Dominican College Provides Anytime, Anywhere Broadband Access to Students, Faculty and Staff Via Siemens HiPath Wireless Platfor

Nov. 13, 2007

BOCA RATON, Fla., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Scalability, enhanced mobility and ease of use were key factors in Dominican College's recent decision to deploy the HiPath(R) Wireless platform from Siemens Communications, Inc. With help from local consultant and integrator Mathe, Inc., Dominican has seamlessly delivered a wide range of sophisticated mobile services and applications to students, faculty, staff and guests-all on a limited budget and with a small IT staff.

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Dominican College, located 17 miles north of New York City , was founded in 1952 and has steadily grown to its current community of 1,700 students and 300 faculty and staff. Over the past year, the college has undertaken an extensive capital improvement program across its 20-acre campus, including the construction of large, new dormitories as well as the renovation of established buildings and facilities.

Faced with a decision about its communications system, Dominican College's Executive Director of Information Technology Russell Diaz contacted Mark Hicks , founder and principal at Mathe, Inc., a qualified Siemens reseller and integration partner. "Both Siemens and Mathe invested a lot of time listening to our specific requirements," Diaz said. "They then presented to us the Siemens solution tailored to fit our needs exactly - both now and in the future. The HiPath Wireless platform stood out significantly against the competition with its simple, easy-to-use administrative tools. You don't need a PhD to operate the system in-house, and Siemens' support has been there every time we've needed them."

One need that drove its decision to deploy Siemens' HiPath Wireless network was to sharpen its competitive edge by offering ubiquitous, mobile Internet access. "Wireless broadband across campus is a great selling feature to attract students to Dominican College and was a big reason they went with wireless," Hicks said.

The anytime, anywhere broadband access capabilities provided by the wireless platform offer the entire Dominican College community the opportunity to be more mobile and productive. "Education, almost by definition, is a collaborative effort," Hicks said. "So anything supporting and enhancing collaboration is worthwhile. What's more, the entire community can be more productive if it's not constrained by where, when or how it gets work done."

The college's HiPath Wireless solution comprises a single HiPath Wireless C2400 Controller and 60 HiPath Wireless 2610 IP Access Points (APs) with internal antennas. Initially deployed in the campus library and new dormitories, the next phase will blanket Dominican's campus in a Wi-Fi mesh, increasing the number of APs to 150 and putting to use the new, weather- hardened Siemens HiPath Wireless Outdoor Access Point. The expanded network will take wireless access outdoors from everyday use on the campus commons to athletic events and the college's open-air graduation ceremonies.

Included in the solution is the HiPath Wireless Convergence Software, enabling Diaz's team to easily set up Virtual Network Segmentation that provides differentiated provisioning and policy control across various user groups, such as students, faculty, staff and guests. For additional security, Diaz deployed HiPath HiGuard software for authentication and AP compliance. The software constantly senses the network to identify and isolate rogue and ad hoc Wi-Fi APs and networks. Overall, the new solution has helped Dominican College avoid tens of thousands of dollars in cabling costs for separate phone and wired broadband networks.

Once the second phase of the HiPath Wireless deployment is complete, the college plans to run additional applications and services over the network. "Voice capabilities are definitely on our list," Diaz said. "Our ultimate goal is to leverage each of Dominican's IT programs to provide the greatest value to everyone involved. The new wireless network will enable me to join multiple IT initiatives together, allowing me to get a lot more bang for my buck."

Dominican's new wireless infrastructure offers a long list of possibilities. Additional wireless applications under consideration by the college include:

-- Video surveillance via wireless outdoor cameras across campus, offering security personnel 24x7 video surveillance access - even from handheld devices, which will enhance their productivity and response times to urgent incidents. -- Asset tracking of portable items such as campus autos and expensive research equipment, so as to ease location identification and prevent or help investigate theft. -- A student support system through a wireless extranet, which will offer easy, anytime access to class schedules, homework assignments and event updates.

"Dominican College is a perfect example of how institutions of higher learning can benefit from the Siemens HiPath Wireless platform and Open Communications architecture," said Luc Roy, Vice President, Enterprise Mobility, Siemens Communications, Inc. "Collaboration, productivity and fixed- mobile convenience can help invigorate campus dialogue and facilitate the exchange of ideas and information."

About Siemens

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) is one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies with reported worldwide sales of $96 billion in fiscal 2005. Founded nearly 160 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas Medical, Power, Automation and Control, Transportation, Information and Communications, Lighting, Building Technologies, Water Technologies and Services and Home Appliances. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in New York City , Siemens in the USA has sales of $18.8 billion and employs approximately 70,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico . Eleven of Siemens' worldwide businesses are based in the United States . With its global headquarters in Munich , Siemens AG and its subsidiaries employ 460,000 people in 190 countries. For more information on Siemens in the United States: www.usa.siemens.com

About Siemens Communications, Inc.

Siemens Communications, Inc. is an affiliate of Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, one of the world's leading vendors of Open Communications solutions for enterprises of all sizes, enabling business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure - with any device, network or information technology infrastructure. Siemens Communications Inc., and Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG are wholly owned subsidiaries of Siemens AG with about 15,000 employees globally and headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. For more info, visit http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/home.html

Note: Siemens and HiPath are registered trademarks of Siemens AG or its subsidiaries and affiliates. All other company, brand, product and service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of Siemens management. The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," and "project" are used to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results to be materially different, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, introduction of competing products, lack of acceptance of new products or services and changes in business strategy. Actual results may vary materially from those projected here. Siemens does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Siemens

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