Roaming Ethernet Hits Campus Next Week

Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services' (HASCS) long- deferred promise of roaming ethernet access will soon become a reality.

Starting at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 15, students will no longer be required to register their computer with a particular ethernet jack.

Instead, they will be allowed to carry their computers with them--to house libraries, dining halls and common rooms--and plug into Harvard's network wherever is convenient.

At first, roaming ethernet will only function in the Houses and Yard dormitories.

Lamont Library, Widener, Annenberg and faculty offices will not see the change for some time to come.

"FAS network operations is going to try to roll out roaming in academic and faculty buildings in the coming year," says Kevin S. Davis '98, the coordinator for residential computing at HASCS.

HASCS has long promised that roaming ethernet was right around the corner. However, before the change could take place, HASCS had to complete substantial upgrades to its network.

Currently, computers on the FAS network are connected through a series of "hubs." Under the hub system, data is broadcast en masse to all the computers on the network. Individual computers must then snag data that is intended for them.

Now, in order to make the change to roaming ethernet, Harvard is upgrading to a switch system, because of concerns that roaming ethernet would compromise the safety and reliability of a hub system.

Under a switch system, the network directs data so that it goes only to its intended user.

Davis, who is also a Crimson editor, said that HASCS has been hesitant to undertake substantial changes to the network until just the right moment presented itself.

"There is, of course, a risk that things will not go well," Davis said. "This change will be as large a change to the FAS network as has occurred in the eight or so years it's been around."

The upgrade will mean that users running Windows 3.1, or older versions of Mac OS, will no longer be able to connect to the FAS network.

Additionally, students remaining over the summer will not be able to host web pages on their computers--although Davis said that further software upgrades should allow for this capability by the time students return in the fall.

In order to take advantage of the change, students will need to re-run HASCS's net-connect utility.