A year ago, the South Korean IT giant’s Galaxy A51 was one of the best-selling phones in the world; don’t lose sight of the fact that Android phones outnumber iOS and others by a large margin globally (Android is expected to command 87 percent of the world market by 2022). It’s estimated that there are nearly 3 billion Android phones now in use around the world, and there are good reasons for this; they’re generally top-notch, last for more than a couple of years and mostly not super-expensive.

So this puts some legitimate pressure on this, the newest Samsung middle-class flagship, to live up to and surpass the performance and feature set of its legacy relative.

The A52 5G feels comfortable and solid in your hand with its polycarbonate shell, has a bright display and a battery that will last from dawn to midnight. It has three quite capable cameras on the back and another good one staring back at you. If you’re in the market for a midrange-cost phone with 5G connectivity, the Galaxy A52 5G ranks right up there with the best ones available. 

Features and specifications

Now for the details:

• The Galaxy A52 comes with a 6.3-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1080×2400 pixels and an aspect ratio of 20:9. 
• It has no buttons on the left side. It does have ports on the bottom for both standard headphones and those with a USB-C connector.
• The phone measures 6.5 inches in length by 2.75 inches wide and weighs less than half a pound.
• The touch display is responsive; this attribute appears to get better on each new phone we test. For comparison, check back on an iPhone 5 or 6 or Samsung Note or Edge 5 or 6 from seven or eight  years ago and see the difference; it’s remarkable.
• The screen features Samsung’s signature AMOLED panels, with FHD resolution and a refresh rate of 90Hz. Colors are vivid.
• You can decide whether or not to use 5G connectivity by going into Network Mode and selecting 5G/LTE/3G/2G. To turn off 5G, you select LTE/3G/2G. But why would anybody want to do that?
• Samsung claims the A52 is waterproof, although somehow I never trust that contention. It has an IP67 rating, which verifies that the phone can withstand submersion in water is up to 1 meter deep for up to 30 minutes. An IP68 rating is the highest given by the industry, so this phone is apparently pretty liquid-resistant.
• Color options are called Awesome Blue, Awesome Violet, Awesome Black and Awesome White. These marketers must be Millennials.
• Cameras: The A52 5G has three rear cameras to go with a 5-megapixel depth sensor. It sports a 64-megapixel standard wide with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide and the standard 5-megapixel macro camera.
• The A52’s camera app is the same as previously outfitted on most Samsung phones. It features the usual modes, including a dedicated one for nighttime shooting; it also has an AR Zone add-on that a growing list of users will like. The software also includes Single Take, which fills the image gallery with different stills and short videos that were all captured with one take. Finally, a new addition is Fun mode, which enables you to make use of Snapchat filters directly within the camera app.
• The A52 comes with a 15W charger, which isn’t as fast as a 25W charger but will still do the job.
• It does not come with a protective travel case or headphones, but you’re not paying a premium price, either.

In Summary … 

Samsung’s Galaxy A52 is a capable addition to the company’s lineup that will undoubtedly sell at least as well as its predecessors, which translates to millions. It’s a fair-priced, allegedly waterproof device that is reliable and should perform well for its users. Samsung’s been doing this a long time and hasn’t had many clunkers, and the A52 5G certainly doesn’t fit that description.

The post Samsung A52 5G: Load of Features for Midrange Price appeared first on eWEEK.

This isn’t all about the mere speed of applications. We’re about talking several attributes: speed, security, reliability, agility, configurability and others. What about good, strong internet connections? How about video that doesn’t snag or crash and crisp audio that doesn’t disappear into an internet well? What about safe, secure delivery of documents, images and other important company assets?

It’s about the user experience, too. In fact, IT is nothing if not about the user experience, and it always has been. Steve Jobs used to say that it doesn’t matter how good an application is; if it doesn’t have an intuitive user interface, you might as well throw it away, because no one’s going to use it.

It takes accurate monitoring and observability tools based on analytics to do all the things mentioned above, and as time goes on, more and more of these requirements are being done by automated software, not humans. The sheer scale and big data capacity of these applications, whether in a cloud or not, is moving far beyond a human’s ability to stay on top of them 24/7. In fact, it’s impossible.

The old ways of monitoring apps are outmoded

The old ways of monitoring and managing applications have become inefficient, thanks to many visibility gaps. Telemetry that’s required for understanding how highly distributed cloud applications behave has grown exponentially. DevOps teams, SREs, and developers have started looking for new approaches to meet this requirement. The new solutions are not only about incident detection. They also have to include incident prediction and capabilities to explore how code changes impact the overall business, and that’s where observability comes into play.

Observability is a new way of getting insight into the performance of cloud environments based on analytics for a vast amount of telemetry data (metrics, traces, histograms, logs, events) collected from a diverse set of data sources—cloud applications and services, infrastructures and Kubernetes app coordination. Observability combined with the DevOps culture of responsibility shared by multiple teams creates an effective new approach to untangle the thorniest issues affecting cloud applications.

So how does a business go about finding the answers? It starts by finding the right monitoring and observability tools and deploying them in an efficient manner. Here are 10 excellent vendors with which to start in this category:

• VMware Tanzu
• NetBeez
• AppDynamics
• Dynatrace
• Zenoss
• New Relic
• Riverbed
• Splunk
• Catchpoint
• Instana

Defining observability

A succinct definition: Observability is a mindset that enables you to answer any question about your entire business through collection and analysis of data. Building observability into your business enables you to answer questions about your business in real time, and often this can be the difference between out-performing competitors or allowing them to out-perform you.

A key trend in the evolution of IT systems now is that enterprises are making moves from basic visibility to network observability. This is where IT pros can use the data to solve critical problems that cause business-interrupting issues. Monitoring is important but incomplete; observability takes the data from monitoring and puts it into action. It creates the ability to understand why networks are slow, what the source of anomalies are, and if a user is compliant.

IT observability, when combined with AI and automation, also holds the promise to deliver the actionable answers needed to ensure cloud-native applications work perfectly and deliver the best experience and value possible to their users.

