IT leadership & innovation
DRILLING FOR DATA
customer insight
business intelligence
planning
product pricing
analytics conversion rates customer data biometrics DEC 2013/JAN 2014 VO L .2 NO. 2 PP100009359
user activity
Big data user stories The changing face of e-health Is DAS dead?
2
3
4
I don’t generally like being a broken record.
d e c
portant enough that I’ll do it anyway. In this case, it’s the overlap of ethics and technology. This issue we’re shining a light on big data. And as far as emerging technologies in business go, I reckon big data is the one we have to be most careful with. That’s why we asked our panel in this month’s From the Frontline about the privacy implications of big data, and how they expect that debate to play out.
2 0 1 3 / j a n
2 0 1 4
INSIDE
But sometimes a topic is im-
10 | 22 | 24 | 29 |
There is no Internet of Things – yet The changing face of healthcare Avoiding pitfalls on the path to the cloud UTM appliance picks up the slack
Don’t get me wrong: big data is not evil. It’s an immensely powerful, morally neutral technique that can be used in all sorts of ways to improve the world around us. Think of how it could be applied to things like cancer treatment, poverty, economics and more. But I believe there are hard questions we must ask and answer as an industry before we go hog wild with it. We’ve already seen what can happen when big data is used unscrupulously and, according to one of our panellists, we’re going to see more cases in the near future. Let’s hope it isn’t your company that’s in the headlines. Andrew Collins, Editor
F E A T U R E S 06| Is DAS dead?
18 | All data great and small Big data means different things to different people, and the ethical considerations around the tech are complicated.
Will big data be another oil rush with a few winners and many losers, or will it enrich us all?
ALSO available in DIGITAL This magazine and a complete library of back issues are available in digital format at
www.technologydecisions.com.au/latest_issue This issue’s eMag is proudly sponsored by http://www.nowonoffice365.com
4
w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u
cover image: ©iStockphoto.com/filo
RIP DAS
14 | Drilling for data Emerging storage technologies could mean the resurgence of direct attached storage (DAS).
RIPS DA Is DAS dead? Stephen Withers
6
Several years ago, there was a concerted move from directattached storage (DAS) towards SAN (storage area network) and NAS (networked-attached storage). But emerging storage technologies could mean the resurgence of DAS within the next 10 years.
T
wo of the main drivers of the
When a new physical drive is required, it
move from DAS to SAN and
can usually be installed without shutting
NAS were availability and vir-
down the array.
tualisation. Another downside of DAS is that in the
With traditional DAS, systems managers who
event of a failure the data is not available
needed to increase the amount of storage
to other servers. Restoring service therefore
on say an Exchange server might shut down
involves fixing the server, transplanting its
the server, install an additional drive, copy
drives into another server or restoring the
files to the new drive as necessary and restart
most recent backup plus the subsequent
Exchange - a relatively time-consuming
transactions to a replacement server. Again,
process. (Yes, there are variations on the
it’s not a quick process. More sophisticated
theme, but that is just an illustration.)
organisations might continuously replicate the data to a second server (possibly at a
But with a storage array on a SAN, it be-
different location) to support rapid failover,
came possible to ‘dial up’ additional storage
but that is relatively expensive and may
for that server with little or no downtime.
lack flexibility.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
(input/output operations per second) at
tem including backup and replication,
a modest price is most easily met by DAS,
Marin said.
especially by using flash storage (speed) alongside spinning disks (economy). That
Marin suggested DAS is appropriate for
combination of requirements is particu-
small sites with up to three servers and also
larly relevant to VDI (virtualised desktops)
for large installations where 20 or more
and Hadoop (big data analysis), he said.
servers are running the same application, but shared storage makes more sense in
Otherwise, the move to SAN was driven
the middle ground, which accounts for
largely by the heterogeneity of hardware
most of the market.
and workloads, and the ability to create consolidated pools of storage independent
David Holmes, programme manager for
of the hardware and operating systems
enterprise storage at Dell Asia Pacific,
in use.
identified specific workloads where DAS
©iStockphoto.com/bennyb
fits the bill: high-performance computing “DAS isn’t going away at all,” said John
(a large number of DAS spindles provide
Marin, principal technologist at NetApp.
the required speed with low cost and com-
“DAS isn’t going away at all. It ’s seeing a resurgence for a variety of reasons.” - John Marin, NetApp.
One of the big attractions of virtualisation
“It’s seeing a resurgence for a variety of
plexity), non-virtualised Exchange servers
is that it provides a way to move workloads
reasons.”
and anything that needs ‘cheap and deep’
between physical servers, whether that is for
storage. The main benefit is that DAS is
availability or for operational convenience
Historically, the model was one application
(eg, if the utilisation of a physical server falls
per server and DAS. The marginal cost of
below a certain level, its virtual machines
storage was low and the administrators of
Adrian De Luca, chief technology officer
could be moved automatically so that server
those servers had control over their own
for Asia Pacific at Hitachi Data Systems
can be shut down).
storage. That changed with the advent of
(HDS), observed “trends seem to skip a
widespread virtualisation, which required
couple of decades before they come back
That only works if the data is accessible by
shared storage and triggered big growth in
again”, suggesting that is what is happen-
other servers. If the only non-backup copy is
the SAN and NAS markets - from which
ing with DAS.
on disks that are physically attached to one
NetApp benefited.
server, there is no point moving the virtual machine to another server.
more cost-effective in these situations.
