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Students in �԰�����'s residence halls, dining center, and athletic facilities are benefiting from a cutting-edge wireless network installed over the summer – a new system that Information Technology Services officials say is four times faster than the previous version.

"Everything our students bring to campus is wireless," says Chuck White, vice president for Information Resources, Marketing & Communications. "The technology devices that students brought to campus this year are more than they brought the year before."

Many students bring at least one cell phone, one tablet, one laptop, and possibly a television and gaming system – sometimes multiples of those devices – all of which typically stay turned on 24/7 and connect with the University's wireless system. The result has been a slower response time for users.

To improve connectivity on "lower campus," �԰�����'s Information Technology team began planning in November 2015 for a new system that would increase bandwidth and boost service.

Part of the work involved adding "radios" to transmit the wireless signal from access points. Douglas Cooper '99, senior systems administrator with ITS, said the installation project went from 206 access points to 484 access points.

The previous system was put in place about six years ago, Cooper says, when students had fewer wireless devices in their dorms, the dining hall, and at the Bell Athletic Center. With the increased love for technology gadgets, Cooper adds, "We had to upgrade."

The new system is so new that it wasn't even available for purchase until June, and when it came on the market, �԰����� was ready for the installation during the summer months when the residence halls have less traffic.

"This standard is the first standard that's truly broadband," White says. "It moves into what used to be only available on wired networks."

He adds, "Our campus is operating in a wireless world. We are accessing wireless anywhere you are on campus except underwater at the pool. (And changing technology could alter that fact.) People don't plug in things any more, which is why wireless bandwidth is more important than ever before."

Added Fred Zapata, director of �԰�����'s ITS and the University's chief information technology officer, "Wireless is assured. People expect wi-fi connectivity at airports, coffee houses, hotels, public places, everywhere."

But White notes that many public places use open networks that do not keep user data secure. �԰�����'s network is not only secure, but much faster.

White says the University's "upper campus" will be outfitted with the same wireless network next summer, including academic buildings, the Coates Library, and Laurie Auditorium. The cost for both infrastructure upgrade projects will exceed $1 million, he says, adding, "It's not free just because you can't see it."

But the enhanced network is important to �԰����� and to the community it serves, White says, noting that there are only a handful of colleges in the country "running this wireless system now."