People counting with Aruba Central
Your Aruba Central cloud already manages the access points. Bumbee Labs makes them count footfall too, adding footfall is a configuration step, not an installation project.
No new hardware. Your Aruba Central network doubles as a footfall sensor grid.
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Why Aruba Central + Bumbee Labs
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No new hardware
Runs on the Aruba Central cloud-managed access points you already have.
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Privacy-first
Anonymisation and aggregation are built in. GDPR-approved measurement, nobody identified.
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One platform
Visitor counts, dwell times and movement reach you through dashboards and the API.
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Sustainable by design
Because it's a cloud data connection, no new access points are made, shipped or thrown away.
Getting started on Aruba Central
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Connect to your Central-managed network
Because Aruba Central manages your access points from the cloud, Bumbee Labs reads from your Central-managed network, a data exercise, not an installation project.
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Filter & anonymise
The signals are filtered for noise, then anonymised and aggregated. Personal data is irrevocably deleted, leaving only statistics.
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Process & calibrate
What remains becomes visitor counts, dwell times, zone correlations and movement flows, calibrated to your venue.
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Deliver
Clean, anonymous metrics arrive in real time through your dashboards and the API, ready for your BI tools.
What you measure with Aruba Central
Wi-Fi is Bumbee Labs' whole-space method, strongest at covering entire venues and the journeys across them. Typical metrics from an Aruba Central network:
- Visitor count (total) and unique visitors
- Dwell time, per zone and overall
- Visitor paths & flows between zones and between sites
- Zone data & correlation
- Passers-by and capture rate (passing → entering)
- Peaks & lows and long-run trends
For exact line-crossing in/out and live occupancy at a specific door, pair Aruba Central with cameras or 3D sensors. See the full method-by-method grid.
Footfall analytics and occupancy monitoring on Aruba Central
Because Aruba Central (now part of HPE Aruba Networking Central) manages your access points from the cloud, adding footfall measurement is a data exercise rather than an installation project. Bumbee Labs reads from your Central-managed network, anonymises and aggregates the signals, and serves visitor counts, dwell times and movement patterns in real time via dashboards and APIs.
What you need to start: an Aruba Central environment and permission to connect Bumbee Labs to it. No new hardware, no site visit, no change to how your network runs.
Visitor counting and real-time occupancy monitoring both run on the same infrastructure, so the cloud you already manage adds a commercial view: where people go, where they dwell, where they don’t.
Running on-prem instead? See people counting with ArubaOS & ALE, or read how Wi-Fi people counting works in practice.
Aruba Central vs other counting methods
Every method has a sweet spot. Wi-Fi covers whole spaces and the journeys across them; pair it with cameras or cellular where you need point precision or wide-area catchment.
| Capability | Aruba Central (Wi-Fi) | Camera & 3D | Cellular |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-space coverage | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Exact in/out at a door | Partial | Yes | No |
| Real-time occupancy | Partial | Yes | No |
| Paths & flows between zones | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Dwell time | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Catchment / origin | No | No | Yes |
| Uses your existing hardware | Yes | No | Yes |
| Privacy-first by design | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Full
- Partial
- Not available
Curious what this looks like for your venue?
Compliant where it counts
Aruba Central pairs with the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority, a method validated by academia, partners and customers.
We are very excited by this collaboration with Bumbee Labs as their data expertise will complement our IoT know-how providing an unparalleled service to our clients across several verticals, industries and markets in the Middle East.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to install new hardware?
No. Bumbee Labs runs on the Aruba Central cloud-managed access points you already have, so there is nothing to mount or cable.
How does Bumbee Labs connect to Aruba Central?
Because Aruba Central manages your access points from the cloud, Bumbee Labs reads from your Central-managed network. Adding footfall measurement is a data exercise, not an installation project.
What's the difference from ArubaOS / ALE?
Aruba Central is the cloud-managed route. ArubaOS / ALE is the on-prem route, reading location data from the Aruba Location Engine. Both feed the same Bumbee Labs platform; the right route depends on how your Aruba network is managed.
Does this use Aruba Central's Presence Analytics?
Bumbee Labs works from the data your Aruba Central-managed network already produces and adds its own GDPR-approved footfall analytics layer on top, so you don't need Aruba Central's Presence Analytics to get visitor counts, dwell and flows. If you already use Presence Analytics, book a demo and we'll confirm the right route for your setup.
Does it identify individual visitors?
No. Signals are anonymised and aggregated, and personal data is irrevocably deleted, so only anonymous statistics remain. No individual can be identified.
Is it GDPR-compliant?
Yes. Personal data is deleted at source, leaving only aggregated statistics, and the underlying method was reviewed and approved by a European data protection authority.