Aruba unveils wireless management suite upgrade

System designed to help staff monitor networks and devices.

Aruba Networks today announced the latest update to its wireless management suite designed to enable IT staff to better monitor both wireless and wired networks, as well as client devices, as workforces become increasingly mobile.

The Aruba Wireless Management Suite 7 allows staff to see the performance levels of wireless networks and the wired infrastructure, as well as the ability to access data on devices such as laptops or handheld scanners, said the firm.

Roger Hockaday, director of marketing at Aruba, said that the need to effectively monitor the performance of wired and wireless networks on a single platform is increasingly important as more companies provide wireless access points.

"Drawing information on the performance of networks into one suite gives staff a far simpler and easier way of managing the network by bringing together a variety of multi-vendor products into a single system," he said.

Hockaday also explained that being able to monitor individual devices and track their user history on the network had been built in at the request of several customers.

"Providing data on devices such as their last connection to the network, the battery life, diagnostics and so forth allows IT staff to have a better understanding of what is being used on their networks and where potential problems could be arising," he said.

The software can be integrated with any Windows-based system, as well as specific vendors' tools and agent-less devices, said the firm.

The platform has also been upgraded to allow the management of edge switches from a variety of vendors, including Cisco and HP, and to allow users to customise interfaces and dashboards.

The new update will be available from March.