ITOps observability challenges

Prior to the pandemic, having employees work on office campuses provided significant advantages to IT for a few reasons. The network infrastructure is managed and uses enterprise grade equipment. Also, most users are located near IT support. As a result, root-cause analysis within a corporate environment is much easier than across hundreds or thousands of home offices. (For additional information, read the EMA Research paper on extending network performance monitoring to the home office,)

Here are the network observability challenges for work-from-home employees who make up “enterprise branches,” according to NetBeez:

Extending network observability to the home office

To address remote worker network observability challenges, there are four key capabilities to extend observability to home-office networks, NetBeez said. They are:

• Collect and aggregate network connectivity, performance and throughput data from the remote worker’s laptop or desktop, from across the Internet, and within the VPN tunnel to identify and pinpoint performance issues;
• Actively test websites and SaaS applications’ availability and performance, including DNS checks without passively capturing end-user transactions;
• Constantly test network support for voice/video-over-IP calls, including identifying packet loss, jitter and latency issues that degrade voice and video services; and
• Collect Wi-Fi metrics to detect performance issues caused by poor WiFi coverage and interferences with other WLAN networks or systems.

In summary …

• The home office has gained major traction as a permanent alternative work environment. ITOps and security teams are charged with de-risking this change and enabling the workforce to be productive in many new environments.
• The bad news: Too many enterprises are far behind the curve here in mid-2021 in making the needed adjustments to protect and serve all their employees, no matter where they are deployed.
• The good news: There are excellent observability solutions that mitigate these challenges and assist ITOps teams in maximizing their efforts and resources.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

The post Performance Monitoring, Observability for the Home Office appeared first on eWEEK.

Didn’t used to be that way. For years, Ford made black automobiles with standard engines. Beer was all the same until Miller came up with a “Lite” version (market-spin bad spelling) in 1975. Oreo cookies used to come in one style; now Nabisco has a dozen variations. And so on.

It’s up to the brands themselves to innovate plenty of options if they want to compete at full force. As the world becomes more and more splintered with commercial, societal and political choices, the business laptop business has diversified in the same fashion. With such high-level competition as Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, ASUS and others, other manufacturers have had to do so.

The newest choice in this category belongs to Acer, the Taipei-based international laptop, tablet and router maker that is growing at a steady rate and is launching a new TravelMate model later this year. By the way, this article is one of the first published about this remarkable little device that has most of what most business users require in a small laptop and none of what they don’t need.

Designed with business travelers in mind

The TravelMate Spin P6, sporting a 14-inch screen, is the model I tested, and the first thing that is apparent as it came out of the carton is how light and thin it is, and it’s not even an Apple device. The all-metal Spin P6 weighs in at a mere 2.2 lbs. and measures about a half-inch thick. It feels even lighter and thinner than that, and I can’t imagine how. The chassis consists of a magnesium-aluminum alloy, which is stronger and lighter than standard aluminum alloys of the same thickness.

Acer has all the important business ingredients in the Spin 6, except perhaps a top-flight camera. But cameras aren’t usually a pressing need for this market; you can conduct a standard videoconference or take a snapshot just fine with the Acer camera; you don’t need a work of art.

Some first-impression notes:

• You can power the Spin P6 up with any USB-C connector; no proprietary plug-in needed here.
• The battery lasted a full 12 hours for me, using only the browser and regular business apps. Of course, if you want to play video games, use 3D and other data-intensive apps, then you’ll need another device to operate them optimally.
• The keyboard action is solid and true, the keys themselves aren’t too small, and the board lights up when being used. Not every business laptop does that, and I find it a useful feature–especially when typing in low light. Thank goodness for simple pleasures.
• Touchscreen and touchpad action is fast and accurate; knowing how to use the touchscreen when navigating docs and websites can be a real time-saver.
• The TravelMate Spin P6 has an optional convertible version (there’s another choice) that comes with a stylus and a Corning Gorilla Glass touch display, which can be rotated 360 degrees into four modes.
• All TravelMate P6’s are updated with the latest 11th-Gen Intel Core vPro processors.
• They also feature a dockable Acer Active Stylus that works with Windows Ink for capturing notes and drawings.

Technical info: The new Spin 6 features an IPS monitor with 100% sRGB color gamut coverage that delivers accurate color at up to 170-degree viewing angles; additionally, viewing angles can be limited to 90 degrees by enabling the built-in Acer PrivacyPanel. IPS monitors, or “in-plane switching” monitors, use liquid crystals aligned in parallel to produce rich colors.

Full-sized and back-lit, the keyboard is designed to make typing comfortable, even in dimly-lit areas, such as aircraft coach seats. A scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass touchpad supports precise gesture control.

Audio features: All the new Spin 6’s have dual speakers for crystal-clear videoconferencing audio; a four-mic array picks up vocals from up to 6.5 feet away and enables accurate voice commands. A built-in smart amplifier provides distortion-free sound with deep bass, doubling as a safeguard that protects the speakers as volume is increased.

Camera: While Acer’s user-facing camera is perfectly competent for decent video imaging in conference calls and 1:1 video meetings, the camera is not the strongest component in the TravelMate offering. Images are somewhat softer than other cameras, yet they are “good enough” for general use.

Protection: Compliant with MIL-STD 810H U.S. military-grade standards, the TravelMate P6 can  survive the bumps of airport security, accidental drops and other mishaps. The rigorous durability testing follows stringent procedures that gauge the notebook’s resistance to pressure, rain, humidity and extreme temperatures.

Security: The TravelMate P6 uses the security features of Windows 10 Pro, including a  fingerprint reader and IR webcam for quick and safe logins via Windows Hello. A built-in Acer user sensor detects if someone is in front of the computer to either wake up or lock up the notebook, and Windows Hello can recognize whether that person is the owner. For privacy,  the system’s webcam can be physically shuttered when not in use. An integrated Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip and Intel Active Management from the Intel vPro platform facilitate secure authentication and safeguard company data.

High-speed connectivity: Wi-Fi 6 and optional eSim/USim-enabled 5G connectivity support working and collaborating away from the office. In addition, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Thunderbolt 4 delivers fast data transfers at speeds up to 40 Gbps to connected USB Type-C devices, plus enough power to support up to 8K displays. Other ports include MicroSD card and NFC (Near Field Communication) for sharing content or making mobile payments.

Overall evaluation: This is a very good traveling companion for a business person and is recommended–especially if your company is paying for it.

Key Specifications for Acer TravelMate Spin 6:

Device:   Acer TravelMate P614RN-52
Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz   2.80 GHz
Installed RAM:  8.00 GB (7.78 GB usable); optional: up to 32 GB DDR4x memory
Storage: 475 GB
System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Connectivity: 5G and NFC wireless
Pen and touch: Pen and touch support with 10 touchpoints

Windows OS Specifications:

Edition: Windows 10 Pro
Version: 20H2

Availability and pricing:

The TravelMate Spin P6 will become available in North America in December, starting at $1,299.99.

