The 10 Best Performing Cloud solution providers 2018 by Insights Success Media

www.insightssuccess.com October 2018

Industry Insight:

Solution

Providers 2018/2019

data center security:controlling possible threats

In Brief

The New Way of business-mobility on Cloud

Spence Witten Vice President of Global Sales

Lunarline Delivering the Best-in-class Cybercrime protection to Businesses Globally

Cloud Computing: Shouldering the Pillars of a Digital Revolution

rom ones and zeros to analyzing and imitating human behavioral patterns, a machine called ’computer’ has come a long way, such as, it has become one of our basic needs. This evolution, through its course, has had both, constructive as well as destructive consequences. But, to sum up, the advantages that a computer delivers, overweighs its drawbacks. The calculated assumptions which consumers make while deciphering the ways in which a computer would ease their work seldom includes the knowledge of its capabilities. The exploration, experimentation, and emancipation of these capabilities would only have been possible through the Internet. Being an endless and unfathomable universe of its own, the internet has given birth to a myriad of disruptive digital innovations. The blockchain technology is an apt example of such innovations. One other innovation which was conceived by and for the internet, which is presently the primary component of technologies and platforms like IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Online Gaming, and Social Media apps, is Cloud Computing. The accessibility of networks with high-capacity, inexpensive computers and storage devices and the extensive implementation of hardware virtualization, architecture which is service-oriented, and autonomic and utility computing has aided the growth in cloud computing. The evident transformation of IT and its surrounding aspects has been brought about by cloud computing. As much as it has turned out to be beneficial for the common public, it has also become the boost for organizations with technology as their niche. The cost of installing heavy IT infrastructure can be completely avoided or reduced by utilizing cloud computing. The agility of organizations is effectively enhanced by cloud computing as it aids users’ flexibility, re-provisioning and expansion of technological infrastructure resources. Cloud computing delivers organizations the capability to scale flexibly. This means, it delivers appropriate proportions of IT resources, precisely, computing power, storage, bandwidth etc. when required, and from the right geographical location. Contemporary cloud providers deliver a comprehensive set of policies, technologies

and controls which strengthen the overall security of organizations. This assists in safeguarding data, applications and infrastructure from probable threats. The cloud computing ecosystem is diversified into a myriad of its models, including, public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud. Moreover, cloud services have been categorized into, Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Serverless Computing, and Software as a service. The density of organizations offering these models and services has been rising exponentially. With a knack for innovation and its efficient delivery, these organizations are setting benchmarks in the global market. With the purpose of placing the spotlight on such organizations, Insights Success has come up with a list of “The 10 Best Performing Cloud Solution Providers, 2018/19.” In this issue, featuring as our cover story is Lunarline, which is a leading cyber security and privacy provider to the US Federal Government, as well as private industries. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Lunarline helps over 500 clients fight back against modern cybercrime. Its portfolio of products, services, managed services, training and certifications, power Solutions Built on Security® for clients in the Intelligence, Defense, Federal Civilian and private Sectors. Lunarline has worked ceaselessly to build exceptional capabilities that solve each piece of the cyber puzzle for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). From compliance to cloud security architecture & engineering to Managed Security Services that address unique cloud challenges, the organization’s job is to maximize the secure use of cloud services. Other commendable organizations which have been featured in this list are, Aerobyte, which provides Cyber Security Solutions that are scalable in protecting anything to everything in the Internet of Things (IoT); Druva Inc., which is the first and only cloud-first, Data Management-as-aService (DMaaS) company, providing new and innovative technology solutions for over 4,000 customers across the globe; Infront Consulting Group, which is a prominent IT consulting firm mainly focusing on implementation and automation of core Microsoft infrastructure; Reltio, which is a native cloud platform that organizes enterprise data for continuous self-learning; UVision Technology is a technology innovation company helping organizations to transform, innovate & grow with smart, scalable and secure solutions; and VCloud Group, which is a global leader, prominently providing cloud computing solutions with no geographical boundaries. Also, make sure to flip through the articles written by our in-house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some of the leading industry experts to have a brief taste of the sector. Bon Appetit!

Abhishaj Sajeev

Cover Story

Delivering the Best-in-class Cybercrime protection to Businesses Globally

12 18 Cloud Insights: Using AI to Automatically Optimize Cloud costs

Leadership Viewpoint: Challenges in Cloud Computing

Tech Perspective: Rising Mobile Workforce and its Challenges in the Mobile-Cloud Era:

Articles

Industry Insight:

In Brief:

Data Center Security: Controlling Possible Threats

The New Way Of Business Mobility on Cloud

Druva: Pioneering Data Management and Protection Solutions for the Cloud

23 Aerobyte: Next Generation Cloud Security

Reltio: Organizing Data for Self-learning Enterprises

Infront Consulting Group:

vCloud Group:

Helping Enterprises Implement and Automate Microsoft Solutions

Virtual Networking Made Simple

Omnichannel Agent and Customer Engagement Solutions Simplify and personalize the customer experience, empower agents and achieve business success with one workspace for all channel interactions, application integrations, and CX reporting.

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editor Assistant Editors Contributing Editors Visualiser Art & Design Director Associate Designer Co-designer

Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Shubham Khampariya Jenny Fernandes Kedar Kulkarni Ishan Mittal Bhushan Kadam David King Amol Kamble Sanket Zirpe Mayur Koli

Art & Picture Editors Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager John Matthew Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan, Vishal Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Manish Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialists Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategists Alina Sege, Shubham, Anup SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Avdhut Research Analyst Patrick James Circulation Managers Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com

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Delivering the Best-in-class Cybercrime protection to Businesses Globally

We provide Solutions Built on SecurityÂŽ to help over 500 clients ďŹ ght back against modern cybercrime.

Cover Story

Spence Witten Vice President of Global Sales

aking into consideration, the drive to transform the cloud computing ecosystem, devising contemporary cybercrime protection strategies, ascending global progress, and a knack for innovation, Lunarline, Inc has been recognized as the best performing cloud solution provider. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Lunarline helps over 500 clients fight back against modern cybercrime. Its portfolio of products, services, managed services, training and certifications, power Solutions Built on Security® for clients in the Intelligence, Defense, Federal Civilian and private Sectors. Lunarline has worked ceaselessly to build exceptional capabilities that solve each piece of the cyber puzzle for Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). From compliance to cloud security architecture & engineering to Managed Security Services that address unique cloud challenges, the organization’s job is to maximize the secure use of cloud services. In addition to Lunarline’s compliance work as a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Third Party Assessment Organization (3PAO), many of its products, services and training solutions have rapidly emerged as market leaders in the cloud space. As an example, the organization provides a suite of cyber intelligence tools and capabilities – such as LunarGroundStation and LunarDownlink – that help CSPs and users of cloud services in proactively addressing emerging cyber threats impacting the cloud. It also provides training and certifications that help cloud engineers improve security posture while costeffectively meeting compliance

We actively balance our client portfolio to ensure that we c over a broad array of clients and industries.

understand that they need to bring the same intensity and fearlessness to their own jobs. Coming to Spence Witten, the Vice President of Lunarline’s Global Sales, comes from a federal service and sales background. Spence is pretty au fait with complex systems and technical requirements, massive Requests for Proposals, budgetary puzzles and procurement cycles that function on geological time. He ceaselessly works to instill that same patient, relentless attention to technical detail needed to support the Government in the sales culture at Lunarline, tempered of course by the need to move at private sector speed.

