Ohio State will provide a campus-wide wireless network within five years.

Aruba Networks, the company partnered with the university on the project, said the network will be the largest of its kind in the world upon completion. It will cover the entire OSU campus: more than 400 buildings spread out over 1,700 acres and approximately 25 million square feet.

“We wanted to provide a ubiquitous wireless network that any student, faculty or staff could access from absolutely any location on campus,” said Bob Corbin, director of telecommunications and networking at the OSU Office of Information Technology.

Aruba Networks specializes in the field of mobile technology, and has worked with over 200 universities around the world to provide similar types of networks. The company has installed mobile wireless for Microsoft and the U.S. Air Force, and in the near future will provide access for Brandeis and Emory Universities.

“Most educational institutions are fairly advanced in mobile technology,” said Abhinav Bisarya, product marketing manager of Aruba Networks.

As of now, OSU’s best offer is random pockets of separate wireless networks littered throughout campus, not available in some areas, and in need of complex network keys and passwords in others. But Aruba promises to erase all those problems within the next five years.

“There’s a real need on campus, you really need a solution to provide access to everybody,” Bisarya said. “Every leading institution is moving toward a completely mobile network. Once the plan is completed, I think OSU would be a candidate for the most technologically advanced wireless network among leading universities.”

Being one of the most technologically advanced sometimes comes at a price to students, but the funding for this project will not be coming out of students’ pockets.

The cost, $500,000 over five years, will be shouldered by the separate colleges themselves, with help from many major departments.

“We’ve gotten very good support from all the departments. Everyone understood the cost, and is excited to see the infrastructure in action,” Corbin said.

Corbin said he kept USG and Council of Graduate Students in the loop, and has received positive responses from both.

“It’s important for OSU to stay competitive, and to show new students that we are dedicated to providing new technologies,” said USG President Ryan Fournier.

With new technologies usually come new problems, but Aruba Networks is dedicated to making sure all security risks involved with the implementation of such a network are taken care of.

“With the new wireless networks, security has completely changed,” Bisarya said. “We are employing built-in firewalls and things like that, but we’re also employing an administrative staff that should be able to handle individual risks.”

The first phase of the network has already begun, as 1800 access points have already been installed, allowing for wireless access in 21 university residence halls.

Once the network is complete, any student will be able to connect to the wireless network from anywhere on campus.

“When completed, the network will be powerful enough to support every single student simultaneously,” Bisarya said.

It could put 50,000 students on Facebook.com at the same time.