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| Picture credit: Aruba |
HPE’s Aruba has announced a software platform designed to make it easier for companies to flexibly add mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) services to their networks using application programming interfaces (APIs).
The announcement is the latest development in a broader shift towards Networking-as-a-Service (NaaS), where the functions carried out by a network are determined by software that can be modified according to the organisation’s changing needs.
Mobile First Platform allows the integration of third-party services via APIs and delivers real-time network information.
The platform provides real-time network insights for improving IoT security and user experiences, utilising application programming interfaces (APIs). It accelerates integration of IoT and mobile, unlocking the developer ecosystem’s ability to innovate and use information collected by the Aruba infrastructure from IoT and mobile devices. The new software layer uses APIs to deliver network insights to developers.
With this platform, customers can tap the fast pace of the developer ecosystem to improve their existing applications or create new ones that enhance customer experience, drive new revenue streams and improve business operations.
The system is built on the new ArubaOS 8 operation system that enables developers to leverage infrastructure information. ArubaOS 8 can be deployed as a server application or virtual machine, simplifying the infrastructure changes and enabling customers to scale their networks instantly.
According to press release: “ArubaOS 8 also enables greater programmability in the Aruba infrastructure with the ability to upload custom app signatures in real-time. Developers and ecosystem partners can easily enable policy management and quality control for new, business critical applications without network upgrades or downtime.”
“ArubaOS 8 and the Aruba Mobile First Platform allow us to centrally manage and push network configurations without the need for new hardware appliances,” Sean O’Connor, CISO at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said in a press release.
Skyfii, an ecosystem partner, is already harnessing the platform’s capability to help businesses visualise and analyse retailers’ customer behaviour data. It uses contextual data about applications, devices, users and locations from the Aruba Analytics and Location Engine (ALE), enabling retailers to understand consumer behaviour better and engage them better with improved marketing calls to action and advertising.
The launch of the new Mobile First Platform also comes with enhancements to Aruba ClearPass software that aim to make it easier to integrate cloud-based technology services. Ecosystem partners can place their software without major code changes into a repository, which can be leveraged with an API.
