In 2005, Ball State University's Muncie, Ind., campus network engineer, Chris Cahoe, noticed problems with the network. Videoconferencing was not working properly and there was a high rate of packet loss in video–even with an existing traffic-management solution. Applications were slowing down and computer users were reporting slow connections. As more users accessed the network, the problem grew.

More than 18,000 students, faculty and staff use Ball State's network for data, video and voice traffic. Cahoe is part of the team that is responsible for managing the campus information technology network, which includes 900 switches and routers. Cahoe and the networking team are charged with ensuring that the network is up and running at peak performance at all times.

"We depend on our network greatly for immersive learning. Faculty and students use the campus-wide network 24/7 to retrieve notes and projects, do administrative work and collaborate with each other," Cahoe says. "Packet loss and latency is just not something we can live with."

Cahoe first looked at Ball State's wide-area network (WAN) equipment and realized its existing traffic management solution was not effective. Increased bandwidth consumption was overwhelming the system, often taking the whole network down.

"As a short-term fix, we created a policy to reroute video traffic," Cahoe explains, "but we knew that we needed a long-term solution."

The networking team evaluated a wide range of bandwidth-management options. Among those were two 30-day demonstrations of Allot Communications' NetEnforcer AC-1020 broadband management device, which offered 1-Gbps speed and fail-safe performance.

"The Allot solution had zero drops and zero out-of-order transmissions," Cahoe says. Convinced that the NetEnforcer could handle Ball State's traffic, the organization implemented the NetEnforcer AC-1020.

Cahoe cited the NetEnforcer's ability to manage traffic and guarantee bandwidth for groups of users. Because it uses high-performance deep-packet inspection technology, the NetEnforcer was able to identify all the applications and protocols running on the network. Network administrators then used this information to prioritize certain types of traffic, including voice over IP and videoconferencing. Next in priority came Web traffic, followed by e-mail.

The networking team created groups, such as administration, academic, residents and wireless, and applied policies to ensure quality of service to each group. With NetEnforcer in place, the team could guarantee a minimum of 50 Mbps to administrators and 120 Mbps to residents (from a 1-Gbps connection) at all times. "With our previous solution, we couldn't even guarantee that the network would be up and running," Cahoe explains. "But now we can allocate a minimum level of bandwidth to groups of users and maintain that level, regardless of traffic levels."

Ball State has also implemented Allot's scalable management system, NetXplorer. A graphical interface provides network administrators with a detailed view into the network to head off potential problems, create forward-looking policies and analyze traffic patterns. The system also has an alarm that can be triggered when traffic levels shift or policy maximums are reached, allowing administrators to make changes to the system immediately.

Cahoe estimates the university has saved more than $2,000 on equipment costs and a substantial amount of staff hours.

"With the old system, we spent an average of six hours per week on maintenance just to keep the system functioning. But in the last nine months, we've only invested about four to five hours on maintaining the NetEnforcer," Cahoe adds.

Ball State now plans to evaluate a 10-Gbps solution, Cahoe says. In the meantime, it has been offering demonstrations of the NetEnforcer for other nearby universities.

For more information from Allot Communications(click here)