Waterloo has been at the forefront of technology and computer science for quite some time. Now, they are taking another leap forward, and thankfully, they’re taking the industry with them. As of today, they have officially started their pilot for their “Media and Mobility Network Project” which, for those of you that don’t know, is a project which is aimed at changing the way students (and aspiringly, everyone) communicate. Starting with a small subset of students (roughly 50 for now), they are slowly exploring the notion of replacing land-lines within their Residence with mobile phones. With a short term goal of putting cell phones in the hands of everyone on campus, they have a much LARGER vision. Best put…

…we seek an environment where each student, beginning with those in residence, will have the tools to access all manner of electronic communications, media, entertainment, commercial services, information resources, personal files and academic content, in both mobile and desktop/laptop environments.

The project is already well underway, having started in October 2006, with initial services beginning now. I applaud the forward-thinking that Waterloo has and I hope that this project spreads…fast. North America has a loooong way to go in terms of mobile communication and I think this is a great step in the right direction! Read more about it on Jesse Rodgers blog, a faculty member at Waterloo.

*FYI: How does this relate to Flash? The pilot program has seen 50 Waterloo students receive either a Blackberry Pearl or a Nokia E62 phone…both FlashLite equipped :)

Charles