Virtual Cloud Network Deep Dive: Join us in New York and Toronto!

Attention New York and Toronto, the NSX team is heading your way to deliver Deep Dive Sessions to help you get a jump start on taking your company’s networking and security to the next level!

With fall in the air, many of us are in the planning stages for big improvements for the year ahead. If your IT team is feeling pressure to increase agility, stay productive and help your company innovate, then you won’t want to miss these sessions to get a head start on the latest approach to networking and security.

The Problem with the Old Approach to Networking and Security

Traditional, hardware-based approaches to networking and security are pedantic, inflexible, and notoriously slow-moving. At the same time, the complexity around applications, services and data is increasing, while new, more sophisticated and ever-evolving threats are also in the mix – making IT teams responsible for more environments than ever before (data, cloud, branches, and the edge, oh my!). That’s all to say, there’s a lot to solve for. Luckily the NSX team has your back.

Build Your Foundation for a Virtual Cloud Network

VMware NSX® is an innovative networking and security approach that changes the Continue reading

Learn How Tomorrow is Built: Sign Up for vForum Online Fall 2018

Some of the best things in life are at our fingertips: grocery delivery, the ability to schedule a cleaner with just a few clicks, hailing and tracking drivers from your phone – and now we’d like to add instantly and conveniently accessing information that can completely transform your organization’s IT infrastructure – all from the comfort of your own laptop, from wherever you happen to be.

That’s right – this year, VMware is delighted to present an online event designed to give you all the information you’ll need to help inspire serious changes to IT infrastructure within your organization. This half-day virtual IT event will feature incredible insight from vExperts that’s sure to inspire and educate IT professionals who are itching to deliver serious digital transformation around how to modernize data centers, integrate public clouds, transform networks and security, and secure digital workplaces.

vForum Online

Tuesday, October 9, 2018
9:00 am – 2:00 pm PDT / 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT

The robust agenda and stellar lineup boasts everything from education and inspiration to actual implementation, including:

• Keynote featuring VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, “Technology Superpowers: Pushing Through the Boundaries of What’s Possible” that’s sure to inspire;
• 28 technical Continue reading

Virtual Cloud Network Deep Dive: Join us in Minneapolis and the Bay Area!

Business moves fast in today’s digital landscape. Applications, services, and data are becoming more distributed, while threats are becoming more sophisticated. From data centers and the cloud to branches and the edge, IT teams are responsible for more environments than ever before, and the complexity is only increasing.

If your IT organization is under pressure to stay productive, increase agility, and help the business innovate, you know that expectations are high. You’re on the hook to:

• Expand your software fluency and vendor agnostic knowledge for complex, interdependent infrastructures
• Deliver a seamless and secure cross-cloud networking strategy
• Keep up with continually changing applications and rapid development lifecycles
• Identify every threat across environments, no matter how many alerts there are

Traditional, hardware-based approaches to networking and security can’t help you do all that. They’re inflexible and slow-moving; they require time-consuming manual intervention; they can’t connect and protect all the apps your business needs. That’s why it’s time to reinvent the network…in software.

Build Your Foundation for a Virtual Cloud Network

Our digital, app-centric world can be daunting, but a programmable network was built to meet these changing demands and evolve right along with them. VMware NSX® delivers the foundation for a Continue reading

NSX Cloud at VMworld US 2018

We have done a series of blogs on NSX Cloud in the last couple of weeks and the response has been great! We have customers who have purchased licenses already and are on-route to deployment, customers with whom we have completed POCs successfully, and a pipeline that looks promising. Meanwhile, recognitions continue to flow from all sides, CRN rated NSX Cloud as one of the 10 best SDN solutions for 2018 and NSX Cloud was judged as Best of Show runners-up in the cloud computing category at Interop Tokyo. With all this excitement and VMworld around the corner, we couldn’t help but write again to provide more updates. So, here we go!

