Alibaba Cloud Enterprise Network to be decommissioned on May 1

Published on: January 25, 2022

The Alibaba Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) Service, implemented in July 2020, provides a lower latency connection to University of Toronto (U of T) services for students connecting from mainland China. Due to significantly reduced demand and a return to in-person learning, Alibaba CEN will be decommissioned effective May 1, 2022. This means that students and faculty who have access to Alibaba will no longer be able to use the system as of May 1.

Why was Alibaba implemented?

Alibaba was a temporary solution that Information Technology Services (ITS) rapidly deployed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to improve connectivity to U of T systems for students learning remotely from mainland China.

If U of T deems it necessary to implement Alibaba again, will the infrastructure needed to do this still exist?

ITS is maintaining the ability to activate Alibaba again if needed in the future.

Who do I contact if I have questions?

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Information Commons at help.desk@utoronto.ca.