University of Plymouth Sets Course to Better Wi-Fi With Mist AI

0:00 so hi I'm Jamie pitchforth head of

0:03 strategic business at Juniper here in

0:05 the UK today I'm in conversation with

0:08 Alex Israel the principal architect for

0:10 the University of Plymouth nice to meet

0:12 you Alex nice to see you Jamie so tell

0:14 us a little bit about the university the

0:16 university is based in the city center

0:18 of Plymouth we've got about 18 and a

0:20 half thousand students on campus about

0:23 two and a half three thousand staff and

0:25 then we also look after 2 000 on-campus

0:28 Hall to Residence bedrooms so you've

0:31 started your journey with juniper about

0:33 12 months ago so let's just jump back to

0:35 the very beginning of that and selection

0:37 criteria what was important to you when

0:40 you were out looking at the market

0:41 deciding which vendor you were going to

0:43 strategically align with so our Legacy

0:46 network was very traditional based and

0:48 it was it operated well as a network but

0:50 it didn't integrate and offer many added

0:53 benefits what was really Keen for us as

0:55 we joined a digital strategy was to

0:58 firstly offer a really good experience

1:00 to staff students in connectivity allow

1:03 us to say yes more than no and get in

1:06 those devices online but then also to

1:08 offer more to The Wider it Department

1:11 looked at integrate with other products

1:14 that we use and give more feedback you

1:17 know everything connects and relies on

1:18 the network it is that first layer but

1:21 it needs to do more these days than it

1:23 currently used to and how have you found

1:25 the difference in terms of your legacy

1:27 Network and the new network what have

1:29 been the real key differences between

1:31 where you were and where you are now the

1:34 differences of the analytics and the

1:36 information that we now have of people

1:38 connected to that new network we're

1:39 still in our journey we've got a lot of

1:41 juniper kit in but we've still got the

1:43 Legacy Network there when problems are

1:46 reported on the Legacy Network it's very

1:48 difficult to identify problems find

1:52 Solutions but when we find not that

1:54 there are very many on a juniper Network

1:56 that we've got that information there

1:58 the missed platform the power of the

2:00 cloud the sdn network allows us to to do

2:04 more and find out problems the automatic

2:07 packet captures are fantastic for us and

2:10 that information is just there and

2:11 readily available to use so tell us

2:14 about the selection criteria so when we

2:16 made the decision to refresh and not

2:18 just stick traditional we

2:20 we evaluated the market we looked at

2:23 Gartner we looked at who was doing

2:24 really well in the market and then we we

2:27 decided on a proof of concept and so we

2:29 got Juniper in we looked at Wireless

2:32 first but we were really impressed with

2:34 what was on offer wireless wise and so

2:37 we quickly expanded that into wired and

2:40 we're equally impressed and so we're

2:42 able to move forward with that as a

2:45 result from that we've looked at the

2:47 Wi-Fi 6E

2:49 APS the AP 45s and in terms of switches

2:53 we've got the ex 4650s in our core and

2:57 service blocks and then we've got for

3:00 Access layer and distribution we're in

3:02 the ex 4400 family completely the new

3:05 24x's and then the standard one gig and

3:09 then the multi-gigabit ones and I think

3:11 having gone through that Journey any

3:14 University looking at any kind of

3:15 refresh I think it was so easy with

3:18 juniper I'd highly recommend doing a

3:20 premium of concept I don't know if

3:22 you're aware but Juniper has a global

3:24 success rate of 96 percent of people who

3:27 POC actually then turn and invest and

3:30 move forward with our technology so some

3:33 serious numbers and I think POC is

3:34 absolutely critical to anyone

3:36 um interested in our technology and how

3:39 about moving from your traditional

3:40 three-tier Network to this new fabric

3:43 Network so the removal of some of those

3:46 Legacy Technologies yeah so the canvas

3:48 fabric is really great for us and the

3:50 templates as you say the Network's very

3:53 different now we work on the same

3:56 technology we can push everything out to

3:58 the edge the core and service block of

4:00 our networker where we connect into our

4:02 firewall but a lot more is done at the

4:04 edge now for us which allows us to

4:06 improve security we've got micro

4:08 segmentation of traffic and the ability

4:11 to control it so you're now running evpn

4:13 vxlan core distribution and access layer

4:17 yeah that's right the IEP Clause design

4:19 so that access this layer pieces I'm

4:22 quite Keen to to learn a little bit more

4:23 about that because we've seen adoption

4:26 you know throughout our customer base

4:27 worldwide in terms of core and

