URI wireless Internet to get a boost

10/1/09 - The University of Rhode Island's wireless Internet system will undergo a complete facelift by next fall, said Director of Media and Technology Services David Porter.

With demand on the system growing, URI had to come up with a way to upgrade the network that uses equipment provided by the technology firm Cisco Systems.

"Cisco no longer would support the demand we had," Porter said. "It was not the most speedy."

URI had been working with a Cisco-supported wireless system called Aironet since 2002, when the university first started providing wireless access. At the time the university installed 400 access points in residence halls. The access points, which resemble an old-school modem, send out wireless signals that are picked up by laptops and other devices. The more access points, the greater wireless coverage available.

Before last spring, the wireless system worked on a standard called 802.11b. It was the first widely used standard incorporated in laptops. Under this frequency students could only transfer data between access points and their device at speeds up to 10 megabyte.

"We were at the situation where we've got 400 of these old crappy 802.11b access points that weren't doing too much for the students," Porter said.

When Cisco informed URI that it would no longer support the old Aironet system, Porter did what he called a "bake off." In the spring, technicians installed networks from different companies in Tyler Hall to find the best one. A network provided by Aruba took less than a day to set up, while the Cisco network took days to install. University officials started leaning toward Aruba and Cisco responded by offering lower prices. Aruba responded in kind. Ultimately the university selected Aruba and started installing the system over the summer.

"If we went with Cisco we would have to do a forklift upgrade [where] you throw everything out and you put all new stuff in. That doesn't sit too well with me," Porter said.

Aruba avoids that situation by allowing the university to use existing equipment with the help of a new central control box. Plus, the system runs on the 802.11g standard that can reach speeds up to 54mb. Soon URI will move to the 802.11n frequency that is powerful enough to watch streaming high-definition movies on a laptop in the middle of the Quadrangle.

Aruba also has adaptive radio management, which means access points automatically detect each other and adjust their frequencies so they do not interfere. Hence, the university can place more access points closer together. This provides more capacity and helps in situations such as large auditoriums where there could be 100 or more users.

In the Cisco system the access points would overlap, cause interference and slow connection speeds.

The communication fee each student pays, paid for $350,000 to install Aruba in the dorms. For the academic building installations, the university drew on a $200,000 state grant and $70,000 from general revenue. But the system remains incomplete.

"The problem is, there wasn't enough money so we currently have spotty wireless on the academic side," Porter said.

There are currently 800 Aruba access points and 70 more on order. By next fall URI officials hope to have around 1,500 access points at the Kingston, Narragansett Bay and Providence campuses. The university hopes to pay for the additional access points using a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.