Australian school Case Study

The solution

Based on the extensive nature of its issues, the school enlisted Affinity Blue’s help to design and implement a full refresh to both its wired and wireless networks. Security would prove a key requirement in any solution, as would the user-friendliness of the network for students, guests, and network admins alike.

To refresh the school’s network, Affinity Blue’s team used its well-tested methodology for education providers which included:

• In-depth requirements gathering from both technical staff and educators;
• Aligning business needs with Australian standards for the education industry; and
• Optimising performance with both pre- and post-installation network surveys.

Affinity Blue eventually designed both wired and wireless networks based on HPE Aruba Networking’s infrastructure, including HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager to securely and automatically manage overall network access depending on each user’s role. With the upgrade, visitors would also be able to fully manage the Wi-Fi sign-on process, streamlining their experience and reducing IT’s workload without endangering security or compliance. This means users are only given enough access to do what they need done as a student, teacher or guest, and it’s easy for IT to maintain – a big plus for schools.

Affinity Blue’s network design factored in security at every stage, with microsegmentation from HPE Aruba Networking also playing a major role in insuring the school against current and future cyber risks. After a successful proof of concept, Affinity Blue used the school holidays to upgrade the existing wired switches to ones from HPE Aruba Networking; and during the next set of holidays, the team refreshed the school’s wireless network with an on-premise instance of HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass and wireless routers.

After installation, Affinity Blue’s post-commissioning wireless surveys identified ways to further optimise its placement of access points, ensuring maximal performance with no dead zones campus-wide. “As good as predictive network mapping is, there are some nuances you won’t catch unless you test onsite,” explained Chris Heywood, Senior Network Engineer at Affinity Blue. “Post-commissioning surveys are a default part of every network we build, because they allow us to quickly optimise the infrastructure and ensure our customers get exactly the quality and coverage they expect – if not better.”