Before reading on, if you would like to quickly go over past blogs, here is your single pane of glass to past blogs *wink*. You can find a high-level overview of VMware’s vision for Virtual Cloud Network and how NSX Cloud fits into the broader vision over here. If you are like, duh! I know that, can you just give me an overview about NSX Cloud… we hear you and this is where you could go to refresh your memory on NSX Cloud.  If you are Continue reading

Become a VMware NSX Expert Today

If you’ve wanted to learn about VMware NSX, a L2-L7 networking and security virtualization platform entirely in software, and didn’t know where to start, this is the guide for you. Already an NSX user, and want to improve on your skills? This is also a great resource to becoming an NSXpert!

Reintroducing the VMware NSX Networking and Security Portfolio

VMware NSX is a network virtualization and security platform that offers a rich, full-stack of L2-L7 networking services such as routing, switching, load balancing, and firewalling to connect, protect, automate, and manage workloads across private, public and hybrid cloud environment as well as branch and cloud edge environments.

The VMware NSX portfolio consists of a complete set of networking and security offerings designed to address customer use-cases supporting workloads based on virtual machines (VMs), containers, and bare-metal.

Here are the core components of the NSX portfolio:

• NSX Data Center is the flagship NSX platform designed to connect and protect workloads in and across data center environments.
• NSX Cloud extends the networking and security capabilities of NSX to workloads running natively in public clouds such as AWS and Azure.
• NSX Distributed IDS/IPS is a fully distributed software intrusion Continue reading

Where in the World is NSX?

VMware NSX is going worldwide! We’ll be out and about through the end of the year, spreading networking and security love across America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. Our goal is to help agile organizations move toward a Virtual Cloud Network with consistent connectivity, branch optimization, and security across all infrastructure.

Whether we’ll be at a booth, product demo, talk, or otherwise – we want to connect! Join us at any of the major conferences and NSX upcoming events listed below to chat with our product experts. And, if you think you’ll be in attendance, be sure to tweet at us to let us know!

NSX Upcoming Events

Checkpoint CPX –  2/4
When: February 2 – 4, 2019
Where: Las Vegas, NV
Click here to learn more

Networking Field Day – 2/13
When: February 13 – 15, 2019
Where: Palo Alto, CA
Click here to learn more

Mobile World Congress – 2/25
When: February 25 – 28, 2019
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Click here to learn more

RSAC – 3/4
When: March 4 – 8, 2019
Where: San Francisco, CA
Click here to learn more

Cisco Live APJ– 3/5
When: March 5 Continue reading

The VMware NSX® Roadshow is Coming to a City Near You

VMware NSX enterprise-grade solutions support your path toward network virtualization, micro-segmentation, application availability, IT automation, and cross-cloud architecture. And while we mostly live in the cloud, we’re coming back to Earth and taking our proverbial show on the road with the VMware NSX® Roadshow. It all goes down this summer, in a city near you!

VMware NSX® Roadshow workshops are designed specifically for networking and security professionals and delivered in a casual, interactive setting. Each participant gets the chance to engage one-on-one with VMware NSX product experts to ask questions, get hands-on help, and network with other people interested in, well, networks!

When you sign up, you’ll learn how agile organizations are using a Virtual Cloud Network as a north star to guide them toward creating a network built on best practice pillars like consistent connectivity, branch optimization, and security across all infrastructure.

Upcoming Events

Join us to talk shop, meet and greet, get deep drives on hot topics, product demos, and guided one-on-ones with product experts in one of the following cities:

Detroit – 7/17

When: July 17, 2018, from 1:00 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.

Where: Westin Southfield Detroit

1500 Town Center

Southfield, Continue reading

NSX Cloud Blog Series Part 2: A Consistent Security Posture Across Your Hybrid Cloud

We now dig deeper into the cloud security use-case.  As more and more companies embrace cloud, the cloud IT teams are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that these cloud deployments are secure. Cloud inherently brings in new environments, and these cloud security teams are now faced with ensuring Enterprise security policy consistency across these multiple disparate cloud environments.

VMware NSX Cloud addresses these challenges, offering a common security and micro-segmentation platform across the on-premises and cloud environment. Together with NSX Data Center, it provides a single pane of glass to provision and manages consistent security controls not only for cross-cloud communication but also within each cloud.

