Solsis showcase 10GE network solutions, embarking on Building the Largest campus Network in Asia

September 30, 2003

A signing ceremony between Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Solsis (M) Sdn Bhd, witnessed by Cisco Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd will mark UiTM as a pioneer in the education sector to build the largest campus network in Asia with 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) solutions.

One of Malaysia's top educational institutions, UiTM, has embarked on this project to facilitate high-speed Internet and intranet access to its 40,000 staff and students in its main campus in Shah Alam, as well as nation-wide branch campuses consisting of a large number of users riding on the main campus backbone to access the intranet and Internet.

With the objective of building an infrastructure capable of creating a world-class e-learning environment, and to cope with a fast growing staff and student population, UiTM opted for a future-proofed network that was reliable and scalable. The network is able to support the convergence of storage, data, voice and multimedia applications in addition to service such as IP telephony and videoconferencing.

"As a university that prides itself on academic excellence and the development of the next generation of leaders for Malaysia, it is important that we keep pace with advancements around the world. To become a world-class university, we need to provide world-class facilities with a solid network and communications infrastructure," said Yg Bhg Dato' Seri Prof Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah, Vice Chancellor, UiTM.

To create world-class facilities, Solsis will build an e-learning infrastructure using Cisco Catalyst? 6500 switches with 1-port 10 GE-NET modules and Supervisor 720 engine. "Although the initial specification requirement was for an 8 GE network, Solsis was determined to provide the best and most updated network solution for UiTM. We trust that UiTM is satisfied with our initiative to provide a 10 GE-NET upgrade instead," said En Ahmad Rizan, Managing Director, Solsis (M) Sdn Bhd.

Dato' Seri Prof Dr Ibrahim added that, "Having established a decade long relationship with Solsis, we are comfortable to be working with them as we are aware of their capabilities. We are particularly excited and look forward to working with them again on this UiTM 10 GE-NET project as well as their partner Cisco Systems. We have used Cisco equipment for several years now and feel accustomed to their product quality and technical leadership."

The UiTM 10 GE network will take full advantage of the increased scalability in performance and intelligent network services provided by Solsis. Using Cisco equipment, a total of 5.5 Terabits of switching capacity is delivered through the Catalyst 6500 switches. The university's data center server farms are also equipped with the Cisco Content Switch Module (CSM), which will provide content aware server load balancing for intelligent and fast Web caching. Also in the network are Cisco Catalyst 4500 modular switches, Cisco Catalyst 2950 and Cisco Catalyst 3550 stackable switches.

"UiTM is the first university in Malaysia, and one of the first in the whole of Asia, to build an advanced network of this size. This is a strong indication of their commitment to building an environment that augments the education process with e-learning programs and tools. UiTM's network is an excellent example of how internetworking technologies are creating benefits for organizations throughout the world," said Johnson Khoo, Managing Director, Cisco Systems.

En Ahmad Rizan, concludes, "This is an honour for Solsis, as we are proud that UiTM is playing an exemplary role in investing in technology and its future. Having said that, we hope that other educational institutions will take heed & ensue technological advancement and inevitably promote the evolution of IT."