2/19/2008 -- A large business campus (of a sort) with thousands of users -- who could imagine a better proving ground for a next-gen 802.11n deployment? That's one upshot of Cisco Systems Inc.'s recent accord with Duke University.

Cisco this week announced that Duke will deploy a campus-wide 802.11n wireless network, complete with more than 2,500 Cisco access points. That makes Duke's deployment the largest planned 802.11n wireless network in the world by any organization to date, according to Cisco.

Duke plans to target about 6 million square feet of its Durham, N.C. campus with Cisco's Aironet 1250 Series access points. According to Duke CIO Tracy Futhey, Cisco's 802.11n technology will help Duke enhance the quality of campus life, enable new learning spaces and provide access to course materials and resources for Duke's user base of 45,000 students, faculty and staff.

"Wireless on our campus is absolutely critical to our 24-by-7 population. Universities are an ideal testing ground for new technologies, especially wireless uses and devices, because students are spending their entire day on campus in a mobile manner. They live, learn, work and play on campus," Futhey said in a statement. "At Duke, we really have the opportunity to apply innovative wireless technology that can meet the demands of a diverse, mobile user base and enrich their academic and social experience as a result."

During proof-of-concept testing, Duke realized consistent average data throughput performance of nearly 130 Mbps per client using Cisco's Aironet 1250 Series access point. What's more, Duke's testing indicated that existing 802.11g clients connected to Cisco Aironet 1250 Series access points obtained almost twice the data rate achieved while connected to existing 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks. That provides a compelling demonstration of the value of 802.11n to existing Wi-Fi devices, too, according to Cisco. --Stephen Swoyer