EXTREME NETWORKS CASE STUDY: IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Imperial College London Takes

on the Future with Large-scale
Network Upgrade Featuring
Mobility, Security and IPv6

HIGHLIGHTS
THE CHALLENGE

Leading Academic Institution Approaches

London-Wide Carrier-Class, Policy Driven
Multivendor Network

Completing an ambitious, behind-

Serving 20,000 Students and Staff Mobility, secure network policy and high

the-scenes network upgrade with

availability delivered through an efficient network design have characterized

the mission of building a network for

Imperial College Londons extensive campus network upgrade featuring scalable

the future of mobility and increased

Ethernet network solutions from Extreme Networks.

reliance on the Internet and to

simplify the management of the edge
network and integrate it into a single
centrally managed entity.

Imperial College London required the roll-out of an enhanced mobile edge network
using best-of-breed equipment to complete its transition to supporting IPV6,
wired/wireless, converged voice/video and devices that require power from the
network. The scale of the project demanded upgraded performance and increased

THE SOLUTION

visibility through advanced network management and the many benefits of an

Upgrade performance and increase

open and modular operating system, ExtremeXOS.

visibility through advanced network

management and the many benefits
of an open and modular operating
system, ExtremeXOS.

THE BENEFITS
Secure wired and wireless network
infrastructure for users and devices.
Consistent and predictable services
meet mobility needs of 20,000
students.
Single network OS means less time
and cost operating network for IT staff.

Distinguished Education Institution Builds

World-Class Network
Imperial College London, consistently ranked as one of the worlds best universities,
is a science-driven academic institution with a globally renowned reputation for
excellence in teaching and research. Serving more than 20,000 students and staff
across seven campuses and eight teaching hospitals throughout west London, its
extended campus network is a vital component for its mission in delivering world
class academic, teaching and support over both wired and wireless.
In 2011, Imperial College London is completing an ambitious, behind-the-scenes
network upgrade with the mission of building a network for the future of mobility
and increased reliance on the Internet. The project includes centralisation of the
network and measurable performance upgrades that help to meet the longerterm demands of the universitys growth in both services delivered and student
requirements that are served.
A core objective of the project has also been to simplify the management of the
edge network and integrate it into a single centrally managed entity. The benefit is
consistent services, ease of change and low impact to the IT staff.
Were effectively operating fully converged carrier-grade Ethernet, with different
classes of users and data across a metropolitan-sized area, explained Matthew
Williams, Head of Networks and Infrastructure, ICT, Imperial College London. User

Imperial College London Case Study

types include staff, students and support services, and the

of thousands of Internet connected devices and an array of

network is subject to the many, varied demands from teaching

advanced network services.

hospitals and research. The sheer amount of data that is stored,

accessed and transferred is one aspect, but the rise in use of
mobile devices such as smartphones, netbooks and iPads, which
consume bandwidth browsing the web and running applications,
as well as the move to cloud based services, have also placed a
greater strain on the network.

Network Policy for a Secure Mobile

Student Network
Security is a core aspect to the resilience and management of
any large public sector network, driven by uniform network

We selected Extreme Networks equipment as the core of the

network edge upgrade project in a formal public sector process
that started with a tender in the Official Journal of the European
Union. Selection was competitive and objectively based on
technical deliverables and cost, explained Williams. The project
is now delivering what the College required: secure mobility,
reliability and flexibility. The network is now something that
everyone can take for granted. Its like your power supply: its
there, it works and you can plug in to it whenever and wherever
you are.

policy and control. The scope and scale of the Colleges

The Imperial Implementation

converged network, in comparison to a traditional in-house

Central to the project has been the upgrade to converged carrier

network, placed even greater emphasis on security measures at

Ethernet capacity, a process now approaching completion. More

the network edge. Management tools, therefore, needed to be

than a thousand Extreme Networks switches are being used to

centrally accessible and intuitive to provide high visibility into the

complete the project, featuring the Summit X450 and Summit

network to instantly detect threats and monitor usage.

X250 models. The evolution of Imperial network has demanded

The scale of our operations means we have to have an intelligent

and mobile network that we can manage from anywhere and
that also dynamically identifies users and devices as they log on
to the network, explained Williams. In terms of management
we have our own DHCP, MAC database and in-house SNMP.

a careful and methodical approach to replacing layers of the

network. It has to account for pre-existing capabilities and
features of the equipment to ensure continuous support.
The reason for the projects success is the fact that it was not
an exercise in wholesale replacement but a carefully planned

Manageability is key: Extreme Networks infrastructure can

and ordered move. The edge upgrade is the culmination of a

support user and port policy all within the context of our existing

deliberate process of managed roll-out that we initiated in 2007,

management framework.

said Williams. It was not a big bang project but we have

Continued Williams: We made sure that we secured automated

threat detection and response instrumentation to accompany
the hardware. This will ensure that the appropriate response to
network intrusion is centrally available and can be incorporated
into continuity planning.

Advanced IPV6 and Predictable

Network Performance
As a large-scale public sector project, the search for value was at
the forefront of the decision process for Imperial College London.
The university was keen to achieve stringent performance
benchmarks with network resilience, additional security features
to support converged LAN, 48.8 Gbps 97.6 Gbps switch fabric

made the transition smoothly and decisively, without disruption,

from a decentralised model to a centralised one, improving
performance drastically, whilst building on existing standards
and equipment.

The project is now delivering what the College required:

secure mobility, reliability and flexibility. The network is
now something that everyone can take for granted. Its like
your power supply: its there, it works and you can plug in
to it whenever and wherever you are.
MATTHEW WILLIAMS, HEAD OF NETWORKS
AND INFRASTRUCTURE ICT, IMPERIAL
COLLEGE LONDON

bandwidth, 65.5 Mpps 72.6 Mpps Layer 2 and IPv4/IPv6 packet

forwarding rate, and convergence grade 40 Gbps stacking.
Delivery and uptime had to be watertight.
IPV6 and IPv4 technologies naturally were required to be
supported in all Ethernet switches, to ensure the smooth support

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Imperial College London Case Study