CC*DNI Campus Design: Midtown WAN Redesign for GIS and CIS Science Research

Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg PA

Investigators

Abstract

As HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, and its computing and network infrastructure continue to mature, the College needs to expand available bandwidth for its science and technology programs. The infrastructure connecting HACCís science and technology programs at two physical locations and to the Internet is limited to 100Mbps. At each of these connection points, HACC is replacing switch equipment, core routing equipment and the wide area network (WAN) connection. To support large science datasets and their flow across the network, HACC must re-architect the network infrastructure and redesign the virtual local area network (VLAN) architecture. This redesign of the VLAN architecture supports segmentation of the science and learning programs, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Computer Information Systems (CIS), and allows these programs to be situated on their own 1Gbps VLAN connections with expanded science and technology classroom connectivity from 100 Mbps to 1Gbps. As a result of this project, HACC students and faculty will have access to online educational materials in one place, accessible from anywhere, and the ability to learn remotely and use time on campus efficiently. This project supports the implementation of HACC's science and technology symposia, current and potential grant-funded projects, service and research projects and mobile learning course-content production. HACC will be better able to prepare an educated workforce for Pennsylvania's key industries, including energy, technology, manufacturing and agribusiness. This model can be a foundation for HACC's other campuses and other regional institutions to implement similar projects and programs to support STEM education.