Notre Dame’s network refresh shows the AI era starts with paying down technical debt

What happened

That’s the real story behind the recently announced multiyear partnership between Cisco Systems Inc . 1, all but a handful of single-switch sites were completed.

More often, it’s the unglamorous work of ripping out a decade’s worth of infrastructure debt so the network can deliver the bandwidth, consistency and data that artificial intelligence depends on. The more interesting part is what the University of Notre Dame’s information technology team already accomplished: It replaced 955 switches across roughly 170 buildings in about five months, all while the campus never went offline.

The news Notre Dame has standardized its wired campus with Cisco Catalyst 9300X multigigabit switches, managed via Cisco Catalyst Center with zero-touch provisioning. The deal also contains Cisco Professional Services and Cisco ThousandEyes for visibility into owned and third-party networks. The first building was cut over during spring break in March, and by Aug.

Key facts

• That’s the real story behind the recently — announced: multiyear partnership between Cisco Systems Inc
• The deal also — includes: Cisco Professional Services and Cisco ThousandEyes for visibility into owned and third-party networks