Higher Performance, Lower TCO—Leading Technical University Gets the Best of Both Worlds
The Customer
The University of Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Marine Engineering Technology (UniKL MIMET) is a leading technical university in Malaysia.
In a nation where exponentially more is expected from technical higher learning institutions, UniKL is producing graduates with strong technological knowledge and astute entrepreneurial skills. Strategically located across Malaysia, UniKL’s 13 branch institutes offer various diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate programs to over 22,000 students. The University teaches engineering students the knowledge and skills to work in a globalized and knowledge-based economy, and is renowned for its consistently outstanding performance record.
Simplifying Network Management to Drive Lower TCO
When their network began showing signs of age, the university decided it was time for a total campus network upgrade. The old switches were end-of-life and no longer supported, and the university needed simplified network management and operation, as well as a much better performance for cost ratio.
Why Allied Telesis?
After an open tender, UniKL MIMET decided on Allied Telesis over other brands such as Cisco, HPE and more. According to UniKL MIMET, “Simple network management was key. That’s why AMF appealed to us so much. AMF promised to simplify and automate our day-to-day operation, reducing the cost and complexity of managing the university network. Plus, Allied Telesis offered free hands-on training, which was so helpful, and allowed us to evaluate AMF in depth.”
Better Learning Supported by Increased Network Intelligence
Allied Telesis designed and implemented a brand new network featuring advanced switching products, including the x930, x510 and x230 series switches, as well as supporting third party wireless APs.
Allied Telesis Autonomous Management FrameworkTM (AMF) increases network intelligence and control with centralized management. AMF delivers real and immediate value to the school by solving one of their most pressing needs—providing a converged infrastructure that can be managed as a single entity. AMF’s powerful automation features like auto-backup, auto-recovery, auto-provisioning and auto-upgrade reduce the time and effort required to manage the network. This allows university IT staff to concentrate on other tasks, like rolling out new online services to enhance the learning experience for students.
Using Allied Telesis VCStackTM allows multiple switches to appear as a single virtual chassis. This gives the University superior flexibility of speeds and feeds, and simplicity of management leading to lower operating costs. Together with link aggregation, VCStack provides a solution where network resources are spread across the virtual chassis members, ensuring device and path resiliency. Virtualization of the network core ensures uninterrupted access to online resources and applications for both staff and students.
IT staff at UniKL MIMET say, “AMF has given us central control and management of our entire network. Plus, day-to-day administration is now mainly automated, which saves time and money.”
UniKL MIMET now enjoys truly easy network management. An integral part of the Allied Telesis network automation and management portfolio, AMF delivers powerful management capabilities that are simple to use. Inbuilt automation and graphical management tools reduce administration time and effort, leaving the IT staff free to work on new technology goals.
The university’s IT staff speak highly of the new solution: “AMF has made network monitoring, configuration and maintenance a breeze. Having centralized control has simplified network operation and reduced the support it requires. Another plus is the industry-standard CLI, which is so easy to use and reliable.”
UniKL MIMET’s staff also believe that the optimal support that Allied Telesis provides was key to the success of this project, saying “Allied Telesis has provided excellent ongoing hands-on training. Our new network has met all our requirements and is ready for the next generation of digital education technologies in the future.”
