Energy Efficiency Project Shows Off Power Of Networking

Time Was Critical

The Solar Decathlon opened to the public Oct. 8. That’s also when judging of the homes began. However, Garcia said, the timeline for installing the networking infrastructure began Sept. 21, which is when Schneider Electric, one of the sponsors of the event, started powering the site.

Consiliant engineers were allowed on-site starting Sept. 24, and the student teams began four days later. "We opted for a wired and wireless network," he said. "We weren't sure how many people would be there, but we needed to support them all."

The organizers said that past events saw up to 10,000 visitors a day, Garcia said. "We were thinking (that) everybody has a smartphone or tablet," he said "We had to be ready. So we ran fibre combined with dense wireless."