Hi folks,
We are ramping up for Atmosphere Nashville at the end of the month, so be sure to register if you haven't yet! The start of the year has always been a busy one, with the end of our fiscal quarter, and industry tradeshows like Enterprise Connect, HIMSS and NRF's Big Show. I wanted to share a key takeaway I had with customers at NRF in January. From all the cool tech we witnessed, including robots to AR/VR, what really stole the show was analytical intelligence at the edge. This landed us in the limelight with our Meridian mobile engagement and ClearPass security policy solutions, as context about users and devices was key to understanding shopper behavior and predictive insights.
One of our many customer booth tours.
Removing a painful bottleneck
However, what I found striking was how often customers talked about the need to upgrade their in-store networks. Many folks recognize that cloud and digital media lead to new business requirements that traditional storefronts were just not designed for. This type of demand requires IT organizations to build in more visibility and control over how their networks are being utilized, how they integrate with third-parties and just have a network that works. Aruba's Mobile First Platform with open APIs helps solve these challenges by employing a converged branch solution that simplifies local topology from end to end.
In practice, network managers who need to deploy a new store branch within a moment's notice can simply replicate an existing network configuration through the ArubaOS 8 dashboard. They can then leverage their existing API integrations simultaneously while a 7000 Series Mobility Controller and APs are factory-shipped to the remote site. From an application standpoint, this means that QoS and policy have already been applied so that an employee doesn't jeopardize back office bandwidth with their YouTube stream.
(Image: 7000 Series Mobility Controller family)
This reduction in branch complexity is meant to pay back dividends as IT across many industries focus more and more on what services they can deploy, and just need a reliable, stable network. It's time for IT organizations to take a close look at how they can modernize their in-store connectivity. Branch convergence is the first step, and Aruba provides the unique networking capabilities to integrate and transact context between third parties and deliver services through a unified branch access and WAN solution. I look forward to the Big Show next year! I'm sure there will be a lot of cool new tech on display.
Let me know if you have questions. To learn more about the capabilities of the 7000 Series, click here.
Dave Chen is a product marketing manager for WLAN and SD-WAN solutions at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.
