University of Reading's AI-Driven Network Builds Digital Foundation to Enhance Student Experiences
![Jamie Pitchforth, Head of Strategic Business, UK and Ireland, Juniper Networks](/content/dam/www/assets/mediaportal/speakers-hosts/2023/jamie-pitchforth.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg)
![Screen shot from the video of Stuart Brown, Chief Digital Officer, University of Reading, speaking and gesturing with his hands. A window and tables and chairs are behind him.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qH-GIPeDMpc/hqdefault.jpg)
See how one university upgraded its network with help from Juniper Networks.
University NetOps teams: Are you meeting the networking needs of today’s always-connected students, faculty, and staff? See how the University of Reading leverages Juniper Mist™ AI’s full suite of solutions to maintain a strong, reliable, AI-driven network that enhances the on-campus digital experience.
You’ll learn
How Juniper Mist is improving Wi-Fi connectivity across the University of Reading’s campus
Ways the university uses Juniper Mist AI location services to provide a deeper understanding of students’ experience and wellbeing
How Juniper Mist AI is helping the university be more financially and environmentally sustainable
Who is this for?
Host
![Jamie Pitchforth](/content/dam/www/assets/mediaportal/speakers-hosts/2023/jamie-pitchforth.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg)
Guest speakers
![Stuart Brown](/content/dam/www/assets/mediaportal/speakers-hosts/2023/stuart-brown.jpg/jcr:content/renditions/cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg)
Experience More
Transcript
0:01 hi my name's Jamie pitchforth I'm head
0:03 of strategic business at Juniper here in
0:06 the UK today I'm in conversation with
0:08 Stuart Brown the chief digital officer
0:10 from the University of reading hi Stuart
0:12 hi Jamie so the proliferation of mobile
0:15 devices
0:17 digital technology in general has driven
0:19 a demand from students now where they're
0:22 always connected they're hunger for
0:24 network resources has never been as it
0:26 is today how are you coping with that
0:28 here in the University it's a massive
0:30 challenge Jamie uh so we we've always
0:32 known that the secret to that is to make
0:34 sure we've got a really really strong
0:36 reliable Network
0:38 so we took a view a couple of years ago
0:40 to make sure what's the number one thing
0:42 that they're really worried about and
0:43 that's Wi-Fi connectivity
0:45 so we we took the the view of should we
0:48 could we replace it with a light for
0:50 like solution or should we look at
0:52 something slightly different that gave
0:54 us some advantage over some of the other
0:56 uh competition out there for students to
0:59 come and come and study here we know we
1:02 need to get them connected as soon as as
1:04 we possibly can the minute they step
1:05 forth on campus and it's got to be the
1:08 most simple process you can possibly
1:10 imagine for them to do that and that's
1:13 the first impression they get at the
1:14 University so it's really important we
1:16 get that right no absolutely so one of
1:18 my favorite subjects the the selection
1:20 criteria
1:21 we came out on top you've chosen Juniper
1:24 Mist as your strategic technology really
1:27 for the next five to ten years what was
1:29 the process you undertook it was a
1:31 fairly straightforward process in so far
1:33 as we could either replace like for like
1:35 or we could replace with something that
1:39 was going to enable us to digitally
1:40 transform the like for like option is
1:43 always easier on a business case
1:45 but in this situation we had an
1:47 opportunity to really transform the
1:49 capability of Wi-Fi across the network
1:51 and we saw something new
1:55 and Innovative in the Juniper Miss
1:57 solution it wasn't also from a sales
1:59 pitch it was from my own team who spoke
2:02 to me and said look at this technology
2:05 can we do a proof of concept we need to
2:08 see if it a works but B does it actually
2:11 do what it says on the tin and so we ran
2:14 a proof of concept in our library using
2:16 Juniper mist
2:17 the good news was it works and as far as
2:19 the the executive board here are
2:21 concerned it has to work Wireless Wi-Fi
2:23 is the number one service we need to be
2:25 running properly
2:26 it worked and so all the other
2:29 value-added piece was was is an added
2:32 bonus to that to that decision making
2:35 and so
2:37 it was a very easy answer in the end to
2:39 choose Juniper mist and now students are
2:42 arriving with three four five six and
2:44 probably some even more devices the
2:47 ability for you guys is it to onboard
2:49 those devices as seemingly as possible
2:51 is is absolutely essential how's that
2:55 changed from an overhead on it you know
2:57 once upon a time you were having to
2:58 onboard all of those devices together
3:00 and now you provide that kind of
3:02 self-service where they could sit in the
3:04 home from home experience where they can
