OPTIMISING NETWORKING AT THE EDGE

ALI SLEIMAN, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA AT INFOBLOX, SAYS, TRADITIONAL NETWORKING ARCHITECTURE IS NO LONGER EFFECTIVE FOR MANAGING THE EXPLOSION OF WORKFLOW AT THE EDGE.

In a cloud-first world, the nexus of activity is no longer in your data centre; it’s at the network edge. The hub and spoke way of networking cannot keep up with the soaring demand for direct-to-cloud access at the edge. Unfortunately, many organisations are still relying on siloed hardware that locally manages DNS,

DHCP and IP address management (collectively known as DDI) individually for each site. Why does that matter?

Because fast, reliable DDI services are essential to all modern networking, including the cloud. Consequently, the

“local hardware” management of core

DDI services creates a host of problems, latency by ensuring that traffic from all locations connects directly to the cloud through the closest point of presence (PoP). As a result, critical cloud-based apps like Microsoft Office 365 run faster. With today’s rapidly expanding distributed workforce, getting secure access to cloud apps and data as if working from headquarters is a game changer for your employees—and your network management team.

including higher costs, higher latency, manual errors, slower performance, security gaps and no local survivability.

Your organisation wants to embrace the cloud and all its benefits—yet you need a simpler, more reliable way to manage your network, devices, apps and services across all locations.

Enter cloud-managed DDI

By moving the management plane for DDI from the appliance to the cloud, it enables you to centrally manage your borderless enterprise—and with far greater elasticity, reliability, security and automation than traditional on-premises DDI solutions provide. Plus, cloud-managed DDI reduces

What does cloud-managed DDI look like?

DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management) services play a central role in every network interaction. They

are what keep your enterprise network running. They’re involved in all of your digital business workflows, services, applications and data—regardless of location. DDI unifies the management and automation of these services so your network is always on and runs efficiently as it scales to new users and devices.

For many organisations, cloudmanaged DDI provides a more flexible, agile and cost-effective complement to on-premises, server-based DDI solutions. By using lighter virtual or physical appliances at each remote location, core services can be centrally managed in the cloud. No more local configuring of appliances or complex on-site service provisioning. With cloud-managed DDI, you get the benefit of full DDI visibility, automation and reliability—but with lower hardware and operating costs, fewer errors and total control. This opens the door to building a faster, more reliable network experience for users at the edge who want instant access to cloud apps, and a more controlled and efficient management experience for IT pros in the network operations centre.

Centralising Control of the Edge

Cloud-managed DDI offers a bridge that allows organisations to integrate core network services, bringing DNS, DHCP and IPAM together on a unified platform. By replacing siloed on-prem DNS and DHCP controllers with cloudnative technology, organisations can take a huge step toward digital transformation through integrated DDI services they can centrally manage in the cloud across all locations, ensuring better branch performance, faster access to cloud-based applications and higher availability.

Increasing Agility at the Edge

For some borderless enterprises, fully-featured, enterprise-grade DDI services are not needed in all of its branches or remote sites. For example, an organisation may already have a DNS service that meets all its needs in every location, but it wants to deploy only DHCP or IP address management services in small regional offices. Similarly, it may wish to expand DDI capabilities in some branches but not others.

Just as common, especially for enterprises that are undergoing digital transformation, it’s important to have the flexibility to roll out DDI capabilities incrementally. They may wish to upgrade DHCP in the near term while keeping their current IP address management solution. They need a DDI solution that protects them from overprovisioning services in remote sites that may go unused for some time yet.

Cloud-based DDI provides the flexibility and agility for enterprises to achieve the right size DDI implementation for every location.

Simplifying Application Access at the Edge

For the borderless enterprise, with growing numbers of remote workers and branch locations, simple, reliable access to mission-critical applications at the network edge is paramount. This requires organisations to move away from traditional MPLS architectures. Backhauling network traffic through the data centre creates severe latency and bottlenecks for end users in branch offices and remote sites, preventing them from moving at the speed of business. Modernising with more agile cloud access to applications like Microsoft Office 365 requires a different infrastructure. One where DDI services can be delivered and managed centrally via the cloud and where traffic from remote locations can connect directly to the closest local PoPs in the cloud without the backhaul bottleneck.

