HP ProCurve Networking - Customer stories

	Cisco IP Telephony with ProCurve Networking provides an easy to manage, interoperable and robust solution
	“We see our ProCurve network and Cisco VoIP solution as a way to expand what we offer to our students and to make the faculty and staff more effective in their work" Kara N. Monroe, Ph.D. Executive Director of Finance, Facilities and Information Technology Ivy Tech Community College - Richmond

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, a statewide, open-access community college, has grown into the second-largest post-secondary institution in Indiana, serving more than 102,000 students each year. With 23 campuses and low tuition, Ivy Tech prides itself on being both convenient and affordable. Students of all ages and backgrounds take advantage of Ivy Tech's 40+ programs of study to gain the professional, technical, transfer and lifelong education they need for successful careers, personal development and citizenship. The college's name derives from its original identity as Indiana Vocational Technical (IV Tech) College.

Summary
The Richmond, Indiana, campus of Ivy Tech Community College serves 2000 students with programs in five academic areas: general education, health, public service, business and technology. Known as a "technology friendly" campus, it implemented a ProCurve Networking wired and wireless network, along with a voice-over-Internet (VoIP) solution based on Cisco IP Phones, to provide state-of-the-art communications capabilities. The result is an information technology (IT) and communications infrastructure that enables faculty, staff and students to get the most from Ivy Tech's educational experience.

Ease of Management
"Ease of management and feature-rich functionality were our top criteria for both the network infrastructure and VoIP solution," says Kara N. Monroe, Ph.D., Executive Director of Finance, Facilities and Information Technology at Ivy Tech Community College - Richmond. "We needed a network that would allow us to deploy different technologies and to manage and route traffic efficiently, plus an IP phone system with superior functionality."

Ivy Tech worked closely with Matrix Integration, a systems integrator with headquarters in Jasper, Indiana, to select and deploy the ProCurve network infrastructure and Cisco IP Phones for a new building project on Ivy Tech's Richmond campus. "The staff from Matrix were outstanding to work with, and they worked with ProCurve and Cisco to get exactly the solution we needed," says Monroe.

"ProCurve excels in manageability and interoperability, and their networking equipment is extremely robust," she continues. "As for the Cisco IP Phones, they offered the features and ease of management we desired, and they interoperate beautifully with the ProCurve network."

With the new solution's vastly streamlined network management, Ivy Tech's IT staff can work with users from their desktops instead of having to physically travel to solve problems. As a result, the IT staff spends far less time managing and troubleshooting the network and has more time available to help faculty, staff and students upgrade their skills and find technology solutions to help them do things better than before.

Reliability and Value
"We needed a robust and strong network that could grow with us, but without a lot of recurring expenses," says Monroe. "ProCurve's exceptional warranty was important to us because it signals that their products must be extremely reliable - why else would they offer such a great warranty? - and also means we won't have to pay extra for service contracts, like with other networking vendors' solutions."

With its previous network, Ivy Tech's IT staff would frequently get calls from users that they "can't connect" because a port would die. "We don't get that now, because the ProCurve equipment is so robust," says Monroe.

In addition, the reliability and ease of management of the ProCurve equipment adds tremendous value to the overall solution - something greatly appreciated by a budget-conscious community college such as Ivy Tech.

VoIP Solution Unleashes New Capabilities
"Our previous phone system was antiquated and unable to handle our needs," says Monroe. "We were losing calls because the voice mailboxes were filling up and there was no way to allocate box space. Now, faculty and staff members can be sure that callers will be able to leave messages, no matter how many pile up - and they can participate in conference calls at their desks, which is a first for us."

In addition, the IT staff uses the VoIP capabilities to teleconference multiple tech support people to address support questions more rapidly.

"People love the phones," says Monroe. "They allow us all to stay better connected, better organized and more efficient."

One unexpected result of the new VoIP solution: "People are asking more questions, saying 't to do that,'" says Monroe. "In this way, the new technology is actually moving the organization forward and enabling people to become more capable."

Wireless Security
Ivy Tech's new building offers wireless connectivity, in addition to the wired networking throughout the rest of the campus. "The first day we moved into the new building, students were on the wireless network surfing the Internet," says Monroe. "This is exactly why we set up the network."

To ensure security of information on the network, Ivy Tech established separate virtual LANs (VLANs) for faculty, administration and students. Every user has an individual ID and password, and logins cannot cross the VLANs. To prevent an unauthorized person from using an unattended computer still connected to the network, all machines lock after fifteen minutes of inactivity.

"The ProCurve system also lets us welcome guest users to the network," says Monroe. Guests are assigned temporary user IDs and passwords and are provided with limited access to Ivy Tech's computing resources.

These advanced wireless security features and controlled guest access are delivered as a modular capability that is integrated into the ProCurve switch itself, improving manageability and ease of scalability.

Removing Obstacles
"The ProCurve network has removed a lot of obstacles for our users," says Monroe. Before, users had to rely almost exclusively on IT staff to do things like download applications. "We had to do it for them, because we couldn't let users be administrators of their own machines. By empowering users to do some of these tasks themselves, the ProCurve solution has taken away a great deal of the IT staff's down time."

For instance, a classroom might have 30 machines that must be set up to look a certain way for one class, then two hours later need to look entirely different for another class. "Before, an IT person would go in and load the software manually," says Monroe. "Now, that IT person can deploy the software remotely over the network, without leaving his or her desk. Being able to push technology to the classrooms has simplified our lives and given more freedom to instructors to customize the network for their individual classes."

Another important benefit of the new system is the ability for instructors and staff to access all their data from anywhere on campus. "My entire user profile comes with me wherever I go," says Monroe. As a result, faculty and staff spend less time remembering what's located where and finding the information they need. Instead, the ProCurve solution puts the right information in their hands whenever and wherever it's needed, securely and easily.

Looking Ahead
"Our ProCurve solution will be easy to expand in the future, which is important for our growing organization," says Monroe. "In choosing ProCurve, we were confident they will be around for a good long while, and their open standards approach means we won't be tied to any proprietary protocols."

Ivy Tech already has plans to take advantage of the ProCurve network's scalability and future-proofing capabilities to do things like offer students additional network services, such as roaming profiles and electronic "storage lockers" for their individual class work. Ivy Tech also plans to expand its wireless capabilities outdoors and to extend the VoIP services to another campus in a town located about 45 minutes from Richmond.

"We see our ProCurve network and Cisco VoIP solution as a way to expand what we offer to our students and to make the faculty and staff more effective in their work," says Monroe. "In the end, our ability to deliver a superior educational environment based on these technology tools will greatly enhance Ivy Tech's reputation and prestige, as well as the ultimate benefits Ivy Tech gives to our students."

Business Benefits

• The robust, easy-to-manage ProCurve network leaves Ivy Tech's IT staff with more time to help faculty, staff and students better harness information technology in service of their goals.
• The ProCurve-based IP telephony solution has turned Ivy Tech's telephony from a source of frustration to a source of greater communication, cooperation and effectiveness among all the users on campus.
• ProCurve's switch-based integrated approach to deploying wireless security and guest access enabled Ivy Tech to improve the manageability of its network - while making future scalability easier - which reduces expenses both now and later.
• By providing a network that makes it easy for people to get the information they need, when and where they need it, ProCurve contributes to a richer learning environment at Ivy Tech.