1) UAE University needed to upgrade its network to support new technologies and a growing student population. 2) It implemented Extreme Networks solutions to improve network quality, capacity, and resilience to support applications like VoIP and video streaming. 3) Extreme Networks provided high performance networking solutions at an affordable price with investment protection, allowing the university to boost its network without frequent expensive upgrades.

1. Challenge
Solution
Result
UAE University Prepares for the Future
UAE University
Extreme Networks Customer Profile
“Where other vendors require forklift upgrades after a
five year write-off period, Extreme Networks allows us
to protect investments and boost performance by
requiring incremental upgrades only."
— Michael Dobe
— CIO
UAE University (UAEU) is the premier academic institution of the
United Arab Emirates and one of the leading educational and
scientific centers in the Middle East. With a population of some
16,000 students and several thousand faculty and staff, the
University plays a significant role in fostering the country's cultural,
social and economic development. A major driver behind this
ambition is the University's network. It has been upgraded and
standardized on Extreme Networks® solutions on the main
University campus at Maqam in order to meet critical demands,
both now and in the future.
The institution's network is critical in this respect, as it is vital to
provide the students with the continuous learning experience
pursued by the University. "Our living and learning community
concepts extends from the classrooms and labs to the student
rooms in the hostels," says Michael Dobe, CIO of UAE University.
"To enable this, students in several colleges have been issued
laptops which they use for running Microsoft Office applications and
to access the Internet and our Blackboard e-learning environment,
both wired and wireless.
Security Without Compromising Performance
The UAEU is on the verge of wide-scale deployment of VoIP and
video streaming as well as aggressively expanding its wireless
• UAE University needed to enable its staff
and students to benefit from the latest
technological advancements.
• UAE University is seeking to improve the
quality, capacity and resilience of their
network for their user population and
upcoming implementations of new applications
and services.
• Extreme Networks delivered superior prod-
ucts at an affordable price with excellent
investment protection.
• Fewer yet better partners has allowed UAEU
to standardize on equipment and build a
valuable relationship with their vendors.
• Extreme's approach to security allowed UAEU
to enhance the protection of their network
and deploy an in-depth defensive solution.

2. www.extremenetworks.com email: info@extremenetworks.com
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1159_01 1/06 CPUAEUniv_1192-01
Extreme Networks Customer Profile
operations. This calls for new levels of security, QoS
and ease of management. Michael Dobe and his team
thoroughly studied the options to upgrade the hetero-
geneous network environment and concluded that
Extreme Networks offered the best solutions to prepare
for the future. "Extreme's approach to security, for
example, allows us to significantly enhance the protec-
tion of our network and to deploy an in-depth defensive
solution," says John Collins, UAEU's director of Enter-
prise Applications and Integration. "Their layered
security concept provides a solid set of network access
control measures which is much more agile and targeted
than competing products. With its Layer 3 switching
capabilities, we can take advantage of wire-speed
Access Control Lists without degrading network per-
formance. Extreme Networks is clearly an industry
leader in this respect."
Value for the Money
Applications like VoIP and video require high, guar-
anteed service levels, with routing supported from the
core to the edge. "Extreme Networks makes it possible
to achieve this in a simple and highly cost-effective
manner," says Collins. "Here, silicon-integrated intel-
ligence is the smart answer. The ASIC-based approach
of Extreme Networks offers unique advantages. New
services can be added without deploying new boxes or
buying new licenses and they're much easier to manage.
In an environment like ours, some vendors may have 30
or 40 OS images in place as a result of upgrades and
additions. Extreme has only 2 or 3. That's a major dif-
ference with huge management and cost implications."
Michael Dobe likes to stress the value-for-money benefit
offered by Extreme's solutions. "Extreme Networks
delivers superior products at a very affordable price
level, with excellent investment protection. Due to the
architecture of their solutions, the equipment that we
bought five years ago will still be running for the next
five years. Where other vendors require forklift
upgrades after a five year write-off period, Extreme al-
lows us to protect our investment and boost perform-
ance by requiring significant upgrade and expansion
process. Our Extreme Networks core does not change
significantly. That's pretty amazing!"
Partnership Benefits
Simplification of the network environment is a major
driver behind the University's ongoing innovation ef-
forts. "When embarking on our networking restructur-
ing strategy in 2004, we decided we should make
things simpler, starting by selecting fewer yet better
partners, Dobe explains. "It allows us to standardize on
equipment and build a valuable relationship with our
vendors."
Recently, UAEU joined Extreme Networks' Customer
Advisory Council, a body that closely interfaces with
Extreme's Research and Development team. "We are
the first customer in the region with a seat on the
Council," says Dobe. "And that's something we're proud
of. We feel we can bring something to the table from
our experience in the field, and we're among the first
to hear about new developments and initiatives. That
adds to making the relationship a real, valuable part-
nership."
Next Challenge Already Present
With the current upgrade project completed, the next
challenge has already presented itself. The University
has embarked on a new master plan, which involves the
construction of an entirely new campus. The first step
will be building the new College of IT, starting early
next year. The project will specify major implementa-
tions of wireless technology, VoIP solutions, and video
applications. "In view of our experience we have decid-
ed to specify Extreme Networks' equipment as one of
the bids for the network environment of the new build-
ing," says Collins.