UCLA to try broadband wireless network pilot

  Photo Illustration by BRIDGET O’BRIEN and JARRETT
QUON/Daily Bruin Senior Staff If the goals of a UCLA pilot program
become a reality, members of the the campus community may be able
to log onto the information superhighway with no strings
attached.

By Shauna Mecartea
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Faculty and students may soon be able to surf the net while
eating lunch on the grass through a broadband campus wireless
network system that is under construction.

Communications Technology Services has launched a wireless pilot
initiative, which would provide the campus with wireless ethernet
connection if the test goes well.

“Overall, planning is moving forward. We have a good
implementation team,” said project manager Gwendolyn
McCurry.

The pilot, which is covering mostly North Campus areas, will
test for security, interoperability between different programs,
systems management, customer service and cost.

The approximately 200 faculty, staff and students to participate
in the pilot have not been selected, McCurry said.

Project members are installing antennas, which receive and
transmit the signals, in specific areas on campus for the pilot. If
the project continues, more antennas will be set up.

Once the pilot ends, campus officials will assess the initiative
and decide whether to approve it.

If they approve it, the implementation will phase in starting
mid-November for public use.

Tim Parker, an engineer for Apple Co. who is also working on the
pilot, said this kind of technology presents some problems.

“The biggest concern for everyone is security. The problem
is that wireless technology is in flux,” he said, adding that
it is difficult to balance between achieving optimal
interoperability and security.

Encryption, which is the scrambling of data, and authentication
are two measures of security that are used in the pilot which will
be tested.

While this type of technology has been researched in the past
and enacted in some universities, director of CTS Louis Hook said
the other universities who employed the system did not ensure
security and are now reinstalling newer systems.

“It sort of became the thing to do,” Hook said,
noting that agencies that rate colleges award more points to
campuses with wireless connection.

Parker agreed that wireless ethernet is used to make colleges
look good.

“Wireless Internet is part of a selling point for colleges
to students,” he said.

For more information on becoming a participant, contact
Gwendolyn McCurry at [email protected]. With
reports from Hemesh Patel, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.