BRAC University Creates New Campus Infrastructure with High-Quality 10 Gbps Smart Campus Solution
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BRAC University (BRACU), one of Bangladesh's premier private institutions, is committed to providing world-class education and fostering innovation in higher education.
BRAC University has a permanent campus in Merul Badda, Dhaka. Spanning over 5 acres with a building area of 1.7 million square feet, this campus is a central hub for education in the heart of Dhaka. Designed by WOHA Designs Pte Ltd., a renowned Singaporean architectural firm, the 13-story building includes three basements and has the capacity to accommodate 12,000 to 15,000 students. Around half the land is dedicated to this building, with the remainder focused on promoting biodiversity through a lake, green spaces, and plantations.
The facilities include an auditorium with 700 seats, a multipurpose hall with 1850 seats, classrooms, labs, design studios, lecture theaters, an IT data center, an e-library, a parking lot, recreation facilities, and a rooftop playground.
While building its new permanent campus, BRAC University sought to create a state-of-the-art network infrastructure that could support its current growing academic, research, and administrative needs, while also paving the way for future innovation. To achieve this, key network requirements were identified to equip the campus with the most advanced, reliable and scalable technology that supports the university's sustainable vision and goals.
Full wireless coverage & ultra-high-performance prioritized backhaul
As smart classrooms, online teaching, and real-time, interactive live classes become more prevalent, networks need to support various terminals (such as cameras, electronic whiteboards, and recording systems) and enable high-concurrency access. In particular, online teaching demands guaranteed network bandwidth for optimal audio and video experience. This requires a network with full wireless coverage for flexible access and high-bandwidth wired connections.
Secure access to avoid data leaks
As campus networks become more open, isolating user access permissions and services is crucial during network construction. It is necessary to finely control the permissions of students, staff, and teachers based on their roles, while also isolating different services using software-defined networking (SDN). This allows for flexible service changes and isolation to ensure service data security.
Efficient O&M for fewer teacher/student complaints and better campus network experience
With over 20,000 teachers and students and more than 8000 terminals, large-scale network deployment poses a challenge for the operations and maintenance (O&M) team. Traditional network management platforms struggle to meet the demands of large-scale networking and users. Therefore, the key to network construction lies in utilizing a new network management platform to provide real-time visibility into faults or experiences across campus terminals, networks, applications, and users, enabling rapid fault locating and demarcation.
To resolve these issues and deploy a future-proof, reliable solution, BRAC University chose Huawei for a comprehensive High-Quality 10 Gbps Campus Network Solution that stands out for the following highlights:
All-new wireless & wired network coverage to support teaching applications
Huawei's latest Wi-Fi 6/7 technologies are used to address the university's need for high-density, high-performance connectivity. Wi-Fi 6/7 is designed to enhance network efficiency, increase capacity, and deliver faster speeds. Key features of Huawei's Wi-Fi 6/7 access points (APs) include:
• Higher speed and bandwidth for high-density access: Huawei's next-generation Wi-Fi delivers a significant increase in throughput over its predecessor, providing up to 100 Mbps of bandwidth per user. This allows students, teachers, and staff at BRAC University to access content, applications, and services at ultra-fast speeds. Especially in high-density scenarios such as libraries and lecture halls, it ensures that thousands of students and teachers can concurrently access the network.
• High throughput and low latency: Huawei also helped BRAC University deploy a wired network using CloudEngine S-series campus switches to support a growing wireless user base. The wired network supports 2.5GE access and 100GE/400GE core evolution. The CloudEngine S-series switches can efficiently prioritize and forward data traffic across the network, even during high-demand periods. This capability is crucial for applications like video conferencing, cloud-based platforms, and e-learning tools that require low latency and high bandwidth.
• Flexible and scalable architecture: The campus network switches provide the flexibility to scale as BRAC University's needs grow. They offer high-density ports, a modular design, and advanced features like power over Ethernet (PoE), allowing easy deployment of wireless APs and other network devices without the need for additional power sources.
User permission control and service isolation for data security
In the trend of smart campus development, the integration of user isolation policies with SDN architecture is reshaping the value of network services in higher education. By establishing a policy-driven and on-demand intelligent network system, schools can systematically address the coarse-grained security control, delayed service response, and inflexible resource allocation issues found in traditional networks.
Huawei's SDN architecture provides BRAC University with fine-grained network access permissions and control for different user identities, keeping data secure. For example, the university can manage campus resource access and network access permissions for students, teachers, and staff based on different user groups. The SDN architecture can also isolate teaching services, student learning resources, and logistic systems. This helps isolate services, ensure data security, and reduce construction costs on a unified physical infrastructure.
