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Dartmouth College Deploys Nation's Largest University Wi-Fi System With Aruba Networks
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- In one of the world's largest and most innovative implementations of 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology ever, Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, has selected Aruba Networks for a massive infrastructure upgrade.
Already underway, Dartmouth is building one of the most advanced Wi-Fi networks in operation to support next-generation voice, video and data services to students and faculty throughout its 200 building, 1.5 square mile campus.
Dartmouth has deployed over 350 Aruba dual-radio 802.11a+b/g access points and air monitors and 12 Aruba 5000 wireless LAN switches. Over the next several months, Dartmouth is replacing over 550 Cisco 350 802.11b APs with dual-radio 802.11a+b/g Aruba 70 APs.
"When we installed our first AP, the technology we used was state-of-the-art, but the state-of-the art has quickly changed. We needed to change with it, but more importantly, we needed an architecture that could adapt to change," said Brad Noblet, director of Technical Services at Dartmouth College. "We are deploying wireless on such a large-scale that scalability, performance and security were non-negotiable items. Aruba had the only system we found that could reliably deliver all three."
Dartmouth's Wi-Fi network is being built to support more than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 2,500 faculty and staff with voice, cable TV and data along with new location services over an 802.11 infrastructure supported by Aruba wireless LAN (WLAN) switching technology.
Nearly every Dartmouth student owns a personal computer and more than 9,000 PCs are in use campus wide. According to the college, approximately 90 percent of new freshman arrive with 802.11-enabled laptops.
What's Driving Wireless at Dartmouth?
The Dartmouth project was driven by the need for centralized wireless management, future-proofed protection and flexible security options.
According to Dartmouth, universal authentication on any port and the migration to 802.1X for both wired and wireless users were key factors in the upgrade. "We currently operate an open network but are moving users to 802.1X," said Noblet. "Aruba lets us do this quickly and easily from a central location for both wired and wireless users without impacting the ongoing operation of the infrastructure. We can now perform different types of authentication on any port, whether Web-based authentication, VPN or an 802.1X -- without having to install a variety of equipment to support each method."
Already in use through select parts of the Dartmouth campus, students use laptops and PDAs equipped with Cisco's soft phone technology, IP Communicator and instant messaging from Vocera to communicate over the Wi-Fi network. At any given time 50 staff or students are using Vocera IP badges over Wi-Fi within Dartmouth's Thayer Engineering School. Because Aruba's system combines application awareness and stateful traffic controls, it can uniquely identify voice and data traffic coming from the same laptop and prioritize voice over data to ensure the high quality calls.
Dartmouth is also using Wi-Fi technology to provide streaming media, cable TV and to push reference materials, such as class notes or assignments, to students based on time-of-day or physical location. Dartmouth is replacing its cable TV plant with cable over Wi-Fi by converting NTSC and digital cable signals to MPEG for streaming over its 802.11 infrastructure.
With voice, video and data running over Wi-Fi, Dartmouth improves its ability to quickly provide multi-media services to students and faculty wherever they are and reduces capital and operational costs from physical cabling changes that must be made.
Dartmouth found the management and upgrading of legacy APs was costly and cumbersome. "We wanted to increase performance, centralize management and support new voice and video services over a dual-band 802.11a+b/g infrastructure," said Noblet. "Aruba gave us 802.11a and b/g support in APs that can be managed from a single point. It also delivered a central point for all security and RF visibility and management that we didn't have with our existing wireless system."
The Aruba Difference
"Our vision of convergence required a new, centralized model for wireless that delivers vastly improved performance, automated management and support for latency-sensitive applications," said Noblet. "Aruba's wireless system is ideally suited, for handling voice, video and data applications on a large scale -- and all managed from a central point."
According to Noblet, several factors were key in Dartmouth's decision to standardize on Aruba's wireless LAN switching system. They included:
-- The ability to support hundreds of APs on a single system
-- Gigabits of encrypted throughput
-- Low-latency (under 10 milliseconds) handoffs between APs
-- Superior mobility
-- Advanced call admission control mechanisms
-- The ability to classify and prioritize different traffic flows such as
SIP, H.323 and RTSP
Only Aruba is able to classify and prioritize different traffic flows, such as voice and data originating from a single VoIP phone, and maintain the state of each traffic flow. Advanced tagging and queuing techniques in Aruba switches and APs allow delay-sensitive applications to be prioritized over the air and through the wired network.
About Dartmouth
The nation's ninth oldest college and a member of the Ivy League, Dartmouth, a private, four-year liberal arts institution, has been at the forefront of American higher education since 1769. Dartmouth is a coeducational college with schools of business, engineering and medicine as well as 18 graduate programs in the arts and sciences. Its 200-acre main campus features state-of-the-art academic facilities including the new Berry Library, the Hood Museum of Art, the Hopkins Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, and the Rauner Special Collections Library.
About Aruba
Based in Sunnyvale, California, Aruba Wireless Networks (Aruba) is a fast-growing enterprise infrastructure company. Aruba pioneered the concept of centralized network systems to enable wireless, security and mobility services. The company's products help corporations address fundamental new changes taking place in enterprise networks caused by user mobility, security and wireless technology. Aruba markets and manufactures a complete line of network mobility and security systems that include wireless LAN switches, grid controllers, grid and access points along with advanced grid control software applications. Privately-held, Aruba has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and India and employs staff around the world. Aruba has received over $59 million in three rounds of venture funding from top-tier venture firms -- Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital, Trinity Ventures and WK Technology Fund. Visit Aruba Wireless Networks at http://www.arubanetworks.com/.
Aruba Wireless Networks
CONTACT: David Callisch of Aruba Wireless Networks, +1-408-504-5487, ordcallisch@arubanetworks.com
Web site: http://www.arubanetworks.com/
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