Online support: https://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/

The post Acer’s Snappy TravelMate Spin P6 Ready for When Business Travel Returns appeared first on eWEEK.

This is precisely why enterprises now are focusing heavily on updating the endpoint management of their desktop PCs, laptops, phones, tablets, video equipment and other devices housed in home offices-turned-corporate branches here in 2021. The fact is, since a majority of workers are finding advantages in working at least part of the time from home, they want to keep this in play as long as possible, and companies are obliging them. There are advantages for employers here, too, but that’s another story.

“We heard from our customers about this: 67% of IT executives are concerned about unstructured data sprawl, and more than half say remote work is the main culprit. My reference is to data across multiple apps, multiple clouds,” Vineet Jain, CEO of Egnyte, said during a recent #eWEEKchat on this very topic.

Data sprawl is literally everywhere

Policies need to be gently enforced for users

Jain of Egnyte said that for corporations to have more control, enforcing data governance policies without the tech getting in the way is key.

“Further, getting the content management architecture right is key. Examples are files sitting on unsecured devices, data loss and mismanaged permissions,” Jain said. “The attack surface has grown exponentially, so even basic things like hardening your routers, keeping anti-virus up to date and centralizing content in one ‘logically unified’ silo are some of the means to meet the security challenges.”

So how does a company go about upgrading its system so that all of the above happens, and that bad actors don’t get inside and cause mayhem? Ransomware numbers are way up the last two years, yet the general public doesn’t hear much about those exploits at all—largely because it’s extremely embarrassing to a company, not to mention surrendering to a ransomware crook is generally not seen as an asset by shareholders.

Based on Gartner Research’s 2020 UEM market report, eWEEK here features three leading companies’ solutions in this article. To find more information on more endpoint management market leaders, see eWEEK’s library on the topic.

Defining Unified Endpoint Management

Gartner Research defines the UEM tools market as a set of offerings comprising mobile device management (MDM) and management of personal computers, via traditional client management tools (CMTs) or modern management, through a single console that also combines the application of data protection, device configuration and usage policies. Modern UEM tools:

• Provide a user-centric view of devices across device platforms.
• Enable modern PC management through native Windows 10, macOS and Chrome OS controls.
• Enable MDM through native iOS and Android controls.
• Aggregate analytics and telemetry from users, apps and devices to help inform policy and related actions.
• Provide insights into user experience through aggregation of telemetry signals, events, logs and synthetic transactions.
• Integrate with unified endpoint security (UES) tools to support security policy management, execute administrative actions and improve integration with identity and access management (IAM) tools.

VMware Workspace ONE

In the 2020 Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), Gartner recognized VMware as a leader for the third successive year. VMware’s centerpiece here is its Workspace ONE UEM product, an end-to-end solution which:

• enables customers to drive workplace modernization, implement zero trust and improve employee experience;
• delivers a device-agnostic user experience across all major mobile and desktop platforms through deep integration with single sign-on (SSO), remote access, endpoint security, identity; management, desktop and app virtualization, and numerous third-party solutions;
• uniquely enables traditional and modern PC and mobile management from a single console, and fully supports customers migrating from traditional network-based CMT to modern UEM-based PC support; and
• helps organizations maintain business continuity with scalable digital-first infrastructure, flexible virtualization solutions, and intelligent and secure device management that keeps employees productive and engaged anytime, anywhere.

VMware’s Workspace ONE is focused on providing improved employee experience through UEM, virtualization, analytics, apps and workflows. Its operations and clients tend to be geographically diversified. VMware continues to invest in helping customers drive workplace modernization, implement zero trust and improve employee experience, anchored by Workspace ONE Intelligence and Carbon Black endpoint security integration.

What separates it from competitors

• End-to-end solution: VMware enables remote work and a seamless, device-agnostic user experience through its deep integration of UEM with single sign-on (Workspace ONE Access), remote access (Workspace ONE Tunnel), endpoint security (Carbon Black), and desktop and application virtualization (Horizon); and support for many third-party solutions. Social media analytics highlight satisfaction with the remote onboarding feature, which has taken on increased importance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ease of use: VMware offers seamless integration of traditional and modern PC and mobile management techniques through the same console, in addition to in-console templates and wizards to empower IT admins to maximize value. VMware also curates a vast online knowledge repository that includes product information, videos, labs, blogs, implementation guides, learning activity paths and reference architecture in its Tech Zone portal.
• Flexibility: VMware’s flexible architecture enables customers to operate exclusively on-premises, exclusively in SaaS, or a hybrid of the two where customers decide on a component level what model is a best fit. Standard and customizable connectors can enable complex integrations. VMware also offers several integrations with third-party identity, endpoint security, IT operations and IT service management tools.

You should know …

• Platform value proposition: To maximize the unique value of VMware’s Workspace ONE platform (e.g., employee experience, risk-based conditional access [zero trust], automation, intelligence and analytics, etc.), clients will need to purchase the Enterprise license tier.
• Advanced feature adoption: VMware continues to make investments in areas such as modern management of Windows and macOS devices, and offerings such as employee onboarding; yet adoption has been slower than expected.
• Microsoft 365: VMware customers committed to Microsoft 365 must rationalize the incremental cost of paying for Workspace ONE and Microsoft Endpoint Manager, or should look for advanced Workspace ONE capabilities to complement Endpoint Manager. The Workspace ONE integration to MEM offering is currently in limited beta.

IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson

IBM Security MaaS360 with its Watson product, also in Gartner’s Top 3, is focused on artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced UEM. Its operations are geographically diversified; clients tend to be small to midsize technology, retail and manufacturing companies based in the Americas and Europe. IBM continues to invest in AI, ensuring alignment with new devices, features and use cases, and deeper integration with identity and endpoint security products.

What separates it from competitors

• Watson Analytics: IBM has used its Watson AI expertise to deliver analytics designed to help customers identify, prioritize, triage and resolve issues on devices managed by MaaS360. Customers value the efficiencies gained from customizable, automated reporting that helps them identify and prioritize critical issues.
• Ease of use: Gartner clients continue to report that MaaS360 is easier to implement than other UEM solutions. The product offers several policy templates through a wizardlike interface that uses AI to deliver benchmarked reports that enable customers to configure and validate their environment against peer and published practices. It also has a clean dashboard to react to events quickly.
• Strong CMT support: The integration with third-party CMTs, along with Group Policy Object (GPO) migration capabilities, simplifies the journey to co-management and modern management. Clients have referenced positive experience with integrations to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, HCL BigFix and Tanium. IBM also offers self-directed patching and application updates for Windows and macOS (using OPSWAT), and tools to help customers migrate to modern management.

