To stay competitive and adapt amid a rapidly evolving digital and economic landscape, keeping up with emerging technologies is not a nice-to-have; it’s essential. Those that fail to do so risk falling behind their competitors, missing out on valuable opportunities for growth, efficiency gains, and innovation in today’s highly dynamic and interconnected business environment.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing industries and driving transformative changes across various sectors. But, as models and data continue to grow, massive computer power is required to train and deploy AI systems.

 

Leveraging AI with HPE Greenlake

HPE GreenLake offers supercomputing capabilities that are equipped to handle the constantly growing demands of AI workloads at scale. And with that, you can unleash the full potential of your AI initiatives, ensure real-time processing of complex data sets, and foster innovation.

Here are five ways HPE GreenLake can help you leverage AI to power growth and maintain your competitive advantage:

1.       Improved productivity: With the ability to power AI models trained on large amounts of textual data, HPE GreenLake can help you leverage AI at a deeper level, using profoundly more data, to tackle emerging AI challenges more effectively, automate processes, streamline operations, and better allocate resources for increased operational efficiencies and productivity.

2.       Data-driven insights: HPE GreenLake delivers a trusted, enterprise-grade AI/ML and analytics cloud-like experience that allows you to mine continuous streams of value from data, uncover trends, identify patterns, and make critical correlations across large-scale data sets. These data-based insights empower you to make more strategic and profitable business decisions to optimize processes, improve customer experiences, and stay ahead of the competition in today’s data-centric business landscape.

 

3.       Quicker time-to-innovation: By providing on-demand access to powerful compute resources in a scalable infrastructure, HPE GreenLake reduces the time required for AI model development, so you can experiment with new ideas, iterate quickly, and adapt to changing market demands. This, in turn, empowers you to bring innovative products, services, and experiences to market faster, while also staying agile and responsive to customer needs.

 

4.       Scalability and flexibility: HPE GreenLake makes it easy for you to scale your AI capabilities as needed to accommodate fluctuating demands and next-generation architecture. Plus, using continuous monitoring, you can right-size capacity and even enable capacity-bursting on-site, on demand.

 

5.       Sustainable AI: Large AI models require massive computing power and energy to train. With its supercomputing capabilities, HPE GreenLake enables you to train, tune and deploy your AI models using renewable energy. Beyond cost efficiencies, a commitment to sustainable AI practices will boost your brand image and may even help you attract and retain top talent.

 

Thriving in Today’s Digital Landscape

As AI continues to take the world by storm, the speed and ease with which you are able to operationalize AI models that can harness massive amounts of data can mean the difference between staying ahead of the competition and falling behind in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. By delivering a trusted, enterprise-grade AI/ML and analytics cloud-like experience, HPE GreenLake can help you rapidly integrate and leverage AI technologies in your business processes—so you can maintain a competitive edge and thrive in the ever-evolving digital landscape of today.

Contact Zunesis for more information on how to unlock the power of AI with HPE GreenLake.

 

What’s on Your Mind? 2020 IT Needs

It’s 2020, the holidays are over and you’re back to managing your organization’s IT needs in support of their core initiatives. So, what’s on your mind? For many of our Clients, this can be summed up by three questions:

 

Are we adequately protected against Ransomware and can we recover from an attack?

Ransomware is a reality for individuals and businesses alike; no person or entity is immune. To someone responsible for protecting an entire organization from a Ransomware attack, the specter is ever-present. One that requires 24/7 vigilance. But these same individuals are keenly aware of that. Despite all their efforts to keep the attack from happening, they may be called upon to recover from an attack. We hear about this topic so much from our Clients that there are two BLOGS on the Zunesis website focusing on it exclusively. I would encourage you to read both Posts.

