Swansea University. ICT Infrastructure Strategic Plan:

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1 Swansea University ICT Infrastructure Strategic Plan:

2 Context ICT is essential for the University to achieve its ambitious expansion plans and to operate on a day today basis. IT underpins our key activities, Research, The Student Experience and Driving Growth in the Knowledge Led Economy. The University ICT Infrastructure strategy is overseen by the University s Senior Management Team and Professional Services Management Team. The infrastructure services are delivered by staff within Information Services and Systems (ISS) and College staff working closely together. The Bay campus presents the challenge of operating a seamless ICT infrastructure for both campuses along with the opportunities and benefits that brings to improve overall resilience of our ICT systems. ICT Infrastructure, Strategic Developments Introduction ICT Infrastructure covers the following areas and this document focuses on the expected developments needed to underpin University services. Broadband Services Network Backbone Wireless Network Datacentre Services Supercomputing Facilities Telephony Audio Visual Desktop PCs and Applications Account Management and Security IT Service management 2

3 Infrastructure Developments Broadband Services. The University obtains its JANET and Internet connection via the National Public Sector Network in Wales, the PSBA, inter connecting education, local authorities, Health, and Welsh Government departments. BT have recently won the contract to re engineer and manage this network. University business is dependent upon this network being available 24/7, to facilitate this ISS will Improve the resilience of the University s broadband service to the PSBA network (Public Sector Broadband Aggregation), and onward connection to Janet and the Internet. Both the Singleton and Bay campuses will have independent connections to different connection points on the PSBA network. The Singleton and Bay campuses will have a direct 10Gigabit interconnect, a point to point fibre optic link for internal University data. Should one of the direct connections to the PSBA/Internet fail at either campuses then data will be automatically re routed across the 10gigabit link and out onto the Internet through the other campus Internet connection. The circuit bandwidths of our direct connections to the Internet at each campus will increase to 10gigabits as capacity management demands. As added resilience a further microwave circuit will be installed between the campuses to provide failover for the point to point fibre optic circuit. Swansea University will cease to be a C PoP, (Connection Point) for local public sector connectivity in and around Swansea. These local connections and the C PoP will be moved to the main BT exchange in the city centre. The Bay campus development and re engineering of the PSBA, Public Sector Broadband Network Campus Network Backbone and Security Capacity management and availability of the network underpins University business. To maintain the Integrity of the network ISS will Improve monitoring services to help detect and prevent malicious attacks, structure the network to reduce the impact and realm of any compromise, promote best practice to end users Implement a comprehensive Information Security Management System based upon ISO27001 Each major building on both campuses will have resilient 10gigabit fibre optic links back to the main datacentre at each site. The speed of the campus backbone will be increased from 10gigabits to multiple 10gigabit circuits, 40Gigabits or 100Gigabits as capacity management demands. Desktop connections will remain at 1gigabit per outlet but building/floor resilience will be improved through battery backup in all communications cabinets and higher specification switches. 3

4 Cisco will remain our preferred provider of network routers and switches. New core routers will be procured as part of the bay campus development. The Bay campus development and ISS business planning Wireless Network Eduroam Mobility, wireless bandwidth and device support for students and staff All areas, including halls of residence, will have complete wireless coverage with a rolling upgrade programme to the latest 1Gigabit high bandwidth specification ac. Eduroam will continue to expand to non University sites across the city region A guest wifi service will be available for University visitors and conference attendees ISS will provide support for new device types wherever possible and continue to increase the number of devices allowed to connect per person. The Bay campus development, NSS funding and ISS Business planning Datacentre Services Information Services and Systems provide Application and Infrastructure support for over 80 internal and externally facing I.T. Services. Such as E mail, Desktop Computing, Blackboard, Student Records, Finance and HR. These services sit on a hardware and software platform which provides a basic Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This service will need to be extended to the new Bay Campus both to provide local services to the Staff and Students on the Bay Campus, and to provide the University with a full symmetric dual site Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Solution where the Park Campus provides protection for the Bay Campus and vice versa. ISS will seek to Increase the University s potential (Virtual) Server, Storage and Backup capacity to provide resources for any Research, Teaching or Administration project. Upgrade the ability of the IaaS systems to improve resilience between the two sites. Add the ability to Elastically expand services into the Cloud to provide for sudden increases in capacity or to transparently utilise cloud services where they provide better value or specialised functions. The estates strategy includes major developments on the Singleton campus which will affect the existing Blue C datacentre when the Talbot building is demolished. ISS and Estates will need to consider the rehousing of this service and ancillary works to re route many of our external fibre optic links. The Bay campus development, ISS Business planning and the ISS DR BC Policy 4

