Scaling growth
with SDN
Hutto Independent School District removes
bottlenecks to learning with software-defined
networking.
“We need to react quickly to new demands as our district
grows. Software-defined networking is the future.”
- Travis Brown, Director of Technology, Hutto Independent School District
One of the fastest-growing school districts in Texas, Hutto needed a network
that could keep up. A software-defined policy model is helping the district
scale its resources and provide students with up-to-date technology.
• Meet growing demands for network access from
teachers and students
Challenges
• Scale network, innovative learning, and
technology initiatives districtwide
• Support bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiative
with full security
Hutto Independent School District serves a growing community in the Austin
metropolitan area, a major technology hub. The district strives to provide
students and teachers with the latest technology, including Chromebooks and
virtual desktops, which require network resources. Enrollment has surged to
6600 students across eight campuses, increasing the demands for network
access and generating higher traffic.
“We needed to replace our aging network infrastructure with a more flexible
and robust solution that could scale and support a more innovative learning
environment,” says Travis Brown, director of technology.
Instead of simply replacing core switches, the district wanted a radically different
architecture, one that could increase business agility and allow its small IT team
to support bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and other initiatives.
“Everything in education depends on technology these days, from lunchroom
menus to sprinklers to classroom instruction,” Brown says. “We wanted to take
proactive steps to be able to react faster and move into the future of networking.”
Case Study | Hutto Independent School District
Size: 6,600 Students, 900 Employees
Location: Hutto, Texas
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Industry: K-12 Education
1
Hutto School District moves to a policybased SDN architecture with Cisco data
center solutions.
Solutions
• Standardized on Cisco UCS® servers and the
Cisco ACI for centralized management and
automation
• Deployed Cisco Nexus® 9000 Series Switches
for scalability and performance
A great fit for school districts
Hutto was the first K-12 school district in the U.S. to deploy the Cisco
Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). A multisite deployment with two data
centers helps the district provide a more flexible model of educational delivery
across its schools.
“Cisco ACI gives us enterprise-class features without a huge capital investment,”
Brown says. “It’s a great fit for school districts and other organizations with
limited budgets and resources. We don’t have to compromise on performance
or security.”
More innovation in the classroom
With its robust Cisco infrastructure, the district can support BYOD classrooms
and virtual desktops and offer innovative programs in bilingual education, career
readiness, science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics.
SUPPORTS
BYOD
COMPLETE
NETWORK
MANAGEMENT
“In education, every moment is precious, both in
the classrooms and for IT,” says Brown. “We’re
making the most of our time and our talent, and
putting more technology in students’ hands.”
A more proactive, efficient IT team
With the ability to perform updates during business hours and define security
policies with a programmable, API-driven platform, just two administrators are
needed to manage the growing network. Servers can be quickly and easily
deployed in the data center and extended logically to campus networks for
centralized management.
“With Cisco ACI, we can proactively address application and security needs and
resolve any issues before users even notice a problem,” says Christopher
Harding, a network administrator. “We have more flexibility than ever before.
Whatever software a teacher wants to use, we can easily adapt and make it work.”
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
2
Keeping campuses safe
The district is strengthening its physical security as well as network security
with its Cisco infrastructure, including IP video cameras, and a new statesanctioned police department.
“We’ll be using Cisco ACI to write policies that protect police data while giving
officers the access that they need to keep our campuses safe,” says Keith
Reynolds, a network administrator.
• Helps district meet new demands
Results
• Supports BYOD initiatives to put more
technology in students’ hands
• Gives two staff members the ability to manage
the entire network
Scaling for future schools
In the coming years, Hutto plans to add a new school campus every year,
placing even greater demands on its IT infrastructure. The district will be
ready. “Standardizing on Cisco gives us confidence that we can continue
to make our district the best it can be,” Brown says. “It has given us more
control and exponentially improved our ability to react, adapt, and scale.”
Products & Services
Unified Computing
• Cisco UCS B200 M3 and M4 Blade
Servers
• Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade
Server Chassis
Data Center & Virtualization
• Cisco Application Centric
Infrastructure (ACI)
Americas Headquarters
Cisco Systems, Inc.
San Jose, CA
Cloud & Systems Management
• Cisco Application Policy
Infrastructure Controller (APIC)
Routing and Switching
• Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches
Services
• Cisco Smart Net Total Care™ Service
Asia Pacific Headquarters
Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Europe Headquarters
Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL:
www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship
between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
05/16