You should know …

• SaaS only: MaaS360 is available only as a SaaS solution and does not provide any on-premises management option. It does, however, offer an on-premises access gateway to enable mobile devices to access email and other applications.
• Mostly midmarket: Gartner rarely sees MaaS360 on enterprise client shortlists unless the organization is already heavily invested in IBM software. IBM is working on enabling its sales force to sell MaaS360; however, most sales are from small to midsize companies or through the carrier channel.
• Limited endpoint diversity: Despite strong CMT integration, most clients report using MaaS360 to manage mobile devices rather than as UEM to manage PCs via co-management or modern management.

Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM), the final member of Gartner’s Top 3, combines Intune and Configuration Manager and is available with an Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) license. Microsoft’s operations and clients tend to be geographically diversified. Microsoft continues to invest in improving end-user and IT admin experience, integration with endpoint security and identity systems, and expanded use of analytics, AI and machine learning (ML).

What separates it from competitors

• Marketing and product strategy: With the establishment of MEM, Microsoft offers the most used UEM tool on the market, with significantly more devices under management than its competition. Though many I&O leaders are confused by the MEM, Configuration Manager and Intune relationship, online references in 4Q19 increased by 278%, with discussions on how MEM combines its offerings into a single console at no additional cost.
• Microsoft-native: Deep integration across Microsoft products offers security capabilities that are difficult to replicate piecemeal. Evidence of improved stability and performance achieved by reducing third-party plug-ins cannot be ignored. MEM’s integration with Azure Active Directory, Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and Microsoft 365 app protection offers improved security and user experience through zero-trust conditional access.
• Co-management: Improved Intune and Configuration Manager integration, along with the pandemic, have accelerated the adoption of co-management and modern management. Prepandemic, clients were too focused on replacing Windows 7 with Windows 10 to adjust their endpoint management strategies.

You should know …

• Third-party integrations: Clients frequently struggle with limited integration with third-party identity, service and asset management, and endpoint security products. Additionally, organizations seeking advanced macOS management and remote control are required to use third-party integrated solutions.
• Nonstandard use cases: MEM currently lacks robust management capabilities for IoT, wearables, rugged frontline devices and UNIX/Linux operating systems as well as required controls for highly regulated use cases where containerization and integrated VPNs are more common. MEM enables management of Microsoft 365 Enterprise apps and data using Intune app protection policies and conditional access; however, that may not meet compliance requirements.
• Difficult to use: Clients’ most common concern is that using MEM is not easy. Reasons include the overhead required to architect, build and maintain Configuration Manager and integration between on-premises Active Directory (AD) and Azure AD. Managing some policies (like Windows Hello) requires use of multiple consoles. Clients also frequently voice frustration with staying abreast of product updates and finding documentation and best practices across the various websites, communities and blogs.

The post Selecting Endpoint Visibility, Management for WFH Employees appeared first on eWEEK.

Some quick facts:

Topic: #eWEEKchat, May 25: “Next-Gen Networking”

Date/time: Tuesday, May 25, 11 a.m. PDT / 2 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. GMT

Participation: You can use #eWEEKchat to follow/participate via Twitter itself, but it’s easier and more efficient to use the real-time chat room link at CrowdChat. Instructions are on that page; log in at the top right, use your Twitter handle to register, and the chat begins promptly at 11 a.m. PT. The page will come alive at that time with the real-time discussion. You can join in or simply watch the discussion as it is created. Special thanks to John Furrier of SiliconAngle.com for developing the CrowdChat app.

Our in-chat experts this month will include Zeus Kerravala of ZK Research and eWEEK networking analyst; Prashanth Shenoy, Cisco Systems Vice President of Marketing, Cloud and Networking; Larry Lunetta, Aruba Vice President of WLAN and Security Solutions Marketing; Rowell Dionicio, Packet6 Founder and Managing Director; Mittal Parekh, CommScope Head of Product Marketing, RUCKUS business unit. We will be adding others this week.

Chat room real-time link: Use https://www.crowdchat.net/eweekchat. Sign in with your Twitter handle and use #eWEEKchat for the identifier.

Next-generation networking: Where are the key trends?

IT networking originally was all about the plumbing for data centers and the internet: having a reliable, traffic cop-like network controller, plugging cables into the right ports and using firewalls for security. Plus, you needed good, knowledgeable network admins who knew how to solve data-movement problems. Now it’s less about the management (because most of it is now automated) and more about the trustworthiness of those people running it.

While those conventions are still a mainstay of the connected world, innovation has changed the industry enormously in the last decade. The data center industry has long since moved to larger-pipe connectivity (Ethernet, Infiniband), central network controls, automated storage and security, built-in intelligence and faster wireless connectivity—to mention only a few advancements.

Software-defined networking (SDN), SD-WAN (wide-area networks) and other network virtualization technologies have driven the conversation in the industry for the past few years. However, for all the talk about SDN and SD-WAN, the tech world is still in the relatively early stages of these and other innovations, such as network-functions virtualization (NFV).

Still, there are more than a few network administrators who continue to think it might be overkill to overhaul a system for a small or medium-size business when the current one works just fine.

The problem is that the amount of data being generated is not about to slow down or be reduced any time soon. Industry analysts have calculated that all the data racked up in the world in one month in 2020 probably totals more than the data stored in the entire year of 2019. Businesses need to keep up with this data growth in order to stay competitive in their markets; should someone slip, others gain advantage that they might not relinquish for a while.

SD-WAN leading the way into the future

With the advent of widespread SD-WAN, WiFi 6 and 5G on the horizon, plenty of key decision-makers are, in fact, currently upgrading their networks. Speed in moving data streams to where the computing is taking place, and vice-versa, has never been more important to businesses–local or global.

Some key data points from a recent survey by QuinStreet Inc.:

• Thirty-nine percent of the 466 IT professionals surveyed said they either are currently using SDN technology in their infrastructures or are planning to within the next 12 months.
• Another 10 percent said deployment will come in the next 13 to 24 months, and 25 percent said they plan to deploy, but don’t yet have a timeline.
• Fifty-three percent of respondents said they are using a combination of deployment models.
• Sixty-nine percent said using the cloud makes updating network appliances much easier.
• Nineteen percent of respondents using SDN came from the tech industry, and another 12 percent from telecommunications. Eleven percent were from banking and financial services, 9 percent each from education and manufacturing, and 8 percent from federal, state or local government.

