UNAPEC Deploys Future-Ready Infrastructure, Enhances Hybrid Learning Experience

Universidad APEC (UNAPEC) is a university in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, founded in 1965. With nearly 7,700 enrolled students, the university serves undergrads and graduates from more than 20 countries around the world, preparing them for careers in technology, business and other growing industries.

While UNAPEC was among the first Dominican universities to offer virtual and hybrid classes following the pandemic, the added strain on the network from increasing numbers of devices and demand for modern digital tools quickly became a challenge. As it prepared to deploy a new network to support increased technology usage across 200 classrooms, the university needed to simplify and streamline its deployment process by minimizing touchpoints and manual steps. UNAPEC also needed to extend its wireless connectivity to support users 24/7 from anywhere on campus, while simplifying network scalability for academic applications and resources. Furthermore, the burden of IT requests and tickets was hindering the efficiency of the IT team and needed to be addressed through easier network management.

Challenges

• Improve network stability so IT team could focus on proactive projects and initiatives
• Simplify deployments of new technologies and equipment across campus
• Improve scalability and flexibility of network to support academic applications and tools
• Extend wireless coverage and increase bandwidth for growing number of users and devices

Extreme Solutions

• ExtremeWireless™
• ExtremeSwitching™
• ExtremeCloud™ IQ – Site Engine
• ExtremeControl™

Results

Empowered IT Team

• Minimized number of IT requests and tickets
• Alleviate burden of manual management on IT team, enabling them to focus on advancement projects and initiatives
• Overall improved team efficiency through network automation and simplified, consolidated management center

Uninterrupted Connectivity

• Extended wireless coverage across campus supports increased number of users and devices
• Less downtime means more time returned to professors in classrooms and efficient use of classroom technology
• Uninterrupted access to academic platforms, applications, and tools, improving student learning

Deployment-Ready Solutions

• Streamlined deployments through segmentation and automation capabilities
• 200 classrooms deployed in less than one year
• Eliminated need for manual set up of technology and equipment

Foundation for Future

• Integrated solutions’ scalability will enable growth and expansion without risking quality of services, supporting continuously enhanced student programming
• Plans to adopt Extreme Fabric technology to further secure and automate network processes