Network-as-a-service lets a shoe retailer take steps toward Zero Trust

Nigel Williams-Lucas, director of Information Technology at Maryland-based footwear retailer DTLR, faced a challenge that most IT execs will recognize: the business was pushing hard on digital transformation, and the IT infrastructure was struggling to keep pace.Store managers were seeking better data analytics and business intelligence from backend systems like inventory and sales. The business wanted IT systems to support customers ordering online and picking up at a physical store within two hours.The network needed to securely support real-time, bandwidth-intensive IP security cameras. And Williams-Lucas wanted to roll out beaconing technology, in which the network gathers information about customer in-store activity via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and can send discount offers to a customer’s phone based on where they are in the store and what they appear to be interested in.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Extreme adds network fabric support to its SD-WAN

Extreme Networks has added network fabric capabilities to its flagship SD-WAN platform to enable customers to link and manage distributed resources more securely.Additional enhancements to the ExtremeCloud SD-WAN platform include improved automated workflows and direct connectivity to cloud systems such as Microsoft Azure and AWS.“The overarching idea is to help customers more effectively connect distributed sites, especially the smaller branch office, without increasing optical or management overhead,” said Rob Hull, product marketing director at Extreme. “For the smaller sites, especially, with maybe no IT person or few, it gives them the big-site quality-of-service feel and big-site centralized management capability.”To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Cisco security upgrades strengthen access control, risk analysis

Cisco has strengthened some of its key security software packages with an eye toward better protecting distributed enterprise resources.Specifically, Cisco added more intelligence to its Duo access-protection software and introduced a new application called Business Risk Observability that can help enterprises measure the impact of security risks on their core applications. The company also enhanced its SASE offering by expanding its SD-WAN integration options.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Fortinet unveils custom ASIC to boost firewall performance, efficiency

Fortinet is introducing a new ASIC that promises to meld the security and network functions of its core family of FortiGate firewalls more efficiently and powerfully.The custom chip is 7-nanometer package, called fifth-generation security processing system or FortiSP5, that promises a number of performance improvements for the FortiGate system. It enables 17x faster firewall performance and 32x faster encryption processes while using 88% less power compared to standard CPUs, according to John Maddison, executive vice president of products and CMO at Fortinet. With FortiSP5, Fortinet’s firewalls will be able to handle higher levels of traffic inspection to block threats and boost protection, according to the vendor.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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NTT, Palo Alto partner for managed SASE with AIOps

A new offering from IT services provider NTT combines Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma SASE offering with NTT’s managed network services and AIOps infrastructure.SASE – secure access service edge – has been gaining interest for its potential to reduce networking complexity while improving security. It combines SD-WAN with security services, including secure web access gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), and firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS), in a single, cloud-delivered service model.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Enterprises turn to single-vendor SASE for ease of manageability

Before the start of the Covid epidemic, a traditional WAN architecture with centralized security worked well for Village Roadshow. “Advanced security inspection services can be applied, firewalls can provide separation, and a demilitarized zone can be implemented,” said Michael Fagan, chief transformation officer at Village Roadshow, the largest theme park owner in Australia.But it required backhauling traffic from remote sites to a data center or hub for security inspection, which can hurt application performance, create a poor user experience, and cost the company in productivity, he said.When the pandemic led the company to transition to a hybrid workforce, with most people working from home or from a remote site, it prompted Village Roadshow to rethink its network and security approach.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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Pros and cons of managed SASE

AmerCareRoyal, which provides disposable products for the food service and hospitality industries, is the product of six mergers and acquisitions over the past several years, and its former network security setup couldn’t keep up.Jeff DeSandre, who joined the company as CIO in 2019, wanted an SD-WAN platform that came with more advanced management options and firewalls. After looking at the market, he added threat detection and response capabilities to his wish list. “I was focused on getting our arms quickly around our wide area network and securing our edge, and then making sure that the solution I went with could scale to my long-term roadmap,” he says.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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8 hot networking technologies for 2023

Despite the challenges posed by economic turmoil, epidemics, and political upheaval, network researchers are continuing to blaze new trails in innovation, performance, management, and security. In sum, 2023 is shaping up as a year of network evolution and transformation.Here are eight network technologies you will want to pay particularly close attention to.1. Unified SASE: Addresses hybrid workforce, hybrid clouds
Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) tightly integrates security and networking into a single platform. The technology uses a single-pass scanning architecture combined with a unified policy that’s configured via a unified console that draws from a unified data lake. “This is significant for organizations to continue to provide a consistent and assured user experience while protecting users, devices, sites, and data amid the rapidly evolving dynamics coming in 2023,” says Kelly Ahuja, CEO of networking and cybersecurity firm Versa Networks.To read this article in full, please click here READ MORE HERE…

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