According to Marijn Kandelaars, Team Lead for Connectivity at Radboud University and involved in the upgrade, virtually everyone within the university will notice some effect of this improvement. “It concerns the connection that links the entire university to the internet,” he explains. “Those working from home via our digital university network also make use of this connection.” The upgrade was carried out by Marijn’s Connectivity team in collaboration with SURF, the cooperative IT organisation for education and research, and Conscia, an IT service provider for digital infrastructure.
More traffic at once
The main change is not only in speed, but particularly in capacity. Whereas the old connection would sometimes approach its limit—with peaks of up to 90% utilisation—there is now much more room for data traffic. “The connection is wider; more traffic can pass through it simultaneously,” says Marijn. This is no unnecessary luxury, as internet usage continues to grow. More and more services are run online, and applications are becoming heavier as they include more functionalities and therefore send and receive more data. The upgrade was therefore clearly carried out with the future in mind.
By scaling up significantly now, the university prevents staff and students from encountering delays or limitations in the near future.
Two lines
Another important advantage is reliability. The new connection is set up redundantly: there are two lines available. “One line is active, but if it fails—for example due to excavation work—the other takes over immediately,” says Marijn. For users, this means that services continue as normal, without noticeable interruptions.
“There is continuous monitoring of this connection,” Marijn explains. “The previous upgrade took place three years ago, from 10Gb to 20Gb. We now expect to be able to move forward for the next ten years.”