Complete Aruba wired & wireless solution delivers on experience expectations, enables academic innovation and makes campus more secure

Despite its leadership as a regional center of academic excellence, Fresno Pacific University struggled to meet the wired and wireless connectivity expectations of its various users.

“Over time, our networking infrastructure had grown increasingly obsolete,” recalls Webster Alfonso, Director of Network Services for the Fresno, California-based Division II institution. “For our institution to continue delivering on its mission, we needed to re-architect and update our environment from core to edge.”

“Over time, our networking infrastructure had grown increasingly obsolete,” recalls Webster Alfonso, Director of Network Services for the Fresno, California-based Division II institution. “For our institution to continue delivering on its mission, we needed to re-architect and update our environment from core to edge.”

有远见的阿鲁巴有线解决方案

像许多高等教育中的许多人一样，FPU希望采用可扩展的，未来就可以的解决方案，该解决方案也解决了不断发展的虚拟和身体安全需求。有效地支持其四个遥远的卫星校园也是关键。

“We serve a combined traditional and non-traditional student body that averages 4,100, along with approximately 8000 professional via professional development courses,” Alfonso says. “As our classes run from early morning until 10 p.m., including at locations ranging up to 100 miles from our main campus, we needed a reliable solution that provided efficient, centralized management.”
Starting with core networking, FPU evaluated various vendors before narrowing the field to Juniper and Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. Ultimately, Aruba proved superior.

“Aruba offered the best innovation pipeline for the long haul,” explains Ryan Brunkhorst, Network Engineer. “The deciding factors were Aruba’s visionary approach to changing the core networking paradigm and the flexibility its solution provided for upgrading connectivity as high as 100GbE in the future.”

Rock-Solid Foundation: 8400 Core Switch & AOS-CX

To begin, FPU deployed theAruba CX 8400核心开关, with its microservices-based AOS-CX operating system.

“The 8400’s interface was graceful and familiar from the start,” Brunkhorst says. “I had it up and running in a matter of minutes.”
8400的设计和开放标准操作系统也是一个加号。Brunkhorst说：“借助活跃的底盘组件，可以进行现场更换且热拼图，我们预计可用性和可靠性会出现。”“开放标准方法可确保我们可以采用最适合我们需求的伴侣技术。”

此外，FPU实施了Aruba的3810and2930访问切换在其景观上。Brunkhorst说：“这使我们能够利用各种8400功能来自动化任务。”“我们还在考虑利用内置的Restful API和Python解释器的方法。”

添加Aruba Wi-Fi完成未来就绪的网络

After deploying its new wired network, FPU pursued a similar evaluation of wireless for replacing its legacy Aerohive and Ubiquiti systems.

“拥有岩石固体的核心使我们能够专注于完成Wi-Fi刷新，” Alfonso说。

“拥有岩石固体的核心使我们能够专注于完成Wi-Fi刷新，” Alfonso说。

阿鲁巴ClearPass and Dynamic Segmentation enhances cybersecurity

探索选项后，FPU再次吸引了Aruba。Brunkhorst说：“我们对Aruba的Wi-Fi提供的安全能力感到非常兴奋。”

这包括带有ClearPass的集中式，基于角色的访问控制，该机构与Microsoft Azure Active Directory和Office 365部署集成了该机构，为学生IoT设备提供了单个登录体验。

“此外,动态分割明显treamlines network administration by enabling us to segregate switch traffic automatically in real time,” Brunkhorst adds.

Adopting full stack provides scalability and flexibility

FPU’s wireless set up also includes indoor and outdoor access points (APs), deployed using a multi-controller architecture for high availability, along with redundant virtual Mobility Conductors, for streamlined Wi-Fi management and non-disruptive live updates.

“Implementing the full Aruba stack gives us a truly scalable, future-ready infrastructure,” Alfonso says.

Academic, Athletic & Entertainment Benefits Off the Charts

Whether in the classroom, on the court or after hours, FPU is now exceeding user expectations.

“借助无缝的移动性在室内和外，我们的用户感到非常高兴，”阿方索说。

下一代课程模型和4K流媒体

Academically, the network is facilitating the capability to explore new curriculum models, including using online tools such as Moodle for LMS, Zoom for web collaboration and Kahoot for interactive feedback.

Streaming 4K video is also popular. “Whether it’s in classrooms, while studying or for entertainment, we’re seeing a big spike in 4K streaming,” Brunkhorst says. “We have one residence using a terabyte and a half of throughput weekly.”

