Customer Success Story
IMD elevates campus experience with navigation app
With its focus on experiential learning and leadership development, the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is a global leader in executive education, drawing over 29,000 participants annually to its programs.
IMD leverages a Juniper Mist network to power its campus navigation app to support the everyday learning and operations of participants at its Lausanne campus.
Overview
| Company | International Institute for Management Development (IMD) |
| Industry | Education |
| Products used | Wireless Access Points, EX Series, Wireless (Wi-Fi) Assurance, Wired Assurance |
| Region | EMEA |
4X
Faster to troubleshoot network problems using Mist AI
4,267
Downloads of IMD campus app used by participants, faculty, and staff (December 2023)
250
Hours saved making user adds, moves, and changes to wired network due to better Wi-Fi
6,000
People physically on campus participate in IMD programs each year
Blend the physical and digital experience
“Our campus experience is second to none in terms of pedagogy,” says Louis Leclézio, chief digital and customer experience officer at IMD. “We wanted to offer a holistic experience by blending the physical and virtual worlds.”
IMD, located on the picturesque shores of Lake Geneva, is a hub of academic excellence with state-of-the-art lecture halls and conference rooms. Amenities are tailored to executives, with advanced videoconference facilities, dedicated study spaces, and an on-campus restaurant.
IMD needed to refresh its campus network to deliver a first-class digital experience. Its old-style network – a wireless LAN controller and a big stack of switches – couldn’t deliver the fast, reliable connectivity and indoor location services that the campus navigation app required. IMD also wanted to streamline network support, with better visibility and tools to spot and fix problems sooner.
The power of cloud, AIOps, and location services
IMD chose Juniper’s AI-driven network solution, including wireless, wired, and indoor location services, for its campus network refresh. Juniper wireless access points and switches work in conjunction with the Juniper cloud architecture, driven by Mist AI, to continuously optimize the quality of network connectivity for students, faculty, and staff across the IMD campus. Juniper Mist Indoor Location Services tap into the virtual Bluetooth® LE (vBLE) technology in Juniper wireless access points to deliver optimum location accuracy for IMD’s campus app.
Mist AI has reduced the IT operations workload and improved participant experiences by increasing visibility across the wired and wireless network and automating actions. Juniper Mist Wi-Fi Assurance, Wired Assurance, and Marvis Virtual Network Assistant automate everyday operations and speed troubleshooting when issues arise.
“With Marvis, we can troubleshoot Wi-Fi problems three or four times faster,” says Dominique Esteves, systems and network engineer at IMD. “The information we need is centralized in the Juniper Mist portal so we can see where the problem is and fix it faster.”
A better digital experience on campus
Over 29,000 executives and experienced professionals participate in IMD programs every year, including almost 10,000 participants who are physically at IMD. Their Wi-Fi experience is transformed, allowing them to work and navigate anywhere on campus.
With the IMD campus app on their phones, program participants, guest speakers, and faculty receive a welcome notification when they arrive on campus for classes or an event. Their daily agenda is at their fingertips, with a map and detailed directions to find their destinations. They can use the app to easily locate colleagues on the map or preview the lunch menu.
The Juniper Mist network is more sustainable from an IT support perspective, too, which frees up time for strategic work and innovation. With plentiful Wi-Fi, fewer people need to plug into the wired network. That means IT needs to make fewer adds, moves, or changes to the wired network, eliminating hours of work for every change. IT no longer has to update wireless LAN controller or access point software, and new features are delivered regularly from the Juniper Mist cloud. This allows the team to explore new capabilities, such as Generative AI integration with the Marvis virtual assistant.
The Products
AP33
The Juniper AP33 access point integrates Mist AI for AX capabilities and a dynamic virtual Bluetooth® LE (vBLE) antenna array to automate network operation and boost Wi-Fi performance.
AP43
The Juniper AP43 high-performance Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) access point integrates patented virtual Bluetooth® LE (vBLE) and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to deliver an unprecedented user experiences.
AP63
The Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) AP63 access point offers high-performance Wi-Fi to ensure business continuity and operation efficiency in outdoor environments.
EX4400
The EX4400 Ethernet Switch is a cloud-ready, AI-powered access switching platform with advanced security for high-performance campus deployments.
EX4650
The EX4650 Ethernet Switch offers a compact, highly scalable, high-performance 10/25/100GbE solution for midsized to large enterprise campus distribution deployments.
Wireless (Wi-Fi) Assurance
Driven by Mist AI and machine learning, the Juniper Mist Wireless Assurance cloud service automates troubleshooting and operations, making wireless networks predictable, reliable, and measurable while providing near-real-time visibility into user service levels.
Wired Assurance
The Juniper Mist Wired Assurance service brings Mist AI to access-layer switching. It sets a new network management standard with AI-native operations and automation, improving the experiences of devices connected to resources through Juniper EX Series Switches.
Marvis VNA
Marvis, the first AI-Native virtual network assistant, optimizes user and operator experiences with proactive actions and self-driving network operations. A natural language conversational interface provides simple and seamless interactions, making Marvis an integrated member of any IT team.
Juniper Mist Indoor Location Services use virtual Bluetooth LE (vBLE) to enable businesses to provide location-based experiences that are engaging, accurate, real-time, and scalable.
Published January 2024