Aruba Networks’ Vision for Future of Wireless Networking: Generation Mobile

According to Alex Scrocton at Computer Weekly, Aruba Networks sees a new force reshaping the enterprise wireless industry: Generation Mobile.

Defined by Aruba earlier this year “as a group of people not defined by age parameters but by their preference for multiple devices and non-traditional working hours and locations,” Aruba leadership sees these wireless users putting increasing pressure on the wireless infrastructure of those non-traditional locations. Aruba CEO Dominic Orr described these non-traditional locations as a “third place” that is “neither home nor business, but where work is still done.”

Orr then described the challenge facing those non-work yet non-home places:

“Traditionally, the third place was dead space for data communications and computer networking, but you are finding you do a lot more work in the third place,” he said. “You find your working life now is divided not into one-hour segments, but 15 to 20-second segments. This is creating dramatic stress on the infrastructure needed to support that environment.”

A real-world example of this phenomenon is Heathrow Airport, which over the last several years suffered declining customer satisfaction with the wireless network there. The man responsible for that network, Dave Draffin, explained:

“As traffic levels changed and consumerisation caused a surge in usage, the infrastructure was starting to become constrained.  Secondly, there was a change in perception. In 2008, Wi-Fi was a nice to have and accepted as a premium product. By 2013, it was expected to be there as a basic service network.”

For companies and organizations in a bind like Heathrow, Aruba has a solution. Called a Mobility Defined Network Solution, Aruba offers the following benefits:

A next-generation mobility firewall that uses advanced deep packet inspection to provide more granular policies, service quality and control; a newly-launched interactive unified communications dashboard for visualising and controlling UC apps, such as Microsoft Lync, over Wi-Fi; security workflow product ClearPass Exchange; automated sign-on software for apps such as Salesforce; and AirGroup, a screen and media-sharing service.

Aruba founder and CTO  Keerte Melkote adds that such networks will “enable IT departments to build intelligent and self-optimising infrastructures where security actions are automated, performance is enhanced, and efficient workflows adapt to the dynamics of mobility.”

Will these and other features help companies survive the onslaught of Generation Mobile? Aruba certainly thinks so.

For the full piece by Alex Scrocton at Computer Weekly, click here.