Some of the issues include providing authentication to the campus network, assuring network security, assuring privacy of information, keeping equipment current, charging or not charging users, separating personal e-mail from institutional business, and using institutional resources wisely. Such access must be robust, providing access to local, national, and international resources. It must be readily available twenty-four hours a day. And above all, it must be fast. In addition, because resources on most campuses are tight, solutions must be cost effective.
Numerous campuses report an increase in the numbers of students bringing computers to campus.
Similarly, use of the Web at GU is growing exponentially. System utilization data tracked by the author at two institutions historically have shown that server use each spring is higher than fall and that increased use the following fall is equivalent to the previous spring. In most cases, the institution paid for technology except where researchers had external funding. The end user typically paid nothing, except, of course, that students paid tuition and occasional fees. These same institutions reported operating modem pools that were increasingly busy and often inaccessible.