EXTREME NETWORKS CASE STUDY: UNIVERSITY OF TULSA

Extreme Networks IdentiFiTM Wireless Ensures the Availability and Improves the Performance of Academic Applications Introduction CASE STUDY School Stats: • Networking IT Staff: 4 • Users: 4,600 students; 1,200 faculty/staff • Locations: 75 buildings across 2 campuses Industry: • Higher Education Challenges: • Manual configuration of network systems • Spotty wireless coverage • Support for BYOD Products Utilized:

As a comprehensive, doctoral-degree-granting institution, The University of Tulsa (TU) provides undergraduate, graduate, and professional education of the highest quality in a humanities-based general curriculum that stimulates scientific, social, and artistic inquiry, while stressing competence in oral and written communication. To meet the escalating mobility needs of about 3,400 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate and law school students, TU sought a new network solution that would provide the necessary granular controls and automation necessary to make their BYOD environment secure, flexible and easy to manage.

Institution’s Challenge In an effort to provide the best possible experience for its staff and students and to be prepared to support current trends such as BYOD, online learning and wireless coverage demands, TU was looking to upgrade its existing infrastructure to a new network. TU officials required a cost-effective solution that would be easy to manage, provide wireless coverage across their 95 academic and administrative buildings and residential areas located on two campuses and distributed buildings and support future growth – all of which their existing wired and wireless network was not be

• IdentiFi™ Wireless

able to deliver.

• S-Series modular core switches

The majority of the student body is dependent on reliable access to the campus

• NetSight network management

computer systems to complete assignments; therefore it was critical to provide a

• Mobile IAM

stable, always-available campus network infrastructure. Additionally, campus-wide wireless coverage would be important to take the college into the future and give

• C-Series stackable switches

students and faculty the flexibility and choice of accessing academic content and

• D-Series desktop switches

applications through their laptops, tablets and smart phones.

Results: • Complete and secure BYOD solution • Intuitive and easy to manage network • Comprehensive wireless coverage “Wireless is no longer a convenience, it’s expected. Students expect to have service when they come onto a campus.” – Tricia Moreland, CTO at University of Tulsa

“You always see students walking across campus with their cell phones and iPads as they are heading to class,” said Tricia Moreland, CTO at The University of Tulsa. “BYOD is a major issue. Previously, we had lots of complaints about coverage because our wireless was unable to handle the increasing demands.” With each student bringing multiple devices to campus, it became clear that a new solution was needed to meet this growing need.

Extreme Networks Solution The university IT staff set out on a process of evaluating multiple vendors to provide them with a network to meet current and future demands of TU students and staff. After initially evaluating Enterasys Network prior to its acquisition,

University of Tulsa – Case Study

1

Extreme Networks was chosen for its ability to provide everything the university wanted – ease of management, BYOD visibility and control, and high reliability – all in one package and at a value that no other vendor could match.

“We evaluated several products, including those from Cisco, Brocade and Aruba,” said Moreland. “When we did the comparison on several different criteria, Extreme Networks won. Extreme stood out with a simple-to-use management interface and superior customer support, and provided a solution where we were able to get more for our money than any other competing vendor. The total cost of ownership was much lower for Extreme with the limited lifetime warranty and overall value and feature set of the products.” The process of replacing the Cisco infrastructure is taking place over a 12- to 18-month period. The core network is being replaced with S-Series modular switches. The university is also deploying C-Series stackable switches at the edge. More than 775 Extreme Networks’ IdentiFi access points (AP’s) are currently installed, with a total of 2,400 AP’s planned for deployment, providing ubiquitous wireless coverage for 95 academic and administrative buildings and residential areas located on two campuses and distributed buildings. The entire network will be managed through the NetSight management suite, including Mobile IAM for BYOD visibility and control over users and devices. A majority of the access points will be deployed in the residence halls, which are expected to have full wireless coverage when students return for the fall 2014 semester. Moreland also expects the network to handle the uptick in video steaming on the network, such as NetFlix®, and the university is in the midst of deploying a VoIP system throughout campus.

“We needed a network that would scale to meet our requirements today and well into the future. With IdentiFi, I feel like we have a Wi-Fi solution that will meet our growing need to support the thousands of devices and applications coming onto our network,” said Moreland.

Results With Extreme Networks, the university has been able to provide comprehensive wireless coverage across multiple locations with an easy-to-use network that offers complete visibility and control: 1. Reliable wireless network at a great value. From ensuring that students have reliable access whether using the campus computers or their own devices, to enabling faculty to use wireless devices to hold more interesting and engaging lectures, the Extreme Networks infrastructure has allowed TU to meet its expanding networking needs. 2. Ease of management. According to the CTO, the top benefit is ease of use. “That’s what really sold us with the IdentiFi Wi-Fi network. NetSight is a great tool. We didn’t have a management package prior to going with Extreme. We used CLI and a lot of manual tools to manage the network previously, which was very cumbersome,” Moreland said. Next the university is looking to take advantage of Extreme Networks’ policy-based controls, pushing it out to the port level, “to allow even better control and management of the network.” 3. Support for BYOD. With students on campus having 3-5 wireless devices connected to the network, the need for a robust BYOD solution was key. The NetSight console offered an integrated management suite which provided complete visibility – from a single pane of glass – of the campus-wide wired and wireless network, while Mobile IAM provided the limited networking staff of four a way to manage the proliferation of devices coming onto the network. 4. Future-proofed network. With the Extreme Networks rollout well under way, Moreland is also keeping her eye on the next wave of technology. “We are waiting for the second wave of the standard before going with 802.11ac. We are looking at this technology for high density areas, such as the student union, where there are numerous functions and meetings,” she said.

Other departments also expect to see added benefits from the

Thanks to Extreme Networks, students and faculty now have the

new network. The Physical Plant, for example, uses the network

access they need to resources on campus. As happy as Moreland

to monitor HVAC and electrical usage throughout the university.

has been with the network solution, it was the customer support from the Extreme Networks Global technical Assistance Center

“Wireless is no longer a convenience, it’s expected. Students expect to have service when they come onto campus. Students are bringing more and more devices to college, and we need to support that from an IT perspective.”

(GTAC) that really stood out.

According to Moreland, “GTAC is really great. We don’t have to go through a lot of people to get an answer. We actually get to talk to someone who knows the answer. And if that person doesn’t know the answer, they instantly connect us with someone who does.”

http://www.extremenetworks.com/contact

Phone +1-408-579-2800

©2014 Extreme Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Extreme Networks and the Extreme Networks logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Extreme Networks, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are the property of their respective owners. For additional information on Extreme Networks Trademarks please see http://www.extremenetworks.com/company/legal/trademarks/. Specifications and product availability are subject to change without notice. 8277-0514

WWW.EXTREMENETWORKS.COM

University of Tulsa – Case Study

2