Networking Essentials for a Secure, Modern Business [Checklist]

Network modernization is essential for digital transformation. Today’s networks aren’t ready for tomorrow’s challenges.

network-modernization-checklist

The network acts like a central nervous system for today’s digital business. Yet for most organizations, it’s not up to the task of directing the growing volume and diversity of data connecting people and things, whether physical or virtual. A suboptimal network can lead to scenarios where:

Remote workers are second-class citizens
New business models are stalled
Employees and customers have subpar experiences
Massive amounts of IT resources are wasted on archaic, manual processes
Dangerous security gaps create vulnerabilities

Network modernization equips enterprises to address architecture, operations, and security-related challenges as they begin or accelerate digital transformation efforts. Modernization is necessary to support new business models, changing workforce trends, and demands for improved employee and customer experiences.

What should you be getting from your network?

Faster deployment of new network solutions, cut from days and weeks to minutes
Consistent user experiences from the edge to the cloud
New consumption models that relieve budget and staff constraints
Automation of complex network and security processes
AI-powered analytics to reduce the time to troubleshoot issues

To help you roll out the networking requirements your organization needs to drive business forward, we created a handy checklist with practical suggestions for how to make it happen:

Your Checklist for Achieving Network Modernization

This is what it takes to create an agile network that accelerates the organization:

Connectivity and Scale

What’s happening:

Networks based on traditional VLAN architectures will struggle to accommodate potentially hundreds of thousands of users and devices.

What you can do now?

Use cloud-based services to deliver a secure network quickly and efficiently
Introduce network overlays such as EVPN/VXLAN alongside existing infrastructure
Modernize your WAN solutions with SD (Software Defined)-WAN

Security

What’s happening:

Businesses are looking to Zero Trust and SASE frameworks to close protection gaps in today’s networks.

What can you do now?

Ensure security and networking teams can collaborate and use the same tools
Insist that Zero Trust and SASE are integrated with network solutions, not bolted on
Optimize your investment in best-of-breed solutions by uniting network and security ecosystems

Flexibility and Agility

What’s happening:

Rapidly changing business objectives require a network that can quickly - and automatically - adjust to new or changing conditions

What can you do now?

Check if any current cloud-native network management tools have the functionality and scalability you need
Insist on cloud-native services that can be deployed either in the cloud or on-premises
Keep a close-eye on licensing terms to avoid lock-ins on current equipment and forced upgrades

How Aruba Networks can help

Aruba is enabling network modernization, wherever you are in your edge-to-cloud journey. Aruba has repeatedly been recognized by third-party analysts as a leader in network connectivity options such as: Wi-Fi, switching, and SD-WAN.

As a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company with hundreds of thousands of customers from small/medium businesses to global enterprises worldwide, Aruba provides a secure, AI-powered edge services platform that spans all networked environments.

At the forefront of innovation since its start in 2002, Aruba offers network modernization across each of the five principles with Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform).

With Aruba ESP, Aruba takes a cloud-native approach to helping customers meet their connectivity, security, and financial requirements across campus, branch, data center, and remote worker environments. Aruba ESP delivers faster everything—user connections, IoT onboarding, scaling of secure locations, issue resolution, and operational insights—on a single architecture.

No matter where you are in your digital transformation journey, Aruba can guide you firmly on the path to network modernization–now and into the future. To learn more and begin your journey to network modernization - get the eBook - If You Aren’t Modernizing Your Network You Can’t Digitally Transform.