Pete Mendoza
Pete Mendoza Vaquero Radio
On Jan. 2 the Brownsville City Commission authorized the Network Modernization Project which aims to upgrade the city’s network infrastructure with a two year expectancy of completion with a cost of $1 million.
Many of the network devices were old, causing insufficiency and vulnerability resulting in major issues for the city.
The proposal states upgrading IT network devices will show improved performance, enhanced security, support for new technologies and reduced downtime.
Many of the upgrades will go to city buildings like the police station, fire station, animal shelter, Events Center and Legal Building.
Although as of now the project is not involved with UTRGV, the university has made its own network changes.
Chief Technology Officer for Information Technology at UTRGV Frank Zecca said the university has refreshed the wireless network for two years, having it completed a few months ago.
“We actually started refreshing our wireless network two years ago, and that was completed a few months ago,” Zecca said. “So, we have a brand new wireless network throughout Brownsville, Edinburg and all the remote sites across the UTRGV campuses.”
Zecca said the University switched from Cisco to a HP Aruba wireless network to improve quality and coverage throughout the campus.
He said transitioning from the old equipment to the new did cause a few connection issues for those on campus however since it was completed the network has maintained stability and improved service.
He said the university is still upgrading the network to further improve network coverage and reliability.
“We’re continuing to work on our upgrade,” Zecca said. “We finished the update that was finished on the wireless network. We’re moving now into Green Spaces and some outdoor spaces to extend coverage into those areas as well.”
For more information or concerns over the network visit, utrgv.edu/it.
This is Pete Mendoza for Vaquero Radio.
