In the Wi-Fi network RWTH-institutes, registered RWTH institutions are each provided with their own IP range. An institution needs to have applied for such a network (IP range) prior to being able to use RWTH-institutes.

Device authentication in RWTH-institutes is done via enterprise authentication (802.1X), just as in eduroam and with the same credentials. Unlike eduroam however, where all RWTH members are equality entitled to use the network, in RWTH-institutes only those persons are allowed to use the network, whose network administrator has explicitly granted them access rights. The user end devices who get access also get an IP address in the institute's designated IP range.

By adjusting the firewall rules, RWTH-institutes users get access to IP-restricted resources within the institution.

In RWTH-institutes, end user devices are assigned IP addresses as following:

• native IPv6 addresses (public)
• private IPv4 addresses (RFC1918)
  • these are translated via NAT (Network Address Translation) to enable legacy IP connectivity