Multi-M dollar commitment in purchase orders issued by UNF to Imperium Data
90 day proof-of-concept with every test phase passing
8 consecutive purchase orders issued Nov 2024 through Mar 2026
17,600 students on campus; largest enrollment in UNF history
The University of North Florida had built its network the way most campuses do: incrementally, over years, across multiple vendor generations. The result was a fragmented environment of Dell, 3COM, and HPE Aruba infrastructure spanning the wired and wireless campus, each with its own management toolset, its own limitations, and its own operational burden on a lean IT team. The architecture had served the university adequately. But adequately was no longer enough.
Three forces were converging simultaneously. First, enrollment was accelerating sharply. UNF would go on to enroll 17,600 students in Fall 2025, including a freshman class 66% larger than the prior year. Second, the complexity of a modern university network had outpaced what a multi-vendor, multi-management-plane environment could deliver: staff VLANs, lab networks, wireless, residential, e-sports, and specialized research segments all demanding consistent policy, visibility, and security. Third, the operational model was unsustainable. Every change required touching multiple systems, every troubleshooting event required correlating data from disconnected tools, and every new building added complexity rather than capability.
UNF needed more than a hardware refresh. They needed an architectural transformation and a partner with the technical depth to design it, prove it, and stand behind it.
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Before UNF committed a dollar of capital, they required proof. Imperium’s team, working side by side with UNF’s network team and Juniper’s senior engineering resources, designed and executed a comprehensive 90-day proof-of-concept covering every dimension of the proposed architecture: fabric construction, WAN integration, wireless roaming, micro-segmentation, DHCP management, AI-driven operations, and 802.1x security. Not a demo. A live, documented technical validation against UNF’s specific requirements.
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PHASE 1 Foundation & Fabric Build Out-of-band management, switch onboarding to Mist Cloud, Campus Fabric IP Clos construction, Virtual Chassis deployment ✓ All Tests Passed |
PHASE 2 Security & Wireless Integration SRX firewall integration, NAT and security policies, Mist Access Point deployment, Mist Edge wireless controller ✓ All Tests Passed |
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PHASE 3 Zero Trust & Micro-Segmentation VXLAN Group Based Policies for micro-segmentation, 802.1x and MAC-based RADIUS authentication at the access layer ✓ All Tests Passed |
PHASE 4 AI Operations & Management Marvis AI troubleshooting, Switch Insights telemetry, SLE monitoring, wired client visibility, WAN router integration ✓ All Tests Passed |
The POC validated not just that the technology worked, it validated that Imperium’s team understood UNF’s environment deeply enough to design a solution addressing the specific complexity of a multi-use university campus: Staff, Labs, Wireless, Residential, E-Sports, VPN, and specialized segments all operating with appropriate isolation, consistent policy, and AI-managed visibility from a single cloud platform.
Imperium recommended a Juniper Mist Campus Fabric IP Clos architecture, a modern, standards-based design that replaces the traditional three-tier hierarchy with a horizontally scalable spine-leaf fabric using EVPN-VXLAN as the control plane. The result is a network that eliminates Spanning Tree Protocol from the core, enables active-active load balancing across all links, supports seamless expansion without redesign, and delivers intent-based networking through the Mist AI cloud platform.
Campus Fabric Spine: QFX5120-32C - 6.4 Tbps bidirectional performance, 100GbE interconnects throughout the campus core
Campus Fabric Leaf / Distribution: QFX5120-48Y - 25GbE/100GbE distribution layer with EVPN-VXLAN gateway functionality
| 3:1 Oversubscription ratio achieved A dramatic improvement from the 24:1 ratio on UNF’s existing network, delivering 8x more effective bandwidth headroom for growth |
| 9 Campus network segments designed Staff, Labs, Wireless, Residential, E-Sports, VPN, Management, AP Management, and specialized segments, each isolated, each managed centrally |
| 5-Stage IP Clos fabric architecture Organizational-level Campus Fabric deployment supporting multi-building, multi-pod expansion without network redesign |
| 5-Year Mist Wired Assurance subscriptions Long-term AI management and SLE monitoring commitment reflecting UNF’s confidence in the platform and the partnership |
A university does not issue eight consecutive purchase orders to a partner they don’t trust. UNF’s procurement team, operating under the full scrutiny of a public institution’s financial governance, made a deliberate, multi-year commitment to Imperium Data and the Juniper Mist architecture, beginning in November 2024 and continuing through 2026. Each PO represents a phase of campus deployment, an additional building, an expansion of the wireless infrastructure, or a new segment of the fabric coming online.
