Scaling Despite The Odds

In the early days of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, networking specialist Aruba Networks was heads-down-focused on helping its partners and customers set up new networks on the front lines of the pandemic and empowering employees all over the globe to work from home. Now, the company has its sights set on the future.

Specifically, Vishal Lall, COO of Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is harnessing the trends that COVID-19 has accelerated, like edge computing and the as-a-service model, as ways to grow the business. There‘s no denying that the pandemic has changed demand for IT solutions and many customers are eyeing flexible consumption models and solutions, rather than products, as ways to get the technology they need right away. Aruba, based in San Jose, Calif., has always been a channel-friendly provider and the current circumstances are only driving home the importance of the partner ecosystem, Lall told CRN.

A year and a half into his role as COO of Aruba after serving as chief strategy officer for HPE, Lall spoke with CRN about what he is doing to scale Aruba into a $5 billion company, its plan for Silver Peak, and how partners fit into the equation. Here are excerpts from the conversation.