In the first few weeks of the fall semester, one of the busiest groups of students on campus has been the Office of Information Technology’s student technicians and the eSDSU Laptop Center.

The eSDSU Laptop Center was created in 2001, as the need for technical support for student laptops increased.

It first operated out of a single office in the basement of what is now Wagner Hall. The growth of the industry and the growth of the laptop center’s services led to the move to their current location in The Union, next to Information Exchange.

“Our services began to really grow and the space in The Union has worked out really well,” said Patricia Edler, manager of information technology, speaking on behalf of the eSDSU Laptop Center.

The eSDSU Laptop Center is now the only location on campus that will work on laptops, as the support desk in the Administration building now functions strictly as a call center, said Kyle Basler, a senior eSDSU technician.

“I think they made the move just to make it a little easier and streamline the process,” Basler said.

eSDSU student technicians face a bevy of problems when working on student laptops.

“Technicians assist with wireless set-up, software and spyware issues, trouble-shooting hardware problems, installing parts purchased privately by students and fielding general questions,” Edler said.

Basler has worked in the laptop center for more than two years and exceeds the minimum requirements to work at the center.

“eSDSU wants a minimum of six months of computer-related experience and then there is a lot of on-the-job training once you’re here,” Basler said. “You’ve got to have some idea of what’s going on with computers.”

All student technicians are evaluated, as they must demonstrate experience with laptops and customer service.

“Our office evaluates and provides feedback for the technicians to help them improve their skills and techniques,” Edler said. “Our student-customers are a great group to work with, as they are tech-savvy themselves. The beginning of the fall semester is always eSDSU’s busiest time period, and we appreciate everyone’s understanding as we work to get systems turned around as quickly as possible,” Edler said.

Kaitlin Wanek, a sophomore from Rapid City, said the laptop technicians were “very helpful” when dealing with her problems of setting up her Mac for the Internet after moving back to school.

“They knew quite a bit about what to do and how to set it up,” Wanek said.

Kyle Lewis, a freshman from Slayton, Minn., also said the laptop center did a good job with his PC after bringing it in twice.

“I’m not really sure what they did,” Lewis said. “They just gave it back and it worked better. I guess that’s all I could ask for.”

Other students may experience different outcomes from the center with their computer concerns.

Kirby Crofutt, a freshman from Delano, Minn., brought her Mac into the laptop center only to find out the technicians could not help her out.

“I brought my computer in and they tried to fix it but they told me there was nothing they could do to fix it. At least they were very helpful and gave me some options for what to do with it.”

The laptop center also understands that as technology evolves, so must their services.

“Right now, we must stay on top of issues relating to Windows 7 and Office 2010, as they are the latest versions of commonly used software, as well as new viruses that affect user systems,” Edler said.

The Office of Information Technology is also extremely excited about the new Active Learning Cloud, AL Cloud, on campus.

“The phrase “active learning’ means that everyone at SDSU8212;students, faculty, staff8212;will be able to engage in a more dynamic, engaged and interactive learning style anywhere and anytime on campus,” Edler said. “We are extremely excited and believe that the AL Cloud can help us accomplish that.”

The eSDSU Laptop Center is open Monday-Thursday (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Friday (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

If you are dissatisfied with the speed of Internet access on campus, this story may provide some food for thought.

Three common questions asked by students at the arrival of each semester: Where are my classes? Why are books so expensive? And why is the network so slow? Everyone was used to accessing the Internet at pretty fast speeds when they had broadband at home. However, a house full of people is nothing compared to usage on campus.

“We have seen (network capable device) usage rise steadily since we started tracking these trends,” said Michael Adelaine, vice president for Information Technology. When asked how many devices students use to access the Internet, Adelaine said, “Three,” indicating the average was higher.

With close to 13,000 students, having at least three network capable devices each, there are nearly 40,000 phones, notebooks, computers, gaming computers and video playback devices accessing the SDSU network daily.

“(The networking staff) are hardworking…and want to deliver a good product,” said James Beatty. “Dr. Adelaine’s drive is to make students happy.”

This does seem to be the case. Adelaine said there are between 30-40 gigabit or 10 gigabit switches/routers are being added to the network this semester. The switches and routers being replaced are older 10/100 network devices. Adelaine also points out many students are still using devices currently not capable of using the faster gigabyte routers and switches, and this may be why some students are experiencing slow connectivity.

Adelaine said his department is monitoring the network and analyzing the usage. If students exceed 70 percent bandwidth capacity for educational activities, the university has no problem opening up more bandwidth in the residential halls or common areas. The problem is a lot of the peak usage comes from students accessing the Internet for personal usage, like online gaming or video Internet devices.

While Adelaine has purchased plenty of Norton Anti Virus licenses for every student, you may want to look at other anti-virus applications. The fallacy of most anti-virus programs is the fact that they require periodic updates. If your computer become infected prior to the update being released you may still be capable of spreading malicious viruses.

