Celebrating a Partnership That Enhances Connectivity

New partnership enhances wireless access for Mississauga residents, students

Sheridan College, the City of Mississauga and Cisco Canada are celebrating a partnership that has made access to learning seamless for Sheridan students in Mississauga, while enhancing wireless service for residents of the City.

As part of the City of Mississauga’s official opening of Scholars’ Green on May 22 – a public park adjacent to Sheridan’s Hazel McCallion Campus – Sheridan College is taking the opportunity to announce the details of this partnership and the benefits it continues to generate.

“When Sheridan built its Mississauga campus, we recognized that bringing over 3,000 people into Mississauga every day had the potential to cause an enormous strain on the City’s wireless infrastructure,” says Sumon Acharjee, Chief Information Officer at Sheridan College.  “An agreement was reached to bridge our wireless networks, add capacity where it was needed, and alleviate traffic on City resources. The move was made possible because we both used the Peel Public Sector Network and shared a Cisco-based technology platform.”

With a focus on leveraging rather than duplicating assets, the partnership allows the Sheridan community to access Sheridan’s secure servers from wherever Wi-Fi service is available.  That includes 17 public libraries, Celebration Square, the Living Arts Centre, and public spaces like Scholars’ Green.  It means that when faculty, staff and students roam, they stay connected without needing to change settings on their phones or log into a different account.

“Teaching and learning are no longer nine-to-five activities that only take place in a classroom,” adds Acharjee.  “People at Sheridan expect easy access to systems and data both on and off campus and rely on always-connected devices to search for information, read articles and share knowledge.  Anything we can do to make the process seamless and invisible lets people focus on the task at hand and do so at any hour of the day from a wide range of locations in the City.”

“The City of Mississauga is pleased to be in a partnership with Sheridan College to provide Wireless Mississauga for the public and Sheridan College students,” said Shawn Slack, Director of IT, City of Mississauga.  “Through our partnership with Sheridan we have been able to increase the available bandwidth, remove the requirement to sign on with a library card and enable access for all Sheridan students to their Sheridan Secure network at City facilities.  A great partnership and a huge improvement to Wireless Mississauga across the entire City.”

“Technology continues to play a major role in transforming our lives,” says Rick Huijbregts, Vice President, Industry and Business Transformation, Cisco Canada. “The connections we make online have a tremendous and positive impact on how we live and function in communities, whether it be how we access education, healthcare, work or even how we run our households. Through this collaboration, Sheridan, Mississauga and Cisco are building the foundation of a smart and connected community on top of which people will continue to enhance their lives.”

The public is warmly invited to attend the official park opening on Wednesday May 22nd from 6 to 8 p.m. at Scholars’ Green – 275 Prince of Wales Drive, at the northeast corner of Living Arts Drive and Square One Drive.  The event will proceed pending suitable weather conditions.

Sheridan College is one of Canada’s leading postsecondary institutions, offering over 100 diploma, certificate, and bachelor degree programs in an environment that fosters innovation and creativity.  Its aim is to become Ontario’s first university exclusively dedicated to undergraduate professional education – a model that will be based on applied learning. The model also focuses on meeting university accreditation requirements so that Sheridan graduates have more pathways to the continued learning that will underscore their personal, career, and industry success.

For more information or to arrange interview opportunities, please contact:

Christine Szustaczek
Director of Corporate Communications & External Relations, Sheridan College
Tel: 905-815-4169
Email: christine.szustaczek@sheridancollege.ca