HP ProCurve Networking - Customer stories

	University of York
	“ProCurve Networking switch technology has proved itself capable of supporting our longterm plans as well as our immediate needs. We are 100 per cent satisfied with our choice.” John Mason, Head of networking University of York

Connectivity is an important issue for universities today. Over the past few years, academic staff and students have come to expect convenient access to computing facilities, with fast connection speeds. Increasingly, networks have been extended to cover student accommodation as well as teaching and research facilities.

For the University of York in the UK, the switch to gigabit Ethernet backbone technology was a major step in tackling the issue of network performance. But not long after this initial adoption, faced with the threat of major performance bottlenecks caused by growing demand, the University decided to completely replace its hub/switch technology. The aim was to achieve an immediate performance gain and to support growth with a scalable, future-proof switch architecture.

“We chose ProCurve switches, which combined excellent performance with low cost of ownership,” commented John Mason, head of networking. “They were also highly expandable.”

The initial network upgrade resulted in the implementation of more than 100 ProCurve switches. Since then, the network has expanded rapidly. Over the past two years, a new medical school with 300 users has been linked in, and no fewer than 3,500 study bedrooms now have network access. Because of the scalability of the network architecture, it has been possible to support growth without any major technology changes. The number of ProCurve switches has increased to more than 450. Many existing switches have been expanded and upgraded to newer models, especially the ProCurve Switch 2650 and the ProCurve Switch 5300xl Series. All switches are supplied through ProCurve Networking partner European Electronique Ltd.

Support for expansion
The original implementation resulted in an immediate performance increase of more than ten times. Users experienced connection speeds of 100 Mbps at the desktop, and these speeds have been maintained in the face of the rapid expansion that has taken place since then. Cost of ownership has stayed low, while the reliability of the ProCurve technology has enabled service levels to remain high throughout.

According to Mason, the availability of additional ProCurve features has facilitated the expansion process. For example, the study bedroom network currently incorporates 3,500 different computers, which must all be protected from one another. In this context, the source port filtering capabilities of the ProCurve switches are extremely useful.

Plans are now in place for a new campus, which could ultimately double the size of the network. With the support of ProCurve switch technology, Mason and his colleagues can look forward with confidence to managing this expansion.

“ProCurve Networking switch technology has proved itself capable of supporting our long-term plans as well as our immediate needs. We are 100 per cent satisfied with our choice,” he concluded.

Why ProCurve Networking?