World’s Largest Physics Laboratory and Birthplace of the Worldwide Web Deploys Aruba 802.11ac Wave 2 Network to Ensure Secure and Seamless Mobility, Improve Workplace Productivity
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE:HPE), today announced
that CERN,
the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is upgrading its
wireless network with Aruba 802.11ac Wave 2 access points and mobility
controllers. The world’s largest physics lab, in which the Worldwide Web
originated, is moving to a state-of-the-art wireless campus to ensure
maximal workplace productivity for the 12,000 staff, visiting scientists
and contract workers onsite everyday who require secure gigabit mobility
across CERN’s 200+ building campus.
Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory has now 22 member states and sits
astride the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, spread over 23 square
miles. Physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of
the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex scientific
instruments to study the basic constituents of matter – the fundamental
particles. CERN’s flagship, the Large Hadron Collider, is a 27 kilometer
ring buried 100 meters underground, accelerating particles close to the
speed of light. Over 10,000 scientists from more than 100 nationalities
and 600 universities collaborate with CERN.
To enable its staff and scientists to achieve their research goals, CERN
decided to upgrade its infrastructure to provide a modern, mobile-first
campus that could accommodate the nearly 20,000 different devices that
need to connect to the network daily. Reliable coverage across its
campus, enabling visiting scientists and workers to use their own mobile
devices, and the ability to properly sandbox visitor devices and detect
‘rogue’ access points, were key concerns for the CERN IT staff.
“Our network handles both research data and traditional, workplace
traffic and with so many visiting scientists, we have to provide a
reliable, mobile work environment that allows everyone to connect with
their own devices,” said Tony Cass, Leader of the Communications Systems
Group and Physicist at CERN. “Moving from our current network to a
controller-based network that enables seamless roaming from one building
to another and can help us provide different levels of connectivity
based on the type of user connecting were top priorities for us.”
While CERN already had a high-performance HPE wired network in place,
they wanted to update their wireless network to keep up with user
demands for greater mobility. Following a call for proposals with strict
requirements, CERN determined that upgrading to Aruba
802.11ac Wave 2 access points and controllers, along with Aruba AirWave
for network management, could provide the coverage, security,
reliability and centralized management capabilities they were looking
for.
“The Aruba wireless network proposal met our stringent requirements,”
Cass noted. “We’ve had great support from the HPE and Aruba sales,
support and executive teams and they were able to deliver the solutions
we needed.”
A key selling point for CERN was the intelligence built into the Aruba
controllers that supports seamless roaming across their expansive campus
and lets them segment users to improve security. Using the new network
capabilities, CERN plans to give users a token, sent to their mobile
devices via SMS, to allow simple and rapid connection to the network.
As CERN rolls out the network, they expect to see numerous benefits
including better support for the high density of users, the ability to
connect all users securely, regardless of device type, automated
deployment and configuration, and improved management and
troubleshooting. With the large CERN campus, new capabilities like
controller clustering and AirMatch, which fine-tunes RF for the best
network performance, are delivered through Aruba’s newest operating
system release, ArubaOS
8, to ensure that the network is optimized automatically for users
and maintains reliable connections for their critical research. In
addition, choosing Aruba’s Wave 2 technology and access points that
incorporate built-in BLE beacons, should CERN decide to implement
locations services, future-proofs the network, protecting CERN’s
investment.
Said Cass, “With the mobility demands of our staff and scientists
increasing, we knew that installing the right wireless infrastructure
was critical to enabling a productive workplace. The Aruba network
addresses our current challenges, and we are confident it will help
ensure that we’re prepared for future growth.”
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
pavel.radda@hpe.com
or
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Lori Hultin, +1 818-879-4651
lori.hultin@hpe.com