News Summary

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced Fortinet Secure SD-WAN for Multi-Cloud, a networking and security solution that solves common application performance, visibility, cost, and control challenges associated with multi-cloud deployments by enabling SD-WAN across multiple clouds and regions.

Most enterprises today – 93% by recent estimates – have a multi-cloud strategy in place and work with multiple cloud providers to meet a number of business needs, including disaster recovery, data backup, application resiliency, and global coverage. However, managing and securing an assortment of different private and public cloud workloads and environments remains a challenge, with many organizations choosing to connect their clouds via their on-premises data center WAN edge. The use of this type of traditional WAN infrastructure approach, though secure, inhibits multi-cloud capabilities and results in deployment complexity, inconsistent network performance, and expensive connectivity.

John Maddison, EVP of products and CMO at Fortinet

“For enterprises deploying applications and workloads across multiple clouds, the need to seamlessly manage connectivity and maintain security across the diverse infrastructure is higher than ever. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solutions provide connectivity and security across diverse cloud infrastructures while optimizing application user experience. Fortinet enables enterprises to realize the true potential of SD-WAN by enabling it to be implemented anywhere. From home, campus to cloud, data center to cloud, and now cloud to cloud, Fortinet delivers the industry’s most scalable, cost effective and secure SD-WAN solution on the market.”

Fortinet Secure SD-WAN for Multi-Cloud is a new approach to establishing secure and high-performance connectivity between public cloud workloads running on multiple clouds without increasing cost and complexity. Available in all major cloud providers, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN for Multi-cloud enables a consistent network architecture leveraging SD-WAN capabilities between clouds and empowers application developers and enterprise IT to build a high speed and seamless cloud-to-cloud network and security architecture. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN for Multi-Cloud uniquely offers a secure and effective infrastructure for maximizing the benefits of enterprise multi-cloud deployments by:

• Automating the deployment of a consistent overlay network across different cloud networks, reducing complexity and increasing agility to save teams time and resources.
• Offers end-to-end visibility, control, and centralized management that unifies functionality across multiple cloud environments through cloud native integrations.
• Securely transports application traffic between clouds without needing to backhaul through the data center, enabling better scaling of deployments and reducing latency.
• Intelligently selects connections based on application characteristics employing dynamic path selection, improving performance and optimizing cost by selecting the best internet or leased line link.
• Provides an application developer-friendly API to enable programmers the ability to consistently represent their network and security requirements.

Fortinet Performance Advantage On-Premises and in the Cloud

Fortinet delivers Secure SD-WAN as an integrated feature of its industry-leading FortiGate Next-generation Firewall, powered by the industry’s first SD-WAN ASIC to enable better application experience, higher performance, and better cost efficiency – with Security Compute Ratings up to 17 times better than competitor solutions. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN for Multi-Cloud, delivered via FortiGate-VM, a virtual appliance, is powered by Fortinet’s patented vSPU technology and maintains a performance advantage in the cloud, including over 20Gbps of IPsec performance – 10 times the industry average – for fast encrypted connections over internet and leased line links to reduce operational costs. By leveraging the broad FortiGate-VM footprint across all major cloud platforms, as well as market leading FortiGate appliances on-premises, enterprise organizations can benefit from cloud-agnostic consistent multi-cloud networks without compromising on security and performance.

Fortinet Secure SD-WAN for Multi-Cloud, which securely connects applications and workloads across multiple clouds, complements Fortinet’s existing Secure SD-WAN Cloud On-Ramp capabilities to securely connect users and offices to applications and cloud workloads. 

SD-WAN for the Entire End-to-End Enterprise

Fortinet delivers a Secure SD-WAN product portfolio designed for the entire end-to-end enterprise with physical appliances for large data centers, branch offices, remote sites, and home offices, as well as virtual appliances for multi-cloud deployments. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN’s ability to scale from home office to branch to cloud all tied to a single operating system via the Fortinet Security Fabric ensures networking and security policies seamlessly work across multiple environments and cloud platforms, enabled by the latest threat intelligence from FortiGuard Labs.

By: Morten Illum, VP EMEA, HPE Aruba

Organisations across every industry sector are currently experiencing change on an unprecedented scale as they look to digitally transform operations, through the implementation of digital devices, smart technologies, and an ever-expanding network, in the search for a competitive advantage. However, in order to leverage and evolve how we use data collected though digital transformation, it’s increasingly clear every business should be looking to the edge of their network. Where data and processing power were once concentrated in the back-office, now they live at the Edge, near the people who are using it – as both employees and customers.