James Forbes-May, vice president for data While companies such as Facebook and
management at CA Technologies, had a
Salesforce.com do a lot with generic hard-
similar perspective: “Things go in cycles
On the other hand, the input/output require-
ware including DAS by building resilience
… there are different priorities over time.”
ments of some demanding applications could
into their software, this level of data
only be met by DAS, so it never went away.
management is not a core competence of
Early tests and trials with new-style DAS
most organisations so a rich, centralised
architectures are just beginning, De Luca
What (currently) needs DAS?
data management system is compelling.
said; for example, in small-scale VDI roll-
Technologies such as those in NetApp’s
outs (as in hundreds rather than thousands
Kevin McIsaac, IT industry analyst at IBRS,
Data Ontap Edge combine the benefits
of seats) where PCIe flash storage can
said a requirement for very high IOPS
of DAS with those of a centralised sys-
deliver a significant benefit. Such scale-out
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
7
© iStockphoto.com/Henrik Jonsson
architectures (where compute and storage are in the same box) are also suited to big data projects, he said. Giving DAS the features needed to enable rapid recovery in the event of a disaster requires a lot of software capabilities and integration, said De Luca. “I don’t think any vendor has quite answered that question.” HDS uses Fusion-io flash cards in some of its Unified Compute Platform products, with the addition of the ability to write data through to a SAN for protection. But De Luca said it is important to consider whether the application will tolerate the
terms of failover between DAS-equipped
Workloads identified by Steppat as suitable
greater latency that occurs in the event
servers, to the extent that it’s now rare to
for VSAN include test and development
of a failover resulting in it accessing data
see Exchange deployments using SAN, he
(to avoid having any impact on produc-
on remote storage. Another problem with
said), and has been further boosted by
tion systems, for example), big data
write-through technology is that “there’s
the emergence of software-defined storage
(eg, in conjunction with vSphere 5.5 or
always a degree of risk because it’s an
products such as VMware’s Virtual SAN
VMware’s virtualisation-specific version
asynchronous operation”, he said.
(VSAN) and the Nutanix Virtual Comput-
of Hadoop known as Project Serengeti),
ing Platform (which combines processing
situations where cost-effective disaster
and storage in a modular appliance).
recovery is required (it avoids the need
Forbes-May was more bullish about DAS, saying that tier one servers are increas-
for an expensive storage array at both
ingly being used with DAS as a way of
Aaron Steppat, product marketing man-
locations) and VDI. He noted that where
getting the required performance, with
ager at VMware, said one of the big
conventional storage arrays may struggle
a variety of technologies such as host-
drawbacks of SAN was that it could only
to cope with hundreds or thousands of
based replication applied to ensure high
be managed from the server it was con-
users logging in simultaneously (eg, at
availability. “Seconds to minutes of data
nected to. VSAN changes that by providing
the start of a contact centre shift), VSAN
loss” are acceptable to 95% of businesses,
a single point of management for DAS
plus direct-attached flash storage can deal
he observed, pointing out that if virtually
across multiple servers. It offers highly
with such a “boot storm”.
zero downtime is required then more
redundant distributed storage - copies
expensive approaches such as clustering
of the data are held on at least three
VDI is a good example of workloads
can be employed. (Forbes-May noted
nodes - while holding the data as close
suited to new-style DAS, said Hughes.
that CA’s Project Oolong - a unified data
as possible to the compute resource that
“It’s usually hard to put that sort of
protection system spanning conventional
uses it. VSAN also accommodates tiered
workload on a SAN,” he said, though he
disk or tape backup through to instant
storage so solid-state devices can be used
concedes Pure Storage’s all-flash approach
failover for critical servers - is currently
for cost-effective performance.
to shared storage is “interesting”. Ten years
in ‘customer validation’ with a release
8
ago, SAN controllers called for expensive
version expected sometime in the next
According to Hughes, the focus on making
technology, but now general-purpose
12 months.)
SAN storage more efficient through the use
CPUs offer the required performance at
of technologies such as deduplication has
much lower cost.
Geoff Hughes, data management practice
largely stemmed from the cost of storage
lead at Bridge Point Communications, said
arrays, but inexpensive flash and SATA
But contrary to Steppat’s observation,
there has been a recent resurgence in the
drives that can be used without complex
Hughes said SAN is still the order of the
use of DAS. This started with Exchange
controllers or proprietary software make
day in environments that require very
2010 (proven to be a huge success story in
DAS a cheaper proposition.
high availability, especially with cross-site
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
failover: “There’s no answer for that
all getting faster, disks were not keeping
storage arrays) and applications get the
[using DAS and TCP/IP],” he said. SAN
pace and therefore storage was becom-
maximum performance from the storage
is also the way to go where mainframe
ing the bottleneck in large transaction
devices (especially high-performance yet
connectivity is needed, he added.
processing systems, said Thomas.
relatively low-cost PCIe flash storage).
Oracle’s Engineered Systems approach
That said, “It’s all about the workload,”
can be applied to ensure that certain
looks at storage in a different way. DAS
he observed. IT needs to provide users
workloads always run on a server that
is installed in the Exadata Database Ma-
with what they need, so if shared storage
holds a copy of the data they use - this
chine, and because the Oracle Database
provides the required price/performance
is diametrically opposed to the SAN
runs in that same box, it is in full control
ratio, it makes sense to use it. Voukenas
model, where the data is never resident
and can guarantee that no data is lost
pointed to Oracle’s ZS3 storage appli-
on the server that’s doing the process-
during the write process, explained Peter
ances that give world-record benchmark
ing (unless some sort of caching is
Thomas, senior director, Exadata and
results for shared storage.
built into the overall system). This is
To get that peak performance, policies
essentially similar to the Hadoop model
strategic solutions, Oracle Australia and New Zealand. The architecture places
But if an application calls for DAS,
of moving processing to wherever the
both the database servers and database
that’s fine too, said Voukenas, adding
data resides, but for a wider variety of
storage in the same machine and benefits
that there’s nothing wrong with using
workloads, he said.
from the low latency of DAS.
a combination of direct-attached and
In addition, the Exadata storage software filters out unwanted records only
shared storage within an organisation
Software-defined storage combines the
- in fact, using both can be beneficial.
advantages of DAS with those of SANs, said Holmes, and is particularly use-
returning the required result set to the
Future
ful for storing very large amounts of
database server; something that is not
McIsaac predicted that by the end of
unstructured data where performance
possible if the database files are held on
the decade “people will move back to
and availability are important. It is also
a conventional storage array. This could
captive storage in the servers”, driven by
cheaper than SAN where large amounts
make the difference between transfer-
developments in software-defined storage.
of data must be retained for many years for compliance reasons, he said.
ring 200 KB or 200 GB of data across a network, he said. (In-memory databases
In such highly virtualised environments,
get around that problem, but you still
a conventional SAN has less value ac-
Marin went further, offering a personal
need to get all the data into memory
cording to McIsaac. Instead, DAS in each
opinion that in the 2017-2020 time
in the first place and to replicate it to
server is managed by hypervisor-level
frame, all active data will be held in
non-volatile storage.)
software so the data is available from
solid-state storage connected directly to
pools of storage available across the
servers. He said the future of enterprise
Using the Oracle DataGuard feature of
installation. “It does for storage what
computing in this regard can be seen in
the Oracle database, databases stored
VMware does for compute and memory,”
the current high-performance computing
on an Exadata can be replicated for
he said. This approach is especially rel-
and consumer IT markets.
high availability to another Exadata
evant to SMEs, but also makes sense for
or to an Oracle SuperCluster, or even
enterprise-scale organisations.
