Aruba has taken the wraps off new orchestration software and switches that target users looking to build and support distributed data-centers.Aruba Fabric Composer software simplifies leaf-and-spine network provisioning across the company’s CX switches and automates operations across a wide variety of virtualized, hyper-converged, and HPE compute and storage environments.The Fabric Composer runs as runs as a virtual machine and eliminates the need for networking teams to manually configure CX switches. It offers workflow automation and a view of workflows supported by networking fabrics, switches, hosts and other resources, said Steve Brar, senior director of product marketing for Aruba.To read this article in full, please click here
Looking to shore-up its intent-based networking software portfolio, Juniper has said it will buy Apstra for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2014, Apstra’s claim to fame is its flagship Apstra Operating System (AOS) software which was developed from the start to support IBN features. Once deployed, AOS keeps a real-time repository of configuration, telemetry and validation information to constantly ensure the network is doing what the customer wants it to do.AOS also includes automation features to provide consistent network and security policies for workloads across physical and virtual infrastructures. Its intent-based analytics perform regular network checks to safeguard configurations and is hardware agnostic so it can be integrated to work with products from Cisco, Arista, Dell, Microsoft and Nvidia/Cumulus.To read this article in full, please click here
AWS has turned up the drumbeat to move workloads off of the mainframe and into its cloud. At its weeks-long re:Invent virtual event, Amazon Web Services said it would soon expand its Competency Program to include even more services to migrate mainframe workloads to the cloud. The services are an expansion of mainframe migration services AWS has had on its menu for the past few years.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
AWS says its Competency Program is designed to identify, validate, and promote AWS partners with demonstrated technical expertise in a given area. In this case users looking to migrate will have access to products and services from core AWS partners, the company wrote in a blog about the new service.To read this article in full, please click here
AWS has turned up the drumbeat to move workloads off of the mainframe and into its cloud. At its weeks-long re:Invent virtual event, Amazon Web Services said it would soon expand its AWS Competency Program to include even more services to migrate mainframe workloads to the cloud. The services are an expansion of mainframe migration services AWS has had on its menu for the past few years.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
AWS says its Competency Program is designed to identify, validate, and promote AWS partners with demonstrated technical expertise in a given area. In this case users looking to migrate will have access to products and services from core AWS partners, the company wrote in a blog about the new service.To read this article in full, please click here
While Todd Nightingale has been Cisco’s Enterprise Networking & Cloud business chief since March, some of the directions he wants to take the company’s biggest business unit—namely superior cloud-neutral orchestration and automation—are already evident.The COVID-19 pandemic and the enterprise response to it are big drivers for near-future enterprise networking technology. But the ideas of cloud connectivity and pushing simplicity and agility in the network, while they are already important, implementation has accelerated for most customers, Nightingale said in a recent interview.To read this article in full, please click here
The community around the open-sourced Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) NOS got a little stronger as Apstra says its intent-based networking software is now more ready for enterprise prime-time than implementations from Cisco and Arista.The Linux-based NOS, developed and open sourced by Microsoft in 2017, decouples network software from the underlying hardware and lets it run on switches and ASICs from multiple vendors while supporting a full suite of network features such as border gateway protocol (BGP), remote direct memory access (RDMA), QoS, and other Ethernet/IP technologies.To read this article in full, please click here
The community around the open-sourced Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC) NOS got a little stronger as Apstra says its intent-based networking software is now more ready for enterprise prime-time than implementations from Cisco and Arista.The Linux-based NOS, developed and open sourced by Microsoft in 2017, decouples network software from the underlying hardware and lets it run on switches and ASICs from multiple vendors while supporting a full suite of network features such as border gateway protocol (BGP), remote direct memory access (RDMA), QoS, and other Ethernet/IP technologies.To read this article in full, please click here
IBM has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Instana, an application performance monitoring firm. Financial details were not disclosed.Once the acquisition closes, Instana's technology will be incorporated into IBM's hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence portfolios – two markets IBM leadership has targeted for high growth in the coming years. To that end, IBM recently said it would spin off the $19 billion Managed Infrastructure Services unit of its Global Technology Services division to help the company focus on hybrid cloud, AI and quantum computing.
Read more:To read this article in full, please click here
In its second cloud-native technology acquisition in as many months, Cisco is buying container security firm Banzai Cloud for an undisclosed amount.Founded in 2017, Banzai is known for developing Kubernetes-based cloud application development and security technologies. It will become part of Cisco's Emerging Technologies and Incubation group, where the company brews new projects for cloud-native networking, security and edge computing environments.
READ MORE: Gartner's top 9 strategic technology trends for 2021To read this article in full, please click here
In its second cloud-native technology acquisition in as many months, Cisco is buying container security firm Banzai Cloud for an undisclosed amount.Founded in 2017, Banzai is known for developing Kubernetes-based cloud application development and security technologies. It will become part of Cisco's Emerging Technologies and Incubation group, where the company brews new projects for cloud-native networking, security and edge computing environments.