Boosting Survivability at the Edge

Application latency is not the only downside to traditional backhauling of DNS and DHCP through a headquarters data center. Backhauling also puts business continuity at risk for branch offices and remote sites because backhauling does not provide local survivability for DNS and DHCP services. If the link to headquarters goes down, because of a power outage or natural disaster, remote locations are not able to reach the central data center for DNS and DHCP resolution. As a result, they lose access to the Internet and cloud-based apps.

To ensure always-on networking for all locations, remote and branch offices need the ability to maintain DDI services locally.

Scaling at the Edge

Typically, core DDI services like DHCP are managed by hardware routers or servers located at each site. A large enterprise may have hundreds of these throughout its borderless operations. These on-premises devices are often resource-intensive, error prone, cumbersome and hard to scale. In addition, they provide no easy way to monitor and manage multiple locations.

For cloud-born businesses, cloudmanaged DDI makes it simple to eliminate resource-heavy physical appliances in branch and remote offices. Instead, lightweight devices or virtual appliances can be deployed in all locations, which enables DDI to be centrally managed in the cloud across all sites.

In conclusion, traditional networking architecture is no longer effective for managing the explosion of workflow at the edge. Cloud-managed DDI is a great modern networking solution for the borderless enterprise.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL SKILLS

WHILE THE PANDEMIC HAS ACCELERATED DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, IT HAS ALSO BROUGHT INTO FOCUS THE NEED TO REBUILD AND ACQUIRE DIGITAL SKILLS TO HELP DELIVER WHAT THE BUSINESS CAN DO BEST, EXPLAINS RANJITH KAIPPADA, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT CLOUD BOX TECHNOLOGIES.

Availability of high-level technology skills whether for hardware or software have always experienced a mismatch between demand and supply. But with the pandemic accelerating digital transformation to become a priority for all businesses and all industries, the pressure on availability of skills, whether for technology or for digital has also been accelerated.

This is making the human resources department along with top executives relook at the complete gamut of skills. These skills are required to take an organisation over the peak of transformation challenges, and into the post-pandemic world and beyond.

Those organisations that are able to identify the new set of skills required, and actively develop them internally or source them externally, across their workforces, will be able to better manage digital transformation. With this capability, they will pull ahead of other competitors and deliver better value to both shareholder and customers.

The pandemic while accelerating digital transformation, has also significantly altered the task of identifying and acquiring the skills required to manage digital transformation.

Here are some of the principal deviations:

1Digital skills are no longer technology skills The skills required to see an organisation through the dual challenges of digital transformation and remote workforce management are no longer just IT skills. Along with IT, they are also a blend of the organisation’s business, its various departmental functions, and a range of soft skills. According to a survey by Gartner TalentNeuron, digital leaders like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, look for a blend of computer science, engineering, technology infrastructure, security, amongst others.

2What skills does your business need Most organisations are still struggling to identify what skills they require, and at what level. The new skills are required to manage business in the post-pandemic era, as well as to cope with the accelerated pace of digital transformation. Adding pressure to this mismatch between supply and demand is the understanding that digital skills are now getting integrated into almost every job role.

According to a recent independent survey by TalentNeuron, inability to identify the skills required inside an organisation to lead transformation is amongst the top inhibitors for digital transformation.

3How digital impacts business Industry experts estimate that anything digital has been accelerated five years forward by the pandemic. How organisations need to cope with these changes has now created a formidable jigsaw puzzle. Some of the big missing pieces are the skills required to map the business impact from digital technologies. As well as the business skills required to reengineer the business to cope with these digital changes.

If the jigsaw puzzle is not solved, and the right skills not identified and recruited, it is unlikely that the organisation will be able to cope with the transformation required.

4Focusing on the end game Every organisation is being impacted by digital transformation. The end game comes into sight, when a business can focus on what value they plan to deliver through digital transformation.

Senior executives will need to reskill themselves to understand what digital transformation means for their business, and how they are going to deliver the new set of values that works best for their business.

5Legacy HR cannot manage agile workforces Remote working has demonstrated very well, that how work gets completed and how work is designed to be completed can deviate. Under digital transformation the nature of a workflow changes continuously and deviates from the planned one as well.

