07 September 2009
“PLM as a fully-networked campus,” both by wire and wireless, is a byword among PLM scholars nowadays. By early October 2009, scholars start to fully benefit from a campus-wide hotspot to complement the current free internet access at the University Library.
Meanwhile, as a precursor to this technological innovation, President Adel Tamano unveils two (2) free internet wi-fi access points in PLM covering the main lobby and proximate vicinities. The free wi-fi access for the PLM community, running at 512kbps to 2048kbps bandwidth, blasted off its maiden signal broadcast on 07 September 2009 after half-a-month of pilot test at the IT Center. A second wireless AP was put up on-line on 17 September which draws its power from the E1 line (2048kbps to 4096kbps) of the Gusaling Villegas.
Even without any formal announcement, the existence of the Wi-Fi/hotspot had spread among the scholars like the proverbial wildfire. Free from any password to connect through the Net, it is easily discoverable through its SSID, "Free Wi-Fi for the PLM Community." Scholars have expressed elation over the development that PLM now has a hotspot area, preparatory to innovating the PLM campus as a full Wi-Fi hotspot zone.
In a related development, President Adel Tamano revealed that the landmark legacy project of his administration has already undergone a transparent bidding process in accordance with the Procurement Law. It has since been publicly published through the PhilGEPS which is the official government portal for advertizing and proceeding with a transparent procurement process.
With its more popular component being the conversion of the PLM campus into a Wi-Fi hotspot, Tamano commits that the legacy project will be deployed in less than a month from the day the first free Wi-Fi was installed. Officially known as the Integrated Communications Systems (ICS), it spearheads the PLM into an advance networked community through converged technologies which has long been craved and desired for by the PLM community, especially the countless scholars in the past who have since graduated and left the portals of the academe.
Engr. Garry Erwin de Gracia, chief technology officer of PLM, said that in keeping with the commitment of President Tamano, as early as the third week of September, the campus-wide Wi-Fi/hotspot is envisioned to become operational as a wireless LAN of the University on a pilot test configuration. It will start to fully operationalize by the start of October 2009 to serve the needs of the public that the PLM serves.