Networking On The Next Level

Aruba Networks’ parent company Hewlett Packard Enterprise is coming in hot to the Everything as a Service (XaaS) space with eight new HPE GreenLake Networking as a Service (NaaS) offerings, including Indoor and Outdoor Wireless as a Service and SD-Branch as a Service. The new offerings are giving customers the flexible, consumption-based IT services they’re looking for and it’s giving channel partners choice in how they go to market with customers – a win/win for all involved, according to Chief Product and Technology Officer for Aruba David Hughes.

Hughes, the former Silver Peak founder and CEO until Aruba closed on its acquisition of the SD-WAN specialist in 2020, believes that bringing together technologies, such as networking, SD-WAN, and security, will create packaged solutions that partners can add value to by adding a wrapper of their own managed services. The XaaS trend is just a start, and the San Jose, Calif.-based company is already ahead of its California-based competition with its new offerings, he said.

Hughes sat down with CRN ahead of the Aruba Atmosphere 2022 event to talk about how the company is pursuing emerging market trends, such as XaaS and Wi-Fi 6E, and how partners can take advantage of Aruba’s – now much more flexible portfolio – to forfill the needs of the customers and go after brand-new areas of opportunity.

Here are excerpts from the conversation.