SASE: Networking, Security, Edge, or None – or All of the Above? Where Should an Enterprise Start?

G. Barton Research Director

Summary Bullets:

• SASE combines WAN with elements of security and edge technology, but that is not a catch-all solution.

• For SASE to work, organizations must break down internal silos to create a unified approach to data routing and security policies.

What is SASE or – to reference it by its full name – secure access service edge? Enterprises can be forgiven to a degree of uncertainty on this point since, as with all new technology concepts, the term has been used rather freely by vendors, service providers, and analysts alike. In its original form, the concept envisioned a move beyond traditional WAN (including SD-WAN) to a group of network technologies that would be deployed at the network edge (in a move away from customer premises equipment) and would combine both routing and security capabilities.

NTT and VMware’s Partnership Demonstrates Need for Partnership in Edge Services Delivery

J. Marcus

Summary Bullets:

• NTT and VMware integrated their respective private network and edge compute offerings – both were originally launched in 2021 – to offer the new Edge-as-a-Service.

• The partners will go to market jointly and coordinate sales, marketing, and customer co-innovations, with NTT delivering the managed service across its global footprint.

NTT Ltd. and VMware launched Edge-as-a-Service, a fully managed edge compute platform that runs on the Intel network and edge infrastructure and is complemented by NTT’s existing private LTE/5G offering based on technology from Celona. NTT is using VMware’s Edge Compute Stack, an integrated virtual machine (VM) and container-based stack to help organizations modernize and secure edge-native apps close to end users, while VMware – despite already offering a private cellular connectivity platform built on components from Druid Software and ASOCS – is now adopting NTT’s Private 5G as part of its edge solution.

Airtel and IBM Bring Complementary Assets to Deliver 5G-Capable Edge Computing

S. Soh

Summary Bullets:

• IBM and Bharti Airtel announced their intent to deploy Airtel’s edge computing platform in India, which will include 120 network data centers across 20 cities.

• This is a positive development for both firms, but there is still work to be done in educating the market, co-developing solutions with customers, and expanding the partner ecosystem.

Airtel’s edge computing platform delivers a hybrid environment based on IBM Cloud Satellite and Red Hat OpenShift; the business value is significantly enhanced when combined with 5G. Maruti Suzuki India intends to use the edge platform to increase accuracy and efficiency for quality inspections on the factory floor. Through Airtel’s 5G connectivity and IBM’s secured edge computing, enterprises can deploy and manage workloads in near real-time.

The Long, Long Road to Ethical AI

R. Bhattacharyya

Summary bullets:

• The preeminent ethical concerns used to be the loss of jobs due to AI, bias, or applications of facial recognition, but the ethical debate has become more complicated.

• Even though AI has been around for years, the AI and ethics conversation is just getting started; increasing awareness and education, as well as broadening the types of participants involved in the conversation, are foundational first steps.

Organizations are eager to leverage the insights provided by AI to streamline operations, enhance productivity, generate new business, and personalize customer experience. Several companies have already deployed the technology, or are at least experimenting with it, and are now looking to scale AI by rolling the technology out to a broader user base and additional departments. But as AI becomes more widely used, many companies are unclear about how to best navigate the murky waters of AI and ethics. No organization wants to risk the public relations fiasco that would ensue should it be determined that the AI algorithms it uses yield biased results against a specific demographic, or are being applied a way that is not in line with corporate ethics policies.

Mobile Insecurity: Changing Workplace Models Expose Enterprise Vulnerabilities

Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

Summary Bullets:

• Almost half of organizations queried suffered a mobile device related breach in the last year.

• The majority of organizations link the increase in incidents to migration to a hybrid work environment.

It is no secret that the sudden shift to remote work during COVID-19 lockdown put tremendous pressure on IT teams as they scrambled to deploy and manage new collaboration tools and related IT services. Over time, it became apparent that many enterprise security vulnerabilities were exposed in that overnight migration, and as a result there was an uptick in breaches.

