Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2016. Read them in this 8th Annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Jeff Boehm, vice president of marketing at DataGravity
3 ways IT will respond in 2016 to changing security climates
Ask any IT pro - companies in all
industries are tired of talking about security. They want to put the words into
action. Gone are the days when organizations were in denial about the breaches
and risks they were facing; now, nearly every team's priority list for 2016
includes some level of planning to protect critical data. As a "zero-trust"
approach to security becomes the norm, any IT solutions that aren't tailored to
fit today's high expectations will be cast aside, while investments in tools
that help companies look inside their data and better address data security and
protection are expected to soar. By the end of the year, companies will
recognize without a doubt that the worst way to deal with a security threat is
to fear it. Instead, they'll be prepared to address risks head-on.
Below are three trends we expect
to see developing throughout the IT industry in 2016 in response to changing
security expectations and more ambitious data defense goals:
1. Enterprise security will be intrinsic to
every data touch point within the data center.
Every layer of IT infrastructure
- storage, networks, applications and endpoints - needs security built into its
framework in order to sufficiently protect the data it handles. Many companies no
longer trust traditional security solutions, which focus only on endpoints and
become ineffective after a breach is in process. As a result, solution
providers and vendors will help provide visibility into data and holistically
prevent risks by offering data-aware technology at every level of the IT stack.
2. Big data investments will grow in
structured and unstructured directions.
According to a recent State of
Data Centric Security Report by the Ponemon Institute, only seven percent of
organizations can locate sensitive information hiding in their unstructured data.
Storage capacity continues to become cheaper, and companies are storing more -
and more types - of data, which can easily cause data sprawl if a system isn't
prepared to manage this new big-data reality.
Throughout 2016, investments in
big data tools will skyrocket - particularly technologies that focus on both
unstructured and structured data stores. With data-aware solutions at their
disposal, companies will be able to perform audits on their systems in order to
prove compliance with industry regulations, such as those
present in the financial, education and healthcare sectors. Even midmarket
organizations with limited IT resources, those that were previously unable to
invest in data security at the same level as major enterprises, will be able to
secure sensitive information before a breach occurs and prevent the major
corporate ramifications that can result from data exposure.
3. Major vendors will consolidate to adapt to
new expectations.
In the storage and IT spaces,
merger and acquisition (M&A) news rocked 2015 - but this trend isn't over
yet. The capabilities offered by legacy infrastructure systems aren't
sufficient for today's enterprise needs, and organizations are increasingly
interested in new offerings for intelligent services and solutions. Even
once-stagnant fields such as storage and compute are beginning to evolve to
suit market demands. In response, throughout 2016, major vendors will divest
and off-shore any aspects of their portfolios that can't survive in tomorrow's
IT landscape, while mining their partner organizations for new offerings that
can be delivered in a smarter manner.
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About the Author
Jeff Boehm is the vice president of marketing
at DataGravity. Jeff
brings more than 20 years of experience with a rare combination of marketing
skills, organizational leadership and technical background to DataGravity.
Having shaped the BI and search markets working for industry pioneers and
disrupters, Jeff is excited to be redefining the storage market.
