The campus network at Texas A&M University consists of a Gigabit backbone and hundreds of ethernet LANs. The network connects over 250 buildings, including residence halls, and has over 65,000 network ports. The backbone infrastructure is continuously being upgraded. The CIS Network Group is currently in the process of upgrading building uplinks from 100 Mbps Ethernet to gigabit Ethernet. IP is the only protocol routed on campus.
Access to the Internet and Internet2 is via a Gigabit connection over LEARN (Lonestar Education and Research Network). TAMU receives Internet access from WilTell and Internet2 access from the Houston Gigapop. CIS also maintains NTP time servers and DNS servers for the campus network. This also includes a locally mirrored DNS-based Blackhole List for the campus.
On campus access
All residence halls on campus are wired with one ethernet connection per resident. These connections can be used to access both the university's computing resources and the Internet. There are also nine open access computer labs available for use.Desktop connections are provided to faculty and staff through either a twisted pair Fast Ethernet (100BaseTX) connection, or a twisted pair gigabit (1000baseTX) connection. Connections for new or previously unconnected buildings as well as for departmental networks are handled on a case-by-case basis. Media Installation, including Category 5e and Category 6 Unshielded Twisted Pair and Fiber is also available. Mobile connectivity is provided through wireless LAN connections.
Off campus access
Access to campus from off campus can be accomplished through several different mechanisms. The mechanisms are available for general use by students, faculty and staff associated with Texas A&M University who need access to the campus network or Internet. Some services are restricted from access from the Internet by the campus firewall.The analog dialup bank consists of approximately 300 modems that support speeds up to 56Kb/s via the V.90 protocol.
Access to campus can also be provided through DSL, cablemodems, VPN, and Wide Area Networks.
The university is currently connected to the Bryan/College Station Network Access Point (BCS-NAP). This allows BCS-NAP connected ISPs to locally access the TAMU campus network.