The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) announced April 4 that the Wi-Fi on Notre Dame’s main campus would be switched to a new network this summer. The change, which was announced in a campus-wide email, is planned for June 4, 2017, and will see the University switching from “ND-secure,” the current Wi-Fi network, to “Eduroam.”
In the email, OIT said the goal of the change was “[t]o provide a more reliable wireless service,” and specified it “will not affect any of the Global Gateway locations.” The email also encourages students to install the new utility required for “Eduroam” access before “ND-secure” is removed in June.
On its website, “Eduroam” describes itself as “the secure, world-wide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community.“‘Eduroam’ allows students, researchers and staff from participating institutions to obtain Internet connectivity across campus and when visiting other participating institutions by simply opening their laptop.”
“Eduroam” is already widely used among American colleges and institutions, including Duke University, the University of California colleges and the National Institutes of Health, among others.
Chris Corrente, Manager of Applications Development within OIT, said in an email the switch was motivated by a desire to simplify internet access on campus and by the added ability to access the network from off-campus.
“Given that ‘Eduroam’ and ‘ND-secure’ provide the same level of functionality and access, our goal is to simplify the network infrastructure and provide improved support by standardizing on a single secure wireless network for campus.” he said. “‘ ... Eduroam’ provides the same level of performance, access and security as that of ‘ND-secure.’ The added benefit is that not only can you connect to the ‘Eduroam’ wireless network here on campus, you can also connect to it when visiting other schools that are part of the ‘Eduroam’ community.”
Despite the network change, Corrente also said, “Students will not notice any change in the Internet services they can access when switching from ND-secure to ‘Eduroam.’”
The move to “Eduroam,” Corrente also said in an email interview, is expected to be in place for a long time.
“At this time, the change is part of the long-term future for the campus wireless network,” he said. “As with all technology, the OIT will assess any future changes as needed to meet the wireless needs of campus.”
Corrente also urged students to get on the network as soon as possible, although “ND-secure” will remain until June.
“Because Back-to-School week is a busy time for students, we recommend students switch their devices to ‘Eduroam’ before leaving for the summer,” he said.“Once you return to campus in August, you will be already set up to connect to the wireless network.”
The “Eduroam” utility needed for accessing the network can be installed at eduroam.nd.edu and OIT help line can be reached at help.nd.edu.
