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Latest Aruba news & announcements

Aruba and Zebra Technologies launch User Experience Insight (UXI) AI software to deliver unmatched visibility into mobile user experiences

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company announced the availability of an embedded solution for mobile devices that delivers unmatched real-time visibility into roaming user experiences and application performance. Real-time visibility Developed with Zebra Technologies, an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge, the Aruba User Experience Insight (UXI) AI software agent embedded in Zebra mobile computers analyses real-time voice and data traffic and proactively flags issues that could affect the application, Wi-Fi connectivity, roaming, and voice performance. The early warning provided by Aruba UXI informs remedial actions so that business-critical applications and end-user experiences are not impacted. The result is higher uptime, increased productivity, and more expeditious problem remediation. Mobile-based technology solutions The announcement builds upon Aruba’s long-standing relationship with Zebra to bring to market innovative, mobile-based technology solutions that address critical operational issues spanning vertical markets. Aruba’s AI-based UXI agents’ work with Zebra’s Worry-Free Wi-Fi Edge Insights™ to expose insights into the network Aruba’s AI-based UXI agents’ network and application testing capabilities work in concert with Zebra’s Worry-Free Wi-Fi Edge Insights™ to expose a device-level view and pre-analysed insights of the network. Results are displayed on Aruba’s intuitive UXI dashboard. WorryFree Wi-Fi Edge Insights “Zebra developed WorryFree Wi-Fi Edge Insights to deliver superior device communications and management services,” said Julie Johnson, vice president of Global Product Management and Portfolio for Enterprise Mobile Computing at Zebra Technologies. “WorryFree Wi-Fi Edge Insights will provide businesses with an edge-to-cloud early warning system that can directly enhance productivity, efficiency, and profitability.” Edge-to-cloud early warning system The solution enables IT, teams, to automate the collection, analysis, and remediation of performance issues in real-time using data observed from the very devices that are being impacted, as simulated or historical data, simply cannot provide the same level of accuracy as live data. Precise solutions For example, connectivity and voice performance might vary considerably while standing at floor level, moving on a forklift, or while picking at the top of a storage rack. The combination of Aruba’s UXI agents and Zebra Worry-Free Wi-Fi Edge Insights will expose these differences, enabling IT staff – locally or remotely – to precisely target solutions. The real-time nature of data collection means that even transient events that might otherwise go unnoticed are captured and analysed. Mobile generated data “As enterprises leap to digitally transform, the amount of business-impacting data that has to be analysed for meaningful insights is growing exponentially,” said Brian Ray, vice president of Engineering at HarborTech Mobility, an Aruba Platinum partner and Zebra PartnerConnect Premier Solutions partner. “Data science has to be leveraged, but it is only as good as the sources from which it draws. Mobile device-generated data is the gold standard for performance and troubleshooting information because it’s coming directly from the source, from the very device that’s impacted by network, service, and application issues.” Using AI for monitoring Mobile device-generated data is the gold standard for performance and troubleshooting information" The vast amount of data generated by Zebra mobile computers and other IoT machines can be meaningfully collected, analysed, and acted upon by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). Aruba pioneered the application of AI to automated network and application performance monitoring. AI-powered incident detection Aruba UXI, a component of Aruba’s AIOps suite, is AI-powered, and it's Incident Detection feature baselines application performance over time and automatically identifies and alerts when it detects service-impacting changes in behaviour. The cloud-based service allows IT to proactively resolve issues before they impact operations, and minimise alert fatigue, often without ever stepping foot on the site being monitored. AIOps runs as a service within Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform), the industry’s first cloud-native platform designed to automate, unify, and secure the Edge. Tackling troubleshooting “COOs are laser-focused on improving operational efficiency, reducing downtime, and making the best use of skilled labor,” said Michael Tennefoss, vice president of IoT and Strategic Partnerships at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “Many of the most vexing problems are transient in nature and extremely challenging to troubleshoot. Capturing real-time information right at the point of impact gives the most insightful view of what’s happening, and best informs how to fix it. And that’s exactly what the combination of Zebra’s new Worry-Free Wi-Fi Edge Insights and Aruba’s UXI accomplishes.” The Aruba UXI Agent will be available in October of 2021. Target markets include healthcare, hospitality, logistics, and retail applications.

