Virtual Server Management
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.
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VPN
globenewswire | September 21, 2023
Automox, the leader in AI-powered IT automation, is proud to announce two new capabilities, FixNow and PowerShell Signing. Combined, these new features further extend Automox’s industry-leading automation, speed, and security to enable organizations to act immediately to enforce and audit configuration, remediate vulnerabilities, install or remove software, query devices, and more.
According to a 2019 IT Outage Impact Study, human error was the #1 cause of IT outages in the United States and Canada, and the #3 cause globally. Using FixNow for immediate testing and validation enables IT professionals to confidently automate configuration changes at scale and to minimize the potential for human error.
FixNow runs Automox WorkletsTM immediately at scale across IT environments without a VPN or servers. With a catalog of over 300 automations that span Windows, macOS, and Linux systems, FixNow runs securely in real-time on the devices you choose.
Early-access Automox customers are already confirming the value of FixNow. Matthew Rehm, Director of Information Systems at Methodist Theological School in Ohio said, “[FixNow] made updating some machines so much easier than having to schedule.” And David Thomson, IT Manager, St Andrew's First Aid in the UK said, “I use FixNow when evaluating new Worklets. The capability to execute instantly allows me to see instant results without cluttering up my existing policies.”
“The value of immediate and secure action at scale cannot be overstated. We know time is of the essence, and FixNow lets our users remediate fast,” said Tim Lucas, CEO of Automox. “FixNow is the fastest and most secure way to audit and fix hundreds or even thousands of devices immediately.”
According to a 2020 study by Cisco, PowerShell accounted for more than 33% of critical threats detected on endpoints. Automox PowerShell Signing will ensure script integrity and adherence to security best practices by enabling remote or all script signing to further reduce potential attack surfaces. Whether you automate or immediately execute PowerShell with FixNow, tasks like configuration, software deployment, and patching will be signed.
To ensure the integrity of scripts from Automox and enable IT teams to adhere to security best practices, all PowerShell commands and automations will be self-signed by Automox. Once enabled, organizations can enhance their security posture by disallowing unsigned and potentially malicious PowerShell from running in their environment.
“All Automox customers will be able to opt-in to sign every PowerShell command sent through Automox, so they can be confident that critical endpoint management tasks like configuration updates were unchanged in transit to managed devices,” said Jason Kikta, Automox CISO. “This is a major advance in security for IT teams. Dual-use and fileless PowerShell scripts comprise nearly half of the critical security threats on endpoints.”
FixNow is available to Automox customers today as a free preview, Secure Signing will be made available to all Automox customers shortly.
About Automox
Automox is the IT automation platform for modern organizations. It makes it easy to keep Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints patched, configured, controlled, and secured – without servers or VPNs. Using AI-powered automation, IT professionals can fix critical vulnerabilities faster, slash cost and complexity, and win back hours in their days. Join thousands of companies transforming IT operations into a strategic business driver with Automox.
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Server Virtualization, VMware
Business Wire | October 18, 2023
StorMagic®, solving the world’s edge data problems, today announced the immediate availability of a new Software as a Service (SaaS) tool that allows users to easily monitor and manage all of their SvSAN clusters around the world. StorMagic Edge Control simplifies the process and tools required for day-to-day SvSAN cluster administration. SvSAN customers with multiple locations can significantly reduce the time spent managing their edge sites, whether they are using VMware, Microsoft or KVM hypervisors.
“ESG research shows increasing demand for data storage at the edge which fuels an increased need for monitoring solutions that can help address the complexity of storage at the edge,” said Scott Sinclair, practice director at Enterprise Strategy Group. “SvSAN customers can greatly benefit by adding StorMagic Edge Control into their toolkits; the dashboard views and list formats will make centralized data management much easier and more accessible.”
Edge Control delivers centralized administration for SvSAN environments of all sizes. Customers can now manage all SvSAN deployments in any location from a single pane of glass. Dashboard and system views provide a fast but comprehensive status of all of their virtual storage appliances (VSAs), allowing them to keep their environment up-to-date more easily and react faster as needed.
“StorMagic customers of any size can now manage their entire SvSAN estate, whether it’s one site or thousands of sites around the world,” said Bruce Kornfeld, chief marketing and product officer, StorMagic. “Edge Control is particularly interesting for customers who are considering switching from VMware to Microsoft or Linux KVM because SvSAN and Edge Control are both hypervisor agnostic.”
Pricing and Availability
Edge Control version 1.0 is available today from StorMagic. SvSAN customers can download and begin using the software immediately, free of charge.
About StorMagic
StorMagic is solving the world’s edge data problems. We help organizations store, protect and use data at and from the edge. StorMagic’s solutions ensure data is always protected and available, no matter the type or location, to provide value anytime, anywhere. StorMagic’s storage and security products are flexible, robust, easy to use and cost-effective, without sacrificing enterprise-class features, for organizations with one to thousands of sites.
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