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In ProCurve's vision, adaptive networks are adaptive to users, applications and organization needs. In this article, we'll look at the first of these three facets — adaptive to users — and how it can help fortify security, increase productivity and reduce complexity across your organization.
Personalization transforms the user experience
Adaptive networks embody the intelligence to know the user's identity and device needs. With a network that's adaptive to users, each user enjoys a personalized network experience, for the benefit of both the user and the organization.
The personalization provided by an adaptive network gives users a consistent experience, no matter where, when or how they connect. By automatically delivering the right levels of performance and quality of service (QoS( to each user, the adaptive network not only gives users a personalized network experience, but also boosts users' productivity.
For users, personalization translates into easy access to the right information and resources they need to perform their tasks most effectively — anywhere, anytime and using any access device. Users — especially mobile workers — expect the network to just work, without having to worry about access rights, multiple passwords or details about applications or resource types.
According to the rules and policies set by the organization, the user not only gains appropriate access to the network, but also enjoys optimized application performance. In all situations, the adaptive network provides the right level of service to meet the needs of the user, the device and the application.
Personalization boosts security & productivity, reduces complexity
Personalization delivers benefits at the organization level, as well. A network that's adaptive to users simplifies the protection of information and assets by controlling users' access — allowing only approved access to organization assets — thus strengthening security.
Through personalization, an adaptive network understands the user and device needs, assuring that the assets required for each user to be productive are readily available. At the same time, personalization allows IT managers to feel confident that they can also prevent users from achieving unauthorized access.
In the past, the idea of providing users with a seamless and personalized network experience would have meant untold burdens on the IT staff — because easier user experiences meant greater complexity in the network infrastructure. A properly designed adaptive network turns that dynamic on its head. With the right network infrastructure, an adaptive network uses automation to actually reduce complexity. As a result, your IT staff can work more efficiently.
Some ProCurve solutions that aid personalization
Although ProCurve's adaptive networks vision is meant to chart a course toward a future of networks that become core strategic assets, a number of ProCurve solutions available today can help you achieve a network that is more adaptive to users.
Importantly, the ProCurve adaptive networks vision does not represent a departure for us; this vision is one of continuity, not disruption. Our vision is based on the foundational network infrastructure of the ProCurve Adaptive EDGE Architecture™ (AEA), which since its public introduction in 2003 has moved from a radically new view of the network infrastructure to the accepted, widely adopted model.
The AEA's fundamental breakthrough — moving from core-centric networks to intelligence at the edge — is necessary for personalization to become feasible. An exciting tool for starting to implement network personalization is ProCurve Identity Driven Manager (IDM) 2.0, a plug-in module for ProCurve Manager Plus (PCM+( network management software.
IDM 2.0 enables network managers to manage network access — to fortify security — as well as manage performance based on user identity and device needs. These capabilities are the very ones that are crucial for providing a unique, personalized user experience.
Because the ProCurve network infrastructure is based on principles of cohesiveness, interoperability through standards and manageability, delivering a personalized user experience does not place an extra burden on IT staff. In fact, ProCurve's AEA foundation and tools such as PCM mean that network administrators can easily configure, update, monitor and troubleshoot ProCurve devices — on both wired and wireless networks — centrally with easy-to-use screens.
ProCurve's adaptive network solutions are real today, and we are committed to providing networks that are open, holistic, highly available and that fortify security, increase productivity and reduce complexity by being adaptive to users, to applications and organization needs. In future issues of this newsletter, we'll examine what it means for a network to be adaptive to applications and to organization needs.
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