{"id":932,"date":"2019-04-13T10:51:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T10:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officesuppliesphoenix.com\/?p=932"},"modified":"2020-08-14T13:11:41","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T13:11:41","slug":"keerti-melkote-hpe-arubas-story-wireless-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.officesuppliesphoenix.com\/office-supplies-el-mirage\/keerti-melkote-hpe-arubas-story-wireless-disruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Keerti Melkote And HPE Aruba’s Story Of Wireless Disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nArticle by Will Townsend.<\/em><\/p>\n

With HPE Aruba\u2019s signature event Atmosphere 2019 just around the corner, I had the opportunity to speak again with Keerti Melkote, President and Founder of Aruba. During our one on one, we discussed a number of topics ranging from Aruba\u2019s birth, its meteoric growth, the HPE acquisition, and his signature vest! In our conversation, one thing became abundantly clear to me\u2014his recognition of mobility as the future and his commitment to putting the customer first are key to Aruba\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

The early years<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone loves a good origin story, right? While Marvel has the market pretty well cornered with its superhero films, Aruba\u2019s is pretty interesting (from my perspective as a self-proclaimed tech nerd). I hope to communicate the company\u2019s superpower as well as Aruba\u2019s chief marketer Janice Le often does on social media. Mr. Melkote held positions at technology powerhouses Cisco Systems CSCO +0% and Intel INTC +0%, as well as at start-up Shasta Networks, prior to co-founding Aruba. In 2002, he saw rise of mobile phones, recognized the power of mobility, and identified an opportunity to disrupt the traditional wired local area network. \u201cWhy should anyone have to return to their desk to access, share data, and collaborate?\u201d he often asked himself. At about the same time, Wi-Fi networks began to pop-up, but PC companies weren\u2019t integrating the nascent technology into notebook computers and there were concerns around scalability and security. While the larger infrastructure providers were focused on refining fixed networking solutions, Mr. Melkote saw an opportunity. Furthermore, as an engineer himself, he recognized that most IT administrators struggled to manage the complexities of networking\u2014often moving from one problem to the next with a \u201chair on fire\u201d mentality. He believed he could also deliver simplicity. He picked the name Aruba, hoping to conjure up the image of a relaxing visit to the beach.<\/p>\n

Success with mobility and customer first, last<\/strong><\/p>\n

The technology industry is a story of many successes and failures. I witnessed this firsthand, riding amazing waves of success while working for Dell DELL +0% in the early 1990s, and later Compaq. I also worked through the dot.com era and saw plenty of failure. One key barometer of success in the tech world is reaching the $1B revenue mark. Not only did Aruba achieve that (it is nearing $3B today) but it did so in the span of only nine years. From my perspective, Mr. Melkote not only identified the disruption that wireless networking would bring to bear, but timed it to align with watershed events such as Steve Jobs\u2019 return to Apple AAPL +0% Computer and the launch of the iPhone and later iPad products. A mentor of mine once shared with me that opportunity is a combination of ability and timing, and Mr. Melkote happened to nail both. The third magic ingredient, in his case, was a relentless focus on the customer and key stakeholders such as developers and channel partners. I\u2019ve witnessed Aruba\u2019s strategy first hand at prior Atmosphere events; it especially shines in the final panel session, held every year, in which Aruba executives take any attendee question unscripted. I\u2019ve seen the resulting feedback find its way back into product roadmaps, service offerings, and Aruba\u2019s software management solutions such as NetInsight. Another customer-embracement proof point can be found in the company\u2019s recent accolades and success with its ClearPass and IntroSpect offerings.<\/p>\n

The reverse acquisition of HPE<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly four years to the week that Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE +0% acquired Aruba Networks. At the time, HPE recognized that it had gaps in its wireless networking portfolio and believed that Aruba could bring both a strong set of solutions and brand equity to the table. From Mr. Melkote\u2019s perspective, a union would bring it scale and a new set of capabilities to compete against the likes of Cisco Systems and others. Combined, many analysts and pundits at the time believed HPE could attack a growing converged campus networking segment. An unknown bonus came with Aruba, though\u2014its culture and entrepreneurial vision. At that time, Antonio Neri was a networking general manager involved in evaluating and eventually bringing the acquisition together. Today as President and CEO, Mr. Neri often credits Aruba with infusing its mobility and customer-centric DNA into its parent organization. Since its acquisition, Aruba has enjoyed a level of autonomy within HPE from an operations and product development perspective, and the division now leads HPE\u2019s overall networking infrastructure practice. That\u2019s an amazing accomplishment by any measure, given the way tech mega-mergers typically play out.<\/p>\n

The vest and its superpower <\/strong><\/p>\n

Steve Jobs sported the black turtleneck, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA NVDA +0% has his trademark leather jacket, and my hero Ron Burgundy keeps it classy in San Diego with his leisure suit! Mr. Melkote\u2019s clothing article of choice is the vest jacket. When asked why, he laughed and said, \u201cBecause it\u2019s easy to wear and take off.\u201d I liken his vest to Aruba\u2019s success\u2014wireless networking has made things easier and more convenient for customers. His stated vision for the future, not surprisingly, is focused on further simplifying connectivity and improving the user experience. For the latter, Aruba continues to build upon its leadership in location-based services; these efforts started with its own acquisition of Meridian several years ago. As to how Aruba plans to stay ahead of the competition, Mr. Melkote points to HPE\u2019s overall investment in edge (with an ambitious $4B over four-year pledge made by Mr. Neri in 2018), Aruba\u2019s current investment in artificial intelligence, and the possibility of augmented\/virtual reality in the future. With Aruba\u2019s history of disruption with wireless networking, it will be interesting to see what the company has in store. While the name Aruba may conjure up images of a distant, somewhat disconnected island, HPE Aruba has done much to connect the world wirelessly.<\/p>\n

Destination URL: https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/moorinsights\/2019\/03\/27\/keerti-melkote-and-hpe-arubas-story-of-wireless-disruption\/#56089d7070a5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Will Townsend. With HPE Aruba\u2019s signature event Atmosphere 2019 just around the corner, I had the opportunity to speak again with Keerti Melkote, President and Founder of Aruba. During our one on one, we discussed a number of topics ranging from Aruba\u2019s birth, its meteoric growth, the HPE acquisition, and his signature vest! In our conversation, one thing became abundantly clear to me\u2014his recognition of mobility as the future and his commitment to putting the customer first are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeerti Melkote And HPE Aruba's Story Of Wireless Disruption - Office Supplies El Mirage, AZ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.officesuppliesphoenix.com\/office-supplies-el-mirage\/keerti-melkote-hpe-arubas-story-wireless-disruption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keerti Melkote And HPE Aruba's Story Of Wireless Disruption - Office Supplies El Mirage, AZ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Article by Will Townsend. With HPE Aruba\u2019s signature event Atmosphere 2019 just around the corner, I had the opportunity to speak again with Keerti Melkote, President and Founder of Aruba. During our one on one, we discussed a number of topics ranging from Aruba\u2019s birth, its meteoric growth, the HPE acquisition, and his signature vest! 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