Future Cities: How Extreme Networks is Transforming City of Troy into a Smart City

Faced with a rise in the number of technology devices used by residents, visitors, and employees, cities are turning to wireless and wired solutions to increase operational efficiencies, promote economic growth and improve the quality of life for citizens.

To support its increased role in providing seamless wireless networking solutions to smart cities, the City of Troy, Alabama selected Extreme's software-driven end-to-end networking technology to provide reliable, fast, and secure connectivity across 70 locations.

As a result, the City of Troy expanded its BYOD program to accommodate more than 10,000 wired and wireless devices with enhanced network reliability throughout areas including parks and recreational facilities, its public library, and senior complex.

With a desire to streamline the city's networking platform, and with a need for updated power and reliability, the City of Troy replaced its networking equipment from Cisco, Juniper, and others, with Extreme's end-to-end technology solution.

Following Troy's decision to standardize with Extreme, the City has increased redundancy, which is especially important for the police department and their 911 operations, as network downtime is no longer a concern. Standardizing the network has also simplified operations for the City of Troy IT staff and brought time and significant cost savings to Troy's employees, residents and visitors.

Key Facts

•The City of Troy is using ExtremeManagement™ software for streamlined management, visibility and control of its wired and wireless enterprise networking solutions. Both of these solutions are supported by Extreme's underlying ExtremeXOS™ network operating system, which provides the high performance and rich features required for each unique environment.
•Troy also standardized and simplified its switching platform with ExtremeSwitching™ to provide fast and reliable network connectivity for 70 locations, including its parks, recreational facilities, Colley Senior Complex, and the Troy Public Library.
•Troy's network has been running smoothly with ExtremeSwitching, and has grown from 30 switches in 20 locations, to over 100 switches across 70 locations with seamless operations and zero down-time.
•Extreme installed a 10Gig ring around the city so that all departments, including EMS and firefighters, can directly connect to the network with complete redundancy.
•Extreme's switches allowed the city to upgrade with intelligent smart water and electric meters so that they can remotely monitor water and electricity consumption and control their smart lighting. Troy's next project with Extreme will be installing AP cameras around the city for increased security.

Jason Bell, Network Administrator, City of Troy, explains,
"With Extreme's solutions, we modernized our city with a flawless and reliable end-to-end networking infrastructure. The solutions help our employees respond faster and access work resources quicker. Downtime is now a non-issue, which allows employees to be more efficient. Extreme's support services have been unparalleled, as its solutions engineer is always there whenever assistance is needed. We look forward to expanding Troy's relationship with Extreme with its SDN and analytics solutions to pave the way for the city's continued growth."

Robert Nilsson, Director of Vertical Solutions, Extreme Networks, said, "We are thrilled to partner with City of Troy and witness its network transformation with our end-to-end networking solutions. Troy offers its residents and employees plenty of small town charm, with a robust and powerful network to support an increasing number of computers, phones and other devices. We understand the importance of maintaining manageable, reliable networks across a city space bustling with people, and we're proud to outfit Troy with solutions that lower costs with standardization and simplify overall network management for its citizens and IT administrators."