Discovering the potential of AI in networking and understanding how it can provide differentiation, serve customers better, and improve end-user and operator experience can be overwhelming. But rest assured, many share the same journey. Today, we are at an inflection point in the industry where AI-powered networks are everywhere. Industry experts predict that by 2025, 80% of organizations seeking to scale their business via digital transformation will fail if they do not follow a modern and proactive approach to obtain actionable insights from their data. This may sound simple, but the volume of data, variety of sources and the need for constant data analysis puts a huge toll on organizations amidst budget constraints and shortage of skilled IT staff. To counter this, organizations can leverage AI-powered insights to significantly enhance business outcomes.
The lack of comprehensive end-to-end visibility and automated insights can lead to prolonged problem resolution. IT organizations are realizing that solutions built on legacy management and wireless, wired and WAN infrastructure are not meeting today’s demands. Therefore, AI networking is expected to become the key element in driving IT infrastructure decisions.
AI in action
HPE Aruba Networking Aruba Central, our cloud native network management solution offers a comprehensive AI networking portfolio, featuring over 40 AI-powered insights that simplify network operations, reduce management costs, and save IT operator time. In this third part of our blog series, we explore how AI-powered insights for CX switches deliver improved network visibility, heightened security, and advanced troubleshooting capabilities.
Setting up CX switches
Day 0 capabilities in Central includes the ability to use Natural Language Processing (NLP) through AI-powered search to find intuitive navigation to configuration workflows, how-to info, and more details on CX switches. This eases the task of the IT operator–reduces their learning curve and saves them a lot of time as they can seamlessly setup new switches or make changes to existing configuration.
Troubleshooting assistance / CX switch management
AI-powered search also lets IT operators quickly pinpoint data about specific users, network devices, or sites. This helps in faster root-cause analysis and improves the overall experience by reducing the number of clicks to receive actionable insights.
Automated AI Insights amplifies basic monitoring and operations by proactively identifying issues and providing pinpoint configuration recommendations. Telemetry is enhanced from the Network Analytics Engine (NAE) that runs natively on CX switches for deeper analysis. Operators are proactively notified of persistent issues that could affect the quality of overall CX performance issues such as port flaps, port errors, PoE failures, CPU, memory usage abnormalities, spikes in system utilization, etc. As the data is stored in the cloud, it is easy to view the network performance across all locations from a single pane of glass. Utilizing the cloud also provides the ability to anonymously compare a network with a peer network or the dynamic baselines for a broader perspective and optimization. This way if an improvement made by one customer works, AI Insights will provide the recommendation, at no cost, to any other customer with similar needs. Rules governing firmware compliance can also be managed within the Central UI for all managed devices.
AI Search using Natural Language Processing queries
Identify and resolve issues before they impact the business
Automated AI Assist is another feature that enhances the ability to troubleshoot issues and pre-empt problems by automatically collecting diagnostics when issues arise, alerting the IT admin, and proactively logging a ticket with the Aruba TAC team. For example, a high hit count on an ACL that is triggered by an unknown device indicates a possible security breach. In this case, instead of automatically issuing a RMA, Aruba TAC teams are proactively notified of this issue and IT operators can receive an automatic syslog message and a custom report with detailed analysis. Notifications from Central can also be delivered to IT service management systems such as ServiceNow or collaboration tools like Slack for developing network automation frameworks or advanced selective diagnostics.
Know what’s on your network
AI-powered Client Insights, available with Central foundation licenses offers visibility and real-time profiling with up-to 99% accuracy for wired and wireless clients. With the proliferation of unknown devices in the network, visibility has become a critical component to maintaining security and compliance requirements. Client Insights can eliminate network blind spots with full spectrum visibility of all devices connected to the network and profile them.
CX switches, APs, and gateways provide inline telemetry data that understands client behavior, including protocols, apps, URLs, and traffic flows without the need for agents. This information feeds into the classification database and the devices are assigned tags for policy application. For example, when you apply a tag to a surveillance camera, a policy can be created that specifies - tagged cameras can send traffic only to a specific server. Any new camera that enters the network will automatically be assigned the same tag and rules as the existing ones if the new camera exhibits the same behavior. ML models are used to constantly learn about these attributes, dynamically update tags and provide classification recommendations. Once these devices are identified and profiled, Policy Manager can apply role-based access policies to ensure that devices have only the IT permissions they need.
Client Insights—end-to-end visibility of all devices on your network
AI you can trust
The network serves as the cornerstone of every business, facilitating employee connectivity, collaboration, and productivity. With the help of AI Networking—built into Central’s cloud native platform, organizations can proactively identify problems, automate troubleshooting, and enhance network performance. While our competitors claim to deliver an AI powered enterprise, our 230k+ customers and 2.7 million devices speak volumes. With access to vast telemetry, we deliver real AI-powered insights. Don't settle for mere promises. Choose a network solution that combines cutting-edge technology with a proven track record of tangible results. Experience the power of AI in action with us.
Take the demo now and learn more about HPE Aruba Networking Central
Have you read the previous blogs that can help your organizations save time and improve user experience?
If not, read them now!
Optimize CX switch performance by using HPE Aruba Networking Central ·
Configuring CX switches made easy with HPE Aruba Networking Central
This is part 3 of a 4-part blog series. Read the series:
Part 1: Optimize CX switch performance using HPE Aruba Networking Central
Part 2: Configuring CX switches made easy using HPE Aruba Networking Central
