Wireless service upgrade planned for 2008

April 21, 2008 —

Information Technology Services plans to upgrade SVSU's wireless system this fall. New management tools and software will allow ITS to centrally manage all of the campus' access points from one workstation, which Executive Director of ITS Ken Schindler says will drastically increase the stability of the network.

"This is going to be a major step up," he said. "We're going to an industrial strength wireless network for the first time."

Previously, all of the access points to the wireless network were managed individually. If one access point stopped functioning, ITS had to repair it on-site.

The upgrade comes as wireless Internet-capable devices such as laptops and cellular phones are becoming increasingly visible on campus. Schindler said that originally, SVSU installed the wireless hotspots for the sake of convenience, and not out of necessity, given the large number of wired ports and open lab computers on campus. On SVSU's Web site, the wireless network overview explicitly states that wireless service is not "mission critical."

"[We thought] we're going to put these wireless hotspots up for the convenience of the students," he said, referring to ITS's original plans for wireless access.

ITS's decision to invest in new management tools could reflect the beginning of a gradual change in SVSU's vision for wireless on campus, and the new Pine Grove apartments will have wireless access points preinstalled.

Schindler also said that ITS is exploring prices for a new wireless system in the existing living facilities, although no decisions have been made regarding such a purchase.

Schindler says SVSU still can't support wireless devices that don't use the WPA encryption algorithm, even after the software upgrade that will increase the network's stability.

"We cannot support every device you can get at a Best Buy," he said.

Currently, most wireless devices, especially handheld wireless devices like the iPhone, use WEP encryption, which Schindler says is unacceptably insecure.

"A sophomore CIS student with a decent workstation can hack WEP encryption in 10 to 15 minutes," he said.

Schindler said some companies - Apple included - are testing WPA encryption on unreleased versions of their hardware, which SVSU will support.

Schindler said that Delta College only requires WEP authentication for access to its wireless network because services containing sensitive information like Blackboard, e-mail and Web site usage are restricted. He said that SVSU wanted its wireless network to allow students full and safe access to all of the University's online services and the entire Web.

SVSU currently has 22 public hotspots and many more access points in various offices on campus. There are no plans to make campus entirely wireless, and classrooms are specifically omitted from the wireless network.