AI-driven Wi-Fi takes digital experience honours at University of Oxford

“During the height of the pandemic, technology became more important than ever,” says Robert Jones, manager of the Managed Network Services Team.

Expectations for digital services and learning technology were high.

“We wanted a clean start for the wireless network,” says Patrick Frost, the technical lead for the wireless replacement project.

Managed Network Services sought a Wi-Fi solution that would provide enhanced network visibility, control, and troubleshooting, enabling the group to deliver a premium campus Wi-Fi experience.

Attaining world-class Wi-Fi is complicated not only by Oxford’s historic buildings, some of which date back 800 years, but also the university’s organizational structure. Oxford colleges and halls are self-governing and relate to the central university in a federal system. They can choose to use the Managed Network Services from IT Services or go their own way. 

Wi-Fi is prerequisite in the university’s efforts to create a home-like experience for students.

Beyond using Wi-Fi to study online and access academic resources, the goal will be for students to set up personal wireless LANs in their rooms to connect their laptops, gaming consoles, and tablets.  Juniper Mist, with Pre-Shared Key (PSK) functionality, provides a basis for simple, secure way to onboard BYOD devices.

AI-driven networking from Juniper has delivered on the requirement to improve network visibility and control for Oxford’s colleges, libraries, and dorms.

“Mist AI helps us find those transient problems that you can blink and miss,” says Frost. “Now we can quickly analyze a problem and solve it faster.”

The Managed Network Service team are exploring the deployment of Juniper Wi-Fi in additional buildings, including museums.

“The use of Juniper wireless will grow naturally as we take on more customers,” says Jones.