The University of Notre Dame is overhauling its campus network with nearly 1,000 new switches as it seeks to eliminate technical debt and establish infrastructure capable of supporting growing demand from Artificial Intelligence, research and digital learning.
The University of Notre Dame is undertaking a major modernization of its campus network, deploying nearly 1,000 new switches as it prepares its infrastructure for increasing demand from Artificial Intelligence applications, research and digital learning.
The US university is working with Cisco on the multi-year project, which will standardize network infrastructure across its South Bend campus in Indiana.
Notre Dame is seeking to increase connectivity, resilience and operational efficiency while providing the capacity required to accommodate growing numbers of connected devices and bandwidth-intensive applications.
The university said modernizing its network is also intended to address accumulated technical debt and provide a common technology platform that can support future developments across teaching, research and student life.
“Modernizing our campus network is about far more than just replacing hardware; it is about building a foundation for the future of learning, research and campus life. By eliminating years of technical debt and consolidating our infrastructure onto a unified Cisco multi-gigabit platform managed through Cisco Catalyst Center, we have transformed our operations,” said John Buysse, Senior Director Network & Telephony Services at the University of Notre Dame. “Our team now has the proactive, centralized visibility needed to deliver a seamless, secure and fast digital experience to our campus community.”
The deployment will standardize the university’s network around the Cisco Catalyst 9300x switch platform, with Cisco Catalyst Center being used to automate and manage the infrastructure.
Nearly 1,000 new switches are being deployed across the South Bend campus. Zero-touch deployment will be used to help maintain consistent configurations across the university’s network while reducing the manual work required when installing and managing infrastructure.
For students, the university expects the upgraded network to provide greater capacity for bandwidth-intensive technologies and applications, including immersive virtual reality environments and real-time collaborative projects.
The infrastructure is also intended to provide faculty and other university employees with more reliable access to the digital services used for teaching, research and administration.
Artificial Intelligence is another factor behind the investment. As AI becomes increasingly incorporated into research, classroom learning and other aspects of university life, Notre Dame expects the demands placed on its network infrastructure to continue increasing.
The university is therefore designing the network to support both existing workloads and future AI applications rather than treating the project solely as a replacement of aging hardware.
Notre Dame will also deploy Cisco ThousandEyes to provide greater visibility into the digital services being used across the campus.
The technology can monitor network performance beyond infrastructure directly owned by the university, providing visibility into third-party networks and services that can affect the experience of students, researchers and employees.
