I don't know that I agree with "converged campus" either, but I have known CIOs who want "one neck to wring" when there are problems or fall for the "it will all work together seamlessly" pitch.
I just don't want to assume that this will ruin Aruba, and looking at their financials, it might help. I see lots of losses on Aruba's income statements (although a small income this last quarter). Thomas Carter Network and Operations Manager Austin College 903-813-2564 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Williams, Matthew Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 3:48 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] HP is reportedly trying to buy Aruba Networks I've heard from multiple CIOs that they don't want a "converged campus" solution. They don't want to end up beholden to a single vendor for financial and security reasons. They want best-of-breed products that provide the most bang for the buck without the caveats of, "Well if you want that that feature then you'll have to buy this appliance/plugin/thing-a-ma-bob, too." I find the potential merger a bit disappointing because Aruba was a wireless company (with a few switches) and that's what they did. I'd hate to see them end up getting lost in the shuffle of HP's portfolio of solutions. Hopefully, if this all goes through, that won't happen. Respectfully, Matthew Williams IT Manager, Wireless Kent State University Office: (330) 672-7246 Mobile: (330) 469-0445 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Thomas Carter Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 4:33 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] HP is reportedly trying to buy Aruba Networks Yes, edge switches, but HP can sell the whole campus from firewalls to routers to core switches to APs to software (clearpass, airwave, etc) to truly compete with the likes of Cisco. They're pushing the "converged campus" to sound like a marketing wonk. Whether or not they screw it up is what we'll have to wait and see. Thomas Carter Network and Operations Manager Austin College 903-813-2564 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Frank Sweetser Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 2:44 PM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] HP is reportedly trying to buy Aruba Networks On 02/26/2015 02:23 PM, Thomas Carter wrote: > I kept telling our Dell reps that Dell needs to buy into wireless and > grab Aerohive or Ruckus. They would just mention the Aruba deal; we'll > see what happens with that. > > I do think this can be good for Aruba. I see it as this - Cisco is a > company that does $50B revenue annually and spends $6B in R&D. I know > that's not all wireless, but Aruba has $725M annual revenue with $170M > R&D. They need the financial backing to stay in second and maybe close > the gap on Cisco. If integrated well, HP could have a compelling > package with ProCurve and Aruba all managed under AirWave with some magic SDN > sprinkled in there somewhere. But Aruba already has their own package with their MAS switches! My biggest fear is that HP is buying Aruba the wireless company, not Aruba the client access company. This would lead them to keeping the APs and controllers, while putting all of the rest of the goodies that let us to selecting them (Clearpass, Airwave's cross vendor capabilities, their switches) in jeopardy of either being tossed outright or left hanging around atrophying. -- Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu | For every problem, there is a solution that Manager of Network Operations | is simple, elegant, and wrong. Worcester Polytechnic Institute | - HL Mencken ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
