Cloud As Part of Technological Evolution

By Michael David Tan, Published on UpgradeMag.com, April 4, 2016

Wedge Networks started offering cloud-specific offerings in 2014, when it launched Cloud Network Defense, a cloud-based security platform that provides real-time, in-line protection of all devices (physical and virtual) and users connected to the cloud.

“Wedge Networks’ Cloud Network Defense represents the industry’s first Orchestrated Threat Management platform, which was purpose-built and optimized for deployment at the cloud-layer of the network to provide security to the cloud infrastructure and the users of that infrastructure. As an Orchestrated Threat Management platform, Cloud Network Defense is architected using the principles of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to support a more open, agile and scalable security framework to satisfy the dynamic, continuously evolving and rapidly scaling networks of today,” said Frank Wiener, VP of marketing.

The ability to add Cloud Network Defense to a network operator’s existing cloud infrastructure with a subscription-based licensing model positions it as an ideal solution for the delivery of Security-as-a-Service without requiring vertically integrated hardware appliances or upfront volume licensing commitments. This allows customers to select from a variety of conventional enterprise security services, such as secure web and email, data loss prevention, application control and more, as well as entirely new Infrastructure-as-a-Service security services to protect their cloud services. These services will soon be available for self-service subscription through an on-line portal or calling the service provider, which can instantly provision the service.

The latest update to Cloud Network Defense is a threat intelligence engine called WedgeIQ. Launched this year, this Big Data functionality employs a set of unique threat detection and remediation algorithms and a variety of pattern-matching techniques to identify targeted cyber threats against individual enterprises. It enables real-time response to security outbreaks, and presents the results as easy to understand analytics to the enterprise customers. WedgeIQ analytics are available to Security-as-a-Service users, giving them advanced yet easy to use instrumentation to monitor and manage their security.

Today, Wedge’s security platforms are deployed in Fortune 500, government agency, and network operator networks spanning 17 countries and protecting more than 80 million end points. And while Security-as-a-Service for cloud infrastructures was introduced only late last year, Wedge is already “engaged with leading network operators throughout the region to add this offering to their service portfolios. Services are expected to be available from these operators beginning in 2016,” Wiener said.

One of the biggest challenges in cloud adoption is the continuing confusion about the cloud and its benefits. And for Wiener, “the operational and economic benefits of the cloud are undisputed.” However, there are big concerns with the cloud, including: security, and the concern with how to maintain and demonstrate compliance with a wide range of regulations regarding the protection and distribution of information such as personal identification records, health records, finance records and more.

To this end, “Wedge Cloud Network Defense offers powerful new tools to conduct real-time deep inspection of data in-motion to track and enforce policies consistent with Compliance requirements,” Wiener said. “The ability for innovative network and cloud-infrastructure providers to offer these and other Security-as-a-Service offerings, with automated provisioning, will mitigate key concerns and accelerate adoption of Cloud offerings.”

For Wedge, over the last year, an increased number of global vendors offering new cloud-based solutions has driven local Filipino cloud ecosystem frameworks. The key dynamics within the market include expanded adoption, consolidated competition, new disruptors, developer migration, solution expansion, and new technology battlefronts.

“The Philippine government, previously noted for its conservative approach to technology adoption, has recently begun an aggressive push for cloud computing. GovCloud – a private cloud for government agencies and their employees along with basic cloud applications such as GovMail (unified government e-mail system), web hosting and payment gateway applications is one example of an industry improving their cloud-based solutions,” Wiener said.

For Wiener, “the explosive growth of wirelessly connected monitoring and control devices is ushering in an era of increased productivity and effectiveness, and creating gaps in conventional security and compliance enforcement systems for many enterprises including schools, government bodies and health organizations.”

Wedge also recently launched a family of new Security-as-a-Service packages, to provide needed security and compliance enforcement services for the expanding Internet of Things in enterprise networks globally. The new packages are available immediately for implementation using Wedge Cloud Network Defense that can also be deployed by Enterprises within their own data center cloud. Packages are available to address diverse needs of different vertical markets, such as healthcare which is subject to Health Information Privacy and Protection Act (HIPPA) compliance obligations, to manufacturing which is far less regulated but increasingly dependent on the cloud and the IoT.

“Wedge Cloud Network Defense represents a revolutionary new approach to implementing and orchestrating security at the cloud-layer of the network. It combines industry leading security performance in real-time, in-line with the data flowing to and from the cloud to protect all users and all devices, with imperceptible latency. The result is a safe and secure, yet high-performance cloud experience for the end users,” Wiener said. “The open, agile and massively scalable attributes of Cloud Network Defense empowers service providers with an unprecedented ability to evolve and scale security as dynamically as the infrastructure and cloud-services they are offering… The result is the ability for service providers to offer Security-as-a-Service which becomes an integrated subscription option with the cloud-service, or as a more general cloud-layer of enterprise security to provide more advanced and uniform security enforcement across the extended enterprise.”

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