Home Live Blog from Symantec: Mobile, Reputation Security and the Cloud Backup Question

Live Blog from Symantec: Mobile, Reputation Security and the Cloud Backup Question

The Symantec Vision Conference is where we are spending our time today, starting with the keynote address by Enrique Salem, president and chief executive officer.

Major themes we expect to hear about include mobile security, the cloud backup question and the next fit with virtualization.

Let’s get started.

9:08 a.m.PST: Salem is talking about all those problems we hear a lot about from the enterprise. People bringing their own devices, corporate information across laptops and smartphones – the big issues we all face.

9:11 a.m.: Salem says he was wrong about the total data he projected last year. It was not up 40% but 62%. The amount of data on mobile devices is up 4,000%. With this data is a new generation of attacks. Then there is the issue about virtualization. It is becoming a common aspect of the server. Then there is the cloud. He says it is the latest term. He calls it the next generation of outsourcing.

9:18 a.m.: Reputation based security is the next phase. This is about identity. The environment is complex, considering the amount of devices that are out there. That brings up the issue about how the data is managed, authenticated and easily accessible.

9:24 a.m.: Salem says Symantec is announcing VRay, an identity bases security system. Symantec will be making a series of announcements with cloud providers, including an announcement today with Salesforce.com.

9:27 a.m.: You need to take an information centric approach. Salem pointed to the major themes we should hear about: mobility, security, virtualization and the proliferation of devices.

9:30 a.m.: We get to see demos now! Funny. They’re doing a spoof on IBM’s Watson. Ha.

9:32 a.m.: Maybe we are not getting demos. Sigh .Looks like we will be hearing from experts. Firs topic is virtualization. VMware CTO Steve Herrod is on stage.

9:38 a.m. Hearing about Maine Medical and the data storage issues with all of its endpoints and the fit with virtualization.

9:42 a.m.: Virtual machines are becoming the maximum security risk. They often do not have backup and often it is a blind view. You need to see into the physical and virtual worlds. That is what makes V-Ray. We’re now going to see a demo. But this is odd. They are using gum balls to show the service? Nice try. But in essence the traditional backup is dead. We just saw this futuristic video about people becoming robotic drones and followed by the breaking of a window: “Break the backup window.”

10:13 a.m.: Connection issues. Talking with Intel about its integrations. Still showing they work together despite Intel’s acquisition of McAfee.

10:18 a.m.: Now we are hearing about backing up the cloud with another video that plays to Symantec’s storage focus.

10:25 a.m.: Scaling storage – it comes down to repurposing, Demo on an iPad showing virtual store dashboard. Storage provisioning remotely.

10:30 a.m.: Coming to the end of the opening session with tech in memorial video starring Clippy, Atari 2600, Tamagotchi, the 28,800 BPS Modem and the Laser disc, starring Leonard Nimoy.

10:37 a.m.: Dell manager talking about data tiering and the way it is automated. Stephen Foskett, analyst and blogger tweeted: “Confused. Dell just mentioned their “object-based storage device” as a “joint solution with Symantec”. Ummm, @Caringo? #SymVision”

10:50 a.m. We’ll be back in a bit.

11:36 a.m.: Just finished up discussion with Enrique Salem. One takeaway: virtualization is creating new storage demands on the enterprise. Some media people in the room disagree. Thoughts?

1:36 p.m.: Hearing a panel about Symantec approach to the cloud.

Question: How do we secure the data between virtual machines? How do I secure my slice when I don’t have access to the other virtual machine? Note to self – check out Altor Networks, the virtual firewall company.

1:59 p.m.: In an interview with Deepak Mohan, senior vice president,

Information Management Group for Symantec. Talking about the issues related information governance.

Mohan:

You first need to understand what is important and what is not. There is so much data out there. Step 1: what is most important? Is it health records? Is it sales information? There are two parts to that problem. One part is how do you back it up and how long do you have to keep it. The other part is discovery. From a security, you need to collect crown jewels and protect effectively. You need to set classifications and then the policies. Symantec introduced the new concept of V-Ray. Issues are the same between the physical and virtual environments. People need the same set of tools and visibility. They need the tools that work across the two. IT has the same obligations to manage the data and needs the tools to access both. The same thing applies for security. You need to manage it all together. You can not manage it as silos. You need to see the two things together. V-Ray provides the visibility into the physical and the virtual infrastructure. With V-Ray you can see the data in the two data stores to see what is a duplicate. Now you have one back up storage environment. The UI is a single pane of glass. People can go in and find he data through one storage space and one UI.

As for the cloud, Symantec is introducing a new, cloud-based service. People can sign into service and back up servers directly to Symantec. The value: customers do not have to deploy back up. It’s similar to Mozy. Symantec has also introduced EnterpriseVault.cloud for the capabilities that com with Enterprise Vault, the Symantec archiving capabilities. Backup Exec Cloud will be available later this year. And Enterprise Vault Cloud will be available in July.

16:05 to 16:30 p.m: Interview with Rowan Trollope, senior vice

president, Symantec.cloud:

The cloud is an enabler of the problem and part of the solution. Smartphones are always connected but that is also what makes it dangerous. How do you keep control over the data? Altiris helps with that for mobile device management. We have Android and Windows Mobile version. The threat is not just malware. There are a host of issues. But the laptop is also a problem. It can be exposed. One way Symantec is thinking about this is through a management console in the cloud. Backup Exec, the new cloud-based backup, uses that approach. Public Internet is used to communicate. That means changing the architecture, which is substantial work. SEP.cloud is an example of what has been done already. To keep it simple, cloud will be suffix for Symantec cloud-based products. There are 14 and two more that will come available. Symantec has been building data centers. It has 15 right now. One was just finished in South Africa and another is being built in Switzerland due to Swiss banking law. Each of the services Symantec has is different. They are all Bespoke – some use virtualization, some don’t. Email protection does not but others do use virtualization such as archiving. Symantec is moving more toward virtualization. Part of that is due to the push into Internet Service Providers (ISP), which are a big channel. It is the perfect place to bundle services. For example, the facility in South Africa was where Symantec installed its infrastructure into Internet Solutions, the largest ISP there. Systems are installed on-site to leverage the ISP bandwidth.

Airfare and hotel were paid for the writer to attend the Symantec Visions Event.

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