Students will finally have access to wireless Internet on campus this fall – six years after voters approved a bond measure that included money for the project, said Board of Trustees President Betsy Bechtel.The library, the campus center, the student and community services building, the Kirsch Center and the science center complex will be online, said Vice Chancellor and Chief Technology Officer for the District Willie Pritchard, in an e-mail interview.Bechtel says she hopes the installation will be finished by 2008, but only the first of three phases has been funded and planned.The first phase will involve finalizing the contract with WAN/LAN Solutions and installing cables and running tests, she Bechtel.”The timeline for Phases 2 and 3 will depend on the passage of Measure C in June,” said Pritchard.”If it passes, then we will be able to move forward, with Phase 2 likely happening during 2007 and Phase 3 in 2008,” he said.Money from Measure C, a proposed $490.8 million bond, will be used to upgrade and maintain existing buildings, construct new buildings, and purchase new equipment, according to www.yesonmeasureC.com.The estimated cost for all three phases for both campuses will be $810,000, Pritchard said, with the individual campuses funding the first phase.Phase I will cost around $60,000 for De Anza College, said Pritchard.Measure E, the $248 million bond passed in 1999, included money for implementing wireless Internet access. However, the project was halted because other projects ran over budget.Pritchard said he was frustrated with the bureaucratic hoops the district board of trustees had to jump through to get the wireless Internet project going again.After local companies did not donate enough software and equipment, the board took out a public bid.”As a public agency there are specific processes we are required to follow, including, in this case, going out for public bid,” Pritchard said.Going out for a public bid can be very time consuming, Pritchard said.
