One of the great pleasures of my professional career has been the opportunity to give back by teaching a course each year at the University of San Francisco (USF). Of course, I hope the students find the course meaningful, but the cliché is true: I learn as much as I teach. Every class, my students show me something about themselves, the world around them, and the future of technology.
A meeting of like minds
It’s no surprise that, given my passion for education and networking, I was extra excited to host a recent global summit of innovators in higher education to discover what others are doing to meet the shifting demands of students and faculty.
“Shaping Student Experiences: The NOW Way to Build Higher Education Networks” brought together my three new peer-friends that are at the forefront of innovation in education:
- Jenny Rae, Chief Information Officer for Imperial College London, UK
- Jigar Kadakia, Vice President, Chief Information Officer for Emory University/Emory Healthcare
I’m so grateful for their participation in a lively and insightful discussion where they shared their experience and role of their networks in digital transformation and student life.
Varied institutions, same challenges
Each participant and institution had its own interesting and unique profile. Imperial College tilts heavily toward STEM research, Reading is one of the top climate research institutions in the world with a history in agriculture, and Emory has both broad academics and a major healthcare institution.
What do they all have in common? Connectivity. And of course, they’ve chosen Juniper Mist’s AI-Native Networking Platform to deliver it. Whether inside a centuries-old building or a sprawling medical complex, summit participants shared the challenge of delivering reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi to students and other users.
Everyone agreed that there is an expectation from users to have fast and easy access, but they also shared how reliability enables innovation. Some examples:
- At Reading, Stuart and his team are using Juniper Mist to support sustainability efforts. The ability to ensure Wi-Fi coverage with new wired and wireless rollouts is reducing the total number of switches required, lowering energy usage. IoT networks supported by Mist are turning off thermostats and TVs in unoccupied rooms, especially during long breaks. Stuart estimates at least £300,000 in energy savings annually.
- Imperial College has deployed a student-focused app, My Imperial Campus, that uses Mist and indoor location services. The application automates classroom attendance records and delivers customized support to students, including personal health and safety. Jenny said the new network capabilities and ability to manage them proactively allow network teams and applications teams to work more closely on projects.
- And at Emory, Juniper’s AIOps is helping Jigar serve both the university and the hospital by eliminating dead zones of coverage, supporting secure innovations in services that enhance student experiences, and that make IT costs lower and more manageable.
We say that “when learning can happen anywhere, your network has to be everywhere.” Each of our guests were optimistic that the investments they had made in building AI-Native Networks would pay dividends with networks that support every higher education establishment’s mission to advance learning. They all agreed that they could be more strategic in their operations, more proactive, and more responsive to new demands.
The future’s so bright
There were so many other great moments and insights each of our guests shared. I invite you to watch the entire higher education summit right now and see for yourself.
In my leadership role at Juniper, I’m privy to see future innovations in AI networking as we work to build solutions that are transformative to users. Seeing how students from these diverse institutions will benefit from Juniper technology was inspiring. I know we’re on the right track and I can’t wait to see what they’ll do in the future.
Don’t miss this important summit.
Check out the University of Reading case study
Watch the University of Reading video.
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