1. IT Teams Are Overwhelmed by Manual Network Management
Many IT teams are stuck managing networks with outdated, labor-intensive processes that don’t scale with business growth. Manual configurations, troubleshooting, and monitoring consume valuable time and increase the risk of errors. As networks expand and demand increases, IT departments need smarter, more efficient ways to manage their infrastructure.
How Aruba Solves This:
- AI-powered automation: Aruba’s AOS-CX operating system leverages AI-driven automation to handle network troubleshooting, reducing the time IT teams spend diagnosing and fixing issues. Instead of waiting for problems to arise, AOS-CX proactively detects potential failures and applies corrective actions—before users even notice an issue.
- Proactive network insights: With AI-driven analytics, Aruba CX switches continuously monitor network health, identifying performance bottlenecks, security risks, and configuration issues in real-time. By analyzing patterns and detecting anomalies, Aruba provides IT teams with actionable insights, helping them resolve problems before they impact business operations.
- NetEdit for bulk changes: Making network-wide updates manually is time-consuming and prone to errors. Aruba’s NetEdit streamlines network configuration management by allowing IT teams to push changes across multiple switches simultaneously. It also validates configurations before deployment, ensuring compliance with security policies and best practices, which reduces misconfigurations and speeds up rollouts.
Business Impact: IT teams can reduce time spent on troubleshooting and manual tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value initiatives like network optimization, security enhancements, and strategic IT projects. This leads to greater efficiency, lower operational costs, and a more agile IT environment that scales with business needs.
2. Cybersecurity Risks Are Growing, and Traditional Defenses Aren’t Enough
With ransomware, insider threats, and IoT security challenges increasing, enterprises can’t afford a network that simply “connects devices.” A modern network must actively enforce security policies, limit the spread of threats, and provide deep visibility into potential risks. Traditional perimeter-based defenses are no longer sufficient—organizations need built-in security that dynamically adapts to evolving threats.
How Aruba Solves This:
- Zero Trust security model:Aruba integrates Zero Trust principles by enforcing role-based access control (RBAC). This means that only authorized users, devices, and applications can access specific network resources, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. Aruba switches work with Aruba ClearPass to dynamically authenticate users and enforce security policies at the port level, ensuring that even internal users must be verified before connecting to sensitive resources.
- Dynamic Segmentation: Unlike traditional VLAN-based segmentation, which can be complex and static, Aruba’s Dynamic Segmentation automatically isolates network traffic based on identity, role, and device type. This prevents lateral movement of threats, meaning if a device is compromised, the attacker cannot easily spread through the network. For example, IoT devices can be kept in separate, restricted segments so that a security breach on a smart camera doesn’t affect corporate systems.
- AI-driven threat detection: Aruba’s AI-powered analytics continuously scan the network for unusual activity, policy violations, or signs of compromise. The system can detect anomalies in real-time, such as unauthorized access attempts, unusual data flows, or malware-infected devices, and automatically apply security measures to mitigate risks. This reduces the need for manual intervention while enhancing overall network security.
Business Impact: By embedding Zero Trust security, network segmentation, and AI-driven threat detection into the infrastructure, enterprises can reduce cybersecurity risks, prevent compliance violations, and strengthen overall resilience against attacks.
3. Multi-Location Businesses Need Better Network Visibility & Control
Managing multiple offices, remote sites, or retail locations often means dealing with disconnected, siloed networks that require local IT support to troubleshoot issues, apply updates, or enforce security policies. Without a centralized management approach, IT teams face higher operational costs, increased downtime, and inconsistent network performance across locations. Enterprises need a smarter, more efficient way to monitor, manage, and scale their networks—without the burden of constant on-site intervention.
How Aruba Solves This:
- Aruba Central: Aruba’s cloud-native management platform provides IT teams with a single, unified dashboard to monitor and manage wired, wireless, and WAN networks across all locations. Instead of logging into multiple systems or relying on local IT staff, administrators can view network health, analyze traffic patterns, enforce security policies, and push updates to any site remotely—ensuring consistent performance and security across all locations.
- Remote troubleshooting: Network issues at remote locations often require costly site visits, delaying resolution and impacting business operations. Aruba’s AI-powered troubleshooting tools detect and diagnose problems, allowing IT to remotely identify the root cause, apply fixes, and restore service—without sending a technician on-site. This means fewer disruptions, lower costs, and faster resolution times for end users.
