Contact: Krista Smith
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 Collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Federated Wireless and T-Mobile expands opportunities for Learn by Doing and global impact

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub) is expanding its innovation capabilities with the new Cal Poly 5G Innovation Lab powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Federated Wireless, Inc. and T-Mobile.

Using the established DxHub innovation methodology, students and faculty will use 4G-LTE and Cal Poly private 5G technologies to identify new and improved networking solutions to real-world challenges. Cal Poly’s private wireless network, which runs on AWS, combined with T-Mobile service enhances connectivity on campus and provides a leading-edge platform for innovation.
 
“The launch of Cal Poly’s 4G-LTE/5G private network increases campus connectivity, security, capacity and efficiency, which not only enables enhanced Learn by Doing experiences for students, but also increases Cal Poly potential for impact in the community and beyond,” said Bill Britton, Cal Poly’s vice president for IT services and CIO. “The purpose of introducing a 4G-LTE/5G private network to Cal Poly is three-fold: improve campus operations; enhance core IT services that connect the campus without the need for costly infrastructure projects; and increase collaboration with faculty and students on research and development.”

5G, the fifth-generation mobile network, is a latest global wireless standard that enables a new kind of network to connect virtually everyone and everything together — people, machines, objects and devices. This wireless technology is designed to deliver multi-gigabytes per second data speeds and extraordinarily low tolerance for delay (latency). Proponents are excited because it offers more reliability; network capacity; availability; and a uniform user experience to more users. Private wireless puts that technology in the hands of enterprises like Cal Poly.

The first major use case for Cal Poly will be a deployment at the $133 million William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation, that was formally dedicated on May 5. Much like three colleges — College of Science and Mathematics, the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts — coming together to collaborate in the four-story, 103,800-square-foot shared space, the revolutionary wireless architecture is a convergence of technologies working together to advance cutting-edge projects and research.

Another Cal Poly private wireless technology use case will extend public cell coverage and emergency services in the Poly Canyon area of campus.  

The new interoperability and private 5G capabilities at Cal Poly will not only improve university connectivity and operations but will unlock new opportunities for global impact in critical industries including higher education, construction, energy, agriculture and more.

About Cal Poly
Cal Poly is a nationally ranked public university in San Luis Obispo, California, known for its Learn by Doing philosophy. Each year about 22,000 top-tier students at Cal Poly put knowledge into action, taking their learning outside the classroom as they prepare for careers in areas such as engineering, agriculture, science, business, humanities and the built environment. Cal Poly’s hands-on approach, small class sizes and close student-faculty mentorships result in graduates Ready Day One to impact their communities, California and the world. Visit: www.calpoly.edu.

About Cal Poly DxHub
While providing students with real-world learning experiences, the Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub) applies proven innovation methodologies in combination with the deep subject matter expertise of the public sector, the technology expertise of Amazon Web Services (AWS), and other partners to solve challenging problems in ways not contemplated before. Learn more about the DxHub: www.dxhub.calpoly.edu.