Keeping the network secure

In residence halls, FPU’s students enjoy high-performance Wi-Fi and IT appreciates retaining granular access control.

“尽管入职是自助服务，但ClearPass提供了有关每个设备的丰富上下文信息，例如类型，供应商，硬件版本和行为属性，” Brunkhorst解释说。

“Additionally, integrating ClearPass with Azure AD permitted us to create various smart granular rules,” he continues. “For instance, we grant internal network access to a security camera, but disallow cameras on our student network.”

实时饲料确保NCAA合规性

在FPU的体育和特别活动综合体中，可靠的连接有助于确保该机构满足合规要求，并为整个社区带来利益。

“例如，NCAA需要在活动期间实时统计提要，” Brunkhorst说。“最终，我们预计NCAA将需要直播。”

“Plus, we’ll be able to offer live streaming to our community, regardless of event type. Commencement ceremonies are high on the list,” he adds.

促进ing Campus Operations, Safety and Revenues

随着网络容量和性能的扩大，还有其他关键业务和运营奖励。

Brunkhorst说：“例如，我们的新网络已经支持某些类型的物联网设备，并具有更多的HVAC和其他操作传感器。”“此外，当我们致力于完全拥抱UC并完全消除手机的努力时，我们的业务和变焦通信的Skype得到了显着改善。”

推进物理安全物联网和位置哦areness

FPU的新基础架构解决了各种物理安全问题，从支持该机构安全操作中心改进的物联网相机监视开始。

“We can now aggregate video from about 100 cameras,” Alfonso says. “This enables us to effectively monitor our entire campus, as well as some of the regional campuses.”

他继续说：“此外，我们正在评估门的通道，并且在整个校园中通常都可以使用访问控制。”“我们希望通过我们的IT安全解决方案（包括ClearPass和动态细分）结合这些系统。”

Moving forward, FPU will explore ways to leverage location awareness built into Aruba’s APs for enhancing its existing outdoor emergency poles, such as adding geospatial and interactivity capabilities.

甲板上的收入机会

From a partnership and revenue perspective, FPU can now work with area community colleges and other interested parties to rent space at regional campuses.

“Because our satellite locations conduct classes at night, we can more effectively rent out space during daytimes and on weekends,” Alfonso says.

他补充说：“以前，我们无法提供无缝和可靠的Wi-Fi。”“现在我们可以在确保访问权限的同时这样做。”

IT Effectiveness Improved, More on the Horizon

毫不奇怪，它也正在实现其福利。“ Aruba的多次自动化为我们的员工提供了大量时间来完成高价值项目，” Alfonso说。

New switches slash maintenance time

The gains were apparent from the start. “Just upgrading to the 8400 resulted in our help desk cutting machine imaging from as much as 15 minutes to about five,” says Alfonso.

According to Brunkhorst, intelligent switches and automated access control cut manually applying a single change across its wired network from several hours to minutes, or less. “We make a single adjustment in ClearPass and the new configuration flows throughout our landscape,” he says.

此外，Azure AD和ClearPass的集成消除了FPU先前遇到的大部分服务台开销。

Up next: Proactive management

In future, FPU plans to take advantage of multiple Aruba capabilities, such as using the Network Analytics Engine within AOS-CX for fine-tuning in order to become proactive infrastructure managers and move toward a zero-trust environment.

该机构还在评估ClearPass如何统一其有线和无线访问控制，以使体验更加无缝，以及Airwave在影响用户之前可视化Wi-Fi问题的功能。

其他潜在部署包括Aruba的用户体验见解。Brunkhorst说：“我们正在评估以用户为中心的连接性和性能的解决方案。”“客户端报告始终是最难进行故障排除，因为Wi-Fi问题极为短暂。到目前为止，我们的评估证明了积极的态度，可以帮助我们更多地了解问题。”

阿鲁巴伙伴hip Helps Enable IT’s Promise

Overall, partnering with Aruba lives up to the vendor’s philosophy of “Customer First, Customer Last,” Alfonso says. “Similar to any other major deployment, we’ve hit a few bumps, but our local representatives always ensure we immediately reach the right level of engineering support.”

他继续说：“许多其他供应商首先都不了解我们的问题，更不用说解决方案了。”

It all adds up to assuring FPU can deliver on IT’s promise.

“With our end-to-end Aruba wired, wireless and cybersecurity infrastructure, experiences are so exceptional we receive very few network-related help desk calls,” Alfonso says. “And no one is complaining on social media anymore.”