University of Sussex

Prestigious, prolific and home to some of the brightest analytical minds in Psychology, History and Geography;
few institutions carry the educational accolades of the University of Sussex.

This historic university welcomes over 18,000 full-time students from over 100 countries worldwide and, as such, depends on
high-capacity, high-speed networking to keep its people connected.

When it came to student satisfaction with the university’s IT infrastructure, one key area suffered from recurring criticism - its WiFi.

The existing solution had been comparatively under-invested and couldn’t support the learning requirements of the modern-day student.

Upon review, over 91% of the university’s networking equipment had reached end-of-life.

As a forward-thinking institution, the University of Sussex didn’t only recognise a need for faster WiFi – but an opportunity for a major network overhaul.

Intergence are engaged in project, programme, change management and technology consultancy for the provision of a wired and wireless network solution.

This requires complex coordination of a combination of technical works, civil engineering, people management and communication bigger than anything the University has done independently over the past two decades.

The proposed solution involved:

• Approximately 300km of new fibre and associated ducting around the campus.

• Upgrade of over 200 IT equipment rooms.

• Provisional internal and external Wi-Fi access points.

• Installation of over 3000 new devices and supporting software.

• Implementation of a new service operating model.

In parallel to this, Intergence are providing ongoing IT support to free-up internal network resources and to ensure that existing campus technologies are not left to languish.

The planning and implementation of the Network Replacement Programme (NRP) is more than just a technical upgrade.

Across the campus, students and research faculties will experience the following planned network benefits, which will be tracked, monitored and realised throughout delivery:

• Enhanced security by contributing to cyber risk probability reduction

• Improved productivity and satisfaction because of a superior network and Wi-Fi experience

• Reduced CO2 emissions through more energy efficient IT equipment and increased remote working

• Increased business continuity by improving network availability and performance

• Faster and more secure data transfers from improved connectivity, speed, and resilience