SAN JOSE, Calif., and SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- September 22, 2026 – Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Notre Dame Athletics today announced a multi-year partnership to modernize the University of Notre Dame’s network, delivering advanced connectivity, resiliency and operational efficiency powered by Cisco’s latest networking technologies. The collaboration reflects Notre Dame’s commitment to establishing a future-ready learning environment and the importance of a network able to support the demands of higher education in the AI era.
As AI continues to impact all facets of higher education – from research to classroom learning to student life – the demands placed on the network continue to grow exponentially. Notre Dame is investing in a network able to support current and future device loads and AI applications, reflecting the University’s status as a top tier academic institution and its commitment to being at the forefront of technological innovation for the next decade and beyond.
“Modernizing our campus network is about far more than just replacing hardware; it is about building a foundation for the future of learning, research and campus life. By eliminating years of technical debt and consolidating our infrastructure onto a unified Cisco multi-gigabit platform managed through Cisco Catalyst Center, we have transformed our operations," said John Buysse, Senior Director Network & Telephony Services at the University of Notre Dame. "Our team now has the proactive, centralized visibility needed to deliver a seamless, secure and fast digital experience to our campus community."
Cisco’s technology will directly enhance the daily campus experience. For students, this means a seamless, high-performance connectivity experience that supports bandwidth-intensive applications—from immersive virtual reality labs to real-time collaborative projects—ensuring they stay connected from the moment they step on campus. For faculty and staff, the modernized infrastructure provides the reliability needed for teaching and administrative efficiency, ensuring that digital resources are always available.
“In the dynamic world of higher education, speed is a requirement, not a luxury,” said Mike Witzman, Vice President, Public Sector Solutions Engineering atCisco. “Together, Notre Dame and Cisco are doing more than just connecting a campus; we're building an AI-ready foundation that will redefine the future of learning for generations of students, faculty and staff. Fast, seamless and reliable connectivity will transform the modern education and research experience, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.”
The campus-wide deployment relies on Cisco Catalyst Center to automate and assure the end-to-end network. With nearly 1,000 new switches across the South Bend campus, the integration of Catalyst Center and zero touch deployment will allow for consistent configuration across the University’s digital footprint, which will be standardized on the Cisco Catalyst 9300x switch platform.
The partnership also includes utilization of Cisco Professional Services, which will provide ongoing support for the network and help the University to maximize their investment through custom expert guidance throughout the length of the partnership. Additionally, Cisco ThousandEyes will assure the delivery of seamless digital experiences across the campus by providing the University with visibility into every network that can impact performance, across both owned and unowned third-party environments, giving them unmatched insight into how everything is connecting.
This new collaboration with Notre Dame Athletics comes on the heels of Cisco's recent partnership with Georgetown University to launch one of the largest deployments of Wi-Fi 7 in higher education, further cementing Cisco as the preferred partner of leading universities in the United States.
About Cisco
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About Notre Dame Athletics
As it pertains to athletic and academic success, the University of Notre Dame has few peers across the nation. Sponsoring 26 varsity athletic programs, Notre Dame teams have won 38 national championships that span over 100 years of competitive excellence. The University’s first national title was earned by football in 1924, led by legendary head coach Knute Rockne. Notre Dame athletic teams have continued to claim noteworthy national championships recently, including back-to-back titles by men’s lacrosse in 2023 and 2024 and the fencing team earning its 16th team national title in 2026. The Fighting Irish football team also appeared in the 2025 College Football Playoff Championship Game. Notre Dame athletic teams have produced the third-most Academic All-Americans among Division I schools and Fighting Irish student-athletes have ranked first or second among Football Bowl Subdivision teams in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rating for 18 straight years.