Project Scope
The WiFi conversion was a huge undertaking. During summer 2017 and into the fall semester 1,741 Aruba access points (APs) were installed to replace the existing Cisco AP infrastructure in 52 UMD campus and remote location buildings. During this time, UMD also retired the UMD-WiFi network and transitioned to Eduroam as University of Minnesota system's single secure wireless network. We moved to "UofM Guest" which is the single system-wide guest wireless network. To get an idea of the impact of the wireless network at UMD, at its daily peak during the fall semester, the UMD wireless network supported 10,800 unique clients (devices). That's a lot of wireless traffic!
Project Collaboration
The completion of the WiFI conversion at UMD and the 4 other University of Minnesota campuses marks the first time the entire University system is on a unified and interconnected WiFi system. The project required collaboration between UMD Network staff, Twin Cities IT staff, and the vendor of the equipment (Aruba).
Thanks
UMD ITSS thanks everyone who had a part in the planning and execution of the WiFi conversion project. We also extend a big thank you to students, faculty, and staff for providing feedback, which has been and will continue to be essential to refining the system. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience and cooperation.
Next Steps
As Spring semester gets underway, tuning adjustments to the WiFi network will continue to improve the WiFi experience in UMD buildings. Some re-working of access point layout in many of the large lecture halls will occur during Spring semester. No significant service disruptions from this work is expected.
Information about Phase 2 will be available soon, and we will continue to communicate directly with any affected audiences.
Further Information
To find out more about the project, including why the University decided to make this change, please visit Next Generation Network (NGN) Project. If you have questions about the NGN project, please email us at [email protected].