A summary of the top enterprise trends to look forward to in 2021.

With the start of a new year, we can say goodbye to the tumultuous and challenging 2020 – a year that brought about monumental changes in our industry through acquisitions, technology introductions, and of course, a shift to remote work force. No one could have predicted all the changes that happened last year, but now we have an opportunity to look back on how the server trends and technologies detailed by us last year impacted our industry. And as we have done for the past several years, we want to continue our tradition in Dell’s Infrastructure CTO group of highlighting some of the most interesting technology and industry trends we expect to see impacting our server incubation and product efforts this year. These trends were compiled by polling our senior technologists in the server organization, who are looking at the most impactful influences to their workstreams.

When the technologists provided their inputs, the underlying theme that emerged was the desire to life cycle data – curate, transport, analyze and preserve data – in the most effective and secure means, while producing the most efficient business outcomes from the infrastructure. Since the generation of data has continued to increase, customers are looking for ways to leverage third-party services in an integrated offering to allow them to understand how to more quickly analyze and value the right data in the most cost-effective and secure manner. This paradigm has also forced owners of the IT equipment that performs these analyses to ensure they are using the most effective technology integrations. These integrations need to be managed with the minimal amount of operational expenses across a continuum of Edge, Core and Cloud architectures. Finally, 2020 created another challenge to carry forward, which is the ability to adopt new technologies with more remote staff and remote users stressing the infrastructure in means and methods not expected this early in most digital transformation plans.

So, with that introduction, let us provide you the Top Trends for 2021 that are influencing our server technology efforts and product offerings:

• aaS becomes the Enterprise theme. As technology velocity continues to rise, enterprise customers deal with constrained budgets and legacy skillsets while still needing to focus on differentiated business outcomes with the most beneficial price/performance and least amount of bring up and maintenance overhead. The options for on-prem Infrastructure aaS offerings allow customers to be nimble and focus on their business value through diverse deployments while maintaining their data security and governance with trusted infrastructure.
  

• Server Growth is Building Vertically. As customers look for the most efficient outcomes from their infrastructure, the industry will continue to see more verticalization and specialization of offerings. Integrated solutions will address packaging and environmental considerations; SW ecosystem enablement and domain-specific accelerators address unique performance and feature requirements that are optimized for specific business outcomes.

• More Data, More Smarts. The challenges with data velocity, volume and volatility continue and require the continuance of AI/ML adoption for analytics while an increased focus on solving data life cycling challenges arises. The integration of data curation models, transport methods, preservation and security architectures with faster analysis will all be key to support and monetize the Internet of Behaviors.

• The Emergence of the Self-Driving Server. Customers will start seeing the use of telemetry, analytics, and policies to achieve higher levels of automation in their systems management infrastructure. Similar to the driver-assist/autonomy levels of autonomous vehicles, AI Ops capabilities with systems management will usher in the era of moving automated tasks to automated decisions, with implementations showing up in addressing runaway system power and policy advising recommendation engines.

• Goodbye, SW Defined. Hello, SW Defined with HW Offload. Application architectures are evolving to create control plane and data plane separation. Control planes stays as a software layer and the data planes move to programmable hardware in the form of service processor add-in-cards which allow bare-metal and containerized applications to run with disaggregated infrastructure software (network virtualization, storage virtualization, GPU virtualization, security services), creating Intent-Based Computing for customer workloads.

• 5G is Here! Seriously, it is this year. After several years of hype and promises, we will see the proliferation of 5G and with it will come shifts in paradigms around communication infrastructure, remote management models and connectivity that impact server form-factors and features. As businesses develop more edge infrastructure to handle the generation and influx of data, 5G will create the need for customers to reevaluate their edge connectivity and infrastructure management offerings to take advantage of 5G capabilities.

• Rethinking Memory and Storage to be Data Centric. The industry is moving from Compute-Centric Architectures to Data-Centric Architectures and that transition is driving new server-connected memory and storage models for IT. Technologies around persistent, encrypted and tiered memory inside the server along with remotely accessed SCM and NVMe oF data through new industry fabric standards are creating innovative IT architectures for optimal data security, scaling and preservation.

• Adopting new Server technology while Being Remote. The world has changed, and businesses have been forced to not just map a digital transformation but realize it to operate. Companies dealing with faster digital transitions of tools, processes and infrastructure need to operate with a remote work force. This transition is forcing companies to evaluate new server technologies and assess resource requirements which will emphasize the necessity to utilize server capabilities around debug, telemetry and analytics in a remote fashion to keep business continuity going forward.

• It’s not a CPU Competition, it’s a Recipe Bake-off. The processor landscape is changing, and it is becoming an environment of acquisitions, specializations and vendor differentiated integrations. We see Intel, AMD and Nvidia all making acquisitions to provide each with CPUs, DPUs and Accelerators in their portfolio. The real winner will be able to leverage their portfolio of silicon products and software libraries to form recipes of integrated offerings for targeted workloads to help end-customers optimize business outcomes.

