In Pune, campus goes wire-free to network afresh

A fortnight from now, the entire 414 acres of the university is all set to go wi-fi. For the non-techies, this means that all roads, departments, hostel rooms, canteen and library will be connected by a wire-free local area network (LAN). You will be able to roam with a laptop from one zone to another without your screen registering even a minute disturbance.

‘‘We are providing certain departments with wireless LAN cards so that they can immediately connect to the system. The cost of the project was around Rs 75 lakh,’’ explains Vice-Chancellor Ashok Kolaskar. A hefty price-tag perhaps, but the future doesn’t come cheap.

Giving away the secret of the wi-fi zone are the discrete antennae that strategically peep out from department terraces, offices and along roadsides. Unlike a wired LAN, a wi-fi LAN relies on radio waves for data transfer. What this means is a whole new world of network infrastructure, one that can move with the user and change with the organisation.Ask Srinivas Nyayapathi of In touch India Network — he’s in charge of unfolding this miracle of sorts at the university — and he will reveal just how much hard work has gone into this: ‘‘At the back end, besides the highly specialised knowledge and technical skill, it’s all about sheer hard work — tampering with spools of cables, setting up the antennae and romping all over the campus.’’

The site survey in January 2003 meant walking around and mapping the whole campus for the In touch team. Months were spent in deliberations, discussions and waiting for the equipment orders before actual implementation began.

Now, with nearly 80 per cent of the project complete, it’s time to reap the benefits. However, if the wire-free tag gives you the impression that you can just stroll around with a laptop and get connected, things are not that simple. ‘‘First, one needs to be an authentic subscriber (students, faculty members, administrators) to log into the system. And one would need laptops with wire-free LAN cards,’’ explains Nyayapathi.

At the university, however, the mood is jubilant. To bring up the bomb of a budget and the fact that not all students have laptops is to quibble over details. What matters is that the future is here. And it will place the University right there on the popularity radar.