The Kibbutzim College has recently launched a new campus in Tel-Aviv, which will operate alongside the renown Namir Road campus in Tel-Aviv. The college has undergone an upgrade of its IT network, in preparation for the dramatic move to online studies. The project was based on the Extreme Fabric Connect management system that provides synergized solutions and cyber security to the campuses in a time of cyber-attacks and instability.
Bezeq International has announced the completion of a dual integration project of IT systems for the Kibbutzim College. The project included a rewiring of the digital system at the older campus of the college at Namir Rd. Tel-Aviv, parallel to the installation of a brand-new digital campus. This was recently inaugurated over six floors of the Shalom Meir Tower (Kolbo Shalom ) Bezeq International, a leading solution provider to the business sector, has added that the two campuses will operate synergistically, responding to the thousands of users and providing back up as well
The project was completed at the end of December. It included integration of the IT system and the building of a totally new digital campus, which will respond to every computerized activity of the college. The project focused on information security – a super sensitive issue in the Corona era, where large chunks of the college activity were diverted to remote formats, based upon SDN technology and the management system
Complicated project on a tight schedule
“We ran a particularly busy project on a very tight schedule” says Shlomo Blanka, IT manager at the Kibbuzim College. One of the tasks we have confronted Bezeq International, it’s the short time, before the academic year began – without disturbing the campus environment, or the working routine of the thousands of remote users. It had to deploy passive infrastructure in 1000 locations and to implement Extreme Networks active equipment – core switches, network monitors and 6th generation access points.”
“One of the main challenges was the need to provide simultaneous respond to the two campuses, whereby, the two are connected and complement each other on a daily basis” Eran Luzon, Pre-sale enterprise at Bezeq International, reports. “This had to be done whilst the college’s activity went on with our implementation process being unnoticed.”
Activity goes On-line.
The implications of Corona forced The Kibbutzim College to transfer its academic activity to an on-line computerized remote format. Years of working habits had to be altered immediately, so that thousands of students, teachers and other college staff could go on without their work and studies’ routines being disrupted. It is a significant technological challenge, when one of the challenges faced was the old campus’s infrastructure upgrade. Bandwidth, communication quality and response time became even more important due to Covid-19 restrictions, says Ely Candle, Manager Israel activity at “Extreme Network”. “With 7000 students remotely connected on a regular basis, one must leverage the standards to provide a stable infrastructure, and seamless service, both fault free. The system was designed to respond to the increasing needs of the College” explains Candle, all activities were transferred to an online format with all academic context and materials streamed in learning sessions.
Automation, analytics, and hidden network
“any equipment device that connects to the network, be it a computer, a printer, a camera, or any other object, will automatically be authenticated, defined and secured at a secure level. Automation provides optimal service to any user that is routed through core switches to the shortest and fastest route in the network. In the case of disconnection – planned, faulty or because of an attack – the service is automatically removed and dramatically increases information security levels” says Shlomo Blanka.
The management system provides real-time analysis of deviations, tracks anomalies, feeding the results to a database which is analyzed to identify overload failures, bottlenecks and protection from cyber-attacks. “This is a significant point, especially with the many hostile attacks we have recently heard of” says Candle. “To confront the threat, we have installed a hidden SDN network. Every user – security camera, student, or authorized lecturer – can only reach the layer he is supposed to”, he explains. “If you do not have authentication, the network simply doesn’t exist for you. This is good protection against cyber-attacks and deters any computer student who tries using his network access to change grades.
Eran Barak, manager strategic customers’ division Bezeq International, sums up “in projects of this scale, such as the Kibbutzim College, understanding the customers’ needs is the key to success. It is important to carry out a complete examination of all the wishes, tools and abilities, to build a project topology that will allow quiet implementation and perfect system upgrade. I am pleased to announce that Bezeq International has successfully completed another large-scale project”
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