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Aruba Networks, Inc.: Liberty University Mobilizes Faculty and Students With a High Performance 802.11n Wi-Fi Network From Arub

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^{Published in Science and Technology on Tuesday, April 7th 2009 at 22:30 GMT, Last Modified on 2009-11-03 08:46:00 by Market Wire}  

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - April 8, 2009) - Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: [ ARUN ]), a global leader in wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced that Liberty University has upgraded the Wi-Fi network at its 5000-acre campus in Lynchburg, Virginia with an Aruba 802.11n solution and AirWave Wireless Management Suite. Founded in 1971, Liberty University has 123 buildings totaling 2.9 million square feet of facilities, 42,000 local and distance-learning students, and more than 2,600 full time employees. Prior to selecting a vendor to upgrade its Wi-Fi network, the university staged a 36 access point Aruba network at a remote site, while new networks from its incumbent supplier were tested at two residence halls. Aruba's solution was determined to be technically superior, and the university subsequently purchased an Aruba 802.11n Wi-Fi network and AirWave Wireless Management Suite.

The university's legacy network of independent Fat AP wireless access points offered limited wireless performance and restricted user mobility. Security was also problematic on both the Fat AP network and the legacy network access control (NAC) system. More than 30 servers were required to support the university's NAC system, and it was still unable to check newer 64-bit older operating systems for updated software, requiring a new log-in each time a student accessed the network, and providing limited control over guest access.

Wi-Fi performance issues were addressed by Aruba's Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) software, which lowers deployment and maintenance costs by automating site surveys and using infrastructure-based controls to optimize the performance of Wi-Fi clients in real-time. By controlling how Wi-Fi clients interact, ARM helps ensure that data, voice, and video applications have sufficient network resources, including airtime, to operate properly.

Network security has been addressed by Aruba's policy-enforcement firewall (PEF), which provides identity-based security, Quality of Service (QoS) control, and traffic management capabilities. The firewall classifies on the basis of user identity, device type, location, and time of day, and provides differentiated access for different classes of users. Guest access is now more secure and tightly controlled with respect to bandwidth consumed and the applications and resources that can be accessed.

Threat assessment, policy decision making, and corralling of unmanaged devices are accomplished by Aruba's Endpoint Compliance System (ECS). Unmanaged devices typically include transient devices such as PCs, PDAs, and Apple iPhones owned by users and not under the management of the university's IT staff. Working in conjunction with PEF, ECS implements network access control policies to detect, quarantine, blacklist, and remediate out-of-compliance devices. Granular policy enforcement ensures that all devices connecting to the network comply with the university's device operating system, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and software patch revision requirements. ECS also integrates with intrusion detection and prevention devices on the wired network, detects malicious activity, and blacklists users.

"Wi-Fi performance and security both improved significantly as a direct result of ARM, PEF, and ECS," said Bruce Osborne, Liberty University's Wireless Network Engineer. "ARM technology allowed us to field a highly reliable, densely-deployed 802.11n network without any surveys or manual tweaking, saving significant time and expense. Aruba's PEF cordons off guests from our main network, and a policy acceptance log-in page makes quick work of guest access. The new ECS solution requires just four servers, and students need to log-in only once per semester instead of once per session. ECS uses the Microsoft update agent to determine the latest requirements, and unlike our legacy network access control system, 64-bit clients are fully supported. Taken together these new features have simplified life for students, faculty, guests, and the IT staff."

Currently more than 550 new 802.11n access points have been deployed, and both the Wi-Fi and NAC systems continue to be expanded. The remote site at which the university piloted an Aruba network is now running as an all-wireless workplace. Moving forward the university expects to deploy VideoFurnace multicast IP television on its new 802.11n network.

"With our legacy network we were locked into the same vendor for switches, NAC, Wi-Fi, and support," continued Osborne. "This limited our options with respect to features, performance, and price. In contrast, the Aruba gear is interoperable with infrastructure products on the market, freeing us to select switches and other devices based on criteria defined by Liberty University. The resulting network is tailored to our exact needs."

Additional information about Aruba's Wireless LAN and security solutions for higher education can be found on-line at [ http://www.arubanetworks.com/applications/education_solutions.php ]

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 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., The All-Wireless Workplace Is Now Open For Business, RFprotect, Green Island, and The Mobile Edge Company® are trademarks of Aruba Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.