WiFi 6, for one example, enables speeds to improve, latency to recede and cause familiar limitations of WiFi to vanish. The relatively fallow ground of 6GHz means that compromises due to legacy devices would be gone, making WiFi something that you could use anywhere in the office or on the production floor.

Imagine WiFi 6 at 60GHz. With all of that extra bandwidth, wireless capacity would move far beyond the current limitations of fiber networks in the office. While there will still be a role for fiber outside of the office, inside the office, 60GHz WiFi 6 will simplify enterprise networking by providing a multi-gigabit infrastructure without the disruption of cabling or the expense of wired infrastructure.

Cambium Networks is one of the forward-looking networking companies that is already providing hardware and software infrastructure around WiFi6. “From New York to Naples to Nigeria, everyone wants super-fast wireless connections,” Cambium CEO Atul Bhatnagar said. “By bringing together Wi-Fi 6 and 60GHz solutions with cloud software, we’re changing the game with unified wireless that can serve any city, any enterprise, any school, any business or any industry at a fraction of the cost of wired networks. With this new wave of technology, wireless is the new fiber, and it simply just works.”

What we’ll discuss

Certainly 5G connectivity will be a huge improvement over 4G LTE in the wireless world. That will be a major talking point in our #eWEEKchat. Here are examples of seed questions we’ll pose to our audience on May 25:

• Besides adding speed, what direct impact will 5G connectivity have on networks in the future?
• What is intent-based networking and what are its business advantages?
• Will WiFi 6 become the next backbone-type network? Why or why not?
• How is SD-WAN able to converge network, security and AI all in one?
• How and why is NVIDIA, one of the world’s top graphics processor makers, becoming a leader in next-gen networking?
• Who are some of the young networking startup “stars” of the business and what new functionality do they bring to the table?

Join us May 25 at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. GMT for an hour. Chances are good that you’ll learn something valuable.

#eWEEKchat Tentative Schedule for 2021*

xJan. 12: What’s Up in Next-Gen Data Security
xFeb. 9: Why Data Orchestration is Fast Replacing Batch Processing
xMarch 9: What’s Next-Gen in Health-Care IT?|
xApril 13: The Home as Enterprise Branch
May 11: Next-Gen Networking Products & Services
June 8: Next-Gen VDI Hybrid Deployments
July 13: DevOps & Agile Development
Aug. 10: Trends in Project Management & Collaboration Tools
Sept. 14: Trends in Data Storage, Protection and Privacy
Oct. 12: DataOps: The Data Management Platform of the Future?
Nov. 9: New Tech to Expect for 2022
Dec. 14: Predixions and Wild Guesses for IT in 2022

*all topics subjects to change

The post #eWEEKchat Tuesday, May 25: ‘Next-Gen Networking’ appeared first on eWEEK.

VMware Chief Financial Officer Zane Rowe had been serving as VMware’s CEO in the interim.

Raghuram, the company’s COO of Cloud Services and who had been executive vice president and general manager of VMware’s Software-Defined Data Center Division, was the company’s leader in transforming its architectures and applications into cloud services and bringing them successfully to markets. He has been a key part of a VMware leadership team that has built the company into an $11 billion-plus enterprise over the last several years.

Because Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Poonen had been the most visible VMware executive outside of Gelsinger the past few years, a healthy number of analysts and others thought he might be the natural choice for the job, which is one of the most influential in the IT world. VMware is known to have at least one application, cloud service, toolset or other product in about 95 percent of the world’s data centers–led by its hypervisors and a long list of other products and services.

He has the ‘technical chops’

“This is an interesting hire; certainly Raghuram has the technical chops to run VMware,” said industry analyst Zeus Kerravala of ZK Research. “He has been instrumental in transforming VMware into a company that’s relevant to the growth of cloud. I think that was in question a while ago, but he has made VMware core to cloud.”

Raghuram told Fortune that he has “no intention” to follow in the style of Gelsinger, who during his eight-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO was known to speak out on behalf of the IT industry as a whole on topics such as green IT and cryptocurrencies. Raghuram said he sees himself as more of a “technology-centric leader” and will eschew his predecessor’s approach.

“Fundamentally, I’ll be spending most of my time on what’s good for VMware, customers and associated industry technologies,” Raghuram said.

Kerravala wondered if that’s the best way to proceed here in socially conscious 2021 and beyond.

“I think that’s a mistake, particularly with VMware spinning out (from its Dell Technologies mothership),” Kerravala said. “More and more, customers are looking for the tech companies, particularly the big brands, to set the tone for societal change. Gelsinger was very active in this area, as are many of his peers, such as Chuck Robbins (Cisco Systems), Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Antonio Neri (HPE) and Michael Dell.

“Not addressing these issues will be viewed as a negative by some customers. If he isn’t going to be active in these areas, someone at VMware will need to fill that role. Tech vendors don’t just sell tech; they provide examples of how technologies can be used to change the world,” Kerravala said.

What other analysts are saying

Other analysts offered their own takes on the move.

“VMware has always been a technologically-driven company which is reflected in its leadership, including past CEOs like Pat Gelsinger and Paul Maritz,” PUND-IT principal analyst Charles King told eWEEK. “Raghuram clearly fits that mold and has also led or been in the senior leadership teams on some of the company’s most strategically important businesses, including its cloud organization. His 17+ years with VMware means he has an intimate understanding of the company’s structure and culture. Altogether, he should be an excellent CEO.”

Enderle Group principal analyst Rob Enderle said that “Raghu is a low-drama, low-risk choice, indicating that Dell is generally happy with the company’s direction and wants someone that can take the leadership role with the least disruption. Raghu knows the company and its capabilities very well and has enough executive experience to understand the operational aspects of the job. He’ll get help from Dell on the statesmanlike components that will be new to him (things like managing investors and company image).

“If and when they spin VMware out, Raghu should, by then, be able to stand alone fully, and investors will appreciate his experience and pedigree. In short, he’ll show well. I don’t know him, but on paper, he appears to be the ideal choice,” Enderle said.

Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy told eWEEK that “Raghu Raghuram brings heavy-duty product and engineering skills to the table in addition to nearly 20 years at VMware. I am hoping he surrounds himself with customer and marketing types to balance out the equation. The company wants to be seen more as a cloud tech company, and one way to help do that is to put a technologist at the top.”

Raghuram is a 1996 graduate of The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and of the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India. He has served in nine executive positions at VMware since he joined the company in 2003.

The post VMware Names COO Raghu Raghuram Its New CEO appeared first on eWEEK.

