Aerohive Broadens Networking Focus To Branch, Enterprise Needs

It's a move that also expands Aerohive's cloud networking strategy, which has seen continued growth this year following its acquisition of Pareto Networks nearly a year ago.

Branch On Demand covers how to offer secure network access to employees in heavily distributed enterprises, including teleworkers using home offices. From a product perspective, the offering includes Aerohive's BR100 and BR200 routers -- five Fast or Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2.4 Ghz 11n Wi-Fi or dual-band 3:3 11n WiFi, and USB supporting 3G and 4G backhaul on each -- and version 5.0 of its HiveOS for supporting branch router functionality for its Hive AP 330 and AP 350 access points.

The idea, according to Aerohive, is to be able to offer secure branch networking technology at a price point much friendlier to smaller businesses than those solutions offered by Cisco, Juniper and other vendors.

"This expands us into more of an enterprise networking portfolio," said Joel Vincent, director of product marketing at Aerohive. "Our DNA is more than just Wi-Fi."

Aerohive is offering Branch on Demand through VARs to be sold as an on-demand service, starting at $99 per branch per year, which includes support and hardware refreshes.

"The fact that we can break the $100 barrier is opening up a lot of uses for this," Vincent said. "It redefines the economics of doing branch offices, and that changes the definition of what a branch office is."

Aerohive also confirmed partnerships with Websense and Barracuda Networks for offering integrated, Layer 4-7 cloud security for offices regardless of size. The security partnerships expand Aerohive's channel appeal to a broader range of security- and infrastructure-focused partners, said Abby Strong, senior product manager for Aerohive.

Mark Sollazo, president and CEO of SynerComm, a Brookfield, Wisc.-based solution provider, noted the scale of Branch on Demand as a way to expand relationships with different sizes of customers.

"Branch office and teleworker solutions are becoming more prevalent and critical to our customers' businesses, but the price point of providing a secure, centrally-managed, and scalable solution has long been a sticking point for expansion," Sollazo said in a statement.

The Wireless LAN market has a number of late-stage startup vendors making waves in the channel and appealing to VARs as alternatives to the market's incumbent players. Aerohive copped $25 million in Series D funding earlier this year.