But for mid-tier companies - those running say 50 to 100 production virtual
conventional hardware, he said. Marin agreed, tipping “a massive resur-
machines - McIsaac said the real question
“We’re using DAS, but in a differ-
gence in DAS” due to technologies such
is “why shouldn’t I do this in the cloud?”
ent way,” said Sam Voukenas, storage
as VSAN and the Storage Spaces feature
Organisations of this size worrying about
product director, Oracle Australia and
of recent versions of Windows.
DAS or SAN are “probably focused on the wrong problem” as cloud can be very cost-
New Zealand. VSAN and similar approaches have
effective and also eliminates the need for
Oracle started moving in this direction
several benefits, McIsaac said. For
decisions about hardware configuration.
in the mid-2000s, realising that while
example, they make it simple to use
“Four years from now … it’s all going to
CPUs, memory and internal buses were
commodity hardware (vs specialised
be in the cloud,” he predicted.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
9
A N A LY S E
THIS
M
There is no Internet of Things - yet
ore than a decade ago -
Plus basketball shoes can tell you how
thanks to ubiquitous sensors - integrated
in May 2001 - Forrester
fast you’re running and how high you’re
into dynamic systems of engagement to
authored a report herald-
jumping. And the Under Armour Ar-
enable smart services like the ones we’ve
ing the coming of the X
mour39 shirt knows your heart rate and
described.
Internet, or extended Internet, defined as
lung capacity. But you could be using all
“Internet devices and applications that
three of these devices at the same time
Leading brands aren’t waiting for the Inter-
sense, analyse, and control the real world.”
and they wouldn’t even know they were
net of Things to perfect itself before they
We proclaimed that “the Web is fading fast
playing the same game. They are three
act - they’re already using sensor-connected
... smart devices will push the scale of the
products from three separate manufactur-
devices in unique ways to increase revenue,
internet far beyond today’s PC-based Net.”
ers, and the data they collect is siloed in
product engagement and product satisfac-
their own separate apps.
tion. The value comes not from the sensor
Turns out that the vision we laid out in
devices themselves but from the way in
2001 still hasn’t come to fruition. While
To stick with the basketball analogy,
which brands integrate the devices with
enterprises in health care, manufactur-
imagine that you’re sitting in the new
larger systems of engagement.
ing and utilities are well down the path
stadium for the San Francisco Warriors,
of the X Internet - better known today
which is scheduled to be finished by 2017.
Take, for example, Walt Disney Parks and
as the Internet of Things, the industrial
Now imagine that the players are using
Resorts. You may have heard of Mag-
internet or, in Cisco Systems’ parlance,
the devices we’ve described above and
icBands, the waterproof, RFID-enabled
the Internet of Everything - consumer
that you can vote on who needs a break
wristbands that Disney has developed for
adoption and general business adoption
based on players’ real-time biometrics
its theme park guests, starting with Walt
of sensor devices and services are just
via a ‘you be the coach’ mobile app. The
Disney World in Florida. MagicBands can
getting started.
stadium effects - lighting and sound - are
be used as hotel room keys, theme park
coordinated with the excitement of the
tickets, FastPasses for skipping lines, and
The sensor-laden consumer products that
game, as measured by collective heart
payment for concessions and gifts. Mag-
are starting to hit the market are ‘smart’
rate. Perhaps your own biometrics feed
icBands can store personal information
in sensing and relaying information about
into these effects via a wristband that also
so that, if you opt in, a character can
the physical bodies wearing them or the
serves as your non-scalpable ticket and
recognise you by name and know that
physical environments they inhabit - a
concessions payment device (the conces-
it’s your child’s birthday.
phenomenon we call “smart body, smart
sions come to you at your seat, like an
world”. But these smart products could
Uber app for hot dogs).
get a lot smarter. Today they are largely
10
The MagicBands are nifty, but what’s really impressive is the system behind it,
fragmented and not as useful as they
The sensor devices required to implement
called MyMagic+. MyMagic+ combines
could be.
this scenario exist today, but the systems
multiple systems of record - trip planning,
for managing the data flow need some
ticketing, CRM, asset management and
By and large, these devices don’t talk to
work. Today, data in a basketball stadium
payment - into a system of engagement
each other, and don’t integrate with larger
may reside in multiple systems of record,
that enhances the guest experience while
‘systems of engagement’ that deliver value
such as customer relationship manage-
improving efficiency and increasing rev-
for consumers and enterprises. 94Fifty’s
ment (CRM) for ticketing and inventory
enue for Disney. Because the bands can
Bluetooth basketball can sense dribble
systems for concessions. A smarter stadium
be preprogrammed by guests before they
force and shot angle. Nike Hyperdunk
would have this data - and lots more,
take their trips, Disney can better plan
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
© stock.xchng/profile/RAWKU5
for staffing within the park and guests
hardware; we’ve talked with companies
are more likely to stay longer in the park
that went from concept to sellable device
(rather than go to a competitor park)
in less than six months. More than any
as they’ve planned their whole day. In
devices that have come before, connected
addition, guests can move through the
things are about the use case - the
park more easily, tapping their wrists
experience of using the device - and
rather than wrestling with cumbersome
brands that consumers know and love
turnstiles. Frictionless payment with the
are in the best position to define those
wristbands is easier for the guests and
experiences. The fragmented nature of
makes it more likely that they’ll spend
sensor-connected devices - the fact that
more money in the park.
sales of any individual device are likely to be small, ranging from the tens of
This kind of innovation doesn’t have to
thousands to low millions - makes them
happen in a closed system like Disney’s
unappealing to traditional consumer
- multiple products use open APIs and
electronics manufacturers, which make
common standards so that their smart
their money by shipping at scale of tens
products can get even smarter. Jawbone
of millions or hundreds of millions of
has opened up its APIs for the UP band
devices.
so that third-party developers can mash up their products and services with
These factors lead us to believe that the
Jawbone users’ activity and sleep data.
