In a previous blog, I discussed the multi-channel coverage of the elastic cloud gateway (ECG) architecture. In short, ECGs consolidate the functionality of multiple point products to improve centralized visibility and control over an organization’s traffic – be it network, web, or cloud application-based. A key enabler of this consolidation is the microservices architecture of ECGs and the inherent scalability that comes from a cloud-native approach.
Insight
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Dreamforce 2019 just kicked off in San Francisco. What an event and a great boost to the local economy: lots of people, celebrity speakers, lots of vendors, and many locations around the Moscone Center to accommodate the many sessions and events. A forest theme was selected this year – a forest in the middle of the urban forest – with cute characters including a bear…the same bear I am going to poke in this blog entry.Salesforce is a formidable player, a trailblazer (check the little guy’s shirt!) that made SaaS what it is today. It’s a great success by any stretch of the imagination.
SaaS is an interesting space that we study closely here at ESG, and we see a big disconnect when it comes to backup and recovery, and many challenges with Salesforce specifically. 33% of respondents to our cloud data strategies survey believe that SaaS-based applications don’t need to be backed up, and 37% solely rely on the SaaS vendor because they are responsible for protecting the organization’s SaaS-resident application data.
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At this year’s Dell Tech Summit, there were several high-impact announcements, each one important and each one valuable. But, with each, the real story will be whether these are just single isolated announcements or whether each one can become a first step in a larger journey that helps define Dell and its offerings moving forward.With that, let’s walk through the big announcements.
- Dell Technologies on Demand: In a recent ESG study, a majority of IT organizations identified a preference to procure IT storage infrastructure on a pay-per-use basis. There are still, however, organizations that prefer the traditional model, so IT vendors such as Dell need to offer both options and many do. Dell’s technology breadth, however, should give it an advantage as IT organizations need simplification. The ability to have the same pay-per-use model and agreement across all your IT infrastructure, or even a significant portion, offers tremendous value. This should create significant value, saving personnel from wasting time managing paperwork, while helping reduce the cost of IT. The price can go up or down based on usage, capacity for storage and compute hours for servers. The use of compute hours as a term for servers is really intriguing. IT organizations can spin up and spin down workloads based on need and only pay when they are in use. The terms seem a little long, available in three, four, or five-year options, but this is a move in the right direction. Ideally this announcement is just the first step in Dell simplifying its payment process moving forward.
- Dell PowerOne: Autonomous infrastructure, that is the promise of Dell PowerOne. Even if it’s just a stretch goal, it’s good to hear. The PowerOne platform is a converged offering and its ability to save time and reduce risk via the automation of repetitive tasks is impressive. ESG was able to get a first look at the technology. So far, however, this automation technology is isolated to PowerOne. Does this capability come to other parts of the Dell portfolio? How will Dell bring the ideas of autonomous infrastructure to everything it does? PowerOne is exciting, and now the industry wants to see more.
- Dell’s Moonshot Goals to Deliver Good – Last, in this list, but certainly not least, Michael Dell kicked off this year’s Dell Tech Summit with several moonshot goals for Dell Technologies to achieve by 2030. These goals included a target of one-for-one recycling. For every system Dell builds in 2030 and beyond, it will recycle one system’s worth of components. While ambitious, it is not outside the realm of possibility. Dell already has a massive recycling program in place, and Michael was one of the industry’s earliest proponents of technology recycling. Dell also announced its goal for 50% of the Dell Technologies’ global workforce to be women by 2030, with 40% of the management positions. Again, this is ambitious, especially when you consider the global portion of this goal, but it is excellent to see an industry leader publicly putting a target out there and then actively working towards it.
All these announcements were significant, but ideally each is only a first step. All three address topics that the technology industry and the world at large have vested interests in. As a result, the potential is tremendous. The question Dell has to answer moving forward, however, is will it continue down these trajectories with additional investment, innovation, and commitment? Ideally, every year, Dell could highlight the strides the company has made to simplify IT procurement, automate IT operations, and achieve its moonshot goals, and I, for one, hope they will.
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Microsoft has a tough balance to strike as they maintain decades of technology investments while inspiring cloud consumption models, modern platforms, and an unprecedented step forward with security. I recently shared that it is Time to Add Microsoft Ignite as a Must Attend Event. Microsoft Ignite was full of announcements and openness that will shift how businesses have traditionally thought of Microsoft.
For those that may have missed the event, please check out my take on it in this video:
It’s also worth taking the time to check in with the event content. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ignite
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When ESG began discussing the elastic cloud gateway (ECG) architecture in July, one of the key questions we were asked centered on SD-WAN and the importance of the convergence of networking and security. The short answer is that while strong integrations between networking and SD-WAN functionality and security capabilities are clearly necessary, partnerships will be the predominant route for the next few years. Sure, there are vendors that will provide both, be they someone like Cisco that has both networking and security capabilities, or smaller upstarts like Cato Networks. But our feeling was that those would be the exceptions, not the rule. -
HYCU just announced a set of new capabilities for its Google Cloud Platform service. In this latest release, the company is placing the focus on delivering further enhancements to its native enterprise-class capabilities in/for GCP. This is something other vendors should look at closely with a competitive eye. Here’s why: In combination, the enhancements to the service scream enterprise scalability. Remember that a service is a lot easier to quickly and constantly “upgrade” for a vendor versus a legacy approach, which makes HYCU very nimble. -
Enterprise Strategy Group’s data protection team delivers its 2020 predictions. The backup and recovery market is at full effervescence and at the cusp of many changes.