• Measure your IT Trust Index. Security around server access and data protection has never been more challenging, so customers need to be able to quantify their security confidence in order to gauge infrastructure trustworthiness and identify digital risks. Customers need to analyze product origins and features, new security technologies and segment-specific digital threats in the backdrop of the increasing regulatory landscape to formulate their measurement of IT trust from the Edge to Core to Cloud.

Author: Stephen Rousset, Dell ISG Technology and Innovation Office

Source: https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/blog/dells-2021-server-trends-observations/

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This year, organizations found an unprecedented amount of their workforces suddenly working remotely. No longer under the same roof—and network—as their colleagues, IT teams were tasked with making crucial adjustments to how they secure their workforce. With little preparation or planning, IT leaders became responsible for an influx of corporate devices across numerous locations and different networks.  

In 2021, businesses will continue to allow employees to work from home. How can IT ensure they are able to effectively support their organizations in a long-term remote work environment?   

Throughout the remote work revolution, we pulled together some helpful tips to guide IT through some of the challenges of supporting an almost entirely remote workforce. While these tips were written in the early stages of the pandemic, they are worth revisiting as your team looks towards rebuilding and planning in 2021:  

KEEP THE USER TOP OF MIND

It is unlikely most of your employees were prepared to work from home full–time back in March. Throughout the past ten months, your employees have had to alter their physical home environment to accommodate a workspace.  

Some might be missing day-to-day human interaction. Others are probably tired of navigating technical difficulties without an IT admin right down the hall. While it’s unclear when consistently working in an office will be a reality again, one thing is certain: your IT team should be helping new and existing employees feel empowered in their long-term remote work environment.  

For new hires and existing employees, there is plenty of onboarding and technical considerations you should be thinking about: 

• Are new hires using a corporate desktop or their own personal computer?  
• Do employees of every level have a stable internet connection?  
• Can the corporate VPN handle the additional capacity to support a large remote userbase? 
• Does your organization’s helpdesk have the capacity for increased ticket volume?  

Having solutions in place to tackle these technical issues will not only help employees feel supported from an IT perspective but can help prevent potential security threats in the user’s remote work environment – which could ultimately throw a wrench in your business continuity plans.

CHOOSE THE TECHNOLOGY THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU

When the majority of the workforce went remote, one common question we heard was people asking whether VDI or VPN was a better solution. The answer is not as clear as you may think. 

To determine which option is best for your organization, your IT team must define and rank its top priorities. What will be the fastest, easiest or cheapest for you to deploy for your specific situation? How important are these factors to you? What will provide the best user experience and work for the most users? And what provides the security model that’s appropriate for your organization? 

In the short term, it is wise to do whatever the company was most familiar with, to get employees safely working remotely as soon as possible. But it 2021, organizations may be revisiting this question. Yes, some employees will be coming back into offices, but overall, most organizations will continue to be much more distributed than before 2020.  

As companies optimize their approach to remote work, many will look again at their VDI and VPN strategies and consider some of the pros and cons we wrote about in March. But in addition, they will also take time to consider other initiatives, such as Zero Trust security and Windows 10 management from the cloud.  

BE PROACTIVE WITH INTRINSIC ZERO TRUST SECURITY

Business have had to make adjustments in order to ensure the safety of their employees and the smooth operation of their business. Securing the enterprise is a lot easier when all its endpoints (laptops, mobile devices, etc.), applications and users are within the network perimeter. This model was starting to break down long before this year, but of course the effects of 2020 accelerated this trend like never before. 

To secure the enterprise beyond the perimeter, IT leaders should adopt a Zero Trust security model. Unlike the traditional security model, Zero Trust does not implicitly trust any device, user or app. Instead, it continuously verifies trust across all three before granting access to data.   

This security model offers greater flexibility and choice to employees to work from anywhere and from any device while ensuring optimal security at all times. And while most organizations agree that Zero Trust is the right approach to address the security needs in a dynamic environment, many haven’t taken a holistic approach to deploying it. 

This could coincidentally leave holes in your organization’s security posture, leaving cybercriminals with a valuable opportunity to exploit. In order to proactively secure your reputation and company, employee and customer data, intrinsic security cannot be an after-thought.  

Invest in a solution that helps you prevent, detect and remediate as quickly as possible for business continuity and productivity.  

While these tips have proven useful for employers navigating how to best secure their remote workforce, it’s important to remember that the journey to intrinsic security is just that – a journey.  

As we enter 2021, new techniques will likely emerge as businesses evolve with the world around them. Your IT teams are no different. They must continue working towards solutions that will both empower and protect their staff.