4:29 distribution but actually taking that

4:31 out to the access layer and gaining the

4:33 benefits of micro segmentation how are

4:35 you benefiting from that it's really

4:37 important for us because it allows us to

4:39 segmentate that traffic and cyber

4:41 Essentials cyber Insurance universities

4:44 are big targets these days of cyber risk

4:46 and for us to be able to control that

4:48 traffic

4:50 um at the very edge where the device

4:52 connects uh you know keep our secure

4:55 devices there students who just connect

4:57 we can just tunnel them straight out but

4:59 the internal traffic the services inside

5:01 managing them directly from the edge to

5:04 protect them is is essential for us and

5:06 I know that many of the people that will

5:08 be listening in and watching this today

5:10 we'll be looking at how do we migrate

5:13 from that Legacy environment to to that

5:15 new environment that's that's a scary

5:16 thought to many so how did you approach

5:18 migration so in terms of migration as I

5:20 say we're in a in a rolling refresh we

5:23 have our existing Legacy course still in

5:25 place we have our new Juniper campus

5:28 Fabric in place and we have a rooted

5:30 link between the two but then a direct

5:32 connection from the fabric to our border

5:34 firewall and so it's been seamless for

5:36 us really we were able to install them

5:37 in our existing Data Center and we've

5:40 bought building by building online

5:41 Wireless wise we can roll that out far

5:44 more there's no controllers anymore and

5:46 they're just cloud-based and we've got

5:48 some missed Edge devices to improve

5:51 roaming within our fabric but even

5:53 devices we've got connected to our

5:54 existing Legacy Network and that we've

5:57 replaced that are still using that

5:59 capability that fabric excellent what

6:01 about artificial intelligence so this AI

6:03 driven operations how are the people

6:05 that are operating and running the

6:07 network work on a day-to-day basis how

6:09 are they benefiting from this new

6:10 architecture and new capability the

6:13 architecture now is is fantastic because

6:15 everything is is not script based it's

6:17 not CLI we we control everything via

6:19 Mist it's templates we've got the

6:22 capability of Marvis there who's always

6:24 sort of on the lookout on our Network

6:26 advising us maybe you should look at

6:29 this this is down and AP is down there

6:31 and AP crashes AI fixes it itself it

6:34 reboots the AP it's back online with no

6:36 interference from us and that's really

6:38 important because it teams are shrinking

6:41 these days but we're expected to deliver

6:43 more so allowing the team to look

6:46 proactively more than sort of always

6:48 looking at problems is great for us and

6:51 are you gaining benefit from having this

6:53 single pane of glass where you've now

6:55 got from a software-defined cloud-based

6:58 architecture complete visibility

7:00 throughout the network yeah I don't

7:02 think ever we really had that single

7:04 option even though we were single vendor

7:06 previously in Legacy there was no sort

7:09 of one size fits all it was it was

7:12 tailored towards Wireless but wide was

7:14 an add-on to that mist is very different

7:16 a single pane of glass is there

7:17 everything is in one place

7:20 it's great for us we log in you know

7:23 regularly it's great

7:25 we've got Wireless and wired in one

7:27 place and the analytics that are there

7:30 between the two systems is is fantastic

7:32 brilliant and what about other

7:34 subscriptions some of the emerging

7:35 Technologies and where we're seeing a

7:37 lot of service Innovation around

7:38 location services and how we translate

7:41 those location services to deliver value

7:44 where you can start to have a

7:46 data-driven approach to guiding

7:48 strategies and yeah so that was again

7:50 really important and for Juniper for us

7:52 an access point is an access point it

7:54 does Wireless that's great but the

7:56 inbuilt vble technology and those access

7:59 points and the location services as you

8:01 say is is a great add-on and an

8:03 additional selling point for us because

8:05 we don't want to just do wireless

8:07 anymore we want to have that currently

8:09 we kind of look at occupancy by walking

8:11 around with a clipboard identifying sort

8:14 of lecture theaters but it's it's very

8:15 at that time it's very difficult

8:18 students don't like it and up early in

8:20 the morning so if you look at an

8:21 election at nine o'clock in the morning

8:23 it will be half empty but later on in

8:25 the day it'll be full but if you just

8:28 look at it once at that time then you

8:30 just get in that snapshot in time and

8:32 there with the location services now we

8:34 can set that up it's something that

8:35 we're definitely looking into that we're

8:37 really excited that that technology can

