Wednesday, October 11, 2000

Universities Find Wireless Systems Bring Them Convenience and Savings By SCOTT CARLSON Ask administrators about the benefits of wireless technology, and they'll tell you about "ubiquitous computing," about students who download their e-mail as they walk The third of four articles in a series Monday: The Wireless Revolution Tuesday: SUNY's Morrisville Campus Sees Wireless Computing as a Way to Create a Niche Thursday: Carnegie Mellon Works to Make Computers Invisible and Pervasive across campus, about computer classes and laboratories that meet outside on the grass. But they eventually reveal another motivation for going wireless: The technology is good for the bottom line. Wireless technology is often less expensive than standard wire-and-wall-jack installation. In older buildings, wireless access may cost only a fifth of what an institution would spend on standard hookups. As more and more colleges take advantage of such savings, the technology is starting to move into the mainstream -- so much so that some administrators think prospective students will soon look for it among colleges they're considering. But the mainstreaming of wireless technology also means it's harder for colleges to find promotional discounts from vendors. For some institutions, wireless networks make sense even without promotional discounts. Buena Vista University, in Iowa, jumped into a wireless program after officials there saw that it would save time and money in the university's effort to provide network access throughout the campus. Until Buena Vista adopted the wireless strategy a little more than a year ago, the university had a three-year plan to wire its 41 classrooms at a minimum cost of about $5,000 per room. But with a wireless system, officials at Buena Vista figured that they could provide Internet access to the entire campus within a year. In fact, most of the installation of the wireless system took place over two weeks this past summer. And hanging one or two access points in a room was cheaper than drilling out the walls and floors and adding dozens of wall-jack ports. Buena Vista officials estimate that adding wireless access cost about $1,000 per classroom. The university put the equipment contract out for bid, and Lucent Technologies won the job. The wireless systems also solved an access problem in the university's dormitory rooms, each of which has only one Ethernet port. "That is one of the issues we looked at when we went with wireless," says Ken Clipperton, the university's managing director of information services. "Only one student could work though the port at a time -- would they arm-wrestle for it? That was a real problem, and wireless was a beautiful solution." In the end, the university spent about $650,000 on its wireless system, in which a network of 130 access points covers the 60-acre campus. About $225,000 of that amount paid for about 1,500 wireless cards for laptops. About $152,000 was spent on access points and installation. The rest of the money was used to make the university's network more robust to handle the increased traffic of a "ubiquitous-computing environment." Mr. Clipperton says the university saved some money by conducting its own "site survey" -- the analysis of wireless-signal strength at different places on campus that determined where access points should be installed. Consultants generally charge $50,000 to $100,000 for a site survey, depending on the size of the institution. Other universities seek to reduce costs by forming partnerships with wireless-technology companies. "Those top-10 institutions get everything for free, while we have to struggle," says Thomas Gaylord, chief information officer at the University of Akron. "We have to be much more clever and much more aggressive to reap some of the benefits that come to institutions that have long-standing partnerships with these companies." The University of Akron cut a deal with Aironet Wireless Communications/Cisco Systems for a discount of more than half the list price of access points and wireless cards. In return, the university will develop a Cisco-certified training program tied to its electrical-engineering degree. The university will test new products on the campus and will also be a show place for new Cisco technology. "People from all over the world will be coming to Aironet to look at the latest technologies developed by Cisco, and as part of that tour they can see a 180-acre campus with a massive deployment of the latest technologies," Mr. Gaylord says. He says the university is talking to several major laptop manufacturers in the hopes of working out an "I.B.M. ThinkPad University-type partnership." Before wireless, Mr. Gaylord had expected that wiring the university's old library, for example, would cost $800,000. He says putting a wireless system in the library will cost $80,000, plus the university will spend $200,000 to buy 100 laptops for use in the building. "You get tremendously more for the dollar," he says. The partnership may even pay off in some unexpected ways. Akron's seven computer labs occupy "prime real estate" on the campus. Turning part of the library into a computer lab will free up the old lab rooms for classes. "Think outside the box in terms of how this technology can be used. Two years of using those seven classrooms only 50 percent of the time have paid for the entire infrastructure for wireless," Mr. Gaylord says. "When you start looking at [wireless systems] from a cost-benefit analysis, you will see schools charging toward wireless." Not everyone is as confident as Mr. Gaylord, as he acknowledges. "Most universities are not in the wireless game because they can't see where it's going to go and because it costs some money to get into the game," he says. Vendors are working to make sure the purchasing process, at least, is as easy as possible for customers. Allan R. Scott, a business manager for Lucent's wireless sales, says that in recent months service providers have started to offer complete wireless packages to smaller colleges. The service provider will offer Internet access along with a site survey, wireless installation, and maintenance. "These service providers will go in there and they'll do everything, and the school just pays for it on a monthly basis," he says. "It's completely outsourced service, and this makes sense for a lot of schools, particularly the schools that aren't as well endowed as the Harvards or the M.I.T.'s." But to make the wireless system worthwhile, a college or university also has to get laptops into the hands of students. Buena Vista's students receive Gateway laptops in return for paying higher tuition, which rose by about $1,000 a year when the program started. Buena Vista officials estimate that $650 of that goes toward the lease of the computer, which costs about $750 annually; the university has reallocated money in its computer-lab budget to cover the additional $100. Mr. Gaylord argues that officials will need to make such investments as wireless systems become a standard feature, and not just a novelty, at colleges across the country. "I think if a university doesn't get into wireless now, they are going to take a recruitment hit," he says. But there are some indications that the window has closed for such promotional partnerships now that wireless systems are popular. Joseph B. Landwehr, a technology-planning consultant for the University of Cincinnati, says that while companies often give universities new equipment to test, "we haven't had [wireless companies] knocking down our door saying, 'Try our stuff.'" He notes that companies offered free trial versions of first-generation equipment. "But that sort of went away," he says. "I suspect that there is enough demand right now that you're going to find them if they don't try to find you." Mr. Scott, from Lucent, confirms that the days of promotional trials are over. "At this point," he says, "it's a mainstream product." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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