For more information or to discuss these findings with an analyst, please contact us.
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I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend Fal.Con Unite 2019 in San Diego earlier this week where the CrowdStrike team brought together over 1200 customers for two and a half days of keynotes and learning sessions. It was apparent from the moment we arrived that there was a significant partner focus, with many visible conference sponsors and partner-led sessions (most of whom are recent CrowdStrike Store partners), plus six new Store partners who are all leveraging CrowdStrike APIs and threat graph data to enhance their solutions. And of course, there was much to say about product and services roadmaps, as well as plenty of learning sessions to help users get the most out of their investment with CrowdStrike. -
Microsoft Ignite should be added as a must attend event for IT decision makers and executives that have any type of current investment in Microsoft, building cloud strategies and transforming the way people work. The wave of announcements, the insights into technology, and the validations of customer success are worth tuning into.Worth watching… https://t.co/nxQxgfzWTK
— markbowker (@markbowker) November 7, 2019
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Having to support an increasing number of devices per employee is leading to a situation that is not sustainable for businesses and IT organizations. The high number of devices that average employees are bringing into the workplace for business purposes strains existing IT and security strategies, which are not designed to handle this level of complexity. When employees are enabled to complete more of their business tasks with a single device, they benefit from a consistent experience across all workflows and communication channels.
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Technology matters more than ever today, as Enterprise Strategy Group research recently discovered when 83% of respondents shared that they believe that technology has increased their personal productivity. In 2020, it will be important to watch how quickly businesses move from testing cloud-hosted desktops and identifying use cases to moving into production. If indicators start pointing to a rapid pace of transition through this process, expect to see the market growth follow exponentially.
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As 2019 rolls into the history books, it is time to evaluate how networking has evolved this year and think about what organizations can expect in 2020. This year witnessed the initial deployments of 5G networks, the rollout of WiFi 6, continued mergers and acquisitions, the introduction of new chipsets that enable greater throughput (400Gbps), and greater emphasis on end-to-end networking. It also witnessed underlay and overlay integration and IBN. Additionally, network automation continued to progress, as SD-WAN deployments made more progress on their way to becoming ubiquitous.
This brief looks at the key trends and events that will shape networking technologies, suppliers, and customers in 2020.
For more information or to discuss these findings with an analyst, please contact us.
Dreamforce 2019 just kicked off in San Francisco. What an event and a great boost to the local economy: lots of people, celebrity speakers, lots of vendors, and many locations around the Moscone Center to accommodate the many sessions and events. A forest theme was selected this year – a forest in the middle of the urban forest – with cute characters including a bear…the same bear I am going to poke in this blog entry.
At this year’s Dell Tech Summit, there were several high-impact announcements, each one important and each one valuable. But, with each, the real story will be whether these are just single isolated announcements or whether each one can become a first step in a larger journey that helps define Dell and its offerings moving forward.
When ESG began discussing the elastic cloud gateway (ECG) architecture in July, one of the key questions we were asked centered on SD-WAN and the importance of the convergence of networking and security. The short answer is that while strong integrations between networking and SD-WAN functionality and security capabilities are clearly necessary, partnerships will be the predominant route for the next few years. Sure, there are vendors that will provide both, be they someone like Cisco that has both networking and security capabilities, or smaller upstarts like Cato Networks. But our feeling was that those would be the exceptions, not the rule.
HYCU just announced a set of new capabilities for its Google Cloud Platform service. In this latest release, the company is placing the focus on delivering further enhancements to its native enterprise-class capabilities in/for GCP. This is something other vendors should look at closely with a competitive eye. Here’s why: In combination, the enhancements to the service scream enterprise scalability. Remember that a service is a lot easier to quickly and constantly “upgrade” for a vendor versus a legacy approach, which makes HYCU very nimble.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend Fal.Con Unite 2019 in San Diego earlier this week where the CrowdStrike team brought together over 1200 customers for two and a half days of keynotes and learning sessions. It was apparent from the moment we arrived that there was a significant partner focus, with many visible conference sponsors and partner-led sessions (most of whom are recent CrowdStrike Store partners), plus six new Store partners who are all leveraging CrowdStrike APIs and threat graph data to enhance their solutions. And of course, there was much to say about product and services roadmaps, as well as plenty of learning sessions to help users get the most out of their investment with CrowdStrike.
Microsoft Ignite should be added as a must attend event for IT decision makers and executives that have any type of current investment in Microsoft, building cloud strategies and transforming the way people work. The wave of announcements, the insights into technology, and the validations of customer success are worth tuning into.