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Embotics Releases White Paper on Virtualization Security

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Embotics today announced “Understanding VirtSec,” a new study that focuses on virtual server security issues inherent in IT environments. The research addresses threats posed by virtualization deployments and the technology that is available to tackle these emerging issues. Authored by David M. Lynch, vice president of marketing of Embotics, the white paper identifies immediate and potential security threats so organizations can plan accordingly.

Virtualization security is a wide concern for IT executives and Embotics’ “Understanding VirSec” summarizes the new threats and issues associated with server virtualization. The research, containing a wide range of user feedback, helps IT executives differentiate the potential future security issues from those that are present today, and offers recommendations and best practices to minimize these risks.

As virtualization deployments expand and become more complex, organizations are facing increased risk of data center security threats. Embotics’ “Understanding VirtSec” provides an overview of why IT administrators cannot rely on IT policies and processes that existed pre-virtualization, and how the impact of an uncontrolled environment in the data center is detrimental.

Industry Moves: DataCore Promotes Christian Hagen to VP Sales for the Americas & EMEA

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DataCore Software has appointed Christian Hagen as its new Vice President of Sales for the Americas & EMEA. Hagen, the former Vice President of Sales and Partner Development EMEA, is now also responsible for all DataCore sales and channel activities in the Americas. With this appointment, DataCore aims to leverage its European distributor and channel partner programs in the US as well as in Europe. The partner enablement model has proven itself in Europe, where it has successfully empowered distribution and reseller partners.

During his tenure as Vice President of EMEA Sales and Partner Development for DataCore, Christian Hagen led DataCore’s EMEA business to record growth rates by nearly doubling annual sales and doubling the number of business partners on a yearly basis. The 46-year-old German successfully broadened the company’s market footprint with a two-tier distribution model – targeting distribution partners and value-added resellers (VARs) with strong technical expertise in virtualization markets. The company has also aligned its sales and support organization in order to better enable channel partners to multiply their business with virtual platforms like Citrix XenServer, VMware, Microsoft VS, Oracle VM, Sun VM, Virtual Iron, etc., in conjunction with DataCore storage virtualization.

Christian Hagen joined DataCore Software in 2000 and directed the company’s activities in Central Europe from 2004 on. In 2007 he was appointed Vice President of EMEA Sales and Partner Development and extended the successful central European approach into the European markets, as well as the Middle East and Africa. Christian Hagen has 20 years experience in the storage industry and is recognized as expert in virtualization, storage management, business continuity and disaster recovery. He held various positions in sales, engineering, support, and business development at Deutsche Bank, Sterling Software, Computer Associates and IBM.

Double-Take Software Releases netBoot/i and sanFly As Result of emBoot Acquisition

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Double-Take Software today announced the release of its netBoot/i and sanFly products. Together, they can provide a centralized means of booting and managing servers and desktops from iSCSI storage area networks (SANs). These products give IT administrators the flexibility to streamline workload management across both physical and virtual environments, and the cost efficiency of ‘greener IT’ through reduced power consumption and energy costs. Double-Take for Windows, the company’s flagship product, is known for its non-disruptive, affordable, hardware agnostic solutions. The addition of these new product offerings combined with existing capabilities such as continuous full server wide area replication build upon Double-Take Software’s objective to be the leader in Dynamic Infrastructure; that is, to move workloads, for whatever purpose, whenever needed, affordably and non-disruptively.

NetBoot/i is a software-based solution for booting systems from industry-standard iSCSI storage using “off-the-shelf” networking hardware found in most organizations’ server or desktop systems. IT administrators today are often faced with the expense and labor-intensive effort of deploying IT workloads. Once deployed, these same workloads are difficult to move between different servers or desktops because they are tied directly to the servers they run on. With netBoot/i, administrators can use a centralized workload management console to assign workloads, including their boot images, to any available physical or virtual machine in the environment regardless of hardware configuration. Additionally, by enabling diskless servers or desktops, netBoot/i reduces power consumption by minimizing cooling, maximizing cabinet and server rack efficiency.

SanFly is a software-based iSCSI target that turns any Windows server into an iSCSI SAN. With sanFly, setting up iSCSI storage for use by server or desktop systems is as easy as five clicks. SanFly also provides a “shared mode” for iSCSI storage it manages, allowing multiple servers or workstations to access the same shared volume on the storage network.

Double-Take Software acquired netBoot/i and sanFly in the recent purchase of Toronto-based emBoot.

Seanodes Is Doing Ok, Thank You For Asking

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Seanodes (earlier coverage), the creator and developer of Shared Internal Storage solutions, today announced strong growth and better-than-expected results for the first three quarters of 2008, with major customer wins, securing new funding and multiple industry awards for its Exanodes storage software.

Seanodes recently raised $2.4 million in funding from OSEO, France’s national agency for industrial innovation, in the form of a no-interest loan to support ongoing technology development and company growth. This latest funding will enable Seanodes to expand its R&D efforts and extend the Shared Internal Storage platform to VMware and Microsoft operating environments.