requirements. Lunarline’s Managed Security Services are cloud-focused, Spence also makes sure that the helping both CSPs and cloud users take promises extended during the sales secure advantage of the cloud to process are reasonable, reflected in any optimize performance. ensuing contracts, ingrained in project plans and then kept throughout The Guiding Light of Inspiration execution. In short he views sales, not just as a revenue generator, but as a Lunarline’s founder and CEO, critical element of the project lifecycle, Waylon Krush is a proven security that sets the stage for project success. visionary with a knack for understanding how to apply innovation Lunarline has found that its CSP solutions to achieve real results. He’s clients find its approach to sales relentless in ensuring that the extremely valuable. “It is absolutely organization stays 100% focused on critical to move at the speed of modern client service and problem solving. He business,” states Spence. “However in is also fearless, and has taken the cloud we’re dealing with complex, enormous risks to push Lunarline into high-consequence stuff. It pays huge so many different disciplines in dividends downstream when we use the cybersecurity. sales process to come to a mutual understanding of requirements and This fearless investment has led fully articulate our proposed solution Lunarline to possess the capabilities to up front during contract negotiations. compete with anyone in any cyber Then we hit the ground running with discipline, from training to compliance an actionable plan that yields enduring to consulting to manage security results,” he adds. services. His example of relentless client service and fearless investment Reformatory Service models in the future is reflected in every Lunarline employee – from the most One of Lunarline’s advantages as a junior to the senior executives – who

Cover Story

small business is essentially infinite flexibility in the services model(s) it can use to meet the needs of its cloud clients. Unlike large businesses wedded to specific approaches, the company can adapt to clients’ budgetary and contractual requirements. From traditional consulting type arrangements to staff augmentation to comprehensive outsourced security-asa-service, Lunarline helps choose the model that best fits clients’ present and projected needs. It also uses a widerange of pricing models, from subscription and performance-based approaches to various hourly and firm fixed price arrangements, depending on client preference. Lunarline has witnessed a significant increase in the number of CSPs and cloud users looking for Managed Security Services to secure the cloud. Its MSS platform helps CSPs lockdown their infrastructure, but it also helps other organizations securely maximize their use of the cloud. The organization helps these organizations develop cloud migration plans and then secure their data through transition and beyond. Another one of the advantages of the MSS model is that it’s extremely easy to tailor service packages to specific requirements. With an underlying subscription model Lunarline flexibly allocates services and/or surge support to requirements as needed. This lets it quickly deploy its diverse products, services and training to address any security challenge. Being Customer Centric Lunarline received its start as a services company. While it has grown

Lunarline comprehends that cloud security is complex, high-consequence stuff, with a major impact on organizational success. Thus it uses the sales process the way it’s supposed to be used – to come to a mutual understanding of requirements so that it can assemble the best possible solutions package that meets clients’ specific needs. The organization takes that same hightouch philosophy with it into project execution. As an example, its Managed Security clients have instant, ’round the clock access to an expert in its Security Operations Center to discuss, anything. to offer a broad array of products, managed services, training and certifications, a services-oriented approach remains a core part of the organization’s corporate DNA. “While my title is VP of Sales they make me do real work too. We don’t have dedicated sales folks. Everyone who interacts with prospective clients is a recognized cybersecurity expert in a relevant discipline,” Spence expresses.

Lunarline also holds weekly meetings where senior and middle management to discuss actionable initiatives which it can execute across the company to improve performance for its clients. The Success in achieving these initiatives is tracked through Key Performance Indicators for all personnel, to align performance incentives to its ability to stay focused on solving client challenges. Surpassing Adversities

It is absolutely critical to move at the speed of modern business.

Having been in business since 2004, Lunarline has survived a few ups and downs. It weathered the Great Recession, the US Government shutdown and sequestration and a constantly shifting, disruptive technical landscape. A major lesson learned by the organization is the value of diversiﬁcation. Thus it actively balances its client portfolio to ensure that it covers a broad array of clients and industries. This protects Lunarline ﬁnancially, and also ensures that its personnel can draw on technical solutions and best practices from across the Intelligence, Defense, Federal Civilian and private

sectors to provide the best possible solutions to its clients’ cyber challenges. Lunarline has also learned that cyber professionals are extremely hard to come by. One of the reasons it founded the Lunarline School of Cybersecurity is to provide elite cybersecurity training and certifications to its own personnel, in addition to the thousands of external folks it supports each year. The organization identifies promising cyber professionals from all walks of life and equips them with the skills, certifications and mentoring they need to excel in civilian life. Confronting Challenges According to Lunarline, an immediate challenge facing its federal clients is the need to significantly improve the ability of CSPs to rapidly and sustainably achieve FedRAMP accreditation. “The US Federal Government needs access to secure, compliant cloud services, but CSPs need to clear the demanding security bar set by FedRAMP before the government can access their solutions. In response we’re developing a package of products, services and training that help CSPs get up the FedRAMP curve faster and more effectively,” Spence expresses. On the technical front, Lunarline has also noticed an increasing number of attacks targeting access control and API security. Lunarline understands that CSPs in general are fantastic at securing their infrastructure and Software-as-a-Service offerings, but interfaces between CSPs and users are becoming hacker playgrounds. In response the organization has significantly enhanced its software

We don't have dedicated sales folks. Everyone who interacts with prospective clients is a recognized cybersecurity expert in a relevant discipline.

assurance capabilities and focused penetration testing teams on exhaustively testing access control systems and interfaces to more closely replicate real-world attacks. It has also increased its cyber intelligence collection efforts in this area, to help CSPs stay ahead of emerging threats. An obvious problem for Lunarline is just how challenging it is to find qualified cloud security engineers. “Simply, finding general security people has gotten extremely difficult. It’s an order of magnitude more challenging to find great security folks who also know the cloud. That’s because they don’t exist. You have to train them,” states Spence. So Lunarline identifies promising security personnel from within its own ranks, equip them with training and certifications and then pair them with cloud security mentors. This is because the company comprehends that only after completing an apprenticeship program can the personnel become cloud security engineers and consultants.

Lunarline invests an enormous amount of time and money in cyber intelligence, to stay on top of emerging threats, and in training, to ensure that its personnel possess the skills necessary to defeat those threats. “The CSP threat landscape is constantly changing as are the tools and techniques necessary to fight back. Our cyber intelligence teams inform our training efforts to keep our frontline engineers and consultants prepared for whatever’s next,” Spence asserts. Lunarline has the in-house capabilities to tackle every piece of the cloud security puzzle while equipping clients with the real-time, actionable cyber intelligence they need to stay ahead of emerging threats. Beholding the Future There is no other pure play security company in this space that offers Lunarline’s breadth of products, services, managed services, training and certifications. The organizations goal is to continuously improve its ability to bring these capabilities into unified solutions to clients’ security challenges. As a part of this process it invests heavily in security automation capabilities that automate monitoring, compliance, security testing, cyber intelligence and device hardening. This helps keep Lunarline’s employees focused on proactively driving continuous improvement in its clients’ security posture.

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Soluti n

Providers 2018/2019

Company Name

Management

Brief

Aerobyte aerobytesecurity.com

Howard Hellman Founder

Aerobyte provides Cyber Security Solutions which are scalable in protecting anything to everything in the Internet of Things (IoT).

Bluehost In searce.com

Matt Heaton President & CEO

With a strong belief that ‘Best Practices are Overrated’, Searce assembles a small, highly empowered team of top performing engineers and geeks who work to identify better ways of doing things.

CloudHesive cloudhesive.com

James H. Walker CEO

CloudHesive helps businesses reduce their operating costs and increase productivity while improving their cloud security posture by migrating and securing mission-critical workloads on to Amazon Web Service (AWS) and other cloud partners such as Microsoft Azure.

Druva Inc. druva.com

Jaspreet Singh CEO & Founder

Druva is the ﬁrst and only cloud-ﬁrst, Data Management-as-aService (DMaaS) company, providing new and innovative technology solutions for over 4,000 customers worldwide.

Infront Consulting Group infrontconsulting.com

Rory McCaw CEO

Infront Consulting Group is a prominent IT consulting ﬁrm mainly focusing on implementation and automation of core Microsoft infrastructure.

Lunarline lunarline.com

Spence Witten Vice President Global Sales

Lunarline is a leading cyber security and privacy provider to the US Federal Government, as well as private industries.

Matrix matrix-ibs.com

Neely Loring President

The mission at Matrix is to provide businesses a more secure and robust IT experience by providing and managing a suite of costeﬀective, enterprise-grade business computing solution options.

