McGill University Case Study – Network Modernization with EfficientIP DDI

McGill University, based in Montreal, Quebec, is one of Canada’s largest and most internationally recognized academic institutions. The university supports around 10,000 employees and more than 50,000 students, requiring a complex and highly distributed network infrastructure across campuses, data centers, and affiliated hospitals.

Its IT environment spans hundreds of thousands of IP addresses and underpins critical academic, research, and administrative services.

“We gain in time — make big changes faster and spread the workload across many teams. The return on investment is high.”
Chung Yu, Senior Network Administrator at McGill University

Improving Operational Efficiency and Resilience with DDI Solution

Project Objectives

McGill University launched a major network modernization program with the following objectives:

• Modernization of network infrastructure
• Unification of IPAM, DNS, and DHCP into one consistent DDI platform
• Replacement of fragmented legacy tools with a modern, centralized solution
• Support for a campus-wide shift from public to private IP addressing to improve security
• Enablement of self-service capabilities for faculties to reduce the workload on the central IT team

Main Benefits

The implementation of EfficientIP delivered measurable benefits:

• Improved operational efficiency across hundreds of thousands of IP addresses
• Strengthened network resilience through built-in redundancy and support for high-volume DNS traffic
• Faster troubleshooting thanks to improved visibility across network services
• Simpler network change management and fewer support tickets through task delegation to faculties
• Improved data accuracy and reduced configuration errors with custom checks and consolidated workflows

Situation and Challenges

With hundreds of thousands of IP addresses spread across public and private ranges, McGill University relied on fragmented legacy systems for core network services. This resulted in outdated IP addresses, DNS entries, and firewall rules, increasing the risk of misconfigurations and security issues.

IP address management was primarily handled through spreadsheets and homegrown tools. DNS services were managed using BIND, while DHCP ran on Windows servers. These decentralized workflows limited visibility and made it difficult to maintain data accuracy across systems.

As security requirements evolved and the university transitioned away from public IPs, McGill required a more controlled, resilient, and scalable network architecture. Consolidating the network footprint and shifting to private IP addressing required precise coordination and a platform capable of handling large-scale changes reliably.

To support this transformation, the central IT team also needed to streamline provisioning processes without increasing workload.

The Need for a Unified DDI Solution

A unified DDI (DNS, DHCP, IPAM) solution was essential to simplify network management across campuses, data centers, and affiliated hospitals. McGill University needed an intuitive, centralized platform that could:

• Provide consistent workflows across all network services
• Reduce manual effort and operational complexity
• Ensure data accuracy across IPAM, DNS, and DHCP
• Empower faculty and departmental IT teams

Driven by growing security expectations and the scale of its academic environment, McGill University initiated a full modernization of its network infrastructure.

“We were rebuilding the entire network to modernize it. Unifying IPAM, DNS and DHCP into one platform was crucial for moving forward.”
Chung Yu, Senior Network Administrator at McGill University

The Selected EfficientIP Solution

As part of its network transformation program, McGill University conducted an in-depth evaluation of major DDI vendors. The university ran a full competitive bake-off, testing appliances onsite and assessing each solution against technical, operational, and usability requirements.

While all vendors met core functional needs, EfficientIP stood out for its:

• Intuitive and user-friendly interface
• Flexibility in customization
• Cost-effectiveness
• Strong support for redundancy and high-volume DNS traffic

EfficientIP provided a single, unified interface for IPAM, DNS, and DHCP, making it easier to manage records across services, even in large-scale and multi-environment deployments.

Customization capabilities allowed McGill to tailor workflows and validation checks to its environment, ensuring accuracy and consistency across the network. The availability of REST APIs also offered flexibility for future automation initiatives.

Vendor engagement played a key role, with EfficientIP’s sales engineering team providing hands-on support throughout the evaluation and decision-making process.

“When we tested all the products side by side, EfficientIP was easier to work with and customize. It made complex network tasks significantly easier to manage. EfficientIP had the most user-friendly interface of all the vendors we tested – and offered the strongest support for any technical needs too.”
Chung Yu, Senior Network Administrator at McGill University

Main Results

Since adopting EfficientIP, McGill University has achieved significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and security across its distributed network environment.

By consolidating IPAM, DNS, and DHCP into a single DDI platform:

• Day-to-day network administration has been simplified
• Network changes are delivered faster
• Manual effort has been reduced

A key benefit has been the ability to distribute workload across faculties and departmental IT teams. With clear workflows and an intuitive interface, routine tasks can now be handled locally, reducing ticket volumes and freeing the central IT team to focus on strategic initiatives.

Data accuracy has improved through custom checks for live IP and DNS status, reducing configuration errors and improving troubleshooting efficiency.

EfficientIP has also strengthened McGill’s security posture by supporting the transition to private IP addressing and ensuring reliable handling of high-volume DNS traffic with built-in redundancy.

“Instead of jumping between systems, we now do everything from one interface. It’s made the whole process much faster and more efficient.”
Chung Yu, Senior Network Administrator at McGill University

Future Plans

Following the success of the deployment, McGill University has committed to a multi-year renewal with EfficientIP.

Looking ahead, the university plans to build on its DDI foundation by:

• Introducing greater levels of automation using EfficientIP’s REST APIs
• Streamlining provisioning through web-based forms
• Exploring deeper integrations with platforms such as ServiceNow

EfficientIP is expected to remain a core component of McGill University’s long-term strategy for network modernization, automation, performance, and security.

“Automation will be the next step — using EfficientIP as the engine behind faster, more reliable provisioning.”
Chung Yu, Senior Network Administrator at McGill University