Published on February 12, 2010

There has been some confusion related to the announcement below, which was issued earlier in February. To clarify, Penn State's VPN Anywhere service, which enables users to connect to Penn State from home through cable modem or DSL (and provides access to Web sites that are restricted to Penn State IP addresses, such as Library services) will not be affected by the decommissioning of the Wireless VPN service summarized below. Faculty and staff can learn more about Penn State's VPN Anywhere service at http://aset.its.psu.edu/vpn/. For related questions or concerns, please contact the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@psu.edu...

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Adoption of Wireless 2.0 Service Encouraged Due to Termination of Wireless VPN Service July 2011

To encourage adoption of the latest wireless technologies at Penn State, the University will end the Virtual Private Network (VPN) wireless service on July 1, 2011. As an alternative, students, faculty and staff should log on to Penn State's next generation wireless service (Wireless 2.0), which employs authentication and encryption industry standards for improved laptop and desktop security.

In contrast to Wireless 1.0, the new 2.0 service no longer requires use of Penn State's Wireless VPN service, therefore enabling instant connection to Internet resources and consistent wireless coverage for roaming within and between 2.0-enabled campus buildings. Individuals using the 2.0 service report improved Web page response time and decreased "timeout" issues. In addition, the 2.0 service is easy to use and may only require a one-time download and configuration for wireless users to be up and running.

Because some kinds of laptop software may not yet be able to easily support the 2.0 service, the University plans to ensure that the original 1.0 Wireless VPN service will continue to operate simultaneously with the 2.0 Wireless service until it is decommissioned July 1, 2011. To learn more about Penn State's wireless services, go to http://wireless.psu.edu/. Additional information on software which may be necessary for Windows7 operating system users to connect to Wireless 2.0 can be found at https://www.work.psu.edu/access/dot1x/prod/.

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