Federal IT leaders: Zero trust and Quantum directives top discussion areas at HPE Discover

[John_Klopacz]

HPE Discover 2024 in Las Vegas was a defining moment for the company, with the Aruba Atmosphere and Airheads community integrating into the Discover event for the first time. For me, it was my sixth Atmosphere and my first as the VP/GM of HPE Aruba Federal. It was energizing to meet with Federal customers and partners, be inspired by the keynotes, and, of course, have some fun with a number of the Federal attendees in the evenings. 

HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri and NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang kicked off Discover with an incredible “Intelligence has no limits” keynote at the immersive Las Vegas Sphere. Next, Phil Mottram, EVP and GM, Intelligent Edge, HPE Aruba Networking showcased how we can help organizations modernize their networks to support AI applications and other demanding workloads in his “Building networks of the future” keynote. Another highlight was David Hughes, HPE Aruba Networking Chief Product Officer, and Jon Green, HPE Aruba Networking’s Chief Technology Officer/ Chief Security Officer (and my longtime colleague), presenting and demonstrating how to supercharge IT operations using the power of the network. More than 12,000 people attended the deep-dive Airheads technical sessions. 

Missed the event? You can watch the best of Discover on-demand.

Discover and Atmosphere was also a very active event for our Federal team, as we hosted breakout sessions that explored two areas of special interest for Federal IT leaders—the Zero Trust paradigm and the Quantum threat. 

Going deeper into the Zero Trust paradigm

 Khuong Tang, Consulting System Engineer (CSE) and Andrew Visocan, Systems Engineering Manager at HPE Aruba Networking, led an engaging session about the Zero Trust security imperative. The castle-and-moat approach is clearly ineffective in a world where people, applications, devices, and data are everywhere—and cyberattacks are sophisticated and unrelenting. Zero trust has applicability across networking, identity, data, device, and application and workload domains, as agencies need IT systems that are always on, secure, flexible, and IoT-ready.

The discussion also focused on the urgent need for security that is built in—not bolted on. HPE Aruba Networking’s approach is to help agencies build a security-first approach that is software-defined, telemetry-driven, and AI-powered to protect our nation’s IT systems.

Addressing Quantum directives

 Ken Rich, Federal CTO for HPE Aruba Networking, led a fascinating session on post-Quantum cryptography (PQC). Quantum is a new area for many IT leaders, so Ken began with a bit of the history of Quantum and whether the threat is “real.” Quantum threats may be on the distant horizon but remember the old line about “objects in the mirror may be larger than they appear.” Interception and disclosure of classified data are the most imminent threats, and the disruption or corruption of critical government, critical infrastructure, and financial systems are among the most existential threats. 

We had a good discussion about practical ways to secure data now using our current ciphers and pre-shared keys as an effective countermeasure to resist attacks. The US government is preparing for a post-Quantum world as well, including for agencies to provide a prioritized list of vulnerable systems to CISA. Efforts such as the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography project will standardize new algorithms, but Quantum resistance methods will continue to be relevant as the algorithms are developed and trusted. 

As agencies develop their Quantum-readiness roadmap, they can be confident that it is an important area of focus for HPE Aruba Networking.

HPE Aruba Networking is committed to secure networking

Whether your agency is accelerating your Zero Trust journey or researching a post-Quantum world, you can be confident that HPE Aruba Networking is committed to secure networking. Our products are secure by design, providing a trusted network foundation with built-in zero-trust security that simplifies compliance to rigorous US government standards and requirements.

Watch the best of Discover on-demand.

Learn more about HPE Aruba Networking security-first, AI-powered solutions.