Looking to meet the demands of higher education in the artificial intelligence (AI) era – in particular to deliver advanced connectivity, resiliency and operational efficiency – Notre Dame Athletics has inked a multi-year partnership with Cisco to modernise the University of Notre Dame’s network.
A major institution in US education, the University of Notre Dame began operations on 26 November 1842, across 524 snow-covered acres that the bishop of Vincennes had given local priests in the Indiana mission fields to found a Catholic university. On 15 January 1844, the Indiana legislature officially chartered the University.
Currently, the university comprises eight colleges and schools, with 75 undergraduate majors; 8,923 undergraduate students; and 4,206 graduate/professional students.
The collaboration with Cisco is claimed to reflect Notre Dame’s commitment to establishing a future-ready learning environment, and the importance of a network able to support the demands of higher education in the AI era.
The university is looking to invest in a network able to support current and future device loads and AI applications, reflecting its status as a top-tier academic institution and its commitment to being at the forefront of technological innovation for the next decade and beyond.
“Modernising 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,” said John Buysse, senior director of network and telephony services at the University of Notre Dame.
“By eliminating years of technical debt and consolidating our infrastructure onto a unified Cisco multi-gigabit platform managed through Cisco Catalyst Centre, we have transformed our operations. Our team now has the proactive, centralised visibility needed to deliver a seamless, secure and fast digital experience to our campus community.”
For its part, the networking and tech giant noted that as AI continues to impact all facets of higher education – from research to classroom learning to student life – the demands placed on the network continue to grow exponentially.
The campus-wide deployment is based on Cisco Catalyst Centre to automate and assure the end-to-end network. With nearly 1,000 new switches across the South Bend campus, the integration of Catalyst Centre and zero touch deployment is said to be able to allow for consistent configuration across the University’s digital footprint, which will be standardised on the switch platform.
The partnership also includes utilisation of Cisco Professional Services, which will provide ongoing support for the network and offer the University custom expert guidance throughout the length of the partnership.
Additionally, Cisco ThousandEyes will be deployed to deliver digital experiences across the campus by providing the university with visibility into every network that can impact performance, across both owned and unowned third-party environments, giving them unmatched insight into how everything is connecting.
Cisco was confident that its technology would directly enhance the daily campus experience. For students, it said, this means a “seamless, high-performance connectivity experience” that supports bandwidth-intensive applications – from immersive virtual reality labs to real-time collaborative projects – ensuring they stay connected from the moment they step on campus.
For faculty and staff, the benefits from a modernised infrastructure are said to include the reliability needed for teaching and administrative efficiency, ensuring that digital resources are always available.
“In the dynamic world of higher education, speed is a requirement, not a luxury,” said Mike Witzman, vice-president of public sector solutions engineering at Cisco. “Together, Notre Dame and Cisco are doing more than just connecting a campus; we’re building an AI-ready foundation that will redefine the future of learning for generations of students, faculty and staff. Fast, seamless and reliable connectivity will transform the modern education and research experience, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.”
