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Juniper Networks® , a leader in secure, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven networks, has announced that the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), renowned and ranked as amongst the most prestigious universities in Asia, has selected Juniper’s AP32 Access Points to provide a seamlessly unified wireless experience across its campuses, thus enabling flexible management.

These networking upgrades will enable the multiple departments in UTokyo to deliver a high-speed wireless network infrastructure to its 48,000 students and faculty actively engaged in learning and research across 10 faculties and 15 graduate schools.

“Since its establishment, the University of Tokyo has remained dedicated to providing a world-class research and education platform. The network plays a vital role in facilitating access to crucial resources and active communication for our students and faculty,” said Junji Tamatsukuri, Associate Professor and Deputy General Manager at UTokyo’s Information Systems Division. “An efficient and user-friendly network is equally important, enabling our team to address issues that may arise swiftly. With a Juniper-powered wireless network, we can empower everyone within our campus to experience the best in connectivity and support, amplifying their potential for exceptional achievements.”

Established in 1877 as Japan’s first national university, UTokyo has charted an illustrious history as one of the world’s leading universities, having produced 16 prime ministers, 13 Nobel Prize winners and 5 astronauts among its alumni.

Announcing UTokyo Compass

In alignment with the Japanese government’s 10-trillion-yen fund to develop research universities that meet the highest global standards, the university announced UTokyo Compass, a set of guiding principles designed to foster world-class innovation and excellence in education and research by embracing dialogue and diverse perspectives and experiences in 2022.

he UTokyo Compass initiative has prompted the university to enhance its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy. This entails a comprehensive reassessment of the network infrastructure and the transformation of its operations to facilitate active communication throughout all campus locations.

Embarking on this transformative journey, UTokyo established a cross-organisational UTokyo Wi-Fi Task Force focused on enhancing the wireless network infrastructure, reinforcing its pivotal role in improving students’ and faculty’s educational and research experiences. The team placed significant emphasis on building a reliable, secure and high-performing wireless network capable of accommodating large numbers of users, with multiple devices per person on each campus.

A major focus was implementing a network solution that offered the team from different departments consolidated management across all departments while giving them appropriate management authority. This objective would be achieved through a single dashboard, enabling a unified view of the entire network, as well as the ability to observe and visualise faults and user experience. Juniper’s solutions powered by Mist AI, with a successful track record in local and global implementations, proved to be the ideal choice, meeting all the required criteria for this transformative initiative.

Deploying AP32 Wireless Access Points

The deployment of Juniper® AP32 Wireless Access Points across its three main campuses in Hongō, Komaba and Kashiwa, has successfully streamlined network management and operations for the different departments and provided them with a unified view of the entire network on a single dashboard powered by Mist AI. The team also utilizes the capabilities of the Juniper Mist™ rich API-centric architecture, which visualises the necessary data for each site to improve operational efficiency.

“The University of Tokyo is home to Japan’s top medicine, law and engineering schools, and is a vital cornerstone of the country’s innovation-driven economy. It is an honour to partner with Japan’s leading university on the next phase of their ICT transformation journey,” said Tomohiro Furuya, VP & Country Manager, Japan, at Juniper Networks.

He added: “We recognised their need for a wireless network that offers consolidated management and visibility into the Wi-Fi user experience across departments and campuses. With an experience-first network, we can provide a seamless and more connected campus experience for their staff and students. We look forward to how the university will further harness the power of Mist AI in their network infrastructure to unlock limitless possibilities and achieve remarkable advancements that will shape the future of knowledge and innovation in Japan.”

Improved Experiences

Since implementing a Juniper-powered wireless network, the experience for the school’s team and its students has significantly improved. Additionally, the network can seamlessly support the simultaneous connection of approximately 18,000 devices during peak usage period. The expansion is being carried out progressively, aiming to cover all campuses.

As UTokyo looks towards the future, it is actively exploring the potential integration of Mist AI throughout its entire network, aiming to establish it as a fundamental component of its IT infrastructure.

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