Networking Nuggets and Security Snippets

Jon Oltsik

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RSA 2010: Cloud security announcements dominate already

Cisco, EMC, Intel and VMware are all over cloud security

By joltsik on Tue, 03/02/10 - 11:24am.

It's pouring in San Francisco but ironically the RSA Conference is already pointed toward clouds -- in this case cloud computing security.

There were two announcements yesterday around securing private clouds. New initiative king Cisco announced its "Secure Borderless Network Architecture," which is actually pretty interesting. Cisco wants to unite applications and mobile devices through an "always-on" VPN. In other words, Cisco software will enforce security policies for mobile devices about which applications they can use and when -- without user intervention. Pretty cool but you would need a whole bunch of new Cisco stuff to make this happen.

On another front, industry big-wigs EMC, Intel, and VMware are pushing for a "hardware root of trust" for cloud computing. The goal here is to create technology that lets cloud providers share system state, event, and configuration data with customers in real-time. In this way, customers can integrate cloud security with their own security operations processes and management. This is extremely important for regulatory compliance. (Note: Another reason why EMC/RSA bought Archer Technologies).

These interesting announcement probably presage a 2010 RSA Conferernce trend -- "all cloud all of the time." Since ESG Research indicates that only 12% of midsized (i.e. less than 1,000 employees) and enterprise (i.e. more than 1,000 employees) will prioritize cloud spending in 2010, all of this cloud yackety yack may be a bit over the top.

Two other announcement worth noting here:

1. An actual leading voice on cloud computing security the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) teamed up with IEEE to survey users about cloud computing security. Users overwhelmingly want to see industry standards and soon. Bravo CSA and IEEE, I couldn't agree more.

2. I like the F5 Networks/Infoblox announcement around DNSSEC. The two companies will offer integration technology between F5 load balancers and Infoblox DNSSEC. This partnership blends the security of DNSSEC with the reality of distributed web-based apps and infrastructure. Kudos to the companies, the Federal government will be especially pleased.

See you at the show!

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About Networking Nuggets and Security Snippets

Jon Oltsik is a principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group responsible for the networking and security services at ESG. Prior to joining ESG, Jon was the founder and principal of Hype-Free Consulting. Mr. Oltsik previously served as VP of Marketing & Strategy at GiantLoop Network where he managed all marketing activities and defined the company’s strategic vision. Jon was also a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research where he covered a wide range of infrastructure and IT topics. In this role, he was frequently quoted in business journals, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the New York Times, and was also the recipient of a prestigious "best research" award for his breakthrough report, "The Internet Computing Voyage."