 |
|
|
INSIDE IOWA STATE
June 14, 2002
New route for info highway
 |
This raceway in the Communications Building holds new
"high-speed" wiring that can handle communication speeds of 1,000 million
bits per second. Photo by Bob Elbert. |
by Linda Charles
When telecommunications staff and their contractors complete a multi-year
upgrade of several buildings on campus, they will have strung about 6,000
miles of wire -- a little farther than the distance from Des Moines to Tel
Aviv.
The five-year project will equip 100 academic and administrative buildings
with new communications wiring and switchgear capable of handling future
high-speed performance demands. It also will make the campus network more
secure, reliable and efficient, said John Kingland, director of
telecommunications.
In the process, more than 9,000 miles of old wire will be removed, 30,000
voice data jacks will be replaced with 20,000 new ones, and the number of
equipment rooms will be greatly reduced.
"The last time campus communications wiring was replaced was in 1985,"
Kingland said. "At that time, Iowa State installed a telephone system and
what was then considered a high-speed data network."
That "high-speed" wiring, the highest quality available in 1985, could
handle 19,200 bits of data per second.
"By comparison," Kingland said, "the wiring we are installing today will
handle communication speeds up to, and exceeding, 1,000 million bits per
second."
Campus buildings constructed during the past four years, including those in
the residence hall system, have been wired to the new telecommunications
industry standard. Residence halls also have been upgraded as existing
buildings were remodeled.
Buildings slated for rewiring this year are Bessey, Communications, Coover,
Davidson, Kildee/Meat Lab, Lagomarcino, MacKay, Molecular Biology, Parks
Library, Physics (except Physics Addition), Ross, Science I and II, and
Snedecor. Eighteen buildings currently are on the upgrade planning list.
Older computers, printers and other devices will continue to work, Kingland
said, but the new wiring and equipment provides the technical capability and
option for higher communication speeds.
"The bottom line," he said, "is we need to have the capability to rapidly
move data bits around campus to handle applications like streaming video,
large file transfers, Web traffic and e-mail."
|
Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111
Published by: University Relations,
online@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1995-2001, Iowa State University. All rights reserved.
|
|