Executive Departure Adds More Uncertainty to Broadcom’s VMware Acquisition

S. Schuchart

Summary Bullets:

• Tom Krause is leaving Broadcom to become CEO of Citrix-Tibco, increasing tensions around the planned acquisition of VMware.
• Broadcom CEO Hock Tan is taking over the Broadcom Software division, but there may be a chance that VMware’s leadership team could run the division if the acquisition closes.

The latest chapter in the saga of Broadcom’s quest to buy VMware sees the architect and face of the deal, Broadcom Software President Tom Krause, leaving Broadcom to become CEO of Citrix-Tibco. For fans following along at home, Citrix was purchased by private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Investment Management that plan to merge Citrix with Tibco. The merger of those two is much like the purchase of VMware by Broadcom – a move with very few synergies that leaves everyone scratching their heads and wondering why. It seems as if the thought process is that any software company can be merged with any other… because they are all software, right?

Vodafone Delivers Purpose in Action

R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Vodafone is seeking to demonstrate how it uses technology to address connected education and connected health markets in both developed and developing countries.
• Propositions such as ‘school in a box’ and m-mama in Africa have helped in delivering the education sector and safer healthcare for pregnant women.

Vodafone recently presented examples of its Purpose initiative, whose goal is stated to be “we connect for a better future by enabling inclusive and sustainable digital societies.” The three pillars of this strategy are Digital Society (connecting people, places, and things and digitizing critical sectors); Inclusion For All (ensuring no one is left behind in a digital society); and Planet (tackling the climate crisis, reducing carbon emissions, and helping others reduce theirs). These all demonstrate practical implementations of the company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda, as well as demonstrating that offering socially useful applications can also be a commercial opportunity.

DevSecOps is Now Ops’ Greatest Digitization Challenge

C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

• DevSecOps’ barriers to adoption include culture clashes between teams and technical challenges.
• Emerging tools are beginning to appear among traditional platform providers and startups.

The move to microservices-based apps has unleashed a flood of new DevOps and GitOps platforms in recent months aimed at helping enterprise operations and developer teams create continuous integration and continuous development pipelines for streamlining the deployment of advanced apps within complex processes. Efforts to spin off new app architectures, including Kubernetes clusters, require configurations between networking, security, and provisioning of computing. This need involves the developer as part of a ‘shift left and GitOps’ movement taking place over the past 18 months, spurred by the need to automate continuous delivery and operations of apps and infrastructure. However, progress toward this effort has been slow.

Organizations Combat Chronic Security Understaffing by Hiring Less-Experienced Professionals

A. Larsen DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

• Facing serious internal IT security expertise limitations, many organizations are hiring lower-level staff and providing professional development on the job.
• This strategy appears to be yielding good results with many prepared to work on assignment independently within six months, according to an (ISC)² survey of hiring managers.

IT security organizations are under acute pressure.  Navigating an escalating threat environment often with a lack of internal expertise, companies are reassessing approaches to staffing and casting a wider net with respect to hiring for IT security roles.

Atos’ Future Will Bring a Much-Needed Restructure

R. Bhattacharyya

Summary Bullets:

• Atos announced plans to split into two companies: one will focus on digital solutions and the other on information systems.
• There is still much uncertainty regarding what will happen to Atos in the long term, with rumors flying of a potential acquisition by another French organization.

For France-based Atos, significant change is imminent. In mid-June 2022, the IT services provider (ITSP) announced plans to split into two companies:  SpinCo will offer high-growth solutions that support digital transformation, big data (including Atos’ computing portfolio), and cybersecurity; and TFCo (Atos’ Tech Foundations) will provide low-growth managed infrastructure services, digital workplace solutions, and professional services.  By restructuring, Atos is separating its higher-growth and higher-margin businesses from its underperforming divisions, which have been dragging the company’s overall financial performance down for several years.