News

'Developer-Ready' Aruba Mobile Platform Improves Network Programmability

• By David Ramel
• September 12, 2016

Taking a page from the software-defined networking (SDN) playbook, Aruba today introduced a new 'developer-ready' mobile platform that provides more network programmability via northbound APIs.

The new offering aims to improve static networks and provide more than just connectivity by leveraging contextual information from mobile networks and the Internet of Things (IoT).

"The platform accelerates integration and innovation of mobile and IoT at the speed of the developer ecosystem, rather than the pace of a single vendor," reads a statement released today by Aruba, which is now a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

That platform is the Aruba Mobile First Platform, a software layer incorporating the company's new ArubaOS 8, an operating system running on server appliances as a virtual machine (VM).

"The Aruba Mobile First Platform unlocks the ability for an ecosystem of developers and technology vendors to freely innovate, utilizing the rich contextual information the Aruba infrastructure collects from mobile and IoT devices, and customize networking functions dynamically in real-time," the company said. "As a result, customers can improve existing applications and create new ones to enhance the customer experience, improve business operations, and drive new revenue opportunities."

ArubaOS 8 uses REST APIs to hook into northbound network communication coming from IT systems and services and business applications. The term "northbound" refers to traffic coming from lower-level network components to higher-level control mechanisms.

The OS provides contextual information about network state and enables network programmability of infrastructure components with custom app signatures uploaded in real-time, the company said, claiming that, for example, "Developers and ecosystem partners can easily enable policy management and quality control for new, business critical applications without network upgrades or downtime."

Aruba highlighted as a use case how customer Skyfii uses the mobile platform to collect contextual data coming from users, devices, applications and location to help retailers better understand their customers and engage them with targeted advertising.

Aruba said the new mobility platform, along with several enhanced ecosystem components, will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.