Infrastructure Communications & Networking

Secure. Resilient. Built to Run with the Herd.

The Marshall University Network—MUNet—is the high-performance digital foundation connecting our campuses, classrooms, athletic facilities, research environments, offices, and university services.

Built on a secure, highly available fabric networking architecture, MUNet supports more than 13,000 students and 1,800 faculty and staff with fast, reliable access to university resources, cloud services, research networks, and the internet.

Reliable Connections Across Campus

MUNet uses a modern fabric networking architecture designed to provide secure, scalable, and highly available connectivity across Marshall University locations.

Backbone connections operate at 10, 25, 40, and 100 Gbps, with redundant site connectivity supporting continuity of service when individual paths or components are unavailable. This distributed architecture gives Marshall the flexibility to expand capacity as academic, research, administrative, athletic, and residential technology needs evolve.

Wireless Access:
Marshall offers pervasive, campus‑wide Wi‑Fi connectivity for students, faculty, and staff. Wireless services support academic, administrative, and residential needs across all University locations and are a core component of the MUNet environment.

Guest Wireless Access:
Guest and eduroam wireless services are available for non‑university individuals. Students, faculty, and staff may create temporary guest wireless accounts for visitors by visiting sponsor.marshall.edu.

Learn how to connect to Marshall University’s secure Wi-Fi networks, set up guest access, and troubleshoot connectivity issues. Explore options like MU WiFi, MU HRL, and eduroam for campus and residence hall use.

High-Speed Wired Connectivity

MUNet provides reliable hardwired network access in university facilities, supporting connection speeds from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps at the desktop.

Available speeds depend on the location, connected equipment, and operational requirements. High-capacity connections support data-intensive teaching, research, media, communications, and university business applications.

Redundant Internet and Research Connectivity

Marshall University maintains highly available external connectivity through two major network services:

• 7 Gbps of commodity internet connectivity for cloud services, websites, applications, video, and general internet use.
• 7 Gbps of Internet2 connectivity supporting the advanced networking needs of the research and higher education community.

Redundant connectivity and diverse network paths help maintain dependable access to essential university and external services.

Next-Generation Firewall Architecture

Positioned between the redundant internet edge and the MUNet core, Marshall’s next-generation firewall provides application-aware inspection, behavioral analysis, intrusion prevention, and automated threat detection.

AI- and machine-learning-assisted capabilities analyze traffic patterns and threat indicators to identify known and previously unseen attacks. The architecture combines intelligent inspection with centralized policy enforcement, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring to protect university resources without compromising network performance or resilience.

How do I request to add or change a rule?

If you are responsible for a computer on the Universities network that provides Internet services like a web server, FTP server, or file server to an off-campus computer, please let us know so we can configure the firewall to accommodate these services.

To request a change, please contact the IT Service Desk and have the following information available about the static mapping request; the name of the system that needs an exception set, the IP address, and any specific ports you need open for this system. We would also ask that you remember to let us know when you no longer need this exception implemented so we can disable it accordingly.

Are there any other options instead of a rule change?

Yes! If you are using the virtual private network (VPN) service, you can access University systems from off-campus without the need for firewall exceptions. VPN is the preferred solution for remote access. For additional help, contact the IT Service Desk by phone at 304-696-3200.

Telecommunication Services

Marshall University provides enterprise telecommunication services through Microsoft Teams, which serves as the university’s primary phone system (PBX). This platform enables direct dialing, extension-based internal calling, voicemail, call routing, and integration with collaboration tools across all campuses and affiliated facilities. Services are designed to support departmental flexibility while maintaining a standardized and secure communications environment.

Fax services are provided through RightFax, offering secure electronic faxing with delivery directly to user email. This eliminates the need for physical fax machines while ensuring compliance and reliability. For new service requests, changes, or support, faculty and staff should contact the MUIT Service Desk.