The Department of Networking and Telecommunications has been testing new technology, adding network infrastructure off campus, and upgrading the infrastructure of certain academic buildings. Networking and Telecommunications is in charge of planning and maintaining network infrastructure as well as the phone system. It also provides server level support for the SIS system.
Testing the feasibility of a voice-over-IP telephone system has been one of the department’s most recent projects. John Bradley, director of Networking and Telecommunications, says that this technology exemplifies economy of scale because one wire can be used for transmission of both voice and data. Voice over IP also offers the possibility of using a “soft phone” on the computer. The department has been testing this technology internally for the past few months and so far, it has appeared promising. Even though there are no plans to convert the existing phone system, Bradley said, “When the time comes to replace the existing phone system, we’ll be with the voice over IP approach.”
A new voicemail system is also being tested to replace the current 15-year-old system. The new system will have many additional features, in addition to the ability to add unified messaging—allowing people to check e-mail from voicemail and voicemail from e-mail.
Other upgrades on the academic side of campus include the CII and Lally Building being rewired. The rewiring of buildings will ripple through campus. Additionally, optical fiber is being run to downtown Troy to connect some research buildings. Fiber is also going to be run to connect the RPI and SUNY-Albany campuses. Wireless access within all academic buildings is expected to be available in the future as well.
Even though the academic side of campus has been upgraded to a 100 megabit connection, there are no current plans to upgrade the speed in residence halls. Bradley said Networking and Telecommunications took a look at upgrading to 100 megabit connection, but found that doing so would be cost prohibitive for the time being. Graham Doig, associate director of Networking and Telecommunications, said the cost of upgrading switches would approach $3,000 per switch with four to five switches per building. Additionally, each building would need around one gigabit of bandwidth out, with 10 gigabits being fed to the Voorhees Computing Center. The last time a major upgrade took place within residence halls was around five years ago when all hubs were converted to switches.
Other projects include testing the viability of wireless in the Houston Field House at the request of the athletics department. For example, whether or not the signal will travel through a crowd of people needs to be determined.
Bradley also said that there is an initiative to connect the Hartford campus to the same network as the Troy campus. This will help sustain Dr. Jackson’s initiative for increasing research at the Hartford campus.
Two other tasks with which the department has been involved include designing the infrastructure for the Biotechnology Center and EMPAC. The department helps plan locations of communication rooms and where to place switches within the buildings. A high speed connection between the Rensselaer Technology Park and EMPAC may also be implemented. Doig said that in addition to projects, managing the network from day to day can be a challenge, especially when worms and viruses infiltrate users’ systems. One of his department’s tasks is to inform people that their systems need to have antivirus software and not to open attachments from unknown people.
Bradley said that a forum may be created so that students can express their concerns about issues regarding Networking and Telecommunications. That concept is currently in the works.
