Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Tue, June 16, 2009
Mon, June 15, 2009
Sun, June 14, 2009
Aruba Networks, Inc.: Sierra Community College District Uses Aruba's 802.11n and Remote Networking Solutions to Deliver High-Sp
SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - June 15, 2009) - Aruba Networks, Inc. (
The District's legacy wireless network of independent "Fat APs" provided limited hot-spot access, and was both difficult to manage and secure. Following a survey in which students, faculty, and staff identified wireless access as the highest priority for enhancing the overall college experience, the District launched a review of possible solutions. The objective was to provide ubiquitous wireless coverage across all buildings at the four campuses, and open spaces at the Rocklin and Grass Valley sites.
"Prior to selecting a vendor for the project, we reviewed our current data and future Wi-Fi phone, video surveillance, and guest access requirements," said Gary Moser, CTO of the Sierra Community College District. "A high-speed 802.11n network with flexible guest access provisioning was deemed essential for our purposes. Since the new multi-campus network was to be centrally managed from the Rocklin campus, a high-security remote networking capability was also needed to support the other disparately located campuses."
Once the specifications had been defined, the District secured funding from the technology endowment of the Sierra College Foundation. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax exempt organization that raises money from private donors to support students, college programs and the future of Sierra College.
With the specifications and funding in place, the District started its review of available single and multi-channel wireless LANs and remote networking solutions. "We selected Aruba's adaptive Wi-Fi solution because it delivered the best performance and failover capability, while its Remote Access Point technology was unmatched for security and ease of use," continued Moser. "Additionally, Aruba was the only vendor whose guest access feature offered the level of granularity we needed and could also be provisioned by our administrative staff."
Aruba's Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) software 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 is assured 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 can be tightly controlled with respect to bandwidth consumed and the applications and resources that can be accessed.
Aruba's RAP technology is designed to reliably deliver the campus network to remote locations, offering the security of a VPN without the overhead or expense of managing client software. Ideally suited for remote site, telecommuters, and business continuity applications, RAP uses Ethernet or broadband cellular to network users anywhere.
"The combination of centralized management, PEF, and RAP allows us to support all of our remote users with minimal IT overhead and without compromising security," said Maher. "The new network will have full accountability for, and auditing of, who uses the network, when it is used, and what it's used for. The Sierra College Foundation, which so generously underwrote this project, can know with certainty that its funds have been invested in a world-class network that will meet the needs of every constituent, now and into the future."
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 ]. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter at [ http://twitter.com/ArubaNetworks ].
© 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.
