Anywhere Learning Happens: The eduroam Global WiFi Access Service
Bieber: Any education institution that can become a member of Internet2 can sign up to be a subscriber of eduroam, and that is certainly how we saw our R1s getting started in the past. But I think what's really worth noting now is that in the past few years, within the U.S., we've seen a stronger adoption of eduroam in new areas, including community colleges, various other types of higher education institutions, and perhaps most interestingly, in K12 schools. That kind of expansion, I'm hoping, will ultimately complete the picture in a really important way: Anywhere a student is learning, we can get them connected to eduroam. We're seeing great progress in K12 adoption, and that's something I'm really excited about.
Think about every place a student might learn, whether it's at their primary or secondary school, or postsecondary institution… at their community college, or maybe their university… or at libraries or museums… The ability to get them connected anywhere they are learning is a powerful thing. So, when you can get a community to rally behind a solution like eduroam, you enable access like never before, anywhere it's needed.
Grush: Brett, you have a program there in Nebraska called ConnectEd Nebraska that helps enable connectivity in a lot of those "anywheres" — can you tell us a little about it?
Bieber: Sure. In Nebraska we've been able to partner with a broadband service provider to broadcast eduroam in a number of different nonprofits around the City of Lincoln. This partnership gives us a unique connection to the community through several diverse nonprofit programs. So beyond libraries and museums, as we've mentioned, many programs that have a mission to serve the community — take Boys & Girls Club, for example — can also provide access to eduroam through ConnectEd Nebraska.
Grush: How will Internet2's eduroam Support Organizations program help adoption and deployment?
Bieber: Thus far, five leading state and regional network organizations in the research and education communities of Oregon, Connecticut, Utah, Arizona, and Nebraska have committed to support the expansion of eduroam in the U.S. with training, resources, and a model for scalable deployment. The collaboration of these organizations is a powerful force that continues to expand the reach of eduroam.
Throughout these communities there's a virtually unlimited number of people in the eduroam Support Orgs willing to collaborate, who just want the best for students. And more schools are beginning to see the value of seamless connectivity, where you open your laptop and you are immediately connected. If more schools work towards default connectivity, and whole institutions become eduroam native, we'll be a lot closer to the kind of ubiquity that grows a great service.
If more schools work towards default connectivity, and whole institutions become eduroam native, we'll be a lot closer to the kind of ubiquity that grows a great service.
Grush: Which states will be the next to join the Support Organizations program?
Bieber: We'll find out soon! Internet2 is working with its member community now to solicit proposals by the end of April for the next cohort of eduroam Support Organizations. Those will be announced later this spring.
Grush: It must be exciting for both of you, to watch and to help all these amazing programs take hold. I'd like to ask you both about your roles serving on the Internet2 eduroam-US advisory committee, and how that committee informs and guides eduroam adoption.
Hasnain: I can speak from my perspective as a member of the advisory committee — Brett is the chair, so he might have a somewhat different perspective. But in serving on the committee, there are two primary objectives I have.