The Lumberjack

Issue date: 8/22/07 Section: Campus

Media Credit: Elizabeth Hilbig Ben Davis is a senior in industrial technology. He sometimes takes advantage of the wireless Internet in The Depot in the morning

Humboldt State University's expanded wireless network became available August 12. Students, faculty and staff are now able to access the Internet from most parts of the campus.

Jennifer Plassmeyer, an English Literature graduate student, used the new system for the first time on Monday.

"It took a little longer [than last year]," she said, "I was unaware that there were going to be changes."

Plassmeyer spent about five minutes registering with the system, which must be done on initial use. After registration, users download and run the Client Security Agent (CSA) program to access the network.

Josh Callahan, Interim Director of Humboldt State's Central IT Systems and Services, said that as of Monday morning there were 1,300 registered users.

The interim system will be further improved in 2008 when the campus is upgraded through the California State University's Infrastructure Terminal Resources Project. Though the system is still in a design and testing phase, it will improve campus coverage and increase Internet speed.

Rick Garcia, Humboldt State's Manager of Telecommunications and Network Services (T&NS), and Scott Ventuleth, intern with T&NS, are responsible for much of the work that went into the new system.

The project has been an ongoing desire since 2003, to attract and retain students and to increase productivity amongst staff and faculty, Garcia said.

Telecommunications and Network Services had to find an authentication system and additional access points in order for the expansion to be successful.

The new authentication system needed to automatically register username and passwords, so that Telecom wouldn't need to do it manually. The system also needed to be secure enough to handle laptops and other wireless devices returning to campus that could be infected by spyware or viruses.

Access points were donated by San Jose State University, making the expansion possible. There are currently 66 access points, up from 28, and T&NS hopes there will eventually be 100.

The next step for T&NS is testing the system's ability to function on wired machines and additional security measures.

"The residence halls have offered to be our guinea pig," Garcia said.

Testing will take place during scheduled maintenance times and low traffic periods.

Guest access is available by contacting the Help Desk in Gist Hall 218 or Library 120b, or by phone, (707) 826-HELP (4357).

The current map of hot spots can be found on the Information Technology Services' Wireless Access Tech Guide.

The map is a printer friendly PDF, but a more user-friendly, web-based version will happen, Garcia said.

Briana Alfaro can be reached at briana.alfaro@gmail.com

LINKS

2007/08 HSU Wireless Hot Spots

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