Product Note: Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Keerti Melkote, Sachin Katti, and Greg Murphy, and has since become a leading provider of enterprise networking solutions, including wireless access points, switches, and SD-WAN technologies. Aruba's acquisition by HPE in 2015 has further strengthened its position in the market, allowing the company to leverage the resources and industry expertise of the larger Hewlett Packard Enterprise organization.
Aruba's EdgeConnect SD-WAN offering is built on the company's extensive experience in enterprise networking and security. The EdgeConnect SD-WAN solution is designed to provide organizations with a comprehensive platform for managing their wide-area networks, with a focus on seamless integration with Aruba's broader networking ecosystem.
Product Overview and Strengths
The EdgeConnect appliance features a hardware platform with a range of network interfaces, including Ethernet, LTE, and Wi-Fi, as well as specialized security processing capabilities. The appliance runs Aruba's proprietary EdgeOS operating system, which provides core SD-WAN functionality such as dynamic path selection, application-aware routing, and integrated WAN optimization.
One of the key strengths of the EdgeConnect solution is its focus on seamless integration with the broader Aruba networking ecosystem, including Aruba's wireless access points, switches, and network management tools. This allows for a highly unified and centralized approach to network management and security, which can be particularly valuable for organizations that have already invested in Aruba's technology stack.
Weaknesses
However, the EdgeConnect solution may be less appealing to organizations that do not have a significant investment in Aruba's technology and prefer a more vendor-agnostic SD-WAN solution. The tight integration with the Aruba ecosystem may limit the platform's flexibility and interoperability with other vendors' products, which could be a consideration for customers with multi-vendor networking environments.
Bottom Line
Aruba's EdgeConnect SD-WAN is well-suited for enterprises that have already adopted Aruba's networking solutions and seek a tightly integrated SD-WAN offering that leverages the company's expertise in enterprise networking and security. The platform's ability to provide a comprehensive, unified network and security management experience makes it an attractive option for organizations looking to simplify their wide-area networking infrastructure. However, the EdgeConnect solution may be less appealing to customers that have not invested in Aruba's technology stack and prefer a more vendor-neutral approach to SD-WAN deployment.