600,000 users for Eduroam last month

Share this on social media:

Eduroam, the worldwide single sign-on secure network providing wi-fi connectivity access for education and research, reached more than 600,000 internet-enabled devices in the UK last month.

During October a total of 608,131 devices were successfully authenticated using the Eduroam national infrastructure, which is managed through the Janet network provided by Jisc. This is in comparison to 487,437 devices in the previous month, and is almost double the amount year-on-year (337,109 in October 2013).

Over the last three years an exponential increase in the number of devices counted roaming between member organisations has resulted in this milestone being reached.

There are more than 220 member organisations now providing Eduroam in the UK. Membership includes 95 per cent of higher education and 20 poet cent of further education institutions. Other public sector bodies that support education and research and local authorities, including almost 100 hospitals, participate in Eduroam across the UK, and in addition there are thousands participating organisations overseas.

Eduroam is widely available throughout the rest of Europe and in over 50 countries globally, including Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA, making learning and research on the go seamless.

Ed Wincott, who manages the Eduroam service at Jisc, the charity that offers digital services and solutions for education and research, said: 'The proliferation of mobile devices and growing trend for bring your own device, coupled with increasing fears around managing cyber security, are creating a demand for easy, ubiquitous and safe access online.

'Reaching more than 600,000 devices in October demonstrates just how valuable Eduroam is in helping registered users get high-quality and secure internet connections as they move between locations and across various devices.'