Building a Zero Trust network with security-first, AI-powered networking

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Innovation can be a revenue driver, yet tension between innovation and risk may negatively impact an organization’s ability to innovate, according to research published by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

The report, The innovation vs. risk conundrum, revealed that organizations with a leading innovation maturity were almost twice as likely to have revenue increase by more than 20%. Furthermore, 95% of IT leaders believe innovation focused on digitization is key to unlocking new revenue streams. Yet even given the revenue opportunity innovation presents, nearly two-thirds (64%) of IT leaders confirmed that their organizations’ willingness to invest in innovative technologies was negatively impacted due to concerns about potential security breaches.

The need for strong security has never been more pressing, as rising cyberattacks pose a significant  threat to organizations. In fact, less than half (47%) of respondents within The 2023 Global Study on Closing the IT Security Gap (a study conducted by leading security research firm Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise) rated their organization as very or highly effective in reducing threats in the attack landscape.

How can organizations balance two seemingly competing objectives: enable innovative, connected experiences while providing robust security to stay ahead of relentless cyberattacks?

Managing risk with Zero Trust Security

Whether for compliance reasons or to enhance cybersecurity posture, many organizations are adopting Zero Trust principles to reduce risk.


Five core capabilities—visibility, authentication and authorization, role-based access, conditional monitoring, and enforcement and response—form the foundation of Zero Trust network security.

Although network and security teams understand the fundamentals of Zero Trust, implementing these concepts is often challenging. Organizations often struggle with adopting Zero Trust Security for the following reasons:

• Purchasing confusion. Zero Trust is a paradigm—not a product. Zero Trust is not a single product or solution that can be purchased off the shelf.


• Cross-domain requirements. Zero Trust spans technology domains within an organization, touching not just networking but users, devices, applications, and workloads from edge to cloud.


• Fragmented capabilities. The access control capabilities that support Zero Trust architectures typically span multiple technology solutions, which are often cobbled together in a disjointed fashion, leading to complexity and inconsistency.


• Team collaboration. Delivering successful innovation that meets Zero Trust Security requirements often requires network and security teams to work together but disparate tooling and lack of shared controls and data can create siloed operations that hinder those efforts.

A new driver of innovation and protection: The network as a Zero Trust solution

There can be no trade-offs when it comes to innovation and protection: both needs must be satisfied for an organization to thrive. That’s why organizations looking to innovate while mitigating risk are looking to a new solution: the network.

Why the network? The network plays an increasingly critical role in driving the business forward. Whether via traditional on-premises connectivity or the Internet and the cloud, the network’s mission is to collect, secure, and deliver data and IT resources to users, devices, and applications wherever and whenever it’s needed. Given the ubiquitous nature of the network, it is only natural that it is now considered a bridge between connectivity and security.

Not every network can meet both objectives. Meet networking that can: security-first, AI-powered networking from HPE Aruba Networking.

Security-first, AI-powered networking from HPE Aruba Networking is built on Zero Trust principles, providing a common foundation for networking and security teams to power distinctive experiences and innovative business results—without sacrificing cybersecurity protection. With HPE Aruba Networking solutions, the network can now provide advanced visibility, insights, centralized policy management, data protection, threat defense, and access control in a single platform. AI-powered networking helps teams benefit from intelligent automation that reduces manual effort, improves visibility and anomaly detection, and enhances monitoring and diagnostics, all of which ensure the organization is not exposed to unnecessary risk.

The Zero Trust network in action: 5 examples from edge to cloud

Security is never an afterthought with security-first, AI-powered networking from HPE Aruba Networking. That built-in approach enhances protection while simplifying operations, so organizations can focus on innovation while mitigating risk. HPE Aruba Networking solutions enable organizations to infuse Zero Trust principles within:

• Unified SASE: Enable faster and more secure connectivity for users and devices anywhere while protecting corporate data with a connectivity fabric comprising award-winning SSE and industry-leading SD-WAN in a single solution delivered as a service.


• Secure SD-WAN: Replace legacy firewalls in branch offices and reduce hardware footprint (along with associated cost and complexity) with HPE Aruba Networking’s market-leading EdgeConnect SD-WAN solutions that include integrated next-generation firewall capabilities.


• Campus: Support security, compliance, and connectivity goals with AI-powered visibility, cloud-native network access control, and policy automation delivered through a wired and/or wireless network managed by HPE Aruba Networking Central.


• Data center: Apply policies consistently across both users and workloads and use microsegmentation to reduce the risk exposure associated with east-west traffic patterns— without the requirement of added firewalls—using built-in security capabilities within the HPE Aruba Networking CX10000 switch.


• Cloud: Successfully secure work from anywhere with HPE Aruba Networking SSE cloud-delivered security services that use adaptive trust and continuous monitoring to increase security while optimizing each connection.

The relationship between innovation and security need not be either/or. With security-first, AI-powered networking from HPE Aruba Networking, organizations can achieve both using a Zero Trust network foundation.

Find out how HPE Aruba Networking security-first, AI-powered networking is helping organizations meet their innovation and security needs:

• Easing Zero Trust security adoption with security-first, AI-powered networking


• Accelerating NIST compliance BWP


• Network as a security solution 1-pager