DAHLONEGA — North Georgia College & State University plans to expand
its wireless network during the next several months.
The work, expected to be completed in the fall, will
provide most of the campus with wireless coverage, said Bryson
Payne, chief information officer.
"We’ve been focusing first on the areas that
students use most," he said. "Our goal is to have a robust,
user-friendly wireless network connection available any place that
students would reasonably expect to be able to use a laptop or other
wireless device."
A few limited-use wireless hot spots have been
available on campus for several years, but access to those was
restricted to specific events or to NGCSU users only.
The areas most frequented by students — Hoag Student
Center, Stewart Library, Dunlap Hall and Newton Oakes Center — and
classroom areas acquired the service in January.
The next phase of work began this month and involves
expanding coverage to nonacademic buildings, including common areas
in residence halls.
Antennas will likely be added in the summer near
common areas and at the new plaza outside the Stewart Library.
The college plans to finish the project after the
completion of the $23.2 million Library Technology Center in the
fall.
Other area colleges have moved or are moving toward
more wireless coverage.
"We have wireless access in our student centers in
both of our main buildings in Oakwood as well as the library and the
board room," said Justin Bridges, spokesman for Lanier Technical
College in Oakwood. "We also have wireless access in and around the
media center" on the Forsyth campus.
Heather Gibbons, Brenau University’s associate vice
president for information technology and online studies, said Brenau
improved its wireless coverage after Ed Schrader arrived as
president in January 2005.
The college doesn’t have "blanket" coverage,
allowing students to lounge under trees with laptop computers. But
the network does cover "hot spots," or the places most likely for
wireless use, Gibbons said.
Brandon Haag, executive director of information
technology at Gainesville State College in Oakwood, said the school
completed a wireless network rollout in the fall of 2005 that
covered all classrooms and many campus common areas.
"The wireless network is available across both the
Gainesville and Oconee campuses," Haag said. "... Access to the
wireless network is controlled using a student’s log-in
credentials."
North Georgia’s expansion is the result of students
saying they believed that wireless networking was a priority.
The Student Government Association, the University
Technology Committee and the Student Technology Fee Committee are
using student technology fees for the project.
"The committees involved in bringing the wireless
network to reality made it clear that guest access was a priority,
from prospective students to visiting lecturers," Payne said.
A network access control system will be added
beginning in March.
This will give priority bandwidth and access to
campus resources — such as the network drives — to NGCSU faculty,
staff and students when they log on to the wireless service with
their Novell identification and password.
