Cloud, mobility and big data initiatives are helping organizations solve pressing challenges, while driving accelerated innovation, enhanced agility and improved financial management. However, these initiatives also can introduce big security concerns.
BYOD
As businesses are in the process of allowing employees to bring their personally owned computers, smartphones, and tablets into the workplace and access corporate applications, the popularity of BYOD is increasing fats. This will allow application availability at anytime, from anywhere, and will help business slash procurement costs. K P Unnikrishnan, APAC Marketing Director of Brocade Communications says, "The smartphone/tablet phenomenon will fuel this trend, and will drive uptake of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), wireless networking and end-point security solutions in the corporate arena.
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Govind Rammurthy
MD & CEO
eScan
Many incorrectly believe that just because the environment is virtual, it must be inherently secure. However, the fact is that virtual environment for the most part suffers from the same security concerns as does the physical environment.
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K P Unnikrishnan
APAC Marketing Director of Brocade Communications
This year, I believe we will see at least one high profile security disaster as a result of this trend, and that will be act as a wake-up call for companies to get proper security processes in place before unlocking their networks to all and sundry .
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However, the increasing popularity of these devices will create several problems for IT departments as they attempt to mitigate risk, and this signals a tough future for PC and laptop manufacturers. When it comes to BYOD, one of the most overriding threats is the loss and theft of these devices.
Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director, Fortinet India & SAARC, Fortinet, says, "BYOD provides a variety of advantages to organizations, ranging from improved productivity to increased ROI for IT departments. However, a BYOD environment also lacks many of the traditional security controls that organizations have relied on to secure their data, leaving gaps in their data and device protection strategy."
Unnikrishnan adds, "This year, I believe we will see at least one high profile security disaster as a result of this trend, and that will be act as a wake-up call for companies to get proper security processes in place before unlocking their networks to all and sundry."
In order to address the balance between usability and security, organizations are taking a variety of steps. While some draconian approaches (such as denying all personal devices on the corporate network) might be warranted for extremely secure organizations, most organizations want to adopt a BYOD policy that offers some flexibility for users while enforcing corporate policies and adopting best practices.
Apart from the vulnerability of the devices, the sensitive company data residing on these devices is also at risk. Here, encryption software and mobile device management (MDM) systems can play a part in mitigating risks. MDM has become synonymous with mobile security. However, MDM is not a complete solution to BYOD challenges as it does not provide a complete security solution. MDM does provide an expanded level of policy enforcement that is not enabled by default.
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Vishak Raman
Senior Regional Director,
Fortinet India & SAARC, Fortinet
BYOD provides a variety of advantages to organizations, ranging from improved productivity to increased ROI for IT departments. However, a BYOD environment also lacks many of the traditional security controls that organizations have relied on to secure their data, leaving gaps in their data and device protection strategy.
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MDM allows policy enforcement on the mobile device itself and many solutions offer remote location/lock/wiping capabilities to protect against loss or theft. However, MDM solutions enforce different policies based on the mobile device they are supporting resulting in inconsistent security coverage.
Hence it is incumbent on the businesses to set clear guidelines in the case of BYOD. And it is to be hoped that with security becoming foolproof, a spurt in the announcements of bring -your-own-device (BYOD) policy by the organisations will be a reality.
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Manu Bansal
Vice President, Advanced Technology,
Channels, Cisco India
Cisco's Smart Solutions like the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, are all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security .
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"At Blue Coat, our core mission has always been to enable customers to fully embrace the new technologies that evolve how businesses do business without compromising security or network performance,"said Ambarish Deshpande, Blue Coat Managing Director-India Sales. Blue Coat delivers Web Security and WAN Optimization solutions that enable companies to extend the boundaries of their network and fully embrace cloud- based applications, social networking and BYOD initiatives.
"Cisco's Smart Solutions like the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, are all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security, says Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India.
MOBILITY
Mobile devices continue to outgrow PCs as preferred primary computing devices. According to Gartner, by 2016, at least 50% of enterprise email users will rely primarily on a browser, tablet or mobile client, instead of a desktop client.
