By: Dr. Cherif Sleiman, Senior VP International Business at Infoblox

One of the privileges of my job is the opportunity to talk to business leaders across Asia about where they see the opportunities and challenges in their fields. And in all these conversations, two issues keep coming up: the digital transformation and cybersecurity.

Many of these leaders talk about these issues as though they are distinct, but after all my years of experience in this industry, I see them as essentially two sides of the same coin. Leaders really cannot consider the digital transformation without considering the broader cybersecurity concerns that come with it. And indeed, companies need to have robust cybersecurity policies in place if they want to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by this fourth industrial revolution.

I will begin by talking about the challenges and opportunities afforded by the digital transformation, especially as they pertain to security.

Next, I will discuss the implications of big data on security, what this means for companies, and how they can forge a “new social contract” that will address the unique concerns of the data driven economy.

Finally, I will explain why companies seeking to undergo the digital transformation should focus on security first, and provide some advice for how they can integrate security-minded thinking into their digital transformation strategies.

Challenges of the Digital Transformation

The 2020s will be the decade of the digital transformation around the world.

Organizations are building their networks in a different way—taking advantage of concepts like multi-cloud and SD-WAN technologies, and leveraging the power of IoT devices and the software-as-a-service revolution—to provide better customer service, empower their employees, and respond more quickly to market opportunities.

As businesses invest in these new tools to digitize their operations and move to the cloud so they can better compete, the legacy world of data center and interlocked branches policed centrally is fundamentally changing. The network perimeter that we have been used to is permanently dissolving.

Indeed, as devices proliferate, remote access becomes the norm, and companies increasingly store data and run applications from the cloud, the threat matrix that companies face becomes varied and complex.

Enterprises need to understand that the more they take advantage of the benefits of the digital transformation, the more of their critical applications and data will be stored, accessed and run in the public domain—outside of direct corporate control. And at the same time, the expansion of IoT devices, BYOD policies, and remote access is increasing the surface area through which malicious actors can gain access to the network.

Security is no longer something that can be considered as an add-on to running an enterprise network, it needs to be integrated into how enterprises think about their entire digital transformation strategy.

A New Social Contract

Ask anyone what the key to digital transformation is and they’ll likely respond with one word: data. Data is what allows companies to allocate resources efficiently, identify new business opportunities, and provide targeted services to customers.

But data is also a resource in its own right, and one that is highly sought after by cyber-criminals. Criminals can steal data outright, as they did in the 2017 Equifax breach, or it can be locked down and held for ransom, like in the WannaCry ransomware virus that spread around Asia and the world in 2017.

So the opportunity for business is there, and so too is the risk. The digital transformation gives companies the chance to grow, and provide goods and services when and where they are needed, all while reducing operating costs and lowering friction between buyers and sellers. But as the value of personal data becomes more widely appreciated, the importance of securing that data becomes more important—both to a company’s reputation and to their bottom line.

We used to look at the “social contract” between businesses and customers as a simple financial transaction: a customer provides money and the company provides goods or services in return. A company’s reputation depended primarily on its ability to deliver on its promise.

Today—thanks in part to the digital transformation—that contract has changed. Reputations still depend on a company’s ability to provide goods and services, but a company’s ability to protect data plays a critical role as well.

In cases like this, the social contract is murkier. Customers may be receiving a service—but they are paying with their data, not dollars, or rupees, or yen. Furthermore, unlike dollars which become the company’s once the transaction is finished, data is fundamentally still tied to the customer, and will remain so forever.

Companies who collect and deal in valuable personal data, and that includes pretty much all organizations, thus have a much higher obligation to protect the data that they are gathering—not only to their customers, but to their owners and shareholders as well.

Data breaches can have dramatic effects on a company’s market value. A 2019 analysis published by British consumer-advocate website Comparitech found that the share price of companies who suffered a data breach lost an average of 7.27% in the immediate aftermath. The real damage occurs over the long term. While stock prices largely recover within a year, breached companies still lag behind the broader market, by 6.5% after one year, and nearly 13% after two.

The costs of cyber-threats

The decline in corporate value after a cyberattack has many causes. Some of the costs are obvious: the value of the information stolen, the disruption to customers and corporate productivity, and the cost of addressing the attack itself. There are longer-term costs as well. The company may incur fines or liabilities stemming from the attack, they may lose business or customers, or their share price may drop because of the hit to their reputation.

In 2018, Microsoft commissioned a study which found that these long-term, indirect losses can really add up. Microsoft found that cyber-attacks could cost large firms in Asia up to $30 million, a majority of which came from the deeper impacts on the company’s business, ecosystem, and economy.

