Thailand: Prince of Songkla University 10GE Campus Network in Thailand

Customer Info
As the first university established in the southern region of Thailand, the mission of the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) is to raise educational standards and to promote development of the region. To achieve such ambitious goals, the school has stepped up efforts to enhance its repertoire of knowledge in many disciplines, extend its reach, integrate into the world, and make itself more accessible to the community. We are helping the university reach its goal by building its next-generation network infrastructure.

The Challenge
The university seeks to upgrade their network to a high bandwidth, high QoS, high security, highly reliable, and robust network, with GE and 100M connections between departmental hubs, and external connections of between 4Meg and 100Meg. Although the network has served the community well, the school is now planning a five-year expansion. The school is considering 10GE technology as a viable solution, with the IT department having done much study of the technology.

This is an evolutionary route to enhance network performance, with 10GE, Intelligent Resilient Framework and multiple WAN accesses.

Technology Solution
The entire implementation uses the most scalable solutions, such as S8500 series. With 10GE technology and the S5600 series' high-speed stacking technology, the solution will guarantee smooth upgrades throughout its life cycle.

The university requires a powerful core, a high number of Gigabit Ethernet aggregation layers, and a higher speed, high-density access such as Gigabit Ethernet access. By replacing the old routers with AR46-80 router to connect to multiple WAN accesses, the university gained the speed and versatility it wanted.

The core network includes 2 x 10GE links between 2 units of S8512 routing switches. The aggregation layer encompasses high port density S6500 series switches. With S6500 series' high speed, high-density capacity and an up to 10GE uplink to the core, the S6500 series switches ideally fit in the PSU's aggregation layer which contains dozen of Gigabit Ethernet building hubs and sever farms. In the edge, high speed and stackable S5624s with the patented IRF technology were added. These Gigabit Ethernet switches possess one of the most advanced technologies in the industry for Gigabit Ethernet access, stacking and device management.

The Benefits
The Prince of Songkla University, with its mission to serve its community, took major steps to enhance its campus network. By taking an evolutionary route to enhancing its network performance, PSU has made good use of its IT budget. By selecting us as its IT partner, the university has a provider with a broad product portfolio and expertise in building campus network.

(2008-03-20)