|
Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is supporting the University’s drive to help students get online with a wireless roadshow, visiting the Student Union on March 11th and 12th to demonstrate the company’s Intel® Centrino® mobile technology. Laptops that are based around the technology have longer battery life, fast processing power - the processor is the brains inside a PC - and allow wireless connection to the growing number of Internet hotspots. Intel® Centrino® mobile technology based laptops also enable designs to become thinner and lighter – so carrying one round all day won’t weigh you down.
Students will be able to experience the range of Intel® Centrino® enabled laptops on display, as well as get the chance to win a wireless laptop of their own to take full advantage of the new campus technology.
Wireless Internet access - Wi-Fi - will give the 23,000 University of Sheffield students (and the 5,500 staff) access to the Internet while they are out and about on campus, provided they are within range of a ‘hotspot’, a wireless Internet access point that gives users access to the web without the need for wires. The Union of Students currently estimates that there are more than ten hotspots around the campus, and the recent launch of the hotspots at the Union building will add to this network to give students unprecedented access to the Internet.
More areas are due to be covered after Easter this year, which will cement The University of Sheffield’s position as one of the first Universities in the country to go wireless. Other universities to take up the technology so far include Manchester, Bristol, Wolverhampton and Sheffield Hallam University.
Tim Hatch from Intel explains: “With greater pressure on University computer rooms than ever before, it’s time students are able to work from other areas on campus. Hotspots and wireless-enabled laptops such as those based on Intel® Centrino® mobile technology give students the freedom to do their research, check their email and send in their essays from campus – whether it’s from the lecture hall or even the beer garden!”
Dan Mitchell, Union President, University of Sheffield Union of Students says: “I think that this new system will be fantastic for our students. With more and more of our students coming to University with laptops nowadays I think that we need this technology to support the demand from the sheer amount of students using computers for their work.”
Chris Sexton, Head of Corporate Information and Computing Services at the University of Sheffield says, “This investment is about making it as easy as possible for our students to study on their own terms. Wireless connections will become increasingly important over the next few years and we want to ensure that our students can take full advantage of the new technology.”
|
