Cardiff University Secures the UK's Largest Wireless LAN Infrastructure with AirDefense & RM
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BASINGSTOKE, HANTS. UK. - July 18th 2007 - AirDefense today announced that its enterprise security product is being deployed by Cardiff University to secure the largest Wireless LAN so far built in the UK. The contract to build this network was awarded to RM the leading supplier of ICT to the UK education market. Just like any wired network, a WLAN at requires a comprehensive security solution to guard against intruders and hackers and AirDefense was chosen to defend Cardiff's WLAN after rigorous testing.
The wireless network will cover 66 buildings across three square miles.
It will include over 1,300 Access Points and cater for 30,000 students, 5,000 staff and visiting guests. The goals of the University are to ensure maximum wireless coverage by expanding the existing wireless capability for the whole campus and outlying peripheral sites. In addition, it has to help realise the goals of the Modern Working Environment project that is the core of the university's Information Services Strategy for the future. "We want to enhance the wireless networking service as much as possible, to improve the users experience and to ensure the service is as robust, resilient and as secure as possible with the least amount of Man effort for ongoing management."
said Anthony Cope IT Manager Cardiff University. The required defenses for a WLAN's are different from a wired network because the vulnerabilities are in the air. The airwaves surrounding the Cardiff WLAN will be constantly monitored by AirDefense Enterprise to ensure the security of the network at the university.
"We are delighted to be working with the IT team at Cardiff University to provide a comprehensive networking solution" Said Brian Andrews of RM. "The complexity of the site means we had to design and build and secure a wireless network for buildings of diverse design and structure that would be world class and fully scalable and provide networking services to wireless devices of varying types".
The need for a university to plan for full capacity at times when the campus is densely populated and empty at others, as well as maintaining a high quality of service, by tailoring the network response to application requirements, means that the university had to deploy a centrally managed management platform that does not take up too much time for the IT staff. The platform chosen was Ringmaster from Trapeze because of the ease of use. The ease of support and troubleshooting were major consideration when designing the network.
"Being chosen to secure such a large wireless network demonstrates that AirDefense has become the technology of choice " said Anthnoy Perridge VP EMEA for Airdefense. "With limited time and resource availble to manage such a large network and thousands of devices in the air, accurate detection, and policy based threat mitigation is essential.
Delivering the lowest total cost of ownership means that the University can focus on delivering service to their users. "
About AirDefense
AirDefense is the market leader in anywhere, anytime wireless security.
The company is trusted by more Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and high-security government agencies for enterprise wireless protection than any other company. AirDefense products provide the most advanced solutions for rogue wireless detection, policy enforcement and intrusion prevention, both inside and outside an organization's physical locations and wired networks. Common Criteria-certified, AirDefense enterprise-class products scale to support single offices as well as organizations with hundreds of locations around the globe. Founded in 2001, AirDefense is based in Atlanta, GA and serves nearly 700 government agencies and blue chip corporations. For more information, please visit www.airdefense.net
Trapeze Networks
Trapeze Networks delivers the power of business applications and services to the mobile enterprise workforce. The company's wireless LAN Mobility System enhances productivity, introduces new efficiencies and accelerates business response time by delivering secure mobility for roaming users and sophisticated services for both users and IT, all while offering the lowest total cost of ownership of any WLAN infrastructure provider. Trapeze announced a partnership with 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) in August, 2004 and a partnership with both D-Link and Nortel (NYSE/TSX: NT) in March, 2005. Trapeze has also been the recipient of nine industry awards, including InfoWorld's Technology of the Year award for the best WLAN Solution, in recognition of its product and technology strength. Founded in March 2002, Trapeze has raised $67.5 million in venture funding to date and is headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., U.S.A. For more information, please visit www.trapezenetworks.com
About RM
RM is the leading supplier of ICT to UK education, providing industry-standard, educational software, services and systems to schools, colleges and universities. Founded in 1973, RM rapidly became a pioneer in the application of technology to education and the company's range of products and services has continued to expand to meet the needs of educational establishments since that time. For more information, please visit www.rm.com
