Case Study: Valparaiso University achieves 4× faster port testing (one month to one week) with NETSCOUT's LinkSprinter

Network Tester Finds a Home in the Student Resident Halls

Valparaiso University, supporting roughly 5,000 concurrent users and more than 10,000 network drops across 44 buildings, faced a labor‑intensive summer task: have student technicians test every Ethernet port in the residence halls. The old process required lugging laptops to each jack, taking 1–3 minutes per port, manually recording results, and forcing administrators to recheck faults — making the project slow and error‑prone.

Deploying the pocket‑sized LinkSprinter network tester solved the problem: tests now complete in about 10 seconds, use switch advertisement data (LLDP/CDP/EDP) for precise port and VLAN info, and store results in the cloud for quick filtering and troubleshooting. The change made testing student‑friendly, improved result accuracy, and cut the project timeline from about one month to one week.

Valparaiso University

Jason Kellerman

Network Administrator