Ursinus College Selects Siemens Enterprise Communications for Secure Wired and Wireless Access

Enterasys LAN Switches and Siemens HiPath(R) Wireless Work Together to Provide Secure Voice, Video and Data Anywhere, Anytime


ANDOVER, MA--(Marketwire - February 10, 2009) - Enterasys and Siemens Enterprise Communications today announced that Ursinus College is leveraging secure convergence and connectivity solutions for its campus-wide wired and wireless network to support voice, video and data collaboration applications. Enterasys/Siemens solutions prioritize and secure more than 2,000 students, faculty and staff with mobile access across 58 buildings on the 170 acre campus, including classrooms, residence halls and educational centers. A network operations staff of only two employees manages the entire wired and wireless communications infrastructure using integrated management software from Enterasys and Siemens.

Ursinus College is a four-year liberal arts institution located near Philadelphia in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. The College's innovative academic programs have been recognized by The Princeton Review, USA Today and Newsweek, including an initiative in which all students receive a laptop for educational use. Ursinus was also featured in Colleges that Change Lives authored by Loren Pope, former education editor of the New York Times. The laptop program has resulted in a jump to more than 500 new devices requiring network access, services and support.

"Technology is a means for us to better connect our instructors with our students to stimulate thought and discussion in the classroom. Since 2000, we have been providing laptops for all incoming freshmen, and at least one hardware upgrade prior to graduation," explained Dr. John King, CIO of Ursinus College. "Our previous network was simply too expensive and time consuming to operate and maintain. Enterasys and Siemens delivered on their promise to provide a system that was cost-effective and easy to use. Their design assistance helped us deploy 802.11n WLAN for smarter bandwidth over greater distances using our existing power-over-Ethernet (PoE) connections and integrating our 802.11a/b/g access points. We now reliably connect students, faculty and administration anywhere on campus, while preventing security intrusions, and prioritizing and streamlining traffic."

The campus network must also support critical applications such as the Blackbaud student information system, financials and development systems; Blackboard Transaction System and Learning System; Blackbaud NetCommunity web collaboration; and SirsiDynix Symphony Library system. The network will serve as the framework for The College's future voice/video/data collaboration tools that enable students and faculty to support independent studies and global learning beyond the classroom.

"Our Enterasys and Siemens network has helped us achieve our goal of improving instructional impact through better technology," King said. "It also serves as a platform for our streaming video services and upcoming initiatives involving IP telephony and unified communications."

The network is comprised of Enterasys Matrix® N-Series switches in the core, SecureStack™ B-Series switches at the network edge, a Siemens communications platform for telephony, and HiPath Wireless C2400E controllers with wireless access points supporting 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity for secure, high-bandwidth mobility. The NetSight management software delivers visibility across both Enterasys and Siemens solutions, so King and his team can easily monitor and manage the total communications infrastructure while retaining granular, identity-based control through student/teacher/staff role-based policies. King also plans to add Guest Access features in the coming year.

"Support from Enterasys and Siemens has been reliable, proactive and very responsive," King said. "We have never experienced any major issues, but we are confident in knowing that if problems ever did arise, the Enterasys/Siemens team will do whatever it takes to quickly resolve any situation. To our users, the network is transparent -- it just works -- anytime, anywhere."

About Enterasys Networks

Enterasys is part of Siemens Enterprise Communications, a joint venture between the private equity firm The Gores Group and Siemens AG. Enterasys delivers Secure Networks™ that ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of IT services and the business users that rely on them -- without sacrificing performance. Thousands of enterprises, government agencies and educational institutions in more than 70 countries worldwide rely on our convergence, compliance and connectivity solutions to deliver business-oriented, identity-based visibility and control of individual user and application priority and security. The company's culture is centered on the principle, "There is nothing more important than our customers." Enterasys' standards-based, open-architecture approach to network security offers a long technology lifecycle and significant operational and business benefits, while reducing total cost of ownership. Information about Enterasys' award winning, policy-enabled switches, routers, wireless products, security software and services is available at www.enterasys.com.

About Siemens Enterprise Communications

Siemens Enterprise Communications is a joint venture between the private equity firm The Gores Group and Siemens AG. The joint venture incorporates Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG, its worldwide affiliates and the businesses of Enterasys Networks and SER Solutions, creating a new leader in enterprise communications -- strong in unified communications, contact centers and secure networks. More than 14,000 employees worldwide follow an Open Communications approach, providing enterprise communications and data networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes. This enables business processes to be more productive, faster and more secure within any network or information technology infrastructure. In fiscal 2007, Siemens Enterprise Communications generated revenues of approximately 3.2 billion Euros. For more information about Siemens Enterprise Communications, please visit www.siemens.com/open.

Contact Information: Contact: Trent Waterhouse Enterasys Networks +1 978 684 1506 trent@enterasys.com Drew Miale BridgeView Marketing +1 207 423 5033 drew@bridgeviewmarketing.com