Harnessing the Power of Edge Networking Intelligence

By Atchison Frazer, Category Marketing, Edge Services Platform, Aruba a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

What is the edge? It could be a workplace, a hospital, a large sports stadium, a school, or even a remote worker’s home. In these environments, massive amounts of data are generated by users, devices, and things. Organizations that successfully harness that data – by analyzing and acting on it in real time at the source of the transaction closest to the user – can reveal valuable insights and deliver new services.

For example, the abundance of IoT sensors and high resolution/high frame-rate cameras have made it much easier to digitalize the flow of network performance and behavior data. IoT devices generate enormous amounts of data in short periods of time; business line managers are demanding near real-time analysis and action based on edge-generated data.

Enabling organizations to harness and analyze edge data from every connected device in real-time reduces “decision latency”. This empowers organizations to deliver enriched experiences, new revenue streams, and accelerate innovation, while driving operational efficiency and employee productivity for improved profitability.

Capturing Value through Intelligent Edge Networking 

Edge computing and intelligent edge networking are entering the mainstream as organizations look to extend cloud to an on-premises hybrid model, and to take advantage of IoT and transformational digital business applications that are driving the adoption of net-new use cases such as:

• Autonomous robots, vehicles and drones that improve speed and accuracy of routine edge operations and supply chain logistics.
• AI-presence for retail buyer profiling, including NFR for spot promotion via loyalty apps and smart SKUs, in addition to zero-contact payments.
• Industrial manufacturing that integrates sensors and high-resolution cameras to perform quality assurance on complex system products and facilitate the convergence of IT, OT and IIOT.

To support organizations through their digital transformation journey, happening increasingly at the edge, Aruba has developed Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) – an AI-powered, cloud-native platform to automate, unify, and protect the edge. Ultimately, Aruba ESP eliminates infrastructure complexity to overcome traditional network limitations in areas of operation, management, and security – all with optimized performance, and at a reduced overall cost of ownership.

IT leaders need to thoughtfully assess their infrastructure and operational models to ensure network, tools, and the operator experience are poised to support business success in this new era of insights and business value derived from edge data, while considering the following challenges:

• Siloed management – across WAN, wired, and wireless networks through campus, branch, data center, and remote worker locations.
• Lack of visibility and insights – IT’s visibility into existing or potential problems diminishes as more infrastructure and users move beyond the walls of a traditional office or data center.
• Highly manual processes – in the data era, with an explosion of devices, things, and locations connecting to the network, manual operations make it hard for IT to keep pace.
• Increased security threats – The IT perimeter continues to expand thanks to the exponential growth of IoT devices and the emergence of more mobile workforces.

IT teams need to prepare their network infrastructure to respond to the business demands of continuity and resiliency. Enter Aruba ESP.

The Foundation of Edge Networking: Aruba ESP

Aruba ESP focuses on three technical areas to build the foundation for an intelligent edge network, all with flexible consumption and financing models to give business choice:

In these three areas along with a Network-as-a-Service offering, Aruba ESP can help IT:

• Identify and resolve issues quickly, preempting problems before they impact the business.
• Protect against advanced threats from a vanishing security perimeter.
• Monitor and manage thousands of wired, wireless, and WAN devices across campus, branch, data center, or remote worker locations.
• Quickly deploy network services at scale to support changing business needs.
• Allow continued infrastructure investment in the face of uncertain financial challenges, including the reduction of overall IT costs.

Organizational juggling and struggling with traditional networks will only intensify as emerging technologies like 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and SD-WAN are adopted. Fortunately, enterprises can smooth adoption bumps with Aruba ESP, which works across all types of environments to support digital transformation cost-effectively.

The imperative for driving enhanced productivity, throughput, and uptime strategies, especially in the manufacturing sector in which supply chains are still constrained, has never been more urgent than during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery period and the drive for a smart, hybrid workplace.

Do you want to learn how Aruba ESP can help save costs with your business? Check out the Aruba ESP calculator: https://www.arubanetworks.com/esg-esp/

For more details on how Aruba ESP can benefit your organization, read the ESG report, “The Economic Benefits of Aruba ESP” (Edge Services Platform) at https://connect.arubanetworks.com/ESP_Validation