Breaking the Data Centre: How Coventry University Rebuilt for the Hybrid Era - Part 3

Episode 3: Securing the Future & Designing the Smart Campus

In the final part of the series, Rob Sims and Coventry University CTO Steve Rogers look beyond the last decade of transformation and focus on what comes next for hybrid in higher education.

Steve shares why his immediate priority isn’t “jumping on the AI bandwagon,” but doubling down on cybersecurity, human firewalls and smarter use of data to drive better decisions. He explains how Coventry is consolidating tools, moving away from “premium by default” vendors, and choosing platforms that are good enough, cost-effective, and tightly aligned to real needs.

The conversation then widens to the future student experience: immersive learning spaces, VR and AR, sensor-driven smart campuses, edge capabilities, and how technologies like Cisco Spaces are already helping Coventry make data-informed decisions about estate usage. Steve outlines his ambition to become a cloud-native, cloud-only organisation for core infrastructure within five years, with on-premise reduced to focused edge processing.

Packed with forward-looking insight, this episode explores how universities can prepare their networks, teams and strategies today to stay competitive tomorrow—and why continuous innovation, smart partnerships and a clear view of the “connected campus” are now essential to attracting and retaining the next generation of students.