Case Study: University of Cambridge achieves city-wide seamless wireless connectivity with HPE Aruba Networking

Aruba Wi-Fi + AirWave create city-wide network access at one of the world’s leading universities

The University of Cambridge — a decentralized “city-as-campus” of 31 colleges, 150+ departments and more than 1,000 varied buildings — needed a seamless, high-density wireless network that could span historic structures, outdoor spaces and heavily variable lecture venues while offering simple guest access and a single management view for thousands of access points.

Using Aruba 802.11ac indoor/outdoor APs, Mobility Controllers, Remote Access Points and AirWave management, Cambridge rolled out about 4,500 APs (with plans up to 7,000) to achieve city‑wide coverage. The deployment delivered a unified management platform, under 0.1% AP failure rates, wireless traffic growth from 4% to 25% of the university’s internet usage (about 8PB last year), seamless access for tens of thousands of visitors and a platform for IoT and wayfinding services.

University of Cambridge

Jon Holgate

Head of the University Information Systems’ Network Division