Internet2 To Provide Eduroam Wireless Internet Service for Member Institutions
Internet2, an advanced technology community of research and educational institutions in the United States, has announced plans to include the eduroam (education roaming) wireless Internet service as a membership benefit for the 221 universities and research labs that belong to the organization.
WIth eduroam, users from Internet2 member institutions can visit any other eduroam-enabled campus and access its network through their laptop, smartphone, or other mobile device, with minimal configuration and without the need for guest credentials. Eduroam provides an automatic guest provisioning system, secure wireless connection, and encryption and authentication using WPA2-Enterprise standards. This service will provide thousands of eduroam hotspots free of data-roaming charges and will benefit "faculty visiting labs, people traveling for conferences and collaborative work, students studying abroad, visitors attending sporting activities, and others roaming Internet2 campuses," according to information released by the organization.
"Professors, students, and staff at Internet2 member universities will be able to roam their fellow campuses without the hassle of gaining Internet access," said H. David Lambert, CEO and president of Internet2, in a prepared statement.
Eduroam was started in Europe and involves many national research and education network organizations. For the deployment of eduroam in the United States, Internet2 has partnered with the National Science Foundation and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Eduroam service is included as part of the Internet2 annual membership fee. Further information about eduroam is available on the Intenet2 site.
In other news, Instructure and Internet2 have announced a partnership to develop the Internet2 NET+ Canvas learning management system (LMS). The Internet2 NET+ Canvas LMS will include all of the features of Instructure Canvas, including SpeedGrader, migration tools, Web services integrations, mobile access support, analytics, and ePortfolio, as well as other custom features and NET+ services.
Members of the Internet2 NET+ Canvas advisory board will be the University of Washington, which sponsored the initiative, Auburn University, Brown University, University of Central Florida, University of Maryland, and the Utah Education Network, which represents the University of Utah and Utah State University.
Further information will become available on the Internet2 site later this month.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].