UNE leverages Aruba Networks solutions to create an innovative campus experience and support their implementation of Microsoft Skype for Business over Wi-Fi campus-wide.

位于northe区域出镇rn NSW, The University of New England (UNE) is Australia’s oldest regional university. Founded in 1938, the University today caters to 23,000 students and employs approximately 3,000 staff. The organisation has a further 10 locations across the state incorporating 160 buildings, as well as nine residential
大学。

Dedicated to positioning itself as the most innovative and technologically advanced university in Australia when it comes to both on-site and learning by distance education, UNE offers more than 200 courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, and higher degree research levels to its 23,000 long distance and onsite students. The University is currently working to represent the campus of the future, and recently sought a next-generation IT infrastructure that provided its staff and students with communication and collaboration capabilities anytime, and from virtually anywhere.

Focused on modernising its technology, UNE’s management team completed a comprehensive review of its IT infrastructure in early 2013, and made the decision to upgrade from an 802.11g wireless network, to the latest 802.11ac networking standard.

“ Wi-Fi的报道以前是随着学生和工作人员在校园中移动的零件。由于UNE校园与高大的摩天大楼相反，我们需要一个无线解决方案，这将为我们提供更多的全部覆盖范围。”信息技术基础设施服务副总监Gordon Smith说。

“We were looking to improve the bandwidth available to users so we could better support emerging digital learning tools, such as streaming video. This was totally impossible on the old network, with any given access point sharing a mere 25MB amongst the number of users on that AP at any given moment,” continued Smith.

There’s an increasingly heavy load on the network – with users often manipulating large files. There is no limit to what’s being used on it. Everyone is empowered by more access to information.
戈登·史密斯，Associate Director, Infrastructure Services, Information Technology

UNE underwent a comprehensive tender process ahead of partnering with Aruba Networks to overhaul its wireless environment. Key requirements for the selected network included seamless integration with unified communications platform, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), as well as a security infrastructure provided by Palo Alto Networks.

“We wanted a secure Wi-Fi fabric that was very meshed, gave us control over the network, linked with third party solutions, and allowed us to manage data through the system. Our decision came down to Aruba or Cisco. Aruba’s reputation for most effectively supporting both Skype for Business and the highly secure Palo Alto firewall platform, compared to other wireless vendors in the market, made Aruba the clear winner. Cost-wise, Aruba is also very appealing as you scale it out, so this was also a ‘nice to have,’” said Smith.

“无线服务现在已经成为一个重要的部分icularly in Education – its mandatory and expected to be provided everywhere, all the time. Previously, we had about 300 APs covering the campus, and now we’re deploying a total 1200Aruba APsacross the entire grounds,” added Smith.

没有限制的未来防Wi-Fi

The 802.11ac enterprise mobility solution provided by Aruba and installed by network integrator, UXC Connect, is currently being implemented throughout UNE campuses, and represents one of the largest deployments of its kind within the Asia Pacific education sector.

“The Aruba 802.11ac technology can give us over a gigabit of throughput per end user device, so we’re installing two Internet cables per access point,” said Smith.

The enterprise mobility network at UNE is being used for a range of different purposes at UNE from teaching, learning, research and administration to collaboration.

“People are already using Skype, downloading and uploading videos for course work. There’s an increasingly heavy load on the network. There is no limit to what’s being used on it. Everyone is empowered by more access to information,” said Smith.

TheAruba Airwave network managementsolution allows Smith and the wider three person IT team identify the operating systems and types of devices accessing the network, at any time from a single dashboard.

“Students at UNE bring two-three devices onto the network and increasingly, I see academics using tablets in meetings to record or view documents, whereas previously these offices wouldn’t have had wireless access. In the past few months, we’ve seen 12,000 devices enter the network. There’s been up to 2,300 devices connected at any given minute. This has all been powered and stabilised by Aruba,” said Smith.

Additionally, Aruba’s enterprise mobility network has been deployed throughout UNE’s nine residential colleges, the newest facility is very well connected with 63 access points for 230 students, catering to multiple devices per student.

“We’ve not had any complaints regarding the new network to date. With its faster speeds and Aruba’s ClientMatch roaming technology, it has the capacity to get people on and off the access points faster, so there’s no slowing down while moving about the campus,” added Smith.

Calling on an a secure, all-wireless campus

UNE has also adopted a unified communication solution and uses the full capability of Microsoft Skype for Business including voice and video over Aruba Wi-Fi to further create an allwireless campus, and remove the ‘distance’ from distance learning programs. This new platform delivers an interactive educational experience regardless of whether students are in a classroom or not.

“We fully replaced UNE’s phone system with Skype for Business, enabling it to run as an App on the student’s personal devices so they can rapidly communicate with lecturers and peers at no additional costs via the network connection. Skype for Business also empowers students with a range of tools including instant messaging, sharing of desktops and applications - adding an extra layer to student-staff collaboration,” said Smith.

无线网络还与Palo Alto Networks的安全平台结合使用，以确保沿Wi-Fi Air传播的所有数据通过安全的防火墙。随着新用户和设备连接到网络，Aruba的移动性定义的网络体系结构与Palo Alto Networks平台监视网络的任何违反网络的策略违规行为共享上下文数据。

“Having a next generation firewall, as well as a tool that could securely move data across devices without having any lag was critical, and Palo Alto best met our needs. Both Palo Alto and Aruba are renowned for integrating seamlessly and this has rung true in our use. It just works,” explained Smith.

A long-term, expanding partnership

With UNE continuing its roll-out of additional 802.11ac access points, Smith describes each deployment as painless. “It’s very quick, taking no more than five minutes per access point to be pre-configured before being fixed to the corridors. The speed of deployment is high,” said Smith.

UNE plans to deploy more Aruba features in the future, enabling deeper integration and optimisation with Microsoft Lync and other applications, as well as rolling out a mesh solution to students residing in surrounding campus areas. Armidale is a very well connected town, known for its access to the fastest National Broadband Network connection in the country. However, Smith says the Aruba solution is significantly higher performing wireless solution.

“我们计划通过最大程度地减少任何潜在的辍学量来更好地管理Skype，以通过Aruba Airwave来管理Skype，并更好地利用Airwave的强大报告设施。接下来，我们还希望将解决方案更广泛地扩展到居住在市中心以及机场的学生。连接到Aruba Mobility网络时，使用我的笔记本电脑的速度比Armidale可用的最快的NBN连接快五倍。”史密斯继续说道。