In 2013, the national and international number of connections had already surpassed 8 million on the national territory, “which was really impressive. The fact that the 17 million mark was broken shows the growing popularity of this service among schools, universities and research institutes in Luxembourg. It is also important to note the high rate of connections from Luxembourg users abroad, amounting to 700,000 in 2014. These excellent figures can be partially attributed to the increase of the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ phenomenon and the proliferation of mobile devices”, explains Dr Cynthia Wagner, Research Engineer at the RESTENA Foundation.

Thanks to a network of more than 60 hotspots spread throughout the country, eduroam is accessible from most schools and institutions as well as from the city centres of both Luxembourg and Esch-sur-Alzette. It enables users from this community to connect to the Internet for free in a secure and fast way whenever they are travelling in Luxembourg or abroad, provided that their host institution is an eduroam partner. Developed by a partnership of research networks, this service is available in more than 50 countries and regions, including Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and the United States. There are more than 15,000 hotspots worldwide. “The strength of eduroam is not only its international dimension but also its ease of use. The users always use the same username and password regardless of their location”, adds Dr Wagner.

A further strength of the service is its strong emphasis on security and data protection. “We never ask a user to identify himself on a web page, which might be vulnerable or even compromised. Technically, eduroam is an infrastructure based on 802.1X standard technology, an encrypted authentication solution that provides an extra layer of security against ’man in the middle’ attack types”, concludes Stefan Winter, Research Engineer and responsible for the eduroam  service at the RESTENA Foundation.

For more information about eduroam Luxembourg, please visit: www.eduroam.lu, and for eduroam international, please go to: www.eduroam.org.