Also, Keio University is one of Japan’s leading research institutions, the TTCK is a institute for Advanced Biosciences built in 2001 to facilitate collaboration between academia, business and government. The former network design was very complicated, creating system challenges and making maintenance and failure investigation complex. When the campus was preparing to upgrade the network last year, it looked for a solution that required minimal configuration modification requirements, as the TTCK does not have an infrastructure specialist on-site.
Keio University decided to deploy Avaya’s SDN Fx architecture, based on Fabric Connect, an innovative implementation of shortest path bridging (SPB), a technology that delivers operational continuity and high reliability. The university was able to design and deploy the network in just three months, and is maintaining a stable environment with no user complaints. Wireless LAN access points installed in the TTCK are monitored from a remote campus site, and the solution is supporting various authentication methods, enabling flexible operation.
Yasuo Miyamoto, Information Technology Center, Keio University, commented: “The complexity of the multi-vendor environment was generating glitches and adding maintenance support costs. We got to many upgrade proposals from various vendors. As I heard Avaya’s presentation for the first time, I was thrilled with their solution – when I saw a demonstration from their engineers that thrill turned into firm belief. The difference between Avaya and other companies was obvious, and I wanted to give this SPB technology a shot. This technology provides the performance and scalability we will require if we expand our campuses in future or for large scale deployment at other campuses.”