One of the required classes in the Information Technology department at Purdue University Calumet is a senior design class, wherein students use the knowledge obtained in previous classes to design a network to serve a useful purpose. The author has worked on the ShmooCon Labs team for the past 3 years, and (perhaps due to cabin fever induced by the Shmoopocalypse of 2010) used that experience as the inspiration for the design project in Spring of 2010.
Students were given the assignment to develop a "Dial A Conference" setup - a set of hardware and software that could easily be taken to a conference venue and provide wireless Internet connectivity to the participants, via both secure and (for the brave or foolish) insecure/open access, as well as network management capability for the staff. In addition, it was desired to provide audio and video recording capability, and either archiving or streaming facility for those not fortunate enough to attend the conference in person. (This was inspired by ShmooCon 2010 as well.) Free software was used wherever possible to reduce cost.
Students created a rack system with standard hardware and free software, including configurations. Total estimated cost was under $25K.
The author received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, and spent 12 years in pharmaceutical research and development (the legal kind!) before being seduced to the dark side – IT. Over the next 10 years, his career sank progressively further into the area of IT security. He assisted his employer with its downsizing efforts in 2007 by taking early retirement. Currently he corrupts the youth of America as an assistant professor of Computer Information Technology at Purdue University Calumet campus, teaching classes in networking and security.