SANTA CLARA, Calif. and LONDON, March 11, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced that the University of Birmingham is installing Foundry's(tm) IronPoint(tm) Mobility Series of access points (APs) and controllers in a major replacement and expansion program to provide complete 802.11 wireless coverage by the end of 2008 at its main 250 acre Edgbaston campus, the 80 acre Selly Oak campus and at the affiliated Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. This makes the project one of the largest wireless LAN deployments within a UK university to date.
Birmingham is home to one of the biggest and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom with around 26,000 students, 5,872 staff and an income exceeding GBP 354 million. Ranking fifth in the United Kingdom for research excellence and a member of the Russell Group, an association of 20 major research-intensive universities in the United Kingdom, the University of Birmingham was founded in 1904.
John Turnbull, the University of Birmingham's head of networks in the IT Services department, said, "Our wireless strategy is to ensure staff, students and visitors to the University have the best experience of using our network in the whole of UK academia. Given our policy is not to allow open network access, this means straightforward registration and authentication, enough capacity to ensure it's fast, and extensive coverage."
In a phased approach starting three years ago, the University initially installed Foundry IronPoint access points in select student congregation areas such as main lecture theaters, libraries, coffee areas, some classrooms and certain open air places. To deliver this in a secure and easy-to-manage way, over 200 IronPoint Mobility access points and two Foundry IronPoint Mobility Controllers have been implemented with the University taking full advantage of the virtual cell technology capabilities included. This means that the various access points in one geographical area all use one channel, thereby allowing IT staff to engineer out any frequency issues associated with other competing wireless enabled devices such as alarms and door bells. The project is being delivered by Foundry partner, Pervasive Networks.
Turnbull explained, "Wireless LAN systems are unlicensed and many devices use the 2.4 and 5 GHz spectrums, so there's lots of potential for interference, which could limit our wireless network design. Virtual cell technology means we've selected one channel for APs, another for alarms and so on, with all the Foundry APs sharing the available air space using a time slicing approach. Users therefore connect to just one university AP and don't have to make any roaming decisions as they move about the campus and want connectivity, since the Foundry Mobility Controllers automatically do this for them based on the individual AP with best signal in a specific area."
In terms of its wireless deployment, the University did have concerns about security and viruses when access points were first installed, as potentially they could sit behind a firewall and open up the whole wired network to attack or misuse. This issue has been solved by creating a parallel network utilizing existing campus-wide single mode fiber freed when the University upgraded its core network to 10 gigabit Ethernet. Turnbull said, "Some have said we could have gone down a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) route to get to a similar end result, but this would have been extremely complex for a campus of our size."
The IronPoint Mobility access points connect into Power over Ethernet-enabled FastIron(r) Edge switches, which in turn use this "freed" fiber around the campus to link into a dedicated firewall and then the core of the network. This means that security is maintained at all times with no scope for unauthorized access. Equally, the IronPoint access points act as both transmitting and monitoring devices so rogue access points cannot be installed without being detected.
There are other benefits from this parallel network approach, too. Turnbull explained, "While our first goal with our wireless deployment has been to enhance the user experience, it has also added resilience to the network overall. Should a distribution layer switch in our wired infrastructure go down, we still have the parallel wireless network to provide connectivity."
Currently, the main use of the wired network is for teaching, research and administration where bandwidth and Quality of Service (QoS) are the main requirements. The University has invested heavily to create an online virtual leaning environment using WebCT software from another Foundry customer, Blackboard Inc., so that students can access multimedia lecture information and content. This is becoming integral in terms of lecture delivery, personal study and revision. In conjunction with this, a student portal has been created, which includes individual student e-mail accounts and access to information such as exam dates and results, news and events happening within the University.
Turnbull explained, "We've provided podcasts of key rugby matches historically and our intention is to offer multicast video of key games across the network, plus we're looking at IP-based TV."
Bob Schiff, Foundry's vice president and general manager, Enterprise Business Unit, said, "The University of Birmingham was committed to building a flexible and advanced network for its students and faculty; this project has extended the reach of their high-performance wired network with a world-class wireless LAN. Offering campus-wide access, reliable and flexible service delivery, secure access and unified management, Foundry has provided the University a complete wireless and wired network that will deliver advanced communication services for years to come."
About Foundry Networks
Foundry Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY) is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing, security and Web traffic management solutions, including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4-7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, metro and core routers. Foundry's customers include the world's premier ISPs, metro service providers, and enterprises, including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial and manufacturing companies. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit www.foundrynet.com.
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