Clarification appended

This month Brandeis implemented the rollout of a new official wireless network, eduroam, in dormitories.

Eduroam replaces the network named "brandeis_secure." Eduroam is an encrypted network that is "functionally equivalent" to the previous secure network, wrote Lindsay Barton, associate director for LTS policy, planning and analysis, in an email to the Justice. The Brandeis open network will continue to work for gaming, media devices and televisions, and the Brandeis guest network will remain available to guests, according to an email from Chief Information Officer John Unsworth.

The eduroam network became available to students in residence halls this month, and it will be made available to others across campus over the course of the semester, according to the Library and Technology Services website.

"Eduroam is an international university partnership that allows students from different institutions to connect automatically to wireless networks at other institutions," according to Unsworth's email.

Eduroam is already available at schools such as Boston College, University of Massachusetts Boston, Princeton University and George Washington University. It is also "testing" at Harvard University and many others, according to eduroam's website.

"Not only does eduroam allow Brandeis community members to connect seamlessly to the wireless networks of other institutions that participate in the eduroam program, but visitors to the Brandeis campus (from institutions that participate in eduroam) can connect to our wireless network without being required to create a guest account," explained Barton.

Because eduroam is a global partnership, it will also be available to students at participating universities while studying abroad.

However, according to the Library and Technology Services site, eduroam is "in the early stages of its development in the United States," which may cause difficulties connecting to wireless at other institutions.

Michael Corn, the University's deputy chief information officer, said in an interview with the Justice this "was an opportune moment" to make the switch.

The University did not have to change hardware, and the eduroam software is open source, which is free.

Corn said that there had been no significant issues in the rollout to date.

Barton said the biggest issue with eduroam so far has been students not electing to "forget" the Brandeis open network on their wireless devices.

If the Brandeis open network preference is saved in the computer, it may attempt to connect to that network instead of eduroam.

"Really, the message is that we're cleaning up the air, if you will, by eliminating brandeis_secure and having eduroam be our official wireless network," wrote Barton in an email to the Justice.  

Clarification: Eduroam is a secure network that replaces the network named "brandeis_secure."