Organization: Kyonggi University
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Employees: 13,000 students, 5,700 faculty and staff
Market Segment:Higher Education
Applications: Distance learning, server-based educational programs, research databases, Samsung SDS school administration package, word processing, Internet access, e-mail
The Challenge
Preparing South Korea for the future is Kyonggi University's heritage and its mission. Founded in 1947 to train kindergarten teachers, the school has grown to include undergraduate and graduate programs ranging from the arts and humanities to architecture and engineering. It also offers study abroad partnerships with schools in other countries, as well as distance learning and satellite sites for students who cannot come to campus. Its long-range goal is to be counted among the top-ranked universities — not just in South Korea and Asia, but internationally.
To deliver a world-class education, however, Kyonggi University needed to upgrade its data infrastructure. Although its Gigabit Ethernet network based on 3Com® legacy CoreBuilder 3500 and CoreBuilder 9000 switches had served the school reliably since the mid-1990s, it was at capacity. Data bottlenecks interfered with the administrative system that manages the university's daily operations, delaying vital functions from course scheduling to payroll processing. Access to the Internet and the school's own databases slowed to a crawl, hindering communication and research in classrooms and libraries campus-wide. Streaming audio and video lectures in the distance learning program were frequently inaccessible and often garbled or interrupted.
Kyonggi University needed significantly greater throughput throughout its nine-building Seoul campus in order to meet its growing need for fast, reliable network access even as it introduces bandwidth-hungry applications. To achieve this goal, the school decided to increase the speed of its campus LAN backbone to 10-Gigabit Ethernet.
Why 3Com
Kyonggi University insisted on a stable, powerful, standards-based solution that would interoperate smoothly with its existing 3Com hardware all the way to the desktop. In addition, the school's projected future growth made easy scalability imperative. With its VAR, Joongang Network System, Kyonggi University evaluated products from Cisco Systems (Catalyst 6500), Hitachi (GS4000), Avaya, and Force10. After careful comparison, the university found that only 3Com offered the combination of established reliability, high value, and future-proofed performance it required. The 3Com solution consists of the following products:
"By choosing the 3Com Switch 8800, we have both the 10 Gigabit backbone we need today and the opportunity to upgrade to Terabit speed in the future, easily and affordably," said Juncheol Jeon, Computer & Information Center manager, Kyonggi University. "Meanwhile, it interoperates with our existing Fast Ethernet and Gigabit hardware, allowing us to reap further value from our prior investments in 3Com technology."
In addition, SuperStack 3 Switch 4226T switches at the network edge expand network access campus-wide. The autosensing 10/100 Ethernet switch has Gigabit uplinks to the backbone for high performance and comes pre-configured for ultimate ease of installation and use.
The Benefits
By selecting the Switch 8800, 3Com's highest-performance core switch, Kyonggi University delivers ultra-high-speed connectivity to thousands of faculty, staff, and students at once. Data bottlenecks are a thing of the past; even the highest-bandwidth applications respond swiftly, making offices more efficient and classrooms more productive. Moreover, with backplane upgrades for the Switch 8800 already in development, the school will be able to increase its available bandwidth easily in the future, without a further investment in new switches.
Deployed in December 2004, the new 3Com LAN now gives administrators unimpeded access to the information and applications they need for the university's daily functions. Registrations and grades are updated in real time; maintenance requests and equipment orders are promptly processed; facilities scheduling is fast and efficient; paychecks and tuition bills go out in a timely fashion. Faculty and students benefit as well, with speedy connections to the Internet, the university's own online resources, and educational applications ranging from computer-aided design to statistical analysis. Live and pre-recorded lectures stream smoothly over the network, allowing the university to offer additional revenue-generating distance learning courses.
Located in the university's data center, the Switch 8800 is designed for high availability as well as high power. It includes resilient Layer 3 routing, redundant power supplies, hot-swappable modules, and resilient switching fabrics to guarantee continued operation with sub-second failover in the unlikely event of a physical outage. Moreover, extensive Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic prioritization features further enhance network performance, while built-in security tools protect Kyonggi University's network from unauthorized users and external attacks.
In addition, SuperStack 3 Switch 4226T switches installed in the school's computer labs and lecture halls increase the number of Fast Ethernet connections available to faculty, staff, and students. Every member of a class can follow a lecture simultaneously, with no need to share a computer or take turns, as a professor explains bandwidth-intensive data.
"To become one of the world's best universities, we need one of the world's best networks to support our faculty, staff, and students," said Juncheol Jeon. "Our new 3Com solution is tangible proof of our commitment to top-notch higher education: a simple, straightforward tool that helps us function more efficiently and innovatively, both in and out of the classroom."
