Objective is of the university is to support its goal of tenfold growth in five years
Ashoka University has selected Juniper Networks to provide the network infrastructure to support its ambitious goal of growing tenfold in the next five years. The university, which is breaking the mold of higher education in India by aiming to be a world-class liberal arts college, is also setting a new benchmark with cutting-edge network technology to accelerate learning and strengthen collaboration.
In keeping with its world-class ambitions, Ashoka University is building world-class facilities at its 10-hectare campus at the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonipat, 20 kilometers from Delhi.
The new, privately-endowed institution deployed a complete campus network infrastructure running on Juniper Networks Junos operating system. The combination of Juniper’s switching, routing and security platforms, tightly integrated under the same management system, will greatly simplify the task of scaling the campus network over multiple phases as Ashoka University goes through its planned tenfold growth in students over the next five years.
As it grows, Juniper Networks’ enterprise network architecture will enable Ashoka University to seamlessly increase network throughput and security capacity in tandem, without increasing its management overhead. Juniper Networks QFX5100 switches currently provide the core network with EX4550 switches deployed in the server room and the EX3300 switches providing campus network access, all supporting Juniper Networks Virtual Chassis technology. This enables up to 10 interconnected switches to operate as a single, logical device, which greatly simplifies management of the Ashoka University network while increasing resiliency and delivering low-latency server connectivity.
The university currently utilizes 10 GbE links between its access layer switches and the core network, but plans to upgrade this to 40 GbE with the deployment of more powerful core switches from Juniper Networks and redeployment of the QFX5100s as a distribution layer supporting expanded campus access.
Juniper Networks SRX550 Services Gateways in high-availability configuration have been deployed to provide next-generation firewall security, remote network access support and unified threat management control – including intrusion detection and prevention, application security and web filtering – as part of a policy-driven security environment. In the future, Ashoka University plans to harness network function virtualization, enabled through software-defined networking, to provide security capacity on demand.
“Our students can and should expect an interactive educational experience in the classrooms, in dorm rooms, from anywhere on-campus and eventually off-campus through our distance learning program. Our network has therefore been designed from the outset to be capable of delivering high-definition video streams to hundreds and eventually thousands of computers and tablets. Juniper Networks is fully engaged in helping us realize our vision of delivering a world-class liberal arts education in India, with a high-performance network that will enable us to scale across new learning spaces,” said, Chandresh Kumar, Head – IT, Ashoka University
“The architecture provides flexibility for the university to scale the network in multiple phases while protecting its initial investments and delivering a highly cost effective operational model. That means not just expanding the footprint and overall capacity of the network but also adding services by leveraging the software-defined networking capabilities of the infrastructure,” added Sangya Gupta (ASK Consultants), IT Consultant, Ashoka University.
“The opening of Ashoka University represents a very exciting development in the field of tertiary education in India, and Juniper Networks is very proud to be a part of it. This is a showcase for the capabilities of our campus network architecture, delivering non-stop performance with end-to-end security that can be scaled to support the high-bandwidth demands of thousands of students and faculty, on- and off-campus. I believe this project sets a new benchmark for university networking in India,” maintains Amajit Gupta, Country Manager, India, Juniper Networks