Let’s start with VISIBILITY. You can’t protect what you can’t see. As a cloud infrastructure/security team, you may have to manage 1 AWS cloud account (subscription in Azure) and 1 AWS VPC (VNET in Azure) … or you may be managing 500+ accounts/subscriptions, each having multiple VPCs / VNETs. As cloud deployments bring automation and higher levels of agility, the cloud footprint that you would be responsible for can quickly become large and constantly evolve. How do you ensure that this dynamic environment is secure?

Focused on this specific Continue reading

NSX Cloud Blog Series: Part 1

On the heels of announcing general availability of NSX Cloud on June 5^th, we’re pleased to announce that NSX Cloud was selected as Best of Show runners-up in the cloud computing category at Interop Tokyo. The full list of all winners is available here. For those unfamiliar, Interop Tokyo is a major event of over 140,000 attendees, and this award requires an hour presentation including a demo and Q&A to the Interop Committee, so this award came with some scrutiny and we’re proud to have received it.

Let’s deep dive a little into what NSX Cloud is all about. As enterprises make the transition to a hybrid cloud model, new challenges inherent to managing this hybrid cloud model arise, including: how to extend enterprise network policies seamlessly to the cloud, how to have complete operational visibility into traffic flows across your hybrid environment, and how to maintain a consistent security policy across private and public clouds. These are key concerns for Network and Security administrators as well as cloud architects. NSX Cloud is designed to address these requirements.

NSX Cloud together with NSX Data Center provides a uniform operational model across Public Cloud and on-premises Continue reading

Pivotal Container Service (PKS) Integration With NSX-T Data Center: A lab study with Tips

Contributions from: Alka Gupta, Prasad Kalpurekkal

Pivotal Container Service (PKS) aims to simplify how enterprises deploy, run and manage Kubernetes clusters on any cloud. For detailed documentation of PKS installation and configuration, go here. For details on configuring PKS with NSX-T Data Center, go here.

Every enterprise wants to run containers in production. However, primary questions being asked are: “How do I get Kubernetes to work in my data center? How do I simplify deployment of Kubernets clusters? What about Networking and Security? ”

PKS answers these questions with a feature set tailored to the requirements of the enterprises.  Read about PKS features in detail here.

One of the features PKS offers is tight integration with NSX-T Data Center, enabling advanced networking and security for container based emerging application architectures, just as it does for traditional 3-tier apps. In these environments, NSX-T Data Center provides Layer 3 container networking and advanced networking services such as built-in load balancing, micro-segmentation, multi-tenancy, central visibility with a central SDN controller, network topology choices and more. We demonstrated this at the Network Field Day 17 which you can see here.

In this blog, we call out the work done at VMware Global Solutions Partner lab on configuring Pivotal Continue reading

NSX Workshop: Secure App Infrastructure and Multi-Site Cloud Networking

[Summer 2018] Free NSX Training Workshop near you!

Secure Application Infrastructure and Multi-Site Cloud Networking

What: Attend a half-day lecture and lab designed to get you started with Micro-segmentation and Multi-Site Cloud Networking (Disaster Recovery).

Why: Not only will you get a business and technical overview of NSX Data Center, you’ll also receive hands-on experience with the products. We’ll make sure you leave knowing how NSX can help secure and extend your network across multiple sites, and into the cloud.

Sneak peek (full agenda in registration links):

• Security: Understand your network traffic flows and intelligently create security groups and policies, leveraging vRNI, Service Composer, and Application Rule Manager to secure your network.
• Disaster Recovery: Deep dive into multi-site NSX Data Center topologies, learn how to architect your network overlays, and gain visibility across your virtual and physical networks – all so you can build a resilient and flexible network.

RSVP your spot today (click below):

• • 6/5 – Irvine, CA – Security
  • 6/7 – Portland, OR – Disaster Recovery
  • 6/7 – Ontario, CA – Disaster Recovery
  • 6/12 – San Francisco, CA – Disaster Recovery
  • 6/13 – New York, NY – Disaster Recovery
  • 6/14 – Walnut Creek, CA – Disaster Continue reading

GET IN THERE! Sign up for VMware’s Hands-On Labs and Enter to Win a Paid Trip to VMworld 2018

VMworld is almost upon us! As the world’s premier digital infrastructure event, VMworld attracts the most talented professionals around the world who care deeply about virtualization and cloud computing.

