Education
integration extends the simplicity and security advantages of fabric to both edges, enabling automated network services and dynamic connection. And this isn’t just a hypothetical – Leeds Beckett University (LBU) now uses network fabric to keep up with evolving student needs and provide the security, scalability and bandwidth needed to support student population growth and modern course programmes that rely heavily on online resources and emerging technologies like AR/VR.
• Create a secure, unified network architecture spanning from the core to the access edge, ensuring a unified operational model. Tis fabric easily extends to remote non-campus locations, minimizing operational complexities. Additionally, it offers hyper-segmentation capabilities to fortify the network against the increasing demands of today’s expanding network and IoT requirements. Institutions can segment different kinds of network traffic, protecting more sensitive parts of the network and minimizing the potential blast radius of a lateral attack.
• Be engineered for high availability and continuous uptime, all proposed switches incorporate redundancy at various levels to mitigate single points of failure. Tis means that it’s unlikely that network issues will cause an interruption to the school day, ensuring that classrooms aren’t competing for bandwidth.
• Provide stealth topology capabilities to prevent IP scanning and ensure true isolation between educational services.
and, therefore, paid substantially more than British students for the same degree. However, stricter visa regulations have led to a sharp 33% decline
in foreign student enrolment compared to the previous year. A separate UUK survey of 70 universities discovered that enrolments in postgraduate taught courses had fallen by over 40% since January. Te result of all this is that funding per student is at its lowest level
in over 25 years. To make matters worse, universities are also seeing a decrease
in grant funding on top of rising costs. So, how do schools and universities meet the technological demands of modern society in the face of all these financial challenges?
Fabric network Fabric networks revolutionise educational institutions by delivering cost savings and enhancing the learning journey with streamlined management, improved operations, heightened efficiency, and minimal downtime. Tis transformative technology provides a scalable and adaptable networking solution tailored to the evolving needs of educational environments. But what exactly is a fabric network, and how does it differ from other network topologies?
A network fabric can: • Provide peace of mind with a network designed to deliver a seamless networking experience through adaptive and innovative features. Fabric infrastructure is completely self-forming and self-provisioning. Whether it’s constructing a new lecture hall or establishing a research facility off-campus, the network easily adapts to growth without the need for redesign or network downtime.
• Simplify deployment with plug-and-play capabilities and a unified technology that integrates wired and wireless access. Tis
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• Offer anywhere access to cloud-based management, boasting ISO certification for the highest level of information security and data protection standards.
In summary, network fabric offers seamless, secure networking,
simplifying deployment and ensuring smooth operations. It easily adapts to growth while prioritising security, reliability, and ease of management through cloud-based tools with top-tier data protection standards, all of which are necessary to accommodate modern technological and digital solutions for educational institutions. Beyond the necessary benefits, fabric networks can improve
the educational experience by simplifying network management and letting IT departments deploy critical learning applications and devices effortlessly. It also reduces everyone’s workloads and interruptions to learning, freeing IT and educators to focus on enhancing the learning experience for all stages of learning, from primary to university. Schools and universities are dealing with decreasing budgets on
top of a continuous increase in technology in the classroom. As students and campuses across the UK seek to evolve technologically and digitally, implementing a fabric network infrastructure can help educational institutions overcome barriers to embracing more technology and improve connectivity across campus. A modern network infrastructure is the backbone of a truly
connected campus, facilitating learning and revolutionising how students learn, interact with, and think about technology. With network fabric, schools can continue to modernise their curriculums and ensure reliable technology in the classroom without causing challenges for IT, helping them stand out as leaders and improving their ability to prepare the next generation of students for their future.
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