Rigid and inflexible rules of working, that are part of legacy human resource practices do not work well in an agile organisation that is transforming around digital technology platforms. This is becoming more and more visible in the post pandemic world.

6Arrival of the robot worker Lastly, organisations need to relook at all their employee job roles in terms of them being replaced by automation and artificial intelligence. If a role is being impacted, organisations do not need to eliminate the role entirely. Relook at how that role can deliver the next level of value for the internal or external customer.

With a balanced outlook towards improvement and innovation for the customer, most organisations can move to the next level of workforce agility, distancing themselves from outdated skills and practices.

HOW ETHICAL HACKERS CAN IMPROVE YOUR SECURITY POSTURE

ESTEBAN HERNANDEZ, SPECIALIST SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT, SECURITY, AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS), DISCUSSES HOW GLOBAL BUSINESSES RELY ON ETHICAL HACKERS TO TEST SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEVELOP ROBUST CYBERSECURITY PRACTICES.

Cybersecurity professionals see some threat actors or outside-parties as the enemy. However, challenging this mindset is important; you can better protect your organisation against outside-parties if you understand how they think and operate. With this in mind, businesses around the globe have turned to hackers to test security infrastructure and develop stronger, more robust security practices.

Before integrating penetration testing into your security policy, it is important to understand the different types of hackers that exist. Each group has differing motivations, and you must be clear on which of their skills can be used to your organisation’s advantage.

Black hat

Black hat hackers are cybercriminals motivated by personal or financial gain. They range from teenage amateurs to experienced individuals or teams with a specific remit. However, over recent years, several high profile black hat hackers have refocused on using their cyber skills to protect organisations. An example is Kevin Mitnick aka Condor, who was just sixteen years old when he gained access to a Department of Defense computer. Following this and numerous other hacks, Mitnick spent five and a half years in prison. Upon his release set up his own company, Mitnick Security Consulting, which now runs penetration tests for clients.

The issue of whether to work with a previous black hat hacker is a contentious one. Some, including David Warburton, senior threat evangelist at F5 Networks, believe that hiring ex-hackers is critical in staying ahead of the threat landscape. However, others are concerned about allowing this group access to corporate systems and customer data. The latter group should, however, consider other approaches to working with hackers.

White hat

Often referred to as ethical hackers, white hat hackers are employed by organisations to look for vulnerabilities in security defences. Despite using the same tactics as black hat hackers, this group has permission from the organisation making what they do entirely legal. While they use their knowledge to find ways to break the defences, they then work alongside security teams to fix issues before others discover them.

Many of the biggest organisations in the world, including General Motors and Starbucks, are turning to white hat hackers to help identify fault lines and proactively enhance security posture. White hat hacking can offer an interesting and lucrative career path for people with technical skills. Drawing attention to the important role white hat hackers play can encourage more talented individuals to take a positive path instead of becoming black hat hackers.

Nurturing talent

There are many programmes in place to find, encourage and support the next generation of white hat hackers. An example, supported by AWS, is r00tz Asylum, a conference dedicated to teaching young people how to become white-hats. Attendees learn how hackers operate and how cybersecurity experts defend against hackers. The aim is to encourage people with technical expertise to use it for good in their career. By equipping aspiring cybersecurity professionals with knowledge and skills, they can bake security into infrastructure, from the ground up. AWS’s support for r00tz is our chance to give back to the next generation, providing young people who are interested in security with a safe learning environment and access to mentors.

Building on solid foundations

For those responsible for maintaining customer trust and protecting data, an end to end approach to security is critical. As we have seen, working with ethical hackers is a powerful way to view security posture from a cyber-criminal’s perspective to identify and tackle vulnerabilities. However, it’s also important to remember that security needs to be baked in throughout an organisation’s infrastructure. This is where partnering with a cloud platform can be beneficial; the best of these are developed to satisfy the needs of the most risk-sensitive organisations. Cloud platforms also offer automated security services, which can proactively manage security assessments, threat detection, and policy management. In so doing, these platforms take on a lot of the heavy lifting for security professionals, including ethical hackers.

MOVING TO THE EDGE

PREM RODRIGUES, DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, INDIA AND AFRICA AT SIEMON, EXPLAINS WHY THE PHYSICAL IT INFRASTRUCTURE OF EDGE DATA CENTRES REQUIRES SPECIAL CONSIDERATION

Edge computing promises to provide faster, smoother delivery of online services and better performance of online applications to users.

