Chulalongkorn University Deploys Cisco Service Control Engine to Optimize Bandwidth Usage for Researchers, Students and Staff

BANGKOK, Thailand.- Affirming its vision to take advantage of information and communications (ICT) technology, Chulalongkorn University has put in place a service control solution from Cisco® to optimize bandwidth usage and prioritize network traffic for researchers, students and staff.

The new solution allows researchers to efficiently use the Internet and Chulalongkorn’s own network, which is also built with Cisco equipment, to collaborate with their colleagues in other institutions, while ensuring sufficient bandwidth on the network for students to communicate with their lecturers and peers and to access academic resources. Datapro Computer Systems Co., a Cisco Silver Certified Partner, installed and configured the solution.

Kamales Santivejkul, vice president and chief information officer, Chulalongkorn University, said the university is committed to using ICT to continuously improve its research capabilities, academic services and management processes, in order to achieve Chulalongkorn’s goal of becoming a reference point for a knowledge-based society in Thailand.

Chulalongkorn has been an early adopter of networking and Internet technologies, but the popularity of peer-to-peer (P2P) networking applications was beginning to consume a disproportionate amount of campus bandwidth, as well as posing security risks to the network. Through close consultation with Datapro and Cisco, the university decided to deploy the Cisco SCE 1000 Series Service Control Engine to efficiently manage the bandwidth for all active users, endpoint devices and applications.

With the Cisco SCE 1000 in place, the university has seen peak traffic levels drop from 800 megabits per second (Mbps) to around 400 Mbps. The university’s current Internet bandwidth is 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), so it has successfully created room for more applications to function. Access to e-mail, to the Internet and, most important, to educational resources is now available at acceptable speeds. The Cisco SCE 1000 also saved the university from having to acquire additional bandwidth.

Using the management features of the Cisco SCE 1000 Series Service Control Engine, the university can allocate a defined amount of bandwidth to users on a per-hour or per-day basis. If the usage exceeds the amount allowed, the engine automatically reduces the amount of bandwidth available to a predetermined amount. This can be reset for each user every 24 hours. In fact, it can even be configured so that P2P applications get low priority during the day when other applications are needed, but get regular priority at night. Different usage profiles will be applied to different user groups for more detailed bandwidth management.

Tatchapol Poshyanonda, managing director of Cisco Thailand, said that Chulalongkorn University has selected a solution that is normally used by telecommunications service providers so they can be very sure of the quality and reliability of the Cisco SCE 1000. “Cisco is pleased to help empower Chula researchers, students and staff to fully make use of the Internet for accessing academic resources and enhancing their teaching and learning experience. Such empowerment is in line with Cisco’s vision for lifelong learning and for using the network and the Internet to change the way people live and the way they learn. We hope it will also help develop qualified workers for the knowledge society in Thailand.”