Aruba’s integration with AWS Cloud WAN is believed to be providing large-scale support for cloud connectivity use cases that extend LAN/WAN network segmentation and traffic isolation from the edge to and through the AWS global backbone network.

According to Aruba, the benefits of LAN/WAN segmentation with AWS Cloud WAN include:

• Improved network security from edge to cloud: Easily segmenting users, devices, applications, and WAN services into secure end-to-end zones in compliance with predefined security policies, regulatory mandates, and business intent provides consistent security policies and automated enforcement across the enterprise.
• Faster spin-up of new branch sites and Cloud VPCs: The integrated solution, combined with the new “one-click” EdgeConnect VPC instantiation, automates network deployments, removing the complexity associated with manual, step-by-step configuration of the SD-WAN (IPSec tunnels, segmentation, route tables, and VRFs) with the common AWS Core Network Policy, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.

“This latest integration with AWS Cloud WAN changes the game for enterprises looking to maximize flexibility and reduce operational complexity while strengthening security posture within their cloud-centric WAN deployments,” said David Hughes, chief product and technology officer at Aruba.

Organizations can now extend policy-based network segmentation from the branch edge – which spans the campus, branch, microbranch, and remote worker solutions – into the AWS global network. Aruba Orchestrator also supports automated “one-click” deployment of EdgeConnect SD-WAN instances directly into AWS VPC’s.

The Jordanian government plans to launch its strategy that will function as a roadmap to make Jordan a regional ICT hub in 2016. According to a recent report, The National Information and Communications Technology Strategy (NICTS) aims to increase ICT revenues from $2.2bn in 2013 to $3.5bn by 2017 as well as raise internet penetration to 85%. Under the wide-ranging plan, Jordan also hopes to boost ICT investment to $450m annually.

Mr. Yehia Elamsy, Country Manager, Jordan at Hewlett Packard Enterprise says, “With 10.3 million mobile subscribers in Jordan and a 158% mobile penetration, the country is experiencing the effects of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ trend where business users are increasingly requesting use of their own mobile devices for work. This creates the need for the ‘all-wireless workplace’ that supports BYOD securely and reliably, enabling communication and delivering business apps wherever people work.”

“To support this trend, Aruba is ideally positioned to solve customers’ toughest challenges in mobility and network security. We will be making concerted efforts to expose our brand, enable our partners and engage closely with customers in Jordan in order to capitalize on the tremendous business potential in the country,” continues Yehia.

Aruba will focus its efforts on key verticals including government, hospitality, healthcare, education, retail and finance. Channel is key to the company’s success and it will continue to conduct training and certification programmes in Jordan through its training partners. Aruba is eager to raise its corporate profile in the country and will run marketing campaigns and participate at relevant industry events.

Aruba was acquired in mid 2015 by HP, now HPE. Aruba will bring its best-of-breed wireless LAN infrastructure and policy management to the access layer, complementing HPE’s strong footprint in wired LAN and data center switching. Together, Aruba and HPE are offering a unified networking solution to help customers in Jordan and globally successfully manage their networking needs throughout the transition to a ‘mobile first’ infrastructure.

Mr. Shadi Alkhatib, Territory Manager, Jordan at Aruba says, “The key areas that will drive the business focus for Aruba are the advent of 802.11 ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi, the growing trend around the Internet of Things (IoT), and a vertical focus through the channel. The introduction of Wave 2 technology has been a pivotal moment for wireless networks; finally enterprises have an access medium that allows Wi-Fi to be faster than wired.”

“With the surge of IoT devices connecting to enterprise networks, conventional BYOD methods of securing access have been rendered inadequate. Enterprises in Jordan can safeguard their networks with Aruba’s unique mobility technologies to help ensure mobile devices communicate securely and efficiently across the network,” concludes Shadi.

Rabih Merhy, Director of IT, Amwaj Rotana knew that reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi was now perceived by hotel guests as a basic utility, rather than a luxury. “To cope with this increased need for connectivity, we needed to upgrade the guest internet service to more than double its previous speed,” said Rabih.

Having utilized Aruba’s 801.11n technologies since 2012, to meet basic connectivity requirements, Amwaj Rotana was aware of the performance, rich-feature sets and cost-effectiveness of Aruba’s solutions. A challenge, unique to this project, was the solid concrete walls between the hotel rooms and the IT team knew they would need a reliable solution from a market expert to overcome this. The thorough six week evaluation and testing phase led to the selection of Aruba’s 801.11ac solutions.

An internal study of guest’s internet usage characteristics uncovered, that in recent years over 71% of guests utilized more than two mobile devices requiring an internet connection in a typical double occupied room. To support this influx of devices, and get up to date with the considerable developments made in the wireless domain since its last upgrade, Amwaj Rotana decided to utilize a combination of the latest 802.11ac indoor and outdoor Access Points (APs).

The IT and engineering teams of Amwaj Rotana worked together with Aruba’s partner, Precedence to roll out the implementation across all the guest rooms and the public areas. Special considerations had to be made in order to avoid inconveniencing guests. The whole implementation took just under two months. Aruba’s local team engaged regularly with Rabih and his team to deliver the necessary trainings and hands-on tutorials. Because of the simplicity and power of Aruba’s management interfaces, the team was quick to master administration of the new infrastructure.

The size of the property, and the fact that physically accessing APs for troubleshooting would pose an inconvenience to guests, meant that simplified management and troubleshooting of the entire wireless network was essential. Aruba’s Mobility Controller, which addressed these requirements through a streamlined and easy-to-use interface, was therefore a cornerstone of this implementation. The ability to remotely configure, monitor and troubleshoot each AP drastically reduced the management efforts for Amwaj Rotana’s IT team. Updates are now automatically pushed to the APs and by eliminating the need for repeated manual intervention, the Aruba solution has also mitigated the inconvenience to guests.

Rabih sees the Aruba implementation as having a three-fold benefit. “From a business perspective, we now have better coverage and far superior performance. The 11ac technology with its advanced back-end features meets our present and future technology requirements. And most importantly from a user perspective, they can now enjoy fast and uninterrupted Wi-Fi,” he said.

Having more than met its primary purpose of providing guests with world-class connectivity, the Wi-Fi solution is now being leveraged to enhance the guest experience in new and innovative ways. The hotel intends to upgrade its television systems in the coming year and Aruba’s high-speed wireless network has allowed the team to explore the possibility of adopting the latest smart TVs.

Rabih believes that in Aruba, he has found a partner for long-term success. “We don’t only need a great product, but also reliable post implementation service and solid relationships with our partners. We are proud to say that we have struck a successful partnership with Aruba on all counts,” he concluded.