The University of Waterloo is consistently recognized as the “the most innovative University in Canada,” thanks to its renowned academic and cutting-edge research  programs. Before the University signed an initial contract with GlobalSign back in 2009, they were using an internal
Certificate Authority (CA) to issue a few dozen certificates each year. 

That number has steadily risen to about 700-800 certificates every year, or 15-20 certificates a week, as the University has grown and increased its digital activities. In addition to the central IT group, there are six faculty groups – Math, Engineering, etc. – each of which have smaller, sub-groups and dedicated IT teams.

The central challenge for University of Waterloo is for the individual teams on campus to be able to manage and issue their own certificates – some groups have up to 100 certificates under their umbrella. Making sure all of the websites and applications associated with these groups,
across the university, remain secure is a substantial task.
IT managers realized that the University would need an external CA to help manage and stay on top of SSL/TLS certificate issuance and renewals, as well as provide other valuable services to help create a safe network environment for users.

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