Here is an interesting question. “Shouldn’t my company make it easier for me by getting rid of all of those passwords without compromising enterprise security?” The answer is an obvious YES! However, the solution has been part of the ICT security industry’s quest for the Holy Grail. And, while it might not be that the cup has been found, Dell (News - Alert) seems to be on the path toward finding it with the announcement of four new additions to its rapidly expanding Connected Security portfolio.
The latest capabilities tackle today’s biggest IT imperatives including BYOD, cloud, network security, and compliance - augment the company’s holistic and connected approach to security which spans from endpoint to datacenter to cloud. The goal is to help IT at companies large and particularly small and medium businesses (SMBs) solve complex security and compliance problems while giving users simpler and easy access to mission critical applications and content.
Four enhancements to Connected Security
The four new capabilities and their benefits speak to the need IT has as they realize the requirement created by BYOD, virtualization and the cloud, to move away from managing security in silos, and embrace a strategy focused on connecting security to the infrastructure, information and applications that are critical to the organization. Reality is that data needs to be protected “E”verywhere it resides or in transit. Connected Security is delivered through solutions that provide predictive, context-aware security to detect and protect against unseen threats, as well as managed security service offerings with SecureWorks and Dell Data Protection and Encryption.
The four are:
Matt Medeiros, vice president and general manager, Security Products, Dell Software is commenting on the new capabilities noted that: “Today’s mega-trends - cloud, BYOD/mobility, and big data each introduce a magnitude of new threats and vulnerabilities. The new challenges these threats create for the IT environment - insufficient visibility, siloed security, compliance requirements and new reporting -= all must be managed with limited resources. The only true line of defense is a comprehensive set of predictive, context-aware security solutions that break down silos and protect data where it resides. Dell Connected Security provides a dynamic solution portfolio that gives organizations the power to solve today’s biggest security and compliance challenges, while helping them better prepare for tomorrow.”
TMCnet had the opportunity of discussing these capabilities with Jonathan Sander, Director, Product Strategy, Dell Software, he observed that, “The added capabilities, leveraging Dell’s modular yet integrated approach give SMBs who have limited IT resources the business intelligence, contextual awareness and control they need to better protect themselves in a way that is cost and operationally efficient and enables faster responsiveness.”
He added that, “Single-sign on and federation end user nightmares relating to remembering different passwords for all of the things they need to access. It provides easy access, based on Active Directory credentials, to the apps and content they require to be productive and which the company has okayed.”
Sander also explained that there is significant growth with ID management by SMBs, who are seeking to find cost-effective solutions to licensing and cost containment issues relating to the need to provide just in time provisioning to improve workflows and operational efficiencies while remaining in compliance. “This is about helping a certain kind of customer who is interested in streaming secured access to their customers who need to do so,” he noted.
It should be noted that pricing for all four capabilities and more information about them are available through the Dell channel.
It is clear that all enterprises need to be able to have visibility and contextual awareness of their increasingly complex environments. This is because demands are increasing for IT to securely accommodate end users who are mobile and use their personal devices to access critical internal content as well as apps and content in the cloud and from third-party providers. The objective, despite the increase in vectors of vulnerability posed by BYOD, virtualization, the cloud, and mobility is to give end users what they want (access to tools and content they need to do their jobs) simply and easily. The challenge is to do so enabling IT to have the capabilities they need to mitigate risks without compromising productivity.
In this regard, as noted at the top, Dell has done a nice job of expanding its Connected Security portfolio to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing and riskier world for enterprises of all sizes.