Mitigating the risks associated with Ransomware attacks requires a diligent adherence to a set of practices that include (but are not limited to):

• Keeping virus protection software up to date to keep up with the changing profiles of Ransomware attacks.
• Staying current with firmware patches on all devices (firewalls, switches, routers, serves, storage, etc.) to make sure your devices have the most recent protections.
• Staying current on Operating System updates and patches to plug security holes as they are identified.
• Managing usernames and passwords and segmenting authentication domains to reduce spread of an attack.
• Locking down non-essential ports to reduce points of entry.
• Segmenting LANs to minimize spread of an attack.
• Training of end-users to help them understand what to look for in emails and other external entry points. End-users are the most common entry point for attacks and the need for constant training cannot be over-emphasized.

If you are compromised, rather than paying a ransom, you’ll want to provide your organization with their best chance for recovery of your data. To accomplish this, you’ll need to spend time reviewing your backup/recovery and disaster recovery plans.

 

When reviewing your plans look for how they address the following:

• Are the frequency and retention policies designed to give you acceptable RPO and enough granularity to restore data that has not been compromised?
• Do you test your data for potential compromise?
• When looking at your backups, are they isolated from the rest of the network? Is there a possibility of being a target of attack (corruption or deletion)?
• Do you have multiple copies of your backups, on different media, and offsite?
• Does your backup/recovery software have built-in checks for warning of possible compromise?
• Do you have a standard practice of testing recovery of data?

While not exhaustive, the points outlined above, emphasize the multi-faceted approach an Organization needs to take in order to give themselves the best chance of avoiding the consequences of a Ransomware Attack. As I stated earlier in this post, Ransomware is top of mind for all our Clients and we will likely spend a lot of time working with them on this in 2020.

 

How will we get all our projects accomplished in 2020 and still manage the day-to-day tasks?

The challenge of not having enough resources and time have been a persistent issue in IT. I’ve been working in the industry for over 35 years and it seems there has never been enough money, time, or people to execute on the strategies developed to evolve and maintain the IT needs of an organization. In 2020 that is certainly not going to change.

The fact is, IT will always compete for the resources of the Organization because, for most organizations, their Mission Statement has nothing to do with building a world-class IT infrastructure. However, organizations across industries are more reliant than ever before on technology to carry out their primary Mission.  For this reason, there will be an increasing array of projects that ultimately will need to be carried out by IT; the challenge of efficient resource utilization is not going to abate any time soon.

 

Is our infrastructure ready to support the needs of the Organization in a world where Digital Transformation is a constant, iterative process?

In the next decade, we will no doubt continue to see the evolution of how and where IT resources are utilized. After all, Digital Transformation is a journey, not a destination. More organizations are moving toward becoming Data-Driven, (leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics to glean customer insights and make better decisions).

With this move, we will see the proliferation of Edge Computing devices, leveraging of IoT, and Machine Learning. These technologies will push us to adopt different strategies for on-premise and Cloud-based Compute, Network and Storage resources. For some IT organizations this will be a continuation of what they’ve already begun and for others it may mean a complete revamp of their existing infrastructure.

In the midst of protecting your organization from the bad actors, executing on new projects and maintaining the day-to-day tasks that are part of every IT organization, you and your team need to stay up with a constantly evolving industry that presents you with a myriad of options for continuing your Digital Transformation Journey. You can’t ignore the advances in technology, nor the relevance they might have for your organization, but finding the time to understand them and assess their value won’t be easy.

 

Our Available Services

 

Of course, there is no one response that can answer any of the topics mentioned above. However, Zunesis has been partnering with our Clients to navigate difficult problems since 2004. As technologies have evolved, so have our abilities to address the needs of our Clients to support their IT Infrastructure, including the issues summarized here.

Whether you just want to sit down and discuss what’s on your mind, or you have already identified an area we can jump in and help, we are ready to engage. Just to give you an idea of what we have to offer, I’ve included a summary of some of the practices we have developed over 15 years to help our Clients achieve their goals.

NOTE: For any service we provide (one-time or ongoing), there is a standard process and set of deliverables we use as a starting template.  From there, we will work with you to customize the service based on your specific needs. If there is one thing we know for certain, you have unique circumstances. We want to make sure our services conform to your specific needs.