IBM, its head down deep in the science, came out with the world’s first 2nm processor nanosheet on May 6. The specifications will be licensed and put to work by chip fabricators, and we could be seeing these microscopic but powerful IT engines being manufactured by the end of the calendar year or early next year.

This comes about at a key juncture in the processor-making industry. Currently, there’s a high-demand, low-supply market for chips of all kinds–especially high-performance units with energy efficiency built inside. Demand continues to rise, especially in the era of hybrid cloud, AI and the internet of things, where more new products are being designed and built than any other time in IT history. If these things work the way they’re supposed to work, the markets will welcome them with open arms.

IBM said the new chip is designed to achieve 45 percent higher performance and 75 percent lower energy use than today’s most advanced 7nm node chips. Those are substantial performance numbers.

Increasing the number of transistors per chip makes them faster and more efficient, due to the relative nearness to each other on the die.

What the new chips can do

Commercial benefits of these advanced 2nm chips theoretically could include:

• Quadrupling cell phone battery life, only requiring users to charge their devices every four days.
• Slashing the carbon footprint of data centers, which account for 1+ percent of global energy use. Changing all of their servers to 2nm-based processors could potentially reduce that number significantly.
• Substantially speeding up a laptop’s functions, ranging from quicker processing in applications to assisting in language translation more easily, to faster internet access.
• Contributing to faster object detection and reaction time in autonomous vehicles, such as self-driving cars.

50 billion transistors on a fingernail-sized chip

The 2nm design demonstrates the advanced scaling of semiconductors using IBM’s nanosheet technology, the company said. This architecture is an industry first. Developed less than four years after IBM announced its then-milestone 5nm design, this latest breakthrough will allow the 2nm chip to fit up to 50 billion transistors on a chip the size of a fingernail.

More transistors on a chip also mean processor designers have more options to infuse core-level innovations to improve capabilities for leading-edge workloads, such as AI and cloud computing, as well as new pathways for hardware-enforced security and encryption.

IBM is already implementing other innovative core-level enhancements in the latest generations of IBM hardware, such as IBM POWER10 and IBM z15.

IBM’s history of semiconductor design

IBM has had previous semiconductor breakthroughs. These include the first implementation of 7nm and 5nm process technologies, single-cell DRAM, the Dennard Scaling Laws, chemically amplified photoresists, copper interconnect wiring, Silicon on Insulator technology, multi-core microprocessors, High-k gate dielectrics, embedded DRAM and 3D chip stacking.

Of course, not everything in chip design turns out as successful as was planned. For example, three years after their joint product announcement in 2015, Intel and Micron gave up on their co-produced 3D stacking experiment in the 3D Xpoint processor project, in which both companies invested about 10 development years and millions of dollars.

IBM said its first commercialized offering that will include IBM Research 7nm advancements will debut later this year in IBM POWER10-based IBM Power Systems.

The post IBM Sets Another Smallness Record with 2nm Chip Blueprints appeared first on eWEEK.

Other than that, it was a seemingly normal Cinco de Mayo for the huge, Round Rock, Texas-based IT corporation.

There are many news-related data points, so we’ll get right to them. These are all relevant to IT managers, technology buyers, investors and developers.

What is APEX?

Just when you thought you had seen every “as-a-service” idea that could be imagined, this new package of as-a-service offerings amounts to a “Portfolio-as-a-Service.” Could this be mere marketspeak that attempts to tie a lot of existing products and services together under one new brand? Possibly, but the APEX concept has been in the works for months, so it appears that there is actual IT news here–and more than only marketing folks built it.

In bullet points, according to Dell (which will manage all these services in its own cloud), here we go:

• APEX Data Storage Services is designed to provide a simplified storage-as-a-service experience;
• APEX Cloud Services provides a consistent look-and-feel cloud experience across public clouds, private clouds and at the edge;
• APEX Custom Solutions offers flexible payment and IT management services for the industry’s broadest infrastructure portfolio;
• Customers can manage the lifecycle of their APEX offers in one place through the APEX Console; and
• Dell Technologies and Equinix collaborate to extend the reach of APEX to colocation sites worldwide.

Those colocation sites will naturally include all of Dell’s data centers worldwide, but they also will include a new partner: Redwood City, Calif.-based Equinix. Collaboration with Equinix expands access to the new APEX platform of services, offering organizations the flexibility to benefit from the “as-a-service” offering wherever it delivers the most value for the user, Dell said.

Dell said its customers want IT that delivers business outcomes and solves top business challenges, such as scaling IT up or down based on changing needs, getting assets off the balance sheet, or managing underutilized IT resources. With the APEX outcomes-based approach to IT, Dell said, organizations remove the worry of managing a particular product line, version of a technology or specification.

More detail

APEX Data Storage Services offers enterprise storage with transparent pricing and no overage fees and high-speed data movement in the public cloud. With technology deployed on-premises, at customer locations or at colocation facilities, enterprises can select three performance tiers of block and file storage to meet their requirements. One- or three-year subscriptions are available, and capacity starts as low as 50 terabytes and scales from there.

As subsets of APEX Cloud Services, APEX Hybrid Cloud and APEX Private Cloud feature integrated compute storage and networking resources with support for both traditional and cloud-native applications. Users can choose hybrid or private cloud resources designed to meet the needs of important workloads, such as AI and virtual desktop infrastructure.

APEX Cloud Services provides automated lifecycle management. Once the cloud resources are selected, customers can have a fast hybrid cloud deployment. With secure and consistent infrastructure across private cloud, public cloud and the edge, customers can place workloads in the environment most suited to their needs.

APEX Custom Solutions brings a broad infrastructure portfolio to customers as-a-service. APEX Flex On Demand provides Dell Technologies servers, storage, data protection, hyperconverged infrastructure-as-a-service.

APEX Console provides a self-service, interactive experience where customers can manage their entire APEX lifecycle.

‘Simplicity of IT capabilities’

Dell said that this new deal with Equinix brings “simplicity of IT capabilities” owned, deployed, supported and billed on a single invoice from Dell Technologies but deployed at an Equinix data center. CFOs will enjoy hearing that.

Additionally, users can adopt a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy and connect IT spending with their specific use-case requirements and needs to scale IT up or down, Dell said.

Equinix has a large global footprint of more than 220 data centers spanning five continents and a digital ecosystem of more than 10,000 companies. Users benefit from a hybrid cloud environment with the ability to shift to an OpEx budget model. Customers pay for what they use, with a single rate and no overage fees; accountants will know in real time how much IT is used each month. Companies can order nearly any capacity of block and file data storage at a variety of performance levels, simplifying how they consume storage infrastructure.

