New Switches Speed Up UB's Network

Joe Pautler.

UBIT Communication Senior Systems Engineer Joe Pautler

By Marisela Lugo

Published August 12, 2015 This content is archived.

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Marisela.

Marisela Lugo (UB Student, Class of 2017) was born and raised in Bronx, NY. She is an active member in UB's Latin-based clubs: PODER and LASA. After assisting with and appearing in Cosmopolitan for Latinas’ Summer 2015 fashion forecast, she decided to major in Communications and Media Studies with dreams of working in print media.

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Better wired and Wi-Fi network bandwidth and speed is on its way to UB’s three campuses.

In Summer 2013, Network and Classroom Services, part of UB Information Technology, began boosting wired network performance in UB’s Computing Center, Fronczak Hall and Educational Opportunity Center. Based on that project’s success, UBIT is working to replace the wired network switches found in other UB buildings.

These network switches connect different devices to UB’s network throughout UB’s three campuses. In each building, a pair of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) network links will be replaced by a pair of 10 Gbps links. 

After completing the first phase of this project, which upgraded 42 buildings on North Campus, UBIT’s engineers began upgrading buildings on South Campus as of Summer 2015. “Switches will be changed first where the greatest number of people use them,” said Joe Pautler, Senior Network Engineer with Network and Classroom Services.

The goal is to upgrade all remaining UB buildings by December 2017. "Now that UBIT has the funding to finish the second half of this initiative, we are able to upgrade remaining buildings to dual 10Gbps uplinks, and have a consistent network infrastructure throughout,” Joe added.

In addition to making each building’s connection capable of speeds ten times faster than the current configuration, additional power supplies will be added to prevent power failure and improve flexibility. These upgrades, combined with the Wi-Fi Boost project currently underway, will ensure a noticeable improvement in UB’s networks, bringing them up to speed with the needs of a world-class institution like UB.

For more information on the wired switch upgrades, contact Joe Pautler at pautler@buffalo.edu.