NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the leader in cloud data services, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Spot, a leader in compute management and cost optimization on the public clouds, to establish leadership in Application Driven Infrastructure. 

Digital transformation initiatives have accelerated and remain the top business priority, especially in today’s environment, and the public clouds offer the speed and flexibility needed to navigate this new normal as companies find to new ways to work, interact and do business. However, unoptimized clouds can be costly and slow down the business transformation. To address this challenge, an Application Driven Infrastructure translates the application’s workload patterns and drives the best possible level of performance and cost for storage and compute, all done while maintaining the contracted service-level agreement (SLA) and service-level objective (SLO). Together, NetApp and Spot’s Application Driven Infrastructure for continuous optimization will help customers save up to 90 percent of their compute and storage cloud expenses, which typically make up 70 percent of total cloud spending, and will help accelerate public cloud adoption.

“In today’s public clouds, speed is the new scale. However, waste in the public clouds driven by idle resources and overprovisioned resources is a significant and a growing customer problem slowing down more public cloud adoption,” said Anthony Lye, senior vice president and general manager, Public Cloud Services, NetApp. “The combination of NetApp’s leading shared storage platform for block, file and object and Spot’s compute platform will deliver a leading solution for the continuous optimization of cost for all workloads, both cloud native and legacy. Optimized customers are happy customers and happy customers deploy more to the public clouds.”

Spot provides a combination of tools for visibility and automation, that drive continuous optimization of workloads in a single platform while maintaining both SLA and SLO. This relieves DevOps, CloudOps, and FinOps teams from the burden and complexity of managing, scaling, tuning and optimizing cloud resources so that they can focus on business innovation under acceptable budget controls.  

“Spot was founded with a vision to revolutionize the way companies consume cloud infrastructure services, using analytics and automation to deliver the most reliable, best performing and most cost-efficient infrastructure for every workload on every cloud,” said Amiram Shachar, Founder and CEO, Spot. “We look forward to joining the NetApp family and building together the future of Application Driven Infrastructure and helping customers to deploy more workloads in the cloud.”

Together, NetApp and Spot will establish an Application Driven Infrastructure to enable customers to deploy more applications to public clouds faster with Spot’s “as-a-service” platform for the continuous optimization of both compute and storage for both traditional IT buyers with enterprise applications, cloud-native workloads and data lakes. 

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of NetApp’s fiscal year and is subject to the satisfaction of certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation efforts for organizations everywhere, driving rapid adoption of new cloud technologies to support remote working and online learning. In response, Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR), a cloud-driven networking company, has launched a #NewNormal initiative to help all of its customers adapt to the transition. The #NewNormal initiative is a comprehensive program that provides information and industry insights to help companies survive and thrive leveraging the industry’s only 4th generation cloud management platform.

 

ExtremeCloud IQ™ is a machine learning and AI- driven cloud management solution, built on a 4th generation cloud platform. Integrated with Extreme’s end-to-end enterprise networking technology, it assists in collecting data to build, secure, and maintain agile and distributed work environments. For organizations bringing employees back to work and students back to school, ExtremeCloud IQ helps ensure safe mobility on campus with IoT and robotics connectivity and visibility, as well as support for occupancy management and contact tracing applications.

 

Use Cases:

• Facilitating Agile Work Environments – For organizations needing to connect, secure, and manage remote network sites or remote workers, or enable distance learning, ExtremeCloud IQ can be deployed to manage Extreme’s curated Portable Branch Kits (PBK) and Bring Your Office Home Kits (BYOH). ExtremeCloud IQ offers analytics and tools to proactively monitor and optimize network health across every part of an organization, whether it be a fixed or temporary location, or over a wired or wireless network. As people return to work and school, the flexible and portable ExtremeCloud IQ application allows IT administrators to adjust to changing user, device, and data requirements.

