Today research and education are increasingly global with international collaborations working in every field of research. Academics and students are highly mobile with teams joining together from around the globe. Research and Education are no longer limited to the classroom or the lab – researchers and students expect to be able to get online and work wherever and whenever they need to. How do Institutions and Research and Education Networks support this highly mobile and demanding audience?
eduroam helps enable collaboration and mobility by giving students and researchers the ability to roam across of 80 countries whilst accessing free Wi-Fi services provided by educational establishments. Just as ubiquitous IP access services have transformed education so roaming Wi-Fi transforms the experience of users.
Benefits
The benefits of eduroam are immense both for Individuals, Institutions and particularly National Research and Education Networks (NRENs):
- For individuals the ability to turn on a smartphone, tablet or laptop and immediately get high performance, secure Wi-Fi access transforms the learning experience. No more needing to find free (and possibly insecure) Wi-Fi hotspots, borrow someone else’s identity or apply for a temporary account – the users’ existing credentials are used to access Wi-Fi wherever they need to connect.
- For institutions there is no longer a need to provide insecure shared usernames and passwords or to respond to requests for access. Access can be controlled much more easily and the workload of issuing and cancelling ad hoc identities is removed.
- For NRENs eduroam offers a unique value added service to the institutions, users and the wider community. By providing eduroam capabilities NRENs can offer a highly visible, highly valued service that directly impacts institutions and users.
- By enabling eduroam your users get access to over 80 countries and tens of thousands of access points worldwide.
- eduroam helps any national or regional research and education community to better connect with their peers in the rest of the world, and so promotes a sense of equality.