Aruba Instant On Portfolio Expanded To Accommodate ‘Sophisticated’ SMB Networking Use Cases
The networking specialist has rolled out a new, higher-performance SMB switch series, the Aruba Instant On 1960 product line, which will eventually replace the HPE OfficeConnect 1950 switch line.
Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is building on its SMB networking portfolio with a new switch series that accommodates higher-bandwidth devices and sophisticated small business use cases, according to the networking specialist.
Now available through partners, the Aruba Instant On 1960 Switch Series is a stackable, cloud-managed networking offering for SMBs, especially retail, hospitality, and healthcare customers, said Steve Brar, senior director of product marketing for Aruba.
HPE’s OfficeConnect switch line will eventually be replaced by Aruba’s Instant One switch portfolio, Brar told CRN.
“We’ve been on a mission for the past couple of years to fill out the Instant On portfolio and really transition from the previous HP OfficeConnect product lines with the right features that meet the use cases of our target customers,” he said.
Aruba in 2020 first introduced the Aruba Instant On 1930 Series to address SMB networking use cases, especially as remote work became a necessity. The company first unveiled a family of seven switches that could be easily deployed, centrally-managed, and maintained by channel partners and SMB customers.
Introduced on Tuesday, the 1960 switch series -- a higher-end offering compared to the 1930 series, feature two 24-port and two 48-port models in PoE and Non-PoE configurations and a 12 port 10 Gigabit aggregation switch. Up to 30W PoE power delivery is available for Class 4 PoE devices, such as access points, and up to 60W PoE power delivery is available for Class 6 PoE devices, such as pan-tilt zoom cameras or retail points of sale, according to Aruba. “The higher PoE will unlock certain use cases for various verticals, medical clinics powering more medical devices,” Brar said.
Four of the latest switches can be stacked together and managed through one single management IP address, either through the cloud or the Instant On mobile app, by channel partners or end customers, Brar said. “This allows small businesses to easily grow their businesses from a few devices if they hire more employees or need to support more customer kiosks and things like that,” he said. “They can simply plug in another switch and have it configured very easily from the cloud.”
The Aruba 1960 Series serves as a replacement for the HPE OfficeConnect 1950 switch series.
“SMBs have faced extraordinary challenges throughout the pandemic, which also has driven a lot of acceleration of some of the trends and shifts that were going to happen in the market -- one of those being cloud -- to increase business agility,” Brar said. “The beauty is you can manage your network from anywhere.”
Aruba Instant On gives partners a SMB option from their enterprise-class wireless provider, Brar said.
“Partners can leverage the strength of the Aruba brand in the enterprise to give their customers the confidence that they‘re going to have a reliable, sophisticated solution for the small business with Instant On,” he said. “This opens the door for them to provide value added services and be able to manage multiple customers centrally, rather than having to do something individually for each customer.”