UTSA AirRowdy Wi-Fi system takes flight July 30

(July 19, 2004)--UTSA enters a new age of computing power July 30 when the new Main Building opens at the 1604 Campus and the first campus wireless hot spot will be available to students, faculty and staff members.

Hot spots are areas where equipment known as access points provides a connection to a computer network without a phone line or cable modem.

The Wi-Fi (or wireless fidelity) project, known as AirRowdy in honor of the university mascot, will allow users with laptop PCs to surf the Internet, log on to the university Web site and search the library catalog.

In order to access most services such as the ASAP student information system, students will log on to the network using their student computing lab user I.D. and password. Faculty and staff will use their UTSA network user I.D. and password.

Faculty and staff members who want to access systems or computer applications not available via the Web must install the UTSA VPN client on their laptops.

Users who are not current students or faculty/staff members will be able to access only the UTSA and UTSA Library Web sites. For more extensive access, guests will need to complete an access form and have the department they are visiting submit the form to the Help Desk in order to have a new account created.

Wireless users will need a laptop PC with an installed Network Interface Card (NIC) that supports the 802.11g wireless protocol as well as a Java-enabled Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape.

The eighteen-month wireless project ultimately will provide wireless access at all three UTSA campuses -- 1604, Downtown and Institute of Texan Cultures. Wireless hot spots will be available in classrooms and common meeting areas such as the Sombrilla Plaza.

For more information, contact Charlotte Colbert, UTSA Technology Support Services director, at 210-458-5886.

Read more at the AirRowdy Web site, the official UTSA wireless information resource.

--Alex Morones