New high-speed internet connection now live
A new high-speed internet link for the campus went live as planned on Thursday 1 May.
This is the latest step in a programme of work to improve the campus internet links. During peak hours, the bandwidth available for students will be 10 times greater.
IT staff have started to raise the limits for individual connections, bringing faster web browsing and better-quality video.
IT staff had been working since January to prepare the infrastructure needed to start using the additional capacity. As well as the new connection, a further £360,000 has been invested in more advanced firewalls and traffic-management systems to make full use of the new bandwidth.
The University has two fibre optic links that connect to the UK academic network and both have now been upgraded to a capacity of 10 Gigabits per second. The primary link provides internet access for the central campus, including teaching rooms, offices, research labs and computer rooms. The secondary acts as a back-up but during weekdays is also used for most of the wi-fi connections on the campus and all of the student residences.
The University saw a huge growth in internet traffic during 2013. With higher definition video streams and more use of cloud services, traffic at peak times doubled over the course of the year until, in January, it reached the limit of the campus internet connection.
Updating both links will ensure there is capacity to support teaching and research requirements in the near future, as well as improving the service for students living and working on the campus.
For more information, visit the ITS web pages.