ANDOVER, MA--(Marketwire - September 21, 2009) - Enterasys, the network infrastructure and security division of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, today announced that the Town of Chelmsford, Mass. is leveraging the reliability and simple-to-use management features of Enterasys network solutions to provide IT infrastructure for all its public K-12 schools, as well as City services and the public library. Through Enterasys solutions and support, Chelmsford's small IT staff has connected town services to its modern data center via 21 miles of fiber, while achieving comprehensive network visibility and protection that preserves the School District's and Town's financial and personnel resources.
"Prior to the deployment of the Enterasys solution, the School's and Town's network connectivity consisted of a cacophony of added-on switches that often failed, resulting in network downtime," said Bruce Forster, executive director of Information and Educational Technology for Chelmsford Public Schools. "As we attempted to support more IT services for students, teachers, employees and residents, it became clear that we needed an enhanced network that would make all this possible."
Forster and his team evaluated a number of leading network vendors and ultimately chose Enterasys based on several design criteria, including ease-of-use, reliability, scalability, security, interoperability and cost.
"We have a fiscal responsibility to our residents to give them the best solution available for the most reasonable investment. One of the leading vendors we evaluated eliminated itself immediately, based on expense," Forster said. "The cost of their comparable support services alone was more than the equivalent of educating a half-dozen students for one full year."
The Enterasys deployment, which was carried out in ten days, included the relocation of the School's and Town's data center, which Forster called "pain free," as well as the required replacement of 75 end-of-life switches within the network. "Enterasys worked with us and with Rutter, our vendor partner, diligently to prepare for the installation," recalled Forster. "The entire process was very well thought out. Once it started, it was over before I knew it."
Today, the School Department and Town of Chelmsford's network, powered by Enterasys, is designed to enable more cost-effective data collaboration and support for business-critical applications and Internet connectivity across 22 separate locations, including all nine Chelmsford K-12 locations, Town offices, Fire, EMT, Police and cemetery departments as well as two separate public library locations. The new Enterasys network prioritizes and secures more than 2,000 devices used by 5,500 students, 1,000 faculty and staff, and all Chelmsford employees. A current network operations team of five manages the entire network infrastructure using the integrated Enterasys Network Management Suite (NMS), which is designed to deliver pinpoint visibility and control to the centralized operations team through student/staff/guest role-based policies. "We are confident that this is the network that will grow with us as we increase our next-generation services," Forster said.
Chelmsford's 21st-century network is comprised of Enterasys N-Series switches in the core as well at the network edge. Forster and his team now have the power to confidently stop unwelcome protocols at the network edge by leveraging the Enterasys Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), designed to automatically locate and contain threats to remove attackers while automating responses to vulnerabilities. "The ability to have that level of granular visibility into our network is the greatest return on investment for us," Forster said. Forster and his team are also preparing to implement Enterasys NAC for the 2010 school year.
Forster lauded the support offered by his Enterasys team, both during and after the deployment. "The Enterasys support team has literally been there every step of the way for us," he said. "They helped us take ownership of our network by educating my team on how and why it works. If we ever have a question or an issue, we know we can get what we need from our Enterasys support team. We have a great deal of confidence and peace of mind in our network now that did not exist before. I'd say that our Enterasys network saves the day, every day, for that very reason - it just works."
About Enterasys Networks
Enterasys is the network infrastructure and security division of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, a Gores Group company. Enterasys® network switching, routing and security solutions are used by thousands of customers in more than 70 countries worldwide to deliver business-oriented, identity-based visibility and control for voice, video, and data applications. The company's open-architecture solutions enable easy to deploy role-based access controls and prioritization for wired and wireless environments with integrated management and security that deliver investment protection, operational efficiency, and significantly reduced total cost of ownership. The Enterasys culture is centered on the principle "There is nothing more important than our customers" with industry-leading technical support. More information about Enterasys hardware, software, services and training is available at www.enterasys.com.
Contact Information:Contact:
Barry Cioe
Enterasys Networks
+1 978 684 1525
bcioe@enterasys.com
Michelle Barry
BridgeView Marketing
+1 603 570 7533
michelle@bridgeviewmarketing.com