If you’re new to VMware products and want to get a deep dive, take any of our newly released Hands-on Labs (including the extremely popular “NSX -Getting Started”) to get one-on-one guidance from VMware experts that you can bring back to your organization to hit the ground running. Hands-on Labs (HOL) are the fastest, easiest way to test-drive the full technical capabilities of VMware products for free and without needing to install anything.

Sign up for a Qualifying Hands-on Lab and Enter to Win a Free Trip to VMworld

As an added bonus, if you sign up for a qualifying Hands-on Lab, you’ll be entered to win an all-expenses-paid trip to VMworld US or Europe (up to $5,000 USD). The winner will not only rub elbows with the team that delivers HOL, they’ll also get VIP access to the “behind the scenes” command centers.

As a VMworld attendee and Hands-on Labs student, you’ll gain special access to the latest VMware technologies without being required to purchase equipment, Continue reading

Zero Trust. Maximize Network Virtualization and Micro-segmentation

VMware recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate how organizations are improving the security of their infrastructure through network virtualization and micro-segmentation.

Zero Trust. Maximize Network Virtualization and Micro-segmentation

It’s official: when it comes to security threats, the question IT teams should be asking is not if but when. VMware recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate how organizations are improving the security of their infrastructure through network virtualization and micro-segmentation. Analysis found that 92% of respondents reported having faced minor security incidents in the last 12 months alone, while 65% of respondents endured a major incident in the same time span. These figures seal the deal; the naïve days of preparing for potential issues are long gone. Cyber threats are real, imminent, and happen often.

Companies today attribute more of their security issues to improper network segmentation than to the volume of threats overall. In response, leaders across industries are turning to network virtualization – specifically the Zero Trust security model – as a key strategy in combating threats. This strategy posits that whether a network is labeled secure or insecure, both should be treated as equally vulnerable. Further, the Zero Trust model supports the argument that ”traditional, perimeter-based security configurations are no longer a sufficient measure for protecting the network, and highlights steps companies can take to better secure their network, starting with network virtualization Continue reading

VMware Welcomes Tom Gillis as SVP & General Manager, Networking and Security Business Unit

Back at Interop Las Vegas in 2013, less than one year after VMware acquired Nicira, then VMware’s chief architect of networking Martin Casado stated what was probably the understatement of the decade: “it’s a very exciting time to be in networking.”

With the birth of software-defined networking, pioneered by folks like Casado, the industry entered into a transformation unlike anything we’ve seen since the invention of Ethernet. The entire industry — from fascinating start-ups to the big players — rushed to challenge networking’s historical operational model, leveraging the power of software to help move networking into the future. Customers have embraced this model, where they can not only provision networking components in minutes without the need to modify the application, but they can also deliver micro-segmentation and granular security to each individual workload. It’s become a huge part of the success story for our customers, our partners and VMware ourselves.

Since then, we have continued to build out the portfolio with Software-Defined WAN, multi-cloud networking, hybrid cloud connectivity and network operations management and visibility solutions. And this week at Dell Technologies World, our CEO Pat Gelsinger laid out the Virtual Cloud Network, our vision for a software-defined network architecture Continue reading

Boston Medical Center Secures Electronic Patient Records with VMware NSX

Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center Hospital merged in 1996 to form Boston Medical Center (BMC).  This 497-bed teaching hospital in the South End of Boston provides primary and critical care to a diverse population and houses the largest Level 1 trauma center in New England.

As a 24-hour hub for surgeries and life-sustaining medical care, BMC relies heavily on technology to support all operations, from appointment scheduling to vital health monitoring and imaging systems. Boston Medical Center has standardized on vSphere as a virtualization platform for its data centers.  With their server infrastructure almost 90% virtualized, BMC uses VMware vCloud Suite, Site Recovery Manager, vRealize Operations Manager, and has recently added NSX to better secure its Epic Electronic Medical Records platform.