A book, ‘Opportunity at the Edge’ from Fast Future, in collaboration with Aruba, demonstrates that Edge technologies have the potential to overhaul business models, transform user experiences, and even create entirely new industries.

Edge computing is defined as products that facilitate data processing at or near the source of data generation, delivers far speedier results than traditional architectures. At the Edge, enterprises can deploy technology, from the mobiles that customers use to connect to service, to the sensors that can track activity, and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can analyse the data collected in real time, to create user experiences that are faster, more dynamic and personalised to individual needs. Edge computing technologies –– This makes it possible for every organisation to provide a radically improved level of service.

According to Gartner, edge computing will be a necessary requirement for all digital businesses by 2022. But with business and technical hurdles to overcome, how can CIOs manage the business strategy of implementing their network at the edge? With potentially trillions of dollars being invested in the hope of generating huge economic returns, the argument for paying attention to the Edge opportunity is clear and the window for learning and action is narrowing.

Leadership

In order to truly embrace the Edge, you have to start at the top. Senior-level management must develop a deep understanding of the shifts taking place in the marketplace, and the opportunities and challenges posed by adopting the edge as a cornerstone of business strategy. What’s more, leaders need to understand how the technologies will enable their business to create these new opportunities and recognising that it transcends the realm of IT, opening up new avenues of business. For instance, in the hospitality sector, Edge solutions can help create more personalised experiences for guests. Interaction between the guest’s intelligent assistant and the hotel can ensure that the mini-bar is stocked only with what is in their approved diet, and digital restaurant menus can automatically update using the same information, such as removing any high sugar content dishes. But with change comes challenge – the c-suite needs to have a full understanding of the challenges when making the transition and learn from other companies who have embarked on both successful and failed digital transformation efforts.

In order to succeed, managers need to prioritise objectives, ensuring that both IT and wider business resources are not spread too thinly across multiple projects. Senior leadership’s key role will be to provide the resources and direction to ensure projects stay focused on their goals and can deliver meaningful results. Stakeholder engagement is critical here – the scale of the opportunity, the size of the transformation, and the commercial risks of inaction need to be communicated clearly to critical stakeholders from employees and managers to shareholders and the board.

Develop and Evolve the Business Case

From the outset, it is important to understand that the business case for deploying edge technologies is likely to evolve over time. While assumptions will need to be made at the start of the process, in order to give the project direction, this will likely change and evolve once businesses gain more practical experience implementing edge-based solutions and are in a better place to understand the true benefits for customers and the organisation.

The key factor in evolving business cases will be responding to feedback from the end user or employees. While enterprises may have to adjust the solution as they hit technological barriers or come up against an unwillingness to invest from senior stakeholders, the biggest success factor in delivering on the business case will be understanding and responding to any adverse consumer and employee reactions over how these technologies might be used and how they might impact personal privacy. Trust and transparency are going to be key to implementation.

Security and Risk Management

As with any large-scale transformation, adopting edge-based strategies has inherent security challenges and risks, and many have raised concerns about the potential invasion of privacy and misuse of customer data. Operationally, the critical risk here is not investing enough in mind-set change, digital literacy across the business, and the capability of IT to lead and deliver edge strategies.

According to Fast Future’s book, the most voted for security fear is that Edge solutions could potentially create thousands of points of risk exposure across the network for hackers to take advantage of (82%). Every enterprise that moves towards the Edge must act to pre-empt the security threats inherent to a network newly flooded with connected devices. Fundamental to these opportunities is the need for robust, centrally-managed network infrastructure – one that provides visibility and control in an increasingly complex, and potentially vulnerable, enterprise environment. Enterprises must also work on the basis of an open technology ecosystem that leaves them with the room to adapt and evolve over time, as priorities change. Businesses will have to show stakeholders that the benefits of edge technologies far outweigh any privacy fears, and that any data captured will only be used to evolve and improve their experiences.