RELTIO reltio.com

Manish Sood CEO & Founder

Reltio is a native cloud platform that organizes enterprise data for continuous self-learning.

UVISION TECHNOLOGIES uvision.co

Omar Uddin CEO & Founder

Uvision is a technology innovation company helping organizations to transform, innovate and grow with smart, scalable and secure solutions.

Vcloud Group vcloudau.com

Trevor Mifsud CEO

vCloud Group is a global leader prominently providing cloud computing solutions with no geographical boundaries.

Using

AI to

Automatically Optimize

Cloud costs T

he Birth of Cloud Computing

Back in the early days of cloud computing, if we would tell you that every business and consumer would eventually be running their entire compute and storage infrastructure digitally, we would sound crazy. But just 17 years later, it seems inevitable that the old world of data centers and on-premise servers will go the way of the physical newspaper and radio. Indeed, even Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS, didn’t envision this future back in 2000. At the time, Amazon was simply struggling to scale despite hiring a lot of new developers. Jassy, who was Amazon’s Chief of Staﬀ at the time, dove into the problem to discover that the hardware and infrastructural needs simply were not being met fast enough. Jassy set out to speed up this process internally, allowing the internal R&D team to access a pool of common compute and storage resources, making it easier for each to launch their own projects without needing to deal with the underlying infrastructure. Eventually, at a team summit in 2003, they realized this was a need for every other company on the planet, and so AWS was born.

The birth of Spotinst: Rising cloud costs Today, there is a similar revolution beginning in the world of cloud computing. One still in its early stages, but seemingly destined to grow just as quickly as AWS. “Spotinst aims to be the largest provider of cloud infrastructure without running any servers,” says Amiram Shachar, CEO & Founder of Spotinst. The statement is bold on its own, but when you dive a bit deeper, not much bolder a claim than had you asked Andy Jassy the same back in 2003. Just as Jassy found an internal struggle today, Spotinst began with Shachar’s identiﬁcation of a problem at his company, then Lycos Global Group. As Director of DevOps, Shachar was pressed with the task of migrating all Lycos’ servers to the cloud, but costs quickly jumped. “Within a couple of months of moving to the cloud, our costs had actually risen dramatically, way beyond any calculator that we used to predict it” continued Shachar. “To the point where we were actually planning to move everything back to on-premise.” Just around that time, Shachar encountered the relatively unused oﬀering at AWS, called Spot Instances. Spot | October 2018

Cloud Insights

Amiram Shachar Chief Executive OfďŹ cer

About the CEO Amiram Shachar is CEO & Founder of Spotinst, which leverages excess cloud capacity to help customers save ~80% on cloud costs. Before Spotinst, he was Director of DevOps at Ybrant Media and led the Israeli Defense Forces migration to the cloud.

| October 2018

Instances were spare server capacity at AWS, cleverly packaged to enable monetization of these servers. AWS offered these idle servers for massive 90% discounts with one major caveat - they’ll kick you off once a customer wants to pay full price for those servers. Shachar smelled opportunity. “By building algorithms that could predict the spare capacity terminations in advance, we could then migrate to another spare server beforehand, saving us 80% on our cloud costs.” After a few months, Shachar and his team were running nearly 75% of their compute power on AWS spare capacity. Just like Jassy back in 2003, the lightbulb eventually went off - there was a far larger opportunity at hand here. The virtual cloud: run code without dealing with cloud providers “All companies running on cloud struggle to keep costs down,” Shachar says. “But with a long list of priorities including security and maintaining site reliability, DevOps teams often don’t have the time to do all of the work required to optimize cost.” But while Spotinst’s first product was aimed at helping companies reliably leverage spare capacity to reduce costs, Shachar and his co-founders, Liran Polak and Aharon Twizer, had a bigger vision. Today, managing cloud infrastructure has become just as complex as running on-premises. With a plethora of new AWS, Google, and Azure offerings launching every month, along with an increasingly vast list of companies that build off these offerings, figuring out the balance between cost and performance is a major challenge. But, Shachar envisions a world where you don’t have to.

ensure that your applications are always running on the most cost-effective servers, given your performance requirements. Instead of exploring the long list of alternatives within and across the different cloud providers, Spotinst will take care of it all under the hood. Today, their platform recognizes any workload that could be run on a cheaper server. Just put those workloads under Spotinst’s control and their algorithms will take care of the rest - those workloads will forever run on the cheapest servers available. All without compromising performance or availability. Using a new Serverless offering, where developers can simply write code without dealing with any of the underlying infrastructure, Spotinst aims to deliver on this promise in a major way. “All you should ever have to do is write code,” says Shachar. “Our algorithms will make sure it is always running on the most cost-effective infrastructure, across all cloud providers, for your performance and availability needs.” In other words, just write the code, and Spotinst will make sure it always runs at the lowest cost possible for your performance needs. As Shachar says, “in 10 years, just as everyone is making the shift to cloud today, they will be making the shift to Serverless computing. Only with Spotinst, they’ll be able to also ensure they are paying the best possible price, all without doing anything.” The promise of companies all running a perfectly optimized cloud without ever dealing with the infrastructure seems bold. But as we learned from Jassy and AWS, in another 10-15 years, it may just be an inevitability.

The promise of the virtual cloud The promise of Shachar’s vision is simple at heart - a virtual cloud. Spotinst will leverage machine learning to

| October 2018

Soluti n

Providers 2018/2019

Aerobyte: Next Generation Cloud Security

loud Computing is one of the many trends in IT industry and the reason is its growing popularity in the market. It oﬀers valuable services like mobility, ﬂexibility and cost saving to organizations. The most valuable of all is security, as 94% of businesses have seen improvement in security after switching to the cloud.

Howard: Aerobyte has learnt over the years that less is more. When we started this journey we were oﬀering 6 diﬀerent products to accomplish what one client server product can do. Thanks to advancements in server and network technologies, we can easily handle large workloads utilizing a handful of servers vs. buying expensive security appliances.

Aerobyte is one of the leading cloud solution providers. Founded in 2010, it has committed itself in helping enterprise organizations solve critical problems by addressing security and compliance concerns. In an Interview with Insights Success, Howard Hellman, the Founder of Aerobyte, shares his experiences on leading the company.

What are the company’s strategies to evolve with the volatile trends of the industry?

Below are the highlights from the interview conducted between Howard and Insights Success:

Howard: Our solution allows organizations to cut down on the number of security vendors and products that are used to protect organizations through ineﬃcient perimeter defense strategies. Our API integration allows our Cyber Defense Framework to integrate with best of breed products while reducing the number of resources and false positives to manage a secure infrastructure.

Describe the ways in which your cloud solutions are focused on being customer centric.

Where does Aerobyte see itself in the long run and/or what are its future goals?

Howard: Aerobyte reduces the complexity and trepidation of working with any cloud provider in ensuring their data and communications are protected through software vs. buying expensive appliance upgrades that most cloud providers oﬀer. Our dashboard gives our customers the convenience and analytics to ensure their cloud systems are protected from an attack.

Howard: Once our Cyber Defense Framework is deployed globally, Aerobyte literally will take the Wild West out of the World Wide Web. An internet based on trust and complete privacy opens the doors to new innovations of what can be done in the cloud that previously cannot be done. It is our objective to take this solution and add consumers which opens the door to unlimited possibilities on how we conduct business on the web today.

Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped the journey of the company.

| October 2018

‘‘

We present a diﬀerent approach to security, one that limits complexity by reducing the number of products and vendors once needed to operate a secure infrastructure.

‘‘

Considering the escalating number of Cloud Solution providers, how does Aerobyte stand out from its competitors?

