Dartmouth College, dubbed "Unplugged U" by Wireless Magazine in 2002, announced its plans to converge voice, television and Internet through the school's network on Wednesday, giving the school an even sharper technological edge.
Dartmouth went wireless in 2001 and made the switch to Voice over Internet Protocol phone systems in 2004. Now, thanks to the Video Furnace video-over-the-network system, students may access cable television by visiting "http://license" through any computer connected to the campus network via Ethernet cable. The Video Furnace system works on Microsoft, Macintosh and Linux operating systems.
In addition, Dartmouth is also hoping to expand its VoIP network, which allows users to make phone calls over the internet, either using IP phones, offered in many new dorms, or "softphones" -- virtual phones which allow users to make phone calls from their computers. The college already offers softphones for PCs, and hopes to have a Macintosh alternative by the fall.
"We've built a converged network," Director of Technical Services Brad Noblet said. "What that means is that we now use one infrastructure to effect communications for voice, and now for video, in addition to being available on the wired portions of the network."
Wireless video access, which is currently limited to certain areas of campus, will be available campus-wide to all students with a 802.11a wireless network card in the fall. This will require a change in wireless cards for most students, as the majority of campus computers currently feature 802.11b or 802.11g cards. The upgrade will also put an end to traditional coaxial cable access and students will need a set top box converter to watch video on their old television sets.
Noblet stated that the new system, while costing the College half a million dollars in new hardware and integration, will save Dartmouth much more, since the cost to update the old coaxial system would have been anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 million dollars.
Computer science professor David Kotz, however, was quick to note that the new system consists of much more than simply transferring television data over the network.
"This is more than just getting rid of the cable TV plant and getting TV over the Internet on campus," he said. "It's giving us an opportunity to get video on demand for a variety of purposes. It's not like you need to go to the cable TV channel, get a slot, and hope people tune in at that time. You just get your camera, film your content and people can watch it anytime they want."
The system expands the current 62-channel capacity of the station to nearly a thousand, allowing teachers and students to create their own "channels" to share video for classes.
"The new video capability is very exciting. It will certainly expand the options for students and faculty members to work together to complete assignments and think creatively about new kinds of critical assignments," Thomas Luxon, director of the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, said.
Luxon went on to envision a Dartmouth where students include video clips in their papers instead of quotes, researching and writing papers on a completely digital medium.
The recent upgrades to the college were also featured in a New York Times article that ran yesterday.
"The New York Times article emphasized the television aspect of it, although when you think about it, wireless TV is something we actually invented 50 years ago," Kotz said with a laugh.