Author: EUC Editorial Team, Vmware

Source: https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2020/12/tips-for-securing-the-remote-workforce-2021.html?src=so_5fcff0dc35951

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As we move into a new decade of 2020, technological advancement is surely at the top priority of every organization. We are living in a data-driven world where the estimated data generated by average person is 1.5 GB per day. With the increasing number of IoT devices/applications and bulk data generated, performing computation at data centers or cloud servers isn’t sufficient or efficient. Cloud computing has proved its efficiency to many enterprises by focusing on core business competence and reducing cost. Using cloud, the data was sent and accessed from a remote server. It uses Internet-based services to support business processes. But the built-in latency of cloud is no longer capable of deploying machine intelligence and getting real-time outputs. Truly the technology has made the lives of people easier but that’s not all and here comes Edge computing to make computing faster. It’s the next wave in evolving data center infrastructure, powered by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and 5G network.

Over the past many years, organizations have started to integrate cloud into their infrastructure. Few thinks that edge computing might replace cloud computing. But that’s not true, it just means that cloud is coming near to you. Organizations need to implement both edge and cloud computing together to handle the ever-growing data in coming future. Surely, edge computing will reduce the volume of data transmitted over the internet to cloud, but it cannot replace the cloud. Despite the fact the major part of data is processed or analyzed at the device, but data still needs to be stored somewhere for future reference, and that’s where cloud is important. Edge and cloud are used just as we use our two hands.

What is Edge Computing?

The term “Edge” in this context, correlates to the geographic distribution of network resources. Edge computing allows to perform data collecting, analyzing and computing close to the data source instead of relying on a centralized cloud network that can be thousands of miles away. Edge computing distributes data from centralized network and deploys it to micro-data centers which makes them closer to data generation.

Key advantages of Edge Computing

• Data without latency: Edge computing permits in speeding up data transmission because data travel time decreases. It enables applications to respond to data almost abruptly.
• Reduces Internet Bandwidth: Relying less on cloud means certain data or applications can be operated reliably offline. This will be very useful in areas where network connectivity is low.
• Provides certain level of Security: As data is collected and operated at local level, sensitive data transfer to cloud can be avoided and hence impact would be less if the cloud has been cyber attacked.
• Reliable: Edge computing has a great security advantage which make it more reliable. In situation like data center downtime, IoT edge computing devices can operate uninterrupted because the vital processing is done locally. The chances of unavailability of data entirely is almost completely zero.

IoT development can be seen in businesses across every industry. IoT devices will need edge computing and 5G network to work effectively. Providentially, the expansion of edge computing will make easier for businesses to scale their operations. Companies no longer need to set up centralized or private data centers that are expensive to assemble, maintain or replace when its time to expand data analysis. Organizations can easily expand their edge network quickly and cost-effectively by combining alliance services with edge computing data centers. Adaption to evolving markets and scaling their data needs, organizations doesn’t have to rely upon a centralized infrastructure anymore.

Edge computing can serve variety of businesses and is a diversion for almost all sectors of the world whether manufacturing or construction, financial or health care, people will slowly adopt the edge. Banking sector is implementing edge computing to provide ATMs with potential to collect and process data with faster response time. For finance firms those dealing with funds and shares are also adopting edge computing by placing servers in data centers near stock exchanges to provide accurate and up to date information without any lag which could lead to real loss of money.

Enterprises investing in edge computing should know that it is not a general-purpose platform like cloud computing but it’s a specialized approach to solve specific set of issues. Just adopting the technology because it’s a trend doesn’t serve the need. So, organizations should first ensure whether the investment is really required. Edge computing still have to overcome various challenges to be practically used on a larger scale. But once edge computing becomes the wave, it’s going to change the way business is done.

Are you using cloud computing and ready to upgrade your game point of business by advancing to Edge computing?

Please write to us at marketing@goapl.com

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CISCO EXEC SAYS SD-WAN, WI-FI 6, MULTI-DOMAIN CONTROL, VIRTUAL NETWORKING AND THE EVOLVING ROLE OF NETWORK ENGINEERS WILL BE BIG IN 2020

Hot trends in networking for the coming year include SD-WAN, Wifi 6, multi-domain control, virtual networking and the evolving role of the network engineer into that of a network programmer, at least according to Cisco.

They revolve around the changing shape of networking in general, that is the broadening of data-centre operations into the cloud and the implications of that change, said Anand Oswal, senior vice president of engineering in Cisco’s Enterprise Networking Business.

“These fundamental shifts in where business processes run and how they’re accessed, is changing how we connect our locations together, how we think about security, the economics of networking, and what we ask of the people who take care of them,” Oswal said.

WI-FI 6 AND 5G

First up, wireless technology – especially Wi-Fi 6 – will get into the enterprise through the employee door and through enterprise access-point refreshes. The latest smartphones from Apple, Samsung, and other manufacturers are Wi-Fi 6 enabled, and Wi-Fi 6 access points are currently shipping to businesses and consumers.

5G phones are not yet in wide circulation, although that will begin to change in 2020, athough mostly for consumers and towards the end of the year. Oswal wrote that Cisco projects more people will be using Wi-Fi 6 than 5G through 2020.