8:39 can give us and that we can help other

8:41 parts of the University so we're seeing

8:44 a real evolution of location services at

8:47 the moment so service accelera or

8:49 service Innovation is is being

8:50 accelerated as people really start to

8:52 drive in and see the benefits that some

8:55 of these Technologies can deliver how do

8:57 you see the benefits or what do you see

8:59 as the benefits for students as you

9:02 drive further into some of these new

9:04 technologies like location services so I

9:06 think students pay an awful lot of money

9:08 to come to University these days and

9:10 they expect the best and they've got so

9:13 much Choice out there so for us we need

9:15 to offer the best and we need to have

9:18 that situation for them

9:21 um a student I think when they they

9:23 start their Journey at University

9:24 they'll come to Halls of residence I

9:26 think they prefer to have

9:27 the Wi-Fi working and electricity

9:31 um I think you know they want to get

9:32 those devices online and they want that

9:34 Halls of residence to be their home away

9:36 from home and they want to get their

9:38 games console they want to get anything

9:39 else online and I think this generation

9:42 now are different from the previous they

9:45 won't have been used to having to plug

9:47 anything in hardwired at home everything

9:49 has to be Wireless and everything has to

9:52 just get online and work and this

9:54 technology is helping us with that when

9:56 they move to our campus

9:58 we may think they're going to congregate

10:00 in a certain place but they may choose

10:02 somewhere else and it'll depend on the

10:03 weather and it'll depend on the seasons

10:06 and having the analytics to look back on

10:08 that see where they're Gathering and

10:10 saying well well actually we hadn't

10:12 expected that there we've not put very

10:14 much coverage we've not done something

10:16 we need to feed that back and having

10:17 that live data telling us on a regular

10:21 basis and being able to go and

10:22 proactively fix that before the students

10:24 complain about it helped their journey

10:26 and it helps us offer them the best

10:28 experience excellent what about the

10:30 anticipation around you know we're 12

10:32 months in the NSS is is quite a good

10:35 gauge a good barometer for for

10:37 student satisfaction particularly around

10:39 Wireless Services NSS a couple of years

10:42 ago asked a specific question towards

10:45 Wireless and their experience there and

10:47 I think it's one of the top looked at

10:48 answers in NSS around technology so it

10:51 is really key for us I think our Legacy

10:53 Network we scored quite well we'd

10:55 invested in it quite significantly

10:57 previously in terms of the number of

10:59 access points but it's that getting

11:01 devices online so really key that will

11:04 hit our new academic intake soon we'll

11:06 get the First full year of students

11:08 using the technology and you know the

11:11 results next year we will be really Keen

11:13 to see that they have improved and

11:15 that's what I'm expecting because I

11:17 think we are offering a better service

11:18 with this technology than previously

11:20 excellent we've covered quite a broad

11:22 range of subjects but you're on a

11:25 digital journey and and that Journey

11:26 some things you will know that are in

11:28 front of you and some things that that

11:30 you won't know about you know that they

11:31 will hit you and you'll have to adapt so

11:34 the agility that comes with this

11:36 platform obviously being really really

11:37 it's cool like you get your crystal ball

11:40 out where do you see this in the next

11:42 two or three years time so the network

11:44 still needs to be more than just the

11:46 network now it's not a a platform to get

11:48 people online and then other systems

11:50 take over it needs to deliver more you

11:53 know networks are not cheap anymore the

11:55 subscriptions are there the capabilities

11:57 there the integration with all other

11:58 platforms allows us as an I.T Department

12:01 to to look at everything in one picture

12:03 identify well Student Records is being

12:07 highly utilized it's using a lot of the

12:09 traffic the network will be telling us

12:11 that and it won't just be a server

12:12 telling us it's slow and that's what we

12:14 need to get to to improve our experience

12:16 and what we're able to offer staff and

12:18 students excellent so it's been an

12:20 interesting and and fascinating diverse

12:22 conversation covered all over the ground

12:24 but I think the future is very much

12:26 digital and here at Junipero we are

12:28 delighted to be alongside you going on

12:30 this journey so Alex thank you very much

12:32 indeed for joining us today and thank

12:34 you Jamie for the day and you know thank

12:36 you for Juniper for joining us on this

12:37 junian supporting us so far