next great devices won’t come from Dell
Dropcam’s new product, the Dropcam
or HP or even Samsung: they’ll come from
Pro, acts as a hub for low-energy Blue-
consumer brands with extremely engaged
tooth Smart devices, so that you could
customers. Audi, Coca-Cola, Disney and
sync, say, your Fitbit Force with your
Nike are forging the way, but they won’t
Dropcam so that when you come home
be the only brands to take advantage
and are in proximity to the device, it
of the Internet of Things. While this
will stop recording.
innovation can come from anywhere in your enterprise, we see unique op-
In a recent Forrester report, we examined
portunity for marketers, with their deep
the implications of these trends in more
understanding of the customer, to define
depth and we believe that it’s the consumer
the engagement experience you want to
brands, not technology companies, which
enable with sensor-connected devices
should create the next great devices.
and systems. Next-generation marketers have a whole new tool set in front of
12
The bar for entry to the Internet of
them, and marketers who master these
Things is low. Sensors are inexpensive
new touchpoints will be able to engage
and getting cheaper. Thanks to maturing
with customers in new contexts, deliver
manufacturing supply chains, it’s easier
more value and deepen their customer
than ever to create consumer-ready
relationships.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
Sarah Rotman Epps is a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research based in San Francisco. She studies the evolution of personal computing: how devices are changing, the new consumer behaviours they produce and the industries they disrupt. This article also contains excerpts from the Forrester report ‘There is no Internet of Things - yet’.
T E C H N I C A L LY
SPEAKING
Drilling for data Rob Sobers, technical strategist, Varonis Systems
14
The phenomenon of humangenerated big data encompasses the petabytes and exabytes of structured and unstructured data generated by today’s enterprises. The big question about big data remains: is this going to be another oil rush with a few winners and many losers, or will it enrich us all?
H
uman-generated content in-
Data avalanche
cludes all the files and emails
The problem is most large organisations are
we create every day. There are
not yet equipped with the tools to exploit
presentations, word processing
human-generated big data. A recent survey
documents, audio files and other documents
of more than 1000 internet experts and
we generate hour by hour. These are the
other internet users, published by the Pew
files that take up the vast majority of digital
Research Center and the Imagining the In-
storage space in most organisations. You
ternet Center at Elon University, concluded
have to keep them for significant amounts
the world might not be ready to properly
of time and they have huge amounts of
handle and understand big data.
metadata associated with them. These experts have come to the conclusion Human-generated content is enormous and
that the huge quantities of data - which
its metadata is even bigger. Metadata is the
they term “digital exhaust” - that will be
information about a file - who created the
created by the year 2020 could very well
file and when, what type of file it is, what
enhance productivity, improve organisational
folder it’s stored in, who has been reading
transparency and expand the frontier of the
it and who has access. The content and
‘knowable future’. However, they are also
metadata together make up the universe
concerned about who has access to this
of human-generated big data.
information, who controls that access and
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
hurtful mistakes. Moreover, analysis of big
These are interesting arguments, and they
data will be misused by powerful people
do start to get to the heart of the matter.
and institutions with selfish agendas who
Our data sets have grown beyond our abil-
manipulate findings to make the case for
ity to analyse and process them without
what they want.”
sophisticated automation. We have to rely on technology to analyse and cope with this
One of the study’s participants was entre-
enormous wave of content and metadata.
preneur Bryan Trogdon. “Big data is the new oil,” he said. “The companies, governments
Analysing human-generated big data has
and organisations that are able to mine this
enormous potential. Furthermore, harness-
resource will have an enormous advantage
ing the power of metadata has become
over those that don’t. With speed, agility
essential to manage and protect human-
and innovation determining the winners
generated content.
and losers, big data lets us move from a mindset of ‘measure twice, cut once’ to one
Many businesses face real problems because
of ‘place small bets fast’.”
they can no longer answer questions they
©iStockphoto.com/PaulFleet
used to be able to answer 15 years ago Survey respondent, Jeff Jarvis, a professor
on smaller, static data sets. These types of
and blogger, said: “Media and regulators
questions include: Where does critical data
are demonising big data and its supposed
reside? Who has access? Who should have
threat to privacy. Such moral panics have
access to it? As a consequence, industry
occurred often thanks to changes in tech-
researcher IDC estimates that only half the
nology. But the moral of the story remains:
data that should be protected is protected.
there is value to be found in this data, value in our newfound ability to share.
The problem is compounded with cloud-
whether government or corporate entities
Google’s founders have urged government
based file sharing. These services create yet
will use this information wisely.
regulators not to require them to quickly
another growing store of human-generated
delete searches because, in their patterns
content requiring management and protec-
According to the survey: “Human and
and anomalies, they’ve found the ability
tion. And cloud content lies outside corporate
machine analysis of big data could improve
to track the outbreak of the flu before
infrastructure with different controls and
social, political and economic intelligence by
health officials could and they believe that
management processes, adding additional
2020. The rise of what is known as big data
by similarly tracking a pandemic, millions
layers of complexity.
will facilitate things like real-time forecasting
of lives could be saved. Demonising data,
of events, the development of ‘inferential
big or small, is demonising knowledge, and
David Weinberger of Harvard University’s
software’ that assesses data patterns to project
that is never wise.”
Berkman Center said, “We’re just beginning to understand the range of problems
outcomes and the creation of algorithms for advanced correlations that enable new
Sean Mead is director of analytics at Mead,
big data can solve, even though it means
understanding of the world.”
Mead & Clark, Interbrand. “Large, publicly
acknowledging that we’re less unpredictable,
available data sets, easier tools, wider dis-
free, madcap creatures than we’d like to
Of those surveyed, 39% of the internet
tribution of analytics skills and early-stage
think. If harnessing the power of human-
experts agreed with the counter-argument
artificial intelligence software will lead to a
generated big data can make data protection
to the benefits of big data. This countering
burst of economic activity and increased
and management less unpredictable, free
viewpoint posits: “Human and machine
productivity comparable to that of the
and madcap, organisations will be grateful.”
analysis of big data will cause more prob-
internet and PC revolutions of the mid- to
lems than it solves by 2020. The existence
late-1990s,” Mead said. “Social movements
The concept of human-generated big data
of huge data sets for analysis will engender
will arise to free up access to large data
will certainly pose an equal measure of
false confidence in our predictive powers
repositories, to restrict the development and
challenges and opportunities for businesses
and will lead many to make significant and
use of AI, and to ‘liberate’ AI.”
over the next few years.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
15
FROM THE FRONTLINE All data great and small Andrew Collins
The meaning of the term ‘big data’ seems stupidly obvious at first glance: you assemble a bunch of data and presumably you then run some analytics to get some meaningful insight out of it. But like many terms in IT, big data means different things to different people, and the ethical considerations around the tech are complicated.
