Some Campus Networks May Not Talk to iPads

Ace! NewsFlash

George Washington University networking officials say that security features on their wireless network may keep iPad users from connecting, and the issue may affect other universities as well. Most campus networks seem to be able to talk to the new tablet computers, though.

To connect to GW's wireless network, students and professors have to open up a Web browser and enter their user name and password each time, a step not required at most campuses. The process relies on software that iPhones and iPod Touch devices do not support. That means people on the campus have not been able to use those devices to connect to the campus wireless network. Guy Jones, a chief technology officer for the university, said that from what he has read about the iPad, he expects it will not work on the network either. "When we rolled this out, the target was laptops," he said. "Now what we're moving into is small devices." The reason the university chose its system is that it is more secure than systems that let students log in without entering their user name and password in a Web browser, he said.

The university is working on two possible changes to its network that would resolve the connection issues, but neither will be ready for several months. "We're trying to speed that up, but that's one project among many projects," Mr. Jones said. Engineers on the campus plan to begin running tests with iPads as early as tomorrow. The university's student newspaper, the Hatchet, first reported the possible connection issues yesterday. A graduate student, Paulina Orchard, told the paper she was upset about the incompatibility and guessed that most students expected that iPads would work on the campus. Mr. Jones said that no formal complaints had come in since the iPads were first released on Saturday, but that "it may take a day or two for people to actually complain."

Officials at at least three other universities said they had no problems with iPads on their campus networks, and most institutions appear to use a different security system than GW does—one that is more Apple-friendly.

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