Infrastructure

FY2024 Accomplishments

The ITS Infrastructure team provides essential communications, computing, and systems support, enhancing cellular coverage, designing and maintaining contact centers, hosting critical data in research and administrative data centers, and connecting the university to the global network. They also manage telephones for university business, engineer and implement various services across campus units, and maintain information systems for ordering and billing, among many other vital projects.

In FY2024, ITS Infrastructure accelerated its efforts to modernize the network infrastructure across U-M campuses to deliver high-quality services and meet the expanding needs of the U-M community.

Cellular and RF Service Accomplishments FY2024

  • Cellular Infrastructure: This past year, ITS Infrastructure intensified its work to develop a university-owned cellular infrastructure, delivering enhanced coverage as well as 5G across campus. Several teams from the Infrastructure group have completed the physical construction of a new U-M network fabric for future cellular technology.

  • Michigan Stadium: ITS continued a phased approach to improving and enhancing U-M Stadium connectivity to give fans a better experience. The initial 5G network deployment was completed prior to the 2023 football season. Cellular teams are now working to deploy 5G Millimeter Wave (mmWave) technology at the stadium to deliver the highest speed and capacity, allowing usage of more cutting-edge technology. This phase is targeted to be completed by the beginning of the 2024 football season.

  • WiFi Auto Connect for U-M Guests: [formerly PassPoint, Article] The infrastructure team successfully completed the proof-of-concept for utilizing WiFi Auto Connect to allow campus guests and external users to auto-connect to the network in an easy, secure way. It eliminates the need for guest smartphone users to find and authenticate to the MGuest WiFi network when visiting the university. Teams are working with multiple external partners to advance this technology implementation prior to campus rollout.

  • Private Cellular for U-M Campus: ITS joined the Future Wireless Working Group established by Internet2 to explore areas of collaboration with peer institutions regarding the use of state-of-the-art, emerging wireless technologies on campuses and across the Research and Education community. Through this effort, U-M will soon be able to own and operate its own fully private LTE and 5G networks, as well as fixed wireless broadband networks without needing to purchase expensive spectrum licenses.

  • UMNet Hotspot (formerly CradlePoint): In FY2024, ITS launched a new capability to deliver high-speed, reliable internet and remote campus network access in locations where fiber connections are unavailable or impractical. Adding additional locations will be an ongoing effort.

Network and WiFi Accomplishments FY2024

  • Distribution Layer Upgrade Project: Last fiscal year, ITS successfully replaced and upgraded DL network switches in 79 of 192 U-M buildings on the Ann Arbor campus (40%). The project is progressing as initially planned, targeting the completion of all building switch replacements by the end of 2026 and enabling the capability for these buildings to connect to the new core network at 100 Gbps.

  • Core Network Upgrade Project: In FY2024, ITS continued the substantial expansion and enhancement of the university’s outside fiber optic plant, which allows campus buildings to connect to the new 100 Gbps network. The new core network infrastructure is in place and working in parallel with the old network core. Once they have fully integrated these networks, the university will realize improved performance, operational efficiency, and production redundancy.

  • BIN Network Replacement: ITS began its effort to replace two critical border routers on U-M’s network in order to expand network capacity for campus users and associated organizations. New hardware and equipment were installed in February 2024, and the update effort is expected to be completed by the end of August 2024.

  • Ann Arbor Campus Fiber Improvements: In FY2024, ITS continued to expand the fiber footprint of the university in order to keep up with the increasing demand for network resources. New fiber investments are allowing ITS to connect campus buildings to the new network architecture and eliminate all single points of failure. This effort is expected to keep the university’s fiber infrastructure current for 30-50 years. The current status is - the State Street fiber installation is completed, and Infrastructure continues to partner with the City of Ann Arbor to access their fiber infrastructure.

  • MACC Data Center Network Replacement: The implementation of the new MACC Data Center network topology is in progress. The ITS Infrastructure project team is migrating the unit switches to the new data center backbone which is now in production. The Advanced Research Computing (ARC) switches have already been moved. Infrastructure is targeting LSA, School of Dentistry, and Business School migrations to be completed before September 2024.

Voice Service Accomplishments FY2024

  • Telephone Service Upgrade Project: In FY2024, . These lines have been transitioned to Zoom Phone, a cloud-based softphone service that operates via Zoom video application. The project is estimated to take at least one more year to complete. The transition of Ann Arbor contact centers will be finalized in June 2024.

  • Zoom Phone SMS Texting Service: In May 2024, ITS implemented Zoom Phone SMS texting service to users on the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses, which is available upon request.

    “We are excited to be able to provide a service that so many units across campus have requested and that meets many of the university’s current and future needs.”
              Ravi Pendse, U-M Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

  • Shared Services Center (SSC) Transition to Amazon Connect: In FY2024, ITS successfully transitioned the Shared Services Center (SSC) from the Cisco Call Manager to a custom instance of Amazon Connect’s Contact Center. This effort has enabled SSC to provide proactive and innovative customer service.

    SSC announced the rollout with “We are excited to announce that the Shared Services Center has implemented an upgraded phone system to take advantage of new technology and to streamline your communication needs.”
    Assistant Vice President for Shared Services Center Pam Gabel expressed her appreciation by writing, “Thank you for a job well done!”

ITS Infrastructure Awards and Notables FY2024

  • 2023 MISA Excellence Award: The ITS-WiFi 6E team won a 2023 IT Project Team Excellence Award from the Michigan Information Systems Association (MISA) for being the first university in the nation to install WiFi 6E, providing U-M buildings and outdoor areas on the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses with pervasive WiFi coverage and capacity.

    “I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who worked on WiFi 6E. Your efforts continue to make a huge difference to our university.”
              — Ravi Pendse, VPIT-CIO

  • U-M Hosted 2024 Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Conference: The ITS Infrastructure group hosted the 2024 Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Network Director & WiFi Group meeting at the Michigan Ross School of Business in May. Approximately 50 leaders from member universities attended to share insights about network developments.