Mississauga is the First Canadian City to Launch "Virtual Campus"

mississauga.ca
April 5, 2017

Today, at General Committee, City staff introduced a new “virtual campus” service that, starting on May 1, will enable post-secondary students to access school resources anywhere in the world from Mississauga.

The City, in partnership with University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), is launching eduroam (education roaming) - a secure, worldwide roaming service. eduroam offers students access to post-secondary institutions around the world when they visit City facilities where Wi-Fi access is available.

Mississauga is the first Canadian city to make eduroam available to its student population. The City has a similar partnership in place with Sheridan College for creating a virtual campus using the City’s free public Wi-Fi network.

“Technology plays a significant role in enabling a connected and engaged City,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “The progress we are making through our innovative IT Master Plan positions the City as a leader in Smart City technology. It is also a large part of what makes Mississauga a great place to live, work, attend school or do business."

“The launch of eduroam on May 1 positions Mississauga as a leader in providing access that supports learning, innovation and collaboration in our facilities and public spaces,” said Shawn Slack, Chief Information Officer, City of Mississauga. “Through the IT Master Plan process and initiatives like eduroam, we are realizing a new and exciting vision. This plan ensures the City is using technology effectively to deliver the services our customers and residents rely on now and for the future.”

“We congratulate the City of Mississauga on becoming Canada’s first municipality to offer eduroam throughout its public spaces. By doing so, they’ve turned the city into a virtual campus for students enrolled at their local universities and colleges and those visiting from more than 70 countries who participate in eduroam,” said Mark Wolff, CANARIE’s Chief Technology Officer. “CANARIE’s core purpose is the advancement of Canada’s knowledge and innovation infrastructure, so we’re very excited to align with this fantastic initiative in Mississauga. Local students, their Canadian peers, and visitors from the global eduroam network will stay connected throughout the city’s public areas - seamlessly.”

“The University of Toronto Mississauga applauds Mississauga’s new virtual campus.” said Professor Ulrich Krull, Interim Vice-President of the University of Toronto and Principal of UTM. “Students and faculty members from UTM, and post-secondary visitors from around the world, will benefit by having direct access to online institutional resources at City of Mississauga locations such as libraries, community centres, arenas, transit terminals and public spaces. By implementing eduroam the City has created a virtual campus that helps position Mississauga as a global hub of creative and innovative activity where talent can thrive.”

City staff also presented an update to Council on the progress of the IT Master Plan. The plan, established in 2015, guides future improvements to services using technology. It also establishes a vision for an engaged and connected city.

Key City actions featured in the IT Master Plan include:

• Development of the new Advanced Traffic Management System
• Suite of web and Wi-Fi solutions developed for the Ontario Summer Games
• More than 55 data sets on community centres, fire stations, leash-free zones and more now available on the City’s Open Data Catalogue
• Code and the City, Mississauga’s first open data hackathon, held in 2016; Tech and the City scheduled for October 2017 at University of Toronto Mississauga
• Creation of a framework coordinating Smart City initiatives across all City services and with external partners now underway
• Expanded online services and mobile applications, public Wi-Fi access and development of a Wi-Fi Corridor are in progress.

About eduroam
eduroam (education roaming) is the secure, world-wide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community. eduroam is available in more than 70 countries and 17,000 locations worldwide. As the provider of eduroam in Canada, CANARIE will automatically authenticate and connect the users’ mobile devices to the eduroam Wi-Fi network as they move throughout the city, making it easier for them to learn, research and collaborate - wherever they are. For more information visit canarie.ca/identity/eduroam.

For more information about the IT Master Plan and how it is improving City services and operations please read the IT Master Plan.