18
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
What is big data to you?
which is mandated to look at infrastruc-
One such change was the introduction of
ture systems like water, transport and
a bartering system that allowed users to
Our panellists’ use of data
energy from an integrated perspective
negotiate the price for a given task, instead
covers a broad spectrum.
- is not (yet) in the big data category.
of having only static prices for tasks.
Evans said that RP Data - which offers
Instead, he labels it as “smart data”.
real estate market information services
“Overnight it increased our conversions
- analyses log files of 120,000 end users
Over the last two years his project has
on the company’s systems, including its
pooled “any kind of data we could grab”
web interfaces.
related to energy and water consump-
Perez’s unit at the University of Wol-
by 30%, and it sustained,” Lui said.
tion, solid waste or sewage pollution,
longong is not aiming so much to
“We track every piece of behavioural
transport network usage, electricity
glean insights of its own, but rather to
information that those users do,” Evans
distribution, road and railway usage -
provide big data tools to third parties in
says. Historically, the company could
and more. They’ve also mixed in data
Australia like local councils looking to
only house about two months’ - 30
from the Bureau of Meteorology and
plan for the future in their regions. To
GB - worth of this data, which Evans
the Bureau of Statistics.
this end they’ve incorporated business
says is insufficient to establish trends.
intelligence tools from vendor Yellowfin Airtasker is a small start-up whose
into their system.
Now, “by using big data technologies and
website aims to connect those with odd
custom big data solutions, we can put 18
jobs that need doing with those that
RP Data, which uses services from
months’ worth of data together and start
will do them for a fee. Lui says that for
Bridge Point, has used its analyses to
to really see some trends and patterns”.
Airtasker, big data is about “collecting as
help inform the pricing of its products.
much information as possible … from He describes big data as “data of a
our users and from our platform. We
“What we try and do through that
magnitude that cannot be handled by
use all our data sources and try to link
mining of user activity is to get a good
traditional database management tech-
them all together.”
understanding of … are we charging ap-
nologies and processes”.
propriately? Are our services presenting appropriate value for our customers?”
increasing volume (amounts of data),
What real-world insights have you gained from your analyses?
velocity (speed of data moving through
Airtasker examined the impact of several
better idea of what types of properties
a system) and variety (types of data, like
variables - including server performance
are seeing the most interest. A popular
text, images, audio, video and so on).
and specific website features - on con-
traditional method of assessing the
Specifically, he subscribes to the ‘three Vs’ idea of big data: data stores of
Evans says. Big data has also given the company a
market - examining auction clearance
some changes to get some interesting
rates - is limited, Evans says, as it relies
Facility project at Wollongong Uni -
improvements.
on a small sample set. ©iStockphoto.com/polygraphus
version rates on its website and made Perez said that the SMART Infrastructure
O U R PA N E L
Kyle Evans, Chief Data Officer, RP Data
Professor Pascal Perez, Research Director, SMART Infrastructure Facility, University of Wollongong
Jonathan Lui, COO and Co-founder, Airtasker
Ian Bertram, Asia Pacific Head of Research, Gartner
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
19
With big data, the company examines
it’s crossed a ‘creepy line’, only 50% said
protect their privacy - they need to
data on property sales and analyses
“yes”. Some people simply consider it an
educate themselves.
factors like discount rate (the differ-
extension of profile-based purchasing
ence between a property’s listing price
incentivisation that organisations have
He also says: “There’s a responsibility
and what actually sells for), time on
been trying to do for years, he says.
for people like myself, as custodians
market and the number of properties on the market.
of data, to use the data in a way that Bertram says that the public will be some-
a consumer would be happy with, and
what tolerant of governments that cross
accepting of. There’s always going to be
For example, in Sydney RP Data has seen
that line for security purposes, because
an opportunity to outpace the legislation.
“a trend towards much less discounting
most citizens are willing to make some
But you have a moral obligation to do
- so vendors are getting pretty much
concessions where their personal safety is
what’s right for consumers.”
what they’re asking for the property -
concerned. But they won’t be so forgiving
and the time on market has dropped
with commercial organisations.
dramatically”.
Evans’s company has a data review board that examines any proposed new ways of
“In a commercial world your brand
using data and judges if it’s appropri-
Evans says that with the assembly of that
is your livelihood. If you cross that
ate or not. Along similar lines, Bertram
sort of information, “we can actually see
creepy line to a point where you will
says that “organisations need their own
how the market is trending. What we’re
get consumer backlash, then your brand
policies and guidelines” and that “more
seeing in Sydney at the moment is that
and your products go down the toilet,”
companies will put more ethical policies
it’s had a great run, but it’s starting to
Bertram says.
and guidelines in place”.
He says that we’ll see more examples of
Looking outside of the organisation, Ev-
creepy behaviour from organisations.
ans says, “there needs to be best practice
show a little bit of tiredness in that run.”
How will the ethical and privacy concerns around big data play out?
standards and [industry] bodies that In fact, he predicts that a major brand
encourage appropriate behaviour”. Then,
will cross that line so savagely that the
consumers should demand companies
public rejects them outright.
associate with those bodies and follow
One concern around big data is that
the standards.
it may harm personal privacy. There’s
“I don’t know which brand, but some-
one particular example that gets trotted
one’s going to step over that line and
Despite these concerns, Bertram, Evans
out pretty frequently to illustrate this
that brand is going to crumble.”
and Lui all emphasise that good can
worry (including in Technology Decisions
come out of these big data techniques.
