Buffalo Football Goes Wireless

For Immediate Release

Ithaca, New York—For the University of Colorado at Boulder, a major university enrolling close to 30,000 students, running a football game is no simple task. Upwards of 45,000 students, employees, and community members recently attended CU’s season opener, and the Troubadour handheld card reader from CBORD^® was there to help speed up and simplify the admittance process.

The Troubadour is a handheld card reader that works in conjunction with Odyssey PCS™, a CBORD campus card system, which is widely used at the university. The reader, consisting of a PDA and attached magnetic stripe reader, works in online and offline modes, and supports transactions including sales, activities, and balance inquiries. Troubadours are frequently used at athletic events, as well as picnics, concession sales, conferences, and other off-site events.

"The wireless Troubadour is a great device for football games, athletic events, and mountain retreats. We mounted an 802.11 wireless access point at the stadium, and immediately began using 35 wireless Troubadours," says Robert Dixon, Director of IT for Housing and Dining Services at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "The PDA size on a lanyard is a welcome change from using and transporting our previous homemade podium-sized reader stands. Live connectivity gives us instant, accurate access, and more options for Dining and ResLife events."

"We are glad to see the Troubadour being utilized so effectively," says Randy Eckels, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for The CBORD Group, Inc. "The Troubadour allows universities to track data more precisely than is typically possible at events that take patrons away from normal data ports. This means that, beyond the convenience afforded to employees, it allows for more accurate tracking of attendance, demographics, and other factors that are crucial to event and facilities management."

In addition to Odyssey PCS and Troubadour functionality, the University of Colorado at Boulder uses CBORD systems for housing management (Odyssey HMS™), judicial conduct tracking (Odyssey HMS Judicial), online ordering (Webfood^®), back-of-house foodservice management (Foodservice Suite^®), and student discount memberships (Student Advantage^®).

About The CBORD Group

The CBORD Group serves colleges and universities, corporations, healthcare facilities, chain restaurants, supermarkets, and a host of other market segments. CBORD’s products are used in campus ID card privilege control, access control, electronic security, housing services, meal plans, online ordering, foodservice, catering, nutrition services, and other institution-wide activities. The CBORD Group serves more than 5,000 clients in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, New Zealand, and Australia.

The CBORD Group was founded in 1975. Today it employs more than 450 professionals. To learn more about CBORD, visit us at www.cbord.com.

“CBORD has outstanding technical support, and has been a great company to work with.”

— Linda Wright
Northern Kentucky University