What effects will wireless technology and networks have on campus ID programs?

Jeff Zander, Vice President, General Meters:
“As the reliability (of wireless network technology) increases and costs decrease, campuses will further explore their wireless options. Reliability (through steel/concrete) and cost (when compared against existing campus network structures in the US) have been primary reasons why wireless technology has been in limited use in the US campus card market.”

Mark Reinart, Mgr Marketing Systems & Development, Diebold:
“Campuses are implementing wireless networking for student access to a variety of services. New generation card systems are positioned to take advantage of this infrastructure to provide portability of debit devices for remote and mobile transactions like transportation and special events that are not location-based.”

Bruce Lane, Vice President, CBORD Group:
“Eventually they should have some important effects as wiring, even network wiring, for auxiliary services always seems to be “down the list” for the IT staff at many schools. Key expectations that will need to be moderated relate to transmission distances that can be expected at reasonable prices and issues of security.”

Jim Hermens, General Mgr of Transaction Systems, Blackboard:
“We anticipate a tremendous growth of wireless applications for the simple reason that this extends the core campus transaction infrastructure beyond its historically limited physical distribution. As with many areas of financial services, the web, wireless, IVR have all become very important and growing transaction channels. Blackboard has several valuable initiatives in this area. Our Blackboard Learning System and Blackboard Community Portal System both have several full wireless implementations in place, extending core student services in a very valuable manner. Our Blackboard Transaction System launched mobile transaction capabilities this spring and the initial financial returns to campuses appear very promising. As the cost of deployment becomes more fully shared across campus investments in wireless technologies, it will become even more attractive to extend the Blackboard Transaction System in this direction.”

Bob Merkert, National Accounts Manager, Colleges and Universities, Ingenico/Debitek:
“Debitek’s system offerings do not require the use of network connectivity for the stored value terminals. This is one of the advantages that we can offer the college campuses who utilize our systems. While we, at this time, do not foresee any direct impact of this type of technology on our systems, we do acknowledge that more colleges are wiring their campuses for student access and course work. We do monitor new trends and keep an open mind about future integration possibilities utilizing this type of technology.”