Ultimate O&M experience, fault locating within seconds, and superb user experience
Huawei's iMaster NCE-Campus offers BRAC University a centralized management solution that enables the university's IT team to monitor and control the entire network in real time. Some of benefits delivered by iMaster NCE-Campus include:
• Network-wide status visualization on one dashboard: unified display of users, terminals, applications, and networks on one network digital map; one-map visibility into full-journey user network experience, network fault locating within seconds; one-size-fits-all assurance for VIP users and audio/video services, real-time experience awareness and optimization within seconds
• Predictive O&M for network-wide faults: With AI-driven analytics, the system can automatically detect and troubleshoot issues, apply updates, and optimize network configurations without requiring manual intervention. This minimizes service downtime and maximizes network availability.
A Future-Proof Platform for Growth: Enabling Smart Campus Innovation
Huawei's campus solution is designed with scalability and longevity in mind. The architecture is built on VXLAN microservices, enabling the university to scale its network seamlessly while ensuring flexibility and agility. This solution not only meets the university's current needs but is also future-proof, with a platform that can comfortably cater to the university’s needs for the next 5 years or more.
The network infrastructure was designed to support 8000 terminals and 50,000 devices, including a wide variety of user devices, IoT sensors, Surveillance, and other smart technologies. This comprehensive setup positions Brac University as a leading institution capable of supporting the growing demands of modern educational environments.
IoT, CCTV, and Video Convergence Readiness
A key feature of the new network is its readiness for IoT, Surveillance and video convergence. The network has been designed to handle large volumes of data generated by IoT devices and cameras, ensuring seamless integration and optimal performance. This makes this University well-equipped to leverage smart technologies, enhancing both security and the overall learning experience.
Smart Classroom Integration
Huawei’s solution includes smart classroom readiness, with high-speed wireless connectivity and powerful data infrastructure supporting interactive learning tools and digital content delivery. This modernized environment enables professors and students to engage in dynamic, tech-driven learning experiences.
Cloud and Virtualization Readiness
The university’s network is also ready for cloud services, enabling the University to integrate cloud-based applications and data storage seamlessly. Whether it’s for academic collaboration, research, or administrative operations, the network’s robust cloud readiness ensures smooth performance and scalability.
Modular and Flexible Architecture
The campus network is built on a modular architecture designed at both the core and access layers, providing maximum flexibility for future upgrades and expansions. This design ensures that the University can easily scale and adapt to evolving needs. Additionally, the network is designed to support 100G capability in the future, should the demand for higher bandwidth arise. This future-proof approach ensures that University is well-prepared for any increased performance requirements, allowing for a seamless transition to higher speeds when necessary.
Granular Network Monitoring and Management
One of the standout features of the solution is the Network Management System (NMS), which offers granular-level visibility into the network’s performance and health. The NMS allows administrators to monitor and troubleshoot the network with precision, ensuring reliable service delivery across the campus. The existing architecture is fully prepared to adopt advanced monitoring and management features, making it a future-ready solution.
Huawei’s iMaster Network Cloud Engine (NCE)-CampusInsight enhances this capability by bringing intelligent network analysis to the forefront. The platform collects network data in real-time through telemetry, learns network behavior, and identifies fault patterns using big data analytics and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. This approach not only improves network visibility but also drives intelligent network optimization.
Real-Time Experience Visibility provides administrators with an up-to-the-minute view of the network, ensuring they can immediately detect any issues affecting the user experience. With Fault Location Within Minutes, the system rapidly pinpoints the source of network faults, enabling quicker resolution and minimizing downtime. The system’s proactive capabilities also make Operations and Maintenance (O&M) more predictive, identifying up to 85% of faults before they occur, which ultimately enhances network reliability and user satisfaction
BRAC University has created a modern and scalable campus network using Huawei's Wi-Fi 6 and 10 Gbps campus network solutions. This network provides reliable, high-speed connectivity across the campus, supporting seamless learning and collaboration. It meets today's academic and administrative needs, while preparing for future growth with technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 7.
With networks supporting robust security, redundancy, and proactive management, the university is equipped to maintain smooth operations and provide an excellent user experience for students, teachers, and staff. Innovative network infrastructure — built with Huawei's future-proof offerings — positions BRAC University for continued success in education and research, supporting its mission of excellence and technological advancement.