- Scalability without complexity: Whether an organization has five locations or 500, Aruba’s networking solutions are designed to scale effortlessly. IT can deploy new sites quickly with preconfigured settings, automate firmware updates, and adjust policies centrally. As businesses expand, Aruba provides the flexibility to add new locations without overcomplicating network management.
Business Impact: Enterprises can reduce IT overhead, improve uptime, and support business growth—all while maintaining consistent security, performance, and control across all locations.
4. Traditional Networks Can’t Keep Up with Cloud & Hybrid Workloads
The way businesses operate has fundamentally changed—hybrid work, cloud applications, and IoT devices are now the standard, not the exception. Traditional networking infrastructure often struggles to keep up, creating bottlenecks that slow application performance, limit scalability, and make IT operations more complex. Enterprises need a network that can seamlessly adapt to evolving business demands without requiring expensive overhauls.
How Aruba Solves This:
- High-speed Aruba CX switches optimize performance for cloud applications and high-bandwidth workloads: Aruba’s CX switching portfolio is designed to handle the growing demand for high-speed, low-latency connectivity. Whether employees are accessing cloud-based collaboration tools, running video conferencing applications, or transferring large data sets, Aruba’s high-performance switches ensure fast and reliable connections across wired and wireless networks. By prioritizing critical workloads and optimizing traffic flow, Aruba helps businesses maintain peak network performance without slowdowns.
- Flexible network architectures support hybrid cloud and on-premise environments: Many enterprises still rely on a mix of on-premise infrastructure and cloud applications, but traditional networks aren’t built to bridge the two seamlessly. Aruba’s switching solutions provide intelligent traffic management, automated policies, and adaptive routing that ensure smooth integration between data centers, SaaS applications, and remote users—without requiring complex manual configurations or costly network redesigns.
- EVPN/VXLAN for modern data centers ensures seamless connectivity across distributed environments: As enterprises expand their IT infrastructure, they need a scalable and secure way to connect multiple locations and cloud environments. Aruba supports EVPN/VXLAN technology, which enables secure Layer 2 and Layer 3 network virtualization across distributed data centers. This means businesses can seamlessly extend their network across multiple geographic locations while maintaining security, performance, and flexibility—a crucial advantage for companies operating in hybrid cloud environments.
Business Impact: Organizations gain faster, more reliable connectivity that supports hybrid workforces, cloud migrations, and future growth. Aruba helps enterprises eliminate network bottlenecks, improve application performance, and simplify hybrid cloud management—all while reducing IT complexity.
5. Lower TCO and Better ROI Compared to Legacy Vendors
Upgrading networking infrastructure is a major investment, and many legacy vendors make it even more expensive with costly hardware, complex licensing, and high ongoing expenses. Aruba helps businesses modernize their networks more affordably by reducing hardware costs, automating IT tasks, and offering flexible pricing.
How Aruba Solves This:
- Lower hardware costs: Many networking vendors require dedicated hardware controllers for managing switches and access points, adding to upfront and maintenance costs. Aruba eliminates the need for controllers with its cloud-managed architecture, reducing equipment costs and freeing up IT resources.
- Lower operational expenses: IT teams spend too much time troubleshooting and configuring networks manually. Aruba’s AI-driven automation detects issues early, optimizes network performance, and automates configurations—reducing downtime and IT workload.
- Flexible licensing: Unlike vendors that require ongoing subscriptions for core functionality, Aruba offers predictable pricing models with both perpetual and subscription options. Businesses can choose what fits their budget without paying for unnecessary add-ons.
Business Impact: Aruba helps enterprises modernize their networks while spending less—reducing upfront costs, lowering IT labor expenses, and providing a high-performance network without restrictive licensing fees.
Is Your Network Ready for What’s Next?
Enterprises are switching to HPE Aruba Networking because they need a modern network that aligns with their business goals. Aruba CX switching provides:
- Automation that frees up IT resources
- Built-in security that strengthens compliance & threat protection
- Cloud-based management for multi-location visibility and control
- High-performance networking to support hybrid work and cloud workloads
- Lower total cost of ownership with a flexible, cost-efficient approach
Discover how Aruba high-performance core networking can reduce your IT costs, simplify management, and improve security. Connect with VLCM to explore your options today.