There has been a marked shift from the technology architecture to the business model, from compliance requirements to user experience. If you are planning to upgrade the campus network or prepare for new systems, there are several trends that should be known in advance.
Trends I: From hardware to softwareization and containerization migration
The early campus network WiFi billing system is almost all hardware gateways.——The manufacturer plugs all the authentication, billing, NAT, firewalls into a dedicated device. The advantage of this model is that it is simple to deploy, and the vendor is responsible for overall improvement; the disadvantage is that upgrading difficulties, expansion limits, and switching equipment will be basically like reversing a recurrence.
Over the past two years, more and more schools have tended to be deployed in software, dividing the campus network WiFi billing system into certification services, billing engines, managing several stand-alone components on a universal server. A further trend is to deploy containers, with Docker or Kubernetes organizing services that are flexible and fast-paced. This structure has clear advantages when responding to sudden traffic (e.g. peaks in network use during class selection), allowing for capping of fixed performance that can be built on the need rather than reliance on hardware.
Trends II: Impact of WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 on the accreditation architecture
WiFi 6 has been deployed in large-scale universities, and WiFi 7 commercial products are emerging. The new standards have not only increased speed, but also had a direct impact on the campus network’s WiFi system certification structure. WiFi6 multi-user MIMO and OFDMA technologies have significantly increased single AP co-connection, with the traditional WiFi web based on each connection being subject to performance pressure at high parallel settings.
WiFi 7 further introduced multi-linkage operations (MLOs), with one terminal using multiple frequency bands and APs. This introduces new requirements for the management of sessions in the WiFi billing system on campus: a session may be tailored to fit multiple physical links, flow statistics and costing logic.
Trends III: Zero Trust is starting to penetrate campus networks
The core principle of zero trust is"Never trust. Always verify."The traditional campus network WiFi billing system has opened easier access to the site after certification, and a zero-trust structure requires identification and contextual verification of each visit request.
Zero trust is still in its early stages, but with a clear direction. The future campus network WiFi billing system may need to work with the zero confidence gateway, not only to verify user identity but also to assess end-level safety (if poison-killing software has been installed, whether system patches are updated), access to context (time, location, behaviour pattern). This makes it more demanding for the openness and interface capabilities of the campus network WiFi billing system.
Trends IV: Continued tightening of log compliance requirements
Since 2024, educational authorities in several provinces have conducted special checks on the safety compliance of universities. The logbooks are one of the key points for the inspections.
Among the changes that are worth noting are: the possibility of an extension of the log retention period from 6 months to 12 months, more detailed requirements for log content (which may require recording URLs rather than IP only), and the need for a log to support standardized query interfaces to match remote access by regulators. The selection will assess whether the log module of the WiFi billing system on campus network has sufficient expansion to respond to these changes, otherwise it may face passive compliance adaptation after one or two years.
Trends V: Certification management of the object network terminals
The campus network is connected to the equipment, but the traditional campus WiFi system is designed primarily for people (students and faculty) and there is a lack of relevance in the certification management of the network.
The certification of the devices has several special needs: they are usually not browser-based and cannot be certified through Portal; the number of equipment may be far higher than the number of people; many equipment will need to be stable online for long periods, which is not suitable for running on time or flow basis. The future WiFi system for campus webs requires additional authentication support for the devices such as certificate-based 802.1X certification, the white list mechanism for equipment, and specialized network management viewing.
Trends VI: Data analysis and operational decision support
The WiFi system of campus networks has accumulated a large amount of user behavior data: who uses the Internet for what time, how much traffic and which applications are preferred. These data were used only for billing and compliance purposes.——For network capacity planning, user behaviour analysis, and information-based decision support.
The forward-looking WiFi system has started to build up data analysis modules or provide standardized data export interfaces. By analysing online behavioural data, information centres can judge whether the bandwidth in teaching and accommodation buildings needs to be adjusted, when additional bandwidth is needed for exports, and where there is a low rate of unconscious certification success.
Trends VII: Deep integration with the Smart School Platform
The campus network WiFi billing system is being transformed from an independent infrastructure component to a sub-module of the Smart School Platform. More and more schools require that the campus network WiFi billing system be able to access data with the Unified Identification Platform, a cartoon system, teaching systems, and accommodation management systems.
This integration is very demanding for the open interface of the WiFi system on campus. The selection focuses on whether manufacturers provide a good API file, whether they support standard certification protocols (e.g. SAML, OAuth) and if there are cases of successful interfaces with other university systems.