Campus-wide wireless launches in December

By Megan O'Connor

Santa Clara will be a little more "Silicon Valley" come December.

Wireless Internet will be expanded into all residence halls, academic buildings and study spaces on Dec. 10. Danielson said the expanded wireless services will be more complicated then the university's current network, which currently services Benson Memorial Center, the first floor of Kenna Hall and the interim library locations. However, Information Technology does not yet know if it will be able to hire another person to help with upkeep of the new service.

"No extra staff has been hired although the wireless is more complicated than the original network," said Ron Danielson, chief information officer. "I have made a request for an additional staff member."

As IT moves toward testing the new system, which will dramatically expand wireless availability, Danielson said it has yet to be determined if another IT staff member will be hired.

Santa Clara received a $400,000 grant from the Department of Education, which paid for the expansion of wireless Internet in academic buildings. Housing and Residence Life paid for the wireless inside of dorms, and other funds came from the university's technology renewal and replacement program.

The total project cost is $1.9 million, Danielson said.

"We would have implemented the wireless sooner if we had the staff and money to do so," said Danielson.

Existing ethernet connections will remain in place in the residence halls for students who do not have access to a computer with wireless capabilities.

Danielson said that people have been asking for wireless for years.

However, some students have done more than ask, setting up their own personal wireless networks within the dorms. Danielson said creating your own wireless Internet connection using a campus Internet connection is a violation of university policy. Most of the independent networks were ignored since Santa Clara did not have campus-wide wireless, however administrators are paying attention now that wireless will be campus-wide.

"When our network turns on, theirs better turn off," said Danielson.

Personal wireless connections can interfere with the signal Santa Clara provides.

Danielson said some faculty members are also culpable, setting up wireless connections inside their academic buildings.

"We are going to hunt them down, too," said Danielson.

The university also has concerns about the safety of running an unsecured wireless network which anyone can access and use university or residential hall bandwidth. Wireless connections can be secured with an encryption code that the computer trying to access the network is configured to, or can be open allowing anyone with a wireless-capable computer access.

Santa Clara has had limited wireless access for three years, funded by an anonymous donor.

Anyone with a Santa Clara identification can connect to the wireless Internet and log on using their GroupWise ID and password.

Wireless at Santa Clara is currently in "places with a high concentration of laptops," Danielson said. Locations include the first floor and basement of Benson the first floor of Kenna, the interim library and the first floor of Nobili Hall.

"We choose locations which seemed to be places that students would make us of it," he said.

Until its closure in June, students could also use wireless in Orradre. The law school facilities located in Bannan are also wireless, and have been for about three years, but are paid for out of the law school's budget.

In July, IT decided on Cisco Systems as the wireless hardware vendor because of its cost effectiveness and customer support, Danielson said. IT has been installing the wireless hardware throughout campus since August, when teams began running cable in buildings and installing wiring and access points.

All of the work was finished before students moved back to school. The final hardware installation of three 250 lb. panels that will administrate the actual wireless connections, was finished last week after being on back-order since summer.

Graham residents, freshman Jessica Rice and sophomore Joe McDonnell said they noticed the installation of some wireless equipment, black boxes in the ceilings of the dorm, but didn't know when they would be able to use the services.

"I know they have been putting boxes in people's rooms." said Rice.

Once the control panels are turned on, the wireless Internet will be tested to see if it works and if there are any areas on campus where the wireless reception does not reach.

"I expect we will find some gaps," said Danielson.

During this testing period, IT will decide where external coverage needs to be installed so people can access the wireless outside. According to Danielson, they expect for there to be a lot of wireless reception transmitted from inside buildings into outside areas such as the Graham commons or Kennedy Mall.

Additional access points and wiring will be installed, if necessary, so that areas such as the Mission Gardens, the quad outside the engineering buildings and common areas surrounding residence halls will be covered by the wireless Internet.

Computers using the connections will be scanned to make sure they have up-to-date virus protection, according to Danielson.

"We want to make sure you won't log on and disrupt it for everyone else," said Danielson.

Danielson suspects that only some students who have older computers with less-capable wireless cards will need to go out and buy new hardware to connect to the campus network.

According to a survey done by IT last November, significantly more then 50 percent of students have notebook computers and will be able to benefit from the wireless.

"Wireless is getting to the point where if you don't have it, some students won't come to your campus," said Danielson.

Contact Megan O'Connor at (408) 554-4546 or moconnor@scu.edu.