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	HP ProCurve Networking: HP ProCurve Networking offers dynamic network security to safeguard Luleå Municipality
	“Thanks to HP ProCurve Networking and it’s partner Atea we now have a fully secure and easy to manage solution, based on ProCurve NAC 800 technology. After months of intensive testing we have a network that gives us exactly what we need, and more.” Per-Erik Halvardsson, IT systems consultant, Luleå Municipality

The town of Luleå is the capital of the Swedish Lapland and it is situated on a peninsula where Lule Bay meets the Gulf of Bothnia, in the county of Norrbotten. Luleå Kommun is the municipality in which the town of Luleå and over 72,000 inhabitants reside. Of these approximately 13,000 are students in secondary education.

Objective
Realising that very few sixth-form students in Luleå were choosing to take the natural sciences programme, Luleå Kommun carried out an analysis of its overall IT infrastructure, which highlighted the need to modernise the entire natural sciences programme and start to make better use of technology. One of the measures required was to introduce technology-based working methods for students as well as teachers. The result was the Natural Science Program IT modernisation project (iNVIT).

To make it possible to implement iNVIT, every student that enrolled in the natural sciences programme had to be equipped with their own laptop computer, to be used as a teaching tool which they would also be permitted to use in their homes. Every student would have full administrator rights on their computer and therefore be permitted to install their own software or even reinstall the entire operating system if necessary.

Allowing students full administrator rights on their laptops, which must also comply with security requirements and to be able to connect to the municipality’s intranet, was the biggest challenge. The technology department at Luleå Kommun had a clear idea of what was needed, but did not know how to make it a reality. The system which had to keep the computers in the iNVIT project secure, not only had to be able to verify the user’s identity when the computer was connected to the intranet, it also had to verify that the computer met all security requirements in the form of updated anti-virus software and the correct patch levels for the operating system. In addition, the system would also determine which areas of the network the logged-on user could access, since the intranet is divided into several different Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs).

Approach
With over 400 HP ProCurve switches (1800, 2500, 2600, 2800, 2900, 3400, 3500 and 5400 series) already in place across 280 locations in Luleå Kommun’s urban network, basing the iNVIT project on ProCurve technology was the obvious thing to do. ProCurve Networking Elite partner, Atea was contacted and soon after ProCurve became directly involved in the project.

“The fact that HP is also one of the driving members of the Trusted Network Connect (TNC’s) working group was also a major reason behind the decision. Thanks to TNC it is possible to use ProCurve technology together with the existing infrastructure, to create a wireless connection with a third party ISP without needing to lower our security requirements,” adds Halvardsson.

Luleå Kommun then agreed to be one of four beta testers for the ProCurve Network Access Controller (NAC) 800. This innovative technology validates the integrity of all devices connecting to the network, securing it from unauthorised users and systems that pose a threat to network resources. NAC handles integrity checks on client PCs, Radius and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) proxy, as well as instructing switches and access points how they should behave in the form of Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) distribution, Quality of Service (QoS), etc. based on current policies.

Luleå Kommun also employs ProCurve Manager Plus (PCM+) software allowing network administrators to configure, update, monitor and troubleshoot the switches centrally and remotely. ProCurve NAC 800 and PCM+ work in conjunction to provide unified device and security management with the NAC’s Web-based administration console integrated into the PCM+ management display for comprehensive management.

Also integrated into the solution is ProCurve Identity Driven Manager (IDM) software, which dynamically applies security, access and performance settings to network infrastructure devices based on user, location and time. Therefore access rights are only granted to users who are approved when and where they attempt to connect to the network. This technology allows students full administrator rights on their own computers provided they comply with the security requirements before they are permitted to connect to the intranet.

Together PCM+ and IDM handle policies for VLAN distribution, QoS, bandwidth and Access Control Lists (ACLs) as well as importing and synchronising users and groups.

IT Improvements
With the help of ProCurve Networking partner Atea, Luleå Kommun now has a cutting-edge solution in operation based on the ProCurve IDM, NAC 800 and PCM+. ProCurve open-standards technology integrates seamlessly with Luleå Kommun’s existing infrastructure. Consequently, the solution makes it possible for students to have full administrator rights on their “own” laptops and permits them to connect to the intranet, provided they comply with the security requirements. Thanks to the ProCurve software, the iNVIT program allows the students to a secure unified network providing intelligence at the edge of the network without the need for cumbersome and labour intensive administration on behalf of the municipality IT-staff.

Business benefits
The iNVIT project is now fully operational enabling approximately 250 users (220 students and 30 teachers) to use technology-based working methods as part of their course, in school as well as their homes.