Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s Aruba networking division debuted new artificial intelligence features at the HPE Discover 2021 virtual event today that can automatically fix certain types of technical issues in corporate networks. 

Also at the event, Aruba said that it’s rolling out a family of ruggedized switches capable of operating in edge computing environments with “extreme” temperatures.

Aruba, officially Aruba Networks, makes networking equipment that companies use to provide Wi-Fi coverage at their corporate locations and connect those locations with remote infrastructure such as public cloud environments. Aruba also provides a cloud-based management platform called Aruba Central for managing deployments of its hardware. 

Aruba Central is receiving a new set of so-called AIOps features as part of the updates announced today that can automatically fix technical problems in a company’s network. The features are built on Edge Services Platform, a technology introduced last year that uses machine learning to find technical problems, understand what caused them and  provide remediation suggestions. Aruba Central’s new AIOps features use the suggestions generated by the Edge Services Platform to determine how to go about fixing an issue.

The Edge Services Platform generates troubleshooting tips by analyzing over 1.5 billion data points a day from the roughly 1 million Aruba network devices running in customer environments worldwide. It aggregates the data points in a centralized cloud repository, where machine learning algorithms analyze them to understand how a network device behaves when everything is running smoothly. If a device displays anomalous behavior, the machine learning algorithms infer that there may be a technical issue.

Aruba says Aruba Central can use the technology to address technical issues stemming  from internal network problems, such as if bandwidth demand at an office exceeds the capacity of the onsite switch. The software is also capable of diagnosing disruptions caused by external sources.

Wi-Fi networks at retail locations, for example, sometimes experience performance drops when there’s a lot of foot traffic in front of a store because of network interference from pedestrians’ smartphones. Aruba Central can spot such interference and show administrators what network settings they should change to fix the issue. 

The other set of updates Aruba announced at HPE Discover 2021 focus on edge environments and the connected devices deployed at those environments. 

In addition to its AI features, Aruba Central provides a monitoring console for tracking the health of a company’s network equipment. Aruba Central’s monitoring features are being expanded with a new tool called IoT Operations that will enable administrators to also track sensors and “internet of things” devices at the edge of the network. If necessary, companies can extend IoT Operations’ default feature set by downloading add-ons from Aruba software partners.

The adds are available via a new built-in app store that is rolling out as part of the same update.

In conjunction, the HPE unit is expanding its hardware lineup with a set of new switches for edge locations. The first addition is the Aruba CX 4100i series, a family of switches with ruggedized cases (below) that Aruba says are “designed to withstand extreme temperatures and harsh environments” such as industrial sites. The second addition to the HPE unit’s hardware portfolio is the Aruba CX 6000, an entry-level switch for less demanding edge locations such as branch offices.

Capping off Aruba’s product updates from Discover 2021 is a set of security controls in Aruba Central for regulating user access to the corporate network. The new controls allow companies to require that a device meet certain cybersecurity requirements before it’s allowed to log into the network.

The new features advance a years-long effort by Aruba to take on a bigger role in its enterprise customers’ networks. Aruba, which became part of HPE through a $3 billion acquisition in 2015, initially provided products mainly for building local networks at locations such as offices. In 2018, it moved into the SD-WAN market by launching a set of products that allow companies to link together their data centers and other corporate locations via long-range connections. Aruba has since introduced features for managing connections to public clouds such as Amazon Web Services.

With today’s updates, Aruba is expanding its feature set to yet more parts of the corporate network. The ruggedized Aruba CX 4100i switches put the HPE unit in a better position to target industrial edge computing locations, while the new IoT Operations tool extends Aruba Central’s target use cases to include connected device management.

Aruba’s product strategy is helping to lift parent HPE’s revenues. HPE’s most recent earnings report revealed that its Intelligence Edge business, which includes Aruba Central as well as its switching products, saw revenues jump 20% to $799 million in the second quarter. The company disclosed that sales of Aruba Central rose in triple-digits from a year earlier and, without sharing specific numbers, said the platform is “now a meaningful contributor to HPE’s overall ARR.”

Photos: Aruba