DCN September 2017 | Page 48

Projects & Agreements Cisco announces intent to acquire Observable Networks The ability to dramatically improve visibility, security and response capabilities across an entire IT surface, including highly distributed branch environments and public cloud infrastructures, is becoming increasingly important as companies and organisations continue their digital transformation. With this in mind Cisco intends to acquire Observable Networks, a privately held software company headquartered in St. Louis. Observable Networks provides cloud- native network forensics security applications delivered as a service. Observable Networks’ technology is based on dynamic behavioural modelling of all devices on the network. Observable Networks’ solutions provide security analysts with the ability to gain real-time situational awareness of all users, devices and traffic on the network, whether in the data centre or the cloud. Its cloud-native machine learning techniques for device modelling identifies insider and external threats faster and more accurately. This design supports cloud environments and enables turn-key activation for customers using Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Together, Cisco and Observable Networks will extend Cisco’s Stealthwatch solution into the cloud with highly scalable behaviour analytics and comprehensive visibility. On the heels of the unveiling of our new intent-based network, this acquisition reaffirms Cisco’s commitment to providing unparalleled security solutions for our customers and partners. For further information visit: www. cisco.com and www.observable.net 48 | September 2017 Rackspace Teams Up with Pivotal to Deliver Managed Pivotal Cloud Foundry to Enterprise Customers Rackspace has announced that it is aligning efforts with Pivotal to deliver Managed Pivotal Cloud Foundry to enterprise customers. This new Rackspace solution will help enterprises use Pivotal Cloud Foundry, to quickly build and deploy applications at scale. Rackspace will manage Pivotal Cloud Foundry on any public or private cloud, as well as on customer-owned infrastructure, backed by deep technical expertise and by the Fanatical Support for which Rackspace is known. ‘Fortune 500 customers using Pivotal Cloud Foundry to build, deploy, and run their legacy and cloud-native apps have experienced 2,000% increase in developer productivity, as well as a 50% reduction in IT costs due to platform automation,’ said Bill Cook, president and chief operating officer, Pivotal. ‘Since moving at startup speeds is on the minds of every business and government organisation, the collaboration between Pivotal and Rackspace would provide customers the option to manage their cloud environment, so they can focus on rapidly shipping code.’ Pivotal now works with over one-third of the Fortune 100, and a rapidly growing portion of the Fortune 2000, who rely on Pivotal Cloud Foundry to rapidly develop and run modern and legacy applications at startup speeds. In addition, Pivotal Cloud Foundry is the only application development platform that runs on any cloud infrastructure – across public, private and managed clouds. For further information visit: www.rackspace.com and www.pivotal.io Vapour invests £0.25m in development of new cloud security product Yorkshire-based technology specialist Vapour has invested more than a quarter of a million pounds in the development of a new, secure cloud platform – Dfendr. Likely to prove particularly popular with IT, telecoms and channel partners – as well as end users – the robust network has been created to provide a resilient infrastructure for organisations’ data. Virtual servers with 99.99% uptime now promise users greater processing power, without the usual price tag. Hosted solely in Vapour’s UK data centres, the Dfendr cloud platform will allow businesses to manage their data safely, wherever they may be. Security controls will also regulate user access, and, in the event of an accidental deletion or cyber-attack, backed-up information will be recovered within one hour. Commenting on the extensive investment in this new release, Vapour’s CEO and joint-founder Tim Mercer said, ‘The imminent advent of GDPR plus the mounting wave of ransomware incidents have sparked a far more detailed debate surrounding data security. Now technology firms and end customers alike are scrutinising the risks associated with their storage and retention strategies. ‘However, mindful of the increased adoption of cloud solutions, we actually set to work on Dfendr long before GDPR hit the headlines. And, following extensive beta testing with one of our largest clients, we’re now ready to take the new secure network environment to market.’ Tim believes some of the biggest market potential for Dfendr exists within the technology space. For further information visit: www.vapourcloud.com