Howard Hellman Founder

Resources group where he has been the Vice President Sales and worked as Senior Account executive also. About The Company

Howard: Aerobyte drives down the cost and complexity of securing both the cloud and on-premise systems. Our simple approach allows organizations to focus on protecting what matters and who has access to the cloud through our multipoint trust methodology and data flow protection in every direction. About the Founder Howard Hellman is the Founder of Aerobyte since 2010. Currently, he is responsible for handling the product development team in the company. Through a combination of technical know-how and an understanding of how technology influences the way the company works, the management team has developed a rare perspective in an industry that all too frequently emphasizes unnecessary features over practical benefits. By tempering the knowledge of what can be done with an appreciation for what should be done, Howard has been able to guide efforts towards the development of products and services that stand apart as unique, innovative, and most of all genuinely useful.

Aerobyte’s Cyber Defense Framework helps organizations reduce the cost and complexity of their Security Infrastructure. Its Software Defined Security (SdS) allows organizations to move away from their perimeter defenses and protect data flow, systems and users from the inside out. Its solution is comprised of an encryption communications broker that orchestrates security throughout the enterprise and its edge interconnects which can be deployed on any Server, VM, Workstation, Mobile and IoT device. Aerobyte helps customers identify areas of the Core Infrastructure and analyze total cost of expenditures that are spent protecting their critical applications and communications. It demonstrates to its clients how and where significant cost savings can be made in order to increase the protection of their organization while saving their money from their security budgets.

Before Aerobyte, he has been a part of the business development team of Options Media Group. He has also worked for various enterprises including Scriptlogic, where he worked as account executive and Data | October 2018

Data Center Security: Controlling Possible Threats

he rise in cyber-crimes is one of the main causes of Data center outages. As per the recent survey conducted by industry insiders, cyber-crime caused 22 percent data center outages in 2015 opposed to 2 percent outages in 2010. Adding to all these, now most of the data centers are re-evaluating their security policies after the recent WannaCry ransomware attack. Data center outages cause companies to loss revenue in many ways. However, the costliest loss is service interruption and loss of IT productivity. So, the organizations are now realizing that traditional security is no longer secure enough to secure any data center. A recent study has found that 83 percent of traffic travels east/west within the data center, which stays undetected by the perimeter security. In this environment, when an attacker infiltrates the perimeter firewall, then can jump across the system with ease, extract information and compromise valuable data. Additionally, data centers can fail due to trespassers or a terrorist attack or by natural calamities. So, how can one secure a data center in the best way possible from any kind of cyber threat? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered, with the points below. As the first step, one should Map the Data Center and flag the hackers within the virtual and physical infrastructure. The CSOs and CIOs with a system map of their systems can react to any suspicious activity and take steps to stop data breaches. Being able to visualize different traffic patterns within a network helps to understand threats, that eventually elevates the level of security. Understanding and measurement of traffic flow within the data center boundary are very important. In the case of

any interruption in traffic across east/west vs north/south, protected vs unprotected one can get to know about a threat. Additionally, vulnerable zones and unprotected traffic need to be monitored for a better result. Firewall rules need to be defined and implemented as per requirements. Additionally, one should allow traffic only after thorough verification and selectively allow communication to ensure maximum protection. The key is to identify, what;s legal and secured and what can be blocked to enhance security. One needs to Build a Team with executives who understand how traffic flows within the premises and can access & secure information, take necessary measures to secure important assets along with the implementation of roadblocks for the attackers. Security must move as fast as a data center’s technology adoption and integration. Security Strategy Should Change Alongside the Technology and it should not be treated as an add-on option. Additionally, businesses also should ensure that their virus protection, signatures other protection features are up to date for better protection. Businesses should Identify and Place Controls over highvalue assets, which will help to reduce risk. However, older security solutions are completely blind to new threats, new security companies have produced latest solutions that protect data in the virtual world. Access Restriction also needs to be imposed. Every business should thoroughly check a person’s background before giving the access to a prized possession. Access to the main site and the loading bay must be limited,

| October 2018

Industry Insight

additionally, two-factor authentications and fortified interiors with security guards and roving patrols would help to safeguard the employees and the data center. Installing Surveillance Cameras around the data center, alongside removing signs which may provide clues to its function helps to locate an intruder. A buffer zone between the data center and all the entry points will limit unlawful trespassing to a great extent. Additionally, the data center needs to be far away from the main road and it should not have any windows other than administrative purposes for better security. A data center should Check Test Back-Up Systems regularly as prescribed by the manufacturer. It should also ensure to make a list and of Do’s and Don’ts in the event of an attack. Recovery plans and security plans also need to be checked thoroughly. Data centers are always a Soft Target for The Terrorists, as an attack on them can disrupt and damage major business and communication infrastructure. So, security needs to be taken seriously and to do that proactive steps should be taken to limit the impact of a terrorist attack. Trained Security Guards needs to be posted inside a data center and they should be well trained. Security officers must undergo strict site-specific training to monitor surveillance footage. Depending on the size of data center and the number of security cameras multiple security officers may be required on duty. Security officers dedicated to inspecting surveillance footage helps when it comes to securing a data center. Disaster Recovery is very much important, that must be in place. If the data center stops functioning after an attack or natural calamity, it must have a way to restore operations as soon as possible. To be ready for a disaster and to evaluate the disaster recovery plan, it’s necessary to train staffs well and experience simulated disasters. To avoid these obstacles, one needs a fair bit of knowledge of new security systems, solid plans, and comprehensive visibility. The more work a data center can do up front in the above-mentioned areas the better the chances of success with lesser outages.

| October 2018

Soluti n

Providers 2018/2019

Druva:

Pioneering Data Management and Protection Solutions for the Cloud

any companies are overwhelmed from managing growing amounts of data that are being stored in many different areas--from laptops to data centers to cloud services. The complexity, amount of time and costs for businesses to protect, govern and manage their data lifecycle is increasing dramatically. Druva offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that enables organizations to address these needs in a cost efficient, centralized and easy to manage manner no matter where enterprise data is located. Its solutions include cloud data protection as well as data governance and data intelligence, all from a single, unified platform, and addresses these previously mentioned challenges to secure a leadership position in the market. Founded in 2008, the company offers the Druva Cloud Platform, a SaaS solution that provides high performance, direct to cloud, data protection and management across servers, endpoints, cloud SaaS services (e.g. Office 365, Salesforce, Google), and cloud native workloads. In doing so enterprises achieve a centralized way to protect and manage their data, significantly reduce the cost of infrastructure, and increase overall data visibility to mitigate the inherent data risks caused by unmanaged data sprawl.

Jaspreet’s market and technology insights have led him to create the first and only cloud-first, Data Management-as-aService (DMaaS) company, providing new and innovative technology solutions, as well as forward-thinking economic models for over 4,000 customers worldwide. Prior to starting Druva, Jaspreet has held foundational roles at Veritas. Jaspreet has a B.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. Jaspreet asks all employees of the company to view their jobs as a means of personal growth and journey. He encourages them to be disciplined and ready to take advantage of any and all opportunities that come along, to lean forward and take charge, to be cautious but not afraid, to be courageous, and be honest and show integrity in all that one says and does. Redefining Innovation

An Empowering Leader

Druva focuses on being customer-centric by understanding the pain points its customers face, then developing solutions to solve these problems. “What we’ve learned is that the digital transformation catalyzed by modern technologies, is rapidly changing today’s organizations of all sizes, as a variety of data is being generated continuously and exponentially at a high-volume and incredible velocity,” asserts Jaspreet.

Jaspreet Singh, the Founder and CEO of Druva, brings a combination of product vision and business experience that has allowed the company to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the $28B data protection and management market. Druva raised nearly $200M in venture funding, with its most recent round of $80M in 2017.

Businesses of all sizes are struggling to contain, manage, and protect data amid the complexities and limitations of today’s cloud computing environment. Druva oﬀers easy to use software to manage and protect this data from a single, uniﬁed platform, a key to securing its leadership position in the market.

| October 2018

‘‘

We are a global leader in Cloud Data Protection and Management, delivering the industryʼs ﬁrst data management-as-a-service solution.

