BU OIT

Network and Communications

The Boston University campus network provides high-speed access to the Internet, e-mail, and the Web. Tens of thousands of ports, supporting communications rates up to 100 million bits per second, are interconnected via optical fiber and high-speed routers and switches. Direct access to the network is available at many locations throughout campus, including faculty and staff offices, PC labs, study areas, in the colleges and departments, residence halls, and in a number of classrooms. Remote access to the campus network and the Internet is also available through a high speed modem pool. For more information about the campus network and the Network Systems Group, see www.bu.edu/nsg.

The Boston University wireless network conforms to current 802.11 standards operating at speeds up to 54 Mbps. Boston University continues to extend its secure wireless network throughout both the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus. This includes libraries, large residence hall study lounges, campus dining facilities, the University's athletic facilities and Arena, and many departments, classrooms, and research labs throughout the institution. All wireless transmissions are secured and encrypted through use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which requires installation of a special client and authentication with a BU login name and Kerberos password. See www.bu.edu/pcsc/wireless for additional information on the wireless network and the VPN.

Boston University is a participant in the Internet2 project, a collaborative involving more than 200 research universities engaged in the development of next generation network applications to meet emerging requirements for information technology in research and education. In support of this effort, the University is a founding member of the Northern Crossroads (NoX), an affiliation of more than two dozen New England institutions with a common need for advanced networking. The NoX operates a high performance communications exchange, and the University is connected to this facility at billions of bits per second. The NoX interconnects regional participants to each other and to the Internet2 Abilene network, providing Boston University with access to hundreds of institutions, agencies, and corporations connected to advanced networks worldwide. For more information about the NoX and Internet2, see www.nox.org. You can read about Boston University's Access Grid Conference Facility, a practical resource utilizing the high speed connectivity provided by the Internet2 Abilene network, in the section on Scientific Computing and Visualization.

Information on how to use the dial-up service is available at www.bu.edu/computing/dialup. See the ResNet website at www.bu.edu/resnet for information on ResNet locations and hardware/software requirements.