 

• Occupancy Management – For facilities, human resources, and legal teams tasked with reducing risk reduction via safe social distancing, ExtremeCloud IQ integrates with Extreme network solutions and third-party technologies to provide real-time and historical presence analytics, location monitoring, and building monitoring, as well as real-time location services and in-door positioning. The collected data allows third-party applications to alert on excessive levels of congregation, volume of traffic over time, no-go zones, violations of directional flows, or other parameters, including notifying staff when an area requires additional sterilization after prolonged or excessive occupancy.

 

• IoT Monitoring and Robotics Automation – For organizations needing a high-level of visibility and environmental monitoring, Extreme offers secure wired and wireless connectivity and simple, secure device onboarding and management via ExtremeCloud IQ. The application provides complete visibility and management of connected devices that monitor health and safety, without requiring technical staff or staging services. It offers correlation of device location and gathered data, with unlimited data available in July. It also helps to manage remote operations for unmanned manufacturing facilities that are using robotics assistance to minimize staff exposure.

 

• Contact Tracing Enablement – The same network that is already providing corporate communication is also continually monitoring, gathering, and recording client activity. With ExtremeWireless™ access points, managed by ExtremeCloud IQ, organizations have complete visibility into their distributed network traffic, providing specific location information and unlimited historical data, starting in July. Administrators can easily track where users connected, where they roamed within the facility, and what other devices were connected in those areas at the same time, and then feed that data to third-party applications that support contact tracing.

 

Executive Perspectives

Norman Rice, Chief Operating Officer, Extreme Networks

“As we grapple with more data, coming from more places, more connected devices, and more SaaS-based applications, the cloud is becoming fundamental to establishing a new normal. This means organizations need an even better cloud – one that delivers infinite 9s of uptime, dependable and uncorrupted data over an unlimited time span, and the industry’s best security. That comes with a 4th generation cloud and Extreme is the only company that has one with its ExtremeCloud IQ platform.”  

 

Zeus Kerravala, Principal, ZK Research  

“Distributed connectivity demands even better centralized management. In a post-COVID world, IT teams in every industry will need more control and better insights than ever before to ensure a secure, enterprise-grade connection for employees, wherever they are located, and cloud applications and management will be required to scale and adapt. Extreme is working closely with customers and partners to implement security measures that help build trust, and to enable an agile and productive workforce wherever employees may be signing in from. Its 4th generation, unified cloud management solution makes it all possible.”

New Approach to Working in 2020 and Beyond Uses Aruba’s AI-powered, Cloud-Native Platform to Deliver Enterprise Access and Enforce Safe Work Habits Tailored To Hybrid Work Environments

 

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today unveiled a suite of innovative workplace solutions and a new vision for three return to work scenarios – returning to the office and venues, working from home, and ultimately, the office reimagined. With Aruba’s AI-powered, cloud-native networking solutions as their foundation, each scenario provides pragmatic steps organizations can take today to expedite business recovery and implement contact tracing and touchless solutions that enhance the health and wellness of employees and visitors.

There’s no question that the new state of work will be much different from office life prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The mandate to shut down non-essential physical offices and businesses tested the effectiveness of fully virtual workforces, which has been successful when the right networking technologies and tools are in place. We will return not to one, but to many kinds of workplaces – traditional offices, homes, on the road – within which our safety must be ensured, and between which we must move seamlessly without retraining or compromise.

“The new fluid workplace requires contextual awareness, adaptability and scalability on a global scale – all without security gaps,” said Partha Narasimhan, CTO and HPE Senior Fellow for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “Throughout the pandemic, Aruba’s AI-powered infrastructure has adapted to optimize customers’ reimagined work environments at half a million customer sites worldwide, with massive teleworkforces dispatched to work from home, and for essential mobile workforces.”

