WLAN will no longer be just a WLAN

In the mobile era, WLAN will no longer be the only conduit for completing the "last mile." Aruba has discovered its new value. When the "pipeline" is closely integrated with the application, it is enough to redefine the way people live and work.

As the second largest company in the global WLAN market, Aruba's business focus has undergone a series of changes in recent years: from WLAN basic network devices to mobile security solutions, to focusing on BYOD-based enterprise mobile network applications. , And then to provide enterprises with mobile based on the definition of network concept of a full mobile office environment. Aruba's vision seems to be no longer focused on the WLAN infrastructure market, but, like most cable network vendors, it has begun to tightly integrate networks and applications.

When WLAN vendors generally indulge in the large number of "pipeline" businesses brought about by the popularity of Wi-Fi, why did Aruba no longer value such markets? What kind of new business opportunities has the company found in the leader quadrant of the Gartner wired and wireless market for many years? With these questions, the reporter interviewed Aruba CEO Ke Wanke.

WLAN will eventually serve applications

As with wired networks, WLAN will eventually serve applications. This is the root cause of Aruba’s shifting its core business from basic networks to network applications in recent years.

With the release of the 802.11ac standard, WLANs have entered the era of Gigabit Ethernet, and the applications that can be carried by mobile networks have also changed due to the dramatic increase in Wi-Fi bandwidth. Today, 90% of traffic on the Internet is video traffic, and traffic from mobile terminals is growing rapidly. Last year, Youku, the video site, already had more traffic on the mobile than on the PC. According to Ke Wanke's judgment, with the further development and utilization of spectrum resources, the explosive growth of mobile terminal traffic will continue to occur, which inevitably requires that WLAN networks generally have application sensing capabilities. This development rule is the same as when the cable network began to experience traffic storms, because the speed of bandwidth growth can never catch up with the speed of traffic growth. If the WLAN has no application-aware capabilities, it cannot control traffic and allocate bandwidth resources. This capability is not available. The width of the WLAN pipeline cannot support user access smoothly.

Especially from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, the growth of the WLAN basic network market began to gradually slow down, but Aruba's growth has not been directly affected by the market environment. Cisco, which ranked first in the global WLAN market share, saw a 11.6% year-on-year decrease in the revenue of the enterprise-class WLAN market in the first quarter of this year, a decrease of 16.8% year-on-year, and a decline in both market share and year-on-year. Aruba’s revenue for the first quarter of this year increased by 25.4% year-on-year and 8.4% month-on-month.

Wi-Fi Control Activates New WLAN Value

Traditionally, when companies deploy technologies such as Wi-Fi, the main consideration is to improve efficiency and save costs. But what we have seen today is that the new concept of BYOD is being widely accepted by enterprises. This shows that modern companies have realized that mobility based on Wi-Fi networks can be used to meet the needs of new generation employees or improve the user experience in addition to optimizing business and improving communication levels. In Ke Wanke's view, this change in corporate user awareness has made it possible for WLAN to generate new value.

Last year, the survey data of 5,500 respondents in the Asia-Pacific region resulted in the discovery of a special type of employee, Wi-Fi control, and such employees were not in the minority. According to Aruba's survey, most Wi-Fi employees tend to handle company affairs during non-traditional working hours and flexible work locations. Most of these employees have at least three connected devices per person, and more than one-third of respondents said that these devices will remain online regardless of whether they are working or not. These Wi-Fi controls are glued to their mobile devices. They rarely access information through traditional channels such as television or newspapers, and 87% of Wi-Fi controls use their connected devices to obtain information directly from digital channels.

“Wi-Fi control is a typical representative of a new generation of employees. They no longer care whether the company provides benefits such as overtime subsidies or lunch subsidies. Instead, they will care more about whether the office environment provided by the company can make them work and live. “Ke Wanke told reporters that in the era of mobility, companies will increasingly find it difficult to limit when employees work and when they handle their own affairs. Because mobilization has brought unprecedented convenience, employees may still communicate with customers in the previous minute, and they can buy things online for their son in the next minute, and they can use the same device to be able to work and live at any time. Switch to each other.

He stressed that in the face of a new generation of employees, the best management method for companies is not to require employees to “take the time” to work, but to drive them to “difficult” work. Only by deploying a true full mobile network environment can companies accomplish this mission. In this environment, Wi-Fi must not only be seen everywhere, but also the security of visitors and their own equipment must be automated. The office facilities need to support mobile device access, and the communication applications on mobile devices must be easy to use. It may meet the personal needs of employees in their daily life and work, and at the same time help companies and institutions improve efficiency and reduce costs. This kind of mobile network environment has surpassed the value range of the traditional WLAN as an access pipe. WLAN manufacturers must find ways to meet this demand from the perspective of application, security, and ease of use.

Ideals can shine into reality

In reality, can ideas such as BYOD or mobile office space really be realized? In the future, is it possible for employees to work with any device at any time, any place, any time? At Aruba, the ideals of Wi-Fi control employees have already shined into reality.

Four years ago, Aruba canceled employee vacations at its US headquarters. Without a fixed week of paid sick leave and two weeks of paid long vacations, Aruba's employees not only did not complain but instead worked more efficiently. This is not because Aruba prefers "workaholic" employees, but because Aruba has implemented a full mobile office approach within the company that is sufficient for Wi-Fi control employees. This fully mobile office allows each employee to take time off and work at any time. In one year's calculations, the time that employees are free to spend is far longer than the fixed paid vacation in the past.

“We no longer need a fixed vacation, because Aruba’s employees can live in two worlds at any time, transforming their work and life in 7×24 hours. With mobile office, we don’t have to stay in the office to work, not to mention When the work is done, every employee can choose their office and office hours as they like.” As one of Aruba’s busiest employees, Ke Wanke’s feeling is that both he and his employees are members of the company. Your own freedom.

Moreover, the new way of doing business has not caused Aruba to be subject to the security threat posed by mobilization. Everyone can work in a safe and controllable state. There have been no security risks so far. Thanks to Aruba's Indian staff, I am most grateful for this way of doing business. Because they no longer have to report for work, they have to spend three and a half days travelling every two weeks.

Facing the ever-increasing number of Wi-Fi employees, companies will have to focus on how to enable employees to work effectively at any time, place and equipment, how to implement the necessary policies to carry out structural transformation, and how to provide employees with the work they like. Way to such a problem. From Aruba's practice, it can be seen that the full potential of a company to mobilize employees through mobilization is not a fantasy.

Of course, the technological development in the WLAN field will also show a new turning point because of this demand. From Aruba's interpretation of the "mobile definition network", it is not difficult to see that WLAN, like the wired network, will gradually evolve from a functional to an intelligent network. The first is to realize security automation and intelligent optimization of performance, becoming automated and adaptive. Network infrastructure. In addition, unlike traditional static Wi-Fi networks, next-generation WLAN networks will no longer require professional IT personnel to adapt to new mobile devices and applications through manual adjustments.