VANCOUVER, British Columbia - April 07, 2008 - Is remembering several different usernames and passwords when travelling to another institution to connect to the Internet getting confusing? Finally, eduroam has come to the rescue and getting connected to the Internet has become easier. Gone are the days of having to remember different usernames and passwords when travelling to another campus or institution for a conference, seminar or meeting. BCNET is pleased to announce that eduroam (education roaming) is now live and enabled at higher education institutions across British Columbia. BC is the first province in Canada to bring eduroam to its researchers, faculty members, staff and students, who now can share wireless networks at participating educational facilities by using their home institution credentials. In a profession where members frequently travel eduroam now opens up wireless connections across the province, keeps them connected and fosters a collaborative inter-institutional environment.
The eduroam project initiated by BCNET and its Identity Management Working Group, utilizes the technology of a Radius server-based infrastructure along with BCNET's advanced networks to make eduroam possible in BC. This application now allows researchers, faculty, staff and students to access Internet services at participating eduroam member institutions using their home credentials through secure authentication. Being a part of eduroam allows users visiting another institution connected to eduroam to log on to their wireless local area network using the same credentials (username and password) that the user would use at his or her home institution. Current participating members of eduroam are: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, University of Northern British Columbia, Thompson Rivers University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
BCNET's Advanced Networks Conference on April 22 & 23, 2008 offers an exciting opportunity to try out eduroam. The conference venue at Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre in Vancouver will be an eduroam hotspot, and getting connected to eduroam will be as easy as turning on your laptop. Before leaving your campus for the conference or when travelling to another campus, make sure your laptop is configured and tested with an eduroam SSID before you try to use another institution's wireless connection. To do this, your laptop should have 802.1X security technology to allow for inter-institutional roaming. Contact your local institution's IT support services for procedures on how to configure and test your laptop. For more information on eduroam, please click here.
In the coming months researchers, faculty, staff and students at BC's higher education institutions across BC will be able to share wireless connections across the country and around the world through eduroam. It will help open up global connections to increase collaborations and innovation, and create a sense of belonging and ease of access for faculty, staff and students travelling to campuses nationally and internationally.
