The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) is an establishment visited by vendors and visitors traveling from all over the world throughout the year for numerous reasons. Many come to test their company's technical equipment and devices, or to learn about the services we offer to our customers and others come to learn about opportunities we have for students interested in technology. Some of our guests are here to attend what we call Plugfest events, these events entail multiple technical companies coming together and testing their products with other company's products. Other vendors come for "in-house testing", which is a single company of one or more representatives coming in to test their products in our lab. The other types of visitors we have are people unfamiliar with our facility that are here to tour the lab to see what we do. These people can be CEO's from multi-million dollar corporations or high school juniors looking for potential employment and internship opportunities. As the receptionist for the UNH-IOL, I have had the privilege of having first contact with each of our guests over the past three years. From this, I have learned firsthand the importance of making a friendly and welcoming first impression. The impression our visitors have when they walk in the door will stay with them throughout their visit and long thereafter.
IOL Blog: General News
To everything there is a season...
By Christina Dube - April 13, 2012
Spring is generally seen as a season of transition, as well as a season of opportunity. In New Hampshire, the weather gradually transitions from bitterly cold to cool and raw, finally landing on warm and sunny. The grass, trees and flowers come back to life, heralding the warm days to come. The daylight stretches out, opening doors and opportunities that were previously closed -- cooking on the grill, eating dinner on the deck, staying outside until the streetlights come on or mosquitos come out.
Looking for a Unique Summer Internship Opportunity?
By Pamela Woodland - March 30, 2012
Are you or someone you know a high school student interested in technology? If so, the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) has a unique opportunity for you! Each summer, the UNH-IOL recruits the brightest and most ambitious high school students for paid internships at our state-of-the-art networking facility. The UNH-IOL requires students to apply for the program by April 20, 2012. Application materials include a completed application and essay, two letters of recommendation and an official transcript. Any additional materials, such as a resume, are optional.
Lab's YouTube Channel Provides Insight for Customers, Students and Staff
By Samantha Martell - March 15, 2012
Did you know the UNH-IOL has launched a YouTube channel to share our knowledge and expertise with customers, vendors, potential students and staff? There are already several videos live on the channel, with many more to come. One goal of the YouTube channel is to assist customers with scheduling and testing processes. For customers, available how to videos include: "Entering Equipment using the IOL's My Vendor Login" and "Scheduling Testing using the IOL's Website." These videos have been designed to help navigate the "My Vendor Login."
History of the UNH-IOL
By Samantha Martell - February 29, 2012
After working at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) for less than a year and learning about the lab as a whole, I can say that I am happy to be a part of this growing organization. In passing, when mentioning my position at the UNH-IOL, I am never surprised by responses such as, "You are so lucky to be working there" because I know just how true the statement is. The UNH-IOL began more than two decades ago in a small room at UNH and was founded by: Bill Lenharth, Former Director of Research Computing Center (RCC), and Barry Reinhold, President of Lamprey Networks. In 1988, the UNH-IOL started off as a branch of the University's Research Computing Center (RCC). The RCC was testing Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) equipment with the intention of deploying it in its network. Once finding that equipment from two vendors was not interoperable, the RCC contacted the vendors in an attempt to find an answer. After some debate, the two vendors came together to solve the problem, which stemmed from differences between the draft and final versions of the FDDI specification. During the same time period, the RCC was testing 10BASE-T Ethernet interfaces for another, unrelated project. Over the next decade, the lab continued to expand its testing efforts into many new technology areas. In the 1990s technologies tested at the lab ranged from FDDI, token ring, ATM and 10 Base-T and 10-Gig.
Non-Technical Students Have a Place in Technology Too
By Pamela Woodland - February 23, 2012
I believe it is safe to say that when the majority of people think of the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), they think technical. They likely envision employees with an engineering or computer science discipline. This was my initial interpretation. I found myself in my freshman year of college wondering what I could find for a job. I was working for a supermarket, but wanted to take on a new challenge; one that did not involve "paper or plastic." A friend and now present day colleague of mine suggested that I look into the UNH-IOL. I thought there was simply no way I could fit into an organization of such high-technical caliber. I was a business major at the time with a very basic computer knowledge skill set. Nonetheless, I went ahead and applied for a Student Technician position. A couple of weeks later, I was called in for an interview. Initially, I was being considered for a testing position. Then, to my surprise, my soon-to-be boss suggested that I would be a good fit in the Communications Department. Without hesitation I accepted the offer.
IOL Student Employees: Gaining Experience, Making Connections and Building a Future
By Michael Klempa - January 31, 2012
It's common for a college student to have some sort of job. But how many of them actually enjoy what they do? How many have positions that relate to what they want to do in the future? I am one of the lucky few that can say I look forward to coming to work each day, to a job that is preparing me for the future. The InterOperability Lab (IOL) is a place where students, like myself, can explore cutting edge communication technologies, while interacting with world leaders in the industry. As students, we are encouraged to learn and absorb as much information and skills as we can during our short tenure at the Lab. Whether it's reading specifications, writing test suites, testing products, or creating test tools, the full spectrum of any technology is explored.
Training the Engineers of Tomorrow—Today.
By Jennifer Royce - September 16, 2011
The UNH-IOL has a dual mission to provide a neutral environment to foster multivendor interoperability, conformance to standards and improvement of data networking, while educating students and preparing them for future employment in the industry. As a full-scale, non-profit test lab, the UNH-IOL employs approximately 150 personnel, over 100 of which are undergraduate and graduate students. Student employees (or technicians as they are sometimes referred to at the lab) often emerge from the academic fields of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and continue to attend classes at UNH while working at our facility.
Introducing InterOp Insider
By Marc Sklar - June 7, 2011
Welcome. We'd like to briefly introduce you to the IOL and then discuss the direction we'll be taking with this blog. Broadly speaking, we are involved in testing several types of networking, storage, and telecom technologies, including Ethernet, Broadband, Core/Telco, Consumer Electronics, Data Storage and High-Performance Computing to cost effectively meet network interoperability and conformance requirements for the industry. We currently have over twenty active testing programs (which we call consortia), that continue to evolve to meet our industry's needs. Our ongoing experience in efficiently scheduling, performing, and delivering these testing programs allows our consortia member companies to focus on delivering their products to market.