University of the South Outfits Sewanee Inn with Aruba Networks 802.11ac Indoor and Outdoor WLAN

State-of-the-Art Facility Accommodates Mobility Needs of 10,000 Expected Annual Guests and Event Attendees

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN) today announced that the University of the South, located in Sewanee, Tennessee, and named one of America’s most beautiful college campuses by Travel and Leisure Magazine, has deployed Aruba’s 802.11ac solution in its new, state-of-the-art Sewanee Inn and Conference Center. Already booked with events through September and anticipating approximately 10,000 guests and event attendees annually, Sewanee chose Aruba to ensure consistent, reliable coverage and capacity throughout guest rooms, inside the event, restaurant and lounge spaces and across the Inn’s outdoor areas.

Having already conducted an upgrade in 2012-2013 of the network infrastructure that serves its sprawling 13,000-acre campus, the University of the South was familiar with the challenges of accommodating combined indoor and outdoor venues, enabling Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) and ensuring high performance and bandwidth for applications such as multimedia. When it came to designing a network for its new Sewanee Inn, the University once again turned to Aruba for its networking requirements.

“Supporting our guests’ connectivity needs in and around the Inn, as well as delivering a reliable, high-quality experience for event attendees who typically use video and other multimedia applications over the network, were key priorities for us,” said Geno Schlichting, Wireless Network Engineer, University of the South. “Our success with the Aruba network on campus certainly factored into our decision; more importantly, Aruba offered a full portfolio of 802.11ac access points (APs) for both indoor and outdoor use, to match our vision of giving guests and conference-goers an advanced facility equipped with the latest technology.”

Schlichting noted that the Aruba 802.11ac solution is ideal for handling the high density requirements of the Inn’s meeting rooms during events, as well as supporting the expected mix of mobile devices guests and event participants will bring into the venue. With more than 500 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ ac devices on the market today, 802.11ac was an obvious choice for “future-proofing”, but Schlichting noted that Aruba’s patented ClientMatch^TM technology delivered the additional benefit of boosting the performance of 802.11n and older devices that may be used on the network, as well as ensuring that devices are always connected to the best possible AP. Said Schlichting, “We’ve already seen the power of ClientMatch in our university network to increase performance and improve client capacity and association, resulting in the need for fewer APs and therefore, reduced costs. We expect to see these same benefits with our Sewanee Inn deployment.

The Sewanee Inn implementation includes Aruba AP-225s inside the hotel and meeting areas and the recently announced Aruba AP-275s in its outdoor eating area and outside of the conference center. Given the University of the South’s reputation as one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, Schlichting said the aesthetics of the Aruba outdoor APs were an added benefit; the Aruba 270 Series APs blend into the environment in a compact, element-resistant enclosure with no exposed wiring or antennas.

The Inn is also using Aruba mobility controllers and the AirWave Network Management System. AirWave is being used in both the deployment phase, providing visual RF planning capabilities for optimal AP placement and design, and once the network is up and running, for management, maintenance and troubleshooting.

“802.11ac is clearly becoming the standard of choice for customers looking to upgrade their aging networks or outfit new buildings and campuses,” said Jeff Dolce, Area Vice President for Aruba Networks. “Innovative deployments like the Sewanee Inn are paving the way for further 802.11ac adoption across a wide variety of verticals including education, healthcare, hospitality, retail and finance.”

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company designs and delivers Mobility-Defined Networks that empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a new generation of tech-savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for every aspect of work and personal communication. To create a mobility experience that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™ automate infrastructure-wide performance optimization and trigger security actions that used to require manual IT intervention. The results are dramatically improved productivity and lower 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, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.

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