This new mobile environment means higher security risks, as inherently unsecured mobile devices carry increasingly more business-critical information. Applications are playing a key role, offering more capabilities. While the opportunities mobile presents are significant and mobile has become an enterprise requirement, there are a number of challenges clients face like compliance with corporate policy, development and deployment of mobile applications with secure connectivity to corporate infrastructure.
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Amitava Lahiri
SVP IT Services,
Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd.
Mobile instruments are improving their capabilities at a rapid speed and this will definitely accelerate the productivity of large enterprises, especially for people on the go, be it management, sales or operations. We can see the desktops being gradually replaced by high-end tablets and mobile devices.
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"To take advantage of the opportunities presented in the mobile space, enterprises from all industries need a comprehensive mobile platform that bridges the gap between the diverse and fragmented mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) and the backend systems that deliver content," says G. Dharanibalan, Executive, Offerings Management & Development, Global Technology Services, IBM, India/South Asia. He adds, "To address this mobility market IBM offers a unified portfolio that allows clients to build mobile applications, connect to and run backend systems, while managing and securing their business and extending capabilities to mobile devices and transforming their business."
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Ashwani Tikoo
CIO
CSC India
The resources however that are being provided to support those devices are not growing at anywhere near the same level.
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Bala Variyam, Vice President, Collabera Labs, says, "Mobility continues to drive innovation and is becoming all pervasive when it comes to usage across industry verticals. All these three areas are some of the trends that we will be focusing on over the next 12-18 months." Ashwani Tikoo, CIO, CSC India, states, "The resources however that are being provided to support those devices are not growing at anywhere near the same level."
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G. Dharanibalan
Executive, Offerings Management & Development,
Global Technology Services, IBM, India/South Asia
To address the mobility market IBM offers a unified portfolio that allows clients to build mobile applications, connect to and run backend systems, while managing and securing their business and extending capabilities to mobile devices and transforming their business
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Amitava Lahiri, SVP IT Services, Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd, says, "Mobile instruments are improving their capabilities at a rapid speed and this will definitely accelerate the productivity of large enterprises, especially for people on the go, be it management, sales or operations. We can see the desktops being gradually replaced by high-end tablets and mobile devices."
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Ambarish Deshpande
Blue Coat Managing Director-India Sales
At Blue Coat, our core mission has always been to enable customers to fully embrace the new technologies that evolve how businesses do business without compromising security or network performance.
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Mobile technology is a huge area that is still highly under-utilized in India. Mobile phones have reached nearly every household in India, which opens a huge new market for mobile applications. Syed Asim, COO – India South Asia, Middle East & Africa, Dion Global Solutions, says, "With smart phones and androids being a huge success in the Indian market, we see a rapid increase in intelligent applications that will give consumers the real power of mobility."
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Fais
al Paul
Head, Marketing and Solution Alliances,
Enterprise Group, HP India
Virtualization was once seen as an efficiency tool and a way to save on hardware expenses. Virtualization today, however, plays a key role in a Converged Infrastructure environment. With virtualization, organizations can begin to transform their Data Center by focusing resources when and where they are needed most.
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Most of the security threats plaguing BYOD are also common in mobility. Like personally owned devices, those issued by the organisations are also vulnerable to theft or loss. There is a need on the part of the companies to encrypt data at the device level. Companies should also ensure that the user is not allowed to override it.
Virtualisation
With the passage of time virtualization is all set to play a bigger role as IT organizations morph into more and more of a services management framework. Many companies are quickly realizing the value in moving to virtualisation.
Virtualization has been commoditizated. Fast becoming a natural way of doing business, today it is less about the process and more about the business enablement of what virtualization allows the clients to do that they couldn"t do before.
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Rothin Bhattacharya
EVP - Marketing, Strategy, Business Development, HCL Infosystems
In the enterprise space Cloud Computing will evolve further as companies and even the government will turn to cloud computing for better data management and at optimum costs.
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Virtualization, mobility, internet applications and security and storage are like the backbone of information technology and are here to stay.