2020 will also see the beginning of a big improvement in how people use Wi-Fi networks. The potential growth of the Cisco-lead OpenRoaming project will make joining participating Wi-Fi networks much easier, Oswal said. OpenRoaming, which uses the underlying technology behind HotSpot 2.0/ IEEE 802.11u promises to let users move seamlessly between wireless networks and LTE without interruption — emulating mobile network connectivity. Current project partners include Samsung, Boingo, and GlobalReach Technologies.

2020 will also see the adoption of new frequency bands, including the beginning of the rollout of “millimeter wave” (24Ghz to 100Ghz) spectrum for ultra-fast, but short-range 5G as well as Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), at about 3.5Ghz. This may lead new private networks that use LTE and 5G technology, especially for IoT applications.

“We will also see continued progress in opening up the 6GHz range for unlicensed Wi-Fi usage in the United States and the rest of world,” Oswal wrote.

As for 5G services, some will roll out in 2020 but “almost none of it will be the ultra-high speed connectivity that we have been promised or that we will see in future years,” Oswal said. “With 5G unable to deliver on that promise initially, we will see a lot of high-speed wireless traffic offloaded to Wi-Fi networks.”

In the long run, “In combination with the improved performance of both Wi-Fi 6 and (eventually) 5G, we are in for a large – and long-lived – period of innovation in access networking,” Oswal wrote.

IT’S A SD-WAN WORLD

“We are seeing a ton of momentum in the SD-WAN area as large numbers of companies need secure access to cloud applications,” Oswal said. The dispersal of connectivity – the growth of multicloud networking – will force many businesses to re-tool their networks in favor of SD-WAN technology, he said.

“Meanwhile the large cloud service providers, like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are connecting to networking companies – like Cisco – to forge deep partnership links between networking stacks and services,” Oswal wrote.

Oswal said he expects such partnerships will only deepen next year, and that concurs with recent analysis by Gartner.

“SD-WAN is replacing routing and adding application-aware path selection among multiple links, centralized orchestration and native security, as well as other functions. Consequently, it includes incumbent and emerging vendors from multiple markets (namely routing, security, WAN optimization and SD-WAN), each bringing its own differentiators and limitations,” Gartner wrote in a recent report.

In addition Oswal said SD-WAN technology is going to lead to a growth in business for managed service providers (MSPs), many more of which will begin to offer SD-WAN as a service.

“We expect MSPs to grow at about double the rate of the SD-WAN market itself, and expect that MSPs will begin to hyper-specialize, by industry and network size,” Oswal wrote.

ALL-INCLUSIVE MULTI-DOMAIN NETWORKS

In the Cisco world, blending typically siloed domains across the enterprise and cloud to the wide-area network is getting easier, and Oswal says that will continue in 2020. The idea is that its key software components – Application Centric infrastructure and DNA center – now enable what Cisco calls multidomain integration, which lets customers set policies to apply uniform access controls to users, devices and applications regardless of where they connect to the network.

ACI is Cisco’s software defined networking (SDN) data-center package, but it also delivers the company’s intent-based networking technology, which brings customers the ability to automatically implement network and policy changes on the fly and ensure data delivery.

WHAT IS SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKING (SDN)?

DNA Center is a key package as it features automation capabilities, assurance setting, fabric provisioning and policy-based segmentation for enterprise networks. Cisco DNA Center gives IT teams the ability to control access through policies using software-defined access (SD-Access), automatically provision through Cisco DNA Automation, virtualize devices through Cisco Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), and lower security risks through segmentation and encrypted traffic analysis.

“For better management, agility, and especially for security, these multiple domains need to work together,” Oswal wrote. “Each domain’s controller needs to work in a coordinated manner to enable automation, analytics and security across the various domains.”

The next generation of controller-first architectures for network fabrics allows the unified management of loosely coupled systems using APIs and defined data structures for inter-device and inter-domain communication, Oswal wrote. “The intent-based networking model that enterprises began adopting in 2019 is making network management more straightforward by absorbing the complexities of the network,” he wrote.

THE NETWORK AS SENSOR

The notion of the network being used for something more important than speeds and feeds has been talked about for a while, but the idea may be coming home to roost next year.

“With software that is able to profile and classify the devices, end points, and applications – even when they are sending fully encrypted data – the network will be able to place the devices into virtual networks automatically, enable the correct rule set to protect those devices, and eventually identify security issues extremely quickly,” Oswal wrote.

“Ultimately, systems will be able to remediate issues on their own, or at least file their own help-desk tickets. This becomes increasingly important as networks grow increasingly complex.”

Oswal said this intelligence could prove useful in wireless networks where the network can collect data on how people and things move through and use physical spaces, such as IoT devices in a business or medical device in a hospital.

“That data can directly help facility owners optimize their physical spaces, for productivity, ease of navigation, or even to improve retail sales,” Oswal wrote. “These are capabilities that have been rolling out in 2019, but as business execs become aware of the power of this location data, the use of this technology will begin to snowball.”