Cyberattacks can also do damage before they even occur. The Microsoft study found that nearly 60% of their respondents were putting off initiatives to take advantage of the digital transformation because of concerns over cybersecurity.

This is the most tragic cost of cyber-security. Sixty percent of businesses aren’t taking advantage of opportunities afforded by the digital transformation, choking off growth before it even has a chance to begin.

Next Level Networking: A new model for network security

As enterprises build networks for this new digital era, we are finding that they have very different architectures from the traditional hub-and-spoke, data-center-centric model.

As the pace of digital transformation accelerates, the way that businesses operate, procure, and consume technology is changing more quickly than ever before. Organizations need to embrace this change and understand that in this new era, the way that we build secure networks is changing as well. We call this new paradigm “next level networking.”

Organizations need to think differently about network security in this new era of networking. Companies need to change their mindset: as the digital transformation seeps through industries in all sectors, the way organizations procure and consume technologies is changing as well.

Organizations can’t afford to think of network and security as separate fields, with individual solutions siloed from one another. Concepts like SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response) demand networking professionals to re-think their architecture from the ground up. Fundamental services like DNS can’t be an afterthought to security, but rather can be brought into the security picture and leveraged for a stronger defense.

This paradigm shift will not be comfortable for many. It is never easy to fundamentally change two decades of expertise and learn something new.

But if businesses are to succeed in this new era and take advantage of the benefits of digital transformation, they will need to embrace innovation quickly and rethink the role that cybersecurity plays across their network. Integrated, robust cybersecurity must be a fundamental consideration when considering business strategy, not only for today, but for the future.

Security specialist will provide 40-hours of Incident response services, at no cost, to public and private hospitals in the UAE that have faced attacks, enabling rapid restoration of critical healthcare services for COVID-19 patients

Following a significant spike in COVID-19 themed cyber-attacks on the healthcare sector, Dimension Data, a leading global systems integrator and managed services provider, is offering world-class Incident Response Remediation assistance at no cost to UAE hospitals combatting the pandemic.

Expertly designed to effectively contain and mitigate threats, Dimension Data’s service will enable affected UAE hospitals to rapidly restore operations after a successful cyber-attack and thus continue to deliver critical services to patients. Public and private hospitals as well as acute care hospitals, urgent care clinics, community health centres, and other emergency care settings are all eligible to 40-hours of incident response support, at no cost, on the condition that they are directly providing care to COVID-19 patients.

In a recent statement, INTERPOL, the International Criminal Police Organization, highlighted that it has detected a significant increase in cyber-attacks against hospitals around the world that are engaged in the COVID-19 response, and warned that these attacks that could ‘directly lead to deaths’.

“The incredible rate at which the virus has spread has overwhelmed the healthcare sector. Dealing with the impact of the virus is challenging enough without the added complication of critical operations being derailed by cyber-attacks,” said Redouane Gaouar, Director Go-to-Market Practices and Strategic Partner Alliances at Dimension Data Middle East. “By offering our Incident Response service at no cost , our intension is to get front line doctors and nurses as well as all supporting functions trying to work in a compromised hospital, back to saving lives as quickly as possible.”

Given the National Disinfection Programme being implemented across the UAE, and concerns around social distancing, an especially attractive and relevant feature of Dimension Data’s Incident Response service is that it can be delivered on a 100% remote basis. Even under normal circumstances, the company performs 90% of its Incident Response engagements remotely and is therefore uniquely positioned to support hospitals in their recovery from cyber-attacks at this time.

“This global pandemic requires everyone to come together and help in any way possible. Dimension Data and its parent company, NTT Ltd., have the right skillsets, resources, and global scale to stand by our hospitals in this time of urgent need. We believe all hospitals should be secure and this program in deeply aligned with our global ‘Tech for Good’ values,” said Peter Pappas, Security Operations Executive at Dimension Data.

For further details on Dimension Data’s program and to request for support, healthcare providers are requested to visit https://www.dimensiondata.com/en-gb/expertise/intelligent-security/free-incident-response-during-covid-19.

Distributed organizations are continuously challenged with administering necessary security measures to thwart escalating cyberattacks to protect workforces outside of the protection of traditional networks. To simplify security deployment, management and visibility for organizations with growing branch footprints, SonicWall unveils new secure SD-Branch capabilities, and a complete line of new multi-gigabit switches, to cost-effectively scale and manage remote or branch locations.

