Welcome to another episode of Lifting the Lid on Technology, your go to insights for the latest tech and innovation. I'm Barry Weiss, your host and CIO at Soft Source Feedback. Join us for a special two part discussion where we'll talk about robust, scalable, and cost effective strategies that will protect your network into the future. Today, I'm speaking to Steve Illes and Andrew Fox from HPE Aruba Networking, along with their own CTO, David Small. Welcome, gentlemen. Thanks for joining me today. Good to see you all. Thanks, Barry. Good to be here. Yeah. Thanks, Barry. Thank you. I thought we'd kick things off, and perhaps we could start with you, Andrew. And your role. You travel up and down the country as country manager for Australia and New Zealand for HPE Aruba. You meet a lot of companies. You need different industries, different sized organizations. What are customers talking to you about, particularly when it comes to networking? I look after an amazing team of professionals that work with our customers across Australia and New Zealand, helping them to do cool things with their networks. Right. Um, it's it's a fun place to be. You know, no, no matter where you are as a, as a customer and and your journey, that network is absolutely essential to whatever you're trying to do, whether you're just trying to get the job done. You need a network. If you're trying to do I, you need a bigger network, you know? So, um, there's a conversation with every single customer. Um, and usually that conversation is, is a revolving around how they can, how they can do a few key things, how they can make better use of the investment they make in their network. Uh, second thing is, you know, how do they keep themselves off the front page and, you know, and reduce risk? And, and the third thing is, you know, with this valuable commodity that is time and money. Um, how can they do more with less? You know, which is a really exciting set of conversation to be having. What are the common bits of feedback I get from customers around complexity? You know, everybody's finding that their networks seem to becoming more complex is that you get that feedback as well from a lot of customers.

Welcome to another episode of Lifting the Lid on Technology, your go to insights for the latest tech and innovation. I'm Barry Weiss, your host and CIO at Soft Source Feedback. Join us for a special two part discussion where we'll talk about robust, scalable, and cost effective strategies that will protect your network into the future. Today, I'm speaking to Steve Illes and Andrew Fox from HPE Aruba Networking, along with their own CTO, David Small. Welcome, gentlemen. Thanks for joining me today. Good to see you all. Thanks, Barry. Good to be here. Yeah. Thanks, Barry. Thank you. I thought we'd kick things off, and perhaps we could start with you, Andrew. And your role. You travel up and down the country as country manager for Australia and New Zealand for HPE Aruba. You meet a lot of companies. You need different industries, different sized organizations. What are customers talking to you about, particularly when it comes to networking? I look after an amazing team of professionals that work with our customers across Australia and New Zealand, helping them to do cool things with their networks. Right. Um, it's it's a fun place to be. You know, no, no matter where you are as a, as a customer and and your journey, that network is absolutely essential to whatever you're trying to do, whether you're just trying to get the job done. You need a network. If you're trying to do I, you need a bigger network, you know? So, um, there's a conversation with every single customer. Um, and usually that conversation is, is a revolving around how they can, how they can do a few key things, how they can make better use of the investment they make in their network. Uh, second thing is, you know, how do they keep themselves off the front page and, you know, and reduce risk? And, and the third thing is, you know, with this valuable commodity that is time and money. Um, how can they do more with less? You know, which is a really exciting set of conversation to be having. What are the common bits of feedback I get from customers around complexity? You know, everybody's finding that their networks seem to becoming more complex is that you get that feedback as well from a lot of customers.

We do. And it's really because.

We do. And it's really because.

You know, a lot of the time they've built them, you know, over many years sort of organically, you know, started with some switching, added some wireless back when when wireless wasn't really mission critical. Um, now it is absolutely mission critical. And maybe the thing they've built is not really up to.

You know, a lot of the time they've built them, you know, over many years sort of organically, you know, started with some switching, added some wireless back when when wireless wasn't really mission critical. Um, now it is absolutely mission critical. And maybe the thing they've built is not really up to.

Up to scratch.

Up to scratch.

