum Enterprise is working with colleges and universities to enhance the student experience with technology solutions that keep pace with these growing bandwidth demands by providing robust and reliable connectivity with ultra-high speed data services, which provide capacities up to a hundred gigabits per second. Another priority in higher education is network security. Spectrum Enterprise offers cloud security solutions that help protect users on and off the network while keeping data safe and secure. Spectrum Enterprise also offers managed services. IT teams at higher education institutions can turn over the network management and maintenance task to Spectrum Enterprise so that they can focus on other business priorities. Our solutions support the campus network continuously 24 by 7 by 365, and remove the burdens, complexities and configurations risk that come with self-managed network services. To continue to meet student and faculty needs and expectations and to take advantage of innovative modernized networks, it will be important for higher education institutions to build relationships with technology providers that will deliver reliable, secure, and scalable solutions that create a future ready campus environment.