Together with the HPE telco and Aruba networking portfolios, Athonet will position HPE at the front of a growing market which according to IDC, is set to increase to more than $1.6 billion by 2026.
The integration of Athonet’s technology will allow HPE to deliver private networking capabilities directly to enterprises as part of its Aruba networking portfolio, while at the same time enabling communications service providers (CSPs) to rapidly deploy private 5G networks for their customers.
“Telco customers are looking for simpler ways to deploy private 5G networks to meet growing customer expectations at the connected edge,” said Tom Craig, global vice president and general manager of the communications technology group at HPE.
“At the same time, enterprise customers are demanding a customised 5G experience with low-latency, segregated resources, extended range and security across campus and industrial environments that complement their existing wireless networks. With the acquisition of Athonet, HPE now has one of the most complete private 5G and Wi-Fi portfolios for CSP and enterprise customers – and we will offer it as a service through HPE GreenLake.”
The newly integrated offering will deliver enhanced private networks that combine the high capacity of Wi-Fi with the coverage and mobility of 5G, as well as accelerated private 5G deployments.
It will also create new enterprise revenue streams for telcos in the area of 5G and Wi-Fi services, it will align costs to revenues with consumption-based models using HPE GreenLake, and the management of operational complexity and cost efficiency with 5G orchestration and zero-touch automation.
“Athonet was founded to provide customers with private 4G and 5G solutions that deliver carrier-grade reliability and performance to suit their increasing and more challenging connectivity needs,” said Gianluca Verin, CEO and co-founder of Athonet.
“We are excited to join HPE and combine our highly skilled teams as we expand our joint service provider offerings for the rapidly growing private 5G market and build on HPE’s strategy to be the leading edge-to-cloud solutions provider.”
The acquisition of Athonet strengthens Aruba’s connected edge portfolio and its integration with Aruba Central will enable network managers to administer Wi-Fi and private 5G through a single pane of glass.
