Aruba product integrations advance its SASE strategy

Aruba has advanced its SASE strategy through integrations between the Silver Peak software-defined WAN and cloud-based security and network access control.

The company highlighted its next step in furthering its secure access service edge (SASE) plans at Aruba Atmosphere this week. The additions to its EdgeConnect SD-WAN, formerly Silver Peak, were center stage at the virtual event. Aruba's parent company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, bought SD-WAN vendor Silver Peak last year for $925 million.

Aruba brought intrusion detection and prevention capabilities into EdgeConnect through the integration with its Threat Defense product. With the move, EdgeConnect can share threat information with the Aruba Central management console.

The company has integrated its ClearPass Policy Manager with EdgeConnect, allowing IT administrators to control network access. For example, a company could set policies that prevent a compromised IoT device, such as an infected security camera, from accessing the network's unrelated segments.

Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Bob Laliberte said the Silver Peak acquisition was a game-changer for Aruba. At Atmosphere, he said, the company laid out how the move boosted its SASE strategy.

"Aruba is putting together their SASE story around the functionality they have -- largely based on Silver Peak -- and their relationship with security providers," he said.

More cross-functionality between EdgeConnect and other Aruba products is undoubtedly coming, Laliberte said. "They've made their bet with Silver Peak, so they're now in the process of getting it more tightly integrated," he explained.

Aruba uses the umbrella term Edge Services Platform (ESP) to describe its collection of integrated technologies for managing an Aruba-powered WAN and wired and wireless networks. Critical ESP technologies include Central, EdgeConnect and ClearPass.

Aruba said at Atmosphere that customers could use more third-party cloud-based security products to secure SD-WAN traffic. New partnerships introduced at the event were with Check Point, Zscaler, Forcepoint, McAfee, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks and Symantec.

While those vendors compete with Aruba products, the company said customers wanted choice. A Ponemon Institute survey of IT professionals found more than 70% preferred a multi-vendor security strategy to an all-in-one approach.

Laliberte said this approach reflects a split in how SASE vendors offer their products.

"Some organizations are taking the approach that they're going to own and control everything," he said. "Others are taking an approach that's more flexible."

Enterprise Strategy Group is a division of TechTarget.

Mike Gleason is a reporter covering unified communications and collaboration tools. He previously covered communities in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts for the Milford Daily News, Walpole Times, Sharon Advocate and Medfield Press. He has also worked for newspapers in central Massachusetts and southwestern Vermont and served as a local editor for Patch. He can be found on Twitter at @MGleason_TT.