ARUBA NETWORKS HELPS TULSA PUBLIC SCHOOLS SLASH THE COST OF WI-FI NETWORKING

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Oklahoma's Second Largest School District Obtains Industry-Leading Wireless Capacity With Fewer Access Points

Sunnyvale, CA, March 9, 2010- Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN), a global leader in 802.11n wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced that Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) - the second largest school district in Oklahoma - has deployed an adaptive wireless network across its schools using fewer access points, and achieving far better capacity, than competing alternatives. The 173-square-mile school district serves roughly 42,000 students from 59 elementary schools, sixteen middle schools, nine high schools, and six special schools.

The District's legacy wireless network included more than 150 Cisco autonomous access points. As wireless usage grew and security requirement became more stringent, the legacy system proved too difficult to manage and too expensive to expand. Wireless performance was also an issue; as the density of wireless users increased, network performance fell.

To address these issues TPS surveyed the market to find a replacement solution that could scale to support more than 1,000 access points spread across 90 schools, was centrally managed, and could support high densities of users simultaneously accessing the network. In addition to considering the incumbent vendor, and based on recommendations from other school districts, TPS included Aruba in a technical bake-off from which a single vendor would be selected.

"The technical bake-off was an interesting process because it starkly illuminated what Aruba's references had told us to expect," said Kirk Damron, TPS's Director of System Architecture. "The Aruba network was very easy to set-up and manage, it scaled to support both current and future needs, and it offered industry-leading client density. In terms of functionality, a single Aruba 6000 Mobility Controller accomplished what the other vendor required multiple separate appliances to do."

Most K-12 schools are situated in areas subject to radio interference and neighboring Wi-Fi networks. Compounding these issues, Wi-Fi clients do not always work cooperatively with other clients, or select the optimal band, channel, and access point. Aruba developed its Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) technology to automatically correct for these situations and allow the network to run reliably at all times. ARM uses infrastructure controls to optimize the RF band and channel selection, power output levels, access point loading, airtime allocation, and interference mitigation. By closing the gap between the theoretical performance of Wi-Fi clients and what is achieved in real-world deployments, users enjoy a better wireless experience.

ARM also provides a high degree of survivability in the event of damage to an access point. By automatically adjusting the power levels of nearby access points, ARM automatically fills in any coverage gaps in the event an access point is taken out of service. In contrast, single channel networks that always operate at full power - or Wi-Fi arrays that pack multiple access points into one vulnerable enclosure - are susceptible to crippling service outages if a single device fails. "The Aruba Wi-Fi network we deployed has been rock solid, and has proven to be especially flexible, easy to manage, and inexpensive to run," said Damron.

Additional information on the benefits of Adaptive Radio Management can be found in Aruba's free white paper,ARM Yourself To Increase Enterprise WLAN Data Capacity.

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

People move. Networks must follow. Aruba securely delivers networks to users, wherever they work or roam, using a combination of award-winning solutions:

• Adaptive 802.11n Wi-Fi networks optimize themselves to ensure that users are always within reach of mission-critical information. Rightsizing expensive wired LANs by replacing them with high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi reduces both capital and operating expenses;
• Identity-based security assigns access policies to users, enforcing those policies whenever and wherever a network is accessed;
• Remote networking solutions for branch offices, fixed telecommuters, and satellite facilities ensures uninterrupted remote access to applications;
• Multi-vendor network management provides a single point of control while managing both legacy and new wireless networks from Aruba and its competitors.

The cost, convenience, and security benefits of our secure mobility solutions are fundamentally changing how and where we work. Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba athttp://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates followAruba on Twitter.

© 2010 Aruba Networks, Inc. AirWave®, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Bluescanner, For Wireless That Works, Mobile Edge Architecture, People Move. Networks Must Follow., The All-Wireless Workplace Is Now Open For Business, RFprotect, Green Island, and The Mobile Edge Company® are trademarks of Aruba Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Michael Tennefoss
Aruba Networks, Inc.
+1-408-754-8034

mtennefoss@arubanetworks.com

Patty Oien
Breakaway Communications.
+1-415-358-2482

poien@breakawaycom.com

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