The huge amount of IoT devices that are now connecting to enterprise networks makes it critical to identify, connect and protect all unknown mobile and IoT devices at the edge, according to Chris Kozup, VP of marketing at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. However, it’s not just enough to capture data from these IoT devices, it’s also about how to capture insights and use those insights to abstract information in a context that’s relevant to transform experiences for customers, he explained.

“The new focus for HPE is all about the intelligence at the edge and the way we’re defining it is as a convergence of a lot of people, places and things coming on the IoT, and of course the place where they are,” said Kozup, who recently spoke to Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Paul Gillin (@pgillin), co-hosts of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during HPE Discover EU, held in London. (*Disclosure below)

They discussed how Aruba, via wayfinding (location finding), is transforming the workplace, as well as a new innovation to help organizations stay greener.

Transforming the workplace environment

The HPE-Aruba mandate is extensive connectivity, whether that’s wireless or wired. Connectivity can also be extended over third-party networks, such as LoRa, a long-range, low-power network. Once that extensive connectivity is set, robust, secure and reliable, it then becomes about the software. HPE Aruba’s software layer can be modified, changed and opened up to a broad base of ecosystem partners to deliver apps and services, Kozup stated.

With the power of location finding, companies can start to personalize a user’s experience. The concept of wayfinding, of getting someone from point A to point B, is personal to the user. The idea of promotional push notifications or zone-based marketing can be tailored to the user, based on location Kozup explained.

So, as an example, Robin is a company that works with Aruba; it’s known as the Uber of conference room services, Kozup said. With Uber, users use an app to find a car; with Robin, users use an app to see and locate a free conference room in a specific facility. Additionally, it can set up team collaboration by starting up Skype with all the people pre-defined as being attendees to a meeting.

Innovating on the edge

Kozup also discussed Aruba’s recently introduced IoT-ready switch that incorporates power directly into the switch, can sense the device that is on the other side, and can tailor power up or down based on what the device needs.

For example, a temperature gauge will draw much less power than an IT phone, so it makes sense to have a “smart switch” that can sense when more power is needed and power down when it’s not. It helps enterprises keep electric bills low, and it can also help companies meet their green initiatives, Kozup explained.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of HPE Discover EU. (*Disclosure: HPE and other companies sponsor some HPE Discover EU segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither HPE nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo by SiliconANGLE