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VMware hybrid cloud announcement gets reality check
Analysts examine how the VMware hybrid cloud announcement pits the vendor against OpenStack and Azure, and they discuss must-have features in an automation RFP.
Greg Ferro, writing in Packet Pushers, put a reality check on last week's alliance between VMware and Amazon Web Services, or AWS.
Ferro said he sees the VMware hybrid cloud announcement -- and rumors of new AWS private cloud software -- as an effort to take an advantage of surplus AWS capacity and a way of competing with traditional infrastructure companies, such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Cisco.
"Your favorite legacy IT supplier hasn't done much in the way of reducing the enormous friction of negotiating, buying, shipping and operating of their compute/storage/networking," he wrote. "This puts enormous pressure on Cisco/HPE/Dell EMC, as they have to compete with AWS for delivery time."
The VMware hybrid cloud announcement is simultaneously a chance for VMware to fight back against Microsoft Azure and OpenStack.
Ferro said many customers want AWS simply because they are susceptible to social marketing and buying into trends -- the same trends, he said, that made Oracle databases, IBM hardware and Cisco networking equipment industry defaults.
For that reason alone, Ferro recommended organizations don't rush to sample VMware's apps from AWS. "Maybe you should plan on starting in 2018," he said of the VMware hybrid cloud announcement.
Explore more of Ferro's thoughts on VMware's announcement.
Moving on to IoT security
Earl Perkins, an analyst with Gartner, said he sees "definition fatigue" setting in around the term internet of things. "Labeling something IoT for whatever reason isn't as important as we're making it out to be," he said. "What is important is that you have recognized something is happening that may not be within your current frame of experience and, therefore, may not entirely know how to secure it," Perkins added.
Perkins reminded adopters of the importance of understanding IoT from a security perspective and being mindful of the type of device, the type of network and whether or not each is tamper-proof.
More important, Perkins said, is that enterprises focus on the business outcomes of the connected-device project or program being delivered. By understanding the business reason for the device's presence, then the entire IoT ecosystem can be more intelligently considered and decisions more thoughtfully made.
Dig deeper into Perkins' thoughts on IoT.
RFP for network automation
Ivan Pepelnjak, writing in IPSpace, dug into the request-for-proposal process for network automation. "Vote with your wallet. If your current vendor doesn't support the network automation functionality you need, move on," he said.
He highlighted a list of must-have automation features, including the automation product's ability to generate structured operational data and its support for industry-standard data configuration models, like JUNOS, IOS XE or OpenConfig.
Above all, Pepelnjak recommended a programmable interface in the form of an on-device API, like NETCONF or REST, which enables the retrieval of configuration information without the addition of "layers of kludges between my script and the device I want to manage."
Look more into Pepelnjak's thoughts on network automation.