THE NETWORK ENGINEER CAREER CHANGE

The growing software-oriented network environment is changing the resume requirements of network professional.  “The standard way that network operators work – provisioning network equipment using command-line interfaces like CLI – is nearing the end of the line,” Oswal wrote. “Today, intent-based networking lets us tell the network what we want it to do and leave the individual device configuration to the larger system itself.”

WHAT IS INTENT-BASED NETWORKING?

Oswal said customers can now program updates, rollouts, and changes using centralized networking controllers, rather than working directly with devices or their own unique interfaces.

“New networks run by APIs require programming skills to manage,” Oswal wrote.  “Code is the resource behind the creation of new business solutions. It remains critical for individuals to validate their proficiency with new infrastructure and network engineering concepts.”

Oswal noted that it will not be an easy change because retraining individuals or whole teams can be expensive, and not everyone will adapt to the new order.

“For those that do, the benefits are big,” Oswal said. “Network operators will be closer to the businesses they work for, able to better help businesses achieve their digital transformations. The speed and agility they gain thanks to having a programmable network, plus telemetry and analytics, opens up vast new opportunities.”

This year Cisco revamped some of its most critical notification and career-development tools in an effort to address the emerging software-oriented network environment. Perhaps one of the biggest additions is the new set of professional certifications for developers utilizing Cisco’s growing DevNet developer community.

The Cisco Certified DevNet Associate, Specialist and Professional certifications will cover software development for applications, automation, DevOps, cloud and IoT. They will also target software developers and network engineers who develop software proficiency to develop applications and automated workflows for operational networks and infrastructure.

Source: https://www.networkworld.com/article/3505883/cisco-5-hot-networking-trends-for-2020.html

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Remember the old days—back in late 2018—when your biggest question was whether a particular workload should live in the public cloud or in your data center? Today, the industry is moving quickly toward containerized, cloud native applications running in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The same app is often distributed across multiple locations. The challenge of managing modern distributed apps across multiple clouds is real and made more challenging today by the use of Kubernetes services across private cloud and public cloud providers.

Data centers continue to be critical for organizations’ IT operations, and organizations are looking for their data centers to operate similarly to public cloud experiences. The challenge is simplifying the process of managing one’s entire IT estate—across public and private clouds—filled with different management interfaces and traditional and modern applications shared across multiple clouds. The best solution to this challenge is a consistent hybrid cloud approach, and advancements announced today by VMware and Dell Technologies are making today’s hybrid cloud even better.

VMware unveils the future of modern applications in a hybrid cloud world

Modern apps are essential to the future of every business. They are at the core of digital transformation. It’s these software investments that will define the future of all customer interactions, drive the exponential growth in revenue required to drive global markets, and reshape how we leverage data for untapped insights. Being able to deliver these applications at speed is a foundational capability for organizations looking to build and maintain competitive differentiation.

To address this growing need, VMware today has announced details of two groundbreaking new offers—VMware Tanzu, a portfolio of products enabling customers to build, run and manage modern apps in a multi-cloud environment; and VMware Cloud Foundation 4, which includes the new VMware vSphere 7 release that has been rearchitected to run Kubernetes and virtualized apps side by side at scale. Dell Technologies and VMware are “all in” to offer the industry’s best solutions to support our customers as they modernize both their apps and their businesses.

We can’t say that last bit too loud or too often. When our customers say they are going cloud native, they often have hundreds or thousands of apps that need to be replatformed. This can be incredibly disruptive to innovation and dangerous to the stability of their operation. With VMware’s announcement, supported in tight partnership with Dell Technologies infrastructure and services, you can modernize your applications at your own pace and with significantly lower risk.

Dell Technologies helps you power modern applications on any cloud with the industry’s broadest VMware-integrated portfolio

Organizations today are supporting both traditional and cloud native apps but struggle to do so effectively together and across their IT estate—private clouds, public clouds and edge locations. According to a recent Enterprise Strategy Group report, 78 percent of senior technology decision-makers at midsize and large companies say they think cloud management consistency would boost efficiency, but only five percent reported having it. This is precisely where Dell Technologies is best suited to assist.

Dell Technologies Cloud Platform (VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail), delivers a simple and direct path to modern applications. To accelerate your move to containers and a hybrid cloud operating model, Dell Technologies offers unique integration between VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VxRail that supports simultaneous VM and container-based workloads on industry-leading Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and Dell EMC Storage across multiple cloud environments.

Dell Technologies Cloud Platform also delivers the fastest path to hybrid cloud. Dell Technologies Cloud Platform with VxRail—the only jointly engineered HCI system with deep VMware Cloud Foundation integration—now delivers Kubernetes at cloud scale and at cloud speed. With our synchronous release commitment for VxRail, customers can run Kubernetes on Dell Technologies Cloud Platform with vSphere 7.0 within 30 days of VMware general availability. Customers also can choose Dell Technologies Cloud Validated Designs with same-day general availability for PowerEdge servers. Through both options, Dell Technologies ensures that IT is able to empower developers with rapid access to the latest technologies for modern applications.

