Milton Hershey School Deploys Enterasys Secure Network to Ensure Reliable Network Access for Students, Faculty and Staff Across 200-Building Campus
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Enterasys Solution Ensures the Highest Levels of Security, Performance, Visibility and Control for Rapidly Growing Network
ANDOVER, Mass., Feb. 26 // -- Enterasys Networks Inc., the Secure Networks Company(TM), announced today that Milton Hershey School has deployed an Enterasys Secure Network to ensure secure, reliable, high- performance network access to more than 3,000 students and employees. The infrastructure delivers connectivity and converged communications to more than 200 buildings across its 3,000-plus-acre campus in Hershey, Pa.
Founded in 1909 by chocolate industrialist Milton Hershey and his wife, Catherine, the school opens new doors for children whose families could not otherwise afford a first-class education. Milton Hershey School serves children in financial and social need from throughout the United States by providing them education, housing, food, medical and psychological health care, recreation opportunities, and clothing with no financial obligation to the family.
"We are in the midst of growing our network by 30 percent as a result of a major expansion project involving new buildings and renovations to existing facilities, so implementing a robust, scalable, and flexible network infrastructure to support our rapidly evolving needs was crucial," said Mike Bernardo, manager of networks and telecommunications for Milton Hershey School. "After an in-depth RFP preparation, thorough scorecard evaluation, and detailed demonstration, only Enterasys and its partner Comm Solutions gave us the confidence they could meet our requirements from day one. They really listened and worked closely with us to propose a proven solution that offered the necessary open-architecture interoperability, features and functionality, with the flexibility to fit the parameters of our capital and operating budgets. They delivered everything they promised."
Milton Hershey School's Enterasys infrastructure includes Matrix(TM) X high-availability secure routers at the core, redundantly connected via four 10-Gbps link aggregation groups (LAG) to Matrix N-Series flow switches, which then distribute network services to SecureStack C2 switches at the edge via multiple 1-Gbps LAGs. The school relies on Enterasys NetSight(R) for visibility and control of its sprawling infrastructure, and Enterasys Dragon(R) to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information while reducing the risks associated with security threats and vulnerabilities.
"With its flow-based granularity the Matrix N-Series switch gives us in- depth discovery and prioritization of users and applications," said Matt Hess, network engineer at Milton Hershey School. "It almost tells you more than you would ever need to know about what's happening on the network. It's simply amazing!
"When there is a problem, the integrated hardware and software solution from Enterasys enables us to pinpoint the source quickly and immediately determine the location and impact. This saves us a tremendous amount of time and eliminates disruptions to network operations," said Hess.
The Enterasys Secure Network supports all the school's critical data- networking systems, from security (access, surveillance and emergency paging) to building management systems (electric, gas, lighting, fire detection and HVAC) to medical and dental systems. These services all operate over the same infrastructure as the school's standard network services, including all business and academic systems, wireless access points and connections to more than 500 network printers and copiers.
"Support is another critical aspect of our relationship with Enterasys since nothing works without the network," said Hess. "Whether it is on the phone, Web, e-mail or on-site, responses are very fast and accurate and we appreciate the personal touch from our local Enterasys solution engineer, their customer-centric attitude, and our ability to get to the right person right away."
With its geographically dispersed campus and only two network engineers, Milton Hershey School values the manageability and security embedded in the Enterasys solution. "We wanted a solution with a single management interface to enable quick troubleshooting, fault isolation, and automated repair and that's exactly what we get with NetSight," said Hess. "Other vendors' solutions required management software that was so cumbersome and complicated we would have needed an additional full-time employee just to manage the management system. NetSight is meeting our objectives to be highly intuitive, easy to use, and present all of the critical information about our network in a single place. We also can update policies instantly to ensure security and QoS down to the user, application and device level to help guarantee network uptime."
In the future, Milton Hershey School will enhance its security posture by further leveraging Enterasys' Dragon Security Suite. "We expect to fully implement Dragon later this year, after we have our policy completely defined out to the network edge. "The dashboard is so powerful that even the results we've seen so far with limited implementation have been very impressive," said Hess. "Dragon's new graphical user interface simplifies operations and provides 'drill-down' capabilities that will be especially valuable in our environment." In addition, the school expects to deploy Enterasys' Classroom Control Solution to enable teachers to use the most advanced technologies while ensuring complete control over how students use technology and access the Internet in the classroom.
Bernardo says any K-12 school can benefit from the unique Secure Networks capabilities offered by Enterasys. "Milton Hershey School has found a true advocate in Enterasys Networks. They took the time to understand our environment, address our concerns, develop a cost-effective architecture that met or exceeded all of our specific needs, and-most importantly-they committed to being our partner for the long term."
About Enterasys Networks
Enterasys Networks--the Secure Networks Company--is owned by a private investor group led by The Gores Group, LLC and Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC. Enterasys' unique Secure Networks solutions secure any network from any vendor and ensure the integrity and performance of IT services and the business users that rely on them. Thousands of leading companies, government agencies and educational institutions in more than 70 countries rely on Secure Networks solutions to maintain business continuity and protect vital information. The company's culture is centered on the principle "There is nothing more important than our customers." Delivering on that commitment, Secure Networks provides granular, policy-based command and control of individual user, application, device, port and flow performance, and security. Enterasys' architectural approach to network security offers a long technology lifecycle and significant operational and business benefits, while reducing total cost of ownership. Information about Enterasys' award-winning policy- enabled switches, routers, wireless products, security software, and services is available at www.enterasys.com.
About The Gores Group
Founded in 1987, The Gores Group is a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm's operating experience and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial buyer. The Gores Group has become a leading investor, primarily in the technology and telecommunications sectors, having demonstrated over time a reliable track record of creating substantial value in its portfolio companies alongside management. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, The Gores Group maintains offices in Boulder, Colorado and London. For more information, please visit www.gores.com.
About Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC
Tennenbaum Capital Partners is a Santa Monica, California-based private investment firm managing over $3.8 billion in assets through private funds. The firm's investment strategy is grounded in a long-term, value approach, and it assists--both financially and operationally--transitional middle-market companies in such industries as technology, healthcare, energy, aerospace, business services, retail and general manufacturing. Tennenbaum's core strengths include its in-depth knowledge of equity and debt-financing vehicles in the public and private markets, as well as a thorough understanding of special situations. For more information, please visit www.tennenbaumcapital.com.
Source: Enterasys Networks Inc.
CONTACT: Kevin Flanagan of Enterasys Networks, +1-978-684-1473, kevin.flanagan@enterasys.com
Web site: www.enterasys.com/
http://www.tennenbaumcapital.com/
http://www.gores.com/
