Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, has announced the expansion of the Aruba Instant On product family to include a new series of switches that enable small businesses to deploy a unified, high-speed network that is easy to set-up, manage and maintain.
According to the vendor, the new switches create a unified network infrastructure that delivers simplicity through hands-off management and automation.
Whether deployed as part of a business continuity strategy or connectivity upgrade project, the new Aruba Instant On 1930 series of smart-managed switches seamlessly integrate with existing Instant On indoor/outdoor access points (APs), and can be centrally managed with the Instant On mobile app.
Patron expectations for seamless and secure connectivity are high, whether they are engaging with a large, multi-national chain or a small local business. This places undue pressure on small businesses that often do not have the resources to keep IT personnel on staff to address networking challenges. The issue is further compounded when unexpected crises strike – such as the recent global pandemic. The social distancing mandates that have resulted are fundamentally changing the business engagement model from mostly in-person interactions to online-only, which can cause fluctuating network demand.
Aruba said local grocers, restaurants and other essential businesses have had to make a major shift in operations in order to stay viable in the current environment. According to the SMB Group, “71% of SMBs have already moved activities from the physical world to the virtual one, and 16% are planning to do so.”
“Small businesses play a critical role in our communities and, for those that provide essential services, staying connected with their customers has now become a necessity,” said Amol Mitra, vice president and general manager of Global Small and Medium Business at Aruba. “For those who are looking for a simple, hassle-free networking solution that provides secure, high-performance, enterprise-like connectivity, that solution exists today with Aruba Instant On.”
Norm Lillis, vice president of Small Business at CDW, added that: “With this latest addition to the Instant On portfolio, Aruba is addressing the primary pain points for small businesses that want to take a ‘set it and forget it’ approach, while still delivering the robust security features and management simplicity that small businesses need. Especially in uncertain times like these, when smaller organisations that supply essential services to their community have more pressing priorities to attend to, they’re looking for IT solutions that they can rely on to support their business continuity efforts today and into tomorrow.”
Like large organisations, small businesses are concerned with reliability, security and infrastructure costs, yet at the same time, they lack the staff to handle complex management or set-up of the network. Dynamically changing business connectivity and capacity requirements make operational simplicity a critical factor when choosing a networking solution. To address these challenges, Aruba Instant On offers unified management for all network services, a single architecture for both switches and access points and an innovative mobile app for hassle-free set-up, monitoring and management across the entire network.
The company added that remote access to business services and tools is essential for small businesses, however, they lack the resources that a large enterprise can leverage to set-up and maintain virtual private networks (VPNs).
Aruba has teamed up with NordVPN, a trusted online security solutions provider with more than 12 million users worldwide, to deliver VPN services to Aruba Instant On customers. Adding NordVPN to an Aruba Instant On network requires just a few simple steps and no IT expertise, enabling employees to remotely access sensitive business data when they can’t work on site.