Anymore. Um, sort of 5 or 6 years ago, HBO started talking about, you know, security in the broader sense of the word. Um, to a lot of our customers now, they're they're sort of scratching their heads and thinking, how do we how do we reduce the risk and how do we up our security game? And of course, the network plays a really important part in that. So but it doesn't have to be complex, right? I guess that's the conversation we're trying to have. There is, you know, lots of things you can do to try and create something that is, you know, cohesive, something that that integrates nicely together, works well with all all the vendors or all the integrations you need to inside your organization. Reduces risk, saves you a bit of money. Um, and, you know, some of the things we're doing with with soft source, for example, are, are absolutely key to that. How about you, Stephen? I mean, a similar sort of question, I guess, is you are I mean, you're you're the you're the SAS practice leader for South Pacific and for HPE Aruba. What sort of conversations are you having and what are some of the challenges, I guess, that customers are sharing with you as far as their network teams are concerned and managing their environments? Good question. I mean, I I'm having a lot of discussions across.

Anymore. Um, sort of 5 or 6 years ago, HBO started talking about, you know, security in the broader sense of the word. Um, to a lot of our customers now, they're they're sort of scratching their heads and thinking, how do we how do we reduce the risk and how do we up our security game? And of course, the network plays a really important part in that. So but it doesn't have to be complex, right? I guess that's the conversation we're trying to have. There is, you know, lots of things you can do to try and create something that is, you know, cohesive, something that that integrates nicely together, works well with all all the vendors or all the integrations you need to inside your organization. Reduces risk, saves you a bit of money. Um, and, you know, some of the things we're doing with with soft source, for example, are, are absolutely key to that. How about you, Stephen? I mean, a similar sort of question, I guess, is you are I mean, you're you're the you're the SAS practice leader for South Pacific and for HPE Aruba. What sort of conversations are you having and what are some of the challenges, I guess, that customers are sharing with you as far as their network teams are concerned and managing their environments? Good question. I mean, I I'm having a lot of discussions across.

A lot of different verticals across the region and overwhelmingly things. The landscape is changing, particularly from a vendor, uh, and a and our reseller partners standpoint, as far as the scorecard we're having, I'm having far more discussions about scorecards and how internal teams managing and delivering outcomes on our networking gear and other in other places. Um, the end user experience so far, less are we talking about. You know, the proof is not in the pudding, the proof is in the eating. And so, as Andrew was saying a second ago, uh, taking something that was historically, historically complex and creating really intelligent, you know, software or technology that can take something that was historically complex and make it appear incredibly simple. That's what we seem to be doing really well. Right. Uh, and that that's manifest manifesting things like, you know, and that's not just a security statement, I guess, but it's manifest across a bunch of domains being, you know, we talked about management and our central platform and, um, you know, our clearpath's technology that takes that perimeter control and security, something historically very complex and difficult and makes it seem really easy. And we extend that into, you know, the sassy tech, too, and the and the acquisitions that we've made. The reason HPE Aruba Networking acquired, uh, Silver Peak as the number one security win vendor in the world. Uh, and access security as a as a startup leading edge startup is because of the intelligent nature of the technology to take something incredibly, incredibly complex and make it seem very simple. And so what I'm having to demonstrate to customers across the region universally is, once this goes in, what additional capability does it give us? And what's going to be our scorecard with our users. How are they going to look at us? No longer are we, you know, at the mercy. Mercy of the tyranny of technology. Putting tech in. But it's secure. But it's really complicated for users. But it is what it is because that's the nature of security. We are no longer scored like that when it goes in. Is it going to make our customers and users lives better and is it going to be transparent? So that's overwhelmingly the type of discussions I'm having. Um, particularly with security, uh, but far broader as well. If you use.

