NEC is going to integrate Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) wired and wireless technology into its software-defined networking (SDN) portfolio.

The HPE technology includes products from its own Aruba Networks, the WiFi equipment provider HPE acquired in 2015 for $2.7 billion.

Michael Zhu, senior director of corporate development at HPE Aruba, says the business unit works with HPE’s SDN ecosystem for enterprise customers, including the HPE SDN App Store. The app store counts about 100 SDN partners and more than 25 applications, including an OpenDaylight controller.

As part of the first phase of joint development, NEC will integrate its SDN controllers and switches with HPE and Aruba switches, routers, wireless access points, controllers, network management, and network access control.

From the technology integration, NEC plans to offer advanced voice, video, and managed services to customers in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region first, followed by the Americas and Europe.

While NEC benefits from HPE and Aruba’s technology, HPE “gets the market access of NEC in Japan and globally,” says Zhu.

NEC and HPE have worked together for 21 years. This latest integration is part of a strategy to target what the partners are calling “mobile-first networking” to enterprise customers.

“In the past, wireless was an extension for wired, a second thought,” says Zhu. “Now, it’s completely reversed. Wireless is primary, but wired is how you optimize. It’s a new world connecting mobile and the influx of Internet of Things to the cloud. That requires a different kind of network. Policy must be unified across wired and wireless and connect multiple devices from multiple vendors.”

Within its mobile-first networking initiative, HPE is also promoting its software to provide network analytics for customers, including analytics parsed for specific business units within an enterprise.