It’s clear that, if implemented correctly, Edge is going to be key to evolving businesses and getting a digital advantage over competitors. fast becoming the single most important trend for enterprises in the coming years, which will be able to contend with the quickly evolving expectations of consumers for more seamless, customised and on-demand services. But in order to implement these solutions effectively, enterprises must take heed of both the benefits and challenges such an extensive implementation may cause and pre-empt them ahead of time. Companies need to focus not just on installing technology, but upgrading the institutional mindset towards a more experimental approach, and improving digital literacy across the board

Those that lay the foundation now from a technical and structural standpoint, will be best placed to take advantage of the Edge potential.

Mohammed Hejazi has been appointed to lead Dimension Data’s operations in the Middle East as company consolidates Saudi and UAE entities

Dimension Data today announced the restructuring of its operations in the Middle East with the aim of elevating its customer-centric market approach through streamlined decision making, enhanced organisational synergy, and a unified go-to-market strategy. In line with this undertaking, Mohammed Hejazi, who has served in regional sales and leadership positions at the company for nearly a decade, has been appointed to lead the newly consolidated Middle East entity.

Outlining his objectives as the Managing Director for Dimension Data Middle East, Hejazi said, “Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries in the Middle East have clearly demonstrated their desire to be global technology pioneers. By merging our team, we are bringing together the expertly qualified technical, sales and support resources that have been driving innovation for some of the region’s largest and most prestigious public and private sector organisations.”

“We have reorganised ourselves with growth and the market needs in mind. This move transforms Dimension Data into a truly client led company that will continue to spearhead the digital transformation of the Middle East through collaborative, co-creation with our customers,” he added.

The company’s strategy in the region will now strongly pivot around five go-to-market areas to deliver intelligent technology and services that are aligned to our clients’ journeys, including Intelligent Infrastructure, Intelligent Workplace, Intelligent Customer Experience, Intelligent Business Applications, and Intelligent Security.

Hejazi reassured customers that Dimension Data will continue to deliver services seamlessly and efficiently through the integration process. “Recent months have highlighted that now more than ever, digital technologies are critical to unlocking business potential. As the market evolves at breakneck pace, we were committed to working together with our clients to enabled them to remain industry vanguards and power their digital futures by using game-changing technologies,” he said.

Riverbed® today launched its expanded ‘Rethink Possible: Visibility and Network Performance – The Pillars of Business Success’’ Study, focused on the public sector. The study revealed that 89% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) and 82% of business decision makers (BDMs) in the public sector believe productivity is reliant on effective network and application performance. In addition, three-quarters of those surveyed (72% ITDMs and 79% BDMs) agreed that visibility into IT performance is the key to driving business innovation and staff retention.

These and other findings in the study highlight the necessity for public sector organisations to have effective IT infrastructure in order to be successfully productive, innovative and drive their growth. These are key considerations given the critical challenges public sector organisations are facing to maintain infrastructure, policing, health, and political balance in today’s environment.

Poor visibility and outdated systems proving to be a hindrance

Decision makers within the public sector recognise that improved visibility into network and application performance will have a direct, positive impact on their organisations’ development. In fact, over three-quarters of ITDMs (77%) think that having more visibility into their organisation’s systems will help to mitigate risk and ensure productivity. Both of which are essential factors in improving efficiency, driving employee engagement, and developing projects within public sector organisations. However, a clear conflict exists in the public sector between the visibility experienced by the IT teams and business decision makers. More than half of ITDMs (54%) state that they do not have enough visibility into the performance of their networks, applications, or infrastructure, compared to 76% of BDMs who believe IT has a comprehensive overview of applications. This disconnect may be why 75% of public sector leaders surveyed felt frustrated by their current network performance (74% of BDMs and 76% of ITDMs). Ensuring ITDMs and BDMs see eye-to-eye is paramount to helping them recognise the need for new technology that will improve visibility and performance, overcoming this frustration.

Productivity and organisational growth need the right IT infrastructure

As the recent global pandemic has shown, the public sector needs technology that evolves with the increasing demands placed on national services. In fact, over 90% of IT decision makers in the public sector believe future success hinges on their organisations’ ability to innovate and break boundaries. It is therefore encouraging to see that over 85% of both ITDMs (89%) and BDMs (86%) in the public sector believe there should be more investment in technology solutions that enhance overall IT visibility. With more than three quarters (78%) of public sector leaders agreeing that investment in next-generation technology is vital, organisations need to act quickly or they risk not only diminishing productivity levels from employees but also failing to keep up with customer needs and expectations.

