Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) recently announced new capabilities to support retail customers with improving customer experience and operational efficiency through connectivity and high-performance Edge computing required to modernise retail environments.
At NRF 2025: Retail’s Big Show, HPE Aruba Networking is showcasing its retail-ready networking portfolio and demonstrating how reliable and secure connectivity is a critical component of retail modernisation from the back office and warehouse, all the way to the front of the store and curbside.
HPE is exhibiting its new solutions for quick, secure deployment in retail environments to improve performance for real-time applications and workloads at the edge. The expanded portfolio includes:
- New HPE Aruba Networking 100 Series Cellular Bridge: for easy-to-deploy primary or backup WAN access to provide connectivity when fibre or broadband WAN circuits are unavailable or experience failure. The Cellular Bridge provides customers with better resiliency for mission critical services such as credit card processing, leveraging radio access rather than fiber access. It can also be used for quick deployment of new or temporary locations, like kiosks or pop-up locations, when delays or costs of cabling a broadband WAN connection are not justifiable
- HPE Aruba Networking CX 8325H: a new store-friendly, half-width 18-port switch that fits into compact spaces, with lower power and cooling requirements, and connects with the HPE ProLiant DL145 Gen11 server for Edge computing
- HPE Aruba Networking 750 Series wireless access points: to secure, process, and deliver IoT data in real-time to power AI retail applications
- New HPE Aruba Networking Central AI Insights: these optimise retail curbside operations by increasing performance of Wi-Fi networks when deployed outdoors and can also detect unusual IoT behavior that indicates a potential security breach
As retailers focus on customer experience that spans in store and online transactions, it becomes more important that passerby traffic does not interfere with customer transactions. HPE Aruba Networking Central AI Insights detects any negative impact on the customer experience and can automatically adjust transmit settings to remedy poor performance.
For the retail industry, IoT devices are typically the most vulnerable point of entry for hackers. To protect against breaches and malware, HPE Aruba Networking access points are designed to provide a secure connectivity platform for the increase in IoT devices at the network Edge, including cameras, shelf labels, RFID labels, energy sensors and motion detectors.
To protect against security compromises due to IoT devices, HPE Aruba Networking Central AI Insights is also able to detect anomalies in IoT uploads and downloads which may be indicative of a breach.
“Retailers facing challenges in warehousing, inventory control, and omnichannel fulfilment need comprehensive and secure connectivity to enable digital modernisation and enhance customer experiences,” explained Stuart Strickland, Wireless Chief Technology Officer, HPE Aruba Networking. “HPE’s networking solutions bring real-time IoT data processing and AI inferencing closer to the source of data generation to fuel omnichannel shopping strategies that increase revenue.”
Like many industries, retail also suffers from IT resource constraints. Organisations with geographically distributed retail locations such as stores, warehouses, and back offices require management of an increasingly complex network to decrease the number and duration of IT visits.
The new solutions announced facilitate easier remote management across on-premises, Cloud, and Edge compute resources by expanding HPE Aruba Networking’s private 5G and Wi-Fi wireless solutions, integrating with HPE GreenLake Cloud as well as HPE’s Edge compute portfolio, including the recently announced HPE ProLiant DL145 Gen11 server.
Furthermore, HPE is expanding its HPE Aruba Networking Central IoT Operations dashboard, which enables retailers to take advantage of pre-built third-party applications from HPE retail partners to enhance capabilities of the access points and improve visibility into IoT applications at the Edge.
At NRF, HPE is also showcasing new and existing partners and their extensive ecosystem of business solutions – delivered via HPE’s IoT partner portal – helping build a wide range of retail applications such as real-time video for fraud detection, inventory management and promotion, location analytics, and pricing optimisation. HPE boasts one of the largest IoT partner ecosystems for retail, with several joining HPE at NRF including:
- Hanshow has developed highly interactive electronic shelf labels (ESL) to facilitate store management, ESLs enhance the consumer shopping experience.
- Simbe is recognised for its IoT platform featuring the world’s first autonomous item-scanning robot—to track product location, stock levels, and pricing accuracy
- SOLUM offers digital shelf labels, electronic signage, and smart facility solutions
- VusionGroup provides solutions for computer vision AI, IoT asset management, electronic shelf labels, and digital displays
- Zebra Technologies delivers hardware, software, and services to support omnichannel retailing including wearable devices, RFID scanners, barcode printers, environmental sensors, and intelligent cabinets
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