Dell EMC: Expect big changes as software eats networking

Software is eating networking, and it’s about time. Software-defined networking, network virtualization, software-hardware disaggregation, and intent-based networking are creating a nimbler network for multicloud. They’re changing the experience of networking end users and making new operating models possible. Traditional networking methods — like Multiprotocol Label Switching and traffic backhauling are fading away, according to Tom Gillis (pictured, left), senior vice president and general manager of networking and security at VMware Inc. Standards of measuring network performance are shifting too. “Networking has changed,” Gillis said. “It’s no longer about speeds and feeds. It’s about availability and simplicity.” That essentially means raising networking to the software layer with automation, networking as code, SDN, etc.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Related News

Backup and Disaster Recovery

In an Era of Escalating Cyber Threats, Commvault and Lenovo Simplify Enterprise Data Protection and Speed Recovery in the Hybrid Cloud

PR Newswire | October 17, 2023

Commvault®, an enterprise data protection leader for global businesses, announced new highly reliable backup and recovery solutions for enterprise organizations, powered by Lenovo technology. Paired with Lenovo's award-winning hardware systems, Commvault is delivering simplicity to IT teams with data protection and management from a single view, while giving CIOs flexibility, reliability, and blazing performance at immense scale with better TCO and faster time to value. "Innovation through collaboration has always been at the heart of Commvault. Partnering with Lenovo propels us further into a future where enterprises can safely say their data is secured, protected, and recoverable," said Alan Atkinson, Chief Partner Officer, Commvault. "This partnership stands as a testament to both companies' commitment to supporting global enterprises in navigating the multifaceted challenges posed by today's data-driven business landscape." "As we continue to operate in such a fast-paced and data-driven business environment, ensuring the safety, accessibility, and recoverability of critical business data has never been more important. It is for this exact reason that Commvault and Lenovo have come together to deliver highly reliable backup and recovery solutions for enterprise organizations," said Brian Connors, Vice President and General Manager, Software & Business Development, Lenovo. Commvault software is recognized for its unmatched depth in cloud-native integrations, supporting an array of applications, databases, and infrastructures. For the 12th consecutive year, Gartner positioned Commvault as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software Solutions. Commvault also ranked highest in six out of seven use cases in the 2023 Gartner® Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software Solutions. About Commvault Commvault is a global leader in cloud data protection. Our industry-leading platform redefines the next generation of data protection as the only solution with comprehensive data protection, proactive data defense, advanced ransomware protection, and a single view across all your data. This lets you secure, defend, and recover your data, applications, and production workloads – on-premises, in the cloud, over SaaS, or spread across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The result is early warning of attacks, active defense to reduce the impact of intrusion, and rapid, accurate recovery of your data. Simply put, Commvault is data, protected.

Read More

Virtual Server Management

EMA and Auvik Research Reveals Hybrid and Remote Work Has Increased Workloads, Posed Challenges to Remote Network Experiences

