Customer Success Story
University of Cyprus advances HPC research projects and smart campus with single-vendor network
University of Cyprus (UCY) has quickly earned a leadership position as a research university and a destination for scholars in the Mediterranean. With an eye on building a smart campus and supporting the demands of research and academics, the university deployed a cohesive, high-performance network from Juniper Networks.
Led by systems integrator GCC, the team collaborated to create an intelligent, reliable network that stands as a prototype for all universities in the region. The architecture was filled with technology firsts for the area, as well as nearby universities.
Overview
| Company | University of Cyprus |
| Industry | Education |
| Products used | MX240, EX3400, QFX5100, QFX10008 and QFX10016 |
| Region | EMEA |
1st
University in Cyprus to implement Ethernet VPN (EVPN) and move to IPv6
0
Complaints about network migration or downtime
40% cost savings
Compared to previously installed network infrastructure
Building a smart campus with a smart foundation
Established in 1989, University of Cyprus has a goal of becoming a pioneer research institution and a center of excellence for academics in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. To reach these pinnacles, it needed a network foundation that was both agile and powerful.
University leaders wanted to give researchers the resources that high-performance computing applications require. They wanted students to have a smart, safe campus, plus all the amenities of fast Internet and superior application performance. Unfortunately, this brilliant future was unlikely to happen with an aging, multivendor network.
The university granted the project to the local trusted integrator GCC, and an implementation design was shaped to upgrade to a single network provider to both streamline network operations and enable highly reliable performance.
More powerful network supports more innovative applications
University of Cyprus transformed campus access, core data center, and internet edge networks with Juniper. The core and data center network, which supports two campuses and research centers, relies on Juniper Networks® QFX10000 and QFX5100 Switches. Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches form the access layer, while the Juniper Networks MX240 Universal Routing Platform provides edge routing and Internet connectivity.
Technology firsts unleash research opportunities and operational savings
The University of Cyprus team made bold decisions to prepare the university for exciting future innovations. The university was the first in the region to implement Ethernet VPN (EVPN). As the overlay network, EVPN enables workload mobility and virtual networking to support different secure, private networking.
An advanced Juniper network has opened infinite possibilities. The university is migrating to a smart campus with new residential housing for students. The building will include smart lighting, heating, and water usage.
Educational and administrative applications have already benefited from faster network speeds and capacity. Recent grants can now get underway as the university can support more HPC clusters.
The four-person team once sought additional staff. Now there’s no more need. Juniper’s reliability, automation, and streamlined operations mean the network team can accomplish more than ever.
With Juniper, the university can take on the demands of today and build the smart campus of the future.
GCC, an Elite Juniper Networks Partner, has implemented a secure, flexible, scalable, next-generation network with its highly skilled professionals, enabling UCY to deliver advanced innovative educational services and tools to meet the evolving needs of the future leaders and learners of tomorrow.
The Products
QFX10008 and QFX10016
QFX10008 and QFX10016 Switches support the most demanding data center, campus, and routing environments. With our custom silicon Q5 ASICs, deep buffers, and up to 96 Tbps throughput, these switches deliver flexibility and capacity for long-term investment protection.
QFX5100
The QFX5100 line of top-of-rack 10/40GbE switches for the data center offers low latency, deployment versatility, and rich automation features. These switches provide universal building blocks for industry-standard architectures such as spine-and-leaf fabrics.
EX3400
The EX3400 line of Ethernet switches are a cost-effective solution for today’s most demanding converged data, voice, and video enterprise access networks.
MX240
The SDN-enabled MX240 Universal Routing Platform delivers unprecedented scale for advanced business and residential multi-service edge applications and services requiring power and space efficiency. The MX240 Universal Routing Platform has 3 Tbps of capacity in a 5 RU, 3 slot chassis, and delivers inline MACsec without performance penalties on 10 GbE, 40 GbE and 100 GbE interfaces.
Published February 2021