Recent customer wins include SMB customer Pack Solutions, one of France’s financial advisor firms, which chose Seanodes based on the reliability and high data availability of the architecture, and ServiSMART, a Portugal-based emerging service provider, which selected Seanodes to provide the virtualized storage platform for its new cloud computing infrastructure. Additionally, NASA’s infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), at the California Institute of Technology, selected Exanodes software to be part of an upgraded enterprise network architecture designed to process and store massive amounts of spectroscopy and imaging data generated by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), a four year project established to perform nightly scans of the skies to capture any new, undiscovered objects.

The company has scored several industry awards from leading technology publications:

  • Computer Reseller News included Seanodes in its “Emerging Tech Vendors,” the magazine’s annual list of channel-friendly companies that are recognized for providing superior technology, support and margins over more-established companies in today’s information technology industry.
  • Exanodes was named “Storage Virtualization Product of the Year” by Techworld, calling it “true innovation within the IT industry.”
  • eWeek chose Shared Internal Storage as one of the “10 Disruptive New Storage Technologies Promise Big Changes.” The publication recognized Seanodes for its “ground-breaking” storage software and proclaimed SIS as one of the “technologies that have emerged recently to set the industry on its ear.”
  • Network Products Guide named Exanodes Virtual Machine Edition a winner of the 2008 Best Products and Services Award. This respected annual award honors products and services that represent the rapidly changing needs and interests of the end-users of technology worldwide.

Bomgar Introduces B300v Virtual Appliance to Enhance Remote IT Support

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Bomgar is expanding its Bomgar Box family to include the B300v virtual appliance. Deploying the B300v within a VMware ESX infrastructure gives enterprises the flexibility to increase the capacity and manageability of IT support operations, while seamlessly ensuring that the help desk meets an organizations failover policy. IT administrators can also adapt to the changing support needs of today’s enterprise networks, leveraging the B300v to efficiently resolve computer-related issues in both virtual and physical environments.

Bomgar’s B300v provides IT organizations all of the robust features of its physical enterprise appliance, including integration with trouble ticket systems and security functions (i.e. session logging and reporting) with the versatility to deploy on a virtual server. This agility better aligns with disaster recovery initiatives as Bomgar’s virtual appliance can be replicated with ease for back-up and redundancy purposes. Additionally, the B300v enables organizations to take advantage of the virtual infrastructure and utilize pre-deployed networking, storage and servers.

Inherently, Bomgar’s products are purpose-built to provide IT support reps with secure access to any desktop via a secure Internet connection to resolve computer issues quickly. Bomgar provides enterprises of all sizes with the resources required to identify and resolve costly technology and business issues that cycle through the help desk.

The Bomgar B300v is currently available and technical specifications can be found on the Bomgar website.

Research and Markets Releases New Report on Virtualization Security

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Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Virtualization Security: The Early Stages of a New Battleground” report to their offering. Here’s the run-down they’ve provided via press release:

With the rush to adopt virtual technologies, the security of virtualization has become a primary concern – yet few understand the security implications of this disruptive innovation. In this report, EMA provides guidance for IT practitioners seeking to secure their virtual environments. With a simple, five-phase approach to virtualization security as the centerpiece of this study, EMA takes an initial look at virtualization threats and vulnerabilities, and considers the security benefits of virtualization. Market insight from EMA’s 2008 virtualization survey of over 600 enterprises takes a sampling of the steps organizations are – and are not – taking today to secure virtual environments. Until virtualized security measures mature, this report focuses on what enterprises can do today to secure virtualization and seize the unique opportunity to integrate security early in the adoption of this game-changing technology – before it’s too late.

The rapid adoption of virtualization technology has created multiple benefits for IT organizations. Advantages such as the reduction of cost through more efficient resource utilization are obvious; however, these benefits can quickly be negated if virtualization opens a door to a major security incident.
Many researchers have argued about the security implications of a migration towards IT virtualization. Some say that virtual solutions increase the risks faced by an organization, others argue that there is no impact at all, while still others argue that the implementation of virtualization allows organizations to actually reduce risk. The reality is that virtualization can do all of these, depending on the way it is designed, implemented and used. It is therefore imperative that IT managers have a high-level understanding of the security issues that can affect their virtual environments, and of the approaches that can address those issues. Through this understanding, enterprises can ensure that the delicate balance between functionality and security results in the greatest business benefit with the fewest risks. Moreover, executives can assure that their organizations take advantage of the opportunity that virtualization offers to put security at the forefront and thus avoid future security issues and costs.

In this report, an initial look at the emerging challenge of securing virtualization, as well the security benefits of this disruptive technology. The reader will be presented with an introductory view of threats and vulnerabilities affecting virtual environments, as well as recommendations for pursuing a simple five-phase process that can be tailored to any environment in order to implement virtual solutions in a secure manner. Through infrastructure consolidation strategy and design, administrative process management, network strategy and design in extending the layered security model, configuration management, and risk assessment, this five-phase approach addresses specific virtualization security risks in order to strengthen both the security and operational benefits virtualization offers the business.