Andover, U.S.A. — Enterasys Networks, a Siemens Enterprise Communications Company, announced on November 5, that the City of Staunton, Virginia, has upgraded its network with an Enterasys OneFabric Edge solution to better serve its citizens at 30 city government locations.

Based upon Enterasys identiFi, the city is offering free public Wi-Fi Internet access in the city’s Gypsy Hill Park, which includes a pool, baseball field and bandstand where several events take place each week. This deployment is an extension of the free Wi-Fi the city implemented in the Staunton Public Library nearly ten years ago as one of the state’s first public libraries to offer wireless access.

Located in the Shenandoah Valley, Staunton is a 20-square mile city with 24,000 residents. As a long-time Enterasys customer, Staunton has been using Enterasys solutions for 20 years through several network upgrades. The city has 450 nodes on its network, which includes wide area support for the city schools, fiber connect in all its city government facilities, and 28 access points for Wi-Fi access.

“With a five-person IT staff, we are challenged to keep our network stable and running, a critical function for a municipality. Similar to a public utility, there is a high expectation for the network to be always available and so far, our employees have had no complaints about the coverage,” said Kurt Plowman, CTO at City of Staunton. “As a long-time customer, I can say that Enterasys’ identiFi and OneFabric solutions consistently exceed our expectations.”

The City of Staunton has plans to build on its current network to continue to expand Wi-Fi access throughout the city. They are also planning a project to offer enhanced mobility to its police and fire department, which will be supported by the Wi-Fi network. The city is also considering replacing its existing Enterasys core switch with a new Enterasys S-Series. “Enterasys solutions work so well we haven’t needed to upgrade. We ran one of our Enterasys switching platforms for more than 10 years. Their products simply work and are built to last the test of time,” said Plowman.

“One key benefit of using Enterasys is the low cost of annual maintenance, as well as the low support costs and lifetime warranties on products. Just the other day, I spent some time on the line with Enterasys tech support and never felt rushed and was very happy with the service provided,” said Plowman.

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