 

Here are a few of our standard offerings:

 

IT Infrastructure Assessment – The objective for this assessment is to provide an analysis of where your infrastructure is today, where you want to see it in the future, and what will be required to bridge the gap.

 

Typical Tasks and Deliverables include:

• Discovery of Compute, Network, and Storage environment:
  • Inventory/document configuration of on-premise equipment.
  • Inventory/document applications (on-premise and cloud-based).
  • Document hyper-visor and OS configurations.
  • Document the types of data stored on-premise and, in the cloud.
  • Review Backup/Recovery Infrastructure and policies.
  • Review Disaster Recovery Policies.
  • Conduct stakeholder roundtables.
• Produce Logical and Physical Drawings.
• Document of observations.
• Document actionable recommendations.
• Produce a roadmap to go from where you are to where you want to be.

 

BC/DR Assessment – The objective of this assessment is to provide an analysis of your current Backup Recovery and Disaster Recovery architecture and processes. Because Ransomware is such a threat, we will conduct this assessment with a sub-focus on recovery from Ransomware attacks.

 

Typical Tasks and Deliverables here include:

• Discovery:
  • Inventory/document configuration of backup environment.
  • Inventory/document configuration of disaster recovery environment.
  • Provide documentation on the types of data stored on-premise and in the cloud.
  • Document SLA’s associated with applications and data.
  • Log your Backup/Recovery policies.
  • List details of Disaster Recovery Policies.
  • Conduct stakeholder roundtables.
• Produce Logical and Physical Drawings.
• Document of observations.
• Document actionable recommendations.

 

Recurring Data Center Advisory Service (RDCAS) – The objective of this service is to provide ongoing management of our Clients HPE environment. We monitor their device firmware and configuration. This helps them maintain best practices per HPE documentation. This service is provided over the course of a 12 Month period.

 

Typical Tasks and Deliverables include:

• Perform an initial inventory of all HPE devices, documenting firmware, configuration, and alerts.
• Monitor Critical Alerts published by HPE throughout the life of the service. Report these to the Client with recommendations for action.
• Monitor all alerts from HPE and report non-critical alerts in a quarterly report.
• Monitor release of new firmware and report to Client on quarterly basis (unless firmware is deemed critical).
• Offer assistance in deployment of firmware if needed.
• Assist in resolution of configuration if it doesn’t meet best practice per HPE documentation.
• Provide assistance in resolution of HPE support tickets as a Client advocate.
• Provide Quarterly environment reviews with Client.

Again, these are just examples of the ways we have helped our Clients address their challenges over the last 15 years. We have a team of technology professionals that are ready to assist you with all your infrastructure needs.

Have a great 2020. We look forward to hearing from you.

What’s on Your Mind? 2020 IT Needs

It’s 2020, the holidays are over and you’re back to managing your organization’s IT needs in support of their core initiatives. So, what’s on your mind? For many of our Clients, this can be summed up by three questions:
 

Are we adequately protected against Ransomware and can we recover from an attack?

Ransomware is a reality for individuals and businesses alike; no person or entity is immune. To someone responsible for protecting an entire organization from a Ransomware attack, the specter is ever-present. One that requires 24/7 vigilance. But these same individuals are keenly aware of that. Despite all their efforts to keep the attack from happening, they may be called upon to recover from an attack. We hear about this topic so much from our Clients that there are two BLOGS on the Zunesis website focusing on it exclusively. I would encourage you to read both Posts.
Mitigating the risks associated with Ransomware attacks requires a diligent adherence to a set of practices that include (but are not limited to):

• Keeping virus protection software up to date to keep up with the changing profiles of Ransomware attacks.
• Staying current with firmware patches on all devices (firewalls, switches, routers, serves, storage, etc.) to make sure your devices have the most recent protections.
• Staying current on Operating System updates and patches to plug security holes as they are identified.
• Managing usernames and passwords and segmenting authentication domains to reduce spread of an attack.
• Locking down non-essential ports to reduce points of entry.
• Segmenting LANs to minimize spread of an attack.
• Training of end-users to help them understand what to look for in emails and other external entry points. End-users are the most common entry point for attacks and the need for constant training cannot be over-emphasized.

