Introducing retail-ready networks

[Gayle_Levin]

Creating a strong foundation for retail from warehouses to curbside 

From automated warehouses to smart stores, scalable and reliable networks are critical for retail innovation. We’re working with retailers globally to deliver retail-ready networks that are the backbone for store modernization, customer engagement, and competitive advantage and we’ve enhanced our solution with more capabilities to provide seamless coverage to power AI. At NRF 2025 Retail’s Big Show, join us to see advances in ways to securely connect IoT devices, deliver real-time AI insights at the edge, and provide popup and backup connectivity to get stores online faster and keep business-critical applications like credit card processing always connected.   

IoT in retail 

In retail, IoT is literally everywhere — even in the refrigeration unit to manage temperature controls and protect against spoilage. In-store robots roam the aisles checking shelf inventory levels and replenish stock as needed. IoT devices are a rich source of data that can be used to drive AI insights for adaptive advertising, in-store analytics, personalized recommendations, and more.  

Of course, the amount of value and insights derived from data at the edge is dependent upon the organization’s ability to process, store, analyze, and act on this data at the speed of business. This data must move seamlessly and securely. Although AI analytics can be done at edge or in the cloud, some applications may require real-time inference of large volumes of data which can be better processed at the local network edge. 

When it comes to IoT, security matters. Retail IT executives say that financial loss, customer data theft, and operational disruptions are their top concerns related to attacks via IoT devices. Any network solution must also enforce a zero trust security framework and defend against rogue IoT.  

Building a better network for retail 

We’re pleased to announce new capabilities that combine the power of network and compute to tackle challenging retail use cases by taking full advantage of user and device data.  

• Highly reliable coverage everywhere: With a combination of Wi-Fi and cellular, we can provide seamless connectivity everywhere — from warehouses, to stores, to parking lots, to the back office for a wide range of devices from RFID tags to electronic shelf tags. Our Wi-Fi APs include indoor, outdoor, and ruggedized form factors to support buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) and refrigerated spaces. HPE Aruba Networking Private 5G technology makes it easier to deploy a dedicated cellular network that meets the needs of distribution and warehouses with wide area coverage, high speed mobility support for automated vehicles, and reliable, dedicated connections in challenging RF environments. Our new HPE Aruba Networking 100 Series Cellular Bridge supports pop-up and new retail stores with faster time to value, providing an on-ramp to 5G or 4G networks, managed with HPE Aruba Networking Central. Most importantly, they also provide backup connectivity for critical applications like curbside pickup and credit card processing.  

Our new 100 Series Cellular Bridge provides backup or primary/secondary connectivity, enabling retailers to get up and running quickly without running fiber and ensuring business continuity for critical applications such as credit card transactions.  

• Real-time IoT: Our flagship HPE Aruba Networking 750 Series Access Points go beyond the Wi-Fi standard to offer enhanced IoT capabilities. They can connect to more IoT devices with twice the number of connections to support BLE, Zigbee, and USB port extensions. The APs themselves have extra horsepower so that the data can be pre-processed and sent directly to local compute for AI inference in near real-time. Our Wi-Fi 7 APs also offer enhanced location capabilities for wayfinding, asset tracking, and targeted marketing promotions based on the latest Wi-Fi location standards for greater precision.  

• Customer and associate experience: Enhanced User Experience Insights are part of HPE Aruba Networking Central. With support for a wide variety of devices including Zebra and now 6 GHz support, IT gains real-user visibility into performance issues that can impact customer interactions, such as inventory visibility and fulfillment. Because IT can monitor what happens from the device to the network to the application, the team can pinpoint where the problem is actually occurring and resolve issues much more quickly, even if the problem is on the device itself.  

• AI-powered networking: With new recommendations in HPE Aruba Networking Central, IT teams can better manage complex retail networks without site visits. New AI insights help detect IoT breaches by identifying large uploads or downloads of data by headless devices. Other insights, developed in conjunction with leading global retailers, improve customers’ and associates’ experiences in the store and curbside.  

• AI at the edge: All this is in support of AI inference at the edge. For applications with real-time large volumes of data, the new high performance, half-width HPE Aruba Networking CX 8325H Switch enables low latency for retail branches and are HPE compute & storage certified. In retail environments, the recently announced HPE ProLiant DL145 offers a small footprint to run AI retail applications at the edge.  

Use case: AI video analytics for fraud protection 

One example of the need for real-time AI analytics at the edge is at the omnipresent self-checkout stand. Retailers lose nearly $112B in shrink annually across the industryⁱ so there is a true need to be able to minimize shrinkage during self-checkout.  

In this scenario, the scanner and video camera send data to the Wi-Fi 7 access point that processes the stream and sends it directly and securely in real-time to the ProLiant server for on-premises processing. The AI application running on the server can detect when an item has been placed in bagging but not scanned and send a lock command to the check stand and flag an associate, thereby lowering shrink. 

Our retail-ready networks are making it easier to modernize retail IT environments and enhance the customer experience.  Come join us at NRF to see our retail solutions in action.  

i. Forbes, From Vision to Value, 2024