Update on Wireless

So at the end of this week I e-mailed the head of IT, John Langeland, and he has provided me with interesting information regarding the wireless situation on campus. I’ve copied his letter below:

“We have been installing wiring and associated electronics to support wireless access points in all residence halls over the past few years, but this hasn’t been our highest priority in part because wired networking was available in all dorm rooms. As you probably understand, this is an expensive project so its pace has been determined in part by funding, and funding has been tight over the past few years. The good news is that we intend to complete the wiring required for universal residence hall TrinAir service this summer. It is difficult to install wiring in the dorms while students are in residence, and we will be working over the Christmas Holiday as well as over the summer to complete this part of the project.

Something over a third of all dormitory spaces now have the wiring installed that is required to deploy TrinAir. We intend to install wireless access points late this semester in locations where the wiring and related infrastructure is complete, and we will continue to bring up wireless access as we complete the infrastructure. We expect to have wireless installed in all dorms by the start of classes next fall; and we estimate that about a third of the dorm rooms will have wireless coverage available at the start of the classes in January.”

I would like to bring two or three people with me to meet with him more about this issue. I will bring it up again this Sunday at the meeting, but if you are interested please e-mail me and we’ll work out a time with him. Have a great weekend everyone.