As per the agreement, WestconGroup's solution providers will have access to the full suite of Aruba's secure, next-generation wireless solutions for converged voice, video and data applications. The opportunity is immense for the African region, as it will enable customers to create more secure links between Wi-Fi and cellular data networks. This is particularly relevant to a continent where cellular data usage is a growing preference for enterprise customers looking to deploy robust mobility strategies in their organisations.
"Key to our partnership with Aruba is that we will now be able to offer our solution providers a range of new secure mobile opportunities," stated Andrew Potgieter, business unit director at WestconGroup Security Solutions in Southern Africa. "The flexibility and security afforded by the Aruba product suite, as well as its interoperability between both Wi-Fi and cellular networks, will act as key differentiators for our local solution providers."
According to both companies, the agreement will see products such as the Aruba Mobility Controllers, wireless LAN access points, ArubaOS Mobility Software and the Aruba Mobility Management System, distributed to solution providers. Partners will be able to further extend BYOD ("bring your own device) and mobility capabilities to customers who can hook into the Aruba's Mobile Edge Architecture, which extends the enterprise network to reach mobile users regardless of location.
Aruba's secure mobility solutions are purpose-built to provide high performance, easily deployed wireless networking, client-to-core security, compatibility with existing LAN and core infrastructure, and a VPN-free means of extending a corporate network to branch offices, virtual offices and mobile workers.
"I believe that extending our agreement with WestconGroup into the Southern African region is testament to the fact that, as two companies, we share a collective vision for a secure mobile world in which customers can transact and collaborate between geographies and devices," stated Matthew Barker, regional manager at Aruba Networks. "Backed by WestconGroup as our value-added distributor, a global relationship and the quality of its solution providers, we believe that we will be able to unpack a new set of opportunities around Aruba's secure mobility and high-performance wireless LAN solutions for partners in the region."