3:06 connect their own devices build their
3:08 own networks within your network
3:10 it's just a huge headache welcome week
3:13 would be an army of of people making
3:16 sure we've got students who snake around
3:18 the campus making sure they can connect
3:20 and it was a painful experience for both
3:22 the student and for us to try and
3:24 support them so now with self-service
3:26 and just getting up and running on our
3:28 regiroam Wi-Fi solution they can just do
3:31 that we've also got that in Halls of
3:34 residence as well so that they can just
3:35 connect via anything they want whether
3:37 it's their mobiles their Xboxes again we
3:40 couldn't support that in the past but
3:42 now they can do that fairly seamlessly
3:43 and certainly the campus experience
3:45 their first impression is really is much
3:48 improved the second point I think is
3:50 around
3:51 if there are any problems and of course
3:53 there will be some every now and then a
3:55 device might be too old their operating
3:57 system is a little bit old on their old
3:59 mobile device then we can look at that
4:01 really quickly now and see where the
4:03 issue is and we consider being the third
4:06 line guys the more the more experienced
4:08 guys and there's not many of them we can
4:10 throw that support to the first line
4:12 guys who can see that in real time what
4:15 the issues are and then advise that
4:16 student uh what action they can take to
4:19 get on on online so I know you invested
4:22 in a in a full Suite of uh of the missed
4:25 subscription so you have engagement
4:28 experience you have Marvis you have
4:31 location services and you have analytics
4:33 so a platform to really drive a digital
4:37 strategy on the subject specifically of
4:39 location services what are the key use
4:42 cases that you see within the university
4:44 for that technology so student
4:47 well-being is so important to us and
4:50 we've never really been able to see in
4:52 real time whether a student is suffering
4:55 a little bit with their studies falling
4:57 behind a little bit
4:58 in real time on a dashboard
5:01 using the technology we have with
5:03 location services in Juniper Mist we can
5:06 start to plump plug into those those
5:08 benefits we can start to see when a
5:10 student's attended a lecture or a
5:12 seminar we can see when they've been
5:13 through a return style in the library
5:15 and we can see as they've moved around
5:17 campus what type of clubs and societies
5:20 perhaps they might have signed up to you
5:22 get an overall view of that student and
5:24 that student's experience and well-being
5:26 and if there is anything that we need to
5:28 to be aware of in our student services
5:30 department because of that data then
5:33 those interactions can take place for a
5:36 positive outcome
5:37 so that the University's
5:39 vision for for students is is around
5:43 delivering excellent experience so
5:46 Technology Innovation and the network
5:48 architecture in general has has evolved
5:51 how are you now using the technology to
5:54 to Excel and deliver that great student
5:56 experience
5:58 so
5:59 of course the great student experience
6:01 is is just getting connectivity and
6:03 making sure that when they're hopping
6:04 from building to building they're not
6:06 losing that connectivity we've noticed
6:08 since since covid coming back to campus
6:11 everyone the demand on the network is
6:13 super high so it's really good that
6:16 we've got a network that's clever and it
6:18 can actually go out there and look and
6:20 load balance in a much better way than
6:21 we used to be able to do so when we have
6:23 got peaks in our library for study space
6:26 or during exam periods there is that
6:28 ability for that Network balance to be
6:30 going on using that I AI engine built
6:32 into into Marvis that's working really
6:35 well the other thing we're looking at
6:36 doing in terms of of footfall on campus
6:40 is actually for rather than I.T saying
6:43 look we've got this wonderful tool that
6:45 will enable you to do so much we've
6:47 actually got the business asking us
6:48 questions now so our Estates department
6:50 is asking us we really need to know what
6:54 the real-time occupation is of our
6:56 buildings are because we need to grow
6:58 and we haven't got the the capital
7:00 necessary to build new buildings on this
7:02 great campus so we need to use what
7:04 we've got already but we need to see in
7:07 real time
7:08 who's occupying the buildings or not so
7:10 again using those the technology we've
7:12 invested in with the Bluetooth beaconing
7:14 and bleed Technologies we are able to to
7:17 see in real time students staff moving
7:20 around buildings and we've got a single
7:22 source of Truth and that real data
7:24 driven and it's that data that's the
7:26 real key here so is what's the intention
7:28 in terms of using that data to drive
7:31 strategy and and investment what are the
7:34 key outcomes that you see that it will
7:36 come from I can see as just using the
