Secure Wireless Mesh Network Links Campus With Housing Complexes

SUNNYVALE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 10/07/08 -- Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN), a global leader in wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced that its Synergy has deployed Aruba's wireless networks at the Escola de Aperfeiçoamento de Oficiais (EsAO) Brazilian Army School and surrounding housing complexes. Established in 1919, EsAO serves company- and field-grade officers at its 46 acre Rio de Janeiro campus and housing complexes. The school wanted to provide secure student, faculty, and guest wireless access across the entire campus, while offering high speed Internet access to the housing complexes. Prior to this deployment the school offered only limited hot-spot wireless access, while the housing units had no Internet access due to their distance from the central telephone exchange. Aruba authorized partner Synergy deployed access points throughout the classrooms and auditoriums, and then used outdoor secure wireless mesh to deliver wireless access to the housing complexes. Mesh technology enables Wi-Fi access points to be deployed without installing new data cabling.

"What most impressed us about this project was the speed with which the deployment was accomplished, and the reliability of the finished network," said Lt. Colonel Antonio Guelfi of the Roberto Trompowsky Foundation, manager of Army schools throughout the country. "Aruba's Adaptive Radio Management and mesh technology made short work of the physical installation, while centralized management and the integrated firewall simplified system commissioning. Once commissioned the network met all expectations and proved more flexible than any other solution we considered. For example, the Aruba firewall allows us to precisely tailor network access policies to the needs of faculty, students, and guests. Those policies follow the users wherever they roam and deliver a very consistent user experience."

Aruba's secure mobility solutions deliver networks to users by integrating adaptive wireless LANs, identity-based security, and multi-vendor network management into a cohesive, high-performance system. Adaptive wireless LANs deliver robust connectivity to roaming users in need of high-speed data, toll-quality voice, and streaming video applications. Identity-based security associates policies with users instead of network hardware, delivering follow-me security that enhances mobility regardless of how or where the network is accessed.

"The EsAO deployment demonstrates how Aruba's flexible architecture allows users to leverage existing networking infrastructure and lower both capital and operating costs," said Luiz Brandao, Aruba's Brazil sales manager. "Take for example the campus housing complexes.