UK-based operator group BT is collaborating with HPE to manage increasing demands for hybrid work and IoT deployments. Key to this strategy will be relying on HPE’s Aruba Networking solutions to underpin a new managed local area networking (LAN) service offered by BT.
“This will offer the visibility, flexibility and security customers need to deliver productive, trusted wired and wireless connectivity,” said BT’s Director of Voice and Digital Work, Andrew Small, emphasising that conventional in-building networks lack the needed infrastructure to support evolving work styles leveraging hybrid and IoT devices.
Aruba LAN’s offering includes a cloud-native management console that gives customers insight into connected devices across their networks. Delivered as a robust managed service, it offers the agility required for scaling network capacity and addition of new features. Perhaps its most advantageous characteristic is its compatibility with multi-vendor environments, allowing companies to optimise use of existing LAN devices and equipment. That means a full network overhaul isn’t required – a benefit that BT will harness in its first deployment step by conducting an audit to determine what equipment can be reused or replaced.
“Global customers that are building their connectivity strategies are focusing on modern enterprise networks that are secure, agile, responsive to business needs and simple to operate,” says Phil Mottram, EVP and general manager, HPE Aruba Networking. HPE prides itself on redefining customer experience, laying focus on AI, security, automation alongside Network-as-a-Service capabilities within a global context.
