SHU Deploys Wireless Network

FAIRFIELD — Sacred Heart University has become one of the first higher educational institutions in the country to provide its students with wireless access to the University’s computer network from any location on the Fairfield campus. This new network will enable students to benefit from a technologically-enriched learning environment where they will have instant access to information – whether they need to find a document, send an e-mail, receive a class assignment, or conduct research on the Internet.

Sacred Heart University selected Symbol Technologies, Inc., a pioneer in wireless technologies based in Holtsville, N.Y., to provide its students with wireless connectivity service. By implementing a wireless local area network, the university greatly reduced students’ dependence on network access through phone dial-up or hard-wired connections. Symbol’s wireless system was deployed in the form of small and inconspicuous antennas mounted in various areas throughout campus.

Each laptop will be fitted with a special wireless radio card supplied by Symbol to connect to the wireless network. Data sent through the wireless network may be encrypted to ensure its security. This year, over 1,100 of the University’s 2,600 undergraduate students, including all incoming freshmen and transfer students, received laptops with the connection to the wireless network. In addition, the laptops for the full-time faculty are being fitted with the wireless connection. The remaining laptops will be fitted for the connection over the next three years.