“Business success often coincides with expansion, leading to an increased need for visibility, security and bandwidth across a distributed organization,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “As the world begins to re-open its doors, organizations must re-architect for the ‘new business normal,’ which includes implementing cost-effective, software-defined networking and security principles across the business.”

SD-Branch Critical Technology as Organizations Re-Architect for New Business Normal

To simplify the management needs associated with distributed locations, campuses and branch offices, new SonicWall secure SD-Branch capabilities deliver single-pane-of-glass management across LAN, WAN and security controls.

Complementary Zero-Touch Deployment capabilities help address the shortage of cybersecurity experts by enabling quick deployment of appliances and services. Cost-effective secure SD-WAN allows organizations to leverage less expensive internet links. Organizations also can choose cost-effective subscription license models to control costs and reduce operational overhead.

New SonicWall Switch Line Features 7 Models for All Business Use Cases

SonicWall’s new multi-gigabit switch line works seamlessly with SonicWall next-generation firewalls and SonicWave wireless access points, creating an end-to-end multi-gigabit network that can be easily managed via Capture Security Center, a scalable cloud security management system.

To maximize stack capacity, the switch can work independently, or with multiple switches, and can be daisy-chained to form a single switch with the port capacity of the combined switches. Organizations can tailor their speed and power with the option of seven different switches, managed with SonicWall next-generation firewalls (SonicOS 6.5.4.6 firmware), Web UI, CLI or the Capture Security Center (CSC).

“We have a unique environment with a mix of different vendor switches,” said Greg Thomas, ComLogic. “The ability to deploy two independent platform switches that seamlessly integrate with SonicWall products significantly helps streamline processes and reduce operational costs.”

SFP ports can be leveraged for multi-gigabit performance up to 10 Gbps, making it ideal for SD-Branches and enterprises with increasing bandwidth needs. The switch also features gigabit ethernet ports to power on wireless access points, VOIP phones and IP cameras.

“With companies forever changing how they operate with remote employees and offices, it’s more important than ever to ensure the maximum performance of applications, traffic and workflows,” said Conner. “These additions will allow IT departments to focus on other issues at hand, reduce budget constraints and finally address the shortage of critical cybersecurity skills.”

Accelerating Endpoint Protection for Boundless Workforces in COVID-19 Era
Employees warrant the same protection outside of the confines of corporate networks as they do when mobile or working from home. SonicWall Capture Client helps control and manage content accessed by endpoints with configured policies that allow or block access to various websites. This allows endpoint security and content filtering to be managed from the same management console and includes web activity reporting for easier monitoring.

Common operating systems, including endpoints using Windows, Windows Server, Mac and Linux, are protected from malware and other malicious attacks by autonomous detection and protection in mission-critical data centers or a standalone/disconnected networks.

As the number of endpoints become increasingly significant challenges for IT departments to manage and protect, a combination of SonicWall Capture Client, Secure Mobile Access and Cloud Application Security can provide protection for end-users, devices and applications beyond the traditional network.

Boundless Cybersecurity for the ‘New Business Normal’

The distributed IT reality is creating an unprecedented explosion of exposure points across enterprises, SMBs and governments. SonicWall’s unified Boundless Cybersecurity platform handles the most evasive and cutting-edge threats across a ‘boundless’ workforce of remote, mobile and cloud-enabled users.

This approach protects organizations across a range of attack vectors, including networks, email, mobile and remote access, cloud, SaaS applications, endpoints, IoT devices and Wi-Fi.

By: Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Vice President of Sales – MENA at A10 Networks

Since the beginning of the current pandemic, false and unsubstantiated rumours of 5G and its impact on people’s health have been prevalent in social media. Phone masts have reportedly been damaged or destroyed in several European countries.

The scale of the problem prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN agency which is leading the response to the pandemic, to add the 5G conspiracy to its COVID-19 myth busters article, which highlighted that “viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks. COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.”

In the midst of this controversy, A10 Networks released a  report titled, “Toward a More Secure 5G World,” which highlighted how COVID-19 may result in some short-term delays for operators, but ultimately it demonstrates a global need for higher speed, higher capacity 5G networks and the applications and use cases they enable. The study also found that 81% believe industry progress toward 5G is moving rapidly, mostly in major markets, or is at least in line with expectations.

Whilst the report shows 5G adoption is scaling rapidly, one of the main concerns from the report was surrounding cybersecurity. As 5G networks expand, so does the explosive growth in network traffic, connected devices, and mission-critical IoT use cases. This will impact network security and reliability more than ever before. The report supported this view, with 99% respondents expecting 5G networks will increase security and reliability concerns and 93% have or may change security investments in light of 5G.

