Cityroam brings OpenRoaming to IKEUCHI GATE smart building
Cityroam brings Passpoint / OpenRoaming adoption in Japan and currently interconnected with some other roaming federations including eduroam and WBA OpenRoaming. IKEUCHI GATE, located in Sapporo, Japan, is a smart building completed in October 2022 by IKEUCHI GROUP.
In addition to variety of shops, cafes, and restaurants, IKEUCHI LAB also features a private office and co-working space that generates high-impact for the creation of social and economic value, backed by a co-creation system based on industry-government-academia collaboration.
In order to provide secure and convenient Wi-Fi service to the general public visiting IKEUCHI GATE, Sapporo Gakuin University and Local24 have initiated a cooperative work for realising OpenRoaming provisioning.
Sapporo Gakuin University and Local24 have been core members of Cityroam since its inception. Sapporo Gakuin University has completed connecting all 400+ access points on campus to OpenRoaming through Cityroam by 2020 in order to serve the public visiting the campus. It is the university in the world to connect all base stations on campus to OpenRoaming.
Local24 provides both OpenRoaming and eduroam base stations throughout Japan and has deep experience in building and operating them. The three parties have worked together this time to provide OpenRoaming services at IKEUCHI GATE, that it has been deployed at a commercial facility in Hokkaido.
All Cityroam access points also provide eduroam to support research and education in the connected digital age. It would be very convenient if educational institution personnel wishing to use the building could use the same Wi-Fi setup that they normally use on their university campuses.
The three parties worked together to incorporate OpenRoaming’s ability to publish connection profiles into IKEUCHI GATE’s smartphone application for its customers. Now, IKEUCHI GATE customers can also freely use OpenRoaming Wi-Fi on campus when visiting the Sapporo Gakuin University campus, whether it’s for learning or other purposes.
The three parties share the same philosophy of taking advantage of this favorable environment to promote a higher level of collaboration and to expand this OpenRoaming circle to other areas in Hokkaido in the future. We would like to promote the introduction of OpenRoaming as an infrastructure for Hokkaido to produce the advanced innovations.
“We would like to make IKEUCHI GATE a place where many people can interact with each other by providing a highly convenient communication infrastructure that supports OpenRoaming.” says Kazumasa Ikeuchi, president of IKEUCHI GROUP.
“We have learned a lot from the OpenRoaming implementation at IKEUCHI GATE. In the future, we plan to expand OpenRoaming and eduroam in Hokkaido. Although our company is based in Kyoto, we are eager to support IKEUCHI GROUP companies with technical assistance and implementation, creating a convenient information environment where visitors to Hokkaido can easily access OpenRoaming and eduroam.” says Takenori Hirose, CEO of Local24 Inc.
“Innovation is vital for sustainable development. We have partnered with Cityroam, a social infrastructure supporting innovation. Our focus is on nurturing startups and fostering innovation for a thriving future in Hokkaido. Proud to be part of the collaboration with IKEUCHI GROUP and Local24, we are fully committed to this mission.” says Kunihito Kawanishi, president of Sapporo Gakuin University.
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