Helping to increase agility and simplifying the network

HP has announced new cloud-managed, software-defined networking (SDN)-enabled unified wired and wireless network solutions that help customers to increase the agility of their network while simplifying its management.

The new solutions—including the HP Cloud Managed Network Solution, IEEE 802.11ac wireless access points and SDN applications—expand the industry’s most complete unified wired and wireless portfolio. These new solutions are designed to support mobility initiatives for businesses of all sizes by providing improved mobile end-user experiences delivered at triple the speed. Plus, HP’s unified wired and wireless network offerings combined with SDN open the door for new business opportunities, thereby enabling IT professionals to derive business value from the network.

“Enterprises need adaptable, robust, easily deployed and secure wireless LAN solutions as more users are accessing the enterprise network via mobile devices while increasingly using these devices for mission-critical applications,” Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure, IDC. “SDN-based and cloud managed wireless solutions will provide tools that offer network managers greater flexibility and scalability and, more importantly, programmability of networking resources to support the needs of their businesses.”

“Our customers are telling us that their networks are primarily cost centers that are too complex to manage, while they are at the same time facing increasing end-user demand for a better mobile experience,” said Bethany Mayer, senior vice president and general manager, Networking Business Unit and Network Functions Virtualization Business, HP. “With HP’s cloud-managed and SDN-enabled unified wired and wireless solutions, we are enabling IT organizations to provide an improved mobile user experience, as well as offering simplified management and investment protection.”

Cloud managed wireless network simplifies management and increases agility
To address the increasing complexity of legacy network infrastructures, the HP Cloud Managed Network provides an easy-to-manage network solution for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and distributed offices. The solution lowers total cost of ownership by reducing the need for onsite IT staff and lowering upfront costs by up to 30 percent with a pay-per-use cloud service model.

With more mobile devices being used in the workplace and congesting the network, IT professionals struggle with providing a high-quality end-user experience. The new HP 560 and 517 IEEE 802.11ac wireless access points offer network agility, enabling organizations to support the growing number of mobile devices, while improving the user experience with speeds three times faster than 802.11n. The HP 560 access points will also be OpenFlow-enabled, empowering customers to leverage SDN applications without having to rip and replace existing infrastructure. To further help IT organizations on their SDN journey, the new HP SDN Roadmap Services create a pragmatic and detailed transition roadmap aligned with business goals.

To bridge the gap between wired and wireless control, new controller appliances deliver consistent policy management across wired and wireless networks, eliminating swivel-chair management. With up to 40 percent higher scalability than competitive solutions, the HP 870 Unified Wired-WLAN Appliance provides reliable application performance for end users, supporting up to 30,000 devices. For midsize to large enterprises, the HP 850 Unified Wired-WLAN Appliance supports up to 10,000 devices.

HP is supporting customers’ bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives by partnering with Citrix and MobileIron to offer best-in-class mobile device management (MDM) integration with the HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC) platform. Further, with HP Secure BYOD Services and IP Address Management Services, employees are connected and productive within minutes.

“Omnichannel commerce has driven the need to create a new customer experience, which requires agile and secure IT,” said Pascal Trecult, chief technical officer, Monoprix. “HP was able to easily integrate with our partner Wellcoms Technology to deliver streamlined connectivity with a unified wired and wireless management strategy for our network across our 500 plus stores, all while helping us increase sales with targeted advertising.”

SDN-enabled location technology delivers new revenue generation opportunities
The new HP Location Aware SDN application locates any wireless-enabled device indoors with approximately two meter accuracy—up to five times more accurate than competing alternatives. Powered by technology developed at HP Labs, the company’s central research arm, HP Location Aware enables a wide range of new context-aware retail, asset management and security applications. This application will be integrated with the HP Virtual Application Networks (VAN) SDN controller and is designed to help businesses transform wireless LAN infrastructure into revenue-generating vehicles.

HP Communications and Media Solutions (CMS), leveraging big data analytics and Location Aware technology, has developed a proof-of-concept application called SmartShopper. Designed for both retailers and service providers, SmartShopper enables enterprises to tighten relationships with their customers and monetize the network delivering real-time, location-based offers to customers’ smartphones. Using HP’s location- and context-aware Telco Big Data and Analytics technology, organizations can increase sales by personalizing the shopping experience and drive revenue through targeted promotion of relevant products.