‘‘

Jaspreet Singh Founder & CEO

“Our ﬁrst product was modestly successful from a revenue perspective but helped us to see that we were on the right path. It also provided the motivation to always be customerfocused and to continuously look for ways to add value to our customers,” Jaspreet states.

“We believe that leveraging the cloud is the only way to manage and protect the vast amounts of data that each organization is responsible for, in a simple, scalable and cost-eﬀective manner,” adds Jaspreet. Testimonials of Proﬁciency

Distinctive Aspects Druva has grown its customer base to over 4000 in less than 10 years. The factors that distinguishes the company from the rest of the market includes regularly engaging its customers for feedback and then understanding them and applying them; looking at things from the customers’ perspective and not just the company’s; having empathy and understanding their pain points, motivations and needs of the customers. Druva’s mission is to be an enduring company, one that lasts through decades. To accomplish this, it focuses on developing a platform which is not just a collection of products but an integrated line that delivers value to its customer network. The company is a SaaS company and adheres to a corporate philosophy that has three key fundamentals: the right mission and culture, the right team, and always oﬀering value to the customer.

The following reviews are taken from Gartner Peer Insights: “Great Product - Great Support: Druva Nailing Cloud Backups” -

From a Cloud Architect in the Energy & Utilities industry.

“Great Product, Better Service!” - From a Systems Engineer, healthcare industry. “Exceeded Expectations” - From a Director of IT, Infrastructure and Operations, manufacturing industry.

Outclassing Benchmarks To successfully compete in a fast growing, highly competitive industry, Jaspreet says, “We are a cloud-based software company that must out-innovate our competitors by providing cloud native software that takes full advantage of the beneﬁts of the cloud.

| October 2018

Challenges in Cloud Computing T

he Clouds keep rolling in for enterprises. In the 2018 State of the Cloud Survey performed by RightScale, they found that 96% of respondents now use the public, private, hybrid, or a mix of cloud computing models. To add some additional complexity to the mix, from the same survey, organizations are already running applications in 3.1 clouds and experimenting with 1.7 more for a total of 4.8 clouds.

Businesses report the key advantages of moving workloads to the Cloud are ﬂexibility, agility, easy access to information, and cost savings. All of these great advantages though come with a price. Just like any migration project, there are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of places a company can run into issues. There are really three silos of challenges that both cloud migrations and operating in the Cloud fall into. 1 Planning – Without a well thought out plan, your migration is destined to have a rocky road to operational readiness. 2 Risk Mitigation – It is key to understand all the risks, technology and business, that moving and operating in the Cloud creates. Adding risk mitigation to your initial plan will help ease the transition and make a surprise free environment when services go into production in the Cloud. 3 Governance (Cost and Security) – The ease of use, agility, and elasticity of the Cloud are great beneﬁts, but, they can also lead to runaway costs and a lack of adherence to security best practices.

This is also a good time to start reviewing Cloud service providers that may ﬁt the requirements of your applications, your infrastructure, and your budget. 3

Migration Planning Now that we know what we are moving and where it is moving, we can start to put together a plan. During the migration planning phase workloads are prioritized for the order they are going to be moved, a budget is put together, a business case is made for each workload that is to be moved, and pilot migrations are performed where further design, performance, or reliability testing is needed. Once this stage is complete, a full migration roadmap along with buy in from all the interested parties within the organization should be secured.

Migration and Testing Once a workload is migrated, full testing should take place. Testing for performance, load, security, resiliency and reliability should be performed. This is one of the most critical steps. It is much easier to mitigate issues BEFORE going into production.

Go Live This is probably the shortest but scariest part of the process. After all the hard work, the plug is pulled on the original system and the new system in the Cloud goes live. All support processes should be transitioned to support the new cloud infrastructure and all documentation should be updated. After any issues are

At CCSI we break the migration and operation in the Cloud into 5 key areas. 1

Discovery It is a critical start with a full understanding of what exists in the environment today. All applications, services, and supporting infrastructure should be inventoried and documented. This will ensure nothing gets left behind and that there is a clear understanding of the current steady state infrastructure.

Assessment Once a complete inventory is created, each application and service can be evaluated to determine if it should be moved to the Cloud. If it is to move, is it best suited for public, private, or hybrid deployment or would it be better to move to a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution. Perhaps it can be decommissioned because there are duplicate services, or it is not being used anymore. It may also be determined that the application or service is not a good target to move. Perhaps it is a legacy application that can’t support more modern infrastructures.

| October 2018

Leadership Viewpoint

About the Author Joe Goldberg is the Senior Cloud Program Manager at CCSI. Over the past 15+ years, Joe has helped companies to design, build out, and optimize their network and data center infrastructure. Joe is also ITIL certiﬁed. Joe can be contacted via Twitter handle @DevOps_Dad or by email jgoldberg@ccsinet.com.

ironed out, a post migration review is always valuable to see if there are any ways to improve the migration process for the next workload. Now that your organization is officially “in the Cloud”, the challenge of governance begins. For effective cost control in cloud computing services, it is important to understand the different factors that impact an organization’s cost. Cloud cost management tools should be used to help discover the source of these inefficiencies. Unplanned costs are often due to a lack of visibility of current consumption and past trends. When organizations used on premise infrastructure, they financed it with fixed upfront CAPEX investments. Cloud consumption is an OPEX subscription model based on utilization. A shift in the approach to operational management is now needed. Optimizing for cost is as important as optimizing for performance. Cloud-based governance tools can track usage and costs then alert administrators when costs are greater than budgeted. These same tools can be used to ensure corporate security policies are being applied to all workloads and that best practice security frameworks like Center for Internet Security (CIS) are being applied.

Joe Goldberg

Cloud Program Manager

CCSI

decisions about which products, services, and payment models deliver the best results and have adequate planning in place - but it’s not easy. About CCSI For more than 40 years, Contemporary Computer Services Inc. (CCSI) mission has been to help solve modern business challenges with technology solutions that optimize cost, reduce risk, simplify operations, and increase performance. CCSI provides the highest quality of service in the industry for the full spectrum of technologies–from containers to PCs, network infrastructures, managed services, IP telephony, cybersecurity, cloud services, SDWAN, to storage solutions. At CCSI, we believe that technology exists to make our lives - and our businesses simpler, more productive, secure, and ultimately more proﬁtable. Let’s Grow Together. Learn more at www.ccsinet.com.

As cloud services move deeper into the organization, it’s as important as ever that technology leaders make informed | October 2018

Soluti n

Providers 2018/2019

Infront Consulting Group: Helping Enterprises Implement and Automate Microsoft Solutions

n an interview with Insights Success, Rory McCaw, CEO of Infront Consulting Group Inc. shares his insight regarding the enterprise IT journey and Infront’s specialized solutions and services. He discusses the company’s core competencies the company’s global market. Give a brief overview of the company, its solutions, and its services. Infront specializes in data center modernization, automated Windows 10 and O365 deployments as well as cloud solution design, automation, and deployment. Infront has helped enterprise clients move away from legacy applications and infrastructure and adopt a cloud-first strategy. Infront provides managed services for Azure and AWS workloads, and can help enterprises adopt a hybrid model. Infront’s teams of consultants who deliver Enterprise Advisory Services excel in a variety of technologies including: System Center: Operations Manager (SCOM); Service Manager (SCSM); Configuration Manager (SCCM); Orchestrator; (SCOrch); Virtual Machine Manage (VMM); Hyper-V; Application Performance Management (APM); Data Protection Manager (DPM). Windows 10 Skillset: Microsoft Security Stack All-Up; Deployment and Servicing (WaaS); Bitlocker and MBAM; Device Guard & Credential Guard; WIP and Hello; SCCM for Clients; MDT and WICD; Surface Products; Win10 and Enterprise Mobility. Cloud: Office 365 (O365); Azure Active Directory (AAD); Enterprise Management Suite (EMS); Operations Management Suite (OMS); Platform as a Service (PaaS); Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS); Azure Site Recovery (ASR).

