We asked Andres Henckens, Specialist Informatics Officer in ICT Systems & Networks at Hasselt University, how he found the new service.
For what purposes will Hasselt University use eduVPN?
Hasselt University is going to use eduVPN for both its staff and students. Students will primarily use the platform to access experiments in the labs and licence servers, so they can also use their licensed software from their laptops. Staff members can access internal services in a secure and efficient manner when working from home. Thanks to the ability to set up different user profiles, we can easily manage this as a central IT service.
Through a demo profile, we are also looking at incorporating authentication using ClearPass for even better network security.
How did the implementation of eduVPN go on the university campus?
Although the implementation was not that easy because of external factors such as an external physical connection and VLAN, while the routing remained within the campus, the installation and integration went very smoothly. The basic setup was already working after a few hours – after a few days, the whole solution was working. We are very satisfied with the collaboration with Belnet and the good relationship that exists between our two IT teams.
What is the greatest benefit to you?
I was surprised by how easy eduVPN is to manage. We don't have to worry about any updates or upgrades. Because the service is hosted by Belnet, these run automatically and we can rely on fast support through a centralised point of contact.