Cornell delivers virtual classroom experiences without disruptions

Distance learning higher education programs provide access to high-quality education for students regardless of their location. But, limitations in technology can make the experience frustrating when compared to a traditional classroom environment.

A part of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell-Queen’s Executive MBA Program (CQEMBA) was using Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) to deliver video conferencing for classes held three Saturdays per month from Cornell’s broadcast studio to multiple boardroom locations throughout North America.

Since the program was being delivered over this legacy technology, qualified technical support was difficult to find — especially on weekends when the school typically encountered its greatest need. The university was experiencing increased network drops and latency, but the ISDN service provider’s poor customer service often resulted in wait times of more than 48 hours, including unresolved network problems and hours of lost class time. Additionally, Cornell’s plan to move to HD video conferencing would be too expensive over its existing ISDN network.

Recognized results

• Increased application performance
• Simplified network management
• Increased remote reliability, availability
• Enhanced user experience
• Increased scalability to accommodate global growth

Providing a flawless virtual classroom experience is the primary goal for Cornell’s CQEMBA program as it aims to reach a wide and geographically diverse audience. In an effort to realize its vision and deliver the highest quality video conferencing possible to its students, Cornell decided to upgrade to a superior technology for its video conferencing solution.

The graduate school sought a reliable network solutions partner with personalized, proactive customer service, sophisticated technology, and flexible bandwidth capabilities to enable future growth needs and improve the learning experience for students and faculty.

The university reviewed several companies and found most providers had sluggish response times of three days to a week to deliver the basic information needed in a request for information (RFI) proposal.

Solutions

The IT team for the CQEMBA program was initially introduced to Masergy through the Visual Communications Industry Group (VCI-G), a user group dedicated to technology collaboration and video conferencing. When Masergy entered the RFI process, the school was impressed by the company’s personal, honest, and responsive approach to customer service and its knowledge of the visual communications environment. After thorough due diligence, Cornell determined Masergy’s solution offerings, reliability, and superior customer service could meet both their immediate needs and long-term objectives.

As part of the initial network solution implementation, Masergy offered the university a no-cost, 60-day trial period to evaluate its capabilities and network performance. After a successful trial, Cornell decided to move forward with full implementation across 13 sites, making Masergy its primary network provider for the CQEMBA program in the United States.

Now, the graduate program’s broadcast studio and multiple remote boardrooms are transmitted through Masergy’s network, allowing a seamless connection between the teaching faculty member and students across the U.S.

The implemented solution includes Masergy’s

• Private access for guaranteed service and security, as well as improved application performance in an easyto-manage network environment
• Video service plane to ensure quality of service around video conferencing
• Network function virtualization to enable a “routerless office” and reliable connectivity for remote sites

Business success

Through internal tracking, the program’s IT staff observed the previous provider’s constant network drops caused two to five minutes of lost class time at one or more sites during every session. But, on Masergy’s software-defined network, downtime is virtually non-existent. Without any disruptions and with superior quality images, the video solution now enhances the learning environment for both students and faculty. The system facilitates intimate interaction between the professor and the learning teams, as well as between the teams themselves.

With Masergy’s scalable network platform, the CornellQueen’s Executive MBA Program can expand its geographic reach to provide students a forum to earn an Ivy League MBA without extensive travel or scheduling requirements.

Additionally, with Masergy’s added technical support and expertise, the school’s internal IT team is now able to devote its time to its core responsibility of improving overall program performance.