New Series of 802.11ax Access Points, 802.11ax-optimized Switches, and AI-Powered Software to Give Organizations a Secure, Autonomous Network for the Mobile, Cloud and IoT Era
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today announced
a new
family of 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) IoT-ready wireless access points and
complementary access switches, along with innovations in security,
intelligent power management, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered
automation and service assurance, to deliver the performance, simplicity
and reliability that organizations need to give users exceptional
digital experiences.
The new wireless access points support the latest Wi-Fi standard and are
the first to be Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) certified for the new WPA3 and
Enhanced Open security standards to provide stronger encryption and
simpler IoT security configuration. Aruba is also the first Wi-Fi vendor
to integrate Bluetooth 5 into its APs combined with an integrated
Zigbee® capabilities. These new capabilities enable IoT use cases, such
as smart door locks and electronic shelf labels, while Bluetooth 5 also
delivers user-aware indoor location allowing IT to create personalized
experiences. In addition, Aruba is delivering industry-first power
management innovations allowing customers to preserve their existing PoE
switch investments while significantly reducing access point power
consumption during off hours. These unique features include Intelligent
Power Monitoring, a capability delivered by Aruba Operating System (AOS)
8, and NetInsight Green AP, part of Aruba’s AI-powered analytics and
assurance solution.
Enabling the Experience Edge
Organizations are expecting IT professionals to deliver IoT-enabled
innovation that will allow them to create extraordinary digital
experiences for their employees, customers and guests. New types of
experiences such as location-aware mobile engagement, digitally-assisted
patient care, and user-aware meeting rooms can give organizations a
competitive advantage. According to Gartner, “Enterprises preparing for
the future of work must offer engaging, consumer-like experiences and
deliver technologies that enable, rather than hinder, streamlined work
execution1.”
The network at the edge is what connects people and IoT to this digital
world. It is the platform for building these digital experiences and it
must be secure, intelligent and always on. However, a solid network
foundation is not enough. To enable these new experiences, IT must be
able to deliver improved and consistent service levels to address
growing business demands and heightened user expectations. This requires
not only a state-of-the-art network, but also the ability for IT to
proactively anticipate issues in an ever-changing environment before
they impact users and the business.
To address these challenges, Aruba is introducing the following new
products and innovations:
-
The
Aruba
510 Series APs
, a new series of 802.11ax, IoT-ready APs, with
advanced security, AI-powered RF optimization, intelligent power
monitoring, and integrated Zigbee and Bluetooth 5 capabilities.
-
The
Aruba
2930M access switches
, with support for the 802.3bt standard
to provide higher power PoE (up to 60 watts per port), a requirement
for some high-end 802.11ax access points.
-
Support for Wi-Fi Alliance WPA3 and Enhanced Open Security Standards
to deliver state-of-the-art device security. Aruba is the first vendor
in the industry to receive WFA certification for these new standards.
-
Green AP, a unique, new feature of
NetInsight
,
Aruba’s AI-powered analytics and assurance solution, that
dynamically powers down APs when user devices are not present,
offsetting the increased power requirements associated with select
11ax APs.
Leveraging Aruba’s Rich Heritage to Bring Intelligence to the Network
An effective AI solution requires domain expertise, a historical pool of
clean data to feed the algorithms that deliver precise and trusted
network automation and assurance, and real-world experiences to validate
the solution. Aruba has a unique advantage over many competitors,
including 16 years of Wi-Fi expertise, with learnings and best practices
built into the AI algorithms from the largest edge networks in the world
and from millions of installed APs to deliver secure, autonomous network
operations.
The new 510 Series APs work in concert with Aruba NetInsight to
proactively monitor and troubleshoot the network, generating actionable
insights and recommendations based on peer comparisons and benchmarks,
and applying these recommendations to the network autonomously. This
allows businesses to deliver the kind of improved performance and
efficiency needed for today’s highly mobile and IoT-centric
environments, while continually adapting to changing requirements and
improving experiences for their users and customers.
Built for IoT with Zigbee and Bluetooth 5 Integration
The Aruba 510 series is the industry’s first set of 802.11ax APs with
integrated support for Zigbee and Bluetooth 5, enabling Aruba customers
to support 74% of IoT devices. Having all three wireless technologies
available in a single access point gives customers powerful, extensive
connectivity. In addition, customers can significantly reduce both their
capital and operational expenditures since the Aruba infrastructure with
Zigbee integration eliminates the need to deploy and operate a separate
Zigbee network.