A lot of different verticals across the region and overwhelmingly things. The landscape is changing, particularly from a vendor, uh, and a and our reseller partners standpoint, as far as the scorecard we're having, I'm having far more discussions about scorecards and how internal teams managing and delivering outcomes on our networking gear and other in other places. Um, the end user experience so far, less are we talking about. You know, the proof is not in the pudding, the proof is in the eating. And so, as Andrew was saying a second ago, uh, taking something that was historically, historically complex and creating really intelligent, you know, software or technology that can take something that was historically complex and make it appear incredibly simple. That's what we seem to be doing really well. Right. Uh, and that that's manifest manifesting things like, you know, and that's not just a security statement, I guess, but it's manifest across a bunch of domains being, you know, we talked about management and our central platform and, um, you know, our clearpath's technology that takes that perimeter control and security, something historically very complex and difficult and makes it seem really easy. And we extend that into, you know, the sassy tech, too, and the and the acquisitions that we've made. The reason HPE Aruba Networking acquired, uh, Silver Peak as the number one security win vendor in the world. Uh, and access security as a as a startup leading edge startup is because of the intelligent nature of the technology to take something incredibly, incredibly complex and make it seem very simple. And so what I'm having to demonstrate to customers across the region universally is, once this goes in, what additional capability does it give us? And what's going to be our scorecard with our users. How are they going to look at us? No longer are we, you know, at the mercy. Mercy of the tyranny of technology. Putting tech in. But it's secure. But it's really complicated for users. But it is what it is because that's the nature of security. We are no longer scored like that when it goes in. Is it going to make our customers and users lives better and is it going to be transparent? So that's overwhelmingly the type of discussions I'm having. Um, particularly with security, uh, but far broader as well. If you use.

The term scorecard there a few times. I mean, how do you how do you how do customers measure that? How do they measure that performance? And how does some of those technologies that you've introduced, such as Clearpass and Silverpeak and so forth, how do they help customers on that journey?

The term scorecard there a few times. I mean, how do you how do you how do customers measure that? How do they measure that performance? And how does some of those technologies that you've introduced, such as Clearpass and Silverpeak and so forth, how do they help customers on that journey?

I'm sure folks will have a have a perspective there. I'll go first. Um, from my perspective, it's how transparent it is. It's how invisible it is. So, you know, if I talk specifically in the in the security realm for the second, uh, historically, the expectation generally would be as you make things more secure, it becomes more difficult for users and things, be it VPN technology, multi-factor authentication, all of these other things people need to deal with. Uh, now it's we're being scored against how transparent and invisible it is. Can we deploy something and can it actually remove steps from our users and still deliver the same or better experience? So it's it's how much technology people don't see after we've put it in is kind of the lens we're being viewed through. Outfoxing would you have anything to add to that?

I'm sure folks will have a have a perspective there. I'll go first. Um, from my perspective, it's how transparent it is. It's how invisible it is. So, you know, if I talk specifically in the in the security realm for the second, uh, historically, the expectation generally would be as you make things more secure, it becomes more difficult for users and things, be it VPN technology, multi-factor authentication, all of these other things people need to deal with. Uh, now it's we're being scored against how transparent and invisible it is. Can we deploy something and can it actually remove steps from our users and still deliver the same or better experience? So it's it's how much technology people don't see after we've put it in is kind of the lens we're being viewed through. Outfoxing would you have anything to add to that?

You know, when we first started on the network security journey, goodness me, probably 15 years ago, uh, when we first acquired a company called a mega pod, which then became became ClearPath, that going right back in time. But, um, you know, network security was was difficult. Um, networks were built in a very sort of standard way. Uh, and the security was kind of an add on that you stuck on top. I guess what's become really exciting over the last few years is, you know, the network is the perfect place. You know, it's a first line of defense to your organization. If people can't get connected, you know, it's much harder for them to to do anything nasty. There's now security in every single level of the network. And, and and as those pieces all come together, it's just all about keeping customers safe. And it should be invisible and it should be centrally controlled. It should be managed by some sort of sensible policy that determines how your network behaves and how security works. And if your users know it's there, then maybe we've done something wrong and we need to look at how it's put together. And that's why, you know, that's why you need clever people like Salesforce to bridge to to help get that policy right. Well, look, it's a good opportunity for, um, Dave, you know.