Feb/Mar - so it may sound familiar to
Perez says he and his cohorts have “tried
regular readers).
to avoid the issue from the start”, deciding
Bertram hypothesises about a truck
early on to stay within safe boundaries
driver that wears a medical tattoo
According to a 2012 New York Times
by focusing data at the ABS’s Statistical
monitoring his vitals.
article, retailer Target, using big data
Area Level 1 (SA1) - some level of ab-
techniques designed to discover which
straction away from person-specific data,
“If I’m am employer,” he says, “should I
of its customers was actually a pregnant
with one ‘SA1’ covering 200-800 people.
monitor that person so that if his vital
woman, accidentally revealed to the
signs show that he’s about to have a
parents of a teenage girl in the US that
Evans points to the impending changes
heart attack, I can do something about
the teen was pregnant - before the girl
to the Privacy Act, due next year, but
it, so I can stop him from having an
told her folks.
says by the time they are made law, they
accident and killing a family driving up
will be out of date. The law simply can’t
the Pacific Highway?
But while this example concerns some,
keep up with the technology, he says.
Bertram says that when the last four
20
“Or am I crossing the creepy line in
times he’s presented that story to a
Given this legal lethargy, Evans says,
that case, because I’m collecting his vital
room full of people and asked them if
consumers can’t rely on legislation to
signs?” Bertram asks.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
Gartner Business Intelligence & Information Management Summit 2014 24 – 25 February | Hilton Hotel, Sydney, Australia | gartner.com/ap/bi
The Future of Your Business: Transparent, Decisive, Personalized HOT TOPICS New Styles of Analytics Information Governance Big Data Realities Master Data Management Information as an Asset
Register before 13 December to receive the
EARLY BIRD OFFER! Check the website for more information.
REGISTER NOW Don’t miss the all new sessions and valuable peer networking at this must-attend event!
B O D Y The changing face T A L K of health care Data storage has an exciting role to play in the all-important healthcare industr y, which is becoming increasingly reliant on IT.
G
overnments in developed
of healthcare costs. Increasingly, they
economies face some
are turning to information technology
fundamental challenges
to help streamline access to patient
when they consider their
information, bring greater levels of
strategies for healthcare delivery today
efficiency in hospitals and clinics, and
and into the future.
leverage lower-cost technology to improve preventative health and research.
Australia is not immune from these challenges and we are starting to see
We have already seen major IT projects
the federal and state governments react
like the Personally Controlled Electronic
with caps on budgets and healthcare
Healthcare Record (PCEHR) to help
provider services.
boost patient safety, improve healthcare delivery, and cut waste and duplication.
Australia’s age demographic is changing and causing the Australian government
Health care is in transition from its
to rethink their strategy.
current state of a patient getting sick, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment to
Today, 13% of the Australian popula-
a future state of preventative health.
tion is 65 years of age or older and it is predicted that this will rise to 23%
Technology advances like the Next
by 2050.
Generation Genome Sequencing can reveal predispositions to conditions
People who are 65 years of age or older
and diseases.
are three times more likely to use healthcare services and, as 65 is the current
With the dramatic reduction in cost over
retirement age in Australia, they are less
recent years (almost less than $1000) of
likely to be contributing as much tax.
a genome sequence, it becomes more feasible to conduct more of them across
This is one problem, but there are other
the population. Each genome produces
issues which have the cost of health
multiple gigabytes of raw data.
care on an unsustainable upward trend, Warren Pasque, SNIA ANZ Contributor and Hitachi Data Systems’ Industry Manager, APAC Healthcare, Industry and Alliance Solutions
which according to the Australian Bu-
Next Generation Genome Sequencing,
reau of Statistics has seen annual health
along with other advances in health-
expenditure increase by 45% from 1997
care technologies, is leading to large
to 2007 to reach $4507 per individual.
increases in machine-generated data. Some examples include:
Federal and state governments in Aus-
22
SNIA ANZ
tralia are looking at how we can pos-
• Medical imaging - A 64-slice CT can
sibly reverse the current upward trend
produce up to 200 MBps of scanning.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
• Digital pathology - Using JPEG com-
waste and prevention, ultimately leading
retention requirements of patient re-
pression, the average image size will
to better health outcomes for a lower cost.
cords (up to 15 years in some states)
be approximately 250 MB per cm 2.
as well as protect against the scenario The opportunity for data storage practi-
of changing or deprecated applications,
• Scanned medical records - Scanning of
tioners is not only to build architectures
archiving infrequently accessed records
all paper forms associated with a patient
that support the most efficient deploy-
to an object store not only is the most
that enters the healthcare practice.
ment of healthcare applications today to
cost-efficient consumption of storage
diagnose and treat patients, but enable
but it also can enable the search and
• Patient monitoring solutions - Now
the future applications which will focus
recovery of information independent
producing digital data that can be
preventative health ie, predicting a pa-
of application.
stored and analysed.
tient’s predisposition to a condition and treating it before it becomes an issue.
• Big data - To cope with the ever-increasing volume of machine generated
As healthcare technologies continue to advance and produce more information,
Three key storage initiatives that should
data, big data solutions that support
it will become difficult or even impos-
be considered:
multipetabyte storage and scale out file systems will reduce silos as data
sible for clinicians to personally analyse all the information produced.
• Capacity optimisation - To make efficient use of storage for today’s grow-
grows and ensure the environment stays manageable.
It will require various tools to analyse
ing number of healthcare applications,
the information and aid clinicians on
technologies like single instancing,
Although storage practitioners are not
diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.
deduplication and compression reduce
likely to be driving healthcare work-
consumption and waste.
flows, they have the opportunity to be
The future of health care will be focused
AD_TecDes_LCBP_AUS_Layout 1 7/22/13 8:46 AM Page 1
on increased productivity, reduction in
• Object storage - To support the long
the enabling platform for the healthcare applications today and in the future.
SIEMON’s
LC BladePatch
®
R E V O L U T I O N I Z I N G H I G H D EN S I T Y F I B E R PAT C H I N G
Innovative, Easy Access, Push-Pull Latch Activation Specifically designed to simplify fiber jumper access in tight-fitting, high-density patching environments, Siemon’s revolutionary LC BladePatch fiber jumpers feature an exclusive boot/latch mechanism that allows the cord to be securely inserted and easily removed via the push-pull boot – eliminating the need for direct access to the latch in space challenged applications. In addition to the innovative push-pull design, the duplex LC BladePatch latches can be rotated 180 degrees to quickly and easily make polarity corrections. These new innovative jumpers utilize a smaller diameter uni-tube cable that reduces cable pathway congestion for improved airflow and energy efficiency as well as simplifying overall cable management. Combined with its low-loss Multimode and Singlemode performance, the LC BladePatch is the ideal LC fiber patching solution for today’s high-speed, high-density network connectivity needs. Learn more and engage with Siemon experts at www.siemon.com/lcbp
Low profile boot design optimizes side-stackability
W W W
.
