On Friday, March 6, 2009, Information Technology Services (ITS) presented the latest information about the state of wireless networking on the university campus. The event was open to all interested parties on campus, including the general public, although some of the material was geared toward technical networking staff. The briefing included updates about the many ways that wireless networking is growing on campus, and the challenges of maintaining and expanding this large and popular service.
Wireless use continues to increase on campus. ITS projects that in Spring 2009, the university will have more than 3,000 wireless access points, and could reach nearly 10,000 simultaneous connections on the wireless network. Two years ago, the campus had slightly more than 2,000 wireless access points, and a maximum of about 5,500 simultaneous connections.
About 45,000 unique authorized users access the campus wireless service each semester. Half of these users use wireless on campus more than 25 days in a semester. In Fall 2008, authorized wireless network users on campus used approximately 10 million hours of connection time on the wireless network … more than a millennium.
"As dramatic as these growth curves may look, we're only beginning," noted ITS Director of Networking William Green. ITS is expecting an increased percentage of computers on the wireless network instead of the wired network as more users switch to laptop computers. In addition, more mobile devices are being used on the network. The number of "phones" connecting to the wireless network doubled in the last quarter.
In 2007, the university's authorized wireless access moved to the restricted.utexas.edu network. Green reported that 94 percent of wireless users have successfully made the transition to the restricted network. In addition, 75 percent of restricted users have switched from WPA to the new WPA2 protocol, and users are reporting that they find WPA2 more reliable for wireless connections.
The briefing also previewed upcoming wireless-related improvements and projects. Optional notifications will help students keep track of the amount of bandwidth they are using. This summer, ITS will add another method to access the restricted.utexas.edu network: Transport Layer Security (TLS). Another project in the works is a new way to let non-Resnet wireless users purchase more bandwidth if they exceed their quotas. Finally, a third-party wireless system is being developed for short-term guests on campus, which could be available as soon as this summer.
To support the increased use of the wireless network on campus, ITS hopes to work with departments to upgrade the hardware and increase the number of wireless access points in the buildings around campus. This would improve performance on the network's shared RF channels. One way to improve performance is to add channels by introducing 5 GHz-capable access points. Another way is to deploy the new 802.11n wireless standard that uses the limited RF channels more efficiently. 802.11n deployments will begin this summer for interested departments.
ITS also presented information about a special discount to university departments regarding wireless equipment upgrades. The offer will expire in July. For more information, contact the ITS Networking team at networking@its.utexas.edu.
The PowerPoint presentations from the briefing are available to view as PDFs:
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