In the face of the next major storm, New Canaan residents should be covered when it comes to an emergency internet connection if they head to their local library.
"What we did is upgraded our hardware to our wireless network to handle 1,000 simultaneous connections," said New Canaan Library Head of IT Jeff Zaino. "After big storms, we become the internet hub for the community. We now feel confident we're able to support anyone who comes in with a wireless device."
During Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath that followed, Zaino said the library stayed open late for the duration, providing refreshments, showing movies, just making everyone's lives generally a bit easier during a difficult period.
But Zaino said he noticed the connectivity of the library was dropping out at around 300 people logging on. At times, 500 people sought solace in the library and with connections maxing out at 300, even those able to log onto the internet were struggling to remain connected.
"These were major upgrades for us, and I suspect we now have one of the best wireless networks around," Zaino said. "We've added greater stability as well. Once you do connect, it's less likely you'll be booted off for any reason."
The upgrades were made possible by a generous anonymous donation that covered the roughly $6,000 improvement. It's the second round of hardware installations in about a year, the previous year's upgrades improved on an old system but proved lacking when the town faced the fallout from Sandy.
"The firstsetof improvements were also made possible by a generous gift but [we found the hardware we installed] to be a rather weak link in the system. The real test will be the next crisis that comes along," Zaino said. "And we are very prepared for the next crisis."
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