Education

Rethinking the digital infrastructure

With a history as long and decorated as Copenhagen University (KU), it can be tempting to rest on your laurels. Founded in 1479, the university is the largest university in Denmark and is ranked as one of the best in Europe. It has produced 37 prime ministers, 10 Nobel Laureates, and 34 Olympic medalists. But KU recognizes that history alone is no guarantee of future success.

KU is investing heavily in its digital infrastructure in an effort to remodel itself as the ideal example of a modern university. It wants to create a university experience—for students, researchers, and staff—that is digital, mobile, and dynamic. It wants this experience to be seamless across its four campuses and hundreds of buildings.

This transformation will have real-world implications on how the university is run. Flexibility around teaching will allow extra student capacity. Digital learning will expand the university's reach, and there will be a more modern, effective environment for world-class research. The latter plays an increasingly important role in attracting talent, funding, and kudos.

"We want to create one complete network for the university, but a network that is capable of supporting many and varied use cases," says Christian Vesth, network architect and IT team leader at Copenhagen University.

Multiple use cases mean multiple security settings, all meeting the correct compliance standards. For a hard-pressed network team, this could be overwhelmingly complex, admits Vesth:

"Our conclusion was that the only way to achieve this was through a software-defined approach."

Leveraging automation, insights, and analytics

The network that will lead KU into the future is being built on Cisco Catalyst Center. It replaces an aging infrastructure, where the number of end-of-life devices had more than doubled in recent years, with modern hardware and software. The modern infrastructure includes Cisco Catalyst 9000, Cisco Secure Network Analytics (formerly Stealthwatch), Cisco Catalyst Center, and Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).

"The engagement with Cisco gives us the network capacity to cope with future demands," says Sasa Dervovic, IT manager at Copenhagen University. "But it is the automation and programmability that will make the most difference to our work. It will be easier to deliver new services for users, and to create new microsegments within the network within minutes—a task that used to take days."

In replacing a disjointed infrastructure, Cisco Catalyst Center promises to reimagine how KU delivers services to network users. The software-defined approach leverages automation, insights, analytics, and an integration of AI and ML capabilities. Once registered on the network, a user or device is automatically configured. Applied intelligence then allows a proactive approach to upgrades, troubleshooting, remediation, and assurance.

"We don't need to go switch-by-switch making changes," says Vesth. "All changes are pushed through Cisco Catalyst Center in one click. Every device on the network is now known to us."

The choice of Cisco, Vesth continues, was a straightforward one. It delivers enterprise-class security, supported by some of the world's best network engineers. "This is a game changer for KU and for our team," he says. "It enables us to keep pushing the boundaries."

The network as an enabler for innovation

The new network establishes, for the first time, a university-wide connectivity experience for students, staff, and researchers. Users can self-serve with access available 24/7. At a stroke, this removes the KU network team from the laborious task of checking and configuring every request. The appropriate network environment is provisioned within minutes, a task that used to take the team days. With Catalyst Center APIs, the time for opening and closing tickets has gone down by 90 percent.

"We see the new network is an enabler for innovation," says Dervovic. "Researchers can focus on their work, and they are not waiting for IT to catch up." KU had 300 start-ups launch from its research department last year, each with an innovative idea and the ambition to impact the wider society and national economy. The new network means the university can support more research, more start-ups—and make a greater impact.

Users are likely to be unaware of the new network and the Cisco technology underpinning network operations. That is how it should be, says Vesth: "For the user, there should be no 'network experience'—only what the network enables. A modern university is very different to what it was 10 years ago. Everything is reliant on the network."

For the average student, this means a network capable of connecting phones, tablets, laptops, smart devices, and more. And complete mobility across KU's estate. It is easier for guests to access the network, and for repeat visitors to be recognized and admitted. Teaching staff can have confidence in using the latest digital tools. There are fewer hurdles between researchers and the resources needed to do their work.

There is also less temptation to find network solutions outside of the official KU channels. KU's business risk team has the assurance that security is managed effectively.

"With so much technology software-dependent, there are constant security updates. It is far better to have as much activity as possible on the KU network. In network security terms, each researcher can now be isolated," Vesth explains. "And automation reduces our workload."

Overall, Vesth continues, this equates to a 25 percent productivity gain for his team. With less time spent on mundane operational tasks, the team takes a more consultative approach with students and researchers. The emphasis is now on finding new ways to supply research teams with IT solutions, or to accelerate the broader digital transformation of the university.

"The service from the university means researchers don't need to be tech experts," says Rasmus Bjerregaard Christensen, a research associate PhD from the Niels Bohr Institute at KU. "It's great that the University is providing the environment we need to work effectively."

"The best network is one that I don’t even notice," adds Peter Granum, Quantum photonics engineer also from the Niels Bohr Institute at KU.

Assurance around the technology roadmap

The next phase is to bring wireless connectivity under the same management, with a WLAN refresh planned using Cisco Catalyst Center. Dervovic says the five-year enterprise agreement with Cisco provides assurance around the technology roadmap, and financial predictability:

"Having our entire wired and wireless network managed from one Cisco platform is ideal. It will allow us to better spot traffic patterns, threats, and trends. Everything software-defined is the direction we're heading."