Infrastructure: Windows Server 2003/2008/ 2008R2 through to Windows Server 2016; Public Key Infrastructure (PKI); Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS). Other Technologies: Management Pack Development; Powershell; App-V; Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP); Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI); Operating System Deployment (OSD); Linux; VMware Vsphere; AWS; Blockchain. Describe the ways in which your cloud solutions are focused on being customer centric. Client feedback speaks for itself, with a 95.3% customer satisfaction rating that speaks to the project team delivering the results and quality promised. Our priority is to automate wherever possible, which is a key to scalability, manageability and cost efficiency in the cloud. Now that cloud technologies are maturing, Infront’s clients’ concerns are focused on governance, security, compliance, and efficiency—both human and financial. Clients investing in Azure IaaS are looking for competitive pricing and cost savings from cloud. Infront’s IaaS Automation provides customers the ability to automate the switch to HUB licensing, reserved instances, or the changing of VM types. Azure Self Service Portal is a self-service interface for virtual machine access and provisioning with built-in approvals, providing ease of use and governance. Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learnt that have shaped the journey of the company. At Infront our core values are Agility, Passion, Ownership, Commitment, and Customer Focus. We love helping our customers increase efficiency and derive greater value from their IT investments through our expertise in automation and productivity.

| October 2018

‘‘

Need Expertise implementing Microsoft technologies? Infront is here to help.

‘‘

Rory McCaw CEO

Founded by Rory McCaw in 2001 in Toronto, Infront was originally a Microsoft training company. By 2007, based on demand and reputation, the organization expanded into the United States. Over time, Infront has developed a series of Management Packs to help clients proactively monitor RightFax, Orchestrator, McAfee, and Isilon. What are your company’s strategies to evolve with the volatile trends of the industry? Infront’s strategy is to stay current with the needs of our customers to be able to help them continue to solve business problems with technology. Infront believes that there is a great deal of opportunity in the automation of IT operational tasks, particularly with cloud focused organizations. Moving workload to the cloud is the first step but there is much more automation required to achieve the benefits of cloud. Where does Infront Consulting Group see itself in the long run and/or what are its future goals? Infront is proud to be a highly recognized Microsoft partner and will continue to be while continuing to focus on helping enterprise customers successfully implement and adopt Microsoft cloud technology. Infront will continue to hire experts that are passionate about technology and who are customer focused. As technology changes, so too will the skillsets of the team but the passion for success and solving complex problems will remain. Considering the escalating number of Cloud Solution providers, how does Infront Consulting Group stand out from its competitors? Out of more than 496,000 firms globally, Infront has been a winner or finalist for Microsoft Partner of the Year, six out of the last seven years in a row.

We employ ﬁve full time Microsoft MVPs and one Regional Director. Ÿ Our clients repeatedly tell us we hire smart consultants who are agile, passionate, customer focused, and committed to solving customer problems as they would their own. Ÿ The Infront consultants take ownership of the situation to get issues resolved. Give us a few testimonials of your clients that accurately highlight Infront Consulting Group’s position in the market. Ÿ

“Before Infront’s Isilon MP, we stood around pointing ﬁngers and wondering where to start; now, we see a potential performance challenge before it is critical and address it.” “We were able to ensure PCI compliance monthly across 4,400+ restaurants while managing the solution centrally and maintaining control of the patching process.” About the CEO Rory McCaw brings both a business and technical background to the company. Rory was a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP) for more than 10 years and was fortunate to meet many other smart, passionate IT professionals, some of whom worked for Infront over the years. The success of the Infront is deﬁned by strong business leadership and a team of incredible, passionate IT professionals that exceed our customer’s expectations.

Infront can do more in less time with fewer resources than any of our competitors, for example | October 2018

The New Way Of BusinessMobility on Cloud

| October 2018

In Brief

he radical change in the innovative technology, is changing the basics of the enterprises function. The way of the businesses today is very much affected by the convergence of enterprise mobility with Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics and Social Media. The mantra for a successful business today is to observe and adopt the way employees, partners and customers connect and energetically engage in fulfilling business objectives and attaining the enterprise goals in record time. This is the reason, that the enterprises of today have to follow the current trends in the real time. There is one more paradigm shift the IT industry is observing, and that is the entrance of Enterprise Mobility in the business. With the use of it now critical business data, complex analytics and reports are getting available to the decision makers and executives in no time. The vast acceptance of the Mobile Phones and Tablets burgeon the businesses. With anytime-anywhere access to the business data for swift decision making and improved customer service, is only getting possible with the use of Enterprise Mobile Device Management (MDM). In this way Mobility on Cloud is helping SME’s to get benefited by the technological advances. Approximately, 70% of the North American workforce is now mobile, cloud-based environments require a transparent mobile policy management strategy. As is observed, more and more data of the companies, nowadays is residing on mobile devices and is distributed on off-site servers, protecting that data is becoming a mission-critical priority. That is the reason that security concerned enterprises are more concentrating on the three critical mobility factors as they evaluate and deploy cloud computing. The three important factors are: Easy access to cloud-based data and applications from anywhere at any time The availability of the flexibility of the mobile workforce is only possible with the enablement of easy access to the cloud-based data and applications from anywhere at any time. The workers today have to travel from one place to another switching between various public, private, wired and wireless networks in order to get access to the corporate applications. Mobile workers have to manually select and connect to the best available network in the given location because of this. This creates a confusion in between the workers what network to select, what policies to apply and etc. just because of the connectivity process is left on the end-users. This whole process is the reason of less productivity on the part of the mobile workers. Unnecessary Access Costs Wi-Fi and 3G like technologies are getting used to access cloud-based data and applications by the mobile workers today, from anywhere, on the road, from a hotel or a home office. This is becoming a reason of extra cost, when you are supposed to gain from the cloud computing environment. Most of the time this cost becomes unnecessary, like paying for LAN or Wi-Fi fees when a mobile worker is in an area covered by his paid 3G subscription, using 3G when roaming internationally or using 3G when a free or low-cost Wi-Fi or LAN option is available. Security Concern Today, many enterprises are investing on endpoint security solutions and corporate VPNs, data compromise is still a big threat for enterprises because of a variety of threats that stem from network bridging, visits to malicious Web sites, download of malicious software, and use of open and unencrypted networks. The process of connecting to wired and wireless networks is a manual, user-driven process makes the risk high. Despite these high risks, enterprises can maintain itself against these risks with the Mobile Policy Management (MPM): The critical mobility factors of cost control, security and end-user connectivity for cloud-based enterprises, comes under a term, ‘Mobile Policy Management (MPM)’. MPM adds to the overall return on investment of cloud-based initiatives through reduced costs and improved security.

| October 2018

MPM helps enterprises to: Pre-define network prioritization policies MPM helps IT to pre-define network prioritization policies and assign specific mobile policies to a given network for cloud and non-cloud data and application access. By automating network selection and mobile access policies, MPM boosts the mobile workforce productivity. Additionally, MPM helps IT to pre-define network selection rules and assign mobile policies to each type of network. MPM solution automatically selects the best available network as defined by IT, connects the user and applies the relevant mobile policies, while the mobile workers roam around. This gives the worker a remote access and connectivity transparent to end-users, saving their valuable time when accessing cloud and non-cloud data and applications. Enables to cost-optimizing network selection MPM enables an option of ‘cost-optimizing network selection’ to reduce the cost of mobile data usage by costoptimizing network selection. Leaving network selection up to the end-user can drive data costs far over budget and create significant cost liabilities, for the enterprises. For an instantance, a mobile worker with an unlimited 3G subscription should avoid connecting to, paying for and expensing hotel Wi-Fi when in an area covered by a 3G local provider. For the enterprises benefit, MPM platform avoids unbudgeted data costs by helping IT to define and enforce a network white list, preventing users from adding unsanctioned laptop communications options to their mobile Pcs. Avoids common Data-Security Threats The data security threats occur only because of the rogue access points or networks that are in place to lure mobile workers onto them in order for hackers to gain access to corporate data like public Wi-Fi access points in airports labeled “free Wi-Fi” or rogue Wi-Fi placed in proximity to corporate offices. Though there are security solutions working for the same, but of no use. When a mobile worker is working and visiting various places an MPM platform enables IT to dynamically automate and enforce network-specific security policies. Enterprises who are deploying cloud computing are influencing Mobile Policy Management to gain organizationwide visibility and control over their mobile workforce.

