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By Steve Ranger, 15 June 2005 11:15

It seems that making sure the bars have an ample supply of beer is no longer enough to attract students - universities are now being judged on the quality of the IT infrastructure they can provide.

The University of Dundee is installing a £2.4m converged network as part of a project to boost the IT infrastructure which will offer VoIP for staff and free wireless for students.

The network is part of the university's £5m Network Infrastructure and Communications (NetComms) Project - which is in turn part of the Network Improvement Programme, which kicked off in 2002 with the aim of creating a world-class network infrastructure for the university.

Mike Whitehead, NetComms project manager at the University of Dundee, told silicon.com that three years ago the university decided it needed a very high quality IT foundation for its business processes.

"If we don't give the students reliable network access our reputation will suffer. Our reputation depends on being able to deliver them services. The virtual learning environment will be an integral part of the learning experience," he said.

The new network, delivered by Affiniti, covers the university's 63 buildings and other remote sites, and will provide 100Mbps to the desktop. It will also support 3,500 IP phones - one of the largest academic deployments of the technology in the UK so far.

Whitehead said: "We are trying to bring the data network up to the same level of reliability as the telephone network and IP phones demonstrate that."

As he points out, having a reliable data network is almost as important as the phone system: "Email is as important as the telephone these days - if you send me an email I want to read it [now] and it doesn't matter that it's sitting safe somewhere on a server."

The new network will also present opportunities for a wider range of services such as videoconferencing, he said. The new network will also feature dual network centres to improve the university's business continuity position.

The university is also planning to roll out free wireless access in all learning and teaching areas so students can catch up on course reading.