Skip to content

July 10, 2026

2026 Data Center Network Refresh

This Summer and Fall, UWIT is replacing the end-of-support core and aggregation network infrastructure in the UW Tower and 4545 data centers. These data centers support critical services across the University.

Why This Matters

The current data center core and aggregation network equipment is aging and due for planned lifecycle replacement. This refresh addresses one of our largest avoidable infrastructure risks. This means:

  • No further security patches or vendor fixes
  • Increased operational and security risk over time
  • Higher likelihood of avoidable service disruption if the equipment remains in place
  • Reduced ability to maintain a reliable and resilient data center network

Timing and Expected Impacts

To reduce customer impacts, work will occur during regular Sunday maintenance windows from mid-July through Autumn Quarter. Our goal is to minimize disruption while completing this necessary work.

Note, however, that these impacts are expected:

  • Core and aggregation work may briefly impact each data center, generally seconds to under a minute.
  • Each rack migration should cause a service impact of roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Some customers may experience additional impact if applications are dependent on other services or systems as those are migrated.
  • No direct hospital or patient care impact is expected, though academic and campus services that UW Medicine relies on may be affected.

Status

September 2026 – We have completed several maintenance events focusing on upstream work and are now starting to shift planning and execution to the top-of-rack migration activities. The initial set of maintenance windows focused on upstream work with brief customer-visible impact, generally several seconds to under a minute.

  • UW Tower, upstream work = Completed
  • 4545, upstream work = Partially Completed

What’s Next – The project schedule has been adjusted to increase this effort’s sustainability in addition to accommodating the following:

⇒ Introduction of a pilot stage for the top-of-rack migrations. These events have approximately 15 to 20 minutes of downtime per rack; Wired Network Services and Network Operations will run heightened monitoring and event coordination during every window.

  • UW Tower, top-of-rack work = Early October
  • UW Tower, top-of-rack work = Mid-October
  • 4545, remaining upstream work = in planning @ late October
  • 4545, top-of-rack work = in planning @ November
  • 4545, top-of-rack work = in planning @ November / early December

⇒ Hyak-specific migration window, targeted for September.

⇒ Responding to a required Seattle City Light maintenance window affecting the entire 4545 building.

⇒ Upholding “Make No Changes” windows.

What We Need from Leaders and Colleagues

To make it easier to line up the right people and share timing as each window approaches, we are developing a rack-to-customer matrix as a shared reference for coordinating this work with system owners. This kind of coordination is new for us and our records are not complete: your input is needed to help make this matrix a useful resource.

With that in mind, we ask that you:

  1. Join the “UWIT Datacenter Maintenance” Mailman list for project updates via email.
    Posts will provide event coordination details for each window, including how to join the conference call bridge. Subscribe here.
  2. Help us reach the right contacts on your side.
    Subnet and billing records don’t always capture the full picture, especially for systems that span multiple racks, depend on other systems, or have anything unusual about how they connect or fail over. If that describes anything in your environment, please reach out to us as early as possible.

Thank you for your partnership!
This work strengthens service resilience for the students, faculty, and researchers we all support. Success means we go into the new academic year on solid footing.

Questions?

If a date or a longer maintenance window creates a conflict for a critical system, let us know! Share your feedback, questions, or concerns with us via this form.