University of New Mexico

2
This $60 million project to update the 46-year old home
of the UNM “Lobos” (wolves in Spanish) was completed
in the fall of 2010, just in time for the 2010-2011 season.
The Pit renovation added more than 60,000 square feet
of space with additional concession stands, rest rooms,
locker room and training facility upgrades. New digital
signage was added with improved web and telephony
access for the press and others.
The University planned and implemented a network
edge upgrade using HP Networking (3Com at the
time) switches and software to meet new and increased
demands on its infrastructure, such as the:
•addition and renovation of multiple facilities,
•widespread use of multiple network-dependent
devices,
•growth in data generation and transmission, and
•increased dependence on collaboration tools and
remote educational resources.
Network patchwork provides
opportunity for improvement
“Our network edge infrastructure had been assembled
over a number of years without a cohesive funding
source or implementation strategy,” notes Gil Gonzales,
Ph.D., UNM chief information officer (CIO), who joined
the University in mid 2008. “We had departments that
had control of their own switches and switches that were
multi-tenant, meaning we had the challenge of trying
to secure funding from multiple sources. We needed to
improve purchasing efficiency, increase reliability and,
essentially, capture the edge to provide the dynamic
services required by educators, students and staff.”
The challenge was to plan and deliver an improved
and expanded edge network environment that
would not only deliver higher performance, greater
reliability, centralized management, and flexible growth
capabilities, but do with so in a way that provides costs
savings. As UNM IT was researching and planning the
network edge upgrade in 2009, the organization was
directed by UNM president David Schmidly to identify
areas of cost containment to help offset state funding
cuts brought on by the recession.
The UNM edge network infrastructure was a clear
target for cost containment, not only in capital expense
(CAPEX) through centralized purchasing, but also in
operating expense (OPEX) savings through reductions
in ongoing support and maintenance costs. At the
same time, where edge switches have in the past been
considered commodity devices for simple network
connectivity, today they are central to delivering the
connectivity and other services required by UNM.
This includes network security, mobility, Power over
Ethernet (PoE), Virtual Local Area Networking (VLAN),
connectivity for Voice over IP (VoIP) phones, and
unified communications.
Over a nine-month period, UNM network experts
evaluated edge networking solutions and technologies
from leading vendors such as Cisco, 3Com, HP and
Juniper, as well as smaller or start-up firms. “We
worked very hard to gain a deep understanding of
the networking products on the market and how they