If you are compromised, rather than paying a ransom, you’ll want to provide your organization with their best chance for recovery of your data. To accomplish this, you’ll need to spend time reviewing your backup/recovery and disaster recovery plans.
 
When reviewing your plans look for how they address the following:

• Are the frequency and retention policies designed to give you acceptable RPO and enough granularity to restore data that has not been compromised?
• Do you test your data for potential compromise?
• When looking at your backups, are they isolated from the rest of the network? Is there a possibility of being a target of attack (corruption or deletion)?
• Do you have multiple copies of your backups, on different media, and offsite?
• Does your backup/recovery software have built-in checks for warning of possible compromise?
• Do you have a standard practice of testing recovery of data?

While not exhaustive, the points outlined above, emphasize the multi-faceted approach an Organization needs to take in order to give themselves the best chance of avoiding the consequences of a Ransomware Attack. As I stated earlier in this post, Ransomware is top of mind for all our Clients and we will likely spend a lot of time working with them on this in 2020.
 

How will we get all our projects accomplished in 2020 and still manage the day-to-day tasks?

The challenge of not having enough resources and time have been a persistent issue in IT. I’ve been working in the industry for over 35 years and it seems there has never been enough money, time, or people to execute on the strategies developed to evolve and maintain the IT needs of an organization. In 2020 that is certainly not going to change.
The fact is, IT will always compete for the resources of the Organization because, for most organizations, their Mission Statement has nothing to do with building a world-class IT infrastructure. However, organizations across industries are more reliant than ever before on technology to carry out their primary Mission.  For this reason, there will be an increasing array of projects that ultimately will need to be carried out by IT; the challenge of efficient resource utilization is not going to abate any time soon.
 

Is our infrastructure ready to support the needs of the Organization in a world where Digital Transformation is a constant, iterative process?

In the next decade, we will no doubt continue to see the evolution of how and where IT resources are utilized. After all, Digital Transformation is a journey, not a destination. More organizations are moving toward becoming Data-Driven, (leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics to glean customer insights and make better decisions).
With this move, we will see the proliferation of Edge Computing devices, leveraging of IoT, and Machine Learning. These technologies will push us to adopt different strategies for on-premise and Cloud-based Compute, Network and Storage resources. For some IT organizations this will be a continuation of what they’ve already begun and for others it may mean a complete revamp of their existing infrastructure.
In the midst of protecting your organization from the bad actors, executing on new projects and maintaining the day-to-day tasks that are part of every IT organization, you and your team need to stay up with a constantly evolving industry that presents you with a myriad of options for continuing your Digital Transformation Journey. You can’t ignore the advances in technology, nor the relevance they might have for your organization, but finding the time to understand them and assess their value won’t be easy.
 

Our Available Services

 
Of course, there is no one response that can answer any of the topics mentioned above. However, Zunesis has been partnering with our Clients to navigate difficult problems since 2004. As technologies have evolved, so have our abilities to address the needs of our Clients to support their IT Infrastructure, including the issues summarized here.
Whether you just want to sit down and discuss what’s on your mind, or you have already identified an area we can jump in and help, we are ready to engage. Just to give you an idea of what we have to offer, I’ve included a summary of some of the practices we have developed over 15 years to help our Clients achieve their goals.
NOTE: For any service we provide (one-time or ongoing), there is a standard process and set of deliverables we use as a starting template.  From there, we will work with you to customize the service based on your specific needs. If there is one thing we know for certain, you have unique circumstances. We want to make sure our services conform to your specific needs.
 

Here are a few of our standard offerings:

 
IT Infrastructure Assessment – The objective for this assessment is to provide an analysis of where your infrastructure is today, where you want to see it in the future, and what will be required to bridge the gap.
 
