CSC News

August 09, 2007

Cisco Systems Equipment Donation to Support Joint CSC / ECE Lab

Super ePartner, Cisco Systems, has made a significant networking & wireless equipment donation to NC State University, valued at over $540,000.  The partnership will provide future generations of engineering students with hands-on learning experience with Cisco technology. 

The donation includes four racks of new equipment to be used in a joint laboratory by students in both the Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments.  The new laboratory, scheduled to open by January 2008, will be used by students who are on the path to receiving bachelors, masters or doctorate degrees from the departments.  Though students will use the laboratory primarily for networking courses, students who choose to pursue a CCNA or CCNP certification may be able to use the laboratory while registered for a relevant networking class.

Dr. Harry Perros, Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor at NC State University, and faculty prime for the partnership says, "Much of the equipment will be housed in the new ‘Don Martin Computer Science Teaching Lab’ where it will primarily be used for lab exercises for CSC/ECE 576 ‘Connection-Oriented Networks’ course.”

Perros adds, “This course is taught every semester, and one of its main components is MPLS, a signaling protocol for setting up connections within the IP network.  Currently, the MPLS lab exercises that the students do are based on emulated software.  This donation will enable the students to carry out MPLS lab exercises from the CCNP and CCIE training manuals on real equipment. This is a major boost in the way that we teach this course."

In addition to enjoying a strong partnership in the classroom and labs with Cisco, NC State is the #1 supplier of new grad talent nationwide to Cisco Systems.

Cisco primes, Tsege Beyene and Wayne Clark led the effort to provide the donation, with the support of Cisco's University Relations, Community Relations, CDO and Technical Services business units.

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