Users can configure, order, monitor and make changes to their APEX services from the APEX Console. Customers will be able to use the Console to provision APEX services at select Equinix locations.

Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform brings real-time analytics to edge of the network

Details announced at Dell Technologies World:

• Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform: An upgraded Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform (SDP) now offers powerful, real-time analytics at the edge. With a smaller footprint, Dell said, SDP is good for capturing, storing and analyzing streaming data in real-time at the edge. For example: An amusement park customer is using SDP to send alerts to staff when a ride needs maintenance. The park can quickly evaluate and fix the attraction instead of waiting until it requires costly repairs.
• Dell Technologies manufacturing edge solutions: The Dell Technologies Manufacturing Edge Reference Architecture with PTC helps manufacturing companies derive insights from workstations, computers, mobile devices and other endpoints within the manufacturing environment. With access to edge data in one place, companies can increase production line reliability, reduce operational costs and make more informed real-time decisions, the company said.

Integrated with APEX Private Cloud, it offers a high-availability edge framework as-a-service, so companies can virtualize and containerize applications, removing complexity and saving time, Dell said. Manufacturing customers get a consistent cloud experience and pay only for what they use.

The post Dell Unveils, Explains APEX ‘Portfolio-as-a-Service’ appeared first on eWEEK.

Here are some additional ideas for your office, based on eWEEK reporting.

PCs/laptops

eWEEK, which was known as PC Week for the first 16 years of its existence (1984-2000), built an excellent reputation then–and which has continued to the present day–regarding its evaluations of personal computers of all kinds. eWEEK Labs, which once had a full-time staff of 20 to 25 product testers, was known as one of the finest and most complete third-party IT research houses in the world for a long, long time.

To help home office users decide on which PC investment to make, eWEEK is loaded with information on numerous manufacturers’ products.

Dell: eWEEK has a long and deep collection of news and review articles on Dell laptop and desktop PCs. Go here to see the compilation.

Lenovo: eWEEK has an impressive collection of news and review articles on Lenovo desktop and laptop PCs. Go here to review the compilation.

Toshiba:  Check out eWEEK’s lineup of news, review and features articles on Toshiba laptops.

Samsung: Here is a list of reviews of Samsung laptops.

Microsoft: Read about Microsoft’s mainline Surface laptops in these eWEEK articles.

HPE: There’s a list of HP laptop reviews and feature stories here.

Apple: Here’s a listing of articles and reviews on the MacBook series.

Asus: You can find a listing of reviews and feature articles on Asus laptops here.

Finally, here’s a general listing of laptop and desktop reviews of all makes and models on eWEEK.

Video conferencing

Zoom: Few IT companies have benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic as much as San Jose, Calif.-based Zoom, thanks to its reliability and easy-to-use, intuitive interface. Where the company had a decent but not spectacular total of about 13 million regular users (and mostly inside enterprises) in January 2020, four quarters later it was closing in on 500 million users. This includes schools, small businesses, nonprofits and individuals–far eclipsing its previous enterprise-only clients. It’s now bringing in $2.6 billion per year in revenue; its stock shot up 369 percent from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.

RingCentral: This Belmont, Calif.-based company offers a cloud-based PBX system for businesses. The RingCentral platform supports hundreds of thousands of users. It’s designed to handle 2X capacity and is currently managing more than 10 billion minutes of voice traffic per year. RingCentral Office features include call auto-attendant, company directory, call forwarding and handling, multiple extensions, a mobile app for iPhone and Android, Business SMS, video conferencing and screen-sharing, and fax. Go here for the latest information on the office platform’s products and services.

LogMeIn: The company just announced live streaming for its GoToWebinar service. Now you can live stream webinars on popular third-party social platforms such as Facebook Live, YouTube Live and (coming soon) LinkedIn Live, as well as virtual event platforms that include CVent, Intrado, Socio and others directly through GoToWebinar.  Go here for the details.

Others in this category: Adobe, Bluescape, GoToMeeting, OnBoard, Asana, Robin, BoardDocs.

Headsets

Sennheiser:  Danish audio peripherals maker EPOS is co-developing with Germany’s Sennheiser a new line of high-end, wired headsets co-branded by EPOS|Sennheiser and called IMPACT.

Sennheiser has earned a reputation over four decades as being a high-quality but slightly more expensive maker of headphones and microphones. The co-development of this new line of audio peripherals is substantial news in the industry.

To show how specialized we’re all getting in this day and age, the new EPOS IMPACT headsets have all been certified for use with Microsoft Teams. Other headset companies, including Poly and Jabra, also have had their products sanctioned by Microsoft for its Teams app, the international promotion of which hasn’t been seen by the Seattle-based IT giant since it launched Windows 95.

These EPOS IMPACT headsets, previously certified for Skype for Business, simply require a firmware upgrade to be certified for Teams. They’re already ergonomically designed for all-day use; with the increasing number of Zoom, Skype and Webex calls employees are doing on a daily basis because they’re working from home, comfort eventually becomes an important factor in peripherals like these. Go here for more information.

Jabra: The Jabra Evolve2 30 has been described by The New York Times Wirecutter columnist, Melanie Piola, as “the best USB headset for people who take a lot of calls at their computer. It combines excellent mic quality with wear-all-day comfort, and the headphones sound great with both music and voice.” Try one for yourself; go here for more information.

Poly: This company’s (Polycom + Plantronics, merged in 2018) wired and wireless headsets are well worth the investment (they run from about $100 to about $420) because they work well and for a long time. They can take a beating and keep on working as if nothing bothers them. Poly has focused on security as its market advantage; its Savi 7300 Office Series keeps conversations private. The ultra-secure DECT wireless headset, which has 128-bit authentication and military-grade features–such as 256-bit AES encryption–is a natural choice for financial, medical, government and contact centers or anywhere sensitive conversations happen. Go here for more product detail.

Others in this category: Leitner, Bang & Olufsen, Microsoft, Skullcandy, Avantree, Avalle, Tribit.

Video conference-director bars

Before the pandemic hit last March, video bars for meeting spaces and huddle rooms (smaller rooms for 4 to 6 people) were escalating into a major enterprise collaboration trend. These automated bars, using multiple cameras and microphones, act as virtual video session “directors”; they are able to take in a room as a whole in one shot, then, using voice tracking, listen to who’s speaking in order to focus on them until it’s someone else’s turn to speak. Obviously, these will again become in demand as people start returning to their offices after a 14-month break in routine. They also can come in handy or smaller, home-based offices, although that’s not where the trend is going at this time.

