Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced the expansion of its connected edge-to-cloud offering with the acquisition of Athonet, a private wireless technology provider that provides mobile core networks for enterprises and communications service providers.
Athonet has over 15 years of experience in providing 4G and 5G cellular core solutions to customers and partners worldwide. Athonet is an award-winning technology pioneer with more than 450 successful customer implementations across multiple industries, including leading mobile operators, hospitals, airports, ports of transport, utilities, government and public safety organizations.
As businesses face complex connectivity challenges in large and remote locations, private 5G offers high levels of coverage, reliability, and mobility in campus and industrial environments. It also extends the low-cost, high-capacity connectivity provided by Wi-Fi. The integration of Athonet technology will enable HPE to deliver private network capabilities directly to enterprises as part of the HPE Aruba network portfolio, while also enabling communications service providers (CSPs) to quickly deploy private 5G networks to their customers.
HPE is expanding private 5G solutions for both telcos and enterprises
HPE will integrate Athonet’s technology into its existing enterprise CSP and Aruba network offerings to create a private network portfolio that accelerates digital transformation from edge to cloud. The networking portfolio offers the following advantages:
Enhanced private networks that combine the high capacity of Wi-Fi with the coverage and mobility of 5G
· Accelerated private 5G deployments that improve agility and innovation to support telco B2B teams and enterprise customers
· New business revenue streams for telcos with differentiated services leveraging 5G and Wi-Fi
· Cost-to-revenue alignment with consumption-based models for enterprises and telcos through HPE GreenLake, reducing the risk of entering new markets
· Manage operational complexity and cost efficiencies with 5G orchestration and zero-touch automation to deliver new workloads from edge to cloud
With billions of dollars invested in 5G, CSPs are looking for easy ways to meet customer demands and generate new B2B revenue by deploying both edge computing and private 5G networks. The addition of Athonet’s software to HPE’s telco portfolio expands one of the broadest communications portfolios on the market, serving a base of more than 300 customers in 160 countries and connecting more than a billion mobile devices worldwide. Building on its existing private 5G solutions, HPE’s expanded offering for CSPs will support private 4G and 5G networks and will include telco-grade orchestration and automation capabilities. These capabilities will help launch new B2B services that meet growing customer expectations at the connected edge.
Private 5G offers enterprises new capabilities that are ultra-secure, easy to deploy and manage, and suitable for highly specialized applications such as robotics and industrial IoT, data networks and pipelines, and security system facilitation. The acquisition of Athonet strengthens Aruba’s connected edge portfolio and provides the unique and coveted ability to deliver fully integrated Wi-Fi and private 5G networks. Integration with Aruba Central will allow network managers to manage Wi-Fi and private 5G from a single pane of glass and harness the power of AI-powered insights, workflow automation, and robust security.
HPE GreenLake, HPE’s edge-to-cloud platform, will offer private 5G offerings from Athonet, combining all Wi-Fi and private 5G costs into a single monthly subscription with no capital outlay. Flexible consumption options, including HPE’s Networking as a Service, mean private 5G networks can be deployed with reduced risk and upfront investment, and scale as needed.
Integration and availability of the HPE portfolio
HPE will integrate Athonet’s solutions into its existing telecom software assets and plans to make them available to customers some time after the transaction closes. HPE will also integrate the solutions into Aruba’s network portfolio in the near future. The transaction is expected to close early in HPE’s third quarter of fiscal 2023, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Gianluca Verin, CEO and co-founder of Athonet
Athonet was founded to offer customers private 4G and 5G solutions that offer carrier-grade reliability and performance to meet their increasing and more demanding connectivity needs. We are excited to join HPE and bring together our highly skilled teams as we expand our joint service provider offerings for the fast-growing private 5G market and build on HPE’s strategy to be the leading provider of edge-to-cloud solutions.