New advancements to Aruba ESP deliver edge-to-cloud security to enterprises

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, announced an expansive set of cross-portfolio edge-to-cloud security integrations for Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform). The new advancements include the integration of the ClearPass Policy Manager secure network access control platform with the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform, formerly Silver Peak, the integration of Aruba Threat Defense with the EdgeConnect platform, and the expansion of the Aruba ESP multivendor security partner ecosystem, providing enterprise customers with the freedom to deploy best-of-breed, cloud-delivered secure access service edge (SASE) security components of their choice. Today’s Aruba ESP advancements will enable enterprises to fast-track their digital transformation journey from edge-to-cloud. Adoption of cloud-hosted services As organisations contend with challenges resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a new “work from anywhere” normal, the adoption of cloud-hosted services will continue to accelerate. This shift is intensifying the urgency to transform conventional data centre and MPLS-centric and VPN-based networks to a cloud-native SASE architecture that features more dynamic provisioning of secure network services while protecting data from end-to-end. In parallel, digital transformation is causing a significant increase of IoT devices connecting to the network, presenting new challenges that are not addressed with cloud-delivered security alone. Since IoT devices are agentless, IT departments cannot install security clients or redirect device traffic to cloud security services; therefore, Zero Trust security must be applied at the WAN edge. Identity-based security policy Enterprise customers now have the ability to apply granular-level, identity-based security policy To realise the full potential of the cloud and digital transformation, organisations require a new WAN edge that combines on-premises and cloud-delivered security, delivering on the promise of SASE to protect users connecting to SaaS and public cloud platforms and to safeguard IoT devices that require Zero Trust identity-based security. Through the new Aruba ESP integrations being announced, enterprise customers now have the ability to apply granular-level, identity-based security policy from edge-to-cloud to safely connect and protect both users and devices. A recent report from communications research firm 650 Group highlights the growing emphasis on SASE while explaining the need for enterprises to re-examine their security approach in light of the current technology evolution. Customer feedback Chris DePuy, founding technology analyst at 650 Group states, “As enterprises shift toward Zero Trust and SASE architectures, they are increasingly evaluating and deploying multi-vendor cloud-delivered security services, and it’s not necessary for all the SASE components to come from a single vendor.” “Aruba’s approach strikes a balance between delivering on-premises security functionality at the WAN edge and providing customers with the freedom of choice to integrate leading cloud-delivered security services from partners like Zscaler, Netskope, and Check Point. This multi-vendor partnering strategy provides enterprises with the flexibility to continue working with existing vendors or shift toward ‘best-of-breed’ systems.” ClearPass Policy Manager integration The integration of ClearPass Policy Manager with the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform augments application intelligence by adding identity knowledge of users, IoT devices, roles, and security posture to form the basis of a SASE WAN edge. Combining role and security posture intelligence with advanced dynamic segmentation capabilities eliminates the complexity associated with implementing hundreds of VLANs for each class of user and device, dramatically simplifying network administration and management. Integrating ClearPass Policy Manager with EdgeConnect provides a consistent and automated definition of roles that can be enforced network-wide from the user’s device, through the LAN, and across the WAN. Threat Defense integration Aruba Threat Defense with the EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform extends advanced intrusion detection The integration of Aruba Threat Defense with the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform extends advanced intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) capabilities to EdgeConnect physical and virtual appliances. This allows the EdgeConnect platform to leverage the Aruba threat infrastructure, sharing critical threat information between Aruba Central and EdgeConnect to deliver full visibility across the network. These advanced unified threat management (UTM) capabilities enable enterprises to deliver east-west lateral security as well as secure local internet breakout from branch locations and can be deployed centrally on premises or in the cloud. By leveraging a common threat infrastructure and threat feeds across Aruba ESP, network and security managers can centrally apply and enforce threat management policies enterprise-wide. Multivendor partner Ecosystem As enterprises shift toward a Zero Trust and SASE architecture, they are increasingly evaluating and deploying multivendor cloud-delivered security services. A new Ponemon Institute security best practices survey affirms this, revealing that over 70 percent of respondents would opt for a best-of-breed, cloud-delivered security solution over an all-in-one approach, in order to architect a comprehensive Zero Trust and SASE infrastructure. With a new Service Orchestration provisioning workflow, the Aruba Orchestrator management console, formerly Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator, now includes pre-configured default information regarding the cloud security partner’s proximity-based cloud security services. Network administrators can quickly and easily associate Aruba branch locations with the partner’s points of presence (POPs) and cloud-data centres. Foremost security vendors such as Check Point, Forcepoint, McAfee, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec and Zscaler are currently a part of Aruba’s extensive technology alliance partner ecosystem. Powerful combination “The integration of ClearPass Policy Manager and Aruba Threat Defense with the EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform allows us to deliver a consistent identity-based policy framework across the Aruba secure edge portfolio,” said David Hughes, Founder of Silver Peak and Senior Vice President of the WAN business at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. The integration will enable customers to move from center-centric network architectures to cloud-centric WAN “This powerful combination will enable customers to move at their own pace, from legacy data center-centric network architectures, with perimeter-based security, to a cloud-centric WAN with security based on the principles of Zero Trust and SASE. Enterprise customers can deploy our on-premises EdgeConnect WAN edge platform to enforce policy from the edge, and easily integrate with leading cloud-delivered security services from the vendor of their choice, all centrally controlled within Aruba Orchestrator.” Comprehensive WAN Edge portfolio The Aruba ESP platform offers customers the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of secure wired, wireless and WAN edge solutions that enable customers to adapt to today’s new normal and tomorrow’s unknowns. The WAN Edge portfolio includes: Virtual Intranet Access Client (VIA) – maximum mobility for work-from-anywhere users whether connecting to private or public networks Remote Access Points (RAPs) – minimal footprint for mobile, remote and temporary workspaces, delivering secure connectivity to the corporate enterprise network SD-Branch – maximum integration and simple unified management across WLAN, LAN and SD-WAN with Zero Trust security EdgeConnect – optimal QoE (Quality of Experience) from edge-to-cloud with an advanced SD-WAN edge platform and unified SASE components

