Getting decent wireless connectivity at PDC

I've seen several comments about the issues with WLAN accessibility at PDC '03.  I am delighted to say that there is someone thinking hard about how to improve the situation for PDC ’05, and even more delighted still to say that it isn’t me.

 

I missed the fact that Jeff Sandquist announced back in December that he’s on point for community at PDC this year.  Among the things on his plate is what kind of PDC intranet experience we want to provide – which means that he’s also thinking about how attendees will actually get access to the intranet ;)

Getting consistent wireless access for the conference is a significant challenge. How do you build an infrastructure to support thousands of people walking out of the keynote, opening up their laptops, and expecting to be instantly online? I’ll leave it to Jeff to decide if he wants to talk about what the issues were last time, and how we hope to improve on them this time. But I can assure you that Microsoft employees felt the pain of the WLAN in 2003 just as much as our attendees did. I expect to be roaming around a lot on site this year, making sure that all the breakout sessions, labs, etc, are running smoothly, so I have a strong interest in making sure that wireless is consistently available this year. Go Jeff!