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Aruba Networks bets on SA

Paula Gilbert
By Paula Gilbert, ITWeb telecoms editor.
London, 08 Oct 2015
Aruba Networks CEO Dominic Orr says South Africa is a focus market for his company.
Aruba Networks CEO Dominic Orr says South Africa is a focus market for his company.

Aruba Networks plans big things for South Africa and sees it as its key market for growth on the continent.

"South Africa is an area we want to particularly focus on," according to Aruba Networks CEO Dominic Orr, speaking at the HP/Aruba Future Forum at the Royal Festival Hall in London, where the new merged company outlined its joint strategy going forward.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced plans to acquire Aruba Networks, a provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise, in March. The $2.7 billion deal officially went through in May, and the date for final integration of the two workforces has been set for 1 November, including the teams in SA.

The deal gives Aruba what Orr calls "critical mass" and provides a huge injection of cash into the company. It positions HP as the industry leader in enterprise mobility, and the combined product portfolios aim to drive revenue growth and improve financial performance going forward, he commented.

"South Africa is a big growth area for us," said Alain Carpentier, VP for HP Networking and Aruba EMEA.

He told ITWeb that a South African leader for the new company is due to be announced next week, and the merger will provide much-needed boots on the ground in order to grow its reach in the South African market.

He admitted the company is "not in the right space in South Africa" at the moment but said "there is huge potential for us".

"We need to have a better balance between the SME side and the enterprise customers, and also to develop more public sector focus," said Carpentier.

Orr agrees its work in South Africa has so far "not been satisfactory" but it hopes to change this though an existing partnership with Dimension Data.

"We have in the last year made very good progress with Dimension Data and I think through DiData, South Africa will be our primary market; the rest of Africa will not be our focus for the time being," added Orr.

Carpentier said the company sees potential for growth in the Nigerian and Kenyan markets as well, but for now the focus remains on South Africa.

The merge sees the companies gain a combined global market share of the wireless market of around 18%, according to Orr, who added the target is to grow to 30% over the next few years.

He is excited by the new company that has emerged, saying that combined with HP, it has "critical mass; I think we can be number one in the industry".

When speaking of rivals, he said "speed is our advantage".

"I want to remain the 'biggest small company' and the biggest advantage I have against my competitor is speed and customer intimacy; they are my biggest weapon."

HP last year announced plans to separate into two new publicly traded Fortune 500 companies. Aruba will fall under the new Hewlett-Packard Enterprise business, which will comprise HP's enterprise technology infrastructure, software and services businesses. The other will comprise HP's personal systems and printing businesses, which will do business as HP Inc. Orr said the split will happen on 1 November.

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