At HPE Discover 2026, President and CEO Antonio Neri outlined a bold vision for the future: the rise of the agentic enterprise. While conversational AI has captured much of the spotlight over the past two years, HPE’s focus is now on the next evolution—intelligent AI systems that don’t simply answer questions, but continuously take action, automate workflows, and make real-time operational decisions. 

The announcements made at Discover signal a significant shift in how organizations will build, secure, and manage AI-powered infrastructure. From AI-native networking and sovereign cloud solutions to deeper integration with NVIDIA and unified IT operations, HPE is laying the groundwork for enterprises to adopt agentic AI at scale. 

For NWN customers and employees, these innovations represent more than just new technology—they create practical opportunities to simplify operations, strengthen security, and accelerate AI adoption. 

The Infrastructure Behind Agentic AI 

As organizations move beyond experimentation into production-scale AI deployments, infrastructure requirements are rapidly changing. To support this shift, HPE expanded its AI Factory portfolio with NVIDIA, introducing support for up to 256 GPUs and unveiling the new HPE ProLiant DL394 Gen12, purpose-built for demanding agentic AI workloads. 

These platforms are designed to help enterprises run increasingly sophisticated AI models that can automate tasks, orchestrate workflows, and continuously optimize business processes. Rather than treating AI as a standalone tool, HPE is enabling organizations to embed AI directly into operations. 

For NWN customers, this means a clearer pathway to operationalizing AI while maintaining enterprise-grade performance, governance, and scalability. 

The Power of AI-Native Networking 

One of the most impactful announcements centered on the integration of Aruba and Juniper networking technologies. 

As AI workloads place unprecedented demands on networks, HPE introduced a unified vision for AI-native networking, combining intelligent operations, automated data center management, unified SASE orchestration, and quantum-safe security capabilities. 

This is particularly exciting for NWN’s Intelligent Connectivity practice, where HPE Mist has already transformed how organizations manage networks. 

The next phase takes automation even further. 

Imagine networks that can: 

• Detect and remediate issues automatically 

• Reconfigure themselves around heavy AI workloads 

• Optimize performance without manual intervention 

• Reduce help desk tickets through predictive operations 

• Provide deeper visibility into user and application experiences 

For many enterprises, this moves networking closer to a truly self-driving model—freeing IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine troubleshooting. 

Simplifying Security in a Hybrid World 

As AI expands across cloud, edge, and on-premises environments, security becomes increasingly complex. 

HPE addressed this challenge with new unified SASE capabilities and quantum-safe firewall technologies designed to help organizations secure distributed environments without sacrificing agility. 

For NWN customers, these advancements make it easier to protect data as AI applications become embedded across the enterprise. 

Organizations can now more confidently: 

• Connect cloud and on-premises environments 

• Secure AI workloads and sensitive data 

• Reduce security management complexity 

• Prepare for future cryptographic challenges 

• Establish stronger governance controls around AI models 

As businesses evaluate agentic AI use cases, having security built directly into the infrastructure stack will become increasingly critical. 

Sovereign AI Creates New Opportunities for Public Sector 

Among the most significant announcements for NWN’s public sector, government, and education customers was the introduction of pre-built sovereign AI cloud solutions delivered through HPE GreenLake. 

Many government and regulated organizations face strict requirements surrounding data residency, privacy, and compliance. These requirements often limit their ability to adopt public AI services. 

HPE’s sovereign AI approach offers a compelling alternative: enabling organizations to train, deploy, and govern large language models while maintaining control over where data resides and how it is managed. 

For NWN’s extensive SLED customer base, this provides a practical path toward AI innovation without compromising compliance obligations. 

Unified Operations for the AI Era 

Another major theme at Discover was simplification. 

By combining GreenLake and Morpheus software capabilities, HPE introduced a more unified platform for managing infrastructure, cloud services, and AI environments. 

For enterprises, the benefits are clear: 

• Centralized governance 

• Simplified AI deployment 

• Better operational visibility 

• Improved cloud management 

• Consistent policy enforcement 

For NWN’s managed services teams, this translates into more streamlined operations and faster delivery of value to customers. 

NWN engineers and architects will also benefit from richer telemetry generated through the combined Aruba and Juniper ecosystem. As data quality and visibility improve, the Experience Management Platform (EMP) gains access to deeper insights that can help accelerate issue resolution and improve customer outcomes. 

Looking Ahead 

The strongest message from HPE Discover 2026 was clear: AI is moving beyond experimentation and becoming operational. 

The future belongs to agentic systems capable of taking action, making decisions, and continuously optimizing business outcomes. Supporting that future requires intelligent infrastructure, autonomous networking, secure operations, and scalable governance. 

For NWN, these announcements strengthen the foundation of our Intelligent Connectivity, Cloud, Security, and Managed Services portfolios while creating new opportunities to help customers adopt AI responsibly and effectively. 

As organizations prepare for the agentic era, the combination of HPE innovation and NWN expertise will help customers navigate the journey with confidence—transforming AI from a technology initiative into a true business advantage.