The College of William & Mary needed to refresh their network architecture, which consisted of multiple 1Gbps core distribution links and 100 Mbps network connections to edge desktop computers. The network monitoring infrastructure was comprised of SPAN ports and unmanaged inline 1Gig TAPs attached to SNORT Intrusion (News - Alert) Detection Systems and network-monitoring Linux servers dispersed throughout the campus environment.

So, what to do to increase network capacity, distribute VoIP, improve network resiliency and traffic engineering capabilities? The College of William & Mary’s network engineers decided to do a network upgrade.

The new architecture consisted of upgrading to 10Gbps core distribution links and 1Gbps connections to edge desktop computers. Network engineers at the college found they would need better visibility on the higher speed connections while containing costs.

So they deployed the GigaVUE-2404 Data Access Switch in the core of the campus network and consolidated all 10-Gigabit inline TAP monitor ports and SPAN data. The GigaVUE-2404 “enabled secure access and complete network visibility,” college officials said.

Using the intelligent filtering engine, network engineers at the College of William & Mary were able to aggregate and filter incoming 10Gbps data. The more manageable and easier to identify traffic was sent to lower speed 1Gbps monitoring interfaces.

By deploying the Gigamon (News - Alert) GigaVUE-2404 Data Access Switch, the College of William & Mary’s network engineers said, they “experienced immediate investment protection” by allowing them to use their existing 1Gbps monitoring tools: “The GigaVUE improved the manageability of previously un-managed in-line network taps, and increased flexibility by utilizing Gigamon’s advanced mapping and connection filters.”

Gigamon provided the ability to aggregate multiple 10Gbps links, filter and load divide the traffic streams, which allowed network engineers to direct specified traffic to the appropriate tools.