The technology behind the headquarters for the future

CIO Archie Deskus on the HPE technology powering our new headquarters and driving innovation

Create a superior employee and visitor experience

First, we had to think big about the employee and visitor experience we wanted to create. There is no room for small ideas when redefining what it means to be a tech company in this day and age. We knew from the beginning that we wanted a visit to the HPE headquarters to be an unforgettable experience. Our goal was to create a smart building that inspired our teams to collaborate, innovate and engage in new ways. We wanted to create a connected ecosystem on our campus that reflected the needs of every HPE innovator, from the engineers and technicians, to the marketers and sales team, and give them a similar experience to what they have at home. So we engaged our employees in the discovery process and gathered their input along the way. We knew our employees would have the best ideas on how to enhance the workplace experience, and they did.

To achieve this, we had to combine the best workspace design with the right cutting-edge technologies. Our network had to move beyond the traditional role of connectivity and flow management, and become a foundation to provide services and application level capabilities and integrate with multiple systems to provide a multi-layer, seamless and secure experience. We also wanted to stretch the limits of our own technology and be the example case for our customers. So in partnership with Aruba technologies, their Aruba Champagne Solution, gave us a platform that integrated multi-vendor IT capabilities into one place to provide a streamline visitor experience, seamless collaboration tools, location based apps and rich analytics.

The solution allowed us to streamline the less efficient processes and create a more employee-centric and intuitive experience that allows our employees to focus on higher value work. Our employees use the My Workplace app to book conference rooms, locate people and amenities and navigate turn-by-turn on campus. Our improved conference room experience features sensor technology that detects when the rooms are occupied and allows wireless projection from mobile devices for ultimate convenience which means no more wasted time setting up conferences or fixing failed connections.

We also created a more modern check-in experience for our guests by automating the entire process and making it mobile enabled. All of this is powered by HPE Intelligent Spaces solution, which brings together HPE Intelligent Edgeline EL300 devices and other partner technologies into a single solution. Overall there are a total of 288 access points, routers, switches and other devices across the site from HPE Aruba Nextgen Wireless Access Point with 11A/C Wave 2 technology that provides 1.7 MBPS on 5 GHz and and 600 MBPS connectivity, Network Devices Authenticated with Clearpass for Role Based Authentication and Guest Internet Access Options, HPE Aruba Meridian Location Services combined with Beacon Sensors and Cloud Proxy Technology, to name a few.

Garner insights to optimize spend and utilization

Next, it is important our building is functionally efficient and sustainable. With the HPE Intelligent Spaces solution, we can measure the utilization of the building facility – including foot traffic patterns and dwell times – and this allows our Global Real Estate team to optimize space utilization and reduce energy costs. The HPE EL300 Edgeline devices move our building data to the edge and then allow for edge-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud device communication. By collecting these data-driven insights, we are able to understand our employees and visitors’ behaviors inside the facility, so we can get the most out of every inch of floor space and improve our overall operational effectiveness.

Partnership and collaboration

I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize the work our Global IT team has put into developing the strategy and driving the execution for our new headquarters site to ensure we had a state-of-the-art user experience powered by HPE technology. It was quite an undertaking that wouldn’t have been possible without the partnership and collaboration of HPE Pointnext who helped design the solution, Aruba whose technology helped inspire and secure one of the most advanced, employee-centric campuses in the Bay, and our Global Real Estate team and other vendor partners who were instrumental in bringing this vision to life. It’s important on any project to bring together the right cross-functional business and IT teams from the beginning to think big and think tech.

We know that technology, especially our tech, has the power to advance the way we work and live. And that's exactly what we wanted our own tech to do for us - empower employees to live their best lives, which in turn, will drive better business outcomes for our customers and partners. I’m incredibly proud of our new headquarters. It is a tremendous showcase of what HPE technologies can do to transform and enhance the employee and visitor experiences at any location. Have a look at our new headquarters here.