N@N

Aruba Networks, Inc.: Giant Eagle, Inc. Manages Far Flung Retail Wireless Network With Aruba's AirWave Wireless Management Suit

^{Published on 2009-01-11 22:36:58, Last Modified on 2009-01-11 22:38:25 - Market Wire}
 

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - January 12, 2009) - Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: [ ARUN ]), a global leader in wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced that Giant Eagle, Inc. has deployed the AirWave Wireless Management Suite 6.0 to manage the Wi-Fi networks currently running at 400 corporate and independently owned and operated sites. Giant Eagle, ranked thirty-second on Forbes magazine's list of the largest private corporations, is one of the nation's largest food retailers and food distributors with approximately $7.1 billion in annual sales. Founded in 1931, the firm has grown to be the number one supermarket retailer in the western Pennsylvania, Ohio, north central West Virginia and Maryland regions. The AirWave suite manages Giant Eagle's entire multi-vendor wireless network from a single console, and offers advanced reporting capabilities, Help Desk features, and scalability suitable for systems of virtually any size.

"Giant Eagle was an early adopter of wireless LAN technology, and has deployed roughly 1,300 autonomous access points for inventory control and data access," said James Lersch, Network Services Engineer for Giant Eagle. "The network has now grown to include multiple models and generations of Cisco and Motorola access points located over a large geographic area. The access points are configured differently based on purpose and location, presenting our information technology team with a very complex management challenge. We needed a way to configure and control all of the old and new hardware from a single console, giving our heterogeneous system a homogeneous management interface. The legacy vendors recommended separate management consoles for each type of hardware, but that wasn't an attractive option."

Giant Eagle had four primary objectives for wireless management system:

 -- Support multiple different configurations of the same access point hardware models; -- Monitor individual interfaces (such as 802.11a/b/g radios) as well as the access point itself; -- Support multi-vendor hardware today and in the future so the company isn't locked into using a single vendor; and -- Manage migrations from legacy hardware to newer technology without losing any usage historical data. 

After evaluating available options, Giant Eagle selected the AirWave Wireless Management Suite 6.0 as their solution.

"The AirWave Wireless Management Suite has saved me hundreds of man hours of work. Changing complex security settings on our WLAN used to take me weeks. Now I can tell the AirWave software what to change and I no longer have to 'touch' each access point to push a new configuration file. I just delete the old configuration template, add a new template, and select the groups to which I want to apply the change. Within minutes, the access points are reconfigured. Before Airwave, it would have taken me weeks just to implement a simple configuration change. Now I can use my time more constructively while the AirWave software implements the changes," said Lersch.

The AirWave Wireless Management Suite 6.0 offers key features that are needed by every wireless network yet are mostly missing from proprietary management solutions:

 -- Management efficiency through improved diagnostics, advanced troubleshooting, and reporting; -- Visibility into the wireless network that enables the Help Desk to resolve problems remotely and efficiently; -- Streamlined performance of routine management tasks such as updating controller configurations and software versions; and -- Support for multiple generations of technology, wireless standards, and vendors through a single console interface. 

"The AirWave suite is an invaluable tool for managing both single and multi-vendor wireless networks," said Bryan Wargo, general manager of Aruba's network management division. "While some wireless LAN vendors require a different management system for every new generation of product, we keep it simple: one tool, one single management interface, regardless of the number of devices or their lineage. Especially in tough economic times, the AirWave suite offers terrific value for money -- minimizing the need to replace existing infrastructure and more effectively leveraging your existing IT staff."

About Aruba Networks

People move. Networks must follow. Aruba securely delivers networks to users, wherever they work or roam. Our mobility solutions enable the Follow-Me Enterprise that moves in lock-step with users:

 -- Adaptive 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks optimize themselves to ensure that users are always within reach of mission-critical information; -- Identity-based security assigns access policies to users, enforcing those policies whenever and wherever a network is accessed; -- Remote networking solutions and fixed mobile convergence ensure uninterrupted access to applications as users move; -- Multi-vendor network management provides a single point of control while managing both legacy and new wireless networks from Aruba and its competitors. 

The cost, convenience, and security benefits of our secure mobility solutions are fundamentally changing how and where we work. Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at [ http://www.arubanetworks.com ].

© 2009 Aruba Networks, Inc. AirWave®, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Bluescanner, For Wireless That Works®, Mobile Edge Architecture, People Move. Networks Must Follow., RFProtect, The All Wireless Workplace Is Now Open For Business, Green Island, and The Mobile Edge Company® are trademarks of Aruba Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.