Meru, which recently launched its new AP832 access point to support the next-generation 802.11ac standard, has also seen an increase in competitive legacy Wi-Fi technology being ripped out of classrooms, often due to poor network performance or redundant technology, and replaced by Meru solutions. 

"Wireless technology in schools has become integral to creating a personalised learning environment," said Mark Howell, area director for UK and Ireland at Meru. "But while this increase in demand for Wi-Fi to support an ever-growing number of devices is good news, it’s easy to think that a low-cost solution can deliver the performance and scalability required. Mobile technology is only as good as the network supporting it, and as you add more devices, your network needs to be able to grow and deliver the same performance today, tomorrow, and in five years’ time."

Meru counts more than 2,750 primary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities across the UK and Ireland among its customers.  These include Essa Academy in Bolton, Longfield Academy, and the Education Network in Northern Ireland, where Meru and partner Capita are delivering Wi-Fi to more than 350,000 teachers and pupils in more than 1,200 schools.  West Midlands-based Shelfield Community Academy also recently replaced its entire Cisco network with Meru to support more than 1,000 Android mobile devices.  Chiswick School has also replaced Cisco with Meru this year.

Essa Academy, which moved quickly towards personalised learning, has more than 2,000 mobile devices running over a Meru network.  "One of the key aspects of the hardware was to make sure we had a system that was robust and that covered the academy completely," said Abdul Chohan, director at Essa. "We have student mobile devices, portable devices, and iPads being used by teachers in classrooms – this means the wireless network has to be robust, accessible and seamless.  Meru allows for a complete 21^st-century learning experience for all of our students and staff."

Meru’s MEG solution is designed to solve colleges’ and universities’ BYOD issues and support their uninterrupted learning applications. MEG starts with three simple steps:

1.     onboard quickly with BYOD provisioning and secure wireless access mapped to IT policies

2.     connect all BYOD devices reliably, anywhere on campus

3.     learn by deploying validated learning and teaching applications over the MEG wireless platform.