Choosing a network for an institute: what to check

Check what happens during the busiest hour, not the average one

Institute networks fail on schedule: the hour of an online test, the first day of a term, the evening batch. A network specified for typical load is specified for the hours that were never the problem.

Ask specifically what happens when every device in the building is active at once, and whether anything can be reserved for the session that must not fail.

Check whether rules can follow the timetable

A restriction that applies all day will be switched off, because it will get in the way of legitimate work outside class hours. Rules that follow the actual schedule can be stricter when it matters precisely because they are not in force when it does not.

Check whether roles exist

Faculty, students, administration and visitors need different things from the same network. If the only tools are one password and a list of exceptions, that list will decay the moment the person maintaining it moves on.

Check what happens to a device nobody recognises

On a shared network the interesting question is not who is allowed on. It is what happens when something appears that belongs to nobody. Without identity there is nothing to compare against, so the answer is usually that nothing happens at all.

Check the boring things

• How long the equipment receives security updates, and whether feature updates have the same term. They often do not.
• What the network does if the vendor's cloud is unreachable.
• Whether it keeps working if a subscription lapses.
• Who can see an individual's activity, as distinct from totals and health.

EWUS publishes its answers to those four rather than negotiating them per deal, and marks the ones still awaiting legal wording instead of presenting them as settled.