Aruba Central goes next-gen and sets the stage for a new HPE–Juniper era

The new Aruba Central is now live, and it marks a clear shift in how HPE is positioning its cloud platforms for the years ahead. At Nomios we’ve been following this closely. As an HPE partner and Juniper Elite Plus partner, we’re in a unique spot. HPE’s acquisition of Juniper changes the landscape, and Aruba’s next-generation platform is an early sign of how the two worlds will start to align.

A fresh take on Aruba Central

The re-engineered Aruba Central moves away from the classic management console most engineers know. It’s been rebuilt as an AI-native platform, designed to support wired, wireless, and WAN environments across campus, branch, data centre, and remote locations. The focus is clear: proactive operations and simpler workflows.

The new interface is now the default for all customers. The navigation is cleaner, issue resolution paths are more direct, and visibility across sites and devices is less fragmented. Central also adopts a “configure once, deploy everywhere” model, bringing unified and hierarchical configuration workflows for AOS 10, AOS-CX, and AOS-S. That removes quite a bit of friction in complex rollouts.

Networking Copilot is another key part of the story. It introduces agentic AI into day-to-day operations. Instead of just surfacing alerts, it guides admins through decisions, suggests next steps, and automates the repetitive parts. This is only available on the advanced subscription tier, but even in preview it already changes how teams approach troubleshooting.

How this relates to Juniper Mist

At a recent Juniper event, Tom Wilburn made a comparison that sums up the market rather well. Think of Aruba Central and Juniper Mist like iOS and Android. Two ecosystems with their own DNA, their own app models, and their own design philosophies. Both are mature and proven. Both aim to simplify operations and introduce more intelligence into the network. And both attract strong communities who build on top of these platforms.

Until now, choosing between Mist and Central meant choosing between two very different development paths. That’s what makes the HPE–Juniper acquisition so interesting. The product teams have already been merged. As these teams settle in, we expect the platforms to start borrowing features, ideas, and architectural approaches from each other. Not a merger of products, but cross-pollination where it matters.

For customers, that means more consistency in capabilities, a faster rate of innovation, and better alignment between wireless, campus switching, WAN, and security across both stacks. For engineering teams, it means planning cycles will get easier as features become less tied to one ecosystem.

What we’re watching at Nomios

We’re looking closely at three areas.

1. AI operations across both platforms

Mist has set the pace on AI ops for some time. Aruba is now taking a more agent-driven approach with Networking Copilot. As the teams integrate, we expect these AI engines to influence each other.

2. Unified configuration workflows

Aruba’s new hierarchical approach is a big improvement. If this thinking carries over into the Juniper world, or if Mist’s templating inspires further changes on the Aruba side, customers will benefit either way.

3. Feature alignment for campus and branch

With AOS 10, AOS-CX, Mist Wi-Fi, EX, and SRX teams now under one roof, overlapping functionality should start to converge. That’s good news for organisations running mixed estates or planning long-term refresh cycles.

What’s available today

The GA version of Aruba Central supports CMRT for AOS 10, AOS-CX, and AOS-S, and MRT for InstantOS 8. New features will continue to roll out monthly. Customers on the Foundation tier can trial the agentic AI capabilities through an evaluation licence.

If you want a walkthrough of the new platform or want to compare Aruba Central and Mist in more detail for upcoming projects, we’re happy to take you through it. To better understand the improvements and prepare for Central’s new capabilities, you can also check out Online Help and explore the latest product updates.