Forum network switch upgrade

We will soon be replacing all existing 100 Mb/s network switches in all of the Informatics Forum IT closets with new 1Gb/s switches.

There are 17 IT closets in the Forum, each of which provides networking connectivity to its nearby offices. Typically, each closet contains three or four 100 Mb/s switches – so there is a lot of work to be done, and the entire programme will take some time.

We will be doing this upgrade one closet at a time, and we will make announcements via email to let you know when any particular closet is being worked on.

The switch replacement means that network connectivity will be temporarily lost for machines which are served by 100 Mb/s switches in the closet being upgraded. Typically, this means that network connectivity will be temporarily lost for machines attached to either the blue or red network cables which appear on desks in the Forum. Network connectivity should never be lost for machines attached to the grey cables on desks: those are already connected to 1Gb/s switches.

The end result of this work will be that all wired network connections in the Forum will run at 1Gb/s – the only remaining 100 Mb/s connections will be those used for the VoIP telephones.

The new switches also give other advantages: amongst other things, they allow us to implement better network security, and they allow us to implement IPv6 on all Forum subnets.

We apologise in advance for any disruption this work will cause, and thank you for your patience.

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