To address this challenge, service providers need highly cost-efficient security solutions that offer flexibility, scalability, and protection as they evolve their networks to 5G and integrate cloud and edge capabilities. This means a comprehensive security stack at service provider scale with other functions most needed in mobile networks, including a firewall for all network peering points, deep packet inspection (DPI), carrier-grade network address translation (CGNAT) and IPv6 migration, integrated distributed denial of service (DDoS) threat protection, intelligent traffic steering and analytics.

Below is a blueprint of five of the key solutions required for a successful migration to 5G.

1. Gi-LAN Security – Gi/SGi Firewall

Significant threats to mobile subscribers and networks come through the internet interface – the Gi/SGi.  As traffic volume, devices and cybercriminal expertise increases, so do these threats. An integrated Gi/SGi firewall protects infrastructure and subscribers and delivers the performance that mobile carriers require. The Gi/SGi firewall solution meets both current and future traffic requirements for any service provider. This comprehensive and consolidated approach provides best-in-class performance, efficiency and scale to protect the mobile infrastructure while reducing OPEX and CAPEX costs. Service providers can also use a Gi/SGi firewall solution in a virtual form factor to gain a flexible, easy-to-deploy and on-demand, software-based deployment.

1. Mobile Roaming Security – GTP Firewall

The GTP protocol used in the roaming and other EPC interfaces has known vulnerabilities that can be readily exploited by malicious actors. Operators must meet the growing security challenges while also providing a seamless subscriber experience – wherever they travel, whatever devices they use, and whatever network is accessed. A GTP firewall provides extensive capabilities including stateful inspection, rate limiting, and filtering of traffic for protocol abnormalities, invalid messages, and other suspicious indicators. It protects against GTP protocol vulnerabilities such as fraudulent use, confidentiality breaches, DDoS attacks by malicious peers and other threats. A GTP firewall can be inserted into multiple interfaces carrying the GTP traffic. In the primary use case, it is inserted on S5-Gn and S8-Gp (roaming) interfaces. The GTP firewall provides scalability and supports uninterrupted operations while protecting subscribers and the mobile core against GTP-based threats such as information leaks, malicious packet attacks, fraud and DDoS attacks through GTP interfaces in the access networks and GRX/IPX interconnect.

1. Network Slicing – Intelligent Traffic Steering

Network slicing will allow mobile operators to offer security and other capabilities tailored to each vertical application and to capture revenue from these diverse use cases, without losing the economies of scale of common infrastructure. Network slicing isolates each use case or service from one another so that the services can be independently deployed, managed securely, and delivered in a robust way.  This solution identifies specific types of traffic by multiple criteria including radio access type, IP address, DNS address, device type, destination, subscriber ID, and other parameters and then redirects these “slices” of traffic to value-added service platforms, such as protection platforms for deeper threat analysis and scrubbing.  This re-direction can be based on either static policy or dynamic factors. This solution enables differentiated treatment to the developing 5G use cases, deepens the security posture and boosts revenue opportunity without adding unnecessary inspection load on the entire network.

1. Network Wide DDoS Detection and Mitigation System

Mobile operators must maintain high network availability at all times. DDoS attacks target mobile networks and their subscribers with high volume message floods that overwhelm infrastructure and can cause service degradation and network outages. Now, targeted attacks can also come from any network peering point and include both volumetric and lower volume, sophisticated attacks against specific network elements or important applications of key enterprise customers. Over-provisioning of network elements to meet rising threat volume or simply blocking traffic during an attack increases costs and can result in service denial for critical traffic. Operators need a more cost-efficient and comprehensive approach that quickly detects and mitigates DDoS and infrastructure attacks across the entire mobile network without denying service to important traffic. Service providers can achieve full DDoS resilience and improve security by using a layered approach for detecting and mitigating attacks of all types and sizes before attackers take down their targets.

1. Secure, Efficient MEC

Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC) architecture is often part of the 5G transition plan. In a MEC architecture, network traffic processing functions move from a centralised data centre or mobile core to a number of distribution points that are located closer to the user at the “edge.” A distributed architecture with thousands of nodes increases management difficulty and requires a high level of automation and analytics for deployment, management and security and operational changes. We at A10 Networks offer a Thunder CFW solution that offers high performance, low latency in a software-based or hardware form factor for firewall, CGNAT and IPv6 migration, traffic steering and other functions. Many functions that may have been provided by single point appliances are combined into one appliance, virtual instance, bare metal or container.  Cost-efficient, high-performance security is ensured without exceeding space and power limitations. Centralised management and analytics simplify operations for lower TCO.

