Aruba Networks to Acquire Avenda Systems

Today Aruba is taking a major step towards securely connecting users and mobile devices to wireless, wired, and VPN networks through the acquisition of Avenda Systems. Avenda builds network access security platforms that provide role-based policy control, differentiated access, endpoint health checks, and managed guest/contractor access. The platform deepens our support for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives, and makes it simpler and safer to use mobile computers and cloud-based applications.

Aruba’s Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless infrastructure into one seamless network access solution – for employees, devices, guests, and contractors. By linking access privileges to a user’s identity, MOVE delivers consistent, secure network access across locations, devices and connection methods.

Named one of CRN's 25 Coolest Emerging Vendors for 2011, Avenda offers many unique features:

• Avenda extends MOVE’s client provisioning benefits across iOS, MacOS, Windows, and Android devices.

• Avenda brings MOVE’s policy definition to multi-vendor wireless, switches, routers and clients. This enables policy-based access to be implemented on any network.

• Avenda provides light weight posture assessment and profiling through persistent and dissolvable agents. The agents work in both 802.1X and non-802.1X client environments, and integrate natively with Microsoft NAP. 

• Avenda provides an extremely low touch way to configure client devices so that they can connect to 802.1X enabled wireless and wired networks. This is of high value especially in environment with many unmanaged devices such as Higher Education.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of Aruba’s fiscal year 2012, ending January 31, 2012. For more information on this announcement, please read the press release.