| October 2018

Soluti n

Providers 2018/2019

Reltio:

Organizing Data for Self-learning Enterprises

n today’s digital economy, the most successful companies know how to harness their data and learn from it. Be it Google, Netflix, or Amazon, successful companies in the digital economy are leading the industry with new revenue models and better, personalized customer experience. Reltio, a privately held company headquartered in Redwood Shores, California with the mission to help enterprise users ‘Be Right Faster’ calls them self-learning enterprises. What sets these enterprises apart from others is how they have adopted the use of data to improve operations and business outcomes. A self-learning enterprise builds a holistic data strategy and is data-driven in all aspects of their business. Reltio Cloud, a data organization solution created by Reltio, is enabling enterprises to leverage data to its fullest potential and start a self-learning journey. Reltio Cloud, developed natively in the cloud, organizes enterprise data for continuous self-learning. With Reltio, businesses can now manage data like leading cloud companies, leveraging continuous data organization and recommended actions to measure and improve their operations. Reltio organizes data from all sources and formats, creating a unified data set with unlimited personalized views for users across sales, marketing, and compliance. With machine learning, Reltio then recommends actions, and finally measures and correlates the impact on the business. Reltio Cloud helps enterprises to achieve the following: Make data the heart of every decision Self-learning enterprises are data-driven. Reltio enables enterprises to leverage data as a competitive advantage and use it for better customer experience as well as for regulatory compliance such as GDPR. Reltio helps enterprises design the right product for the right customer and offer it at the right time via the communication channel of their choice. Organize data of all types at unlimited scale Reltio Cloud helps collect and organize data from all

internal, external, social and third-party sources. Companies can correlate various types of data, connect transactions, omnichannel interactions, master data, and reference data to create a complete picture of customers, products, suppliers or employees that help them make the right decisions, faster. It’s not just about collecting large volumes of data in data lakes; it’s about organizing it in a form that can be used for decision management. Unify data sets to deliver personalized views Reltio helps create a consistent single-source-of-truth of data across applications, systems, and functional groups. Each user of data needs the information in the context of their business role and objective. Reltio delivers data-driven applications personalized and contextual to sales, marketing, customer service, field service, compliance, and call centers groups with data provided from a single source of truth. Infuse analytics into every business process Self-learning enterprises bring together all data they need for analytics and machine learning in one place, accessible in real-time. Reliable data from interactions, transactions, master profiles, third-party subscriptions, public and social media sources is consolidated for a more in-depth analytics. Reltio Cloud enables that seamlessly. Analytics running on a reliable data foundation ensures organizations can make better and informed decisions. Continuously learn about customers, products and their relationships Self-learning enterprises correlate and measure insights and recommendations with actual outcomes through a closedloop cycle and keep improving. Bringing together analytics and operational execution helps with continuous measurement of results compared with projections, and identifying areas of improvement. Self-learning enterprises continually learn about customers, suppliers, and products. With improved knowledge about customer behaviors and preferences, they offer increasingly relevant products and services.

| October 2018

‘‘

Be right faster with the leading cloud master data management platform. Manish Sood CEO & Founder

This self-learning cycle empowers companies to put data at the heart of every decision, build analytics into operational business processes and continuously learn about customers, products and their relationships. Leading Global 2000 and companies of all sizes and industries rely on Reltio to become Self-Learning Enterprises. A Reformatory Leader Reltio was founded by Manish Sood, an entrepreneur with a passion for innovation. He previously co-authored the patent that revolutionized Master Data Management (MDM) through a global business identiﬁer and served as the primary architect of some of the most widely used data management solutions in use by Fortune 100 companies today. Manish was previously part of the team that introduced a leading Master Data Management platform in the market. But despite that success and the maturation of a $1B+ software and services market for MDM, several factors aligned to form an opportunity to transform the industry. First, from a technological evolution perspective, the commercial availability of big data technologies and elastic cloud computing showed how traditional heavyweight, onpremise, ERP-class data management was ineﬃcient and costly. Second, the time-to-value did not align with the expectations of frontline business users, who in their frustration were pouring billions of dollars of their own into self-service ad-hoc business intelligence or analytics tools.

Global Recognition Today, the Reltio platform is aggressively taking market share from legacy incumbents. Reltio’s innovative vision has delivered a Self-Learning Data Platform to enterprises, helping them solve their most complex business problems and enabling digital transformation across industries. Reltio counts as customers 8 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world, 2 of the top 10 global technology companies, 2 of the top 10 global cosmetics companies and one of the largest casualty and property insurers in the U.S. The industry has taken notice of Reltio’s innovations and fast company growth. The company ranked in the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies two years in a row. Recently, it was also named a leader for the second time by Forrester Research in its Machine Learning Data Catalogs Wave. Technology channel news leader, CRN, named Reltio a Top 20 Coolest Cloud Software Vendor of 2018. For the last three years, top data news publication, Database Trends & Applications has featured Reltio in its DBTA 100, a list of the companies that matter most in data. Additionally, Reltio has been ranked #1 in Fortune’s Best Small & Medium Companies to Work For, and ranked among the publication’s Top 30 Best Workplaces in Technology. Forbes has also recognized the company for its excellent workplace culture, naming Reltio one of the Best Big Data Companies to Work For in 2018, as well as one of the Best Cloud Companies to Work For.

With this perspective and a passion for change, Manish founded Reltio in 2011. And within a few years of the formal product launch, Reltio became a leader in the data management space. Top technology industry analyst form, Forrester Research, named Reltio a leader and “most visionary” in its Forrester Wave on Master Data Management. | October 2018

Rising Mobile Workforce and its

Challenges in the

Mobile-Cloud Era: Data & Endpoint Management

obility and cloud computing are rapidly becoming the norm for enterprises around the world. In turn, enterprise IT departments are facing new management and security challenges as the amount of business data soars and the number of endpoints explodes. The question that is doing the rounds is what IT teams need to consider to manage and secure their businesses in this new era.

Mathivanan V Vice President ManageEngine

Industry analysts predict deep penetration of enterprise mobility by the year 2020. IDC, for instance, forecasts | October 2018

Tech Perspective

that mobile workers will account for almost 75 percent of the total workforce in the U.S. Meanwhile, Strategy Analytics projects that the global mobile workforce will reach 1.75 billion users and account for 42 percent of the global workforce overall. The economic perspective is just as bright as a button. The global enterprise mobility market will be worth as much as $140 billion, predicts the National Association of Software and Services Companies. And the investments are paying oﬀ. To date, 84 percent of all companies who consider themselves on the cutting edge of mobility report an increase in overall productivity as a direct result of incorporating mobile apps into their business, according to a survey by AppsFreedom.

More troubling, the typical end user has little knowledge of those threats or their ramiﬁcations. The result is more users are more likely to leak enterprise data by using compromised websites and rogue online services. The CVE listed 14,712 cybersecurity vulnerabilities for 2017 and has already listed 2,848 for the ﬁrst two months of 2018. In response, vendors large and small are releasing patches on a daily basis. Enterprise IT teams clearly need to focus on endpoint security management to ensure business success in the mobile-cloud era. Endpoint security challenges

Likewise, enterprises are expected to continue relentlessly adopting cloud technologies. By 2020, Gartner forecasts the public cloud services market will reach $383 billion. This includes spending on cloud business process services, cloud application infrastructure services, cloud application services, cloud management and security services, cloud system infrastructure services, and of course, cloud advertising.

