SAN JOSE, Calif., October 24, 2006 - Cisco Systems® today announced that Long Island University (LIU), one of the largest and most comprehensive institutions of higher education in the country, has deployed a storage area network (SAN) based on Cisco MDS 9216i Multilayer Fabric Switches, as well as an end-to-end Cisco data center architecture. LIU serves 28,000 students enrolled in more than 600 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs on six campuses.

The university recently embarked on an ambitious plan to implement new applications to support critical business functions such as payroll, human resources (HR), and online student registration. To support these mission-critical applications, LIU upgraded its data storage environment at the Brooklyn and Brookville campuses on New York's Long Island. The university also added end-to-end Cisco data center application networking services that enhance the control, performance and security of its data network.

"Our goal was to have online registration plus the business operations now have scattered over many systems consolidated at one location, running through a single, highly available system that is very easy to use," says Carlos Siverio, director of network services for Long Island University.

The SAN is composed of four Cisco MDS 9216i Multilayer Fabric Switches connecting server clusters at the two campuses with the university's data storage arrays. The switches are deployed in a dual fabric design for redundancy and high availability.

"Our new SAN simplifies data storage management, supports a robust business continuity and disaster recovery strategy, enables storage capacity to be added as needed, and supports new applications to accommodate growth and changing needs," Siverio says.

LIU has also enhanced the manageability of its network application services with the addition of Cisco data center solutions. The university has deployed Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches containing firewall modules for protection, while Cisco Content Switching Modules (CSM) help to maximize performance through real-time load balancing. LIU is also using a Cisco GSS 4491 Global Site Selector, which works with Cisco CSMs to provide load balancing across distributed data centers for better traffic management and centralized command and control.

The new data center architecture supports a Cisco IP network already in place. LIU has deployed an end-to-end Cisco infrastructure comprised of Cisco Unified Communications products and more than 300 Cisco switches and routers. This network provides unified wired and wireless voice, video, and data communication, along with extensive security features.

The new applications and storage area network are helping LIU to stay competitive by offering the infrastructure and support that students and staff expect of a high-caliber university. Students, faculty and administrators benefit from the added security, high availability, and scalability of their new storage area network.

In the near future, the university plans to mirror data to a disaster recovery site to provide even greater data safeguards, using the Fibre Channel over IP capability of the Cisco MDS 9216i Multilayer Fabric Switches.

"As a university, we exist to serve our students. We need our data to be available at all times so the students have the best possible learning environment and our business systems are always available," says Dr. Kamel Dr. Lecheheb, LIU's deputy CIO and dean of information technology.