New computer software is in the midst of installation and there are still conflicting views on whether or not it will clear up campus network traffic.

As of earlier this week, two out of the six new routers for the campus network were installed and more are scheduled to follow, Bill Witsman, acting director of Information Technology Services, said.

Workers are currently working on installing the next set of two routers and the remaining two routers have yet to be delivered. But Witsman said there is no definite date for their installation.

Accompanying the new routers in the network, Witsman said he expects the network to speed up as a result and the network will continue to function even faster as the remaining routers are installed.

However, Bob Augustine, dean of the Graduate School and interim assistant vice president for academic affairs for technology, said there are problems with the campus server that routers won’t fix.

Augustine raised the issues Faculty Senate’s Tuesday meeting where he was invited to address growing faculty concern over the impact the slow server has on academics.

Another source of trouble is the university’s aging cable system, Augustine said, which is 15 years old in most buildings and he added that none of these problems can be fixed anytime soon.

“There’s going to be a stress on the network for a long time,” Augustine said, calling the effort to remedy that “a three- to five-year endeavor.”

Augustine reiterated that heavier-than-expected traffic caused the slowdown, and in turn, stress for himself.

“My new drink of choice is mint-flavored Maalox,” he joked.

Senate members called for improvement of infrastructure before advancement of technology, and called wiring the residence halls, which astronomically increased network strain, a “breakdown in planning.”

Augustine said Eastern looked into software that would “curtail” network use from the dorms during daytime hours, but found it too expensive. Eastern has also considered inviting consultation to weed out technological trouble spots, he said.

The routers that have been ordered are being installed to better direct Internet traffic and speed up the network.

Witsman said problems arose when workers began to install the first set of two new routers on Feb. 14. There was a glitch in the stability of the new equipment and the routers had to be taken out of the network because they were not stable.

“The routers were failing to do their job,” he said. “It’s almost like they didn’t exist on the network.”

The contracted vendor for the software was contacted to aid ITS with the equipment, which Witsman said is “highly sophisticated,” and the two routers were installed on Feb. 19.

“Our network is extremely complex, almost 10,000 machines on it,” he said. “To make them all communicate properly is fairly complex.”

“We’ve seen some improvements but it’s still not the way we like it,” he said.

Witsman said he hopes the remaining two routers will be delivered in time for installation over spring break because many students will not be on campus. Otherwise workers have to wait until the “wee hours of the night” to avoid disturbing students and faculty working on the network as least as possible.

Although the routers are a temporary fix to the slow network, Witsman said they have made no plans to increase the size of the server as a whole in the near future because funding for ITS plans is unpredictable.