Aruba Networks Launches Airheads Community for Enterprise Mobility Experts

Aruba's Airheads Community offers social networking, technical certifications, member events and an industry-first MVP program for IT engineers in wireless LAN, security and mobile device management

HONG KONG, Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) announced the launch of its new Airheads Community (http://community.arubanetworks.com/), developed expressly to meet the needs of the engineers driving a new era in access networking. The Airheads Community seeks to both draw from and inform a new type of networking expert, focused on wireless LAN, security and mobile device management.

IDC predicted the growth in enterprise mobility, video consumption and cloud infrastructure in 2012 will drive worldwide enterprise network revenues to US$39.4 billion by the end of the year. Rohit Mehra, IDC's director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, said BYOD will continue to proliferate with IT now getting more of a handle on these devices, and corporate policy starting to change.

While the enterprises and their IT specialists are struggling to catch up with the BYOD trend by upgrading their wireless network, Airheads forms a vibrant community of engineers who are focused on designing and implementing wireless LANs, ensuring network security and supporting mobile devices and applications. Airheads Community members have access to a wide variety of professional development opportunities, including the following:

• Airheads Social - a best-in-class social media platform which acts as the central hub for all Airheads Community activities.
• The Aruba Certification and Training Program - This prepares engineers to solve a host of complex challenges that extend well beyond the wired infrastructure.
• Airheads Events - These allow members collaborate in real-time with other members at the annual Airheads conferences, regional user-group events and virtual events. 
• The Aruba Airheads MVP Program - This program rewards members for demonstrating their knowledge as mobility experts. The more engaged members are with all aspects of the community, the more rewards and recognition they receive. 

Highlights/Key Facts:

Why did Aruba Enhance and Expand the Airheads Community?
The networking industry currently has a strong need for a professional engineering community to address the multiple challenges related to consumerization of IT. Historically, Aruba's Airheads conferences and the Airheads Online forums provided a small group of IT engineers and architects a valuable experience. Members had access to great content and valuable advice from experts. These members have expressed an interest in growing this community. The new Airheads Community has been created to extend the two-day Airheads conference experience and advocacy to a broader set of participants, all 365 days of the year.

Who is the Airheads Community for?
The Airheads Community is developed for IT engineers who are being challenged to deliver mobility services to a highly mobile enterprise workforce. Engineers looking to grow and gain access to expert advice, take part in training and certification programs, network with other professionals in enterprise mobility space, will benefit from participation in the community. The Airheads Community is the only platform dedicated to exchange knowledge on enterprise mobility, user dynamics, device types, applications and networks.

Why is the MVP Program important?
The Aruba Airheads MVP program recognizes individuals who have helped cultivate the Airheads technical community through their expertise, participation and contributions. MVP candidates participate in a mix of the Airheads Social platform, Airheads Events, and Aruba Certification and Training. The program recognizes community members who: 

• Share their knowledge on Airheads Social and are recognized by their peers as frequent, knowledgeable contributors to the community by receiving kudos on the social media platform.
• Demonstrate they are experts in the areas of mobility, wireless networking and security by achieving certifications and training.
• Attend Airheads Events to collaborate and share best practices among their peers and other experts.

What are Airheads Community Events?
Airheads community events are face-to-face and virtual events through which enterprise mobility professionals gather to collaborate on best practices, real-world deployment examples, lessons learned and much more. These include annual regional conferences with hundreds of attendees, quarterly local half-day events in cities around the globe and online exclusive webinars delivered by Airheads MVPs and experts.

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company's Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks dramatically improves productivity and lowers capital and operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook.

© 2012 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks' trademarks include the design mark for AirWave, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Wireless Networks®, the registered Aruba the Mobile Edge Company logo, the registered AirWave logo, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, People Move. Networks Must Follow®, RFProtect®, Green Island®. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.