Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN) today announced that Texas A&M University is in the process of replacing its legacy Cisco wireless network with a campus-wide Aruba 802.11n mobile network based on the Aruba Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture. Texas A&M has about 50,000 students and 2,700 faculty, each with between two and five mobile devices in regular use, and the upgrade is expected to greatly increase user satisfaction and reduce helpdesk calls.

Founded in 1876, the Texas A&M University main campus in College Station, Texas includes more than 500 buildings spread across 5,200 acres. With approximately 3,000 Aruba 802.11n access points (APs) deployed to date, university IT leaders estimate that the campus now has 60 percent wireless coverage. The planned addition of 3,000 to 4,000 additional APs will bring the university very close to campus-wide coverage. The network deployment is being managed by Aruba partner Layer 3 Communications (www.layer3com.com).

“Three years ago you might have had a 1:1 ratio of students and faculty to mobile devices, and that ‘mobile’ device was probably a laptop that you used, and closed, then moved on,” said Willis Marti, director of networking and information security for Texas A&M. “Now, you have closer to a 3:1 or even 5:1 ratio of devices to users, and they are always on. That requires a high-performance and highly reliable mobile network, and that’s what we have with Aruba.”

The university conducted extensive testing among a variety of vendors, narrowing the field to Cisco and Aruba prior to selecting Aruba. Marti and his team chose the Aruba AP-125 over similar offerings from Cisco, citing performance and stability, as well as ease of deployment and management, as the deciding factors in their selection. The university manages the expansive and growing network with Aruba AirWave, which gives IT visibility into everything that affects service quality – Wi-Fi coverage, access points (APs), controllers and the wired network. It also offers tools to improve operations and manage RF security, including user location and mapping, real-time monitoring, proactive alerts, historical reporting, and efficient troubleshooting.

“Like most universities around the world, Texas A&M is facing the bring-your-own-device, or ‘BYOD’ phenomenon,” said Robert Fenstermacher, director of educational solutions marketing at Aruba. “The campus-wide migration to an 802.11n network will not only enable mobility to play a growing role in teaching and learning, but will also help ensure that student and faculty satisfaction with the service remains high, well into the future.”

To find out more about Texas A&M’s wireless network deployment, view the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crlk0Zz4Rx8&feature=youtu.be

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company’s Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks dramatically improves productivity and lowers capital and operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook.

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