Jeff Perry, deputy technology officer for KU Information Technology, talks about the several cellular devices throughout Allen Fieldhouse that provide cellular coverage to fans. Dozens of these cellular devices are located throughout the KU campus. One device can be seen in the lighter blue, mounted beneath the Fieldhouse catwalk above Perry.

Like a lot of organizations, Kansas University is betting on mobile technology’s dominance over the future.

Ask Jeff Perry, deputy technology at KU’s Information Technology office, about the university’s mobile strategy and he’ll answer with a question of his own: How do you define “mobile”?

To Perry, mobile consists of a lot more than just handheld devices. “I think it’s more of a technology lifestyle people have always wanted,” he said.

“You couldn’t carry around your Apple IIe or your big Intel PC with your phone line and the modem that goes ‘squeak squawk’… There was this very strong physical line between having connectivity to technology and being able to just take it with you when you go.”

Most KU undergraduates were born after those days had come to an end. They’ve come of age in the world of the sleek, thin laptop and smart phone. Many expect to be able to connect to the digital world from wherever they happen to be in the physical world.

To make that desire a reality on the KU campus takes planning, money and a lot of complicated infrastructure. It’s something not a lot of people notice. Indeed the goal is to make connectivity seem seamless, automatic and, as much as possible, invisible.

Bob Lim, KU’s Chief Technology Officer, said the shift to mobile began about three years ago, when he arrived. He and colleagues began asking students how they worked. In those conversations he posited a world where they could access or print a file from wherever they happened to be, at any time of day.

“We wanted KU to be more than just the walls and the buildings around our campus,” Lim said. “It’s about giving people the freedom to access and transact anywhere you want without limits by devices.”

Wireless access is a critical component to KU’s mobile strategy. Perry said the university wants a beefy WiFi network for its students so they don’t have to tap into their cellular data plans to connect to the Internet at school.

In the last couple years KU IT has expanded WiFi in more than 40 buildings on campus to allow more laptops, phones and tablets to connect to the university network, according to the IT office.

KU IT has even expanded the wireless network outdoors, letting users to connect on Jayhawk Boulevard between the Chi Omega Fountain and the Kansas Union as well as in areas around Potter Lake. All told, KU has more than 2,200 wireless access points active on campus, making it one of the largest WiFi networks in the region.

There’s a reason for all that deployed technology. From July 2013 to May 2014, 2.8 million people visited the KU homepage — the main entry point for several academic applications — on mobile devices.

While KU WiFi covers 3.5 million square feet of campus, it can’t be everywhere, and it doesn’t support all things done with a mobile device. That’s one reason KU has been working with AT&T to build a cellular network across campus.

AT&T has finished installing the first phase of its distributed antenna system, or DAS, network on campus. The system is made up of many smaller antennas meant to be unobtrusive. The largest antennae are 24 in. by 12 in., and they only get smaller from there.

The antennae are placed throughout campus and work together to deliver the same power as large, and often unsightly, cell towers. “It’s a nice-looking campus, and you don’t want to trash it up,” Perry said.

The first phase included Allen Fieldhouse — a hotbed of mobile traffic. The IT office hopes to have Memorial Stadium online by mid-September. Along with the stadiums, the DAS system is covers academic buildings across the Lawrence campus.

All told, the system will cover 95 percent of campus. By agreement, the multimillion dollar system is carrier neutral and IT officials are encouraging other carriers to work with AT&T to join. Perry also said the system will likely absorb traffic from cell towers around the city, making coverage better for Lawrence overall.

With AT&T footing the bill, KU will get the DAS system essentially for free. The WiFi coverage isn’t free, however. Perry said money for the WiFi expansion comes from a student fee for technology upgrades controlled by the Student Senate as well as funds from the provost’s office and other sources.

“It’s pretty economical to do when you think about how many people connect over time,” Perry said.