Additionally, with Dell Technologies on Demand, we offer flexible consumption-based pricing and as-a-Service managed cloud experience for your on-premises data center. This also includes our ProDeploy and managed services to make implementation seamless and ProSupport services, with more than 1,900 global VMware certifications, to help ensure high availability and optimal performance.

Data drives your modern applications in the hybrid cloud

Alongside containers, data plays a central role in this new multi-cloud world. Imagine the horror of building out a new cloud native app and deploying it seamlessly across multiple clouds…only to have everything fail because the data required to support the application isn’t available in all the necessary locations. You can either update your resume, or you can learn about the awesome data management features that are built into Dell Technologies’ hardware stack. Check out our Dell Technologies Cloud Validated Designs, which allow you to consume Dell EMC Unity XT and Dell EMC PowerMax storage as part of the Dell Technologies Cloud. These storage platforms are integrated with VMware Cloud Foundation, vSphere with Kubernetes, and the VMware automation and orchestration tools. Dell Technologies is also the first vendor to qualify external NFS and Fibre Channel (FC) Storage solutions for VMware Cloud Foundation workload domains.

We’ve got you covered with flexible and consistent data management features, replication between environments, intrinsic security across the VM/container and hardware stack, and the Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager for Kubernetes to protect both your traditional workloads and your modern applications.

When you need to operate a dynamic, secure environment with assured access to your data, when and where it’s needed, there’s no better partner than Dell Technologies. We’ll help you ensure that your modern apps continue to run across the multicloud without interruption.

Source: https://blog.dellemc.com/en-us/tomorrows-forecast-cloudy-with-90-chance-of-containers/

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Organizations across the globe are becoming technology driven to remain productive in this current situation. To ensure your business can continue normal operations, you need to enable your employees to work remotely and maintain productivity, increase connectivity, and provide for continuous, secure access to applications across endpoints.

VPNs fall short in addressing your requirement when employees are working from home and possibly the new workspace norm for an increased number of your workforce in the post covid era.

While VPNs are used as a remote access solution, it has some huge shortcoming:

VPN:

• Unmanaged Devices connecting via VPN is like Ticking Timebomb from security perspective as entire Datacentre gets exposed to Cyber-attacks.
• Most of the VPNs cause the entire device traffic to go through the VPN Tunnel, thus causing unnecessary bandwidth utilization.
• With VPNs, there is almost no centralized remote management – you cannot deploy, monitor, and manage all of your connections from a single place.
• Corporate Apps and Data are accessible on non-compliant devices.
• VPN Gateways are Expensive as they usually use IPSec, which is the most expensive type of Gateway.

Workspace ONE:

• Enables Modern Management for PCs/laptop/Mobile devices (Patching, Configuration, Group Policies, Asset details etc).
• In-Built Per-App VPN & Multifactor Authentication (MFA) which limits attack surface of corporate datacenter and increases identity protection.
• Simplifies App Access, Application delivery and Management across any network through a single console.
• Software application delivery, can help remediate “Ransomware” attacks by delivering EDR, DLP solutions to all endpoints
• Cloud delivered instantly with “Zero” Capex for any on-prem hardware

From the management, performance, and security perspective, we simply can’t trust something that might have worked years ago. Instead, you need a modern digital workspace platform that simply and securely delivers and manages any app on any device by integrating access control, application management and multi-platform endpoint management.

For more information download the eBook: https://bit.ly/3fNzN31

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Dell Technologies are introducing two new platforms to meet the demand for more compute, performance, storage and more importantly operational simplicity- at the edge and remote locations. First, they are excited to announce a brand-new Dell EMC VxRail Series – the most extreme yet – the D Series. The D560/D560F is a ruggedized, durable platform that delivers the full power of VxRail for workloads at the edge, in challenging environments, or for space-constrained areas. ​

Bottom line, you can’t just put a device built for a data center in extremely harsh environments — from manufacturing plants to oil rigs to submarines — in remote locations where dust is blowing or in sub-zero temps, and expect it to operate. They have built the D-series to go to the extremes — extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme altitudes — so customers can get the power and simplicity of VxRail no matter where they need it.

• Resilience to extreme heat, sand, dust and vibration​ – VxRail D Series is certified to take heat up to 45C/113F and can even go up to 55C/131F for up to 8 hours, and have a certified cold start down to -15C/5F
• Light-weight, short depth, durable form factor that allows for flexible deployment options​ — at only 20” deep, it’s their smallest form factor
• Rugged build and rigid cover to withstand sudden shocks ​– certified to withstand 40G of operational shock and for operation at up to 15K feet of elevation

Providing even more platform flexibility, they are also announcing a new VxRail E Series model based on, for the first time, AMD EPYC processors. The single socket, 1U nodes offer dual socket performance making them ideal platforms for desktop VDI, analytics and computer aided design. As their second lightest and second shortest depth chassis (only the D560 is lighter weight and shorter depth) with a high efficiency dual redundant power sipping 550W power supply, this an ideal option for edge deployments.

