Case Study: University Gets Unified With Enterasys

Langston University, a land grant historically Black institution of higher learning founded in 1897, serves about 2,750 students at three campus locations in Langston, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla.

The goal of Langston as a higher learning institution is to provide a world-class education to African-Americans in the arts, sciences, humanities, business, agriculture, education, nursing and health professions. Langston University offers post-secondary education leading to associate, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degree programs. As a University with an urban mission in a rural setting, Langston faces the unique challenge of educating individuals who will serve their communities in urban centers as well as rural communities. To fulfill the mission, Langston University actively recruits racially diverse faculty and students who support and complement the purpose and functions of the University. Langston University is often recognized for its ability to provide long-term solutions to problems facing underserved populations in Oklahoma, the nation and the world.

The Problem:

Quite simply, Langston University had outgrown its existing, outmoded network infrastructure. Thanks to a concerted recruitment effort and the addition of such educational programs as Oklahoma’s first-ever Entrepreneurial Studies curriculum in 2007, Langston’s student population grew dramatically over a two-year period, resulting in the addition of two new campus locations in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The school also expanded its distance learning program, allowing adult students to take courses online using a dedicated VPN.

Because of this rapid expansion, the University’s IT staff faced the challenge of rolling out unified IT connectivity services that enhance the cutting-edge curriculum, while enabling students and staff members to securely connect to University services — without exceeding IT budget and personnel constraints.

The infrastructure upgrade project had to meet the following requirements:

The Solution:

After evaluating a number of network vendors, including Cisco Systems, Langston University selected Enterasys Secure Networks.

“We selected Enterasys solutions because they were compatible with our existing IT infrastructure, at a price point that other leading vendors couldn’t come close to matching,” said Pritchard Moncriffe, CIO at Langston University. “At a smaller university, budget and return on investment criteria are always a primary consideration when partnering with a solution provider. Enterasys was the only company that delivered an affordable, robust and reliable solution that we could understand and would last a long time without putting a strain on our existing resources.”

With the new infrastructure, university staff network access is kept separate from student access by design, using Enterasys N-Series Switches. Enterasys N-Series flow-based switches offer Moncriffe and his staff granular visibility and control of individual users, and all voice/video/data applications supported by the network. Capable of being deployed as a premium edge access device, distribution layer aggregation switch, enterprise-class core router or data center server farm solution, the N-Series is the flagship hardware platform for the Enterasys policy-based architecture. Policies ensure only the right users have access to the right information from the right place at the right time — adapting automatically every time there is a move, add or change — which was a significant point for Moncriffe’s staff, who must prepare for an influx of new students each term.

Mobile users log in securely via the RoamAbout Wireless solution, which provides mobile computing indoors or outdoors without compromising the confidentiality, integrity or availability of Langston’s data network. The Enterasys RoamAbout 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi solutions include thin-mode and thick-mode access points, WLAN switch controllers, and comprehensive network management applications for unified visibility and control of the wired and wireless infrastructure.

Moncriffe and his small staff of eight network operations personnel manage their new network with the simple-to-use Enterasys NetSight Network Management Suite. The NetSight suite of management applications delivers visibility and granular control of Langston’s networked environment. Moncriffe and his staff can see beyond ports and VLANs to individual users, applications and protocols. NetSight allows Moncriffe and his staff to avoid manual, box-by-box configuration tasks — reducing man hours previously dedicated to this chore. No matter how many moves, adds or changes occur in the environment, NetSight keeps everything in view and under control through role-based policies. NetSight even can manage beyond Enterasys switching, routing and wireless hardware to deliver standards-based control of other vendors’ network equipment- another important requirement of Moncriffe’s upgrade project.

Results:

After the installation, the system quickly improved the network’s uptime, while reducing the number of security events across all three locations.

“Our end users now enjoy lightning-fast Internet access at all locations,” Moncriffe reported. But Moncriffe noticed additional benefits that were not anticipated. The state-of-the-art network has proved to be a valuable recruitment tool for tech-savvy prospective students and teachers, and other colleges and universities in the area are now viewing Langston as a highly viable option for academic partnerships. But the biggest improvement, according to Moncriffe, is the reduction of hours spent fielding trouble calls from frustrated network users. Prior to implementing Enterasys solutions, Moncriffe points out that morale was low among the IT staff, which spent long hours responding to user complaints and network security issues.

“Most days, my staff is able to leave for home on time. That was unheard of before Enterasys. We are also able to focus on implementing long-term processes and standards for the network — something that we didn’t have time to do before,” Moncriffe said.

As a busy CIO, Moncriffe also points out the importance of providing high-quality training, service and support on the new communications architecture.

“The quality of training has been outstanding — Enterasys worked side-by-side with our team to transfer knowledge and demonstrate thought leadership without arrogance to ensure we could operate and maintain the system ourselves,” he said. “Other vendors we spoke with had a different philosophy of keeping that knowledge captive. I receive consistent contact and encouragement from the Enterasys support team, ensuring that the network is exceeding our expectations. The Enterasys solution does exactly what it promises, and their people have been very transparent and supportive when addressing our requirements.”