Institution bridges educational gaps with technology to reach underserved, remote, and First Nations communities

To empower local communities with hands-on educational opportunities, New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) uses immersive technologies, including an ingenious Mobile Training Center (MTC), to reach individuals in underserved, remote, and First Nations areas. In support of its mission, NBCC is now deploying a Wi-Fi 6E-enabled end-to-end AI-powered HPE Aruba Networking ESP (Edge Services Platform) solution by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE).

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New Brunswick Community College's ingenious Mobile Training Center (MTC). (Photo: Business Wire)

As one of the largest post-secondary educational institutions in New Brunswick, Canada, the community college is modernizing its networking infrastructure to support the education, training, and microcredentials required to advance careers in healthcare, IT, and skilled trades¹. NBCC is implementing their new infrastructure throughout its six campuses, spread across the 28,000-square-mile province, that serve more than 10,000 students and 1,700 apprentices annually.

“We’re working to connect more learners with opportunities to develop the skilled individuals that businesses need to grow and compete,” said Simon Collier, Director of IT for NBCC. “Through the innovative use of technology, tools, and spaces, NBCC is bridging the gap between distance and education. Our high-performance, secure, and reliable HPE Aruba Networking infrastructure is critical for reaching students, regardless of where they live or what the weather is like during our notoriously harsh winters.”

After evaluating networking options, NBCC determined that adopting HPE Aruba Networking's Wi-Fi 6E-enabled AP-635 indoor access points (APs) was the best choice for gaining future-ready institutional infrastructure. “Adopting Wi-Fi 6E ensures we can future-proof our network to power our cloud-first academic model, which is essential for delivering hands-on and hybrid educational experiences,” said Collier. “The cloud applications our Wi-Fi supports range from academic tools, like D2L Brightspace and Microsoft Teams, to administrative applications, such as Oracle PeopleSoft Campus Solutions.”

In addition to indoor APs, NBCC is also deploying HPE Aruba Networking’s outdoor APs on the MTC, to supply community members with mobile connectivity, and adopting remote access points (RAPs), to provide its teleworkers with the same streamlined, reliable, and secure access to institutional applications as if they were onsite. For wired networking, NBCC is implementing HPE Aruba Networking’s CX Series Switches.

“The MTC is just one example of how we’re bridging opportunity gaps, no matter where a student learns, as the vehicle rapidly transforms into 1,000-square-feet of reconfigurable course-specific classroom space,” said Collier. “That's why we’re outfitting it with the same robust Wi-Fi and wired infrastructure as on our physical campuses, which ensures that students and instructors have access to the cloud-delivered academic resources we’ve adopted. This includes next-generation IoT and other technologies, such as Microsoft HoloLens.”

By leveraging their HPE Aruba Networking APs as an IoT platform, including the ability to perform IoT gateway functionality for Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi enabled devices, NBCC can simplify the deployment and management of current and future IoT initiatives.

NBCC is also unifying, simplifying, and securing wired and wireless administration using HPE Aruba Networking’s integrated zero trust security capabilities by adopting HPE Aruba Networking Central for AI-powered network management along with a combination of HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass and Dynamic Segmentation for automated, role-based security of wired and wireless endpoints and IoT solutions.

This is enabling NBCC to securely deploy a wide-range of connected technologies, such as large-format informational displays, printers, smart lighting, door access solutions, security cameras, HVAC systems, and wireless panic buttons for improving the physical security of students, faculty, and staff. AI-powered endpoint profiling using Client Insights within HPE Aruba Networking Central ensures NBCC can easily identity any device that connects to their network.

“Using HPE Aruba Networking Central, we not only gain the unified wired and wireless management from a single, intuitive interface, but also built-in features like AI Insights, which has helped us locate the root cause of issues in minutes,” said Blair Sawler, Manager of Infrastructure and IT Security for NBCC. “In addition, streamlining security with HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass has enabled us to decommission nearly 70% of our legacy access control hardware, reducing cost and complexity.”

According to Sawler, the automation capabilities within HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass and CX Switches have also eliminated numerous hours of manual effort every month. “This helps us keep IT overhead low and re-focus engineering time onto higher-value projects, such as implementing our new ERP system, in support of our ultimate purpose: student success,” he said.

To learn more, visit HPE Aruba Networking. For real-time news updates, follow HPE Aruba Networking on X/Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and HPE Aruba Networking products, visit the Airheads Community.

Sources:

¹ Demand for skilled trades is soaring. So what's standing in the way of more apprenticeships? CBC/Radio Canada, March 14, 2023

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is the global edge-to-cloud company that helps organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere. Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open, and intelligent technology solutions as a service. With offerings spanning Cloud Services, Compute, High Performance Computing & AI, Intelligent Edge, Software, and Storage, HPE provides a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance. For more information, visit: www.hpe.com

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