What Network Unification Is

Network Unification (NU) is UCLA’s program to modernize and unify campus networking—improving reliability, strengthening security, and enabling a more consistent wired and wireless experience across buildings and units. NU brings today’s fragmented environment toward a future-state network designed to be easier to operate, safer to run, and more scalable as campus needs grow.

Why Now?

Our current network environment is aging and under real reliability and security pressure. Some components are obsolete, management is fragmented, and issues can have campus-wide impact. Leaders recognize the urgency: this is not a “nice-to-have” refresh—it is a critical need to reduce risk and improve day-to-day performance for teaching, research, patient care, and operations.

What’s Happening Now?

Work is active and ongoing. The team is executing a pilot phase and foundational build activities that set the technical “springboard” for broader rollout. In parallel, we are advancing migration planning (how buildings will transition) and defining the future-state operating and funding model needed to sustainably run the new network.

What to Expect Next

We will continue predictable updates as the work becomes more visible and closer to unit impact. Our intent is to provide quarterly program updates, supported by interim status communications through established channels and the developing NU web presence. Units will receive targeted readiness and outage communications in advance of any activity affecting their building or services. Questions can be submitted in advance via Pop-In or sent to the project team email.