Pulse Secure NAC extends Zero Trust Network Assurance as users and IoT devices return to a hybrid workplace

Pulse Secure announced new features to its Network Access Control (NAC) solution, Pulse Policy Secure (PPS), that enhance endpoint and IoT device visibility, compliance, remediation, and threat response as organisations embrace expanded remote work flexibility with employees and their devices returning to a hybrid workplace. Available separately or as part of Pulse Access Suite Plus, Pulse Policy Secure (PPS) is an enterprise-class NAC solution that is easy to deploy, manage and scale. The update release includes over 30 new features and enhancements such as support for additional endpoint detection and response (EDR) and IoT / OT vendors including McAfee and Nozomi. With businesses slowly opening up more modified and social-distanced work settings and accelerating multi-cloud and hybrid IT resource use, organisations are experiencing increased attack vectors and exploits stemming from endpoint and IoT device exposures. Hybrid work environment What’s required to ensure user productivity and information security in today’s hybrid work environment is greater managed and unmanaged device oversight, expanded endpoint compliance and remediation capability, and means to unify remote and on-premise access control. In the “2020 Endpoint and IoT Zero Trust Security” Report, Cybersecurity Insider’s noted the following survey results: 66% saw an “increase to significant increase” in endpoint and IoT security incidents impact over the last 12 months, with the top 3 being malware, insecure network and remote access, and compromised credentials / weak authentication. 50% anticipate “high to likely” that their organisation will become compromised due to an endpoint or IoT originated attack in the next 12 months. 48% have “moderate to unlikely means” to discover, identify and respond to unknown, unmanaged, or insecure devices accessing network and cloud resources. Threat response capabilities Pulse Secure ranked among the top 3 hybrid NAC vendors by global market share Modern Network Access Control solutions provide the agent and agentless visibility, contextual access policy control and integrated threat response capabilities necessary to prevent endpoint exposures that yield identity theft, malware and network compromise. Regulated industries, such as financial services and healthcare, need to be especially diligent in enforcing endpoint compliance and segregating IoT access. According to a recent market report by IDC, NAC is a mainstream market forecasted to grow 10.7%, reaching $1.9B by 2024. NAC has evolved from an admission control tool to enable real-time, on-premises endpoint, mobile and IoT device discovery, assessment, enforcement and remediation capabilities. In this report, Pulse Secure ranked among the top 3 hybrid NAC vendors by global market share - offering 802.1X, non-802.1X agent-based agentless functions. High performance appliance The report’s “Who Shaped the Year” section highlights Pulse Secure’s capabilities: Pulse Policy Secure (NAC) offers the complete range of capabilities, including 802.1X and non-802.1X, agent and agentless Client, and network profiling with UEBA, which gives enterprises flexibility to deploy across a gamut of hybrid IT environments. This makes Pulse Secure's NAC ideal to support a wide range of use cases, such as: visibility only, full-featured 802.1X, agent-based BYOD (they offer a mobile VPN and MDM), as well as agentless guest, IoT and IT/OT security. Having a built-in RADIUS server, high performance appliance (up to 50,000 concurrent sessions), centralised management (up to 400 appliances), and ecosystem integrations also provides benefits to NAC scalability and interoperability. Secure access technologies Modern NAC solutions are increasingly becoming a critical component of a multifaceted secure access programme" As a Secure Access platform play, competing with Cisco, Fortinet and HP, Pulse Secure provides a portfolio of solutions available separately