The Salisbury Zoo & Wireless Internet Access

My source tells me that the ethernet cable has degraded due to the elements. It sounds like somebody didn't install the cable properly (probably buried it in the ground), and it's gone to hell and no longer serves the purpose of passing data traffic between buildings (you've seen info on "slow uploads" which confirms this). The right way to do this would be to use conduit to provide all weather protection. Obviously, this would have been a lot more expensive to do the job right. Once again, the region's desire to do things cheap costs more money in the long run. Was it cheap in house labor with no technical supervision, or the lowest bid? Who knows...

There is a chance that the cable was run a long time ago, and was CAT5 and not the CAT5e cable that is typically used today. If that's the case, upgrading the infrastructure is probably a good idea. I'm not sure what was done, with what cable, or how. These are just guesses on my part.

To avoid the expense of properly running the cable (and perhaps to offer additional functionality in the future), somebody made the decision to make wireless connections between the buildings. Whether this is also supposed to provide wireless throughout the zoo for staff, I'm not quite sure. My guess is no, because I'm told the equipment proposed would operate on the 802.11a standard. This standard operates on a less polluted frequency (good thing), but typically a notebook would only have a range of about 50' in a typical office environment. Some newer notebooks don't even have 802.11a radios in them to save a few dollars for the manufacturer.

I was told that this system is *not* intended to provide Internet access to visitors. And using the 802.11a standard, I doubt that employees would really cover a lot of ground using this system.

It seems a shame to spend this kind of money for wireless networking, and not give the zoo keepers "anywhere" access to zoo records that might assist in improving standards of care for the animals.

The fact that the Zoo already purchased the equipment before going to the City Council clearly shows Alessi's arrogance and disregard towards the rules. I'm probably going to ask for the actual bid process and figures because they didn't bid this out either. Not through the Newspaper and so forth. Time will tell once again.

How did I do Mr. Micciche?