Rather than move towards more 'boxes' and fibre optics, the College implemented a 'wireless network' in September 2000. A Wireless Network is essentially the same as a more traditional cabled network, allowing connected computers to access files and CD-ROM resources from other computers on the network. Networked printers can be shared and emails send and received.
Users can research using the Internet or video conference with a foreign correspondent.
However, instead of using a complicated mass of copper and fibre optic cables installed throughout the school, Wireless networks transmit data over one of three other media, Microwave, Infrared or Radio. The most flexible of these is radio. However the latest generation of radio based wireless networks are capable of speeds comparable with conventional networks and are therefore suited to almost all of the requirements of schools and universities. Many schools have found that the old approach to computer access, involving dedicated computing labs with benches of PCs along the walls, to be very costly, inflexible and incompatible with many lesson formats. A wireless solution means there is no need to set aside rooms for the sole purpose of computing.