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Features
Wireless Takes American Campuses by Storm
1/2/2007
By Greg Slabodkin
US colleges and universities across the country are embracing wireless networking technology with a zeal that is nothing short of phenomenal. The driving force behind wireless connectivity on campus is that it offers myriad benefits for both students and faculty, including greater access and mobility as well as increased collaboration.
According to the 2006 Campus Computing Survey, wireless networks now reach fully half of college classrooms, compared to just over two-fifths in 2005, and a third in 2004. In addition, more than two-thirds of campuses participating in the annual survey have a strategic plan for deploying wireless as of fall 2006, up from 64 percent in 2005, and more than 53 percent in 2004. Results from the 2006 survey reveal that three-fifths of colleges and universities increased their campus IT budgets for wireless for the current academic year.
Rising campus investment in wireless networks is a result of a number of factors, including: reduced costs and increased performance of wireless technology; a shift in student reliance on laptop computers as opposed to desktop PCs; and the growing appeal and benefits of wireless connectivity for students and faculty alike. The explosion of wireless networks on campus mirrors the explosive growth of wireless over the past few years in corporate America and in the consumer marketplace.
"Households that have high-speed Internet access also typically have wireless networks," says Kenneth C. Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project. "It should be no surprise that students and faculty come to campus expecting their college or university to provide the same wireless connectivity that they experience in their homes."
Getting Unplugged at Emory
Emory University in Atlanta is among a growing number of US college campuses that are leveraging best-of-breed wireless networking technologies to better serve the demanding needs of students and faculty. Emory epitomizes the migration of US higher education institutions to wireless networks.
Rich Mendola, CIO and vice president for Information Technology at Emory, has championed the rapid expansion of the university's WiFi network, dubbed EmoryUnplugged. According to Mendola, the campus's WiFi growth had to take place rapidly: "It was clear that this generation of students sees wireless as a necessity, rather than a luxury, and [prior to the rollout of the wireless network,] we had clearly missed the mark in meeting their expectations."
That's why in the spring of 2005, the IT organization at Emory kicked into high gear efforts to create EmoryUnplugged—a managed, encrypted, authenticated and secure wireless service for the university. The initial rollout called for wireless in the law and public health schools, as well as Emory College. Phase two of the deployment took place in the fall, with a massive rollout to the university's 55 resident halls, theme resident houses, fraternity houses, dormitories, and apartments—ranging from edifices as small as a three-bedroom house to those as large as an 18-story apartment building. By January 2006, just four months after the rollouts to those types of buildings began, all 55 buildings were complete.
