Network upgrade coming soon to your building

Our wired internet network on Whiteknights and London Road campuses is being refreshed to make it more secure and resilient.

The wired network allows colleagues to access to the internet, emails and printers when on campus, while some colleagues also use it to connect to their office PCs remotely.

The current network is coming to the end of its life expectancy, so DTS have begun a project to replace all cables and connection points in workspaces to reduce the risk of network failures.

The new network will also be more compatible with smart technologies as they begin to be rolled out at the University.

The project will take three years to complete.

What will the work entail?

The upgrade will be done building by building, with work in larger buildings likely to take several days to complete.

The work will not create much noise, and will be scheduled to minimise disruption on work and teaching.

Workspaces will be connected to the new network outside of core business hours (08:00-18:00) and at weekends. This means there are not expected to be any periods during working hours when buildings do not have internet.

Unused network plug-in points will also be disconnected, as these use electricity even when not in use. The project will therefore provide energy and financial savings for the University.

The connection points will be left in place, however, in case they become required and need to be reconnected in future.

Work schedule by building

The new Art building, Miller building and Chancellor's building on Whiteknights campus have all had their network upgrades.

Other buildings will be worked on in turn over the coming three years, starting with our smaller buildings.

A schedule of work has been agreed for 2024, subject to building surveys, and the work schedule beyond this will be shared later in the year.

Colleagues will be informed by DTS via email a week in advance of work starting in their building.

DTS colleagues will also be on hand in buildings the day after refreshes to assist with any issues.

If you have any questions or feedback on the project, or if you are aware of an event or activity that may be affected by the work, please contact networkfutures@reading.ac.uk.

Please contact the IT Helpdesk with any issues after the work is completed.

Remote desktop users – action required

Computers and devices plugged into network points will get a new network (IP) address after they have been refreshed.

This means any colleagues who connect remotely to their PC’s will need to use the new IP address to do this.

Instructions on how to do this will be emailed by DTS.

All other devices should work normally with no action required.