Extreme Performance and Operational Efficiencies

More than ever, new workloads require extreme IO and graphics performance, and they continue to provide new ecosystem options to meet those demands while at the same time continuously enhancing VxRail HCI System Software to deliver extreme operational simplicity.

The addition of Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory to the E560 and P570 platforms offers high performance and significantly increased memory capacity with data persistence at an affordable price. VxRail is the first, fully integrated VMware HCI system to support Intel’s new groundbreaking technology innovation, Intel Optane persistent memory.

Dell’s testing showed VxRail with Intel Optane persistent memory in app direct mode delivers 90 percent lower latency and 6x higher IOPs for small I/O workloads compared to those same VxRail models with NVMe, making it ideal for in-memory intensive workloads and use cases such as SAP HANA.

They have also added the latest NVIDIA® Quadro RTX™ 6000 and 8000 GPUs to the V570F bringing the most significant advancement in computer graphics in over a decade to professional workflows. Designers and artists across industries can now expand the boundary of what’s possible, working with the largest and most complex graphics rendering, deep learning, and visual computing workloads.

VxRail continues to set the pace in delivering operational simplicity with HCI System Software, the core differentiation of VxRail regardless of your workload or platform choice. Their integrated, value added software extends VMware native capabilities to deliver a seamless, automated, operational experience, including automated  full stack lifecycle management that keeps the infrastructure in continuously validated states to ensure workloads are consistently up and running. In the latest software release supporting vSphere 6.x – VxRail 4.7.510 – continue to add new automation and self-service features enabling customers to schedule and run upgrade health checks in advance of upgrades to ensure clusters are in a ready state for the next upgrade or patch, and offer more flexibility in getting all nodes or clusters to a common release level.

Extending the Dell Technologies Cloud Platform to New Extremes

This launch is jam-packed. In addition to new platforms, the Dell Tech Cloud Platform, VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail, now enables extreme simplicity so IT can enable developers of modern applications and extreme flexibility with an entry level cloud configuration.

Furthering their commitment to supporting the latest VMware technologies, customers can now run vSphere Kubernetes on the Dell Tech Cloud Platform, VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0 on VxRail 7.0.

VMware recently introduced the highly anticipated vSphere 7.0. In keeping with the synchronous release commitment, they have introduced VxRail 7.0 with support for vSphere 7.0 in late April – within 30 days of VMware’s release. VCF 4.0 on VxRail 7.0 delivers a simple and direct path to Kubernetes at cloud scale with one complete automated platform. Unique integration across the stack enables developers and operators to quickly and easily support modern application development with infrastructure managed as a single automated private cloud.

Additionally, VCF 4.0 networking advancements have made it easier than ever to get started with hybrid cloud. With a more accessible Consolidated Architecture, Dell Technologies Cloud Platform can now be deployed starting with a 4-node configuration, lowering the cost of entry level hybrid cloud.

Enabling IT to Deliver Extreme Results

Whether you are accelerating data center modernization, extending HCI to harsh edge environments or deploying an on premises Dell Tech Cloud platform to create a developer-ready Kubernetes infrastructure, VxRail delivers a turnkey experience, extensive platform configuration options, automation, orchestration and consistent hybrid cloud operations to address the broadest range of traditional and modern workloads across the core, edge and cloud- taking HCI to Extremes.

Source: https://blog.dellemc.com/en-us/taking-hci-to-extremes/

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SECURING LEADING INDIAN CONGLOMERATE

What’s the best way to reduce cost and complexity of the security infrastructure of a large conglomerate with multiple business verticals? Probably, by implementing a robust, comprehensive Privileged Identity Manager – which is exactly what Iraje PIM did for one of India’s leading conglomerates with operations in sectors as diverse as real estate, consumer products, industrial engineering, appliances, furniture, security and agricultural products.

As large and diverse as their organization may be, the client had centralised infrastructure managed by multiple vendors remotely. Given the scenario, managing and protecting critical information was a challenge, security threats were looming large and the client was unable to get visibility on their IT operations.

Iraje PIM offered them a solution that helps them manage multiple vendors spread across geographies and get visibility and control on their privileged accesses. Across-the-board implementation covering all vendors in multiple locations was done in a quick span of 2 weeks, which enabled the client to manage multiple vendors across multiple locations. What is more, the client showed significant ROI by reducing resources required to manage the infrastructure.

“We are very happy with the quick implementation and rollout of PIM to our entire vendor ecosystem. We were able to successfully enforce PIM in the organization and get better visibility and control on our critical data-center environment. “- CISO

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A common question we receive is: “What is the relationship of software-defined networking (SDN) to intent-based networking?”  In this blog we:

• Compare the model of SDN with intent-based networking: How are they different? What should you know?
• Share our point-of-view about why this differentiation ultimately matters to our customers.

