A better-connected campus starts with simpler IT

At Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola (THGA) in Bochum, upgrading campus Wi-Fi came with a clear requirement: better connectivity had to mean less work for the people managing it. With a small IT team already supporting the university’s digital environment, ease of administration was central to the project. 

Replacing the aging infrastructure therefore required more than choosing new equipment. The university needed a network that could deliver reliable access for students and staff while keeping maintenance manageable. Axians helped translate that requirement into a solution suited to the team’s everyday operations. 

Although the university initially planned to continue with HPE Aruba through an existing framework agreement, Axians proposed an alternative: Cisco Meraki. Its cloud-based management, centralized administration and automatic updates simplified the work of running campus Wi-Fi. 

Rather than relying on specifications alone, the university assessed the options under real operating conditions. Axians provided test equipment and worked with Cisco to support a proof of concept. The campus’ IT team had an opportunity to evaluate both network stability and the practical demands of managing the proposed solution. 

The trial confirmed that Cisco Meraki matched those priorities, paving the way for deployment across the campus. 

From successful trial to campus-wide coverage 

Axians supplied and commissioned 190 access points, using an existing wireless coverage survey to guide their placement. The new system entered operation in early 2025, with the university’s underlying Aruba switching infrastructure retained. 

Alongside the deployment, Axians provided remote installation, training and complete documentation. This support prepared the internal team to take ownership of the environment and use its management capabilities confidently. 

The resulting network provides stable Wi-Fi coverage indoors and outdoors. For students and staff, that means more consistent connectivity across campus. For the IT team, intuitive administration and automatic updates reduce the maintenance burden, letting them manage the system without additional resources. 

“For our small IT team in particular, this is a real benefit,” says Helge Wiethoff, Head of the Computing Centre at the university’s campus.   

That operational simplicity also gives the university a platform it can build on. The campus’ IT team has begun testing door, water and temperature sensors, exploring opportunities to extend the environment beyond Wi-Fi. 

In practice, this means the university can offer students and staff consistent Wi-Fi access across indoor and outdoor spaces without expanding its IT team. Centralized management and automatic updates reduce the routine effort needed to maintain that service. The training and documentation provided by Axians also equip the university to manage the environment independently, while the platform’s modular design allows it to introduce additional capabilities as needs evolve. 

By aligning the technology with the university’s capacity to operate it, Axians helped the university achieve a lasting improvement: reliable campus connectivity, a lighter administrative workload and room to develop new digital services.