UPDATED 18:37 EDT / DECEMBER 01 2015

NEWS

How HPE helped Warner Bros. expand mobile connectivity for workers and consumers | #HPEDiscover

Part of the fun to be found at the HPE Discover event taking place in London this year is in gaining a better understanding of how the various services and software of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) bring a diversity of other companies together.

Illustrating this range of business alliances, John Furrier, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, sat down with Chris Kozup, VP of marketing for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and Doug Crawford, VP of Global Network Operations for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, to discuss how Warner Bros. has been able to build its Wi-Fi infrastructure with Aruba’s services.

They also discussed the effects of Wi-Fi availability saturation and how it led to enhancements with production capabilities, workflow and integration into the experience of touring visitors.

Signal saturation

One of the most visible effects of the companies’ work together was networking Warner Bros.’ production sites so that post-editing of movies can be done collaboratively from different facilities, as well as effecting a reliable Wi-Fi connection throughout the offices, backlots, soundstages and various other parts of the facilities.

This has led to some new opportunities for engaging consumers as well, as with tours of Warner Bros. integrating an app that checks where visitors are physically located on the tour and to deliver relevant information, such as which films have been filmed on the soundstage they’re visiting at that moment.

“What we’ve been looking at for the last couple of years is ‘How do we enable [workers] with new technologies so they can be more productive?,’” said Crawford. Examples of implementation include variants of connection services used by Warner Bros., with different security levels and job types getting access to different levels of Wi-Fi networking. Additionally, finding space for the independent producers that use Warner Bros.’ facilities has traditionally been a challenge, but the new wireless infrastructure offers much more flexibility and mobility in situating them.

Furthering the brand

Kozup offered his thoughts on how networking could serve the companies that used Aruba’s services. “From our perspective, it’s really about making sure that connectivity is pervasive,” he said. “But then, I think what’s next for us is again all around the idea engaging with the individual, engaging with the consumer, allowing our customers to extend their brand out to that mobile device, to create loyalty, to offer services [and] to offer personalized content and information.”

Kozup felt that building from these opportunities “ultimately gets back to allowing us to … turn that investment in the infrastructure into really a revenue-generating opportunity.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of HPE Discover 2015 — London. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting live with theCUBE hosts during the event.

Photo by SiliconANGLE

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