Typical Tasks and Deliverables include:

• Discovery of Compute, Network, and Storage environment:
  • Inventory/document configuration of on-premise equipment.
  • Inventory/document applications (on-premise and cloud-based).
  • Document hyper-visor and OS configurations.
  • Document the types of data stored on-premise and, in the cloud.
  • Review Backup/Recovery Infrastructure and policies.
  • Review Disaster Recovery Policies.
  • Conduct stakeholder roundtables.
• Produce Logical and Physical Drawings.
• Document of observations.
• Document actionable recommendations.
• Produce a roadmap to go from where you are to where you want to be.

 
BC/DR Assessment – The objective of this assessment is to provide an analysis of your current Backup Recovery and Disaster Recovery architecture and processes. Because Ransomware is such a threat, we will conduct this assessment with a sub-focus on recovery from Ransomware attacks.
 
Typical Tasks and Deliverables here include:

• Discovery:
  • Inventory/document configuration of backup environment.
  • Inventory/document configuration of disaster recovery environment.
  • Provide documentation on the types of data stored on-premise and in the cloud.
  • Document SLA’s associated with applications and data.
  • Log your Backup/Recovery policies.
  • List details of Disaster Recovery Policies.
  • Conduct stakeholder roundtables.
• Produce Logical and Physical Drawings.
• Document of observations.
• Document actionable recommendations.

 
Recurring Data Center Advisory Service (RDCAS) – The objective of this service is to provide ongoing management of our Clients HPE environment. We monitor their device firmware and configuration. This helps them maintain best practices per HPE documentation. This service is provided over the course of a 12 Month period.
 
Typical Tasks and Deliverables include:

• Perform an initial inventory of all HPE devices, documenting firmware, configuration, and alerts.
• Monitor Critical Alerts published by HPE throughout the life of the service. Report these to the Client with recommendations for action.
• Monitor all alerts from HPE and report non-critical alerts in a quarterly report.
• Monitor release of new firmware and report to Client on quarterly basis (unless firmware is deemed critical).
• Offer assistance in deployment of firmware if needed.
• Assist in resolution of configuration if it doesn’t meet best practice per HPE documentation.
• Provide assistance in resolution of HPE support tickets as a Client advocate.
• Provide Quarterly environment reviews with Client.

Again, these are just examples of the ways we have helped our Clients address their challenges over the last 15 years. We have a team of technology professionals that are ready to assist you with all your infrastructure needs.
Have a great 2020. We look forward to hearing from you.

Simple, Secure, Scalable

 

If you follow the announcements from major networking vendors you will have noticed a trend, at least in the marketing, for new solutions that are emerging from these companies.  Every whitepaper or datasheet you read will have the key words “Simple”, “Secure”, and “Scalable” littered throughout the document.  The reason for this is because, from a high level, these are some of the most important factors for customers when making a purchasing decision.

 

One solution I have found that lives up to those key words is Aruba’s new SD Branch solution.  This solution is intended to help enterprise customers modernize their branch networks for the ever-evolving network requirements that IT needs to support.  According to Aruba, the new SD Branch offering is

 

“Ideally suited for distributed enterprises undergoing digital transformation, Aruba SD-Branch delivers optimized branch experiences with simplicity at enterprise scale and integrated, best-in-class security. Retail, hospitality, and healthcare organizations can manage SD-WAN, WLAN, LAN, and unified policy for thousands of sites in the cloud.” 

 

But how is it delivering on those marketing key-words?

 

Simplicity for the Distributed Enterprise

 

For enterprises, this new SD-Branch solution offers cloud-based management option that allows them to provide remote, centralized provisioning and management of both wired and wireless connections within the branch and through WAN and internet connections in the SD-WAN infrastructure. The idea behind it is to give IT the ability to implement new services and make network changes quickly even across huge environments that are distributed throughout different locations and departments. So you can manage everything from one centralized console without needing multiple programs for different functions or parts of the enterprise.

