EMA Research Blog: Navigating IT and Security Horizons

Much marketing hype and heated discussions should be seen as excellent indicators for the fact that Software Defined Storage (SDS) is one of the hottest topics in today’s data center. Naturally, every vendor defines SDS based on their own product range, sometimes leaving customer out of the equation.

What does Big Data mean to traditional enterprise IT? Organizations of any size and industry are becoming more and more aware of the incredible importance of capturing, managing and analyzing the data available to them. The more comprehensively companies are able to tap structured and unstructured data sources, the quicker they can refresh this data and the more successfully they make this body of data available to all business units, the better they can develop advantages in the market place. Today’s business units are demanding the rapid implementation of these big data use cases, as well as optimal resiliency, cost efficiency, security and performance.

Of course, I always encourage practitioners to carefully study the full EMA research report on the “Obstacles and Priorities on the Journey to the Software-Defined Data Center” or at least read the research study summary or at the very least join the EMA SDDC Research webinar on February 18, but I still want to briefly summarize the key findings here.

I see a significant gap in not only how the need for Security Awareness training is perceived as needed but also in the general quality of the programs and training delivered vs other types of training.  In many cases small companies avoid security awareness training due to ignorance, cost fears, or fears it will stifle their culture of creativity.  This research project is structured to give CIO’s, CISO’s, and other security and IT managers the data to motivate them to provide in security awareness training programs thereby bringing about change in their organizations.

With all of the negative attention that the NSA – RSA relationship (or deal) has been getting, many are fired up.  If the deal went down anything like it has been reported by Reuters, then rightfully so.  However, the last minute boycotts of the RSA event to show disapproval are a bit much.

Recently I briefed with ForeScout Technologies, a Network Admission/Access Control (NAC) vendor, to get an update on the CounterACT platform it has been delivering and developing for a few years and to see its recently announced ControlFabric technology.  I thought it wise to take another look at NAC vendors and how they address BYOD, rogue, or non-compliant devices that can be the source of many compliance and security headaches including advanced/targeted threats.

As every year, IBM invited the analyst community to Stamford, CT, for a deep dialogue on today’s most important topics in enterprise IT. Here is a short overview for everyone interested in IBM’s current world view.

Discovering, capturing and making sense of complex interdependencies is central to running IT organizations more effectively, and it is also a critical part of running the businesses IT serves. Whether it’s optimizing a network, or an application infrastructure, managing change, or providing more effective security-related access—more often than not these problems involve a complex set [...]