How does a major networking vendor integrate security into every product from day one while managing the merger of two industry giants?
In this conversation we had with Madani Adjali, VP of Product Management for SASE and Security at HPE Networking at the RSAC 2026 Conference, we talk about HPE’s approach to building security-first network infrastructure. The discussion goes gets into the actual technical strategies, architectural decisions, and organizational philosophies that enable HPE to deliver on its integrated security vision.
Adjali addresses the elephant in the room that every customer asks: what happens to my product after an acquisition? As it turns out, HPE has a solid strategy that extends from executive commitment to specific technical implementations involving APIs, containerization, and microservices.
What you’ll discover in this interview
During our conversation with Adjali we talk about how cloud deployments fundamentally change the vendor-customer feedback loop, including a capability that most customers don’t realize exists and how that’s changing product development cycles. We also get into how HPE maintains feature parity between cloud and on-premises deployments despite the additional development burden, and what’s driving that decision beyond simple customer demand.
HPE’s dual-platform hardware strategy also gets detailed treatment. Perhaps more interestingly, Adjali explains why the security portfolio requires a different approach than campus networking equipment. The reason for this hints at important distinctions in how enterprise customers actually deploy and use different types of infrastructure that affect product design from the ground up.
Key topics
- Why APIs enable customers to build their own consoles in the AI era
- The specific technical approaches that enable rapid post-acquisition integration
- How cross-pollination works between Aruba Central and Juniper Mist platforms
- What “leave no customer behind” means in practical product management terms
- The build-once-use-many principle and its impact on development resources
- Why security must be integral to initial feature design rather than added later
- How telemetry provides workflow insights that traditional feedback cannot
- The real reasons behind maintaining on-premises deployment options