Arista Networks > Case Studies > HEAnet Enhances Internet Services with Arista 10GbE Switches for Irish Education Sector

HEAnet Enhances Internet Services with Arista 10GbE Switches for Irish Education Sector

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Europe

Country

Ireland

Product

Arista 10GbE Switches
Arista 124s
Cisco 50-E Core Switches

Tech Stack

10GbE Wire Speed
10GBase-SR Optics
SFP Connections

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Networks & Connectivity - Ethernet
Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software

Applicable Industries

Education
Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

HEAnet provides cutting-edge Internet Services to Educational and Research Institutions & Organizations throughout Ireland. Established to leverage the potential of the Irish higher education sector’s investment in technology, HEAnet is one of the largest Internet Service Providers in Ireland, delivering high bandwidth telecommunication links and value-added Internet services to the academic and research communities. HEAnet plays a crucial role in supporting the digital infrastructure of educational institutions, ensuring that they have access to reliable and high-speed internet services. The organization is committed to continuously upgrading its infrastructure to meet the growing demands of its clients, which include universities, colleges, and research institutions across Ireland.

The Challenge

To continue to meet client demand for additional bandwidth and services, HEAnet is constantly planning, developing, and upgrading its infrastructure. The recent rapid growth in demand for co-location, mirroring, streaming, and virtualization services has highlighted the need for cost-effective, high aggregate upstream bandwidth capable of delivering these fast provisioning services. Aggregation and multiple Gigabit connections were becoming unwieldy and increasingly expensive, making cost-effective 10 GbE (gigabit Ethernet) switching instrumental in HEAnet’s plan to extend its managed service provision. The primary concern was to find the best solution that could provide 'hot standby' capability, while also considering cost, space, and power consumption.

The Solution

HEAnet evaluated a number of oversubscribed 10GbE switches and was most impressed by the Arista 100 series, which was totally non-blocking and delivered 10GbE Wire Speed on all ports. The ability to carry both 1GbE and 10GbE provided the flexibility to fully leverage existing infrastructure. The Arista 124s was also the most cost-effective option considered. The specification included 2 Cisco 50-E core switches providing L3 connectivity to the HEAnet National Backbone, with each 124S connected to a single 50-E with 10GBase-SR optics. The Arista switches were connected together with 2 10GBase-SR ports aggregated into a single logical, load-balanced interface. Each of the 4 backend servers of the HEAnet mirror service was connected to each switch with a 10GBase-SR link, aggregated into an active/active bonded interface. All traffic between the 2 core Cisco switches was carried across the 124S switches.

Operational Impact

The Arista 100 series switch proved to be a game changer, delivering high performance and availability that was previously not possible.
The command line syntax of the Arista switch was simple and easy to learn, facilitating a smooth transition.
The flexible connectivity and extensible operating system of the Arista 100 series open up new deployment possibilities for future projects.
The ability to use SFP connections in any combination of copper or Fibre may prove invaluable for future projects involving client site deployment.
The open APIs of the Arista switches allow for customization in national and international academic connectivity projects.