University of Leeds taps HPE for AI-native campus network

The University of Leeds has selected HPE’s Self-Driving Network to provide a campus-wide wired and wireless networking infrastructure as part of the university’s long-term digital transformation plans.

The University of Leeds is one of the UK’s largest and most research-intensive universities, with the new network intended to provide a more reliable digital experience for students, staff and researchers as its technology requirements grow.

Modernising campus infrastructure

The network is built on the HPE Mist platform and combines HPE Networking EX Switches, HPE Juniper Networking QFX Switches, and HPE Mist Networking Access Points with HPE Marvis. It will also include next-generation Wi-Fi 7, alongside end-to-end observability and automated network management. HPE said the combination will provide what it’s calling a unified agentic AIOps experience spanning the network core, distribution and edge.

According to HPE, rather than simply expanding the existing infrastructure, the new network has been designed to continuously learn, adapt and self-optimise its performance, with AI-enabled automation proactively identifying and resolving issues without requiring technology teams to intervene manually.

“The demands on university technology teams continue to increase, and our focus has to be on delivering the best possible experience for students, researchers and staff,” University of Leeds technical architect Matthew Graham said.

“The automation and visibility we’ll get means we’ll spend less time firefighting and more time supporting the work that really matters to us, in areas like AI, healthcare, engineering, robotics and climate research.”

Driving future innovation

The network is also intended to provide a foundation for future smart-campus initiatives as the university’s digital demands across AI, healthcare, engineering, robotics and climate research increase. At the same time, HPE said the network is designed to support hybrid learning, connected devices and data-intensive workloads.

The company added that the architecture will give the university’s technology teams greater visibility across the network while automating aspects of network management and troubleshooting.

“The University of Leeds is embracing a new model where the network becomes an intelligent partner in delivering outcomes,” HPE Networking UK and Ireland sales director Mark Weeks said.

“Together, we are building a self-driving network that provides continuous assurance, simplifies operations and enables the university to focus on advancing education, research and innovation.”

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