7:38 compass better I mean we were we've got
7:41 to grow the sector is is financially
7:44 challenging I guess at the moment with
7:46 we're not allowed to increase student
7:48 fees and line inflation and your
7:49 inflation is increasing as we know so
7:52 how do we how do we make use of our
7:54 campus in the best way possible and
7:56 that's about rather than someone walking
7:58 around with a clipboard and taking a
8:01 snapshot in time of the occupation of
8:03 our buildings we can see it anywhere
8:05 anytime and I can take that data or the
8:07 director of State states can take that
8:09 data to our exec board or you can make
8:11 some much better data-driven decision
8:12 making as a result we're seeing some of
8:14 the other universities using that data
8:17 to understand footfall and occupancy so
8:21 that the plan in their longer terms is
8:22 to integrate the system using the apis
8:25 with the BMS system so whether that be a
8:28 Honeywell or a Schneider but the idea
8:31 being is that when you understand
8:32 occupancy you can use the engagement
8:34 engines to steer traffic into primary
8:37 spaces so that those secondary spaces we
8:40 can now turn off the lights if there's
8:41 nobody in the room here in the middle of
8:42 the summer like we are today we're
8:44 actually very warm turn down the air
8:45 conditioning or in the winter you know
8:47 turn down the heating but Translating
8:49 that into kilowatts and kilowatts into
8:52 money and ultimately you know money into
8:54 into long-term savings which is
8:56 fantastic but it's there how that fits
8:58 into the sustainability profile and
9:01 program and the carbon reduction that is
9:03 where I think the real winner will be
9:06 for you guys as as we drive forward
9:08 absolutely agree with you I mean
9:10 sustainability is one of our core
9:11 pillars of the University strategy we
9:13 want to be probably the most sustainable
9:15 University I know a lot of other
9:16 universities would like that badge too
9:18 but we are really serious about climate
9:20 change our climate Stripes come from
9:22 Reading uh and and anything as you say
9:25 that will allow us to be more
9:27 sustainable both financially and
9:29 environmentally let's be honest by using
9:31 the technology digital technology to to
9:33 inform us we'll we'll take advantage of
9:36 that so I agree with you I mean it could
9:38 be a question where a some of our our
9:40 students or staff believe that there is
9:42 someone in the in the library at two
9:43 o'clock in the morning the reality is
9:46 are they really there at 2 o'clock in
9:48 the morning and this is the kind of
9:49 things we can do to then turn lights off
9:51 save on electricity and had to have much
9:55 more of a smart canvas so talking of
9:58 smart AI artificial intelligence have
10:01 you seen like many of our other
10:03 customers quite big reductions in the
10:05 number of helpless tickets that are
10:06 coming in from students that are unable
10:09 to connect or having problems with their
10:11 connectivity have you seen a benefit we
10:13 have and we've had a shift left as well
10:15 so rather than the third line more kind
10:17 of experienced guys doing the the very
10:21 straightforward tickets that they would
10:22 have done before
10:23 that's now being done by the first line
10:25 guys
10:26 so so there's many more of those and
10:28 I've got the third line guys then doing
10:30 lots of the other value-add piece
10:33 they've done lots of the mapping for
10:35 example that's required for the
10:37 Bluetooth beacons to see as you walk
10:39 around the buildings that real-time
10:41 occupancy that has to be done with with
10:43 maps yeah and they've had the time to do
10:45 that kind of work and further
10:47 implementations around the campus that
10:48 we would not have been able to do
10:50 because they would have been doing the
10:51 support so the solution you've chosen is
10:54 very much microservices Cloud
10:56 architecture so we're moving away from
10:58 traditional on-premise where you are
11:01 responsible for operations and patching
11:04 and all of those other software elements
11:06 to a world of of SAS where it's now a
11:09 service how has that made a difference
11:11 to you so one of our core digital
11:13 principles is cloud first and I I guess
11:16 finding a cloud first Wi-Fi solution is
11:20 quite a challenge but we're doing it for
11:22 mist you have that capability and the
11:24 joy of it is particularly around cyber
11:26 security is instead of the my guys doing
11:29 a lot of the preparation for the
11:31 upgrades of the controllers for the
11:33 upgrades the access points that's all
11:36 done with a click of button now it's so
11:38 much quicker for the guys to to do their
11:40 work are much more efficient so it's
11:42 brilliant in that in that respect
11:44 brilliant I'd like to say a huge thank
11:47 you to you Stuart for joining us today
11:49 and giving us such an insight into the
11:52 university here at reading thanks very
11:53 much Jamie for having me