BANGKOK, Thailand - September 16, 2003 - Kasetsart University, one of the top universities in Thailand, has built one of the largest academic wireless networks in Southeast Asia with solutions from Cisco Systems, Inc. The Cisco Aironet® wireless network, covering 43 buildings and 800,000 square meters in the university's Bangkhen campus, is a key building block in enabling Kasetsart's e-university initiative. This initiative aims to use infocommunications technology to enhance the learning and research process, enabling faculty staff and students to access the university's resources anytime, anywhere.

Dubbed KUWiN (Kasetsart University Wireless Network), the network complements Kasetsart's Cisco-equipped wired networks including NontriNet. NontriNet is a multicast and voice-over-IP-enabled gigabit-class wide-area network that connects the Bangkhen campus with three other campuses, Kampaengsaen, SakonNakhon and SriRacha, as well as academic networks outside of Thailand.

Kasetsart has also begun extending KUWiN to its other campuses starting with SakonNakhon and plans eventually to have all 30,000 students and staff in its various campuses wirelessly enabled. Powering KUWiN on Bangkhen campus are more than 100 Cisco Aironet 1100 Series and Aironet 350 Series wireless LAN access points with Cisco Catalyst® 3500 Series switches in the back end.

"Kasetsart is a firm believer in the power of technology and our vision is to become a true e-university where everything from our administrative processes, courseware, teachings to examinations are available on the network," said Associate Professor Surasak Sanguanpong, director, Office of the University Computer Services, Kasetsart University. "To achieve that, we need to ensure that the network is as available and accessible to everyone, anytime. This is why KUWiN is so important to us, but we also have to optimize security and reliability over the wireless network. This is one of the reasons why we selected Cisco as our technology provider."

The response from both students and staff to KUWiN has been very encouraging and Kasetsart is looking forward to upgrading its Cisco Aironet 1200 Series access points, which today support data rates of up to 11 Mbps and will eventually support up to 54 Mbps in the future.

"We are extremely excited by the benefits that Kasetsart have already experienced from their wireless network. We are seeing advanced technologies like IP telephony and wireless LANs make a difference for businesses. We can now see firsthand how such technologies can impact positively educational institutions. This is the power of the network," said Vorkon Patra-Yanan, regional managing director, Indochina operations, Cisco Systems®.