Multimode: 50/125 OM3 and OM4 Singlemode (UPC): OS2
S I E M O N
.
C O M
/
Fits within any standard LC adapter opening or LC SFP module
A U
Exclusive rotating latch design supports simple field polarity changes without the risk of fiber damage
The push-pull design enables easy access and removal via the boot in tight-fitting areas
/
23
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
T E C H N I C A L LY
SPEAKING
Avoiding pitfalls on the path to the cloud Matt Ramsay, Asia-Pacific Regional Director, Centrify
U
sers or business units can
Few companies gain significant competitive
have their required capabili-
advantage by having a “really well set up mail
ties ‘now’ rather than wait for
server” - they’re a dime a dozen, yet expen-
months for IT to design the
sive to maintain internally. So why burden
answer to their wishes. You also receive
your IT staff with mundane tasks when they
fault tolerance, disaster recovery and uni-
could be designing business-specific process
form access from many device types - all
improvements and extracting business in-
productivity contributors that help your
telligence that will help your bottom line?
staff get their jobs done, whenever and wherever they are.
24
Cloud providers can offer more flexible ser vices at a cheaper price than most enterprises can achieve because they amortise their equipment and maintenance costs over a large number of customers.
Security Yet a principal argument against moving
Cloud services can also improve productiv-
to the cloud is that it is less secure than
ity in the IT department by freeing up IT
current on-premise infrastructure models.
staff to focus on solving company-specific
To answer this, we should first take a fresh
problems rather than looking after consum-
look at the core problems bedevilling on-
erised infrastructure such as mail servers,
premise enterprise security. Do we only
file repositories, CRM systems and the like.
need to guard against the bad guys trying to
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
face: to allocate and maintain finely grained
- created by easy-to-use tools that can
user privileges with standard tools such as
quickly configure and maintain fine-
group policies. As a result, admins get into
grained security policies. Rather than rely
the bad habit of only deploying coarse-
on guru-like admins or super-awareness,
grained privileges in practice.
we need tools that can grant and manage fine-grained rights that are as simple to use
This creates the situation where sites are
as making computers and users members
either overly permissive, and thus insecure,
of appropriate groups.
or so restrictive that users are annoyed by the need to petition IT to make even a
Thus a move to the cloud could be the cata-
tiny change. Although a permissive set-up
lyst you need to address the ‘least privilege’
means that, while your users are by and
problem once and for all while giving you
large happy, any ‘unhappy’ user now likely
an opportunity to leverage your existing
has domain admin rights - thus creating
identity infrastructure for your cloud. In this
another problem.
sense, your identity infrastructure should be your ‘on-premise secret sauce’. Everything
The same problem exists in Unix-like en-
else can go to the cloud.
©iStockphoto.com/Jesussanz
vironments. Unix administrators employ the same bad habit of coarse-grained
Cloud pitfalls
privilege allocation. In addition, Unix sites
While moving to the cloud offers clear
frequently resort to the unsecure practice
productivity benefits, there are also pitfalls
of shared accounts to deal with the lack
to avoid in order to fully reap the benefits.
of sophistication of enterprise-grade Unix privilege management.
As we demand access to information no matter what device, location or time, our
hack our infrastructure? Or do we need to
Managing privileges
on-demand mentality, epitomised by cloud
defend ourselves from the bad habits of the
Now map this all to the cloud. What has
services, exposes the enterprise to new
good guys who manage that infrastructure?
changed?
challenges that are more often overlooked
The answer is: both.
Bad guys need to find only one flaw. A
than understood. permissive set-up gives them a huge op-
The additional convenience of anytime-
The bad guys are a given: their hack attempts
portunity for phishing. These problems are
anywhere access could create risk associated
are driven by every motivation from greed
compounded when an over-privileged user
with Australian privacy legislation or risk
to ego. Moving to the cloud doesn’t change
leaves your organisation and the over-worked
via government-mandated access such as
this. It may arguably improve your security
IT department has no idea what to turn off
the US PATRIOT Act. Other risks are as-
as now your cloud provider employs and
- they may not even know that a risk exists.
sociated with questions of data ownership and short- and long-term service disruption.
updates the necessary security and network infrastructure. As they do this for many
On the other hand, the restrictive access
other clients, they deploy state-of-the-art
scenario is onerous and expensive for ad-
While these legal dimensions are important,
firewall and other security equipment. As
ministrators - who are forced to deal with
the bottom line is that the cloud is here
part of their core service offering, you would
many petty requests - and annoying for the
to stay. Not embracing these on-demand
rightfully expect their network administra-
user. There’s also a real chance that it will
services could prove fatal from a motivation
tors to be better than your own!
encourage users to find alternate ways of
and productivity standpoint, so the legal
getting things done - such as a SaaS portal
risks need to be understood and mitigated.
to sidestep IT altogether.
Of greater concern is the technology risk
But the bad habits of the good guys - your
that arises from password and identity
beloved systems administrators - are another matter. One example arises from the dif-
The compromise between restrictive and
store proliferation, which can present a real
ficulty that many Windows administrators
permissive access is called ‘least privilege’
productivity problem for the enterprise.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
25
Password proliferation
passwords or choose the same bad password
Active Directory. With a good SSO solution,
In the age of the cloud, one big question is:
for everything.
de-provisioning becomes a straightforward
how do you meet the significant challenge
‘disable-user’ operation for staff on the help
of managing and maintaining logins for all
There’s also the problem of entering pass-
desk: trivial, quick and almost impossible
of your users on all of their services?
words on mobile devices, which is both
to screw up.
tricky and annoying - and a security hazard Using a range of cloud services - including
if your member of staff enters their password
This avoids IT staff needing to track down
email, online apps, CRM and accounting
in a public place.
all accounts for manual disabling, a tedi-
services - requires users to remember many
ous, time-consuming and error-prone task
passwords. While password protection is
One answer to both these productivity and
that requires a highly privileged - that is,
essential, their proliferation is bad for both
security questions is having single sign-on
expensive - operator.
productivity and for security.
