Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced an expansion of its retail-ready networking and compute portfolio at NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show, aimed at helping retailers improve business continuity, security, insight and performance across increasingly distributed operations.
The expanded portfolio is designed to support retailers across the entire value chain—from the back office and warehouse to the shop floor and curbside—enabling them to manage transactions, data and customer experiences with greater confidence. HPE said the new capabilities respond to the growing need for always-on operations as retailers modernise stores, adopt AI-driven services and scale omnichannel models.
At NRF 2026, HPE is showcasing how its self-driving networks, powered by HPE Aruba Networking CX switching and Mist AIOps at the branch edge, integrate with the latest HPE Nonstop solutions at the core. Together, these technologies demonstrate how resilient, secure connectivity underpins retail modernisation, while AI-native insight and assurance help retailers maintain performance during peak demand and across complex store environments.
Designed for always-on retail environments
Built for environments that demand absolute continuity, the HPE Nonstop Compute NS9 X5 and NS5 X5 platforms help retailers keep transactions running and data available even during hardware failures or network disruptions. These systems are aimed at supporting mission-critical workloads such as payment processing and inventory management during high-traffic periods.
At the store edge, HPE has introduced new eight-port models in the HPE Aruba Networking CX 6000 Switch Series. Featuring a compact, completely silent design, the switches are suited for deployment at checkout lanes and in overhead crawl spaces, offering greater flexibility without compromising performance or reliability.
“In modern retail, a single lost transaction is a lost customer or a damaged reputation,” said Sujai Hajela, EVP and GM, Campus & Branch at HPE. “By combining resilient edge connectivity, self-driving AI-native operations and fault-tolerant compute, we are giving retailers the insight, automation and assurance they need to meet both current and future shopper demands.”
Connecting edge, assurance and intelligence
To strengthen visibility and decision-making, HPE is expanding access to retail insights delivered through the Mist AIOps platform. By integrating the Marvis virtual network assistant with HPE Juniper Networking Premium Analytics, retailers can bring together location intelligence, network performance data, and engagement and occupancy analytics within a natural language interface. This enables IT, operations and marketing teams to move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive, insight-led action.
At the edge, the new HPE Aruba Networking CX 6000 Switch Series models offer increased Power over Ethernet (PoE) capacity to support modern retail devices such as wireless access points, cameras and sensors. Advanced telemetry, IoT probing and total system monitoring support self-driving operations, helping reduce dropped connections and providing more accurate energy usage insights.
For user assurance, HPE Aruba Networking User Experience Insight—part of HPE Aruba Networking Central—acts as an early warning system for organisations modernising their networks. With support for Wi-Fi 7, the solution identifies issues introduced by upgrades or configuration changes before they impact users, helping retailers protect revenue and customer experience.
New Nonstop Compute advancements
HPE Nonstop Compute continues to play a central role in powering next-generation retail. To support the increasing demands of digital and AI transformation, HPE has introduced enhancements that deliver up to 15% higher performance compared with previous generations, alongside linear scalability to as many as 4,000 nodes through multi-generational clustering.
Enhanced data protection features, including Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), provide stronger security for sensitive customer information and help retailers meet evolving data privacy and compliance requirements.
Both HPE Nonstop Compute and HPE Aruba Networking CX Switching are available as a service through the HPE GreenLake cloud platform, enabling retailers to align IT investments with business outcomes through a flexible, subscription-based consumption model.
Future-ready retail foundation
By deploying a unified data fabric across the edge and core, HPE aims to give retailers a robust foundation for customer engagement and operational efficiency. While HPE Aruba Networking CX enables easy expansion to new stores and devices, AI-native capabilities simplify operations and provide deeper insight into shopping behaviour. At the core, an enhanced HPE Nonstop environment delivers the memory and bandwidth required for real-time analytics and high-volume omnichannel services—without compromising availability as retailers prepare for the next phase of digital and AI-driven transformation.