By Esther Hoffman, junior

Nearly six months after the Student Government Association senate drafted a petition for campus-wide wireless Internet, Friends University’s Information Technology Department proposed a plan to roll out campus-wide wireless as soon as this fall.

The IT Department presented the proposal to the SGA executive council on March 25, shortly after the SGA senate reached its goal of 500 signatures on the petition.

“What we’ve proposed this year is essentially a total overhaul of the backend infrastructure,” said Ryan Kerschner, technology infrastructure manager.

The backend infrastructure includes the network cables, switches and software that form the foundation of the University’s Internet access. These items have not been updated for more than five years.

If the University’s budget committee approves the proposal, the University could have campus-wide wireless as early as fall 2011.

“We’re looking at eight to 12 months probably,” said Kerschner.

Kerschner said the Wireless-N technology included in the proposal is the newest and best so far; it provides larger ranges of connection, more bandwidth and support for mobile devices.

“It’s definitely a lot faster,” Kerschner said.

The proposal would add 45 to 79 wireless access points to supplement the 22 wireless access points currently on campus.

The proposal allows for two wireless plans: one excluding and one including residence halls. The total cost of the wireless project without the residence halls would be $55,000, and adding 34 access points for the residence halls would bring the cost to $75,000.

If the budget committee accepts the plan including residence halls, every campus building except the Sumpter Administration building and the CAPS/IT building would have access points for students.

Currently, only the Edmund Stanley Library, the Business and Technology Building, Casado Campus Center and the Friends Village apartments have wireless access points for students.
The budget committee will meet July 1, but the IT department should know by May whether the committee will approve the proposal.

Senate President Aaron Gurley is pleased with the IT department’s proposal.

“They’ve done a lot of comparing with other universities to see what wireless systems they use,” Gurley said. “They’ve finally put together a plan that’s cost effective and achieves the goal of campus-wide wireless Internet, and the proposal looks good.”

The senate prefers residence halls to be included in the final plan.

“We would like to see it in the residence halls,” Gurley said. “A lot of the concern on wireless has been in residence halls.”

To help ensure that the campus-wide wireless proposal is accepted, the SGA executive council voted April 1 to provide $40,000 of the funds for the project over a five-year period.

Each year, the executive council will vote on the way it will provide these funds. This year, the council decided to use $8,000 from its savings account for the 2010-2011 school year if the proposal is accepted.

Gurley is pleased to see progress toward campus-wide wireless.

“I’m excited to see where we’re at, and I’m excited to see where we’re going.”