Peter Tippett, vice president of research and technology for Verizon Business Security Solutions, and the original inventor of the software that became Norton Anti Virus (NAV) stated in an interview in the May 2005 edition of Australian Personal Computer (APG) Magazine that his software was never intended to require updates. Mike DiMichele of www.savemybutt.com and his fellow staffers have a strong dislike for NAV, regarding it as “bloatware”; software that grows, using more hard drive space over time. If you visit www.savemybutt.com you will find a list of software their staff has deemed as being reliable, user friendly and anti-bloatware. However, removing NAV is not necessarily a good choice.

“As long as (students) have current and up-to-date antivirus programs themselves, the school is not forcing them to have Symantic End Point (a version of NAV) on their system.” Hans Gildemeister, a junior and ResNet technician for Mathews Hall said. “However, this only applies to students using Vista and Windows 7.” Students using older Windows Operating Systems will still be required to have Symantic End Point installed on their systems.

Students who want to increase the speed of their connectivity can do a few things such as decrease the amount of devices used to access the Internet. With roughly 40,000 devices running constantly it is little wonder bandwidth is hard to come by at times. If students are planning on upgrading computers in the near future, they should consider systems with gigabit network cards and 801.11N wireless network cards. With the new gigabit routers and switches being added to the network, using antiquated network connections and having more then three networking devices on simultaneously are the students’ biggest bottleneck when trying to access the Internet.

SDSU students are on their way to having wireless Internet at almost all campus locations thanks to what is known as the Active Learning Cloud.

Last year’s 80 wireless Internet access points throughout the residence halls have increased to 466 access points. The university should have more than 850 points campus-wide by October.

“We now have well over 800 access points campus-wide, making wireless much easier for laptops to access,” said Mike Adelaine, vice president for information technology. “Berg and Bailey (Halls) also have more bandwidth and were rewired for Ethernet.”

Adelaine said the intent of AL Cloud was never to make SDSU a completely wireless campus because some of the programs used in the classrooms would be too slow with just wireless.

Last fall SDSU students utilized Mathews Hall as its pilot residence hall to assess whether a completely wireless hall would be viable. By the end of the semester university officials discovered the 37 access points installed were not efficient enough to suffice for the students living in Mathews, which can host 382 students at full capacity.

“Mathews was a trial and we found that is really didn’t work out the best, and some laptops weren’t capable of using that kind of access point,” Adelaine said.

To provide Mathews’ residents with faster Internet access SDSU re-installed Ethernet ports. This fall its students have both Ethernet and wireless Internet in their hall. Ethernet is available in every room and wireless Internet is accessible throughout the residence hall.

The university has spent approximately $900,000 on implementing AL Cloud, some of which came from student technology fees and some from the residence hall fee base.

In April 2009 the Board of Regents made the decision to have a $6 student technology fee per credit hour to help implement AL Cloud and other technology on campus.

“The Regents set that fee increase and then the residence hall fee base is $65 for each student,” Adelaine said.

By mid-October Information Technology plans to have everything in place needed to virtualize applications in course work, Adelaine said.

Another portion of the AL Cloud goal is not just implementing wireless Internet but also updating classrooms.

“Currently we updated 20 classrooms in addition to all of the new access points,” Adelaine said. “Fifteen classrooms were updated this summer and by October all classrooms will have wireless access.”

The updated classrooms have wireless Internet, new projectors, smart boards, and other technology that makes courses more user-friendly and modern.

“Smart classrooms help students be interactive in class and they can use their laptop to display their work in class,” Adelaine said.

Adelaine said the number of access points in each building or residence hall depends on what the structure is made of.

“For example Mathews has 66 access points and Pierson and the new residence halls have 73 access points,” he said. “Mathews is made up of a lot of brick and steel so it is going to need more points.

Caldwell on the other hand only has 31 access points but that’s a lot more compared to last fall when it only had three (access points),” he said.

This summer 130 faculty members went through training on how to implement AL Cloud’s features and technology into their classes.

Mary Bowne, assistant professor of early childhood education, helped to inform faculty members of their options at the training operation.

“I talked a little about what I do in my courses, but we also stress that if it doesn’t work for you, don’t use it,” Bowne said.

She said AL Cloud could provide many benefits.

“I think it will really bring awareness and exploration on what’s available to you and how it will help your course,” Bowne said. “In my online courses we have wonderful discussions that probably wouldn’t happen in a classroom because some students are more reserved.”

AL Cloud is a five-year plan that will be done in 2013. More infrastructures are needed and the plan will likely adjust as technology continues to develop.

“We hope to develop a strategy that is able to move in different directions as new technology comes into play,” Adelaine said.

#1.1573168:1057340450.jpg:Brianna Kunf, freshman, represents many other students who lack wireless internet across campus.:Brianna Kunf, freshman, represents many other students who lack wireless internet across campus.:COLLEGIAN PHOTO BY RYAN ROBINSON