Williams College Unveils Plan to Install Wireless Network

February 28, 2005 By News Report

Williams College, located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has revealed a three-year plan to install campus-wide wireless network that will allow students, faculty and staff to go online without the restriction of a physical cable.

The college's chief technology officer, Dinny Taylor, said demand for a wireless network came mostly from students. While many other colleges and universities already boast the "must-have" technology, Williams wanted to work out all of the technological kinks before moving forward on the project, said Taylor.

Phase one of the project includes a network focus on "student life areas," the places where the students gather, such as the two libraries, Jesup lab and science center.

Academic, administrative, residential dormitories and sports areas will all be connected to the network within phase two and phase three of the networking initiative.

While Taylor declined to comment on the cost of the three-year project, the Williams Record recently projected a $1 million price tag, while acknowledging that figure might be a little high.

"Spillover" from the indoor networking might allow users to surf online outdoors, if they can pick up a wireless signal, said Taylor.

Wireless users will access the network by logging onto a main Web page and entering their user name and password, thereby limiting access only to members of the college community.

The initiative behind the wireless installation encourages students to work spontaneously together in groups for educational purposes where they are not be limited by a computer cable to pursue the canons of academe and hard study.

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