Aerohive Networks†(NYSE: HIVE), a cloud-management innovator and leader, has announced that it will soon be adding an Amazon Alexa skill, called†Aerohive HiveManager Shortcuts, to its HiveManager network management. Aerohive uses cloud management, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to radically simplify and secure 30,000+ access networks around the globe. Adding this new Amazon Alexa skill to its HiveManager application has been a top request of lean IT departments eager to further simplify network management and boost efficiencies.
“Nobody believes that IT departments, even lean IT departments, will shift in the short term to 100 percent voice interaction to control their infrastructure,” says Alan Cuellar Amrod, senior vice president and general manager of Products for Aerohive Networks. “However, providing busy IT personnel, who are on the go or away from their workstation, the ability to easily query client and network analytics, as well as accomplish routine tasks, such as onboarding network devices with just your voice, has been a top ask for quite some time.”
To utilize the AI-driven Aerohive HiveManager Shortcuts skill, IT personnel will simply need an Amazon Alexa-enabled device or Alexa app on their phone. IT personnel can then pair and authenticate into their Aerohive HiveManager to execute a growing number of voice commands. It is important to note that AI is at its best when backed up by human intelligence. The Aerohive HiveManager Shortcuts skill was developed by a team of dedicated Power Users and Developers who can tune an existing skill or push out a new skill to production across Aerohive’s global cloud footprint in 30 minutes or less, or at cloud-speed, as we like to say at Aerohive.
The initial release of the Aerohive HiveManager Shortcuts skill supports 100+ “specific requests,” such as “have any Clients failed to authenticate to the network in the last hour and if so provide a list to me,” along with 15 “multi-step” conversations, such as:
- Drilling down to a specific client’s experience during a specific session or over a period of time
- Reporting the operational effectiveness of a network infrastructure device at a specific time or over a period of time
- Onboarding an infrastructure device using a serial number and applying a pre-configured network and security policy to the device
Below are some initial examples of what the Aerohive HiveManager Shortcuts skill can provide to assist busy IT personnel when on the go or away from their workstation.
Specific Request examples†(100+ available at initial release with 50+ added weekly thereafter)
1. Were there any configuration changes to the network since I last logged in?
2. Were there any new infrastructure devices added to the network since I last logged in?
3. Have any infrastructure devices been taken offline since I last logged in and if so when?
4. Have any infrastructure devices rebooted since I last logged in and if so when?
5. Have any clients failed to authenticate to the network in the last hour and if so provide a list to me?
6. Are there any clients with poor health on the network at this time and if so provide a list to me?
7. How is my network doing compared to others of similar size and configuration with respect to bandwidth usage?
8. How is my network doing compared to others of similar size and configuration with respect to client health?
9. What are the hostnames of the top five busiest clients and their usage summary?
10. What are the top five applications being used on the network and the bandwidth each of them has consumed in the last hour?
Multi-step examples†(15+ available at initial release with 5+ added weekly thereafter)
Checking on the experience of a specific client:
- IT Admin:†Alexa does Erik Miller have a device connected to the network?
Alexa:†Erik Miller has a Windows 10 device connected to the network on SSID ABCCorp
- IT Admin:†Alexa how much bandwidth has that device consumed in the last hour?
Alexa:†Erik’s Windows 10 device consumed 272 megabytes of bandwidth in the last hour
- IT Admin:†Alexa what AP or APs was Erik’s device connected to in the last hour?
Alexa:†Erik’s Window 10 Device was connected to AP119, AP120, and AP132 and all roaming and authentication events were successful
- IT Admin:†Alexa what was the average RSSI Erik experienced in the last hour?
Alexa:†Erik’s Windows 10 device had an average RSSI of -68 over the last hour
- IT Admin:†Alexa would you say Erik’s network experience in the last hour is as good or better than others on the network
Alexa:†All network metrics for Erik’s Windows 10 device show good-to-excellent health over the last hour
Helping a remote non-IT employee onboard a device for extra capacity after stepping away from a lunch meeting:
- IT Admin:†Alexa do you see serial number 123456789 that was just plugged in?
Alexa:†Yes, it connected to HiveManager 4 minutes ago and is an AP30 using a default hostname
- IT Admin:†Alexa please assign it to the Atlanta Office Floor 2
Alexa:†AP30 serial number 123456789 has been assigned to the Atlanta Office Floor 2
- IT Admin:†Alexa what network policy are the neighboring APs using?
Alexa:†They are using CorpGlobal3 network policy
- IT Admin:†Alexa please assign CorpGlobal3 network policy and configure the AP
Alexa:†I am to assign CorpGlobal3 network policy to AP30 serial number 123456789 assigned to Atlanta Office Floor 2 and push the configuration – please confirm?
- IT Admin:†Confirmed Alexa
Alexa:†Executing now and an email will be sent to you when the push configuration is complete and AP30 serial number 123456789 is operational with the network policy
The HiveManager Shortcuts skill will be released by the end of November and will be available at no additional cost to current HiveManager customers.
