Case Study: Poway Unified School District achieves scalable, secure Gigabit Wi‑Fi for personalized learning with HPE Aruba Networking

Instant Wi-Fi Powers Move Beyond 1:1 And Byod

Poway Unified School District, a 41,000‑student district spanning 100 square miles with 39 schools and 4,000 staff, needed to move beyond 1:1 and BYOD to a district‑wide personalized learning model. Leadership required a simple, secure and scalable wireless solution to support a many‑to‑one environment of as many as 100,000 district‑issued and personal devices while keeping costs and IT overhead low.

Poway deployed 2,200 Aruba 802.11ac Instant access points plus ClearPass and AirWave for centralized, controllerless management, secure policy/guest access, and granular visibility. The upgrade increased AP density (an AP per classroom), enabled smooth roaming with ClientMatch, cut troubleshooting from hours to minutes, and delivered pervasive, high‑performance Wi‑Fi that teachers and students report has immediately improved collaboration and supports the district’s personalized learning goals.

Poway Unified School District

Robert Gravina

CIO