We have 2700 APs and 50 controllers. We have 2 Wireless Engineers and 1 Wireless Analyst. We have multiple campuses, including the main University and Hospital locations.
I echo the sentiments below. Additional knowledgeable staff is needed to provide the best wireless environment. We have just posted a new position to add the wireless team. Please disregard the job description, as HR chose the default Network Engineer category. This is for a Wireless Engineer: https://www.healthcaresource.com/johnshopkins/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.jobDetails&template=dsp_job_details.cfm&cJobId=141883 Jamie Pogach Wireless Network Engineer Johns Hopkins University/Hospital 3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Helzerman, James Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:17 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wifi Support Staff I also forgot to mention we have a field installation staff that does all the installs for networking equipment & wiring including wireless access points. We always feel like we are behind a little bit in what we would like to accomplish especially testing and next generation stuff. Additional staff would help but I think we would end up in the same boat, taking on a bit more than we should at any one time. We definitely need staff to support wireless especially as it grows as the preferred main network medium (preferred by users not by us). To even think about replacing wired networking with wireless would mean a change in the wireless support model of reactive to proactive troubleshooting. This could involve a parallel sensor network to monitor RF in real-time and the need for quick response by our techs to correct any issues. This could be a topic in itself so I wont continue any farther. My point is the next direction you take your wireless networks in will almost mean you need dedicated and highly knowledgeable staff. We continue to deploy wireless based on customer requests. For the scale and timing that we are asked to deploy wireless networks I believe we are doing good. Most user complaints come from mis-configured devices or sources of interference and we are able to resolve them quickly. Unfortunately we have found that most users still do not bring issues to our attention and many go unresolved. We try to get the word out that we are here to help, so when I say we are doing good that is based on accomplishing our campus wireless directives and providing support to those that request it in a timely manner. -Jimmy James Helzerman Wireless Network Engineer University of Michigan ITS Communications Systems and Data Centers 4251 Plymouth Road, Building 2, #2224 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 Phone: 734-615-9541 Cell: 734-972-5095 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of McCall, Melanie J. Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 10:22 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wifi Support Staff I'm just curious.... Of all the people that have commented, Are you pleased with the ratio of tech staff to wireless devices installed on your campus? Are you implying that you don't need staff to support the amount of wireless you've installed on campus? Did you install wireless technology based on customer requests without management addressing staff to support the wireless technology? How well do you think you are doing supporting your wireless service? -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Helzerman, James Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 9:58 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wifi Support Staff We have a wireless team that consists of dedicated and partial members. The members that are partial range from a few hours to 3/4 of their time working on wireless depending on what is needed. 4000+ APs / 30 Controllers 100+ buildings Dedicated: (2) Wireless Engineers - RF designs & active / passive site surveys, high level troubleshooting, testing / research, infrastructure design Partial: (1) Network Architect - infrastructure planning / design (1) Security Engineer - security (secure wireless / captive portal), user issues, infrastructure planning, testing / research (1) RF / Mobility Engineer - Spectrum management, infrastructure planning, testing / research (3) Operations Engineers - day-to-day trouble tickets, configuration / implementation, maintenance Help Desk - all help with users wireless issues however this is only one of their many functions. -Jimmy James Helzerman Wireless Network Engineer University of Michigan ITS Communications Systems and Data Centers 4251 Plymouth Road, Building 2, #2224 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 Phone: 734-615-9541 Cell: 734-972-5095 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Kellogg, Brian D. Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 9:22 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wifi Support Staff I take care of ~300APs along with VoIP, LAN, WAN, Security, and Servers/VM environment. Wireless takes the least amount of my time except when it comes time to replace it all. Thanks, Brian -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Julian Y Koh Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 9:15 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: Wifi Support Staff -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Wh On Tue Jul 26 00:33:17 2011 Central Time, Brian Deem Williams <bwilli...@gsu.edu> wrote: > > I'm curious as to the number of staff members dedicated to supporting the wifi (both from an engineering standpoint and from a helpdesk point of view) that other educational facilities have deemed necessary. Any input would be greatly appreciated! > When you say "dedicated," you mean Full Time Employee equivalents? We have 2 engineers who are tasked with being our wireless subject matter experts, but that's by no means their only job. :) We have a little under 2100 APs total. As others have said that's just within our engineering group - first and second level tech support is done by another department. - -- Julian Y. Koh <mailto:kohs...@northwestern.edu> Manager, Network Transport <phone:847-467-5780> Telecommunications and Network Services Northwestern University PGP Public Key:<http://bt.ittns.northwestern.edu/julian/pgppubkey.html> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.17 (Darwin) Comment: GPGTools - http://gpgtools.org iEYEARECAAYFAk4uvcAACgkQDlQHnMkeAWPUOgCfb7jvY41+JkSoML+sOlSLtID/ BogAnRc8TWkOWCbr5pQqtQtS53mcIg87 =75xz -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
