Aruba Networks’ New Mobility Academy Prepares Students for the Mobility Requirements of Tomorrow

World’s First Mobility-Specific Higher Education Program Provides Future IT Leaders with the Tools to Support #GenMobile in the All-Wireless Workplace

The Aruba Mobility Academy is a college and university accredited program that trains tomorrow's IT professionals on mobility and Wi-Fi fundamentals, enabling them to build secure, stable and scalable WLANs. The curriculum, a combination of lectures and hands-on labs, also qualifies them to pursue their Aruba-Certified Mobility Associate (ACMA) certification. (Graphic: Business Wire)

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--()--Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN) today announced it is educating the IT leaders of tomorrow with the world’s first mobility-specific education program designed for colleges and universities. The new Aruba Mobility Academy provides students with the fundamentals required to build, maintain and advance wireless LAN networks. Years of wireless training experiences and materials were used to create unique, for-credit semester-long courses that can be directly integrated into higher education programs.

Aruba Mobility Academy is a global program with its first wave of participation at Texas A&M University, Tafe South Australia and Princess Sumaya University in Jordan. Due to the demand from initial courses at these participating schools, Aruba is working with dozens of colleges and universities worldwide to bring Aruba Mobility Academy to more students.

Prior to the Aruba Mobility Academy curriculum, higher education programs covered general networking topics with no specific focus on the type of networking technology. Since Wi-Fi is now the connectivity medium of choice with wireless traffic expected to exceed wired traffic by the end of 2015, it is becoming crucial for students to gain knowledge and real-world experience with mobility technology to better prepare for #GenMobile in the all-wireless workplace.

According to Greg Lynch, Networking Lecturer for TAFE SA (Technical and Further Education South Australia), the largest education and training provider in Australia, “Since wireless is one of the fastest growing technologies in networking, adding a course specific to Wi-Fi implementation was imperative to prepare our students for real-world networking careers. The Aruba Mobility Academy provides our students with a strong foundation in WLAN technologies and, due to its lab-intensive approach, gives our students the practical experience required for understanding wireless networking and the challenges associated with mobile devices.”

“The addition of a wireless-specific networking course was a critical ingredient in my Advanced Diploma program,” said Daryl Maslin, TAFE SA student and Systems Engineer, Logic Plus. “Completing the Aruba Mobility Academy has helped me gain a stronger foundation to build and secure wireless LAN networks, which has given me a competitive edge in my career as a Systems Engineer.”

The Aruba Mobility Academy foundation-level course is a combination of lectures and labs that covers the basics of wireless LAN solutions, including 802.11 Wi-Fi standards, network mobility architecture, and wireless LAN configuration. The lab-intensive aspect of the curriculum provides students with the skills and practical experience necessary to setup and configure a wireless LAN, as well as fine-tune the wireless infrastructure for mobile devices.

Upon completion of the course, Aruba Mobility Academy students will have the technical understanding and hands-on experience to configure a wireless LAN with mobility controllers and access points. Additionally, Aruba Mobility Academy courses cover common Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) networking challenges, with a focus on Wi-Fi fundamentals, spectrum analysis, wireless LAN design, Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) configuration for 802.1X and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) authentication, and mobile device provisioning for employees and guests.

Located in College Station, Texas A&M is home to more than 50,000 students making it the sixth-largest college in the United States. Dr. Ana Goulart teaches networking courses at the university and has integrated segments of the Aruba Mobility Academy into three of her courses with plans to expand to more courses this summer and fall. "We live in a world where we are increasingly relying on wireless technology to live and work, so it's important to make sure our students have the opportunity to learn about the fundamentals of building and operating wireless networks," said Dr. Goulart, associate professor, Electronic Systems Engineering Technology, Texas A&M. "With the Aruba Mobility Academy curriculum, including hands-on lab lessons, students gain a pragmatic understanding of Wi-Fi and learn how to keep the network secure while providing access to a variety of wireless and mobile devices."

For additional information on Aruba Mobility Academy, please email academy@arubanetworks.com.

Additional Resources

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company designs and delivers Mobility-Defined Networks that empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a new generation of tech-savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for every aspect of work and personal communication. To create a mobility experience that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™ automate infrastructure-wide performance optimization and trigger security actions that used to require manual IT intervention. The results are dramatically improved productivity and lower operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.

© 2014 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks’ trademarks include Aruba Networks®, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company® (stylized), Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™, Aruba Mobility Management System®, People Move Networks Must Follow®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, RFProtect®, Green Island®, ETips®, ClientMatchTM, Virtual Intranet AccessTM, ClearPass Access Management SystemsTM, Aruba InstantTM, ArubaOSTM, xSecTM, ServiceEdgeTM, Aruba ClearPass Access Management SystemTM, AirmeshTM, AirWaveTM, Aruba CentralTM, and “ARUBA@WORKTM. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts

Aruba Networks, Inc.
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
Director of Corporate Communications
pradda@arubanetworks.com
or
LSH Communications for Aruba Networks
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
Principal
lhultin@arubanetworks.com

Contacts

Aruba Networks, Inc.
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
Director of Corporate Communications
pradda@arubanetworks.com
or
LSH Communications for Aruba Networks
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
Principal
lhultin@arubanetworks.com