Unplugged: CIT rolls out 'RedRover' wireless networking on campus

By Bill Steele

Look up Internet references from a table in the library. Send e-mail from the Ivy Room. Turn in your homework sitting on the quad.

It all becomes possible this fall (well, working on the quad is a little iffy), as Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) rolls out wireless networking on campus. If you're willing to invest in a wireless card for your laptop you'll eventually be able to connect to the Cornell LAN at any of 120 locations around campus without plugging into anything. The new service, dubbed "RedRover," will be free for at least the first year. Operating costs are being funded by the Provost's office. A generous donation to Cornell University Library from an anonymous benefactor has supplied capital costs for access points in the libraries.

Liz Davis, wireless LAN manager for Cornell Information Technoligies, tries out RedRover access in Trillium. In addition to areas of Kennedy Hall, the service is available now in most campus libraries, several engineering buildings and Willard Straight Hall. Bill Steele/Cornell News Service

Access points are being installed first in common areas of the libraries. Study areas and common rooms in residence halls will be next. Balch, Cascadilla, Clara Dickson, Low Rise 8 (HILC), Low Rise 10/Ujamaa, Class of '28 Hall, Class of '22 Hall, Latino Learning Center, Akwe:kon, and Hughes Hall are slated for installation during the early fall, along with the Campus Store. RedRover will also be taking over the access points used by the Nomad project, a study of wireless use conducted over the last two years by the Communications and Computer Science departments with select groups of students. Nomad sites include several student unions and classroom areas in Olin, Upson and Rhodes halls and the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Cornell has been slower than some other schools in jumping on the wireless bandwagon, partly because it's much more difficult and expensive to cover a large campus and partly because CIT has been proceeding cautiously. "Cornell is at the forefront of technology," said Don Schweikert, CIT's acting associate director of network engineering and infrastructure. "We offer our students reliable and advanced technology as soon as it's feasibly possible, and wireless access is now mature enough to be reliable."

To connect to the service you must have a wireless card installed in your laptop. The card is really a small radio transceiver that connects to the larger transceivers installed in each access point. The access devices, in turn, are wired into the Cornell LAN. CIT recommends the Enterasys (formerly Cabletron) RoamAbout network interface card. It is available at the Cornell Store for $159.95. The service is also compatible with integrated cards in laptops, such as the Airport card in Macintosh Powerbooks.

The first time users connect wirelessly, they will be asked to register. Registration records the hardware address of the wireless card for troubleshooting purposes. A Cornell NetID is required, so for the time being visitors to the campus will not be able to use the service.

The speed of a wireless connection will vary with conditions and the number of people connected to an access point, according to Liz Davis, wireless LAN program manager for CIT. A speed of up to 11 megabits per second is possible, she said, but "that's if you're the only person connected and conditions are perfect." Speed will also depend on distance from the access device and possible interference from other devices, she added.

Each access point will support up to about 30 connections at one time. The area covered will vary depending on building construction. It is possible that in some cases signals will reach beyond the outside walls of buildings, making it possible to connect from nearby, but the system isn't intended to provide outdoor service at this time, Davis said. That could be done in the future by installing access points on the outsides of buildings, but that's not in plans for this first year, she said.

A list of sites with details on the service in each building and a map of RedRover locations are available at the RedRover web site: http://www.cit.cornell.edu/redrover/. CIT will be updating this site as the new wireless network is installed and customer information is developed. Colleges or departments interested in adding RedRover service to offices or classrooms during the 2002-03 academic year should contact Davis at redrover@cornell.edu.

RedRover sites

Future sites:
Physical Sciences Library (Clark Hall)
ILR Library (Ives Hall)
Entomology Library (Comstock Hall)
Hotel Library (Statler Hall)
Hughes Hall
Cascadilla Hall
Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
Cornell Store
Africana Studies and Research Center
International Living Center
Ujamaa
Akwe:kon
Balch Hall
Clara Dickson Hall
Latino Living Center
Class of '22 Hall
Class of '28 Hall
Library Annex
Geneva Library of the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station