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Date |
Deployment Phase |
Relative Investment Scale |
Scale |
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Nov 2024 |
Phase 1 Infrastructure |
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Large |
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Nov 2024 |
Phase 1 Expansion |
■■■■■■■■■■ |
Major |
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Jan 2025 |
Phase 2 Deployment |
■■■■■□□□□□ |
Large |
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Jun 2025 |
Phase 2 Supplemental |
■□□□□□□□□□ |
Medium |
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Sep 2025 |
Phase 3 Deployment |
■■■■■■□□□□ |
Large |
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Oct 2025 |
Phase 3 Supplemental |
■□□□□□□□□□ |
Small
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Feb 2026 |
Phase 4 Deployment |
■□□□□□□□□□ |
Small |
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Mar 2026 |
Phase 4 Expansion |
■■□□□□□□□□ |
Medium |
A $4M campus infrastructure decision at a public university goes through rigorous technical evaluation, vendor comparison, and institutional governance. Imperium won it not because they were the biggest name in the room, but because when the proof of concept began, they were the most prepared, the most technically engaged, and the most willing to design a solution around UNF’s actual requirements rather than a product catalog.
Co-design, not just resale: Imperium’s team worked shoulder-to-shoulder with UNF and Juniper engineers throughout the 90-day POC, contributing to every design decision and every test validation. This is what separates a technology partner from a transactional VAR.
Juniper Elite Plus credential: As one of Juniper’s highest-tier global partners, Imperium accessed OEM pricing, engineering resources, and support escalation paths that a lower-tier reseller cannot offer. UNF received enterprise economics without paying enterprise overhead.
Architecture that survives growth: The EVPN-VXLAN Campus Fabric IP Clos design is not a point-in-time solution. It is a horizontally scalable architecture that adds buildings, segments, and users without redesign, precisely what a university growing at 66% per year requires.
Operational simplicity through AI: Marvis and Mist Wired Assurance reduce the operational burden on UNF’s existing IT staff. Adding a VLAN takes minutes in a UI. Troubleshooting is AI-driven. The network manages itself so the team can focus on the mission.
“The University of North Florida engaged Imperium to modernize and streamline our enterprise network infrastructure. We presented an ambitious challenge: a comprehensive, 90-day ‘hands-on’ Proof of Concept designed to validate our most stringent requirements. Imperium exceeded our expectations, delivering a rigorous testing framework and resolving every technical hurdle with precision. Their ongoing support and proactive communication reflect a deep-seated commitment to our success. It is this dedication that drove our initial selection of Imperium, and it remains the cornerstone of our continued collaboration to optimize every facet of our network.”
JR Chambers
Director of Cyberinfrastructure
Information Technology Services - University of North Florida
The University of North Florida now has a campus network architecture designed for where the institution is going, not where it has been. The Juniper Mist Campus Fabric is actively expanding across the UNF campus, with each new purchase order representing another building, another segment, another wave of students being served by infrastructure designed to handle exactly this kind of growth.
For Imperium, the UNF engagement is the definitive proof point for the Campus & Branch Network Modernization practice. A 90-day POC that passed every test. A public university procurement process that chose Imperium over larger national alternatives. And a multi-million dollar commitment across eight consecutive purchase orders that reflect the most credible vote of confidence a partner can receive: a client who keeps coming back.
The scale of a campus network transformation means the technical competence of your partner is not a nice-to-have, it is the single variable that determines whether the project succeeds or fails. A firm that can design a Juniper Mist Campus Fabric IP Clos architecture, execute a 90-day multi-phase proof of concept, and earn the trust of a public university’s procurement team is not a generalist reseller. It is an engineering-led partner. Gartner has recognized Juniper as the leader in wired and wireless networking three years running. UNF recognized Imperium as the right partner to deliver it. That combination is not accidental, it is the result of technical depth, institutional commitment, and a willingness to prove the answer before asking for the order.