Campus Computing - a Big Approach by a Small College
Charles V. Neal, Dennis H. Kelsey · 1993
The dorm dinner/dance lasted a bit longer than expected. It's past midnight, but one of the students is still wide awake and would like to wrap up and submit his marketing paper. No problem: He's in a computerized dormitory at Alfred State College. Putting microcomputers in residence halls is not a new or unique concept. Providing students the access and distributive computing capabilities found at Alfred State College, however, is. Located 75 miles south of Rochester, NY and officially known as the State University of New York, College of Technology at Alfred, ASC has developed one of the most extensive and sophisticated networks in the state of New York. With over 1300 computers serving 3400 students and 320 faculty, administrators and staff, the campus enjoys a 3:1 user-to-computer ratio and has in place an operational plan to continue enlargement of computing access and power. Two large residence halls are completely computerized. Each of the dorm rooms contains a 386sx microcomputer, with 2 MEG of memory, VGA card, I/O card, UTP network card and a monochrome monitor. Each is connected to the campus VAX network and is configured to provide concurrent access to NOVELL local area networks as well. The VAX also provides a direct link to the worldwide networks of BITNET and INTERNET. Students are given accounts and allocated file space as needed. Available to them are hundreds of contemporary software packages, ranging from current spreadsheet, word processing, and database programs, to curriculum specific software supporting over fifty allied health, business, engineering, vocational, and arts and science curricula. The network also contains numerous electronic games for entertainment during free time. Students and faculty can communicate via electronic mail on and off-campus. They can ship and share files electronically and have access to laser and high speed printers located in dormitory resource rooms and elsewhere on campus. All is in place to support the development of a truly paperless academic environment. Students who elect to live in a computerized residence hall are provided this electronic power for an access fee of just $ 100 per semester. They buy nothing. The campus owns the hardware and software, and maintains the network. Training on the use of the network is done by the Computer Center staff early in the fall semester and reinforced throughout the academic session in classes required in academic programs. The Campus Network The computer connection available on campus is supported by a fiber optic, star network with two 6610 VAX systems and eight workstations for disk and file services. This significant investment of money and time was made to advance a primary strategic goal of Alfred State College--to increase reliance on networking and information technology. The process started in 1989 and is continuing today. Resources have been committed to network the campus with a fiber optic backbone, to provide computing access in all student dormitory rooms, to develop computing labs throughout the college, and to computerize and interconnect all faculty and staff offices. To maximize the number of computers from available funds, the campus acquired large inventories of components and assembled workstations in-house, rather than purchasing pre-built units. Production line assembly and testing areas were set up during the summer months from 1989 through 1992. Students assisted in this major effort. Physical Plant personnel successfully tackled the problem of pulling fiber optic cable to buildings throughout the campus, saving thousands of dollars in the process. Once the fiber reached the building, the to each individual room was accomplished by using twisted pair wiring from the campus phone system, whereas thin wire was used for lab installation. …