Case Study: Johnson & Wales University achieves centralized, secure, and flexible campus Wi-Fi with HPE Aruba Networking

Johnson & Wales University Switches to Aruba for Integrated Security and Flexibility

Johnson & Wales University, a multi-campus institution, struggled with a distributed, legacy wireless deployment of more than 100 conventional 802.11b “thick” access points. The IT team faced high total cost of ownership, time-consuming per‑AP firmware and configuration changes, poor RF visibility and no wireless intrusion detection, and an inability to scale or centrally enforce security across 30 campus buildings and multiple user groups without touching client devices.

J&W replaced the system with Aruba’s centralized mobility solution—MMC and MC controllers with 100+ Aruba AP‑52 thin APs running ArubaOS, RF management, WIPS, captive portal/VPN and a migration path to 802.1X. The deployment delivered plug‑and‑play provisioning, centralized monitoring and RF visibility, stronger air‑and‑wire security (including user‑level firewalling and reuse of legacy APs via VLANs), higher bandwidth to clients, easier scaling to other campuses and lower overall deployment and management costs.

Johnson & Wales University

James Moskwa

Team Leader, Network and Security