Return to the Office and Venues

Traditional offices and buildings are relying on AI-powered contact and location tracing tools to enable social and physical distancing monitoring solutions that make the workplace safer for employees, students, patients, customers, and fans. Through Aruba-led innovations or implemented in concert with Aruba Technology Partners, these solutions use IoT and Bluetooth radios already built into Aruba access points and managed from a single pane of glass. The solutions operate on customers’ existing Aruba infrastructure, eliminating the need for rip and replace, and leverage cloud-based applications that are easy to activate and affordable to deploy.

• Contact and Location Tracing – Aruba will be releasing a new set of native contact and location tracing tools for existing Aruba infrastructure customers based on both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This will be demonstrated at Aruba Atmosphere Digital on June 9, 2020. For expanded capabilities, Aruba Technology Partners AiRISTA Flow, CXApp, Kiana Analytics, Modo Labs, and Skyfii integrate with Aruba infrastructures to monitor social distancing and group sizes, and generate contract tracing trees of potentially exposed individuals.

• Contactless Visitor Management – In the new work environment, organizations are looking to avoid physical contact with front desk receptionists or using shared, self-service tablets for check-in. Aruba and its digital workplace partners, such as Envoy, allow pre-registration, automated host notification, and auto-generated individualized visitor Wi-Fi credentials – all with zero human-to-human contact.

• Video and AI-based Health Monitoring – Proactively identifying and assisting COVID-infected guests and employees keeps everyone in the workplace safer. HPE Pointnext and Aruba’s technology partners can deliver and support contactless thermographic solutions that measure forehead temperature of groups of people simultaneously. Ideal for lobbies and other high traffic areas, the solution incorporates automated voice response and interfaces with access control portals.

Working from Home

An effective long-term work-from-home solution has to deliver a secure, enterprise-like experience that enhances efficiency, creativity, and productivity.  Unlike solutions that use repurposed consumer network equipment, Aruba provides enterprise-class telework hardware coupled with plug-and-play installation, identity-based security, and cloud native management for rapid, simple and scalable deployment. Field-proven since 2008, Aruba’s work-from-home solutions scale to accommodate organizations of any size, and are available with FIPS 140-2 validation for defense-related telework.

• Secure Remote Access to Business-Critical Resources – Aruba Remote Access Points (RAPs) and gateways extend access to enterprise applications and services hosted on-premises or in the public cloud, anywhere employees work. Compatible with broadband and cellular networks, RAPs provide both Ethernet and wireless connectivity so employees can use IP phones, VDI terminals, trading consoles, and mobile devices at remote locations with the same security and quality of service they enjoy in the office.

• Seamless, Secure Access While on the Road – Aruba Virtual Intranet Access (VIA) VPN software client provides secure connectivity to laptops, phones, and tablets. Unlike other VPN solutions that require the customer to set up additional layers of protection, VIA includes an embedded firewall that intelligently segments the traffic and enforces the security policies down to each user.

“For too long organizations have treated working locations as a binary choice – we’re either assigned to an office or are remote workers,” said Ryan Anderson, VP of Digital Innovation for Herman Miller. “The current requirement to work remotely has blown the doors open for a new hybrid workplace reality that experience designers and technologists alike need to account for in the future. A comfortable, secure and reliable work-from-home setting will be a key requirement for this new era.”

The Office Reimagined

The recent trend for the modern corporate office – to deliver open, collaborative work spaces – will soon need to be revalidated. Moving forward, organizations are considering lasting changes in office layout and frequency of employee visits that are more on-demand and modular than ever before. This type of next-generation space poses challenges to traditional networking and security infrastructure intended for a static work environment.

