With more than 80 buildings spread over seven campuses (five in Granada, one in Ceuta and another in Melilla), the UGR relied on Cisco in 2018 to unify all its offices and facilities through the same Network (RedUGRNova), creating a campus unique virtual platform to connect students with virtual classes and educational resources inside and outside the classroom.
The University has once again selected Cisco solutions to make the leap to 100 Gigabits per second on the Melilla campus and the rest of the venues. The Network will also facilitate the deployment of new wireless capabilities based on the modern WiFi-6 protocol for indoor and outdoor use, providing wireless connectivity at Gbps speeds. About this process of digital transformation, we have had the opportunity to chat with Antonio Ruiz Moyadirector of networks and telecommunications at the University of Granada.
[MCPRO] What was your network infrastructure like before you started working with Cisco? What were your main needs?
[Antonio Ruiz Moya] At the University of Granada we have eight university campuses: two of them in Ceuta and Melilla, five in the city of Granada
and the virtual Campus. We need to deploy services to a university community made up of 85,000 users, who use around 35,000 physical network points and some 300,000 digital devices.
This dimensioning requires us to always be one step ahead at a technological level to anticipate future connectivity needs in a process of digital transformation, in which we have remained for the last two decades.
[MCPRO] With Cisco you started a project in 2018 that involves the renewal of the network infrastructure of a large part of your facilities
[Antonio Ruiz Moya] Between 2018 and 2019 we made a series of important changes that affect large telecommunications technology infrastructures in various fields, such as the implementation of services in a private cloud based on SDN network architecture that we deployed in university DCs.
Subsequently, new security services have been developed and this year, an evolution towards a new intelligent virtual campus, based on WiFi 6 technology that will allow us to universalize technological services, as well as fully enter the university digital transformation process. in which we are immersed.
[MCPRO] What advantages does the new fiber route that you have launched with the Melilla campus offer you?
[Antonio Ruiz Moya] With the support of RedIRIS we have managed to make the first point-to-point connection at the maximum speed that is typical today in a university environment (100 Gb per second) between the Melilla campus and the main Granada campus.
It is the first national route of its kind in an end-to-end connection modality (from final campus to final campus) at this speed, which opens up enormous new possibilities in research, teaching, management, etc.
[MCPRO] What exactly does this Smart Campus Wi-Fi 6 consist of?
[Antonio Ruiz Moya] On the one hand, in the field of wireless connectivity we are deploying the most modern infrastructure that Cisco puts in our hands to deploy a Wi-Fi 6 protocol that
It’s going to allow us even more capacity in our current wireless virtual campus, more security in the network and more services, and not only in terms of capacity but also in quality.
For example, we will deploy location services that can allow a student to navigate to less busy rooms on campus, learn about the history of the building they are in, or help them find parking.
We have also worked on the deployment of what we call WiFi streetlights, which not only illuminate the campus but also offer digital connectivity through them and allow easy use of all the digital services that we make available to campus users. We are also in a process of sensorization of the campuses in which we deploy not only WiFi, WiFi-6 or wired ethernet protocols, but also LoRa protocols. This is allowing us to provide real-time information to our users about air quality, or the deployment of intelligent lighting in all our facilities.
[MCPRO] What presence does Cisco have on the campus network? What advantages does working with this manufacturer bring you?
[Antonio Ruiz Moya] Cisco provides us with the best technology that we identify in all these fields and we value it by making it available to our “customers”, using it in their daily university life in a transparent manner.
For us it is very important to have open technology that can be integrated with our current and future infrastructure, and is compatible with the network services that we already have. Cisco gives us that interoperability that we require.
It also provides us with the tools, technology, protocols, etc. that allow us to deploy secure services. It is also important to have technological allies, which beyond technology provide great extra value for their human resources and that is the case of Cisco.
