This fall, students living in the Bursley and Baits residence units will be able to connect their personal computers to the campus network and campus computing sites using Ethernet, allowing them to take full advantage of the expanding array of distributed computing services currently under development at the University.
The students will be able to use their personal computers in their rooms for high-speed access to nearly 200 computer applications on servers at computing sites, as well as printing services and a vast array of other computing services.
Ethernet refers both to an international standard for local area networks (LANs) and the cabling that carries data supporting the standard. Ethernet allows computers and networks made by various manufacturers to interoperate at very high speeds. The U-M is one of the first universities in the nation to offer this high-speed connectivity to its students.
The Bursely-Baits Ethernet Project is part of a cooperative venture between the Information Technology Division (ITD), Housing Division and Res Comp, which provides computing facilities and services in the residence halls.
Bursley-Baits is the second hall to be wired for Ethernet. A pilot program took place at Mosher-Jordan last fall.
ITD staff note that many campus units also are installing Ethernet LANs and routing their network traffic over the campus backbone networks, rather than through the older secondary network.
