As one of the world’smost innovative institutionsand among the largest in the U.S., Indiana University relies on its infrastructure to deliver on the high academic expectations of its students and faculty.

“When your institution is known as an innovator, rapidly evolving demands are the rule rather than the exception," says Kirt Guinn, Director of Telecommunications and Enterprise Infrastructure at the 109,000-student university headquartered at its flagship campus in Bloomington, Indiana.

One Solution Addresses Multiple Demands

To ensure IU had the ability to meet new mobility demands, the University invested in a long-term strategic partnership withPIER Groupand Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

“It was critical to gain a flexible, reliable and scalable Wi-Fi infrastructure, with innovative management tools, to help us streamline experiences while keeping IT overhead in check," says Mark Spencer, Manager of Campus Network Engineering

In addition to adopting Aruba's WLAN and associated campus switches, the University also has maintained an HPE networking partnership for over 20 years. "Aruba has enabled us to provide high-performance connectivity to over 20 million square feet of classrooms, instructional laboratory and study facilities as well as over 8 million square feet of residences," Guinn says.

No Limits

A BYOD university, IU permits a wide range of devices, from tablets to IoT, to connect. "With hundreds of thousands of devices connecting 24/7, seamless access is a top priority," says Spencer.

“Given our size, one way we gauge success is via monitoring help ticket trends," he adds. "During the first month after deployment, we saw a 50 percent reduction in year-over-year help desk calls associated with poor Wi-Fi availability."

Staying ahead of the rest

IU的灵活和可扩展网络在竞争性上也使机构能够通过连接大多数设备来吸引学生。

Guinn说：“我们听说其他大学在支持用户期望方面挣扎，甚至有些大学也考虑阻止学生休闲Netflix使用。”

“在IU，我们的学生广泛使用Netflix这样的流媒体服务，使其成为竞争性的差异化因素，我们拥有基础架构来提供无限制的访问。”

Boosting student success

It's a similar story academically, where faculty members have embraced mobility-enabled technologies such as student response apps. Such solutions make it easy for professors to enhance student comprehension and engagement.

“Instructors are keen to ensure students are engaged, says Guinn. "This makesTop Hat, and similar apps, a new dynamic in many of our classrooms."

“For one of our medical courses, a response app enables the professor to push cell slides to student devices," he continues. "Rather than squinting at an overhead display, students zoom in on their own devices for significantly greater understanding."

Just plug it in

Other connectivity demands are equally easy to meet. "As bandwidth or density requirements shift, we use Aruba's high-density APs to quickly address the needed changes." Spencer says. "It's that simple."

“Or, for an application like Skype for Business, enabling the capability needed for voice traffic took only a few clicks," he adds. "Due to high-quality experiences when using Zoom and Skype for Voice over Wi-Fi, web conferencing and screen sharing has grown exponentially here."

Mobile-First Switching Delivers Results

On the wired side, adopting Aruba's 5400R switches provided benefits ranging from exceptional reliability to advanced programmability.

“Our replacement rates for the 5400R switches have been extremely low, making them an incredibly cost-effective over time," says Guinn.

1,500 switches updated in a snap

Operationally, IU appreciates the software innovations within the switch.

“For instance, one of our programmers uses the 5400R's APIs for creating scripts to automate provisioning and upgrades," says Guinn.

他补充说：“由于我们在布卢明顿和印第安纳波利斯校园中部署了1,500个开关，因此可以为我们提供可观的效率优势。”“现在，我们正在评估交换机中的其他高级功能。”

ClearPass Alters the Paradigm

Deploying ClearPass provided IU with further user experience and organizational lifts. "We typically receive the most complaints about failed Wi-Fi connections every fall, when students are new to logging on," Spencer explains.

“After we rolled out ClearPass, the number of authentication issues fell from the second most-reported complaint to the eighth. That's a 35 percent reduction in authentication issues."

Improved authentication for better experiences

The process of identifying and resolving authentication issues is also vastly improved, boosting user satisfaction.

“ClearPass gave us visibility into the source of authentication failures," says Spencer. "We discovered that most occur due to password miskeys."

“Uncovering the source shifts a user's understanding of the difficulty because the Wi-Fi system is no longer the culprit," he adds. "Overall, this has significantly enhanced user attitudes toward our Wi-Fi while also reducing social media complaints."

Supporting Security, Experience and Streamlining Initiatives, including IoT

Next up, IU will leverage Aruba solutions to address a new university-wide security initiative, improve user experiences, and simplify the entire network environment.

吉恩说：“在其中，我们将使用现有的Aruba工具，包括Airwave和ClearPass，统一我们的有线和无线网络的管理。”“目标是提供一致的体验，无论用户如何连接。此外，它将支持将来宾Wi-Fi内部带入内部，而不是继续使用第三方，使我们能够扩展到32,000个同时访客的连接。“

“We'll also be using ClearPass to assist us with further securing different types of traffic, such as profiling and segmenting IoT devices," he adds. "Whether it's smart washing machines in the residences or temperature sensors in research labs, we can apply policies to mitigate risk."

分析和保证增加了

IU也热衷于部署NetInsight。斯宾塞说：“在看到解决方案之后，我们在即将到来的开关刷新中添加了Wi-Fi升级。”“通过更新我们的WLAN，我们可以从Netinsight中获得并完全受益。”

他继续说：“我们对NetInsight的用户界面印象深刻，因为它集成了Airwave和ClearPass，消除了单独咨询每个工具的需求。”

永不睡觉的连接性

Most importantly, partnering with Aruba proved the right choice. "From the beginning, we appreciated the ability to fine-tune our systems to address evolving needs," says Guinn.

“As the connectivity provider for a demanding community that never sleeps, users expect our wireless and wired networks to work seamlessly, like turning on the lights," he adds. "We're exceedingly happy with our Aruba environment for enabling us to make that happen every day."