The user says | From full light to color light, Bengbu College chases the light all the way to add "color" to smart education
As a provincial undergraduate university with engineering-based and multidisciplinary coordinated development, Bengbu University has always adhered to the positioning of "local, application-oriented, and digital intelligence", with digital and intelligent transformation as the main line, industry-education integration and innovation as the breakthrough point, organizational reform, curriculum reconstruction, and teaching innovation as the core path, and diversified evaluation as the guarantee, and has embarked on a road of local application-oriented high-level university construction. In 2022, the school adopted the advanced solution of the all-optical network at that time, the Ethernet all-optical solution, for the overall transformation of the school network, and in 2024, the school again adopted the upgraded color light solution of the Ethernet all-optical solution for the network construction of the comprehensive building.
The problem of distributed deployment network is prominent, and the road to chasing "light" has begun
There are many engineering schools under our university, such as the School of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, the School of Food and Biological Engineering, etc., and the teaching of modern engineering disciplines has high requirements for network bandwidth, stability and lateral traffic. The original campus network solution of the school adopts a distributed or decentralized deployment mode of three-layer physical architecture, which often leads to complex network architecture, difficulty in adapting to new technology development and application requirements, and greatly increases the complexity of operation and maintenance, which will make it difficult to improve the quality of network services, and the problem will gradually become prominent:
With traditional Ethernet, it is difficult to upgrade the network and launch new services
With the increase of high-bandwidth services such as live streaming and recording and broadcasting, the demand for wireless networks has surged. Each bandwidth upgrade requires the replacement of network cables or network lines, and the traditional Ethernet deployment mode needs to pull network cables from the weak current room to the classroom, resulting in complex weak current room lines and an increase in indoor access points, which makes port expansion limited.
Active equipment is stacked, and there are potential safety hazards in the weak current room
In addition, a large number of active communication equipment are stacked in the weak current room, and some access devices are also placed in the weak current room, and fire safety hazards have always been a problem that we are particularly worried about.
O&M management is difficult, and the network experience of teachers and students decreases
Distributed deployment leads to a variety of brands and models of network equipment, increasing the complexity of management and O&M. In the face of unexpected problems, O&M personnel need to troubleshoot faults and link problems on site, and the limited space in the weak current room, numerous devices, and complex wiring all aggravate the difficulty of O&M. When equipment fails, replacing and reconfiguring new devices is time-consuming and cumbersome, which not only affects teaching, but also reduces the network experience for teachers and students.
How to solve so many problems, our information center has been thinking and researching in many ways, we all know that "light into copper retreat" has been the general trend, so "light" is the only direction to solve the current problem, at this time, that is, in 2022, minimalist ethernet all-light appeared, and we cooperated with Ruijie to open the road of chasing "light".
Ethernet All-Optical: Architecture Advantages, O&M Doesn't Rely on People
We use Ethernet all-optical to start a comprehensive transformation of the school's campus network, and only one Ethernet all-optical aggregation switch needs to be deployed in the area to connect with the simplified optical switch in the classroom or office through optical fiber. This deployment enables classrooms and offices to achieve one fiber per room, 1:1 exclusive bandwidth, and easy access to 10 Gigabits.
Under this deployment architecture, the active access switch is released from the weak current room on the floor, reducing the number of faulty nodes, greatly simplifying the operation and maintenance work, eliminating the security risks of the weak current room, and improving the stability of the entire building network.
The advantages of the architecture are also reflected in the friendly support for horizontal traffic in office scenarios. For school office, printing and sharing are particularly frequent, and the magic of the Ethernet all-optical solution is that it uses optical fiber as the transmission medium, but the protocol adopts the Ethernet protocol, which is easier to achieve direct communication and resource sharing between devices for office services such as shared printing.
In addition to the advantages of architecture, O&M work is also greatly improved. The Ether Protocol is also familiar to everyone, so you don't need to relearn new knowledge to get started. Secondly, the SDN platform matched with the solution can realize zero configuration online of in-room switches, plug and play, and blind plugging of ports. At the same time, the platform supports optical link visual O&M, which can monitor and alarm based on optical lines and optical modules, quickly locate fault problems, reduce troubleshooting time, and greatly reduce our personnel and time investment in O&M.
The network is faster and more stable, the operation and maintenance efficiency is higher, and the fault recovery is faster, the experience of teachers and students is naturally better, and the reputation of our information center is of course better.
From etheric all-light to etheric colored light, the weak current room is "liberated" for the second time
In 2024, our school will build a new 5G comprehensive building, which is mainly used for training classrooms and office use. Cooperate with Ruijie again, we learned that the "Ethernet all-optical" upgrade to "Ethernet color light", this upgrade also means a faster and more stable network, which coincides with the network construction needs of our 5G complex building, and the training room has higher requirements for the network, and the support of high-performance computing and the access of remote laboratories require higher bandwidth.
The Ethernet color optical solution uses wavelength division multiplexing technology, which can transmit 8 pairs of light-receiving signals through a single optical fiber, and combines with the transparent aggregation equipment deployed in the building convergence equipment room to achieve combined and divided wavelength, bringing higher bandwidth to the training room and office of the 5G complex building.
It is worth mentioning that the transparent aggregation equipment deployed in the building adopts a passive design and does not require power supply, truly realizing the large two-story architecture of optical fiber from the core to the room. On the basis of the Ethernet all-optical release floor weak current room, the passive equipment of Ethernet color light has created a passive weak current room in the building, and the pressure of operation and maintenance and the fire hazards in the weak current room have been greatly alleviated.
Starting with light, lay a "good" foundation for the future development of informatization
With the continuous exploration and practice of Bengbu University in the construction of information infrastructure, we have witnessed the leapfrog development from ethernet all-light to ethernet color light. This is not only a technological leap, but also a powerful impetus for the modernization of education. Through this series of network upgrades, we have not only improved the speed and stability of the campus network, but also provided an efficient and convenient information-based teaching environment for teachers and students. In the future, we will continue to keep up with the pace of technological development, continuously optimize and upgrade our network infrastructure, support a wider range of educational innovation and scientific research activities, add "color" to smart education, and lay a solid foundation for the future development of Bengbu University.