Selangor Campus First Site in Asia Pacific to Deploy Combined Brocade Ruckus Wired and Wireless Network Infrastructure
Brocade today announced that the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) has become the first site in Asia Pacific to implement a complete networking solution that combines both 
Brocade® network switches and Wi-Fi access systems from Ruckus Wireless, which was acquired by Brocade in May this year. The new wired and wireless network, deployed under a managed service agreement, provides 2,400 on-campus students with high-availability, high-performance Wi-Fi coverage within UNMC’s student hostels, backed by a multiyear onsite support component.
Established in 2000, UNMC was the first branch of a British university in the country and one of the first to open outside Britain. It currently has approximately 5,000 students enrolled in courses ranging across the arts, engineering, and science disciplines. UNMC has been rated as “excellent” or Tier 5, making it the highest rated international university in Malaysia on a scale of Tier 1-6 by the Malaysian government .
According to UNMC’s Director of Campus Services, Nicholas Ching, “One of our key strategies for competing for the best faculty and students is to provide them with best-in-class facilities, which is why we’ve invested in a complete infrastructure revamp to support our student network services. The Brocade Ruckus solution presented us with a compelling value proposition combining technical excellence, a successful track record of large-scale deployments, and a solid support model.”
A key requirement for UNMC was to provide students with highly reliable Wi-Fi access, offering predictable performance and support for the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. The solution leverages the clustering capabilities of the Ruckus® SmartZone™ 100 wireless controllers and Brocade ICX® family of stackable switches to deliver non-stop service. The Brocade ICX switches provide standard 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet capabilities to support over 400 Ruckus ZoneFlex® Wi-Fi access points located within UNMC’s student accommodation blocks.
The implementation team also carried out a complete site survey across the 11 hostels to ensure seamless wireless coverage without any blindspots. The implementation utilizes Ruckus adaptive antenna technology and automatic interference mitigation, which is designed to deliver consistent, predictable performance at extended ranges, enabling strong wireless coverage in each student dorm room.
“University students are all digital natives with high expectations about Wi-Fi access quality and a low tolerance of service failure,” said Abdul Aziz Ali, country manager for Malaysia, Brocade. “Accessing high-bandwidth video services, class materials, and social applications is a big part of engaging in campus life, with The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus now being able to provide its resident students with a best-in-class Wi-Fi user experience.”
As part of the managed services agreement with UNMC, Brocade partner MYI Technologies will have a resident engineer onsite for three years on a 24 by 7 basis. In addition to the managing the Brocade Ruckus network infrastructure, the engineer will also be responsible for supporting the Internet gateway and security components of the university’s student network services.
