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Masters of Borderless Networks: Sponsored by Cisco

Cloud Security is Top of Mind

At the annual security RSA Conference, the focus was all things cloud

By Robin Gareiss on Fri, 03/12/10 - 12:55pm.

At the annual security RSA Conference, the focus was all things cloud. Forget for a moment that definitions of "cloud" are still in flux, or that aside from SaaS, the adoption rate is still in the margin-of-error range (just 2% of benchmark participants told Nemertes in 2009 they were currently deploying cloud services). Indicators point to strong enterprise interest---and this time, the security industry is not waiting for the horse to leave the stable. Security experts are rightly focusing on the tried-and-true fundamentals: Identity-centric and data-centric security, the shrinking perimeter-of-one, audit, assessment and assurance. Specific technologies like SAML, OATH, Virtsec (virtualized security controls) and others are paving the way. So even if the cloud, whether Infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS), platform-as-a-service (PAAS) or software-as-a-service (SAAS) may not be compliance ready, but it is certainly test and development ready and able to support niche production applications.

About Masters of Borderless Networks

Robin Gareiss is Executive Vice President and Senior Founding Partner for Nemertes Research, where she oversees research projects and direction, conducts strategic seminars, develops cost models, and advises leading enterprises, vendors, and carriers. She currently serves as chief financial officer, as well.

For the past 18 years, Robin Gareiss has worked closely with hundreds of senior IT executives, analyzing their use of technology and capturing best practices. Ms. Gareiss is a widely recognized expert in voice over IP, convergence, collaboration, carrier services, IP networking, and branch-office technologies. She is a sought-after speaker at conferences and trade shows, including Interop, where she serves as chairperson for the Branch Offices track, VoiceCon, Mobile Business Expo, Supercomm, Telecom, and CeBit America. She also writes the Branch Offices Best Practices column for Network World.

Ms. Gareiss also has personal experience managing operations and developing new product offerings. Her entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding and overseeing marketing and business development for American Eco-Systems, a water-purification business in Illinois. She also served as president of Living Hope Lutheran Church, and ran several successful fundraisers for children’s cancer and other charities.

Before joining Nemertes, Ms. Gareiss shaped technology and business coverage as Senior News Editor of InformationWeek, a leading business-technology publication with 440,000 readers owned by the $359 million organization CMP Media. Prior to joining InformationWeek, Ms. Gareiss served in a variety of capacities at Data Communications magazine, where helped set strategic direction, oversaw reader surveys, and provided quantitative and statistical analysis. At these organizations Ms. Gareiss also helped develop, organize, and operate Web sites, TV, and print coverage of major trade shows. She has won numerous, prestigous awards for her in-depth analyses of business-technology issues.

Ms. Gareiss also taught ethics at the Poynter Institute for Advanced Media Studies. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, and American Medical News. Ms. Gareiss has a BS in journalism and a minor in education, with honors, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She lives in Illinois with her husband and four daughters.

About Robin Gareiss
 

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