IT makes Burapha an education hub
Jan 27, 2011
Burapha University, on Thailand's Eastern Seaboard, is planning to become an "intelligent university" and a regional education hub in the eastern part of the country.
By Jirapan Boonnoon
The Nation
The university's vice president for administrative affairs Wirogana Ruengphrathuengsuka said Burapha aims to be a centre of research and development and an intelligent university within the next 10 years. Therefore it realises the need for an information and communications technology infrastructure that will offer access to information and knowledge without security concerns as well as providing e-services for students.
The university has now implemented a gigabits-converged-communication solution to create a reliable Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure to deliver cutting-edge e-learning, collaboration and broadband services to its faculties, researchers, students and communities, as well as to nearby schools. The enhanced Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure will enable the university to become a regional educational centre.
The so-called BuuNet provides Alcatel-Lucent network infrastructure at a speed of 10 gigabits per second to teachers, staff and more than 40,000 students at the university's campuses at Bangsaen in Chon Buri province, and in Sa Kaew and Chanthaburi provinces. The high-speed Internet access provides unified messaging, voice over IP, video streaming, video conferencing and e-learning over online networks.
The university has also set up a private cloud service as a pilot project within the university. It is also planning to upgrade its infrastructure to 100 gigabits, in the next stage of development.
The director of Burapha's computer centre, Surangkana Tharmlikit, said the university had not yet laid down the network infrastructure covering the university's three campuses. The BuuNet currently connects with UniNet, which links with government agencies and another 17 universities.
The vice president of Burapha's Sa Kaew campus, Seree Chinodom, said Burapha had been selected by the Education Ministry's Office of the Higher Education Commission to be a regional UniNet hub for all learners in more than 3,000 private and government institutes, as well as local communities accessing national-educational programmes. The project is expected to be completed by 2012.
The managing director of First One Systems, Terdsak Kijjatikankun, said the university planned to use Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) on its IT infrastructure. The BuuNet is also a convergent network supporting any devices.
Thank you The Nation