Krzyzewskiville is in the midst of a technological revolution: It's about to become a wireless, internet-accessible city.
Bob Currier, director of data communications at the Office of Information Technology, announced yesterday that the K-ville faithful will be able to access both e-mail and the World Wide Web from their tents with new technology that has already been installed-provided they have the proper equipment.
A central, shoebox-size transmitter has already been installed in a second-floor room in Brownstone Dormitory overlooking K-ville. Students who wish to utilize the service must have an IBM or IBM-compatible computer with Windows 95 and obtain an ethernet-card-like device that plugs into the laptop computer.
Akom-the Connecticut-based company responsible for providing the new technology-has agreed to use K-ville as its pilot program. It has provided 25 of the laptop devices for students free of charge, which allow them free wireless Internet access from K-ville this semester.
Currier said any students with laptop PCs who are interested in participating in the pilot program can obtain the hardware by contacting him at rdc@netcom.duke.edu. Only the 25 trial units are available this semester.
The central transmitter that provides Internet access for the 25 units rests just inside the window in Brownstone, where it will remain until Feb. 28. The coverage area for the service extends from Brownstone to Card Gym.
Currier said the transmission speed is about 100 times faster than a modem connection, but slightly slower than a traditional ethernet connection. But students, he noted, should not be able to detect a difference between the wireless and ethernet connection speeds.
Although each transmitter has the capacity to support about 60 users, Akom Director of Sales and Marketing William Singley recommended that only 18 to 20 use it at one time. Eventually the system will be able to be upgraded to support more users.
Singley predicted that although comparable technology is currently unavailable for Macintosh users, an Apple version would be available within three months. Because Akom's target crowd is the college market, Singley recognizes the need for Macintosh technology, noting that the University's campus is about 50-percent IBM users and 50-percent Macintosh users.
In time, Currier said, wireless Internet service could be available in frequently visited campus locations such as the Sarah P. Duke Gardens or the West Campus Main Quad. Such services, however, would require transmitters to be placed in locations facing open areas for easy transmission.
"We're putting the 'portable' back in portable computers," Singley said.
Although Akom has provided about 25 devices for free, Singley estimated that if the program is successful, each will cost future customers approximately $300.
For many, information transmitted across a wireless service raises some security questions. Singley said, however, that a frequency hopping spread spectrum will prevent anyone from tapping into the transmission by breaking the information into pieces, encrypting it and bouncing it across multiple frequencies.
Similar devices are currently being tested at offices at the University of Tennessee and the library at Vanderbilt University, where Akom is piloting the service in an indoor setting.
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