Student rooms are hard-wired

By BRENT CUNNINGHAM
Reporter Staff

The project to wire every UB residence-hall room for high-speed data connections has been completed almost a year ahead of schedule, according to Director of Residential Life Joseph Krakowiak.

The new connections, free to on-campus residents, will not only function at speeds 10 to 100 times faster than the modems they are replacing, but also will relieve dormitory telephone lines from their double-duty as computer lines.

Krakowiak credits the joint effort of the residence halls and Computer and Information Technology (CIT) with the early completion of the project.

In order to connect to the service, students must live in one of the 5,400 rooms with the newly installed data drops. They also must own a computer that is Ethernet-compatible. Nearly all newer computers and many older ones are Ethernet-compatible.

Students also will have to configure their machines to go behind the "firewall" that protects student privacy at UB. Issues of security and accountability, said Krakowiak, quickly have come to the fore in electronic networking, making it impossible to allow students to "plug and go." He praised CIT for assembling documentation that guides students through the often-complicated process of self-configuration, and he noted the high percentage of students who are connecting to the university's mainframe without assistance this year.

On-campus residents who have difficulty accessing the university network can have their machines configured for them for free by contacting the CIT help desk, said Krakowiak.

The installation of the data drops was financed by the combined resources of the residence halls and the Student Technology Fee.