(SSO) authentication, which means your
The productivity problem posed by password
staff no longer need to remember usernames
After initial SSO roles are set up, day-to-day
and passwords.
maintenance is eased, requiring virtually
proliferation is that people may avoid using
no extra training. This eliminates the need
an app due to complex login logistics - or
SSO is not just a productivity win for the
to train or retain application specialists to:
even worse, they may ‘build’ a simpler, less-
people who use your IT infrastructure. It
“add, move, change, delete,” etc.
secure alternative to do the job.
can also boost the productivity of your IT administrators.
In addition, complex passwords generate
It’s time to recognise that data breaches are a matter of when, not if. This has nothing
many ‘forgotten password’ calls to the help
For instance, de-provisioning cloud apps is
to do with cloud or on-premise. Bounda-
desk, wasting time all round. Security flaws
simplified with an SSO solution that ties all
ries don’t matter anymore. The border is
abound when many users write down their
logons back to a single identity store such as
already eroded.
26
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
>> $60.00*
SUBSCRIBE
a year
(non-IT professionals) to Technology Decisions and you will pay * within Australia. Please apply for International rates.
QUALIFY
>>> FREE
for Technology Decisions and we will deliver you 7 information-packed editions FREE.
all year
The magazine is available FREE to IT and business professionals. Go to the website now and complete the simple registration form. w w w. t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u / s u b s c r i b e You can choose to receive the print magazine and/or the eMag. To ensure you are updated with key information between issues, sign up for the twice weekly eNewsletter too!
A.B.N. 22 152 305 336 www.westwick-farrow.com.au
Editor Andrew Collins andrew@technologydecisions.com.au Chief Editor Janette Woodhouse jwoodhouse@westwick-farrow.com.au Publisher Geoff Hird ghird@westwick-farrow.com.au Associate Publisher Glenn Silburn gsilburn@westwick-farrow.com.au Art Director/Production Manager Julie Wright Art/Production Tanya Scarselletti, Odette Boulton, Colleen Sam
Advertising Sales Liz Wilson Ph 0403 528 558 lwilson@westwick-farrow.com.au
If you have any queries regarding our privacy policy please email privacy@westwick-farrow.com.au
Glenn Silburn Ph 0422 931 499 gsilburn@westwick-farrow.com.au ASIA Lachlan Rainey Ph +61 (0) 402 157 167 lrainey@westwick-farrow.com.au USA Huson International Media East Coast Ph +1 212 268 3344 West Coast Ph +1 408 879 6666 ralph.lockwood@husonmedia.com
September 2013 Total CAB Audited Circulation (Aust + NZ) 7,035
Print Post Approved PP 100009359
All material published in this magazine is published in good faith and every care is taken to accurately relay information provided to us. Readers are advised by the publishers to ensure that all necessary safety devices and precautions are installed and safe working procedures adopted before the use of any equipment found or purchased through the information we provide. Further, all performance criteria was provided by the representative company concerned and any dispute should be referred to them. Information indicating that products are made in Australia or New Zealand is supplied by the source company. Westwick-Farrow Pty Ltd does not quantify the amount of local content or the accuracy of the statement made by the source.
ISSN 2201 - 148X
Printed and bound by Webstar +61 2 9748 0020
Circulation Manager Sue Lavery circulation@westwick-farrow.com.au Copy Control Mitchie Mullins copy@westwick-farrow.com.au
28
Head Office: Cnr Fox Valley Road & Kiogle Street (Locked Bag 1289), Wahroonga 2076 Australia Ph +61 2 9487 2700 Fax +61 2 9489 1265
UK Huson International Media Ph +44 1932 56 4999 gerryb@husonmedia.com
w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u
UTM appliance picks up slack when domain work controller fails
A
CS Aviation Solutions has deployed a unified threat
replicated in Melbourne in real time, and so that all Melbourne
management appliance in its Australian and Ireland
activity would be replicated in Dublin.
offices, creating a sure site-to-site connection and VPN tunnel between the two.
The result is a secure network that hosts the company intranet and provides disaster recovery capability.
ACS provides auditing, training, consulting and other
“It allows people to view our infrastructure as one single
services to organisations in the aviation industry. It is one of
network. If anything happens to users in one site, they can still
only eight companies worldwide - and the only organisation in
securely access their files from the other,” Silveira said.
the Southern Hemisphere - authorised by the International Air
The infrastructure was tested earlier this year when the
Transport Association (IATA) to conduct safety audits on airlines.
domain controller in Dublin went down due to a hardware
IT Administrator Jorge Silveira described the organisation as
interruption. Because the server was not available, Dublin traffic
a small business with a considerably large network management
was rerouted through Melbourne, enabling all staff to log on
requirement. “We run an enterprise-grade infrastructure with
and operate as normal.
virtual machines, thin clients, physical computers, redundant
In the next few months, Silveira plans to begin using the
controllers, two different print servers, Windows services, backups
appliance to manage VPN connections for remote users. This
and more,” Silveira said.
will ensure validation of connections occurs at the firewall, rather
The company maintains offices in Melbourne and Dublin. From an IT perspective, ACS has approximately 20 power users working across the two offices, plus another 50 auditors and field workers who require remote access. Given the nature of the ACS’s work, all data is highly confidential and security is paramount. To protect the network, Silveira has deployed a WatchGuard XTM 330 unified threat management (UTM) appliance in the Melbourne office. The device combines firewall functionality with networking features including management and reporting tools. Silveira said that with the new device, “In terms of traffic monitoring, I can log into the system and monitor what comes in and out of the network. I can see what traffic has been blocked and can determine whether a packet should be allowed or not.” Shortly after deploying the appliance, ACS upgraded its internet to fibre. “With that we got a range of IP addresses and WatchGuard has been able to handle all those addresses correctly, exactly the way I want them handled within the network. For example, one address is used for remote users, another is for internet traffic and another is for telephony traffic.” When ACS relocated its Dublin office, Silveira used the
than in the server. Silveira likens the approach to a doorman who
opportunity to deploy a second XTM 330, which he then
asks visitors to wait outside while he checks their credentials,
connected to the one deployed in Melbourne, creating a secure
rather than first inviting the stranger in. The result is that traffic
site-to-site connection and a VPN tunnel. Next, using the tunnel
is validated between the firewall and the server, rather than
and Windows 2012 Server replication capabilities, Silveira set
between the server and the user, therefore providing another
the system up so that all activity on the Dublin server would be
layer of protection for the network.
This issue is sponsored by — Office 365 — www.nowonoffice365.com
29