We now have wireless internet :-)

The first order placed during the development of the tropical glasshouse was for installation of the wireless internet system.  However, providing a good signal when the nearest wired internet is 300m away, there was to be minimal spillage of signal off campus and there are lots of metal framed glasshouses around was perhaps not entirely simple.  However our IT services investigated the options – they have already provided internet to the local Roman town of Silchester (for the archaeologists – not the Romans!) – and developed a solution involving a long metal pole and something that looks a bit like a plastic sandwich box.

The wireless internet antenna being installed on the potting shed wall

In the photo above you see the final stages of adjustement of the antenna to maximise signal strength in the tropical glasshouse but also to provide signal to our Cocoa research glasshouses – an added extra!  Now there is the job of developing teaching materials to use this service to the full.