2008 Woodie Awards
Students enjoy increased Internet speed and bandwidth
Other ITS projects on the way
Caitlin Williamson
Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Features
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Information Technology Services increased the amount of Internet bandwidth available to Lawrence students, faculty, and staff as of June 30. The increase in bandwidth was in response to the increasing demand for the services ITS provides.
"'Internet bandwidth' refers to the information-carrying capacity of our connection to the Internet," according to the ITS Web site.
The increase only affected the connection to the public Internet, as opposed to within the Lawrence network. For example, searching on Google, watching YouTube, and using Facebook should work faster as a result of this change.
"What's happening is the entire campus is sharing our connection to the Internet, so there's a limit on how quickly you can connect based on how many people use it," said Steve Hirby, chief information officer for ITS.
In addition to increasing the amount of bandwidth, ITS implemented a bandwidth-management system that monitors how bandwidth is being used and tries to distribute it fairly.
The system limits the amount of bandwidth any single user can consume, as Lawrence has a fixed amount to use. Last year, the Internet connection speed was 20 megabytes per second. This year the speed was increased to 45 megabytes per second.
"During the daytime on weekdays, we give priority to things that occur in classrooms, faculty offices or administrative offices," Hirby said. "Then on weekends, those priorities are lowered, and general use is more possible. Because we had more bandwidth available, we upped the limits on how much individual users can consume, and we offered a lot more bandwidth to gaming, because they really notice if the network is slow or unresponsive."
The mission of ITS is to "provide the campus community with reliable, up-to-date computing and network services in support of teaching, learning, living, and administrative activities at Lawrence."
The increase in Internet bandwidth and downloading speed is one of several projects ITS has planned for this year. According to Hirby, students last year expressed concerns about the responsiveness of the Internet and downloading speed.
"'Internet bandwidth' refers to the information-carrying capacity of our connection to the Internet," according to the ITS Web site.
The increase only affected the connection to the public Internet, as opposed to within the Lawrence network. For example, searching on Google, watching YouTube, and using Facebook should work faster as a result of this change.
"What's happening is the entire campus is sharing our connection to the Internet, so there's a limit on how quickly you can connect based on how many people use it," said Steve Hirby, chief information officer for ITS.
In addition to increasing the amount of bandwidth, ITS implemented a bandwidth-management system that monitors how bandwidth is being used and tries to distribute it fairly.
The system limits the amount of bandwidth any single user can consume, as Lawrence has a fixed amount to use. Last year, the Internet connection speed was 20 megabytes per second. This year the speed was increased to 45 megabytes per second.
"During the daytime on weekdays, we give priority to things that occur in classrooms, faculty offices or administrative offices," Hirby said. "Then on weekends, those priorities are lowered, and general use is more possible. Because we had more bandwidth available, we upped the limits on how much individual users can consume, and we offered a lot more bandwidth to gaming, because they really notice if the network is slow or unresponsive."
The mission of ITS is to "provide the campus community with reliable, up-to-date computing and network services in support of teaching, learning, living, and administrative activities at Lawrence."
The increase in Internet bandwidth and downloading speed is one of several projects ITS has planned for this year. According to Hirby, students last year expressed concerns about the responsiveness of the Internet and downloading speed.
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