Commenting on the research findings, Mena Migally, Senior Director, MENA at Riverbed, said: “Strong IT infrastructure is essential for any business but in the public sector – where ineffective systems cause major disruptions for national government departments, non-departmental public bodies such as the NHS, and service delivery – it is crucial. Especially during these unprecedented times, it is really positive to see that both IT and business decision makers in the public sector recognise the need to invest in the right technology to optimise their IT infrastructure – for both employees in the office and those working remotely – and successfully achieve business growth, now and in the future.

Migally, continued, “At Riverbed, we want to encourage public sector leaders to work together in order to identify and overcome the IT challenges they may be facing, from the lack of visibility, to poor network performance and inefficiencies due to outdated infrastructure. We fundamentally believe that in finding a solution to these problems, ITDMs and BDMs can unlock the capability to evolve their business, drive innovation, boost productivity and ultimately, achieve success in the public sector.”

Rethink Possible: Evolving the Digital Experience

Over 80% of all public sector leaders (87% of ITDMs and 81% of BDMs) agree that organisations must rethink what is possible to gain true success in today’s fast-moving world. Technology has to be the enabler in the process. Riverbed’s portfolio of next-generation solutions is giving customers in the public sector across the globe the visibility, acceleration, optimisation and connectivity that maximizes performance and visibility for networks and applications.

To find out more, download the full ‘Rethink Possible: Visibility and Network Performance – The Pillars of Business Success’ report by visiting here, and join in the conversation here.

By: Claude Schuck, Regional Manager, Middle East at Veeam

Over the last few months, we’ve seen many organizations in Saudi Arabia have arranged for employees to work from home. Living in the golden age of Digital Transformation means that we are connected at all times. Consequently, the workplace today has evolved significantly to allow individuals to communicate seamlessly and connect from anywhere through mobile devices, digital tools, cloud services and many more. But what does this mean for organizations and the protection of its data?

With many employees working from home, businesses can expect a huge spike of personal file storing coming in from external sources. This is the perfect opportunity for malicious malware to make their way into servers, potentially corrupting a network of data.

Here are some of the necessary steps businesses should be taking to protect their data and IT architecture:

3 layers in the circle of defense

Businesses need to be aware of how they manage data between cloud and consider tools that will give them an advantage. Today, businesses are continuously backing up and replicating applications and we can only expect this to increase over the next few years as others learn the significance of data that are easily recoverable.

They need to understand the different roles that are needed for consideration when optimizing their systems for backup and replication. This can be easily summed up into the 3 layers of defense in data protection.

• Perimeter: Firstly, businesses must consider the situation at hand – in this instance, it is remote working or working from home. Protection must be made available for employees to be able to access the cloud and in turn, ensure that these data can be backed up.
• Mid: Next, businesses need to note that with an increase in the number of people working from home, measures must be put in place so that the systems are still able to run smoothly and efficiently. To counter this, it is highly recommended that servers be optimized for different groups of networks to tap into.
• Base: It goes without saying that having more people accessing the servers from an external network will also result in an increase in the number of personal files coming in. Businesses need to ensure that they are able to mitigate any malware that might make its way through.

 Data backup and protection

There are many unforeseen circumstances that businesses need to prepare for. Therefore, it is important for them be highly adaptable. Having data that is easily accessible is part of the solution to be ready for remote working. Over the next few years, businesses can expect to see an increase in the number of tools that can allow them to continuously back up their data and perform recovery in a matter of minutes. With these tools, they will be insured with more than just backed up data – they will also have access to insights that will allow them to make informed decisions in their digital transformation journey.

Apart from that, it is also important for businesses to protect their data – as seen with the recent increase of data breach. Cloud Data Management is expected to see an increase in mobility and portability over the next few years. With added security measures, businesses will have access to data easily outside of their workplace with a peace of mind.

Prevention of cyberattacks

One of the essential steps businesses need to take is to minimize administrative access to platforms and servers and increasing rules of operation. Not everyone needs to be able to access all the systems in place.

It is also vital for organizations to educate their employees – often, ransomware finds its way through a system because of an individual’s mistake. It is important for businesses to remind employees on best practices, especially in times when telecommuting is an option for everyone. They need to understand that being connected to a network outside of the company’s system exposes the servers to potential malware.

To sum it all up, businesses in Saudi need to always prepare ahead for any disruption that might have an impact in the way they work. Especially in an era where remote working is a step forward, organizations need to ensure that their systems are ready and fully protected so that their employees can remain efficient and productive.