Campus-wide wireless network coming in ’06

Asya Magazinnik Staff Writer

Computer and Information Services (CIS) is currently working on upgrading wireless technology on campus, as well as instituting several changes in webmail and printing in the library. As a result, the Internet connection and Vassar webmail have experienced slower performance.

According to Vice President of CIS Bret Ingerman, the wireless network is being expanded to cover all dorms, academic buildings, and senior housing, thanks to an anonymous donation from an alumna of the Class of 1958. CIS expects to sign contracts with the network provider within the next few weeks, and to start work on installing wireless Internet in the quad dorms over winter break. By fall of 2006, CIS expects a full wireless signal in every area of campus.

To gain access to the network, students will be given a registration code. CIS is also discussing the possibility of giving out guest privileges. With this change, students will no longer be allowed to have private routers for wireless Internet.

CIS is also doubling the bandwidth of campus internet servers. “The college has 20 megabytes of connection speed to the internet,” said Ingerman. “Clearly the appetite for Internet bandwidth exceeds our ability to supply it, so we’ll be doubling the amount of bandwidth over break.”

The Vassar webmail server is also undergoing changes. “E-mail’s been slow in part due to configuration settings on the server and in part due to the volume of 140,000 e-mails a day,” said Ingerman. “We’ve added additional e-mail servers and we’re in the process of reexamining how we support e-mail centrally.”

After a hack-in into the Vassar Student Association (VSA) server, CIS is taking measures to prevent similar incidents. Thanks to a gift from another alum, CIS will have the ability to manage the VSA server, while keeping the programs in VSA’s hands.

Another major change planned in campus computing is a new system of printing in the library. The reorganization is a response to complaints about printer inefficiency as well as paper waste, which is increasing by 200,000 sheets per year in the library.

Under the new system, when members of the Vassar community wish to print a document, they will be asked for a username and password. They will move to a computer at the printer release station, log in, and select their document from a list. The document will be sent to the printer that is least occupied at the moment. “It’s an attempt to better support printers in the public areas and also to reduce waste,” said Ingerman.

Ingerman encouraged VSA Council to tell their constituents to contact him about other changes they would like to see from CIS. He noted that students are the largest group of people CIS serves, “but the ones we hear from the least. That’s a problem.”