HP ProCurve Networking today announced that Ballarat Grammar has successfully completed a major initiative to improve student access to computer based learning resources. The project involved the deployment of a major upgrade of network infrastructure, including the use of 10 Gigabit per second Ethernet technology, and wireless Internet technology across the entire school campus.

Greg Bell, Head of Technical Services for Ballarat Grammar commented, "We have a small technology team supporting a large campus environment, so we need equipment that is easy to maintain and reliable. We have staff and students living on campus, so it is critical that we deliver reliable services round the clock. Different levels of access to network resources and applications are required for teachers, administration staff, day students, and boarders. Under the growing demands of the School, our previous network solution became unreliable, as well as being difficult and time consuming to administer."

After several years of network instability and poor performance, Ballarat Grammar decided to migrate their entire campus network to a ProCurve switched Ethernet and Wireless LAN solution. Trident Computer Services, a ProCurve solution provider, was chosen to assist with the design, installation, and ongoing support of Ballarat Grammar's new network. The network was installed over a one week period in January 2007.

Greg Bell commented further, "If equipment isn't reliable, we feel the pain immediately in our budget, as we have to waste precious resources continuously putting out fires. Before we upgraded to a ProCurve network, we were forced to deal with regular disruptive network device failures. We are extremely happy with the reliability and support that ProCurve deliver. In our experience, ProCurve switches deliver rock solid reliability, and have helped us to significantly reduce our network support costs."

The solution includes a ProCurve 5400 chassis for the main administration building, with three large campus buildings each being serviced by a dedicated ProCurve 4200 switch chassis.

Other locations are serviced by a combination of ProCurve 2600, ProCurve 2800, and ProCurve 2900 switches. The network solution incorporates the strategic use of 10Gigabit per second Ethernet fibre links between some locations, ensuring the best possible levels of performance for the backbone of the network.

A new campus wide Wireless LAN network with automated, centralised management has also been deployed. ProCurve Wireless Edge Services Modules have been installed into the ProCurve 5400 chassis, and work in conjunction with 90 radio ports spread across the school grounds. The result is secure, campus wide access to the network, for both students and staff.

The deployment of Gigabit Ethernet technology has allowed Ballarat Grammar to significantly improve access to computing resources in classrooms. Students are required to login to computers at the beginning of classroom sessions. Due to the large number of students, there are very large spikes in demand at the beginning of classes.

The ProCurve 5400 deployment, and the strategic use of Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, has allowed a 95% reduction in the typical waiting time for each student to login at the beginning of a class. Both students and teaching staff now also have secure, controlled access to applications and the Internet via the campus wide Wireless LAN. The enormous network performance improvements, combined with the campus wide wireless network, have encouraged lessons that require the use of computers and given teaching staff more flexibility.

Greg Bell continued, "Our ProCurve wireless solution has enormously simplified the administration of our network. We now use 802.1x authentication to automatically control service delivery across the entire campus. Our old wireless network forced us to manually configure the security settings for each wireless access point, and generated a huge support workload for our technology team . With our new network, ProCurve's management system automatically works with ActiveDirectory, so we only need to decide once how much network access somebody should receive, with the system automatically updating settings across the network. Our ProCurve solution now allows us to monitor resource usage by individuals, so we can charge back costs, which is important for Internet data downloads by our student boarders."

About Ballarat Grammar

Ballarat Grammar is an independent secondary school based in Ballarat, Victoria. The school provides a safe, supportive and challenging environment for their 1,350 students and over 200 staff. Approximately 265 students and staff live on the 20 hectare site.

About Trident Computer Services

Australian-owned and backed by three decades of IT experience, Trident are committed to providing the highest level of customer satisfaction by doing what we do best: delivering the right solution for your needs to help your business grow. We also work on the philosophy that a good relationship is equally as important as the services provided.

About HP ProCurve

HP ProCurve is the Network of Choice for best-in-class solutions, products and services for wired and wireless networks. ProCurve's Adaptive Networks vision enables customers to implement an open, standards-based network infrastructure that adapts to the changing needs of users, applications and organizations.

ProCurve was positioned in the Leaders quadrant in research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc.'s 2008 Magic Quadrant Report for Global Campus LANs and is No. 2 worldwide in Ethernet switch market revenue according to Dell'Oro Group.

For more information on HP ProCurve, visit www.procurve.com.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling US$107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

Note to editors: More news from HP, including links to RSS feeds, is available at www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/.

© 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. 3/2008

Media contact: Sebastian Rice, 02 9959 1991, seb@silverspan.com

Photography Photography is available, courtesy of Rob Olston. Please contact Sebastian Rice 02 9959 1991, seb@silverspan.com .