Case Study: Denver Museum of Nature & Science achieves secure, scalable Wi‑Fi for 1.4M visitors with HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass

Aruba ClearPass ensures connectivity for 1.4 million museum visitors

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science, a 716,000 sq. ft. facility serving about 1.4 million visitors a year, needed to modernize its WLAN during a major expansion to deliver secure, reliable Wi‑Fi for visitors, contractors, staff and interactive exhibits. With a lean IT team, a multivendor network, frequent events that required ad‑hoc SSIDs, and widespread BYOD, the museum faced management complexity, security risks and inconsistent guest experiences.

Working with partner Accuvant, the museum standardized on Aruba technologies—ClearPass Policy Manager (Onboard and Guest), AirWave, 7200 Series controllers and 802.11ac indoor/outdoor APs (including AP‑277). ClearPass centralized role‑based policies, eliminated “SSID soup,” enabled self‑service BYOD and secure guest access, while AirWave simplified multivendor monitoring and troubleshooting. The result: seamless, secure connectivity across the campus for visitors and staff, faster operational workflows (e.g., tablet check‑in), branded guest portals for marketing, and a scalable platform for future mobile engagement.

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Stan Rehfuss

Technology Systems Manager