According to Faisal Paul, Head, Marketing and Solution Alliances, Enterprise Group, HP India, "Virtualization was once seen as an efficiency tool and a way to save on hardware expenses. Virtualization today, however, plays a key role in a Converged Infrastructure environment. With virtualization, organizations can begin to transform their Data Center by focusing resources when and where they are needed most. It is estimated that virtualization can dramatically increase hardware utilization rates from 10 or 15% to 70 or 80 %."
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Bala Variyam
Vice President
Collabera Labs
Mobility continues to drive innovation and is becoming all pervasive when it comes to usage across industry verticals. All these three areas are some of the trends that we will be focusing on over the next 12-18 months .
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Virtualization facilitates consolidation of infrastructure and hardware by replacing physical servers with virtual machines, and by combining applications on virtual servers. Hence, it leads to reduced space and cost of IT infrastructure. Over the years, there have been many security concerns within a virtual environment. "Many incorrectly believe that just because the environment is virtual, it must be inherently secure. However, the fact is that virtual environment for the most part suffers from the same security concerns as does the physical environment," says Govind Rammurthy, MD & CEO, eScan.
Cloud Computing
It can be said without a shadow of doubt that transition of cloud computing from being the latest industry buzz word to an accepted operational expenditure is nearing completion. Cloud has emerged as an IT service that businesses, both enterprises and SMBs, have already adopted or are in the process of evaluating its adoption. The adoption of cloud computing by SMEs is also increasing at a greater pace. According to a survey it has been found that the number of companies with 10 or fewer employees adopting paid cloud services will triple in the next three years.
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Pratik Chube
Country General Manager, Products and Marketing,
Emerson Network Power India
Cloud Computing would be the key driver to optimise datacenter spending and more customers would opt for the Cloud as a faster and cheaper option to migrate to an ‘IT enabled’ enabled ecosystem.
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According to new research conducted on behalf of HP, concerns around understanding security requirements for cloud services are top of mind for nearly half of business and technology executives in India. More than half of those surveyed also indicated they are concerned about how to secure and consume big data.
Umang Bedi, Managing Director - South Asia, Adobe Systems, says, "Everyone is talking about the cloud technology. Everybody expects access to data anytime, anywhere and this will be enabled via the cloud."
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Umang Bedi
Managing Director - South Asia, Adobe Systems
Everyone is talking about the cloud t echnology. Everybody expects access to data anytime, anywhere and this will be enabled via the cloud .
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"We believe among the emerging technologies, Cloud computing is no longer in the 'testing the waters' stage. It has moved well and truly into production," says Ashwani Tikoo, CIO, CSC India.
Pratik Chube, Country General Manager, Products and Marketing, Emerson Network Power in India, sees greater opportunity in cloud. He says, "Cloud Computing would be the key driver to optimise datacenter spending and more customers would opt for the Cloud as a faster and cheaper option to migrate to an 'IT enabled' enabled ecosystem." Rothin Bhattacharya, EVP - Marketing, Strategy, Business Development, HCL Infosystems, shares the same sentiments when he says, "In the enterprise space Cloud Computing will evolve further as companies and even the government will turn to cloud computing for better data management and at optimum costs."
However, for all the benefits cloud computing provides, it cannot be said to have foolproof security. The very nature of cloud makes it more accessible to more people. And therein lies the danger as well.
a private cloud environment can be protected from impending threats by using intrusion detection software and firewalls. However, it becomes all the more trickier when it comes to securing SaaS and IaaS solutions hosted in the public cloud.
Social Media
Adaptation of social media platforms continuously introduces an additional set of vulnerabilities towards the consumer segment. Also, when many technology trends and technologies combine, they have a much greater impact. Hence, implementing the right security needs at such situations become a complicated task.
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Syed Asim
COO - India South Asia, Middle East & Africa,
Dion Global Solutions
With smart phones and androids being a huge success in the Indian market, we see a rapid increase in intelligent applications that will give consumers the real power of mobility.
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"Taking this into consideration, we, at eScan, are focusing on security solutions that are well integrated and provide a comprehensive layer of security from evolving cyber security threats to the IT users,"says Rammurthy of eScan.
