To the casual user, the campus wireless network looks fairly simple.
It’s just one connection. Point. Click. Connect.
But behind the scenes, the Wireless Nomad Project is a little more complicated.
A vast compilation of 811 access points, split over two frequencies and managed jointly by two separate and large administrative divisions, wireless access has grown rapidly since 2004 from trendy tech to a campus mainstay.
The ‘great compromise’
In 2003, Communication Technologies began exploring the use of wireless technology on campus. It was slow going at first, according to Ed Rogers, associate director of engineering with ComTech.
“It was sort of one of those trendy technologies,” Rogers said. “The demand went from really low to really high.”
With the rapid growth in demand, Rogers said, the University Information Technology Committee decided to begin the installation of wireless infrastructure in 2004.
They began with a simple philosophy.
“Let’s make students first the focus,” Rogers said. “That’s been the driver to the project since day one.”
But beyond that, they had a bit of a problem: conflicting interests between the two major user groups.
“Students wanted a lot of space covered,” Rogers said. “A lot of the faculty was focused on how can we use this to teach.”
The solution was something Rogers called “the great compromise.”
ComTech would use two separate wireless systems — 802.11 G and 802.11 A — to serve the different needs of the campus. As two of the newest wireless technology at the time, the systems broadcast on two frequencies. The so-called “common” system, 802.11 G, broadcast at 2.4 gigahertz and covered a significant amount of area. The other, 802.11 A, broadcast at five gigahertz and could be used for more intensive bandwidth applications.
“That let us break that log jam of trying to scratch two itches at one time,” Rogers said. “We put both frequencies in both places.”
‘Oh my gosh, that was Betamax.’
Although Rogers said the University has been pretty good about choosing the right technology, the process hasn’t been completely absent of a few missteps.
In 2003 and 2004, Rogers said the University tested a new technology called Vivato. Consisting of a large, rooftop-mounted antenna, Vivato units were supposed to take the place of several access points and provide blanket coverage to a large area of campus.
“We along with other University’s tried that out,” Rogers said.
But the venture didn’t last long, since Rogers said the company went bankrupt shortly after.
That’s been a continual challenge for ComTech, Rogers said.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to be next.”
Even now, new technologies are promising to make providing wireless cheaper and easier. WiMAX for example, provides access over long distances, making it ideal for outdoor use, Rogers said. Newer versions of current technology, 802.11 N for example, also roll out all the time.
The trick, Rogers said, is to be “leading edge, not bleeding edge,” since the last thing the University wants is to lose a heavy investment in obsolete technology, like consumers did in the 80s when VHS dominated its Betamax competitor.
“We don’t want to be stupid and buy something so new that we go ‘Oh my gosh, that was Betamax,'” Rogers said. “So far we’ve guessed well.”
‘Can you hear me now?’
One complication with the Nomad Project has always been money — specifically where to get it.
The source, Rogers said, is far from centralized.
ComTech’s operating budget, the educational and technology fee and even the colleges themselves all contribute funding to the wireless infrastructure.
While the University spent $50,000 during the 2004-05 year, that figure increased by about 14-fold the next year. Rogers said ComTech projects the University will spend a minimum of $500,000 on wireless this year.
And he said ComTech has a few ways of making that money last.
All of the infrastructure design, for example, is done in house by ComTech’s own engineers. Other schools, Rogers said, do outside consulting.
“You tend to spend more money doing that,” Rogers said.
Engineers will go over the layout of a building slated for wireless and figure out the number of access points required for complete coverage. Complete coverage, as ComTech defines it, is a minimum connectivity of 11 megabits per second out of a maximum of 54 megabits per second.
Rogers said that means engineers “have to get out there.”
“We have to walk every square foot of every building to test it,” Rogers said. “It’s a glorified version of the ‘Can you hear me now?’ commercial.”
Although they design the locations for complete coverage, ComTech only pays for half of the required access points. Individual colleges with space in the buildings pay for the rest of the access points, and can actually choose which ones they want to install if they can’t get them all at once.
“That lets us stretch funds to the maximum effect,” Rogers said.
And that’s just the so-called “convenience network.” Rogers said the classroom-oriented wireless access points are also paid for by the colleges.
Modern complications
As the computing network at the University grows however, the administration is working on ways to make it a little more efficient.
For example, it’s now in pursuit of a chief information officer who will head up information technology.
Although ComTech, and wireless, would be managed by this office, the department has until now been jointly managed under the Information Technology Division and RMIS, or Resource Management and Information Systems.
According to Provost Larry Nielsen, whose office oversees ITD, the two departments represent the academic and administrative sides of the computing system.
Nielsen said N.C. State is one of the few universities without a chief information officer, and after discussions about a common e-mail and calendar system, Nielsen said he felt the University needed more expertise.
“We felt we just didn’t have the depth of knowledge for that,” Nielsen said.
Although he said he doesn’t “anticipate spending less on IT than we do now,” Nielsen said he hopes the new position will lead to increases in efficiency and effectiveness that may free up resources for other uses.
He said he hopes to have the new CIO in place by early spring.
Aside from changes at the top of the food chain, ComTech engineers must also work with changes in the way their users access the network.
One question Rogers said ComTech hasn’t quite figured out is the issue of wireless in the residence halls.
Although he said every dorm has at least one hotspot, or area of concentrated connectivity, designing wireless for residence halls is a lot different than with other buildings on campus made with sheetrock.
“Wireless is nothing but radio signals. They don’t go through block walls very well.”
In some cases, he said, ComTech would need to install one access point for every three rooms. And with the installation costs adding up to about $2,000 per unit, that could amount to a hefty price tag.
Rogers said students in residence halls also use a lot of bandwidth, a factor most campus wireless systems aren’t specifically designed for.
“We’d have frustrated students if we tried to put in a minimum of coverage.”
Some of the challenges however, come from more modern architectural elements. New energy efficient windows, like the ones in the Fox Science Teaching Lab, literally kill the wireless signal.
Consumer technology also complicates the wireless infrastructure. Although Rogers said the iPhone and iPod Touch appear on the network like typical users, these devices typically access more multimedia content.
But as Rogers knows, Apple products are just another piece of a complex process.
“The iPhone is not the last thing, it’s the latest thing,” he said.