secure unified mobility solutions, today announced that Hess Corporation, a Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in New York, is deploying Aruba's converged data, voice, and video networks and client-to-core security solutions throughout its corporate offices and deepwater platforms in Australia, Denmark, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Aruba's wireless LANS and identity-based security provide Hess employees with access to enterprise applications across wired and wireless LAN and WAN networks without compromising security or mobility.

"Aruba's network applies security policies to users, not the equipment they carry," said Dave Hammell, senior network engineer and wireless architect for Hess. "Once a policy is assigned it follows that user everywhere he or she travels - remote offices, off-shore platforms, hotels. We no longer have the burden and expense of tracking and managing the equipment they use, which reduces our IT support costs. Additionally, because Aruba can be easily overlaid on top of our existing wired network, only a single Hess technician is needed to install the equipment at a site."

Hess centrally configures and manages the network from a U.S. data center. Besides installations at corporate facilities, Aruba�s ruggedized outdoor access points are used to connect five deepwater platforms, some as much as 10 kilometers apart. The platforms communicate via a redundant mesh network to provide reliable communications in rugged environments.

"Hess has demonstrated on a global scale, including in some very inhospitable environments, that Aruba's user-centric networks are robust, easy to deploy, and have lower life-cycle costs," said Keerti Melkote, Aruba's founder and head of products and partnerships. "The same equipment, the same security protection, and the same network management infrastructure simultaneously serve the CEO and the remote oil rig workers. I cannot think of a better example to highlight the flexibility and extensibility of Aruba's platform than what Hess has accomplished with their global network."