Nebraska’s Oldest Private College Rearchitects Network in Just Six Weeks to Address Student and Faculty
Needs during COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today announced that, in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic, Doane University in Crete, Nebraska, deployed an Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) network to bring remote and hybrid
education to its 2,500 students and equip its 500 faculty and staff with the tools they need to deliver it.
Using Aruba wireless, switching, security, and management solutions, Doane quickly deployed a reliable and
secure network to address student and faculty needs and to begin planning for a post-pandemic learning
environment.
Doane University relies on its Aruba ESP network to bring seamless wireless
experiences and enable remote and hybrid learning for its 2,500 students. (Photo: Doane University)
Founded in 1872, Doane is Nebraska’s oldest private college and is designated as a “Top National Liberal Arts
College” by U.S. News and World Report. The University’s main campus is comprised of 21 buildings
including six residence halls that house 800 students. Doane also operates two satellite campuses located in
Lincoln and Omaha.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it escalated Doane’s need for a reliable and secure network. Students were
having problems connecting to their courses from home or their dorms and were being dropped from their Zoom
sessions. The IT team was faced with either upgrading their existing Cisco network or replacing it with a more
innovative solution that could support the University’s long-term vision as well as its immediate needs.
“My goal has always been to make sure that the only thing that is challenging for our students is their
coursework,” said Doane University CIO, Derek Bierman. “It’s important for us to think strategically about all
of the technology we’re using to provide a fantastic learning experience for our students and build a network
for where the University wants to be, not where we are now.”
While Doane’s IT team considered using Cisco for a refresh, the high cost, coupled with the requirement for a
future-ready solution that supports their vision, drove them to look for alternatives. In addition, as the
pandemic lingered, the uncertainty surrounding the percentage of time students would spend in classrooms versus
remote learning underscored the need for a foundation that could better address a hybrid learning model.
Working with partner DataVizion, Doane moved to an Aruba ESP network including Aruba Wi-Fi 6
access points (APs), CX Series switches, with Aruba Central providing unified cloud-based management. The first
phase of the deployment across Doane’s residence halls was completed in less than six weeks. Phase two, which
includes connecting the rest of the buildings on campus and deploying ClearPass to unify wired and wireless NAC,
is underway.
Unified Management Saves Time, Simplifies Tasks for IT
One of the primary reasons Doane chose Aruba ESP was its unified wired and wireless management. Doane’s Director
of IT, Ryan Dorshorst noted, “We wouldn’t want to put all of our APs in the cloud and manage them with one
system, then have to troubleshoot our switches on another platform. Being able to manage everything from a
single pane of glass using Aruba Central saves us valuable time and resources.”
Dorshorst also found that Central allows the team to monitor and manage the network from anywhere without a VPN
connection. For example, on the nights when students are moving into their residence halls, he can oversee the
network remotely from his phone. Central also enables him to run reports on specific traffic – such as that
emanating only from student devices – and provides templates for easy configuration changes, resulting in time
and cost savings for the IT team.
Dorshorst is also excited about the potential to use contextual data from Central to identify at-risk students
so that Doane can develop programming to assist them and further enhance their educational experience. With some
of the proximity tracing capabilities inherent in Central, for example, a professor could identify an absent
student and check in to make sure the student is well, can obtain notes and assignments from the missed class,
and can stay on track.
Student Devices and IoT Can Connect Securely and Reliably
Another key benefit of Doane’s Aruba ESP network is the ability to reliably and securely connect the wide
variety of devices students are bringing to campus including Sonos speakers, Amazon Alexa devices, gaming
devices and printers, and the usual laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Said Dorshorst, “The Aruba network is delivering the reliability we lacked previously in the residence halls.
I’m not getting complaints that students are having trouble getting their mobile devices connected or dropping
from Zoom calls anymore.”
As Doane enters its second semester, it will be conducting COVID-19 testing for students, allowing those with
negative results to return to classrooms, but continuing to enable others to learn remotely. Dorshorst said the
network is critical to building this hybrid environment, giving students a seamless experience whether they are
back in the classroom or in their dorm.
In addition, Dorshorst says that Doane will add IoT devices as the new network is fully implemented. The
University’s facilities department already has the entire HVAC system connected via the wired network, but
Dorshorst noted that it will be easier to add IoT devices wirelessly moving forward, particularly since the
Aruba APs have built-in Bluetooth and Zigbee to simplify IoT deployment and management.
“We already have an engineering professor looking at adding sensors for air quality or water detection to reduce
Doane’s insurance costs, as one example,” he said. “But we envision many different kinds of wireless IoT devices
will now be able to connect easily and securely.”
Aruba ESP Lays the Foundation for New Campus Experiences
Moving forward, Doane plans to address more areas of its campus and improve student experiences throughout the
university with its Aruba ESP network. Dorshorst says the IT team is evaluating Aruba’s User Experience Insight
(UXI) sensors to deliver network insights that ease the troubleshooting and resolution of issues before they
arise. Furthermore, the IT team plans to expand wireless coverage to the University’s athletic facilities where
the legacy APs currently fail once a certain number of devices are attached.
“We’re excited to deploy Aruba in the outdoor football stadium and indoor track complex, so we can finally
deliver reliable and high-performing Wi-Fi. And we know that we’ll be able to look at more advanced capabilities
in the future like ticket scanning on smartphones,” Dorshorst said.
Added CIO Bierman, “While we don’t know all of the things students may bring onto campus in the future, with our
Aruba ESP network, we feel like we can handle whatever comes our way. We’re future thinkers and Aruba mirrors
that innovative philosophy.”
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is the global leader in secure, intelligent edge-to-cloud
networking solutions that use AI to automate the network, while harnessing data to drive powerful business
outcomes. With Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) and as-a-service options, Aruba takes a cloud-native approach
to helping customers meet their connectivity, security, and financial requirements across campus, branch, data
center, and remote worker environments, covering all aspects of wired, wireless LAN, and wide area networking
(WAN).
To learn more, visit Aruba at 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 the Airheads Community at community.arubanetworks.com.
Source: Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company