 

Within the branch, Aruba’s new service offers granular QoS through application, user, and device contextual awareness.  This functionality also extends across the WAN for SaaS, mobile UC, and other remote applications. This is meant to simplify how LAN and WAN traffic gets prioritized and routed, both inside and outside of the branches, giving IT teams the ability to deliver a consistent experience across the organization regardless of device type, user role within the organization, or physical location on the network.

 

 

Integrated Security

 

Of course, security is a major concern with basically any new tech offering. Aruba offers intra-branch and WAN policy enforcement capabilities that are both automated and granular. Aruba has a new set of Aruba 360 security exchange technology partners that deliver cloud-based firewall and threat protection to help IT keep all of the organization’s digital assets safe and protected.

 

Scalability

 

Aruba’s SD Branch solution is managed and configured in the cloud using a tool called Aruba Central.  Central has been around for a while now and is most commonly used to manage large dispersed wireless access.  The management functionality, along with the new “WAN analytics” piece I discussed above, have been extended to include the branch gateways at each location.  Being a cloud management tool first and foremost Central can scale to meet the demands of any network (as they have been doing for years with some of Aruba’s largest dispersed customers), so customers have the peace of mind that their investment will be protected, no matter how large they grow, for years to come.

Simple, Secure, Scalable

 
If you follow the announcements from major networking vendors you will have noticed a trend, at least in the marketing, for new solutions that are emerging from these companies.  Every whitepaper or datasheet you read will have the key words “Simple”, “Secure”, and “Scalable” littered throughout the document.  The reason for this is because, from a high level, these are some of the most important factors for customers when making a purchasing decision.
 
One solution I have found that lives up to those key words is Aruba’s new SD Branch solution.  This solution is intended to help enterprise customers modernize their branch networks for the ever-evolving network requirements that IT needs to support.  According to Aruba, the new SD Branch offering is
 

“Ideally suited for distributed enterprises undergoing digital transformation, Aruba SD-Branch delivers optimized branch experiences with simplicity at enterprise scale and integrated, best-in-class security. Retail, hospitality, and healthcare organizations can manage SD-WAN, WLAN, LAN, and unified policy for thousands of sites in the cloud.” 

 
But how is it delivering on those marketing key-words?
 

Simplicity for the Distributed Enterprise

 
For enterprises, this new SD-Branch solution offers cloud-based management option that allows them to provide remote, centralized provisioning and management of both wired and wireless connections within the branch and through WAN and internet connections in the SD-WAN infrastructure. The idea behind it is to give IT the ability to implement new services and make network changes quickly even across huge environments that are distributed throughout different locations and departments. So you can manage everything from one centralized console without needing multiple programs for different functions or parts of the enterprise.
 
Within the branch, Aruba’s new service offers granular QoS through application, user, and device contextual awareness.  This functionality also extends across the WAN for SaaS, mobile UC, and other remote applications. This is meant to simplify how LAN and WAN traffic gets prioritized and routed, both inside and outside of the branches, giving IT teams the ability to deliver a consistent experience across the organization regardless of device type, user role within the organization, or physical location on the network.
 

 

Integrated Security

 
Of course, security is a major concern with basically any new tech offering. Aruba offers intra-branch and WAN policy enforcement capabilities that are both automated and granular. Aruba has a new set of Aruba 360 security exchange technology partners that deliver cloud-based firewall and threat protection to help IT keep all of the organization’s digital assets safe and protected.
 

Scalability

 
Aruba’s SD Branch solution is managed and configured in the cloud using a tool called Aruba Central.  Central has been around for a while now and is most commonly used to manage large dispersed wireless access.  The management functionality, along with the new “WAN analytics” piece I discussed above, have been extended to include the branch gateways at each location.  Being a cloud management tool first and foremost Central can scale to meet the demands of any network (as they have been doing for years with some of Aruba’s largest dispersed customers), so customers have the peace of mind that their investment will be protected, no matter how large they grow, for years to come.