Keeping endpoints up to date with the latest versions of their OSes and applications has become a full-time job, one that is getting harder to perform in the mobile enterprise. A growing challenge is the diversity of endpoint operating systems that must be managed, including Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. For each, the IT team must learn that OS along with its corresponding patching technique. Likewise, applications acquired from the various app stores are managed with diﬀerent techniques that must be learned and mastered so that the team can secure the endpoints.

The ﬂip side of increasing enterprise mobility and cloud usage is the increasing risk to enterprise security. Today, most users have at least two endpoints – a laptop and mobile device – and 80 percent of network devices are be endpoints that are constantly connected to the internet and exposed to its threats such as Meltdown, Spectre, Wannacry, and Petya.

Another challenge is managing the endpoints from day one, especially mobile devices. While it’s been relatively easy for IT admins to install agent software on desktops and laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices make life harder for the admins because the devices are rarely if ever connected to the corporate network. Consequently, devices must be provisioned with the

| October 2018

necessary mobile device management software before they are given to end users. Devices that are not appropriately managed are security risks, so no business application should be installed or run on them. Related to the day-one management challenge is updating endpoints that are on the go, anytime and anywhere. IT teams must be able to install critical patches while employees are traveling, commuting, or otherwise oﬀsite. Data leakage presents yet another security challenge for IT teams to overcome. Data leakage can happen with or without the users’ knowledge. For instance, users may knowingly copy business data to a USB device or upload it to a cloud storage service. They may also unknowingly expose that data to a public cloud service when using third-party apps such as document viewers and predictive keyboard apps. Such apps may compromise user IDs and passwords, account numbers, and other sensitive enterprise data by exposing it to public cloud services. When a user’s device is lost or stolen, the IT team must be able to track and recover the device or wipe the data if the device isn’t recovered. To maintain the user’s privacy, however, the IT team can not continuously track the location of the user’s device. BYOD presents another privacy vs security challenge: When users use their own devices for business purposes, privacy needs to be maintained. Photos, contacts, and other personal data should not be

managed by company’s mobile device management app. On the other hand, security needs to be maintained, too. To that end, the IT team should create a container on the user’s personal device – a secure, managed area that isolates business email, CRM, and other enterprise apps and data from the rest of user’s personal apps/data. To establish strong endpoint security and prevent unwanted attacks, IT teams must apply strict security policies on their endpoints. Laptops, for instance, should always run a ﬁrewall, prevent the creation of unwanted network shares, and encrypt data via BitLocker or FileVault. Such security policies can protect enterprises from the security risks posed by mobility. Predicting the development of data and endpoint management Going forward, machine learning and AI will help make data and endpoint management a proactive, rather than a reactive process. For instance, these technologies could prevent data theft by detecting anomalies such as unusual login activities or an unusually large number of documents being uploaded to the cloud. They could analyze the root cause of patch deployment failures and suggest ﬁxes. They could also detect system idle times – during lunch hours, for instance – to deploy patches as

soon as possible rather wait until after hours or weekends, which can leave systems unnecessarily vulnerable. Meanwhile, the internet of things (IoT) will introduce many organizations to a new breed of endpoints and connected devices. Unlike their iOS- and Androidpowered predecessors, IoT devices will be running many diﬀerent OSes and applications, all of which may be vulnerable yet must be managed and secured. Finally, most business applications are moving to the cloud and accessed via browser, eﬀectively making the browser an endpoint. That means to defend against attacks, IT teams need to manage browsers and perform all security operations for them just as if they were desktops, laptops, or any other device. As organizations continue to adopt mobility and the cloud, they must also adopt the practices necessary to support this new reality. Data and endpoint security and management are priority one in IT departments. For the vast majority of companies around the world, their future success depends on recognizing and committing to that priority.

| October 2018

Soluti n

Providers 2018/2019

vCloud Group: Virtual Networking Made Simple

he last few years have been marked by a phenomenal increase in the adoption of cloud computing. More organizations are realizing that cloud technology gives them the power to streamline their operations, the flexibility to access data at any time and place, and the freedom to break free of the traditional limitations of business communications. This potent trifecta of power, flexibility, and freedom is at the center of every solution that Melbourne-based cloud computing specialist, vCloud Group creates for its clients. A Strong Foundation The rise of cloud computing as the preferred solution for business has fueled a corresponding surge in the number of cloud solution providers. In this increasingly crowded and competitive environment, vCloud Group sets itself apart with a three-pronged foundation to client satisfaction. The first of these is an unwavering commitment to providing a completely integrated solution. vCloud Group does not outsource any of its services – its clients can oversee, manage, and modify their cloud infrastructure through a single point of contact. This simplified philosophy improves transparency and enables every client to make better business decisions. The second prong of vCloud Group’s service strategy is their comprehensive support framework. Apart from the standard phone, web, and email help options, clients can also allow remote access to specialists using any device through Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, or BlackBerry operating systems. vCloud Group’s third prong is perhaps its most powerful – pricing. By providing their advanced expertise, industry-

leading internal R&D developments, and proactive support at competitive prices, the company has leveled the playing field for businesses of all sizes. This means that many traditional limitations no longer apply; their clients have access to technology that is otherwise solely within the reach of large enterprises. These three factors are supported by vCloud Group’s software, which is based on VMware. The industry’s top engineers ensure peak performance and high speed through an advanced network that allows clients to access their resources instantly from any device and any location. Meeting Challenges Head-on As is the case with any technology in the first stages of implementation, the cloud computing world is still susceptible to significant paradigm shifts. This volatility has the potential to wreak havoc on providers that do not have a strategy to dampen the effects of such changes. vCloud Group does, and central to the company’s efforts is its Research & Development department. In-house R&D allows vCloud Group to internalize technological progress in a way that its competitors cannot. It gives them the foresight to anticipate shifts and adjust their platform and strategy to align with the projected changes. For their clients, this translates to uninterrupted connectivity, seamless workflow, and access to the most advanced and effective cloud technology solutions before any of their competitors. vCloud Group is no longer just another cloud services provider. The company has evolved to be at the forefront of IT technology, shaping the future of the industry, and paving the way that others will follow for years. | October 2018

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Providing a revolutionary cloud platform combined with excellent customer service.

Trevor Mifsud Founder & CEO

Proactive Management Strong and informed leadership is critical to any industryleading company. Charting the company’s groundbreaking course is vCloud Group’s founder and CEO, Trevor Mifsud. An accomplished computer systems engineer, Trevor has spent almost three decades in the IT industry. His leadership extends beyond vCloud Group; he is also the founder of managed services provider, Associated Computer Engineers (ACEIT). vCloud Group ﬁrst made a name for itself in software development and IT networking. This gave the company penetrative insight into the limitations of central repositories of information, like physical servers. Trevor initially focused on backup, security systems, software development and business continuity. This changed with the surge in demand for cloud solutions. The quick change of tack towards cloud technology alludes to one of Trevor’s key strengths - his holistic understanding of the world of IT. This ability has elevated him from being just a participant in the industry to the status of a thought leader. His talent for farsighted planning gives vCloud Group the edge it needs to maintain a lead over its competitors.

Molding the Future Few people doubt, that cloud IT services are the future of computing, particularly in the world of business. While vCloud Group has already established itself as one of the most innovative and reliable players in the industry, Trevor’s leadership ensures that complacency does not set in. He places extraordinary emphasis on the R&D aspect of their abilities, and this has already proven to be invaluable. Trevor is quick to point out that the focus of their research is not solely on cloud computing. Instead, they are driven to develop technological solutions that allow their clients to succeed, without limiting themselves to any speciﬁc ﬁeld. vCloud Group’s clients may come from a range of industries but they have one thing in common – they never compromise with business processes and communications. Today, vCloud Group has formed long-term business partnerships with more than 20 companies across Australia. It is also surging ahead with new collaborations both within Australia and across the world. www.vcloudgroup.net

This advantage was demonstrated to the world when the company incorporated SD WAN (Software Deﬁned Wide Area Network) based on MPLS networking months before the rest of the industry. | October 2018