In 2015, BMC implemented the Dell DRIVE system, including VMware, to consolidate and digitize medical records storage and delivery on Epic. While the Epic records must be constantly accessible to health care providers, who require immediate access to essential patient information throughout the hospital system, those same records must also be protected from intrusion or misuse. According to David Bass, SDDC Engineer at Boston Medical Center, “The type of data that Continue reading

Join NSX at RSA, Dell Technologies World, and Interop Conferences

Conference season is upon us, and the NSX team will be out in full effect. Join us at any of the following events to get a demo, ask us questions, and hear us wax poetic about all things security and network virtualization!

RSA Conference

April 16–20, 2018
Moscone Center
San Francisco, CA
Booth #4101, North Hall

NSX is delighted to attend everyone’s favorite security conference, RSA. This year’s theme is “Now Matters,” aptly named in time with the astounding number of threats to cybersecurity and data breaches we’ve collectively seen in the news this year. That said, don’t miss a great talk on how app architecture “now matters” when it comes to transforming security by Tomrn, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Security Products, VMware. His session will be on April 17 from 1:00pm–1:45pm. The team will also be doing demos at the VMware booth (#4101 in the North Hall) – so be sure to swing by and chat with us about our offerings. 

VMware Speaking Sessions at RSA Conference:

• “How Cloud, Mobility, and Shifting App Architectures Will Transform Security” by Tom Corn

NSX Mindset Reception:

Join us for a NSX Mindset reception with VMware Continue reading

How NSX Is Tapping into the Human Element Behind Network Virtualization

Virtualization can be a tricky concept for some people to wrap their heads around. Trying to explain the functionalities and benefits of technology like VMware NSX can quickly devolve into techno-babble. With that said, we’re trying to take another approach—a more human approach. Below are three customer stories that emphasize a human-interest element behind network... Read more →

How NSX Is Tapping into the Human Element Behind Network Virtualization

Virtualization can be a tricky concept for some people to wrap their heads around. Trying to explain the functionalities and benefits of technology like VMware NSX can quickly devolve into techno-babble. With that said, we’re trying to take another approach—a more human approach. Below are three customer stories that emphasize a human-interest element behind network virtualization and showcase the power of technologies like NSX to better human lives.

NSX Powers a ‘Classroom in the Cloud’ for Illinois Students

 When the technology leaders of Bloomington’s public schools started looking for a way to make advanced, enterprise-level computing and Internet services affordable to students, they went the co-op route and turned to IlliniCloud. IlliniCloud has proven to be a game-changer for a public education system in crisis. The co-op is transforming the technology infrastructures of not just Bloomington’s public school district, but every school district in Illinois with an affordable and efficient model that results in major cost savings for schools, along with upgrades in technology and aging infrastructures.

VMware is the backbone of IlliniCloud and a natural fit, according to Jason Radford, CTO of IlliniCloud: “VMware believed in the IlliniCloud. They gave us the tools that were Continue reading

Want to Learn More About SD-WAN? Register for Our SD-WAN 101 Webinar Series

No other technology in recent history has experienced the growth rate that SD-WAN currently possesses. The buzz is high, the benefits are numerous, and its strategic position in digital transformation is critical. Enterprises are changing their legacy networks and dramatically improving the way they do business, offering next-generation technology today because of SD-WAN.

You May Be Wondering:

• What makes SD-WAN different than a WAN?
• Why is it so important to the network fabric of today’s businesses?
• Why is it so transformative?
• How can it help me and my business?

If you’ve asked these questions and want to understand SD-WAN better and determine if it’s a good fit for your business, sign up for our VeloCloud SD-WAN 101 webinar. Choose the date that works best for you!

This webinar will provide you with the essential information you’ll need to understand SD-WAN. You’ll learn how to leverage SD-WAN to improve and optimize your existing network to meet your business needs. And, you’ll gain a clear understanding of next steps in determining your path forward with SD-WAN.

Register today: http://www.velocloud.com/sd-wan-resources/webinars/sd-wan-101

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