Prior to the initiation of their Next Generation Wi-Fi Project, American University of Sharjah had only deployed Wi-Fi into selected administrative buildings in an ad hoc manner. By early 2012 with the dramatic increase in the number of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices, including a student community (each with an average of three Wi-Fi devices), the deployment of ubiquitous Wi-Fi across the campus became a necessity.
The university had some previous exposure to Wi-Fi networks and had already experienced the limitations of their first generation Wi-Fi deployment, consequently it knew that it must evaluate and select a technology that would provide carrier grade reliability under all conditions, including high density environments both in the Lecture Theatres, Student Accommodation, Sports Complex and Student Activity Centre.