About the WIRED Program

The WIRED Program provides technical support and troubleshooting for students using personal computers for their coursework at Lehigh. The program employs two full-time staff members, 40 specially-trained students known as "WIRED Consultants", and benefits from team relationships with the rest of the LTS and University staff.  Assistance is available throughout the school year with any computer-related issue that a student may encounter.  For on-campus residents WIRED Consultants are available for individual appointments in student rooms.  Students living off-campus can bring their computers to the walk-up window of the WIRED Office (Computing Center room 181) for immediate assistance.

For more information, please check the following pages:

Benefits

• Fault-tolerant Local Area Network services including access to University systems, electronic library systems and the Internet. The University provides at least "one network port per pillow"
• Campus Portal -- This is your link to Banner and the Academic and Administrative systems of the University. All kinds of info in web-format.  
• Shared access to laser printers in or near every residential building, and many public access sites.
• 500MB of backup-protected personal network storage space, 60MB of email storage, personal web-space
• Participation in Lehigh's campus agreements for the latest versions of commercial software, including Microsoft Windows, Office and Symantec Antivirus Software (Corporate Edition) and numerous others.
• Customized software for accessing networks and servers -- distributed on the Lehigh Flash Drives
• High-Speed Internet access -- Lehigh uses two 100MBps connections with automated bandwidth management
• In-room and Walk-up user support by trained student consultants (WIRED Consultants)
• Access to on-campus vendor-certified hardware repair services for recommended brands (Dell, Apple, HP, Lenovo (IBM))
• Secure Wireless Networking -- Many common areas around the University, including the libraries, campus square, University Center and others are provide 802.11g wireless access to the Lehigh Network.

Support Policy

WIRED student consultants are trained to assist students with configuring their computer's operating system, email and browser software to connect to Lehigh network, academic and administrative systems, and to troubleshoot basic software difficulties so that students can stay productive on their own systems.

For hardware problems WIRED Consultants do not repair computers, but they can troubleshoot the computer to determine the exact cause of the problem, and help students arrange for hardware repair.  For recommended brand computers, once a hardware problem has been verified, the computer can be transferred to a Lehigh hardware technician. 

For more information about getting set up or getting help, see: Getting Assistance

Full-Time Staff

• 1993, Fall
  The WIRED Program began with a pilot program in Taylor Residential College where 35 undergraduate students participated.
• 1994, Fall
  The WIRED Program expanded over the summer such that now all of Taylor Residential College plus two freshmen residences -- Dravo House and McClintic-Marshall House (M&M) -- could participate.
• 1995, Spring
  Within M&M, Dravo & Taylor, 269 students participated in the WIRED Program.
• 1995, Fall
  The WIRED Program expanded over the summer such that participation was now possible in all undergraduate residential units except the fraternity and sorority houses on The Hill.
• 1996, Fall
  The WIRED Program was expanded over the summer so that now fraternities and sororities on The Hill could participate.
• 1997, Spring
  Over 1,700 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 96-97 academic year.
• 1998, Spring
  The WIRED Program was expanded to include Saucon Village Apartments. With this expansion, graduate students now have access to the program. 1,984 students participated in the WIRED Program during the Spring semester.
• 1999, Spring
  Over 2,400 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 98-99 academic year.
• 2000, Spring
  Over 2,750 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 99-00 academic year.
• 2001, Spring
  Over 2,970 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 00-01 academic year.
• 2002, Spring
  Over 3,040 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 01-02 academic year. All "WIRED printers" were replaced with new HP 4100s by the time the Spring semester began.
• 2003, Spring
  Over 3,200 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 02-03 academic year, including from the brand new residence hall "Campus Square".
• 2004, Spring
  About 3,150 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 03-04 academic year.
• 2005, Spring
  Over 3,010 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 04-05 academic year.
• 2006, Spring
  Over 3,315 students participate in the WIRED Program in the 05-06 academic year.
• 2007, Fall
  WIRED begins a pilot program with the "WIRED Consulting Desk" to assist off-campus students on a walk-up basis.