5 Supercomputing Facilities The HPC Wales Supercomputing facility, a WEFO sponsored project, completes its funding cycle in 2015, a further cycle of funding or renewed initiative will be required to carry on the service. Academics at Swansea have access to Supercomputing facilities hosted at Blaenavon datacentre which will also require renewed funding. The Medical School will be running a new computing research facility located in the new Datascience building on the Singleton campus. Research and WEFO funding Telephony Although the existing Alcatel telephone system was installed in 1999 the hardware, software and handset technology are upgraded annually to deliver the latest enhancements in telephony and provide full integration with other computer communication services now available. New services such as Microsoft s Skype for Business, formerly Lync, will be an integral part of the telephone system, other SIP/Internet based services will continue to expand for outgoing and incoming calls. DECT will continue to be supported at both campuses and Alcatel Apps for smart phones will also be available. Phased rollout of Voice Over IP will continue as new builds replace old buildings, as of 2015 the split between Voip and digital handsets is roughly equal, after the Bay campus completes this will change to 75% VOIP, the remaining 25% will be gradually phased out over the next 5 years. Mobile phone contracts, negotiated through national procurements, will be adopted for all new staff mobile phone contracts. Call tariffs for outgoing calls, DDI rental and line rental will be constantly monitored to provide the best value for money for the University. Bay campus development and Telephony budget to fund technology developments Audio Visual A standard AV setup for each type of lecture theatre and teaching room has been specified for the Bay campus, this will be mirrored on to the Singleton campus as part of our rolling replacement programme. All lecture theatres will be equipped to support lecture capture. Bay campus development, NSS funding and ISS business planning Desktop PCs and Applications ISS in collaboration with other university departments/colleges will continue to develop a standard Microsoft desktop for staff and students supporting an agreed set of campus licenced applications. PC Open Access labs and College systems will be maintained to the highest specification required to run the designated operating system and applications. 5

6 Cloud services, such as Office 365, will be implemented and introduced as required. The University will focus upon on improving the performance and increasing functionality of the desktop service to meet with student and staff requirements and compliment the use of personal devices. ISS will investigate the use of Virtual Application streaming and VDI, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, for the delivery of campus licenced applications to remote desktops, laptops and tablets. ISS business planning, Office365, Application streaming and VDI Projects Access, Account Management and Security Many staff, students and visitors pass through the university each year all requiring differing levels of secure access to the varied ICT services both on and off campus. Managing their Identity and policing their access to services is a complex problem. ISS is working with an external company to provide a comprehensive Identity Management Service and improving the efficiency of the internal processes that have to be followed in account creation and lifecycle. ISS business planning, external consultancy and project reviewing account lifecycle business processes IT Service Management ISS has adopted the UK government ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) framework to base its internal processes on to provide the service management for all its IT systems and services. To underpin this framework a new service desk Landesk will be introduced to provide a one stop shop for all incidents and requests made by customers. Landesk will be made available for all IT support sections in ISS and Colleges All ISS services will use Landesk to provide visibility and tracking of customer requests in a timely and transparent manor. ISS Business planning and ISS projects to review front of house services and internal communications 6