What is SDN?

Software defined networking (SDN) developed out of the need to automate, scale and optimize networking for applications that may be provided either via an enterprise datacenter, a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), or as-a-service (public cloud).

We view SDN as a centralized approach to the management of network infrastructure. SDN provides a number of important benefits for network and IT operators through controller-enabled, network visibility and automation including:

• Ability to programmatically automate network configurations, increasing scalability and reliability
• Increased flexibility and agility for changing the network operation to enable an application or address a task.
• Centralized visibility of the network topology, network elements and their operation across the network infrastructure.

Beyond automation: What are the limits of SDN?

While software-defined networks (SDNs) have largely automated the process of network management, organizations now require even greater capabilities from their networks in order to manage their own digital transformation.

For example, IT teams should expect:

• Automated translation of business polices to IT (security and compliance) policies
• Automated deployment of these policies
• Assurance that if the network is not providing the requested policies, they will receive proactive notification.

These are some of the motivations for moving beyond SDN towards intent-based networking.

How intent-based networking builds on SDN

SDN is a foundational building block of intent-based networking. The good news for SDN practictioners is that intent-based networking addresses SDN’s shortfalls. Intent-based networking adds context, learning and assurance capabilities, by tightly coupling policy with intent.

“Intent” enables the expression of both business purpose and network context through abstractions, which are then translated to achieve the desired outcome for network management.  Whereas, SDN is purposely focused on instantiating change in network functions.

In our previous post we introduced the three foundational elements of intent-based networking: translation, activation and assurance.

• The translation element enables the operator to focus on “what” they want to accomplish, and not “how” they want to accomplish it. The translation element takes the desired intent and translates it to associated network policies and security policies.  Before applying these new policies, the system checks if these policies are consistent with the already deployed policies or if they will cause any inconsistencies.
• Once approved, the new policies are then activated (automatically deployed across the network).
• With assurance, an intent-based network performs continuous verification that the network is operating as intended. Any discrepancies are identified; root-cause analysis can recommend fixes to the network operator. The operator can then “accept” the recommended fixes to be automatically applied, before another cycle of verification.

What’s the outcome?

The expanded capabilities of intent-based networking over SDN provide operators with greater flexibility in how to act:

• Firstly, closed-loop feedback is critical to the operational success of intent-based networking.
• Secondly, assurance does not occur at discrete times in an intent-based network. Continuous verification is essential since the state of the network is constantly changing. Continuous verification assures network performance and reliability.
• Finally, if a problem occurs and a recommended fix has been identified, the operator can choose how recommended fixes are applied (depending on the user’s specified policy for that type of fix and the context of the problem), for example: routed to an administrator for “review and approval”, inserted into a ticketing system, or even automatically applied.

In summary, intent-based networking augments SDN, by delivering the network agility that organizations require to accelerate their digital transformation. By adding important capabilities, such as translation and assurance, a closed loop intent-based networking platform helps IT deliver continuous agility, reliability and security to significantly improve IT and business outcomes.

Source: https://blogs.cisco.com/analytics-automation/why-is-intent-based-networking-good-news-for-software-defined-networking

* CISCO is a trademark of CISCO corporation, USA.

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LEADING INDIAN MANUFACTURING FIRM FUTURE-PROOFS ITS INFRASTRUCTURE AND MAKES AN INVESTMENT IN ITS FUTURE

The customer is a leading manufacturing company in India, ranked among the world’s best regarded firms compiled by Forbes. With its storage & network systems reaching end of life, the client was keen on refreshing the DC Equipment at their Plant in Ganjam, Odisha.

Following were the challenges present:

• Provide a simple and robust solution with reduced IT management & administration effort
• Reduce rack space requirements at Client’s Datacenter
• Have new services up and running while ensuring minimum downtime and maintaining a Business Continuity Plan
• Work on limited timelines to implement the new solution

New Solution Deployment:

Galaxy along with Dell proposed VMware Virtualization solution on Dell VRTX chassis and Blade servers. The proposed solution not only meets the client’s existing storage needs, but will also continue to create value for years to come.

Dell VRTX Solution is a unique offering from Dell for Datacenters of the Client’s ROBOs that create and use Data. Dell VRTX is built of customizable modules of compute, storage & networking while being tightly integrated with VMware vSphere, providing one complete solution in a Box.  Alongside the VRTX, Galaxy also proposed Dell EMC DPS solution for Data Backup.

Senior Technical personnel from Galaxy provided HLD / LLD & Implementation of the solution based on Customer’s requirement within 15 days.

Customer Benefits:

• The new virtual environment has enabled the Client to reduce rack/floor storage space by 70 %
• Considerable cost-reduction benefits through easy maintenance and simple administration
• Reduced complexity of integration with different Hardware / Software components
• Increased productivity as solution is very high in availability
• Remote service capabilities with a single vendor for call logging and breakdown if any.

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