H3C Helps HKU Expand to 10G Wired Network with Wireless Capability

H3C’s high-performance, reliable and secure solutions provide the infrastructure.

Background

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is the territory's oldest university with a history that stretches back nearly a century. HKU is a dynamic university offering ten faculties and numerous research centers. Its reputation as a center of intellectual excellence is recognized around the world.

To provide an excellent network environment that facilitates the access and exchange of information effectively and efficiently in teaching, learning, research and administration, HKU deployed H3C’s reliable, high performance wired network solutions at multiple campus sites including the main campus (HK Computer Centre), remote campuses (Faculty of Medicine at Sassoon Road and Queen Mary’s Hospital), and remote offices (Kennedy Town Centre). In addition to upgrading the wired network, HKU also wanted to deploy a highly stable and secure Wireless LAN (WLAN) that would cover the Main Campus and Queen Mary’s Hospital.

The Solution

An upgraded H3C 10G-ready infrastructure was deployed at the HKU Computer Center to support the sophisticated Intranet that links up the main campus buildings, including public areas and residential halls. H3C offered a comprehensive 10GE wired network solution. The upgraded network solutions included three S8512 series 10G multi-service core routing switches as the core backbone switches interlinked with a 10GE connection for high performance. More than 700 S3628/S3026 edge switches were deployed for FE-to-desktop connections with two S6500 switches connecting to the university’s server farm.

For the remote HKU Faculty of Medicine at Sassoon Road campus and Queen Mary’s Hospital, H3C installed two S9505 multi-service switches as the core network backbone to facilitate and enhance network capacity, performance, reliability, and manageability to cope with the growing demands on the remote campus’s data and communication networks. More than 70 S5124 series switches were installed throughout the campus to upgrade the Gigabit-to-desktop connection and GE backbone building switches to bring stable, GE performance to students and staff wherever they are on campus.

For its remote Kennedy Town Centre office, H3C deployed its S5100-EI as the GE backbone switch and its S3600 switch to support 400 network connections at 100Mbps and connect to the main campus via FE WAN connection. H3C deployed its MSR50-40 to provide a fast, reliable WAN connection back to HKU’s main campus.

Aside from its wired network upgrades, HKU also wanted to deploy a campus-wide wireless network at its Main Campus, Queen Mary’s Hospital and Price Philip Dental Hospital campuses. Four wireless switch controllers were connected to each S8512 and more than 450 APs were connected to the edge switches. With the latest deployment of H3C wired and wireless solutions, the coverage of the University’s campus network is extensive with more than 27,000 network points and over 400 wireless access points.

Why H3C?

H3C’s solutions provide HKU with a less costly upgrade path that lets them deploy new applications and services over their existing networks while maintaining a high performance to cost ratio. As a valued partner, H3C has impressed HKU with its professional pre- and post-sale support, demonstrating H3C’s understanding of the university’s unique IT requirements.

Strong interoperability within the HKU network was an important element of the upgrade solution, and H3C offered full compatibility and standards-based designs. In addition to interoperability, HKU wanted a solution that was in line with the university’s network development plans. H3C’ solution exceeded these requirements giving HKU a network infrastructure prepared for future growth and expansion.

The Benefits

The H3C wired solution provides HKU with a faster, more secure and future-proofed network to meet the bandwidth needs of their rapidly

growing demands from teaching, research and administration and to lay the foundation for further network upgrades. The traffic control, overall speed and accessibility of network services have been improved offering a more reliable, scalable, cost effective and manageable network. The H3C wireless solution also offers Windows-based management utilities for site planning, real-time AP monitoring, statistics gathering and reporting, all of which can significantly reduce IT maintenance costs and improve traffic management.

“H3C’s solution has provided HKU with the high performance, availability and flexibility for network expansion that we required. The cost savings have been immediate in terms of lower manpower costs for network management.” said Dr P. T. Ho, Deputy Director, University of Hong Kong Computer Center. “We anticipate continued benefits from the system as we are in an excellent infrastructure position for future network deployments.”