Networking company Brocade has formed partnership with Aruba Networks for a based unified campus network that delivers effortless and secure network mobility through open standards and application of Software Defined Networking (SDN).
Campus networks are buckling under the proliferation of today’s mobile initiatives like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and emerging technologies such as SDN.
The strategic alliance aims to help customers eliminate vendor lock-ins associated with products from vendors like Cisco. It will help reduce the total cost of ownership by nearly half as compared to equivalent offerings, the company said.
Through this partnership, the companies will jointly develop and bring to market solutions across multiple industries, including U.S. federal government.
With integrated solutions already deployed worldwide, Brocade and Aruba will collaborate on R&D to bring tighter integration for a simplified and agile wired and wireless campus network.
They are also pairing the scalable and simplified network operation of Brocade HyperEdge architecture with the rich context of user, device, application and location information inherent in the Aruba Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture to deliver secure mobile user experiences for customers.
The result delivers a simplified, mobility-centric campus network solution that operates with context-based access and policy management for every user, regardless of how they connect, the company said.
Since the mobility-centric approach from Aruba and Brocade is based on open standards, it delivers the freedom of choice and lowers costs. On the other hand, the legacy, port-based route brings more complexity, lock-in and expenses.
Brocade and Aruba will also embark on a broader technology initiative to apply SDN principles to campus networks, the company said. The companies will work to develop a campus network virtualization solution designed to bring unprecedented performance and operational efficiencies.
The combination will facilitate automated IT operations with zero-touch network expansion; enriched peer-to-peer application experiences, such as Microsoft Lync and Apple AirPlay; and reduced acquisition costs compared to premiums associated with Cisco lock-in.
According to IDC, the combination of Brocade’s HyperEdge and Aruba’s MOVE architectures can bring together enterprise networking solutions that can leverage that transition, enabling improved performance, simplified management and security policy, while lowering total ownership costs for enterprise IT.
