Ahmadu Bello University
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the University of Northern Nigeria.
The university operates multiple campuses: Samaru (main) and Kongo and the University Teaching hospital in Shika all in the city of Zaria.
The university runs a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programmes (and offers associate degrees and vocational and remedial programmes). It has a large medical programme with its own ABU Teaching Hospital, one of the largest teaching hospitals in Nigeria and Africa.
MEED Networks Limited built the largest Campus Fiber Optic Network in sub saharan Africa spanning across 3 campuses approximately 30 km , it was imperative that a convergence point i.e (Data Center) needed to be built and setup to cater for all the information that will be riding on the campus network (A central point of convergence).
ABU Network infrastructure had challenges with the following:
Non existent physical connectivity between the 3 campus locations
Collaboration amongst her staff within and outside the 3 campus locations was limited to GSM calls.
Independent internet Networks across multiple locations making it difficult to manage and monitor capacity usage.
Bottle necks in internet provisioning and allocation
Inefficiency and low productivity as a result on poor communication tools.
Non existence of a central storage location for data voice and video collaboration infrastructure.
It became imperative that ABU Staff and students transmission and communication infrastructure should be centralised and has to reach across the 3 campuses.MEED Networks embarked on designing and building a world class data centre that aggregates all the physical fibre optic connection infrastructure and hosts all the services Data, voice, and video running on the network.
The Data centre was design features were to meet the under listed requirements
Energy Efficiency
The Cooling System is one of the major guzzlers of energy in data centres, accounting for almost 28% of the entire electricity consumption,
We addressed the cooling demand of the infrastructure since operation is 24/7 and 365 days.
All the light fixtures in and around the building are mercury-free LED lights.
Auto-switch lightning systems, which are triggered by the access card swipe action.
High availability
Precision engineered for maximum uptime
Multiple connectivity options
Available on all Tier 1 carriers, on both domestic and global networks
Security
High-impact and contextual security,access control and CCTV monitoring
Power Backup and Storage
An Inverter backup system with power storage of 300 KWh, UPS system and Dual Backup generator
Centralised management for internet connectivity. Capacity allocation and monitoring across all sites now effective in real time
Fast, increased voice and video conferencing capability with clear picture quality and simplified file-sharing options is now seamless across all sites.
Cisco video conferencing system deployed that allows for remote meetings between all sites simultaneously
VOIP via Cisco Sytems has enhanced communication and collaboration among staff. Real-time collaboration between teams, regardless of distance with a few clicks
Email Servers and backup now hosted locally and in the cloud enhancing support.