As we reach the halfway point of 2020, the A10 study indicates that major mobile carriers around the world are on track with their 5G plans, and more expect to begin commercial build-outs in the coming months. That means mobile operators globally need to proactively prepare for the demands of a new virtualised and secure 5G world. That means boosting security at key protection points like the mobile edge, deploying a cloud-native infrastructure, consolidating network functions, leveraging new CI/CD integrations and DevOps automation tools, and moving to an agile and hyperscale service-based architecture as much as possible. All these improvements will pay dividends immediately with existing networks and move carriers closer to their ultimate goals for broader 5G adoption.

 

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today introduced Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform), the industry’s first AI-powered, cloud-native platform that predicts and resolves problems at the network edge before they happen. Built on AIOps, Zero Trust network security, and a Unified Infrastructure for campus, data center, branch and remote worker locations, Aruba ESP delivers an automated, all-in-one platform that continuously analyzes data across domains, ensures SLAs, identifies anomalies and self-optimizes, while seeing and securing unknown devices on the network. Aruba ESP is designed to deliver a cloud experience at the edge and can be consumed either as a service in the cloud or on-premises, as a managed service delivered through Aruba partners, or via network as a service through HPE GreenLake. Tailored for varying economic requirements, customers may also procure it with flexible financing options via HPE Financial Services.

The technology market undergoes a major transition about once every decade. The last two decades were centered on delivering ubiquitous mobility followed by the move to cloud-based applications. We are now entering an era of data analytics driven by IoT, AI and automation supported by compute and modern networking to power a new breed of applications and workloads that work in concert with the cloud but that operate at the edge. As a result, enterprises are generating massive amounts of unstructured data at the edge which, if analyzed and acted upon properly, can be used to improve efficiencies, enhance experiences and enable new business outcomes. The key to turning these real-time insights into meaningful actions is to analyze and process this data at the point of origin – the edge – where people, devices and things connect to the digital world. This ability to generate actionable insights based on data is especially pertinent today during this unprecedented time in history where businesses, employees and, subsequently, the corporate network must adapt to rapidly evolving business and workplace needs.

• 

Utilizing unstructured data at the edge requires a network that leverages AI via network telemetry to process that data at a rate and volume beyond what’s possible at human scale. It also requires an infrastructure with an AI-powered “sixth sense” that proactively identifies impending issues, recommends an accurate resolution and leverages automation to turn that into logical actions, all without manual intervention. Through continued analysis of network, user, and device insights, Aruba ESP turns information into knowledge, helping organizations accelerate transformation and maintain business continuity via a single, cloud-native platform that can reside either on-premises or in the cloud, and secures and unifies the infrastructure across the enterprise built on the following core principles:

• AIOps is the critical component of Aruba ESP, which uses AI and analytics to identify exact root causes with greater than 95% accuracy, auto-remediate network issues, proactively monitor the user experience, tune the network to prevent problems before they occur, and use peer benchmarking and prescriptive recommendations to continuously optimize and secure the network. In a live customer deployment, using AIOps resulted in a 15% increase in throughput capacity and reduced issue resolution time by nearly 90%, ultimately resulting in a vastly improved end user and IT experience.

• Unified Infrastructure consolidates all network operations for switching, Wi-Fi and SD-WAN across campus, data center, branch, and remote worker environments under Aruba Central, a cloud-native, single-pane-of-glass console that correlates cross-domain events to reduce issue resolution time and manual errors. In addition, Aruba’s unified infrastructure approach provides customers with a choice between controller services on-premises or in the cloud, delivering maximum flexibility at enterprise scale.

• Zero Trust Network Security combines built-in role-based access technology, Dynamic Segmentation and identity-based intrusion detection to authenticate, authorize and control every user and device connecting to the network, while still detecting, preventing, isolating and stopping attacks before they impact the business.

“The Intelligent Edge is the catalyst that will spark limitless possibilities for organizations and enterprises that want to accelerate transformation and ensure business continuity by leveraging their technology investments as their greatest asset,” said Keerti Melkote, president of Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “Built upon Aruba’s guiding principles of connect, protect, analyze, and act, Aruba ESP is the culmination of years of innovation, R&D, Aruba ingenuity and, most importantly, input from our valued customers whose honest feedback and insightful perspective has helped to make this platform a network that knows.”

