Broadcom Case Studies Shelton State Gains High Performance and Availability with Brocade Network

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	Shelton State Gains High Performance and Availability with Brocade Network Broadcom

Shelton State Gains High Performance and Availability with Brocade Network

Broadcom

Technology Category	Networks & Connectivity - Gateways Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software
Applicable Industries	Education
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Use Cases	Campus Area Network Remote Collaboration
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Shelton State Community College, part of the Alabama Community College System, was facing a challenge of providing a high-performance, high availability network that supports teaching and learning, rapid growth, and demanding applications. The college needed full line-rate performance from the network edge to the core to meet day-to-day computing requirements for labs and classrooms, which can vary greatly. It also needed high availability, because education cannot stop if a network system goes down. The new network had to support the college’s aggressive virtualization plans, as well as a new Voice over IP (VoIP) deployment. Ease of management was important, and of course, price was a factor. Read More
About Customer	Shelton State Community College is part of the Alabama Community College System. The college originally combined Shelton State Technical College with the Tuscaloosa branch campus of Brewer State Junior College and later consolidated with the C.A. Fredd State Technical College to become today’s Shelton State Community College. Shelton State also is recognized for its contribution to music, dance, and theatre, earning its designation as Alabama’s Junior College of the Fine Arts. More than 5,600 students launch their postsecondary educations at Shelton State across two campuses and numerous distance-learning sites. The college plans to double enrollment to 12,000 students by 2020 and deliver a university-caliber education as it prepares students for the future. Read More
Solution	In 2010, the college initiated a major network upgrade, which involved comparing potential solutions from Brocade and Cisco. After a direct comparison of solution specifications and performance, the college chose the Brocade solution for its significantly better performance, reporting features, and pricing. The college's infrastructure is built on two redundant data centers across the Martin Campus with links to a third data center on the Fredd campus. Four off-site distance-learning locations connect to the Martin campus data centers through VPN links. The college has implemented Brocade campus, data center, and Storage Area network (SAN) switches across its infrastructure. Campus aggregation and edge switches are being migrated to Brocade ICX® switches with Power over Ethernet (PoE) or PoE+ capabilities for aggregation and edge switching to support wireless and video camera equipment. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Networks & Connectivity - Gateways

Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Campus Area Network

Remote Collaboration

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Shelton State Community College, part of the Alabama Community College System, was facing a challenge of providing a high-performance, high availability network that supports teaching and learning, rapid growth, and demanding applications. The college needed full line-rate performance from the network edge to the core to meet day-to-day computing requirements for labs and classrooms, which can vary greatly. It also needed high availability, because education cannot stop if a network system goes down. The new network had to support the college’s aggressive virtualization plans, as well as a new Voice over IP (VoIP) deployment. Ease of management was important, and of course, price was a factor.

About Customer

Shelton State Community College is part of the Alabama Community College System. The college originally combined Shelton State Technical College with the Tuscaloosa branch campus of Brewer State Junior College and later consolidated with the C.A. Fredd State Technical College to become today’s Shelton State Community College. Shelton State also is recognized for its contribution to music, dance, and theatre, earning its designation as Alabama’s Junior College of the Fine Arts. More than 5,600 students launch their postsecondary educations at Shelton State across two campuses and numerous distance-learning sites. The college plans to double enrollment to 12,000 students by 2020 and deliver a university-caliber education as it prepares students for the future.

Solution

In 2010, the college initiated a major network upgrade, which involved comparing potential solutions from Brocade and Cisco. After a direct comparison of solution specifications and performance, the college chose the Brocade solution for its significantly better performance, reporting features, and pricing. The college's infrastructure is built on two redundant data centers across the Martin Campus with links to a third data center on the Fredd campus. Four off-site distance-learning locations connect to the Martin campus data centers through VPN links. The college has implemented Brocade campus, data center, and Storage Area network (SAN) switches across its infrastructure. Campus aggregation and edge switches are being migrated to Brocade ICX® switches with Power over Ethernet (PoE) or PoE+ capabilities for aggregation and edge switching to support wireless and video camera equipment.

Impact #1	Deployed a highly resilient, high-performance campus network for nonstop learning and teaching
Impact #2	Expanded port densities to support growth cost-effectively
Impact #3	Gained instant visibility into network performance at all levels for ensuring a quality student experience

Impact #1

Deployed a highly resilient, high-performance campus network for nonstop learning and teaching

Impact #2

Expanded port densities to support growth cost-effectively

Impact #3

Gained instant visibility into network performance at all levels for ensuring a quality student experience

Benefit #1	The college plans to double enrollment to 12,000 students by 2020
Benefit #2	The college is deploying Brocade ICX 6650 Switches in its data center to upgrade traffic routing

Benefit #1

The college plans to double enrollment to 12,000 students by 2020

Benefit #2

The college is deploying Brocade ICX 6650 Switches in its data center to upgrade traffic routing

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Overview

Shelton State Gains High Performance and Availability with Brocade Network

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit