"Lev Gonick, CWRU's CIO, has shouted about the university's premier wireless infrastructure as the foundation step to the One Cleveland? initiative to anyone who would listen. Many think its as far-out as a sci-fi plot, but for three days this conference proved that not only is it a reality, but one with real utility in higher education. The conference was aimed at the educational administrators who are trying to improve the tech infrastructure of their institutions. They assembled here from around the country: California, the southwest, Ivy league schools, as well as the Great Lakes region, but registrations for live webcasts had come from as far away as Asia and Afghanistan. The speakers talked about not only what is possible, but what institutions are doing today around the country. Breakout sessions were decidedly geared for the technically uninitiated, but there were the technical people available for questions as well. Most presentations were by vendors that CWRU hired to do the work there, but they were very skillful in NOT turning the sessions into sales pitches. The single feature that made this conference unique and not just another parade of pundits was the ability of the attendees to log on and hook up to the wireless infrastructure themselves, wherever and whenever they liked. I watched people check email, watch live webcasts of concurrent sessions, and prepare for their own presentations on their wireless laptops or PD As?. This conference showed that there is substance beyond the hype and that substance is here in Cleveland." from Cool Cleveland reader Steve Goldberg steveg@ieee.org (:divend:)