You know, when we first started on the network security journey, goodness me, probably 15 years ago, uh, when we first acquired a company called a mega pod, which then became became ClearPath, that going right back in time. But, um, you know, network security was was difficult. Um, networks were built in a very sort of standard way. Uh, and the security was kind of an add on that you stuck on top. I guess what's become really exciting over the last few years is, you know, the network is the perfect place. You know, it's a first line of defense to your organization. If people can't get connected, you know, it's much harder for them to to do anything nasty. There's now security in every single level of the network. And, and and as those pieces all come together, it's just all about keeping customers safe. And it should be invisible and it should be centrally controlled. It should be managed by some sort of sensible policy that determines how your network behaves and how security works. And if your users know it's there, then maybe we've done something wrong and we need to look at how it's put together. And that's why, you know, that's why you need clever people like Salesforce to bridge to to help get that policy right. Well, look, it's a good opportunity for, um, Dave, you know.

We start to.

We start to.

Talk about this, this move towards more policy driven management of these environments. What are some of the key things that organizations need to be thinking about there? And I guess, you know, if you're at the bottom of the mountain on this, where do we start?

Talk about this, this move towards more policy driven management of these environments. What are some of the key things that organizations need to be thinking about there? And I guess, you know, if you're at the bottom of the mountain on this, where do we start?

Oh, look, the.

Oh, look, the.

Policy based management is becoming quite a key facet to no matter if it's networking or cloud or even your your on premise devices. So we're seeing more clients looking to expect, as the gentlemen have mentioned earlier, that it just works. It's easy to use. And that's where by using these policy based systems, that allows you to get to that point, because every machine or every device is getting the policy that allows them to just function. So if you're starting out on the journey of trying to get that control or that desired state across your environment. It's it's looking at those technologies that allow you to do it. If you buying in technology, say, at a networking layer that doesn't support or doesn't think about policy, and is there still based on that old concept of put it in and configure it and leave it and walk away? Um, yeah. It's you're going to struggle to get to that ease of use. And I think that's where the likes of HPE Aruba have been able to bring some of those components together to make that policy. So the, the, the starting point is looking at the technologies you're looking to use and how you then roll out policies that then integrate across your stacks and stuff so that you are utilizing, um, that capability. The one thing we do find, David, is that that even if you, you know, build a beautiful picture and it all works beautifully, Um, things change, you know? So, uh, six months time, there's a whole new set of devices, a whole new set of threats. Um, the the our customers we talk to that have a, you know, team of people that are donkey deep in, you know, SSH manually configuring their network. You know, that was great back in the 90s. But in six months time, now when a new Apple iPhone model comes out and suddenly, you know, Apple make a change, who would have thought they can just go and make a change that changes the behavior of every device in the world. But they can and they do. And suddenly we need to write a different policy that does something different in response to that change. If I've got to send a team of guys out, you know, making manual changes around the network, that's impossible. If I can make a central policy based change saying, do this now, then, you know, suddenly I'm okay. And I guess that's that's the exciting piece in terms of responding to what's happening in the world. Yeah. Because we're in that in that environment where changes the norm. Now change used to take years to come through. Whereas now we're we're talking weeks or months. And what you can figure today is best practice is not always best practice in 6 to 8 weeks time. And the customer's requirements are also changing because they used to work one way and then all of a sudden they've had to quickly adapt because of the change of their customer base or their clientele that they service. So yeah, policy enables you to start doing things like that too, right? It makes our job a lot easier to deliver high level services to our clients.