Business Wire | September 28, 2023

New research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) and Auvik, an award-winning provider of cloud-based network management software, revealed that the ongoing shift to hybrid and remote work environments has resulted in key changes to the roles and priorities of network administrators in order to address new connectivity challenges and prioritize and preserve a secure, productive end-user experience. The report examined the remote and hybrid work paradigm through the lens of network operations teams – 73% of which reported an increase in workloads, either slightly or significantly, following the shift from traditional to hybrid work environments. Results from the report demonstrated that the top challenges associated with the remote work experience are poor home Wi-Fi setups, distance from applications, and poor ISP quality. To combat these obstacles, 72% of surveyed organizations have deployed network hardware to the homes of remote workers, including network security devices (62.7%) and Wi-Fi access points (54.1%). Additionally, 90% of organizations with hybrid workers shared that they had to upgrade Wi-Fi networks to address increased office mobility requirements. “These results reinforce that although people are beginning to return to the office, hybrid work is here to stay and is resulting in significant changes for network administrators,” said Alex Hoff, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Auvik. “Although IT teams no longer own all the assets utilized daily by employees, they are still responsible for these operations. And despite not being able to directly exert control over employees’ home networks, they can have visibility over these environments with network monitoring tools. Implementing network visibility software helps IT professionals overcome these new obstacles by providing the ability to maintain visibility and control amid changing work circumstances. The data provided in this report reinforces Auvik’s place in the market and demonstrates that our recent acquisitions, integrations, and expanded product offerings that were designed to help IT teams adapt to these new norms are well-suited for the challenges that are being identified within the industry.” Additional findings from the report include Nearly 49% of network operations teams started working with a new tool vendor to help them manage the network experience of remote workers. 76% of organizations need to unify how they manage network access policies across on-premises networks and remote users. Remote desktop access tools (deployed by 81% of companies) remain the go-to solution for troubleshooting remote users’ problems, but endpoint monitoring tools are increasingly popular (79%). Although 87% have allocated funds in their budget to update network operation tools for remote and hybrid user support, only 32% of organizations shared that they have been successful in doing so. The top issues employees most often report when they are working from home are VPN access issues, followed by performance issues with SaaS applications. “96% of IT organizations said they are supporting hybrid workers, and 30% of all employees who work remotely are hybrid workers,” said Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, EMA. “With employees working both at home and in the office, it is important to have the assets and software necessary to support them in both locations. This means enterprises must invest in more secure remote access solutions that offer integrated network security automation, centralized management, and network optimization or network enhancement, as well as network observability tools that are able to monitor performance across disparate locations.” Methodology Auvik commissioned an independent research firm to survey 354 IT professionals directly involved in supporting the networking requirements of employees who work from home. About Auvik Auvik’s mission is to simplify how IT teams work and live by providing cloud-based IT monitoring and management with simplicity and speed. It lets IT professionals visualize IT infrastructure, SaaS applications, and shadow IT in minutes. As a result teams can identify and resolve issues in seconds, saving valuable time. Auvik is one of the fastest-growing North American technology companies, and is winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Deloitte Fast 500. Visit www.auvik.com for more details. Auvik is a registered trademark of Auvik Networks Inc. About EMA Founded in 1996, EMA is a leading industry analyst firm that specializes in providing deep insight across the full spectrum of IT and data management technologies. EMA analysts leverage a unique combination of practical experience, insight into industry best practices, and in-depth knowledge of current and planned vendor solutions to help their clients achieve their goals.

Read More

Virtual Desktop Tools, Virtual Desktop Strategies, Server Virtualization

Netskope Delivers the Next Evolution in Digital Experience Management for SASE with Proactive DEM

PR Newswire | September 01, 2023

Netskope, a leader in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), today announced the launch of Proactive Digital Experience Management (DEM) for SASE, elevating best practice from the current reactive monitoring tools to proactive user experience management. Proactive DEM provides experience management capabilities across the entire SASE architecture, including Netskope Intelligent SSE, Netskope Borderless SD-WAN and Netskope NewEdge global infrastructure. Digital Experience Management technology has become increasingly crucial amid digital business transformation, with organizations seeking to enhance customer experiences and improve employee engagement. With hybrid work and cloud infrastructure now the norm globally, organizations have struggled to ensure consistent and optimized experiences alongside stringent security requirements. Gartner predicts that "by 2026, at least 60% of I&O leaders will use DEM to measure application, services and endpoint performance from the user's viewpoint, up from less than 20% in 2021." However, monitoring applications, services, and networks is only part of a modern DEM experience, and so Netskope Proactive DEM goes beyond observation, providing Machine Learning (ML)-driven functionality to anticipate, and automatically remediate, problems. Sanjay Beri, CEO and co-founder of Netskope commented, "Ensuring a constantly optimized experience is essential for organizations looking to support the best productivity returns for hybrid workers and modern cloud infrastructure, but monitoring alone is not enough. Customers have told us of the challenges they face managing a multi-vendor cloud ecosystem and so we have yet again innovated beyond industry standards, providing experience management that can both monitor and proactively remediate." For issue identification, Netskope Proactive DEM uniquely combines Synthetic Monitoring with Real User monitoring, creating SMART monitoring (Synthetic Monitoring Augmentation for Real Traffic). This enables full end-to-end 'hop-by-hop' visibility of data, and the proactive identification of experience-impacting events. SMART monitoring enables organizations to anticipate potential events that might impact upon network and application experience. While most SASE vendors rely on "gray cloud" infrastructure - built on public cloud - which limits their ability to granularly identify and control any issues, Proactive DEM leverages Netskope NewEdge - the industry's largest private cloud infrastructure - to deliver 360 visibility and control of end-to-end user experience while providing mitigation of issues, including using various self-healing mechanisms, before the user recognizes their experience has degraded. About Netskope Netskope, a global SASE leader, helps organizations apply zero trust principles and AI/ML innovations to protect data and defend against cyber threats. Fast and easy to use, the Netskope platform provides optimized access and real-time security for people, devices, and data anywhere they go. Netskope helps customers reduce risk, accelerate performance, and get unrivaled visibility into any cloud, web, and private application activity. Thousands of customers trust Netskope and its powerful NewEdge network to address evolving threats, new risks, technology shifts, organizational and network changes, and new regulatory requirements.

Read More