or as an integrated suite for hybrid IT. Pulse Secure offers all three primary secure access technologies recognised by IDC: VPN, NAC, and SDP. With unified Client, appliance, management and rules engine, this cross functionality allows corporate policy to be set across any combination of solutions. As the pandemic forces adopting organisations to prioritise securing the growing remote workforce, Pulse Secure is able to provide a comprehensive solution-set which does not requiring sacrificing the continuing need for on-premise security. Secure access programme “Beyond the merits of device visibility and access enforcement, modern NAC solutions are increasingly becoming a critical component of a multifaceted secure access programme, both supporting a wide variety of important uses and adding value through key integrations with other security technologies,” said Peter Finalle, Senior Research Analyst for IDC’s security team. “Pulse Secure is distinguished among Secure Access platform players as offering extensive hybrid NAC capabilities, device intelligence, scalability and key integrations while delivering user experience, endpoint security, and access management across NAC, VPN and SDP solutions.” New features enhance endpoint compliance Pulse Secure offers a portfolio of Secure Access solutions that provide exceptional usability and visibility “The latest release of Pulse Secure NAC continues to advance our deployment, usability and threat response capabilities while delivering enterprise-class functionality,” said Ganesh Nakhawa, Director of Portfolio Solutions at Pulse Secure. “With our unique means to offer a unified endpoint compliance and protected connectivity capabilities across mobile, network and cloud environments, organisations can mitigate endpoint and IoT security risks while ensuring productivity no matter where employees work.” Pulse Secure offers a portfolio of Secure Access solutions that provide exceptional usability, visibility and Zero Trust policy orchestration to enable seamless, compliant user and device access to applications and resources across distributed network and cloud environments. Security posture assessment New PPS version 9.1R8 features and enhancements include: Endpoint security compliance enhancements with leading endpoint detection and response (EDR) vendors including new McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) integration. This allows organisations to assign role-based access based on device attribute details provided by McAfee ePO, automatically install McAfee ePO client if not detected, and limit or block connectivity based on threat alerts received from ePO, such as non-compliant or compromised devices. Agentless device discovery and security posture assessment advancements, such as expanded passive device fingerprinting using TCP and SMB protocols, to enhance endpoint access control and reduce administrative classification tasks. Greater device visibility and threat response for Industrial Control System (ICS) environments based on increased IoT/IIoT device classifications, and automated access control based on threat severity notifications from IT and OT security vendors such as Nozomi. Management UI improvements that simplify and streamline administrative tasks such as new search and custom reporting options to expedite audits, investigations and operational insight. Government contractor applications Pulse Policy Secure has FIPS 140-2 Level 1 certification and is Common Criteria certified extensive deployment in government, military and government contractor applications. Used to satisfy NIST 800-53 controls and Comply-to-Connect requisites, the solution is certified on the U.S. DoD Unified Capabilities (UC) Approved Products List (APL) and for J Joint Warfighting IT Interoperability (JTIC). NAC Upgrade Program - Organisations can take advantage of Pulse Secure’s Trade-in Program to replace current NAC solutions from companies such as Forescout, Cisco, Aruba, and Fortinet.

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