Full-Service Engineering and Construction Firm Saves Over One Million Dollars Per Year and Enables Improved Collaboration and Efficiency for 85 Offices Nationwide
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE:HPE), today announced
that CDM Smith, a Boston-based full-service engineering and construction
firm that provides industry-leading solutions in water, environment,
transportation, energy and facilities to clients worldwide, has
implemented an all-wireless, mobile-first workplace with Aruba solutions
that is delivering more than one million dollars of savings annually.
Established in 1947, CDM Smith employs approximately 5,000 people in 130
offices around the globe. The majority of these employees are located in
85 U.S.-based offices, including the firm’s new world headquarters in
Boston. Prompted by the prohibitive costs of installing structured
cabling and a desire to increase productivity by giving employees
greater mobility, CDM Smith first embraced an all-wireless environment
in its headquarters office and is rolling out Aruba’s
Mobile First Platform with ClearPass for secure connectivity to a
number of its other locations.
Cutting costs was a driving factor for CDM Smith’s decision to go with a
mobile-first, all-wireless environment. The firm’s Business Technology
(BT) department had run the numbers for deploying structured cabling in
their headquarters, as well as the cost of rewiring internal office
moves or major modifications which happens with about 25 percent of
their offices annually. With a progressive CIO who was ready to invest
in a new model, and the determination that increased mobility would
result in improved productivity, the firm decided to move ahead with the
all-wireless network approach.
CDM Smith was also intent on bringing a mobile-first approach to its
workplace. The firm’s headquarters boasts an open work plan with many
“huddle” rooms and a variety of workspaces. With most employees using
multiple mobile devices to conduct their work, mobility within the
offices and between the floors of the building were critical for the
firm. In addition, CDM Smith employees rely heavily on Skype for
Business for video and voice calling as well as collaboration and
sharing of documents.
The company evaluated a number of vendors but ultimately decided that
Aruba could best meet their needs. Michael Woods, Director of
Operations, Advanced Technology, for CDM Smith, noted that the other
vendors were unable to meet all of the firm’s requirements – most
importantly, the end-to-end QoS that is critical for mobile applications
like Skype for Business.
“We needed a highly scalable solution that would allow our employees and
clients who visit the office to connect and collaborate quickly and
easily,” said Woods. “Aruba came through with the best solution.”
Working with Integration
Partners of Lexington, Mass., CDM Smith deployed a combination of Aruba
802.11ac Wave 1 and Wave 2 access points for both indoor and outdoor
use, Aruba
Mobility Controllers, AirWave
network management and ClearPass
Guest. The network delivers pervasive wireless across all of the
building’s offices, break rooms and cafeterias, and the outdoor APs
enable access on the seventh floor terrace so employees can work while
enjoying fresh air and a view of the Boston skyline.
The firm is using ClearPass to connect guests, contractors and
employees’ personal devices to the network easily and securely. In
addition, they are using AirWave as the primary tool to alert them to
any network availability or performance issues. Woods noted that he
receives daily reports from a variety of offices regarding their RF
conditions, as well as alerts if there are issues with the access
points. While the firm has not yet implemented Aruba Clarity – a
software module for AirWave that helps organizations anticipate and
resolve connectivity problems before users are affected, rather than
troubleshooting after the fact – Woods was impressed by the capability
when he evaluated it.
“We’re currently using AirWave mostly in monitoring mode, but I’ve seen
a few situations where Clarity would help us if we were having issues
with our DHCP server – something I wouldn’t normally find in a wireless
monitoring tool,” he said. “It provides much more granularity and we’d
like to be able to integrate that with our existing network monitoring
platform.”
Eighty of the 85 CDM Smith U.S.-based locations have already deployed
Aruba wireless networks, and according to Woods, the success of the
all-wireless network in their headquarters has paved the way for
additional all-wireless office deployments. Many offices are migrating
away from traditional desk phones and using more mobile apps like Skype
for Business.
Noted Woods, “Beyond the cost savings, we see a substantial increase in
employee satisfaction and productivity. People really enjoy the freedom
that comes with a mobile workplace – more collaborative spaces and a
more open work environment – so we’re retrofitting the facilities to
enable this flexibility with the new wireless network.”
Looking ahead, CDM Smith recognizes that both big data and IoT will be
important to them, which makes their decision to implement a new
mobile-first infrastructure even timelier. In addition to evaluating how
these new technologies can benefit the firm, CDM Smith is looking to add
more capabilities to its Aruba mobile-first network that can streamline
their BT operations such as upgrading to ArubaOS 8.0, incorporating the
aforementioned Aruba Clarity and evaluating additional ClearPass
capabilities.
Said Woods, “Our firm is built upon people coming together and creating
and implementing solutions, so the new mobile-first environment has been
a positive change that helps us better fulfill our mission.”
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading provider of
next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes
worldwide. The company delivers IT solutions that empower organizations
to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users who rely on
cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their work and personal
lives.
To learn more, visit Aruba at
http://www.arubanetworks.com
.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at
http://community.arubanetworks.com
.
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
Senior Director of Corporate Communications
pavel.radda@hpe.com