The office will become increasingly smart using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IoT sensors, and other capabilities that were invested in during the COVID-19 reopening phase, but then may be repurposed to provide employee experience-enhancing applications, as well as security and crisis capabilities, should any type of health or other emergency resurface. To help customers through this office and workstyle transformation, Aruba has established relationships with key leaders in the field of office architecture, design, and furnishings, such as Herman Miller, whose products, in conjunction with Aruba’s AI-powered infrastructure, can help customers redefine next generation spaces. For more information read: Strategies for Returning to the Workplace after COVID-19

To experience what Aruba has to offer for the Reimagined Workplace and the Intelligent Edge, join us starting June 9, 2020 for Aruba Atmosphere Digital: https://www.arubanetworks.com/atmosphere/

 

New Switches Create a Unified Network Infrastructure that Delivers Simplicity through Hands-off Management and Automation

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today announced the expansion of the Aruba Instant On product family to include a new series of switches that enable small businesses to deploy a unified, high-speed network that is easy to set-up, manage and maintain. Whether deployed as part of a business continuity strategy or connectivity upgrade project, the new Aruba Instant On 1930 Series of smart-managed switches seamlessly integrate with existing Instant On indoor/outdoor access points (APs), and can be centrally managed with the Instant On mobile app.

Patron expectations for seamless and secure connectivity are high, whether they are engaging with a large, multi-national chain or a small local business. This places undue pressure on small businesses that often do not have the resources to keep IT personnel on staff to address networking challenges. The issue is further compounded when unexpected crises strike – such as the recent global pandemic. The social distancing mandates that have resulted are fundamentally changing the business engagement model from mostly in-person interactions to online-only, which can cause fluctuating network demand. Local grocers, restaurants and other essential businesses have had to make a major shift in operations in order to stay viable in the current environment. According to the SMB Group, “71% of SMBs have already moved activities from the physical world to the virtual one, and 16% are planning to do so.”[1]

“With this latest addition to the Instant On portfolio, Aruba is addressing the primary pain points for small businesses that want to take a ‘set it and forget it’ approach, while still delivering the robust security features and management simplicity that small businesses need,” said Norm Lillis, vice president of Small Business at CDW. “Especially in uncertain times like these, when smaller organizations that supply essential services to their community have more pressing priorities to attend to, they’re looking for IT solutions that they can rely on to support their business continuity efforts today and into tomorrow.”

Like large organizations, small businesses are concerned with reliability, security and infrastructure costs, yet at the same time, they lack the staff to handle complex management or set-up of the network. Dynamically changing business connectivity and capacity requirements make operational simplicity a critical factor when choosing a networking solution. To address these challenges, Aruba Instant On offers unified management for all network services, a single architecture for both switches and access points and an innovative mobile app for hassle-free set-up, monitoring and management across the entire network.

The new Instant On 1930 Switch Series features:

• Flexible configurations with 8, 24, or 48 1G ports with PoE and high speed 10G connectivity
• Enhanced PoE+ on all ports to power a range of Internet of Things devices
• Choice of management modes for flexibility:
  • Cloud-management via mobile app or web browser
  • Local web GUI
• Limited lifetime warranty for maximum investment protection

Remote access to business services and tools is essential for small businesses, however, they lack the resources that a large enterprise can leverage to set-up and maintain virtual private networks (VPNs). Aruba has teamed up with NordVPN, a trusted online security solutions provider with more than 12 million users worldwide, to deliver VPN services to Aruba Instant On customers. Adding NordVPN to an Aruba Instant On network requires just a few simple steps and no IT expertise, enabling employees to remotely access sensitive business data when they can’t work on site.

“Small businesses play a critical role in our communities and, for those that provide essential services, staying connected with their customers has now become a necessity,” said Amol Mitra, vice president and general manager of Global Small and Medium Business at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “For those who are looking for a simple, hassle-free networking solution that provides secure, high-performance, enterprise-like connectivity, that solution exists today with Aruba Instant On.”

Pricing and Availability

The Aruba Instant On 1930 Switch Series is available beginning June 1, with list prices starting at $129 USD. For more information on the Instant On family of products for small businesses, please visit www.ArubaInstantOn.com.

---

[1] SMB Group, “Organizational Issues Facing SMB Operations During COVID-19 And Business Solutions,” April 2020