Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking

    How Pandemic Accelerated Convergence of Network, Security

    By
    Zeus Kerravala
    -
    February 8, 2021
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Cyber security and networking have been on a collision course for more than a decade. These two disciplines have historically operated in silos in which network engineers did network things and security practitioners focused solely on protecting threat protection.

      The two groups were often at odds with one another as security tools and processes often got in the way of network and application performance. These opposing goals have created a fair amount of animosity between the two groups. I’ve actually experienced this prior to being an analyst; I was in corporate IT and was a network engineer for years. I always believed the security team didn’t fully understand our challenges, although I’m sure they felt the same way about network staff.

      Network and security have been at odds for decades

      Because network and security both play critical roles in businesses, there has been a strong desire to bring these two functions together. If network and security were to actually work together, the goals of the groups could be aligned, creating greater efficiencies for both. The reality is, over the past decade–while there has been plenty of chatter in bringing network and security together–the market has moved slowly. However, a combination of digital transformation and the COVID has sped this up.

      This shift to work from anywhere has made cloud and mobility the norm for almost every business service, and this requires a highly reliable network and security. This has caused more and more network and security vendors to cross over into the other domain.

      SASE is a great example of this, because it’s based on cloud-managed and/or delivered network access and security functions. Recently, there has been a flurry of vendor activity that is helping accelerate this trend.  Detailed coverage of three of the main news items are in my latest ZKast video, done in conjunction with eWEEK, but I’ve provided highlights below. 

      Arista stakes its claim in security

      Arista Networks has been the performance leader in networking since its inception. Late last year, it acquired a network detection and response (NDR) vendor, Awake Security, that uses machine learning to find network anomalies. This was Arista’s first foray into security. Last week it announced an expansion to its Macro-Segmentation Service called MSS-Group, targeted at simplifying the process of segmenting IoT devices using zero trust.

      The addition of MSS-Group and zero trust moves Arista from being a network vendor that happens to sell security to network engineers to a legitimate security company, whose products can be used by networking and security professionals helping bridge the gap between the two. A complete writeup of the announcement can be found in this eWEEK post.

      Further reading

      • First All-Digital Super Bowl Requires an Extreme Network…
      • Arista Beefs Up Its Security Offering

      Cisco integrates security into AppDynamics

      In 2017, the de facto standard for networking, Cisco, plunked down $3.7 billion for AppDynamics, an application performance management vendor. This made a lot of people go “huh?” Cisco is known for a lot of things, but applications isn’t one of them. After a couple of years of running the business as a standalone unit, Cisco has been very active integrating “AppD” with other parts of its portfolio. Last year, Cisco announced AppD integration with Cisco’s IT Operations platform, Intersight. It also integrated AppDynamics with its ThousandEyes Internet monitoring solution.

      Last week, Cisco announced it had integrated its Secure Application Software into AppDynamics.  The combined product protects applications from the inside out, instead of having to secure them with external tools. This combined solution ensures security as well as maintains a best-in-class application experience. Typically, security is at odds with application performance and is often thought to get in the way.  The AppD – security integration provides a best of both worlds. 

      Fortinet continues to make moves in networking

      There is perhaps no vendor that typifies the integration of networking and security better than Fortinet. The company is known as a top-tier security vendor with one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry.  During the past several years, the company has been quietly building a strong set of network products, and this is starting to bear significant fruit.

      Last week the company announced its Q4 earnings, and the company crushed its already strong forecast.  Fortinet delivered Q4 revenue of $748 million, up a whopping 21% from a year ago. This was well ahead of the $722 million the street had been expecting. Its earnings of $1.06 a share was also a strong “beat”–analysts were predicting $0.97 per share.

      One of the catalysts for Fortinet’s growth has been its entry into SD-WANs. The company was a late entrant into the market, but it hit the market when it was shifting from one network only to requiring network and security. Wave 1 of SD-WANs was used to transform branch connectivity. Now SD-WANs are being used to tie remote workers to clouds to the company network, and that requires a much higher level of security.

      During its earnings call, Fortinet also announced its upcoming FortiOS 7.0 release, which is loaded with new SD-WAN capabilities including SASE, self-healing SD-WAN tools with automated remediation, 5G and LTE security and updates to FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer.

      Zeus Kerravala
      https://zkresearch.com/
      Zeus Kerravala is an eWEEK regular contributor and the founder and principal analyst with ZK Research. He spent 10 years at Yankee Group and prior to that held a number of corporate IT positions. Kerravala is considered one of the top 10 IT analysts in the world by Apollo Research, which evaluated 3,960 technology analysts and their individual press coverage metrics.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×