Aruba is blending IoT, IT, and operational technology (OT) networks into its Aruba Edge Services Platform (ESP). The Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) company claims the convergence of the network technologies will allow customers to more quickly and efficiently adapt to changing environments and requirements.

The move follows a significant overhaul in June that saw Aruba enter the edge market with a cloud-native platform comprising 35 services, including some that were consolidated under Aruba Central, the vendor’s network management dashboard.

The new batch of SDN is intended to reduce complexity in network management across various applications and interfaces, according to Aruba. Artificial intelligence (AI) will also sense, analyze, and react to data and contextual information gleaned from devices.

Aruba ESP targets campuses, data centers, branches, and remote workers, but it only supports Aruba’s access points, switches, and SD-WAN gateways. It can operate in the cloud, on site, as a managed service through one of Aruba’s partners, or as a network service offering through HPE GreenLake, which experienced skyrocketing growth during the third quarter of 2020.

HPE acquired Aruba in 2015, and HPE CEO Antonio Neri in 2018 pledged to invest $4 billion in edge products and services by 2022. 

Aruba ESP is producing AI insights that automatically improve communications and visibility across IoT, IT, and OT networks with an accuracy rate greater than 95%, according to the company. Added levels of network performance awareness are also minimizing downtime for customers by addressing maintenance issues before they become a problem, thereby reducing maintenance costs by as much as 40%, the vendor said.

More than 65,000 customers are managing networks on Aruba Central, which houses Aruba ESP, and more than one million network devices are feeding back into the platform and informing AI-driven outcomes. The platform is also now equipped with specialized frameworks for unique use cases in education, health care, hospitality, industrial, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and government.

“Machines, applications, and interfaces are typically tailored to each IoT, IT, and OT vertical application, driving complexity in network management,” Will Townsend, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said in a statement provided by Aruba. He concluded that Aruba ESP has the potential to reduce some of those challenges and “accelerate smart facility and hyper-awareness use cases both on-prem and in the cloud.”