Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, has announced significant advancements to its Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform), as well as new functionality in Aruba Central, to help organizations keep up with rapidly changing business requirements.
With cloud-native services that simplify policy provisioning and automate network configurations in wired, wireless, and WAN infrastructures, the new Aruba Central NetConductor enables enterprises to centralize the management of distributed networks. While enforcing Zero Trust and SASE security policies, Central NetConductor enables a more agile network.
Aruba also unveiled the industry’s first self-locating indoor access points (APs) with built-in GPS receivers, as well as Open Locate, a proposed new industry standard for sharing location data from an AP to a device.
A modern, agile network uses a network “overlay” that seamlessly connects existing VLAN segments with cloud-native policy and configuration services, allowing users and devices to connect securely and reliably from anywhere. Central NetConductor uses AI for management and optimization, implements business-intent workflows to automate network configuration, and extends Aruba’s industry-leading built-in security with cloud-native Network Access Control (NAC) and Dynamic Segmentation for fabric-wide enforcement to help customers accelerate their digital transformation initiatives. Because Central NetConductor is based on widely accepted protocols such as EVPN, VXLAN, and BGP, it can be implemented in a seamless manner, preserving investments based on the ability to operate with existing Aruba networks and third-party vendor infrastructures.
“In today’s business world, flexibility is paramount – enterprises need to be able to shift gears, turn up new services and offerings, and serve new customers seemingly overnight. Because the network underpins everything – enabling critical connectivity and data-driven intelligence – it’s got to have the flexibility built-in,” said Maribel Lopez, founder of Lopez Research. “Organizations today should look for standards-based solutions that give them technical flexibility and the ability to protect their investments and adopt new technologies at their own pace, but also options when it comes to consumption models.”
Static networks can no longer support changing security requirements or meet growing business demands; thus, organizations must engage in a process of continuous network modernization based on three main principles:
Aruba Central NetConductor accelerates the deployment, management, and protection of modern, fabric-based networks by mapping capabilities to the three network modernization principles:
WLAN AP installation is still a manual process that takes time, is prone to error, and results in an untrustworthy reference for location-aware applications. To address this, Aruba has introduced the industry’s first self-locating indoor APs, which simplify how organizations capture indoor location data and communicate information to any mobile device or application over the air.
Aruba Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E APs enable highly accurate, automated WLAN deployments by combining built-in GPS receivers, Wi-Fi Location support for fine time measurement, and intelligent software. Aruba’s self-locating WLAN APs provide zero-touch AP location determination, continuous validation and updating of location, and a set of universal coordinates that can be transposed on any building floor map or web mapping platform.
The precise location of the WLAN infrastructure generates an anchored reference that can be shared using Open Locate. Businesses can use Aruba’s self-locating indoor APs’ universal coordinates and anchored reference to easily develop or improve asset tracking, safety/compliance, facility planning, venue experience apps, and other location-aware services.
“Location is core to many app experiences and accurate indoor location unlocks many new and innovative enterprise use cases,” said Sean Ginevan, head of Global Strategy and Digital Partnerships for Android Enterprise at Google. “With Android 10, Google was first to fully support Wi-Fi RTT to enable precise indoor location on mobile devices. Aruba’s self-locating network infrastructure and the Open Locate initiative will help realize the vision of accurate, indoor location for our developer community and make it much easier to deploy these networks at scale. We can’t wait to see what developers build.”
“Enterprises have shown tremendous resiliency in the face of major disruptions and tectonic shifts within their businesses over the past two years, and it’s become clear that business agility is now top-of-mind for our customers,” said David Hughes, chief technology and product officer at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “The advancements introduced today will help customers evolve their approach to a ‘services orientation’ using AI-powered solutions, strengthening security and accelerating the move to a cloud-centric network architecture, which are all hallmarks of a modern network.”
These new solutions are available through traditional procurement and deployment methods as well as as a service through HPE GreenLake for Aruba networking, providing customers with maximum flexibility to adjust their networking needs as business demands dictate. HPE GreenLake for Aruba network as a service (NaaS) enhancements include eight standardized offerings designed around popular enterprise networking use cases, providing greater simplicity and accelerating time-to-value for NaaS deployments. To learn more about the impact of NaaS on businesses, please visit this site and request a free copy of the IDC InfoBrief, Network as a Service: State of the Market.
Aruba Central NetConductor services are available for early access now and will be generally available in July 2022. Central NetConductor services are part of Aruba Central, and available with an Advanced license.
Aruba Wi-Fi 6/6E APs include self-location and are currently shipping, and GPS capabilities are included in existing Aruba Wi-Fi 6E APs and pricing.
