Non-Technical FAQ

On this page, you'll find a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the Campus Network Upgrade Project from a non-technical point-of-view.

Q. Why does the network need to be upgraded?

A: Since the majority of the campus network has not been upgraded since 1987, and campus use of the network has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, CITES staff, in cooperation with academic units and academic advisory groups, is now in the process of upgrading the campus network.

The network provides a key campus infrastructure capability — a capability that we have all come to depend on for our day-to-day activities of teaching, learning, research, and administration.

The network needs to be robust, secure, and competitive with the capabilities of our peer universities. Some of the benefits of the new network include:

Increased Security: The network is more secure and less vulnerable to threats due to greater firewall and filtering capacity at the network entrance to the campus. Improvements to the core network backbone for filtering within the campus network and improved tools for the management and detection of problems, such as anomalies resulting from security attacks, are also reducing threats and augmenting network security.

Better Reliability: The core network is already redundant, but after the upgrade is complete, the redundant devices in the network backbone will be more durable and capable of handling more traffic. Redundancy will also be simplified to allow for expansion as the university grows and technology increases.

Higher Quality: You can now stream video, graphics, animation, and music in real time. The improved connectivity provides new, innovative opportunities to use the network in teaching and research situations. The increase in bandwidth also helps mitigate growth due to changing user needs and an increasing student and research population.

More Information, Faster: New network equipment (e.g., switches, routers, and firewalls) have been and are being installed, and each upgraded building is connected at 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) to the newly improved 10 Gbps campus network backbone by fiber optic cable. The new 10 Gbps campus backbone network will allow users to move more information at a rate ten times faster than before. Large files of research data will move seemlessly from building-to-building on campus, to research databases off-campus, and beyond.

Staying Competitive: In order to fulfill President White’s mandate to become the top public institution of higher education, we need to stay competitive with peer institutions' networking capability. The Campus Network Upgrade Project will guarantee that Illinois’s networking capabilities are ready for the demands of a top-tier public research university.

Ready for Tomorrow: Since the majority of the campus network has not been upgraded since 1987, CITES has built scalability into the current network upgrade to stay ahead of the technological curve. This scalability will enable the network to evolve with the campus’s changing and ever-growing needs. Some other components of the Campus Network Upgrade Project that will help us stay ahead of the curve include a significant investment in electronics to ensure physical redundancy throughout the network and a significant upgrade to the wiring in numerous buildings across campus. CITES is adding fiber optic cable to connect many campus buildings and upgrading the cabling infrastructure within buildings so that data can move at gigabit speeds. All Category 3 data cabling is being replaced with Category 6 cabling, the latest standardized copper cable design, capable of supporting data speeds of up to 1 Gbps, which is 267 times faster than Cat3 cable.

Q: What work is involved in the upgrade?

A: More than 260 buildings on campus are in the process of being upgraded. About one-half of these buildings will be completely upgraded; the majority of the other half will be upgraded as needed. The upgrade work includes installation of network jacks, associated infrastructure, and building or retrofitting Communications Equipment Rooms (CERs). New network equipment (i.e., firewalls, routers and switches) will be installed, and each upgraded building will be connected to the 10 Gbps campus network backbone by high-bandwidth fiber optic cable. For a specific description of how information travels through the campus network, see the Network Map. More information is also available about Current Backbone Network Usage.

Q: How will the upgrade help make the network more secure?

A: When upgraded, the network will be more secure and less vulnerable to security threats due to greater firewall and filtering capacity at the network entrance to the campus. Improvements to the core network backbone for filtering within the campus network and improved tools for the management and detection of problems, such as anomalies resulting from security attacks, are also reducing threats and augmenting network security.

Q: How will the upgrade make the network more reliable?

A: The core network is already redundant, but when the upgrade is complete, the redundant devices in the network backbone will be capable of handling more traffic. Redundancy will also be simplified to allow for expansion as the university grows and technology increases.

Q: How is the upgrade being funded?

A: The network upgrade is funded as a campus priority within the overall set of campus needs. Campus priorities are funded from the total new funds available to the campus and from the reallocation of funds.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign consistently ranks among the top universities in the world in terms of money spent on research. Illinois’s success in attracting grants depends on the ability of our campus network to provide the computing sophistication required for large-scale research in the 21st century.

An excellent example of the benefits of increased networking capacity to a large research entity would be the Graduate School of Library and Information Systems' top-ranked online master's program, where advanced netorking technology is used to provide live, Web-based instruction: students hear faculty as they speak; they see slides and other graphics, and hear music and audio clips, as the professor discusses them; they "chat" with the professor and each other.

Ideas continue to emerge for using the network environment to enhance teaching and to implement new ways to teach. These often require a more robust network that can provide levels of service that our current network environment cannot deliver. The services of a major research university requires a 21st century network.

Q: Why is the project going to take five years?

A: The sheer magnitude of the upgrade (over 260 buildings) requires enormous amounts of time and coordination between CITES, academic units on campus, building administration, Facilities & Services, and many other groups.

The network upgrade is also being coordinated to take advantage of other capital improvements that are already under development or will occur in the next few years.

Finally, by scheduling the upgrade over a five-year period, CITES is minimizing disruptions to campus. Units are given ample notice as to when a building is being upgraded.

Q: Won't equipment put in at the beginning of the project need to be updated in that time period?

A: Yes, some of the equipment will need upgrades. A separate fund has been set up for these recurring expenses.

Q: Is student housing affected?

A: No. The network in the dormitories (URHnet) is funded and maintained by University Residence Halls.

Q: Who is responsible for this project? We have network folks in our department who have been taking care of our network for years.

A: Under the leadership of Chief Information Officer (CIO) Sally Jackson, CITES is responsible for the campus network upgrade project and for the management of the 21st century network. Because the network has become a key part of the campus infrastructure and critical to how we do our research, teaching and administration, the campus network will be implemented with specific standards and coordinated management.

This is a campus network, and CITES staff is and will be implementing all of it throughout the upgrade process.

Q: Whom have you talked to about this on campus? Why haven’t I heard about it before?

A: Discussions have been ongoing about upgrading the campus's network since the mid- to late-1990s. Please refer to the News section for an archive of press releases and presentations made to campus groups.

Q: When can we expect to see our building network upgraded as part of this project?

A: Initial plans are to upgrade the core network components on campus — those that feed all of the campus buildings. Specific building upgrades will follow. In some instances, upgrades to the core components and campus buildings will be concurrent.

For more information about the Campus Network Upgrade Project, including the tentative implementation schedule, see the Campus Network Upgrade Project page and follow the links to the plan. Many events can cause the schedule to change. While not absolute, this schedule provides the best current planning for implementation.

Questions?

If your unit would like more information about the Campus Network Upgrade Project, please contact Mike Smeltzer, Director of Network Communications, at smeltzer [at] uiuc [dot] edu or at 244-3835.