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Wireless computing now campus-wide
BY LINDA EVANS
Editor, RichmondNow
Richmond students are now able to register for classes, check their e-mail, access library databases, view class Web sites and access the Internet from nearly anywhere on campus thanks to a new, high-speed wireless network that went live Aug. 10.
"The wireless network, coupled with the 10-gigabit wired network upgrade completed in the summer of 2004, gives Richmond students, faculty and staff fast, secure access to a wealth of resources on our highly connected campus," said Kathryn Monday, vice president for information services. Faculty and students are no longer "tethered" to a desktop, said Troy Boroughs, director of systems and networks. "They can decide how they will work together."
The University already had about 150 wireless access points when the expanded, campus-wide network began rolling out, said Boroughs. The upgrade brought the number of access points to more than 500. With about 56 percent of students and 700 faculty and staff owning wireless-equipped laptops, the system will "facilitate traditional and informal learning opportunities unconstrained by place and formal structure," said Monday.
"We believe that a pervasive wireless data network will improve communication and access to services and resources resulting in enhanced teaching, learning and research," she added.
Richmond is moving to wireless at an opportune time, Monday said. "We're jumping in with the newest and latest technology, and security is getting better." Wireless technology presents "significant" new security challenges, said Monday. Students, faculty and staff who want
to use the network will have to register their wireless cards. The new network employs "authentication" (the ability to identify who is on the network) and "encryption" (scrambling data so that unauthorized people cannot easily view or interpret it), explained Boroughs.
The general public will not be able to access the University's wireless network, but guest accounts will be available for visitors to campus who need wireless access. "Richmond's network won't be like the local coffee shop where just anyone can have access," said Boroughs. "We take the security of our systems and data very seriously."
Installing the network presented many challenges, said Boroughs. "Windows and doorways can 'leak' the system's radio signals, and other items, including people, block or absorb signals." Metal blocks signals, and other products, such as cordless phones, microwaves, and remote controls, interfere. Each building is unique, which made the installation "as much art as science."
The system was installed at a cost of about $675,000. A staff person was added to manage the network, authentication and security issues, said Monday. She expects the network to have an in-service life of three to four years.
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