Smart Energy Management with Green AP and Intelligent Power Monitoring
As higher performance 802.11ax APs will handle a greater number of
devices and traffic, they will also consume more power. In addition,
network architects generally design AP configurations for the highest
capacity scenarios, and these combined factors mean that many
organizations are confronted with rising power costs.
Green AP, a new feature of NetInsight and a new innovation for the
networking industry, allows IT to intelligently manage APs to reduce
power consumption by up to 72% dramatically lowering costs, while
supporting social responsibility. Using Green AP, APs can be
automatically turned on or off based on utilization, resulting in
significant energy costs savings and an environmentally-friendly network.
Additionally, Aruba’s Intelligent Power Monitoring (IPM), a feature in
AOS 8, actively measures the power utilization of an AP and dynamically
adapts to the available power resources. IT organizations can define and
prioritize which capabilities to disable when an AP is operating over
its power budget. IPM will begin taking power reduction steps
autonomously as defined by the priority definition until the AP is
operating within the power budget.
State-of-the-Art Security with WPA3 and Enhanced Open
Aruba is the first networking vendor to release products that have
received WPA3 and Enhanced Open certifications from the Wi-Fi Alliance.
With support for WPA3 and Enhanced Open, Aruba’s new suite of 11ax APs
can deliver the security enterprises need as more users, devices and
things join their networks.
WPA3 adds new features to simplify Wi-Fi security, enable more robust
authentication, and deliver increased cryptographic strength for highly
sensitive data markets, such as government or finance. Wi-Fi Enhanced
Open complements the security protection WPA3 delivers by improving data
privacy while maintaining ease-of-use in open public networks where user
authentication is not used, such as local coffee shops, airports and
stadiums.
Pricing and Availability
The Aruba 510 Series APs are available now, beginning at a list price of
$1,095. The Aruba 2930M access switch is available now, starting at
$10,799 list. The new version of NetInsight with Green AP will be
available in the first quarter of 2019, with one-year subscriptions
beginning at $50 per year per AP.
Supporting Quotes
Home to the Carolina Panthers, Bank of America Stadium is located in
Charlotte, North Carolina and supports more than 75,000 fans.
“Our fans expect an outstanding connected stadium experience,” said
James Hammond, Director of Information Technology for the Carolina
Panthers. “In order to continue to deliver that experience, we need to
prepare for the future demands on our network which is why we’re
evaluating Aruba’s .11ax APs to support new applications and greater IoT
and mobile device density requirements.”
The University of Minnesota has 48,000 students, 18,000 faculty and
staff, and connects over 120,000 devices on its network daily.
“As we prepare for the introduction of 802.11ax devices on campus, we
need to understand the impact of the additional traffic and device
density to the infrastructure and IT staff,” said Louis Hammond, service
owner for data and voice network services for the University of
Minnesota. “Testing Aruba’s 802.11ax APs will help determine how to best
integrate ax with our current system while improving the user
experience, and look at ways to leverage Aruba’s NetInsight Green AP
capabilities to potentially reduce energy usage and costs.”
CSPi is a Florida-based solutions provider helping customers meet the
performance, availability and security requirements of their network,
applications and services.
“The real value in the Aruba 802.11ax solution is that the
infrastructure is leveraged with automation and IoT in mind,” said Peter
Kaufman, Vice President, Advanced Technologies, CSPi. “By using
NetInsight and new IoT protocols like Zigbee, our customers will be able
to create the autonomous experiences they want while delivering
performance-stringent applications and securely connecting IoT devices
over Wi-Fi with ease.”
Zunesis is a Colorado-based IT Solution Provider and Value Added
Reseller (VAR) that delivers end-to-end infrastructure solutions, IT
business solutions, and IT professional and consulting services in the
Western United States.
“Our customers are seeing a major increase in IoT use cases resulting in
additional requirements for the network and IT,” said Steve Shaffer,
Founder and CEO, Zunesis. “A significant benefit of the Aruba 802.11ax
solution is that it’s built with integrated IoT connectivity
capabilities. Having one hardware platform with Aruba that supports
Zigbee and Bluetooth 5 will help eliminate the need for separate IoT
networks, allowing organizations to get more out of their infrastructure
investment while reducing IT overhead.”
Additional Resources
1 Gartner, Cool Vendors in Employee Engagement and
Enablement in the Digital Workplace, September 2018, ID: G00355285
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading provider of
next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes
worldwide. The company delivers IT solutions that empower organizations
to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users who rely on
cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their work and personal
lives.
To learn more, visit Aruba at
http://www.arubanetworks.com
.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at
http://community.arubanetworks.com
.
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Kathleen Keith, +1-707-529-4507
Kathleen.keith@hpe.com
or
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
pavel.radda@hpe.com