The freedom to grow. How did Université libre de Bruxelles advance its network?

The ‘L’ in ULB stands for ‘libre’, meaning ‘free’. With one third of students and researchers from abroad and a number of agreements and partnerships set up with some of the world's top educational institutions, the University’s international and multicultural makeup is matched only by its longstanding tradition of excellence. Not many academies can pride themselves on four Nobel Prizes, one Fields Medal, and three Wolf Prizes, awarded to its graduates.

Today, Université libre de Bruxelles offers 12 faculties that cover all the disciplines, closely combining academic input and research. With nearly 35,000 students and 8,000 employees, including researchers and staff, ULB's activities are spread over 8 sites: 6 in Brussels and 2 in Charleroi. On the "Ville-Basse" campus of Charleroi, the University is building a new Data Center. At the same time, the Brussels Data Center (located at the Solbosch campus) is currently undergoing a major renovation project. As for the other campuses, Edge Computing is planned along the Digital Transformation Plan 2020-2024.

And when you’re operating in multiple sites, the network plays a crucial role…

The consistent growth of ULB’s network has inevitably led to an increasingly convoluted management and burdensome manual tasks. The use of end-to-end fiber and microswitches proved to be complex to implement and maintain.

And so, the University decided to design and implement a more efficient network with an automated management. And that is when Orange Cyberdefense and Extreme entered the picture. “We found the solution we were looking for at Extreme Networks”, explains Karin Doguet, CIO of ULB. "The company proposed to replace the core of the network using Fabric Connect."

Why Extreme Fabric Connect? The solution is based on the SPB (Shortest Path Bridging) standard, and therefore offers a much more dynamic management for complex networks. The technology uses virtualization to efficiently forecast the resources that the network will require. “Between the different buildings, we have developed redundant connections, each time managed via SPB” explains Thierry Frère, Network Service Director at ULB. Today, the core network consists of 40 large routers, about 80 smaller ones, and 300 switches. The backbone offers now a capacity of 40 Gbps.

At the same time, ULB needed a solution that would take care of the IP addresses use. “The network historically grew from the setup in which all workstations had a public IP address", explains Thierry Frère. Luckily, this is no longer relevant. Extreme Networks not only delivered a new, centrally managed firewall, but also delivered a VRF (Virtual Routing & Forwarding) solution. The result? An SD-WAN with logical segmentation of the network. "For example, access control, surveillance cameras and IP telephony are now in a specific segment", says Thierry Frère. “These elements are separated from the users' internet traffic, which goes through another segment”.

Thanks to VRF, the problem of IP addresses has been solved. "We are now working with dynamic IP addresses via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", explains Karin Doguet. "It is not only smoother, but also much more secure", she adds.

At the same time, network segmentation allows for a high level of flexibility. Researchers, for example, often need a highly secure network environment. The University is now able to provide it without having the entire IT department manage the cabling part of the infrastructure and/or the hardware.

Also, cross-university designs can be set up on a given L1/L2 hardware. For example, the new USquare campus in Etterbeek is being developed by both ULB and VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The network hardware  was deployed by the VUB colleagues, for VUB users in the first place. Later on, a VRF dedicated to ULB users got defined, allowing them to work seamlessly within the whole ULB network.

“Everything that is needed, is there,” Thierry Frère admits with a smile. “This allows us to approach the entire network management, including the segmentation, with a software-defined approach".

Even more sophisticated configurations were built recently within the Data Center, using 100 Gb routers as key component in a private cloud and high performance computing platform for big data, based upon ULB’s own design.

With the implementation of Extreme Fabric Connect, the ULB’s network has taken a giant step forward. “We have come a long way, from a coaxial network with old switches to the present day, where we rely on SD-WAN”, says Karin Doguet. “The difference is outstanding”, she adds with a smirk. The IT department also benefits from this modernization. “Monitoring and management are done remotely”, explains Thierry Frère.

The ULB wishes to continue in this direction with the development of a fully automated and contactless Network Operations Center, which is scheduled to be deployed by the end of 2022. "Our goal is to free as much time of our IT department as possible, allowing us to focus on value-added activities for our students and researchers while offering a stable, efficient and secure network managed by a small team”, says Karin Doguet.

Because no matter how you put it, at the end of the day the functioning of the University depends on the network availability. It became even more apparent during the pandemic. "If we had not renewed the network in time with the Extreme Fabric Connect, we might as well have closed the University entirely", explains Karin Doguet. “Thousands of students, researchers and collaborators were able to connect via VPN to the new network. This proves that we made the right choice by seeking help from Extreme Networks and Orange Cyberdefense”, CIO of Université libre de Bruxelles concludes.

With its forward-thinking spirit, Université libre de Bruxelles has always been at the forefront of leveraging networking technology for education. But sometimes the problem with being first is that you get “old” faster than others.

With the adoption of the scalable, software-defined solution from Extreme, the University’s network gained full redundancy, high availability in a critical environment and an effortless management for a small team.

Quite a reason to look at the future with courage and optimism, isn’t it?