Indus International Schools Use Aruba Networks’ 802.11n Solutions to Make the All-Wireless Campus a Reality

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN), a global leader in distributed enterprise network solutions, today announced that Indus International Schools (IIS) based in Bangalore, India is deploying high-speed adaptive 802.11n networks across its campuses in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune. The new 802.11n systems are upgrades to existing Aruba 802.11abg networks.

"From the earliest days of the school we had a strategic initiative to use technology in the service of learning,” said Rakesh Pandey, Director of ICT, Indus Trust. "A critical objective was to have reliable, secure and scalable networking infrastructure. Wi-Fi was relatively new to us when the 40-acre, 950-student Bangalore campus was built in 2003, and we deployed "fat” access points. The basic connectivity provided didn’t compensate for their instability, high management overhead, and lack of security. It was clear that what we really needed was an enterprise-class solution, so we set about to find one.”

IIS used five criteria to rank prospective enterprise Wi-Fi vendors: performance, security, manageability, local support capabilities, and total cost of ownership. After a diligent evaluation of available enterprise solutions, IIS selected Aruba’s Wi-Fi networks for the Bangalore site. Identical networks were later added to the Hyderabad and Pune campuses.

Reliable Wi-Fi performance requires that the network dynamically adjust to local operating conditions and sources of interference. Aruba’s application-aware fingerprinting feature detects the type of traffic traversing the network, and works with Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) and spectrum analyzer technologies to dynamically optimize network and client performance in real-time. ARM helps ensure that latency-sensitive voice and multi-media applications commonly used in schools have sufficient network resources, including airtime, to operate reliably at all times.

"If any sensitive information like student records were to be accessed by unauthorized persons it could have very serious ramifications for all parties,” continued Pandey. "We take the security of our network very seriously and yet we have limited IT resources with which to manage it. We’ve been very impressed with how Aruba’s firewall allows us to apply user-based security policies without the need for complicated VLAN configurations. This has given us the confidence to make a growing number of applications and services available over our network.”

Network security is provided by Aruba’s policy-enforcement firewall, which features identity-based security, Quality of Service (QoS) control, and traffic management capabilities. Differentiated access is provided for each class of users based on factors including user identity, device type, location, and time of day. Bandwidth limits can be enforced for student and guest access, ensuring network availability for priority traffic.

"We have not had a single day of downtime attributable to the Aruba Wi-Fi equipment since the day we commissioned the first controller,” continued Pandey. "So when the time came to upgrade to the newly ratified 802.11n standard, Aruba was the uncontested favorite. We’re now upgrading all sites to the dual-radio AP-105 Access Points. We have almost stopped deploying any new wired ports, and are living proof that the ‘All-Wireless Campus’ is a reality that finds favor with students, faculty, and administrators alike."

To learn more about how schools are transforming the learning process while lowering the cost of data, voice, and video distribution using Aruba’s adaptive 802.11n solutions, please visit http://www.arubanetworks.com/solutions/EDU.php.

About Aruba Networks

Aruba is the global leader in distributed enterprise networks. Its award-winning portfolio of campus, branch/teleworker, and mobile solutions simplify operations and secure access to all corporate applications and services – regardless of the user’s device, location, or network. This dramatically improves productivity and lowers capital and operational costs.

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, Facebook, or the Green Island News Blog.

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