At the same time, machine-to-machine devices will rely on edge computing for real-time communications with local processing resources to guarantee safety and avoid accidents. And many other technologies including 5G mobile networks, augmented reality and artificial intelligence will benefit from high-speed, low-latency processing of applications and data that edge computing can deliver.

Edge computing relies on a distributed data centre architecture, in which IT cloud servers housed in edge data centres are deployed on the outer edges of a network.

These edge data centres can take the form of modular, containerised, micro or office-based facilities and will essentially require power, cooling, connectivity and security in the same way as centralised data centres. However, the difference in physical size and the physical location of an edge data centre impacts IT infrastructure decisions and components will have to be selected carefully to ensure reliable operation and support of a growing, more demanding network.

Since edge data centres will be deployed in multiple geographically distributed areas, they will require a modular approach that uses modules and configurations that – once specified - can easily be replicated from one site to the next. This will allow for a fast set-up process and for growth in line with local demand as it changes over time.

Pre-configured and pre-assembled solutions can speed up the deployment of a large number of geographically dispersed facilities. Pre-terminated copper and fibre cabling for example can save up to 30 per cent on time and labour compared to installing individual components. These factory-terminated and tested solutions provide guaranteed performance levels.

Many edge data centres could be unmanned, or site-access may be limited. Automated infrastructure management tools allow for remote management and monitoring of these sites. Monitoring may extend to copper and fibre connections (i.e. a cable connects/disconnects) but also to security locks (i.e. a cabinet door opens) with real-time alerts of network and security events to help detect unauthorised access and prevent downtime.

Additional monitoring and control features provided by intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) can also be useful for managing unmanned sites. Switched PDUs offer remote outlet control by enabling data centre managers to restart or shut down a piece of equipment remotely. Fully managed PDUs offer the highest level of control with outlet-level monitoring and outletlevel switching for remote monitoring and control of individual receptacles. Intelligent PDUs with sensors for cabinetlevel environmental monitoring (e.g. temperature and humidity) can provide an extra layer of control.

Compared to large centralised facilities, edge data centres will have to manage a much larger number of physical connections within a much smaller physical space. Category 6A/ Class EA copper cabling solutions such as high density 48-port patch panels and patch cords that feature a reduced outer diameter are perfectly aligned to meet these high-density requirements. Highcapacity fibre designs, such as enclosures that can house 144 LC fibres or 864 MTP fibres within 1U offer superior port density, whilst also providing easy access to fibre ports and cable management.

In high-density edge data centre environments, proper cable management will become more critical than ever in supporting airflow for appropriate cooling. Excess cables should be avoided, and cable bundles should be neatly dressed within the racks. Cables that come in shorter (e.g. half metre) increments will avoid high amounts of cable slack inside the rack for improved cable management and better airflow.

Patch cords with a reduced diameter also offer a significantly tighter bend radius for easier cable routing and better cable management and to facilitate moves, adds and changes in tighter spaces. Different colour options with help identify resilient connections (A&B routes) and/or different services and applications supported in the edge environment.

Whilst edge environments will not differ too much from traditional centralised data centres in terms of essential infrastructure components, careful choice is key to ensuring reliable operation in support of these mission critical facilities.

MARCH 30, 2021 VIRTUAL EVENT

https://www.cxoinsightme.com/css/2021/

The pandemic has fueled an alarming increase in cyber-attacks, making it harder for enterprises to maintain their security posture. The trend of remote work and new operating models makes it imperative for companies to rethink their cybersecurity strategies in the changing technology landscape.

With the rapid adoption of new digital technologies, the need for rigorous security has never been more critical. There are significant challenges organisations face when it comes to securing digital transformation projects. Put simply, cybersecurity must be built into every aspect of your digital business strategy.

The “Cyber Strategists 2021” conference organised by CXO Insight ME is a platform that will bring together industry practitioners and security experts in the region to explore new ways to build cyber resilience and discuss innovative solutions. This virtual conference will feature presentations from the industry leaders on best practices for combating new threats and an overview of the ever-evolving threat landscape.

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