Here are two of the leading providers:

Poly: Poly, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., is the simplified namesake of the 2018 merger of Polycom and Plantronics, two highly respected makers of next-gen peripherals that include headsets, microphones, video cameras, virtual PBXs and automated video directors. The company was undeterred by the pandemic that hit U.S. businesses in March 2020, adapting its frontline videoconferencing product lineup to be used in smaller, home-type offices. The Studio P series of videoconferencing units, launched in early 2021, became a first-class example of how enterprise-level video streaming and presentation equipment could work inside a home office.

The Poly Studio P Series includes the Poly Studio P5 Webcam, Poly Studio P15 Personal Video Bar (pictured) and Poly Studio P21 Personal Meeting Display. The Poly Studio kits connect with other company products as needed by users. Bundles can include the new Studio P5 camera with Poly’s award-winning headsets or the portable Poly Sync intelligent speakerphone to set up a complete work-from-anywhere scenario. These personal devices combined with Poly Lens Desktop App and Poly+ paid subscription services to bring hardware and software together into one package in order to simplify device management.

Poly also has a partnership with Zoom that enables users to use that collaboration app as a primary or alternative channel for meetings of any kind.

Jabra: Jabra, based in Lowell, Mass., came out in April 2021 with its new PanaCast camera lineup: the Jabra PanaCast 50, designed to be the world’s first “new normal”-ready intelligent video bar, and the Jabra PanaCast 20, an intelligent personal camera.

PanaCast 50 (pictured) takes on the role of the “director” of a meeting; it intelligently adjusts the video stream to follow the action in the meeting. This allows Jabra PanaCast 50 to detect active speakers and the flow of conversation, delivering a remote meeting experience that’s fully immersive and responsive.

Three 13-megapixel cameras mounted in a high-precision multi-camera array create an immersive 180° field of view in Panoramic-4K that covers a whole room.

The PanaCast 50 can deliver two video streams simultaneously. This allows the device to perform multiple functions at once, so while one video stream is busy focusing on the meeting participants, the second can be used to focus on a particular area of interest within the room.

PanaCast 50 also delivers an independent data stream that provides anonymous people count meta-data as real-time numerical information. Because of its 180° field-of-view, PanaCast 50 can achieve 100% coverage of the meeting room and provides an opportunity to count everybody in the room.

Others in this category: Samsung, Sony, Panasonic.

Portable videocams

Logitech: This company makes some of the highest-quality webcams in the business. Go here for product information.
Poly: Poly’s P5 webcam is a professional-grade unit that is in high demand. Go here for product information.
Jabra: The Panacast is another high-quality webcam used in numerous offices. Go here for product information.
Others in this category: Dell, Papalook, Fuvision, Amcrest, Hrayzan.

Enterprise security for home office

Key players in this market: Companies with a percentage of their employees who are working remotely–and that’s a high number in this pandemic time window–should be aware of the following 12 service providers and their security packages.

In alphabetical order:

Akamai: Intelligent edge platform
Aruba: Edge-to-cloud security
Awake: Partnership with Arista a major deal
CrowdStrike: Focuses a lot on human interaction in remote security.
iBoss: SASE and Zero Trust
McAfee: AI a big feature in this platform
Microsoft: Azure Sentinel, Microsoft Threat Experts
Netskope: Ransomware protection in the cloud
Palo Alto Networks: Has been providing network-to-branch security since 2011
SecureLink: Remote location security
VMware: Anywhere Workspace is latest offering
Zscaler: Zero Trust Exchange Framework

For more information from the extensive eWEEK security library on this topic, go here.

The post How to Equip a Next-Gen Home Office appeared first on eWEEK.

Here in 2021, when it comes to the online security of networks that connect to an enterprise or multiple enterprises, zero trust is the most important trend for business. Nothing personal against anyone; it’s all about safety of the business data, and humans are by far the weakest link in any chain.

Definition: Zero trust is a security concept that requires all users, even those inside the organization’s enterprise network, to be authenticated, authorized and continuously validating security configuration and posture, before being granted or keeping access to applications and data.

Zero trust: Not a hard concept to understand

“The concept of zero trust is relatively easy to understand,” wrote networking analyst and eWEEK contributor Zeus Kerravala. “The internet was designed on the principle that everything can talk to everything, which is why it works so well but enables threat actors to find one point of entry and have access to the entire company network. Zero trust flips the internet model by mandating that nothing can talk to anything else unless explicitly allowed. This is easy to understand but very difficult to deploy.”

Companies that include VMware, Aruba, Zscaler, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Netskope, McAfee, Awake, Akamai and others have first-rate zero-trust processes embedded in their security ware, and not a moment too soon. Zero trust, often utilizing two-factor authentication, is rapidly becoming an effective shield against bad actors across many vertical business segments, and the good PR about it is spreading quickly.

“Remote network security starts for VMware as part of the Anywhere Workspace umbrella,” said VMware executive Abe Ankumah, founder and former CEO of Nyansa, which was acquired by VMware in 2020. Nyansa developed an analytics-powered, software-defined and self-healing virtual cloud network that connects clients to containers in distributed enterprises.

Replacing conventional VPNs

“One of the core pieces that VMware is focused on delivering is around solving the zero-trust network access problem,” Ankumah (pictured) told eWEEK. “Zero-trust network access really looks to bring what was traditionally solved by VPNs (virtual private networks) when people were only accessing applications within the enterprise’s own data center.

“But in a world where applications can be anywhere, and users can be anywhere, zero-trust network access solves two things: It really addresses the security problem that VPN isn’t adequately scoped to solve. And it also does it with a perspective of putting the user experience of the end-user or the employee as a fairly critical part of it.”

VMware claims that its zero-trust components secure the distributed edge with broad and effective security. This enables any user to access any app from any device. The Anywhere Workplace, launched recently, combines network security to the edge with endpoint security and management. It all can be controlled and monitored by the enterprise admin.

In no particular order:

VMware: See above
Aruba: Edge-to-cloud security
iBoss: SASE and Zero Trust
SecureLink: Remote location security
Zscaler: Zero Trust Exchange Framework
Palo Alto Networks: Has been providing network-to-branch security since 2011
CrowdStrike: Focuses a lot on human interaction in remote security.
Microsoft: Azure Sentinel, Microsoft Threat Experts
McAfee: AI a big feature in this platform
Netskope: Ransomware protection in the cloud
Awake: Partnership with Arista a major deal
Akamai: Intelligent edge platform

For more information from the extensive eWEEK security library, on this topic, go here.

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