Category: ILTPP News & Updates

Kajeet Expands K-12 eduroam Access with New Integration

Posted on | by Hope

SmartBus™, Connect Suite, and Smart Transit customers now have access to eduroam integration

MCLEAN, Va., May 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Kajeet®, the leading wireless connectivity and device management provider for education, government, and commercial markets, today announced the immediate availability of the eduroam (education roaming) global network access service for SmartBus, Connect Suite, and Smart Transit customers. As a federated authentication service, eduroam allows participating institutions to provide access to their wireless networks to users from other participating eduroam institutions. It is the global standard for secure authentication and authorization developed for and by the research and education community.

As one of the first leading K-12 network service providers to offer eduroam integration, Kajeet offers its customers who want to become eduroam subscribers or hotspot providers a zero-touch model to authorize educational users and provide secure authentication for their own students, faculty, and staff to Kajeet-powered networks. The integration will allow users to access the school bus WiFi network using their home institution logins on school-provided or personal devices. Authentication of each user is processed automatically through the Internet2-operated eduroam infrastructure. The same process can enable access at a community center, public park, school parking lot, or on local mass transit, such as buses, shuttles, trains, or ferries.

“Kajeet’s eduroam integration offers a significant advancement in secure WiFi access for educational users,” said Michael Flood, senior vice president, Public Sector at Kajeet. “With this integration, our customers can provide safe and easy WiFi access for their students, faculty, and staff, without having to worry about unauthorized use and with a significant reduction in security threats. We are excited to work with Internet2 to expand our educational network and better serve our customers.”

Visiting students, faculty, staff, or researchers from qualifying educational institutions can use the eduroam network with no additional setup or login processes. Institutions can join eduroam to allow their users access to eduroam globally whenever and wherever they travel. Both host and home institutions have access to secure reporting to understand the benefits of their participation for their own users and educational roaming guests.

Existing Kajeet customers may contact their Account Manager to inquire about enabling eduroam. Any entity with compatible 4G and 5G routers can connect with Kajeet to learn how its solutions support secure educational access in their community and join the Kajeet network to offer eduroam access.

For more information about eduroam, please visit:  https://get.kajeet.net/free-eduroam-enablement

About Kajeet

Kajeet provides optimized IoT connectivity, software and hardware solutions that deliver safe, reliable, and controlled internet connectivity to nearly 3,000 businesses, schools and districts, state, and local governments, and IoT solution providers. Kajeet’s private network solutions simplify private wireless to allow customers to design, install and manage their own private wireless networks, while also offering a scalable IoT management platform, Sentinel®, that includes visibility into real-time data usage, policy control management, custom content filters for added security, and multi-network flexibility. Since 2003, Kajeet has helped thousands of organizations connect over a million devices around the world. To learn more, visit kajeet.com

About eduroam

eduroam (education roaming) is the secure, world-wide roaming wireless service developed for and by the international research and education community. Internet2 is the operator of eduroam in the U.S., with more than 1,000 eduroam-subscribing organizations. eduroam allows students, researchers, and staff to roam and find connectivity at more than 3,000 locations in the U.S. and more than 33,000 worldwide. To learn more, visit incommon.org/eduroam.

Request free eduroam enablement

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

Kris O’Connor
EDU Sales Executive, Kajeet
815-260-7960
koconnor@kajeet.com

Ryan Frohle
Account Manager (Install Accounts)
240-482-3499
rfrohle@kajeet.com 

Learn More About Kajeet

Illinois Esports Conference RSVP

Posted on | by Hope

Bytespeed will join the Illinois High School Esports Association (IHSEA)  in hosting the 2023 Illinois Esports Conference on Saturday, April 15th, in Franklin Park, IL, from 9 AM-5 PM.  (East Leyden HS).

The IHSEA is a not-for-profit organization started and run by Illinois educators.  The organization is committed to providing the tools and opportunities for high school students to participate in this fast-growing sport at a very affordable price.  This year’s conference will focus on helping new schools bring Esports to their communities and strengthen the existing membership programs.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn more about how to get your program off the ground!  Please RSVP in the link below to show your interest and get more details on the schedule of events. If you have questions, contact our Bytespeed Account Manager, Brian Hoots.

RSVP TODAY

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

Brian Hoots
Account Manager
218-227-0479
bhoots@bytespeed.com

Learn More About ByteSpeed

What Differentiates AEPA From Other Purchasing Cooperatives?

Posted on | by Hope

Buying agencies demanding high standards of ethics from their purchasing cooperatives need not look further than AEPA.

By Ted Witt, AEPA Board Member

School district purchasing agents — and every person in the chain of acquisition for supplies, equipment, and services — work within the public’s trust. These employees must obey laws and regulations. However, they must also meet higher ethical obligations for a standard of fairness that earns the confidence of their constituents.

READ MORE

 

The Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA) is a multi-state non-profit organization comprised of Educational Service Agencies / political subdivisions organized through a Memorandum of Understanding between all participating states.

We are a true “cooperative” that serves to leverage purchasing power to benefit all schools and agencies, regardless of size, with the ability to purchase at equal buying levels.

Learn More About AEPA!

The Illinois Learning Technology Purchase Program (ILTPP) is the member state agency representative for Illinois. Through our partnership with AEPA, we provide access to nationally bid contracts that are awarded locally to support the initiatives of education technology throughout the state. If you have additional questions about our current contracts, please let us know by emailing LearnMore@iltpp.org.

What your district should know about the state cybersecurity grant

Posted on | by Hope

There’s good news and there’s bad news.

  • The good: Reinforcements are on their way. The federal government created a new grant program to ease the burden on school districts in their constant battle against an increasingly malicious cybersecurity landscape.
  • The bad: The extremely tight window to apply for funding passed on Nov. 15. Nonetheless, there’s still a chance your school district can receive a slice of the $1 billion pie.

Let’s explore the ins and outs of the federal government’s new State and Local Cybersecurity Program (SLCGP). From the details and requirements of the program to how your district might benefit, we’ll walk you through all you need to know about the opportunity.

WHAT IS THE STATE AND LOCAL CYBERSECURITY GRANT PROGRAM?

In November 2021, President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The bill gave state and local governments resources through which they could improve roads, bridges, broadband, and other essential components of their infrastructure.

Through this legislation, Congress also established the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative that empowers the federal government to make targeted cybersecurity improvements within state, local, and territory government agencies. A total of $1 billion will be distributed over the next four years.

Okay — so what does this mean for your school district? How does this involve K-12 education?

According to K-12 Dive, schools cannot directly apply for the program. However, they can work with state and local governments to acquire funding. Per the SLCGP’s fact sheet, local governments are defined by law as a county, municipality, city, town, township, local public authority, or a school district. Likewise, a minimum of 80% of the state allocations must be passed down to the local level (i.e., school districts and other local entities).

That means schools can still access federal funding, albeit with a few caveats.

 

READ MORE

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

David Waugh
Sales and Marketing Vice President
303-415-3643
dwaugh@managedmethods.com

Learn More About ManagedMethods