The eduroam initiative started in 2003 with 6 countries. The technology behind eduroam is based on the IEEE 802.1X standard and a hierarchy of RADIUS proxy servers. The task force created a test bed to demonstrate the feasibility of combining a RADIUS-based infrastructure with 802.1X standard technology to provide roaming network access across research and education networks. The initial test was conducted among five institutions located in the Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Croatia and the UK. Later, other national research and education networking organisations in Europe embraced the idea and gradually started joining the infrastructure, which was then named eduroam.

eduroam Governance

The Global eduroam Governance Committee was constituted in November 2010 and currently comprises fifteen senior representatives of roaming operators in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America and Europe. Secretariat support is provided by the GÉANT Association, which finalised the charter for global eduroam governance after extensive consultation with eduroam leaders from these regions. The GeGC members are officially appointed by the GÉANT Association on the basis of nominations from their regional roaming operators or confederation.

The GÉANT organisation coordinates and supports the Global eduroam Governance Committee (GeGC), which sets technical and organisational standards for the service and authorises compliant ROs to provide eduroam around the world.

The members of the GeGC are senior representatives of ROs or confederations of ROs. Representatives for a world region that has a confederation - such as Europe - are nominated by the confederation. In world regions without confederations, the ROs must jointly nominate their GeGC representatives. The GeGC members are officially appointed by GÉANT on the basis of these nominations, and currently are:

• Africa: Kennedy Aseda (KENET, Kenya), Guy Halse, (TENET, South Africa), Emmanuel Togo, (GARNET, Ghana).
  
• Asia-Pacific: Hideaki Goto (Tohoku University, Japan), Deokjai Choi (Chonnam National University, Korea), Warrick Mitchell, (AARNet, Australia).
• Europe: Wenche Backman-Kamila (Funet/CSC, Finland), Paul Dekkers (SURFnet, Netherlands), Miroslav Milinović (Srce, Croatia).
• Latin America: Luis Castro (CUDI, Mexico), Claudio Chacón (CEDIA, Ecuador), Jean Carlo Faustino (RNP, Brazil).
• North America & Caribbean: Chris Phillips (CANARIE, Canada), Reeve Ramharry (UWI, Trinidad & Tobago), Mike Zawacki, (Internet2, USA).

The GeGC includes non-voting technical experts:

• Stefan Winter (RESTENA, Luxembourg)
• Philippe Hanset (ANYROAM, LLC, USA)