Policy based management is becoming quite a key facet to no matter if it's networking or cloud or even your your on premise devices. So we're seeing more clients looking to expect, as the gentlemen have mentioned earlier, that it just works. It's easy to use. And that's where by using these policy based systems, that allows you to get to that point, because every machine or every device is getting the policy that allows them to just function. So if you're starting out on the journey of trying to get that control or that desired state across your environment. It's it's looking at those technologies that allow you to do it. If you buying in technology, say, at a networking layer that doesn't support or doesn't think about policy, and is there still based on that old concept of put it in and configure it and leave it and walk away? Um, yeah. It's you're going to struggle to get to that ease of use. And I think that's where the likes of HPE Aruba have been able to bring some of those components together to make that policy. So the, the, the starting point is looking at the technologies you're looking to use and how you then roll out policies that then integrate across your stacks and stuff so that you are utilizing, um, that capability. The one thing we do find, David, is that that even if you, you know, build a beautiful picture and it all works beautifully, Um, things change, you know? So, uh, six months time, there's a whole new set of devices, a whole new set of threats. Um, the the our customers we talk to that have a, you know, team of people that are donkey deep in, you know, SSH manually configuring their network. You know, that was great back in the 90s. But in six months time, now when a new Apple iPhone model comes out and suddenly, you know, Apple make a change, who would have thought they can just go and make a change that changes the behavior of every device in the world. But they can and they do. And suddenly we need to write a different policy that does something different in response to that change. If I've got to send a team of guys out, you know, making manual changes around the network, that's impossible. If I can make a central policy based change saying, do this now, then, you know, suddenly I'm okay. And I guess that's that's the exciting piece in terms of responding to what's happening in the world. Yeah. Because we're in that in that environment where changes the norm. Now change used to take years to come through. Whereas now we're we're talking weeks or months. And what you can figure today is best practice is not always best practice in 6 to 8 weeks time. And the customer's requirements are also changing because they used to work one way and then all of a sudden they've had to quickly adapt because of the change of their customer base or their clientele that they service. So yeah, policy enables you to start doing things like that too, right? It makes our job a lot easier to deliver high level services to our clients.

And I guess the the one comment I'll make there too, uh, is we're really pushing for a user centric view of the tech that we have. Uh, so that's a really good example, the iPhone thing, right? They change something, it throws enterprise, you know, operations teams into a spin. Um, I've had discussions with very large government organizations and very small organizations. You know, the size of fish and chip shop. And as soon as that iPhone change comes in, it sends them into a spin. We are helpful with our engineering technology that follows a user and is user centric and independent of devices in most cases, and that's only going to get better and better and better. Um, because then it does enable hopefully, you know, soft source bridge to, to deliver better services without hiccups associated with a firmware update in a widget that can prevent a, you know, a Boeing taking off. We're trying to move past that and it feels like we're kind of getting there. I don't think we're there yet, but we're getting there pretty quick.

And I guess the the one comment I'll make there too, uh, is we're really pushing for a user centric view of the tech that we have. Uh, so that's a really good example, the iPhone thing, right? They change something, it throws enterprise, you know, operations teams into a spin. Um, I've had discussions with very large government organizations and very small organizations. You know, the size of fish and chip shop. And as soon as that iPhone change comes in, it sends them into a spin. We are helpful with our engineering technology that follows a user and is user centric and independent of devices in most cases, and that's only going to get better and better and better. Um, because then it does enable hopefully, you know, soft source bridge to, to deliver better services without hiccups associated with a firmware update in a widget that can prevent a, you know, a Boeing taking off. We're trying to move past that and it feels like we're kind of getting there. I don't think we're there yet, but we're getting there pretty quick.

No, but it is giving us the tools to to be quicker and respond quicker. Whereas in the past you'd spend months, as Andrew mentioned, manually configuring or jumping out to devices to make that one change for that iPhone to work, whereas now we can sit in a policy and push it out across the board. And that's what the world we live in now. We we doesn't matter if it's Apple or it's Microsoft or it's one of the other vendors. They're on an agile development cycle. So anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks to something new coming from them.

No, but it is giving us the tools to to be quicker and respond quicker. Whereas in the past you'd spend months, as Andrew mentioned, manually configuring or jumping out to devices to make that one change for that iPhone to work, whereas now we can sit in a policy and push it out across the board. And that's what the world we live in now. We we doesn't matter if it's Apple or it's Microsoft or it's one of the other vendors. They're on an agile development cycle. So anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks to something new coming from them.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of The Soft Source. Leverage. Lifting the lid podcast. Join us for part two of the podcast, where we'll continue our discussion on network as a service strategies. I'm Barry White signing off. Until next time. Keep exploring, keep innovating, and we'll see you in the next episode.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of The Soft Source. Leverage. Lifting the lid podcast. Join us for part two of the podcast, where we'll continue our discussion on network as a service strategies. I'm Barry White signing off. Until next time. Keep exploring, keep innovating, and we'll see you in the next episode.