READ MORE: Gartner's top 9 strategic technology trends for 2021To read this article in full, please click here
VMware is extending its core virtual networking product family in an effort to help companies build infrastructure that can stand up to today's challenges, including the shift to remote work and the need to securely move applications across the distributed enterprise.The enhancements span VMware's Tanzu, NSX and SD-WAN products, which fall under the company's Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) architecture. VCN defines how customers can built and control network connectivity and security from the data center across the WAN to multi-cloud environments. The company's core networking software, VMware NSX, underpins the VCN architecture, which also includes analytics capabilities.To read this article in full, please click here
VMware is extending its core virtual networking product family in an effort to help companies build infrastructure that can stand up to today's challenges, including the shift to remote work and the need to securely move applications across the distributed enterprise.The enhancements span VMware's Tanzu, NSX and SD-WAN products, which fall under the company's Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) architecture. VCN defines how customers can built and control network connectivity and security from the data center across the WAN to multi-cloud environments. The company's core networking software, VMware NSX, underpins the VCN architecture, which also includes analytics capabilities.To read this article in full, please click here
Palo Alto is rolling out a cloud service that promises to protect the highly distributed data in contemporary enterprises.The cloud service -- Enterprise Data Loss Prevention (DLP) – will help prevent data breaches by automatically identifying confidential intellectual property and personally identifiable information across the enterprise, Palo Alto stated.Data breaches are a huge and growing problem worldwide, but most of the current DLP systems were only designed to help global-scale organizations that have huge data protection budgets and staffs. Legacy and point solutions are not accessible, appropriate or effective for many of the companies that need them, said Anand Oswal, senior vice president and general manager with Palo Alto Networks.To read this article in full, please click here
Palo Alto is rolling out a cloud service that promises to protect the highly distributed data in contemporary enterprises.The cloud service -- Enterprise Data Loss Prevention (DLP) – will help prevent data breaches by automatically identifying confidential intellectual property and personally identifiable information across the enterprise, Palo Alto stated.Data breaches are a huge and growing problem worldwide, but most of the current DLP systems were only designed to help global-scale organizations that have huge data protection budgets and staffs. Legacy and point solutions are not accessible, appropriate or effective for many of the companies that need them, said Anand Oswal, senior vice president and general manager with Palo Alto Networks.To read this article in full, please click here
IBM continued enhancing its core Cloud Pak hybrid cloud software offerings, this week bolstering automation and data features that will let customers simplify everything from software provisioning and patching, to data discovery and document processing.IBM Cloud Paks are bundles of Red Hat’s Kubernetes-based OpenShift Container Platform along with Red Hat Linux and a variety of connecting technologies to let enterprise customers deploy and manage containers on their choice of private or public infrastructure, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
The driving idea behind Cloud Paks is to ease the building, orchestrating and managing of multiple containers for enterprise workloads. To read this article in full, please click here
When it comes to effectively managing a multicloud environment, there are a ton of network and application metrics that enterprise customers should be watching.Among enterprises, the trend is toward multicloud environments, which can include workloads running on-premises and in public clouds run by multiple cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM/Red Hat, Google Cloud Platform and others. Gartner predicts by 2021, more than 75% of midsize and large organizations will have adopted some form of a multicloud and/or hybrid IT strategy. Likewise, IDC predicts that by 2022, more than 90% of enterprises worldwide will be relying on a mix of on-premises/dedicated private clouds, multiple public clouds, and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.To read this article in full, please click here
Simplifying security options for enterprise customers is a daunting task, and it can be even harder in the current pandemic-driven workforce environment. But Cisco is taking steps to both streamline and bolster its security menu, according to news out of its virtual Partner Summit conference. For starters, Cisco is eliminating 50 product names and simplifying its offerings within the renamed Cisco Secure portfolio. Cisco is also reinforcing its key platforms, including its SecureX and zero trust packages. (See related story, Cisco software upgrades to simplify hybrid-cloud management, operations)To read this article in full, please click here
Simplifying security options for enterprise customers is a daunting task, and it can be even harder in the current pandemic-driven workforce environment. But Cisco is taking steps to both streamline and bolster its security menu, according to news out of its virtual Partner Summit conference. For starters, Cisco is eliminating 50 product names and simplifying its offerings within the renamed Cisco Secure portfolio. Cisco is also reinforcing its key platforms, including its SecureX and zero trust packages. (See related story, Cisco software upgrades to simplify hybrid-cloud management, operations)To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco has upgraded some of its core software packages to help customers manage, control and automate functions in hybrid and multicloud data-center environments.With the needs of the pandemic-driven, highly distributed workforce as a backdrop, Cisco is looking to provide visibility and insights into what’s happening across customers’ cloud infrastructure. At the same time it's busting the siloed IT operations many customers have that hold back agile digital-application development, said Prashanth Shenoy, Cisco vice president of marketing. “Businesses are rethinking their IT platforms for multicloud operations, and we are providing the tools to help them transform faster with insights and automation,” Shenoy said.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco has upgraded some of its core software packages to help customers manage, control and automate functions in hybrid and multicloud data-center environments.With the needs of the pandemic-driven, highly distributed workforce as a backdrop, Cisco is looking to provide visibility and insights into what’s happening across customers’ cloud infrastructure. At the same time it's busting the siloed IT operations many customers have that hold back agile digital-application development, said Prashanth Shenoy, Cisco vice president of marketing. “Businesses are rethinking their IT platforms for multicloud operations, and we are providing the tools to help them transform faster with insights and automation,” Shenoy said.To read this article in full, please click here
Michael Cooney