Egypt-based multidisciplinary educational hub The Knowledge Hub Universities has selected Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, to deploy wired and wireless networking technology across its campus.
The solution enables utilisation of the latest digital learning tools and connected campus security systems. It offers a convenient ‘Guest Portal’ for rapid, secure and controlled internet access and delights users with seamless roaming across the campus. Network performance issues or negative feedback from staff and students have been eliminated and the system enables seamless centralised management of networks across the entire campus.
TKH was established with the purpose of offering quality learning experiences, through the development of sustainable educational institutions with state-of-the-art facilities to maximise community impact. The institution aims to be a hub for world-class education in Egypt through the use of cutting-edge digital learning tools, delivered in a convenient, secure and reliable manner.
“Our flagship initiative has been setting up a multidisciplinary educational hub that host branches of leading international universities, delivering the same academic programmes offered at their mother campus and thus leading to the same, exact qualification and degrees. Providing students with the same quality of experience is pivotal to this, and technology is a fundamental enabler of these world-class experiences,” said Hossam Ismail, IT Network Lead, TKH.
Recognising that mobility and pervasive connectivity would be essential to implementing the innovations they intended to roll out at the University, TKH’s IT team selected Aruba as their networking technology partner.
Starting with the first phase of TKH, consisting of different buildings with more than 60 classrooms, 20 lecture halls & workshops and 250 staff offices as well as recreational facilities and common areas, Ismail and his IT team worked closely with Aruba to implement Layer 3 switching and wireless Access Points (APs).
“We selected Wi-Fi 6 capable solutions because as a University, we are constantly introducing the very latest innovations to ensure our students and staff have rapid access to the cutting-edge digital technologies,” said Ismail.
To deliver secure access for professors and admin staff while providing convenient wireless connectivity for visitors and guests, and to facilitate bring your own device (BYOD) for students in a controlled and uncompromisingly secure manner, the University implemented Aruba ClearPass.
Ismail and his team also decided to leverage Airwave Network Management to centrally monitor and manage the entire network so that the quality and integrity of services could be maintained at consistently high levels.
According to Ismail, the decision to partner with Aruba has paid dividends on multiple fronts – with world-class solution design and logistics support, the flexibility to repurpose investments, and a rapid realisation of ROI on the first phase, being highlights of the engagement.
Despite the impact of COVID-19 and logistical challenges, the implementation was completed within just eight to 10 weeks.
TKH is also leveraging several digital tools including a Learning Management System (LMS). “The Aruba solution allows students and staff to have seamless, uninterrupted access to these essential learning tools. Moreover, through orchestrated and automated user and devices authentication via ClearPass, they can use these applications on their own personal devices which greatly aids adoption and utilisation,” said Ismail.
Also using ClearPass, TKH has set up a ‘Guest Portal’ that conveniently authenticates staff and students based on the same credentials registered in the University’s Active Directory. Moreover, Aruba’s solution ensures compliance by automatically conducting a health check on all devices trying to connect to the network.
TKH is already in discussion with Aruba to extend the network for the upcoming phase of the project which will involve expansion into a further five buildings.