Case Study: Europa House achieves uninterrupted, prioritized Internet access and 40% monthly cost savings with Barracuda Networks' Link Balancer

University OF Illinois Housing Facility Provides Uninterrupted Internet Access WITH THE Barracuda Link Balancer

Europa House, a University of Illinois residential facility serving about 100 students and visiting scholars, struggled with slow and unreliable Internet from a single cable connection. Residents needed consistent access to university resources—online libraries, courseware, portals and streaming media—but frequent link saturation caused latency, disrupted coursework and generated many support calls.

The facility deployed a Barracuda Link Balancer 430 and added two cable links to aggregate bandwidth, enable automated failover and apply QoS rules that prioritize critical academic traffic. The appliance also replaced an in-house firewall and handled NAT/port forwarding; the result was faster, more reliable access, a sharp drop in support calls, prevention of single-user saturation and about a 40% monthly cost savings.

Europa House

Rob Eden

Network Administrator