HP ProCurve Networking delivers reliability, security and availability at Weesp
The Municipality of Weesp in the Netherlands lies close to Amsterdam, near to the Amsterdam-Rhine canal. With a population of approximately 17,500, this historic region is famous for its canals, chocolate, porcelain and windmills. Weesp delivers a wide range of services to the local population including culture and leisure, education, sport, health, housing, welfare and environmental services.
The Municipality of Weesp operates from a single site comprising an office building and an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centre. To handle business data and deliver services to approximately 150 staff, the organization previously employed a small Local Area Network (LAN) equipped with 3Com switch technology.
However, as its client base expanded, the organization’s service offerings increased and so ICT personnel became concerned about the challenges associated with supporting the ageing network. The Municipality’s network requirements are typical of small and medium businesses, where security, reliability and affordability are paramount, and the flexibility to expand the network infrastructure as the business expands is a considerable advantage. The Municipality of Weesp also wanted to address a growing demand for wireless technology by staff and consultants and any security issues this could create.
“With no redundancy at the core, we were especially vulnerable to service disruption,” explains Marco Maij, Network ICT manager, the Municipality of Weesp. “As a public service provider, high availability is essential, particularly when satisfying the tough regulatory requirements stipulated by the government’s ICT auditors. We also needed to control wireless access to prevent unauthorized personnel linking devices to the network. Moreover, the solution had to be simple to use and manage.”
The Municipality of Weesp approached several networking vendors, including local HP ProCurve Networking Select Partner, Felton who handled negotiations, surveyed the site and held a series of workshops in close collaboration with the HP ProCurve European Network Design Center (ENDC) in Boeblingen, Germany. At no cost, the ENDC worked with the Municipality of Weesp and Felton to produce full design drawings, a parts list, detailed explanations and advice based on specific needs. Felton then presented the HP ProCurve Adaptive Network solution.
Based on open-standards technology, the HP ProCurve solution comprises two HP ProCurve 5400 series switches, six HP ProCurve 2610 series managed edge switches with PoE and four HP ProCurve Radio Port 230 units. Two HP ProCurve Wireless Edge Services Modules (WESM), in a redundant configuration, work with the 5400 series switches to deliver secure, advanced wireless services, simplified management and unified wired and wireless operations.
To address security concerns and aid efficient network management, the solution incorporates HP ProCurve Manager Plus (PCM+) and HP ProCurve Identity Driven Manager (IDM) software.
The Municipality of Weesp now has a highly reliable, high-performance, scalable networking infrastructure with Gigabit connectivity at the core. The redundant configuration ensures high availability, while the PoE capability and open-standards technology of the managed edge switches will provide the Municipality of Weesp with flexibility when it goes live with its planned IP telephony installation.
The centrally administered, edge-enforced HP ProCurve WESM technology provides the Municipality of Weesp with secure network access control based on user identity. This technology is easy to deploy, and scalability through software licensing reduces TCO.
HP ProCurve Manager Plus (PCM+) allows network administrators at the Municipality of Weesp to configure, update, monitor and troubleshoot wired switches centrally and remotely using the software’s easy-to-use web management interface. The simplicity in which HP ProCurve switches can be deployed, maintained and administered allows small and medium sized businesses like the Municipality of Weesp, to run their networks without having to engage large or specialised IT staff resources. HP ProCurve IDM dynamically applies security, access and performance settings to network infrastructure devices based on user, location and time.
The reliable, high-availability HP ProCurve Adaptive Network solution ensures that Weesp can now deliver services efficiently to the residents of the municipality. Network scalability aids future business growth and modern PoE switches assure current and future IP telephony needs. Once installed, the technology will provide improved communications and lower call costs.
Secure HP ProCurve wireless technology with easy-to-manage software satisfies the requirements of staff and consultants without jeopardizing network integrity. Only approved users receive the correct level of access and unauthorized devices cannot connect to the network. The highly available, highly secure network safeguards the Municipality of Weesp’s services and satisfies the government’s ICT auditors.
The Municipality of Weesp also expects the low maintenance HP ProCurve Adaptive Network solution to drive down TCO; particularly important for government, education and small and medium sized businesses, where budgets are limited and all expenditure needs to be justified. Low-maintenance, plug-and-play HP ProCurve solutions, based on openstandards provide the flexibility and choice to interoperate with third party products. In addition, most HP ProCurve products are backed by the comprehensive Lifetime Warranty♦ which saves money on service contracts, includes free phone and web support and assures next-business-day advance replacement.
“We were very impressed with HP ProCurve and Felton’s abilities in overseeing the solution’s technical aspects and their business and communications skills. After a successful migration, we now look forward to talking with HP ProCurve and Felton about our network needs at our new disaster recovery centre,” concludes Maij.