New Innovations Within Aruba ESP

Aruba ESP is the industry’s most scalable, full-stack, cloud-native platform for wired, wireless and SD-WAN environments that unifies multiple network elements for centralized management and control. Aruba ESP is based on open standards and enables integration with a variety of third-party solutions and services. Significant innovations introduced today include:

• Cloud-native management for any size enterprise – Aruba Central currently runs mission critical networks for over 65,000 customers and now with new ArubaOS services, it is the industry’s only controllerless, cloud-based platform to provide full-stack management and operations for wired, wireless and SD-WAN infrastructure of any size across campus, data center, branch, and remote worker locations to be consumed on-premises or in the cloud.
• Simplified daily operations with unified infrastructure – With access to a common data lake via Aruba ESP, the latest version of Aruba Central has been enhanced with simplified navigation, advanced search, and contextual views to present multiple dimensions of information through a single point-of-control, virtually eliminating the need for disparate tools to collect and correlate information across numerous domains and locations.
• Reduced resolution time with AI and automation – Aruba has a proven track record of bringing AI-powered innovations to market, including unique technologies like Aruba AirMatch. Based on modeling data from over one million network devices generating over 1.5B data points per day, Aruba’s new AI Insights reduces troubleshooting time by identifying hard-to-see network configuration issues and providing root-cause, prescriptive recommendations and automated remediation to continuously optimize network operations.
• AI-powered IT Efficiencies—Aruba Central now offers AI Search, a Natural Language Processing data discovery service that enables IT teams to eliminate “swivel chair” investigations by using simple, English language queries to extract comprehensive user and device information from Aruba ESP’s common data lake to present relevant information in context to quickly resolve a problem. For more complex issues, AI Assist uses event-driven automation to collect and post all the relevant data for both the internal help desk and Aruba Technical Assistance Center (TAC).
• Granular visibility across applications, devices and the network – Enhancements to Aruba Central enable user-centric analytics from User Experience Insight to identify client, application, and network performance issues faster.
• Extension of next-gen switching to distributed and mid-size enterprises – To help organizations accelerate Edge transformation, Aruba has expanded its CX Switch portfolio to include the Aruba CX 6200 Switch Series. This new series brings built-in analytics and automation capabilities to every network edge where user and device connectivity occurs, generating insights that can be applied to informing better business outcomes. The CX 6200 switch series further expands Aruba’s end-to-end CX switching portfolio, enabling customers to run a single operating model from the enterprise campus and branch access layer to the data center.
• Ongoing innovation with new Developer Hub – Aruba is introducing the Developer Hub, a comprehensive resource for developers that includes Aruba APIs and documentation to streamline the development of innovative, next-generation edge applications leveraging the open Aruba ESP platform.

“Our large-scale network spans multiple campuses and learning centers that run performance-stringent applications to keep our students, academics and researchers connected and productive,” said Ron Gardner, senior infrastructure engineer at James Cook University. “We have chosen to take a cloud-first approach to operating our infrastructure and the enhancements to Aruba Central and ArubaOS give us the visibility and insight to simplify operations while reducing our equipment footprint and securely manage our large campuses and distributed locations from the cloud, ultimately allowing us to proactively identify and address issues before they disrupt operations.”

To address the varying business and technical requirements of organizations looking to harness the power of the Intelligent Edge, Aruba has expanded its consumption and procurement options. These include network as a service through HPE GreenLake or customers can procure Aruba ESP with flexible financing options via HPE Financial Services. For example, customers can acquire the technology they need today and pay only 1% of the total contract value each month for the first eight months, deferring over 90% of the cost until 2021.

“With the size of our infrastructure and massive volume of data being generated at the edge, we needed a way to identify, fix and fine-tune the network automatically,” said Brandon Stratton, ES network administrator of Information Technology at the University of Houston. “Aruba’s expertise and approach with AI-based solutions, like NetInsight, represents a pragmatic path for us to analyze and then act on the insights we capture.”

Tune into ATM Digital beginning June 9^th to see Aruba ESP in action, hear from industry luminaries and experts, and learn about the latest advancements in networking. Register here to attend.

Enables partners to quickly evolve their ‘as-a-Service’ practice to offer customers a more flexible approach to obtaining IT solutions

 As the financial impact of COVID-19 forces many companies to reconsider their approach to pursuing digital transformation, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, has launched a new program to help channel partners offer a managed service alternative to implementing IT network solutions. The Aruba Managed Services Provider Program enables partners to quickly evolve their Network as-a-Service (NaaS) practice with Aruba’s robust cloud-managed network solution for superior service and customer experience.

