The hottest spots in Towson

Photos by Desirée Meyers

TU access provides wireless 'hot spots' uptown

By Jan Lucas

An innovative campus/county partnership is transforming the area near Baltimore County’s Old Courthouse into a magnet for al fresco work and Web-surfing.

The notebook computer users now tapping away on park benches can thank some farsighted administrators at TU for their Internet access.

When the university went wireless in early 2005, the Division of Economic and Community Outreach (DECO) and the Office of Technology Services (OTS) took the lead in discussing how TU might facilitate the introduction of free Wi-Fi service to selected areas of Towson. 

“It was definitely something that President Caret was thinking about, too,” says Jeff Schmidt, OTS associate vice president and chief information officer. "After the campus wireless rollout, we were in a position to provide access to our wireless network for some of our uptown neighbors."   

Last summer James Sheehan, vice president for Administration and Finance and CFO, James Clements, acting provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and Schmidt met with Baltimore County officials about collaborating to offer the service.

“They understood the potential and were looking to do something,” says Schmidt. “Basically the discussions boiled down to where and when to roll it out.”

Once they decided on five hot spots near the Old Court House, the County Courts Building, the County Office Building and the Jefferson Building, county officials spent about $80,000 for the necessary infrastructure.

That expenditure included the equipment needed to create a “wireless bridge” between Cook Library and the Old Court House. The TU antenna, which Schmidt describes as resembling a “white hockey puck,” sends a signal to the county’s antenna about a half-mile to the north, linking the uptown hot spots to TU’s network.

The free wireless access debuted last month with a joint TU/Baltimore County news conference with President Robert L. Caret and County Executive Jim Smith.   

Plans call for creating additional hot spots near the Towson Library and along the York Road corridor this summer. And county officials are testing an encrypted part of the network that would extend wireless access to police and firefighters at some point.

“Wireless access is a wonderful resource,” says Schmidt, “not only for Towson residents, employers and workers, but for students as well.”

Provost Clements describes the partnership as “a perfect example of a project that fits into President Caret’s vision for 2010. We’re really excited to have been able to help Towson go wireless.”

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