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VMware cloud management platform targets hybrid cloud
This week, bloggers touch on VMware's cloud management platform for legacy businesses, Arctic Wolf's security service that blends humans and software, and next-gen data centers.
In a recent post, Colm Keegan, an analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group Inc., in Milford, Mass., explored the subject of VMware's cloud management platform for multicloud. In contrast to newer, purely digital companies, many traditional businesses are not planning to adopt public cloud and instead are interested in hybrid cloud -- in the process, keeping some aspects of their infrastructure management on premises. However, meeting these needs can prove challenging, as companies work to sustain virtualized client and server workloads, as well as next-generation cloud apps, using Open Source systems, such as Docker and OpenStack, across multiple clouds.
To deal with challenges, VMware updated vRealize, which underpins its cloud management platform, by improving the way customers manage workloads that span multiple clouds. According to Keegan, VMware's strategy to beef up its cloud management platform is a way to promote infrastructure elasticity, but the company may face challenges in the marketing phase, as customers hesitate amidst fears of vendor lock-in. In fact, a number of other cloud management platform offerings may offer serious competition to VMware, including IBM Cloud Orchestrator, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Helion and Dell Cloud Manager.
Read more of Keegan's thoughts on VMware's cloud management platform.
Startup Arctic Wolf launches security ops service
Drew Conry-Murray, a blogger with Packet Pushers, offered his assessment of Arctic Wolf Networks' newly minted AWN Cyber-SOC security service, which blends security information and event management with skilled analysts to identify security risks. Sensors deployed at the customer's Internet edge collect flows, as well as HTTP and domain name system logs, and run a built-in intrusion detection system. The sensor results are encrypted, compressed and forwarded to Arctic Wolf's analytics system over Amazon Web Services, which hosts the entire system. According to Arctic Wolf, the vendor has six different systems to analyze logs. Results are then fed into an incident console for assessment by a security engineer.
Conry-Murray said he believes Arctic Wolf is taking the right approach, using automation to overcome "torrents of log data" that can easily overwhelm a human, but accessing the context and experience that human security engineers can provide to spot malicious activity. He suggested the greatest benefit of the system is human insight, but raised concerns about how an Arctic Wolf engineer can successfully juggle the security feeds of up to 35 different businesses at a time. "Organizations considering Arctic Wolf will have to determine if the service strikes the right balance of automation and personalization," Conry-Murray wrote.
Explore more of Conry-Murray's thoughts on Arctic Wolf.
Considerations for next-generation data centers
Network engineer and CTO Advisor blogger Keith Townsend examined the evolution of next-generation data centers. A key takeaway: Engineers shouldn't be afraid to provide legacy services on new infrastructure. He said he believes enterprises need to ease up on their love of servers and move toward 80% virtualization -- a so-called virtualization nirvana.
Townsend suggested in spite of substantial excitement, there has been insufficient uptake of OpenStack and too sharp a focus on providing data center customers with virtual machines, as opposed to making available application program interfaces that would permit users access to the data center. Townsend added that security is also a major consideration for next-generation data centers, particularly the subject of microsegmentation.
Delve deeper into Townsend's ideas about next-generation data centers.