Available as of May 1, the program targets channel companies with an existing MSP delivery model i.e. service providers, VARs with established MSP practices, or SI’s offering managed IT services. Additional benefits include access to upfront discounts established by Aruba’s distribution partners, use of the program logo, training, enablement and Go-To-Market assistance from a dedicated team of MSP experts, a fully stocked partner resource portal, and the option to team with Aruba End User Sales.

“There is an ongoing trend in IT towards subscription-based models enabling customers to move costs from CAPEX to OPEX. With the launch of Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform), our partners will be able leverage Aruba’s market leading technology to build their own solutions whilst differentiating their proposition in the market.” said Sherifa Hady, Aruba EMEA Channel Sales Director.

The program also offers flexible financing and support options via HPE’s Financial Services, which recently rolled out a number of payment relief initiatives and $2 billion in financial aid for partners and customers impacted by the pandemic.

“Many customers are looking to digital transformation to accelerate their business recovery but are finding themselves unable to get things moving due to cashflow and time constraints,” continued Sherifa. “In light of this, managed services are going to become more important than ever. In order to support this immediate need and reflect the long-term evolution of customer consumption models, resellers need to act now. We believe that together, Aruba and our partners can continue to scale our businesses for success.”

Further information about the Aruba Managed Services Provider Program can be found on Aruba’s Partner Ready Portal: https://partner.hpe.com/aruba.

Soundcore by Anker Innovations will be presenting a ‘Musical Evening by Fahmil Khan’, lead Vocalist and Guitarist of the ‘On the Rocks’ band live on Facebook on Thursday, 11^th June from 9pm onwards.

Tune in to hear a rendition of songs from the 90s, Bollywood retros, Sufi, Pop and contemporary songs to usher in the weekend.

Faraz Mehdi, Regional Sales Head at Anker Innovations MEA said, “Soundcore is committed to bringing premium audio to the people. This includes its series of Liberty true wireless earbuds, its Spirit series of sports headsets and several iconic indoor and outdoor Bluetooth speakers such as the Flare, Icon, Infini, Motion and Rave. It is the perfect companion to wind down end of the week.”

The Musical evening will be hosted on the Anker Middle East page on Facebook. Music lovers can log on https://www.facebook.com/events/558795394794813/ for the live event.

Companies to support development of IT market in UAE by helping enterprises transition to the cloud

Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in enterprise cloud computing, announced that it has signed Alpha Data, a leading solutions provider in the Middle East, as a ‘Master Reseller Partner’ in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As part of the agreement, Alpha Data is authorized to purchase products and services from Nutanix distributors and carry out implementations of the vendor’s market-leading multi-cloud infrastructure solutions across the UAE.

Nutanix will assist Alpha Data in developing and certifying its staff to provide design, configuration and support capabilities to its customers for the entire portfolio of Nutanix solutions. Nutanix will conduct regular training and enablement sessions for online certifications, product updates and workshops for hands-on instruction. Currently the reseller has more than six engineers certified on Nutanix technology. Alpha Data technical and sales staff will have access to the various tools and resources available as part of the Nutanix Channel Charter (program). Nutanix will also make available skilled resources to assist the reseller in the execution of its Nutanix opportunities.

In support of the vendor, Alpha Data will be inviting customers to its state-of-the-art Digital Information Centre where it will offer live demos and proof of concepts (PoCs) of Nutanix solutions. The two companies will also jointly host events and customer master classes to educate the market about the importance of having a well-defined cloud computing strategy in place as part of overall digital transformation initiatives, as well as latest cloud computing technology updates.

Talking about the partnership, Bassam Al Masri, Director of Channel – METI at Nutanix said, “As a solutions provider, Alpha Data has built a solid reputation as a company that has the experience, technical expertise, market coverage and drive that can help technology vendors more fully reach and penetrate the regional market. The company has provided end-to-end infrastructure solutions to thousands of satisfied customers in UAE. We believe that with a strong partner like Alpha Data, Nutanix will be able to help enterprises in the country embark on their hybrid cloud journey.”

“The market today is changing from the earlier model of traditional datacenters to new, innovative and dynamic cloud models that are accelerating digital transformation. Nutanix as a company is playing a big role in this transition. As a world leader in enterprise cloud computing, Nutanix is aiming to be the operating system for the cloud. This partnership is very valuable for Alpha Data as the vendor’s technology helps fills a gap in our solutions portfolio and complements our existing technology vendor partners. We believe we are now strategically positioned to empower a hybrid cloud enabled workforce and drive the concept of a digital workspace supported by Nutanix technology,” concluded Mr. Amar Singh, Director – Sales at Alpha Data.

