Duke Heaton, wireless network engineer, is in charge of the new system and has been involved in the process since its commencement. He explained why the decision was made to change the university’s wireless system.
Heaton said that 50 percent of the calls to the IT Help Desk were related to problems with the wireless on campus, and the majority of those calls were about the CISCO Clean Access agent. He explained that the problems reported to the help desk indicated that the system was outdated and needed to be changed, especially the CISCO agent.
“It [CISCO] has always been a pain,” Heaton said. “The blue box that pops up and scans every time. It takes forever.”
The IT Department, headed by Ray Walker, Associate Vice President of Information Technology, began to investigate options and found a solution in Bradford Networks, the industry leader.
“The new system automates the whole process,” Heaton said. “It has you download an agent, you sign in once and then you never see it again. The new agent very non intrusive compared to CISCO”
Students connect to “Wolverine-WiFi,” then download the access agent and log in. After the initial login, the computer will automatically connect to “Wolverine-Secure.” The new system and agent are compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
Heaton said the new wireless is also much easier to use on a phone or similar device. Previously, connecting with a mobile device required registration and logging in every visit to campus. The new system has a one-time login.
“Once you’re associated with your device, it registers and lets you on automatically,” Heaton said.
The old wireless network will be active and available until the end of the semester, but students returning in Jan. will need to use the new system. Heaton said that in the first two days, 2000 people had registered and were using the new wireless.
Joshua Wartena is a student at Utah Valley University and copyeditor/Assistant News Editor for the UVU Review. Email: joshua.wartena@gmail.com
