Have you wondered how widespread the need for a digital workplace is? The necessity to be mobile, to collaborate using phones and laptops, and to use productivity applications such as Microsoft Office 365 or Skype for Business is prevalent at college campuses around the world. Friesland College, a vocational training provider based in the north of the Netherlands, is no exception. Fostering a mobile education environment and allowing staff and students to work, study and interact anywhere is what Friesland College needed and what Aruba enabled.
Friesland College operates out of 10 locations, with two main campuses in Leeuwarden and Heerenveen, and serves up to 15,000 students at any given time. The College has 1,100 employees and offers a range of courses, from full-time, four-year qualifications linked to particular trades, to evening and weekend language classes.
“Education is changing,” says Foeke Hoekstra, automation team leader, Friesland College. “Whatever you’re studying for, education has become a lot more mobile, more collaborative, and less tied to a physical location.”
Here’s what Friesland College wanted its campus network to provide:
- Foster a mobile and dynamic educational environment
- Prepare the college for upcoming trends in mobile, social media and the Internet of Things (IoT)
- Empower staff and students to work, study and interact anywhere
- Ensure consistent wired and wireless connectivity across more than 10 locations
- Provide new information and location services to students and staff
“We were looking for a supplier with a proven track and a clear roadmap. This is a strategic network investment, which we plan to build upon over the next 10 years. Innovation is important, but so too is the means to deliver. Aruba was the clear choice,” says Hoekstra.
Friesland College deployed a high-performance network infrastructure that includes Aruba 802.11ac Wave 2 access points (APs), Aruba 7200 Series Mobility Controllers, and Aruba 2930M Switches. Friesland also chose Aruba AirWave to unify and simplify management of the wired and wireless network. “We don’t have a big team. With Aruba, we’d be able to reduce the time needed to administer the network,” says Hoekstra.
Learn More
Read more about how Aruba helped Friesland College build a reliable and secure campus network and prepare for the future in this case study.
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