Recognized as Canada's premier bilingual university, the University of Ottawa was established as the College of Bytown in 1848. It is located in the heart of the National Capital, at the crossroads of French and English Canada and has carved a place of distinction for itself among Canada's leading universities. Its campus provides a vibrant setting for the exchange of ideas and promotes the cross-pollination of knowledge and cultures.

Marc Lefebvre, Network Manager of Informatics and Communications at the University of Ottawa, is responsible for a network that, under his supervision, has grown and expanded into an essential research and communications tool for more than 25,000 students, as well as 850 academic and 1,200 support staff.

Ask Mr. Lefebvre about his greatest challenge, and his reply comes without hesitation: resources. To support the massive volumes of wide and local area network data traffic - the university boasts over 10,000 on-campus network connections - Mr. Lefebvre and his team of two technologists are responsible for a predominantly Cisco-based network that comprises more than 160 switches. In addition to faculty offices, libraries, computer labs, and administration facilities, the university also delivers network services to each residential room on its campus - home to over 2,000 students.

In the past, Mr. Lefebvre says he and his team often taught themselves as they went along, relying on user manuals, past experiences, and trial and error. However, given the importance of the network to academic and administrative staff and students, Mr. Lefebvre says it's now essential that his team be armed with the proper skills to capitalize on available resources while ensuring the reliability and security of a rapidly growing portfolio of network services.

To ensure access to the skill sets they need, Mr. Lefebvre and his team consistently attend courses from Global Knowledge's broad portfolio of authorized Cisco Instructor-Led Classroom training. Regularly scheduled in Global Knowledge's Ottawa training facility, the courses ensure students get the skills they need, when they need them, in a local environment. This maximizes Mr. Lefebvre's training budget by eliminating costs associated with customized curriculum and travel.

As Cisco's largest Learning Solutions Partner, Global Knowledge is able to deliver Mr. Lefebvre and his team of network technologists real-world, expert instruction and the hands-on experience needed to effectively deploy the most advanced Cisco technologies in the University of Ottawa's network.

To date, Mr. Lefebvre and his team have received authorized Cisco training in:

• Local Area Network (LAN) and Internetworking Design and Configuration
• Routing Protocols
• Firewall Technologies
• Network and Services Management

Through Global Knowledge's live labs, the team is able to apply the skills they learn in the classroom to hands-on lab settings on the very same equipment deployed in their network.

"There are far less hiccups now," says Mr. Lefebvre. "Proper training saves you a lot of work later. We know how to get it right the first time with a lot less guessing and downtime."

A Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) with over 10 years of industry experience, Mr. Lefebvre recognizes expertise when he sees it. In addition to receiving the industry's most current authorized Cisco content, he says it's the quality and experience of Global Knowledge's instructors that impresses him. Mr. Lefebvre says that Global Knowledge's instructors take the real world experience they've had in the past and apply it - through clear instruction, accurate lab set-ups, and pertinent exercises - to the challenges he and his team face day to day.

As Mr. Lefebvre and his team continue to build out new services, such as voice over the internet and streaming video across the University of Ottawa network, he envisions his team taking courses in advanced internet routing protocols, Voice over IP (VoIP), quality of service, and more advanced network management.