Thunder TPS Provides 1.2 Tbps Blocking Capacity with Machine Learning

Fuelled by massive IoT botnets and new reflected amplification exploits, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks continue to grow in size and sophistication and have broken the 1 Tbps barrier. The current pandemic has only increased the threat as cyber attackers find new targets in healthcare, government, online gaming and remote working services. Service providers, MSSPs and enterprises require a new generation of DDoS protection technology to protect their networks.

To respond to this threat, A10 is offering a leap forward for service providers with DDoS protection at the scale required to stop today’s cyber threats. We are releasing the highest-performance DDoS protection appliance to help service providers and MSSPs mitigate the largest DDoS attacks.

The A10 Thunder® Threat Protection System (TPS) 7655 provides up to 1.2 Tbps blocking capacity and 380 Gbps scrubbing capacity. Combining Zero-day Automated Protection (ZAP) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) via machine learning (ML) and advanced software mitigations, Thunder TPS delivers unprecedented protection in a compact 1.5U form factor, enabling customers to efficiently scale-out their DDoS defenses as the threat landscape expands. The Thunder 7655 TPS will be available in Q3 2020.

New Protection for QUIC Protocol Driving Next-generation Applications

In addition, A10 is bringing first-to-market support for HTTP/3 (QUIC) DDoS protection in software.

To ensure the user experience for business and consumer services that are migrating to the cloud, QUIC is rapidly being adopted by content and cloud providers, leading browser developers, such as Mozilla and Google, and is backed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The QUIC protocol provides faster connect times with built-in security versus the traditional combination of TCP and TLS. It also offers a dramatic reduction in latency that will enable better user experience for content-rich web applications. Based on these benefits, HTTP/3 has also adopted QUIC for use on the transport layer.

A10 is the first major software and hardware DDoS vendor to provide DDoS protection for HTTP/3 and the QUIC protocol. Thunder TPS protects this new transport mechanism from DDoS attacks and enables a safer next generation of web services using this protocol. HTTP/3 and QUIC protocol support is available now for all Thunder TPS customers.

NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the leader in cloud data services, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Spot, a leader in compute management and cost optimization on the public clouds, to establish leadership in Application Driven Infrastructure. 

Digital transformation initiatives have accelerated and remain the top business priority, especially in today’s environment, and the public clouds offer the speed and flexibility needed to navigate this new normal as companies find to new ways to work, interact and do business. However, unoptimized clouds can be costly and slow down the business transformation. To address this challenge, an Application Driven Infrastructure translates the application’s workload patterns and drives the best possible level of performance and cost for storage and compute, all done while maintaining the contracted service-level agreement (SLA) and service-level objective (SLO). Together, NetApp and Spot’s Application Driven Infrastructure for continuous optimization will help customers save up to 90 percent of their compute and storage cloud expenses, which typically make up 70 percent of total cloud spending, and will help accelerate public cloud adoption.

“In today’s public clouds, speed is the new scale. However, waste in the public clouds driven by idle resources and overprovisioned resources is a significant and a growing customer problem slowing down more public cloud adoption,” said Anthony Lye, senior vice president and general manager, Public Cloud Services, NetApp. “The combination of NetApp’s leading shared storage platform for block, file and object and Spot’s compute platform will deliver a leading solution for the continuous optimization of cost for all workloads, both cloud native and legacy. Optimized customers are happy customers and happy customers deploy more to the public clouds.”

Spot provides a combination of tools for visibility and automation, that drive continuous optimization of workloads in a single platform while maintaining both SLA and SLO. This relieves DevOps, CloudOps, and FinOps teams from the burden and complexity of managing, scaling, tuning and optimizing cloud resources so that they can focus on business innovation under acceptable budget controls.  

“Spot was founded with a vision to revolutionize the way companies consume cloud infrastructure services, using analytics and automation to deliver the most reliable, best performing and most cost-efficient infrastructure for every workload on every cloud,” said Amiram Shachar, Founder and CEO, Spot. “We look forward to joining the NetApp family and building together the future of Application Driven Infrastructure and helping customers to deploy more workloads in the cloud.”

Together, NetApp and Spot will establish an Application Driven Infrastructure to enable customers to deploy more applications to public clouds faster with Spot’s “as-a-service” platform for the continuous optimization of both compute and storage for both traditional IT buyers with enterprise applications, cloud-native workloads and data lakes. 

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of NetApp’s fiscal year and is subject to the satisfaction of certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.