"Risks keep piling up for data center security strategists. The rise of the cloud and infrastructure virtualization in the data center creates a slew of new concerns for network security, while the explosion of the Internet of Things and the bring-your-own-device movement turns the heat up on access and storage protocols. Protecting the perimeter no longer suffices as a comprehensive security strategy, as combinations of hardware, infrastructure, software and applications require tailored, managed safeguards. Many enterprises struggle to implement a strategy that is sufficiently secure without significantly detracting from system performance or draining the organization's checkbook.
Do You Know Where Your Data Is?
Money will continue to be spent on data center safeguards. Spurred by demand for more comprehensive, complex protection systems, data center safeguard spending is expected to reach $13.77 billion by 2018, according to a recent report by MarketsandMarkets. The diversity of facilities, from modular data centers to mega enterprise edifices, creates a need for sophisticated security strategies, especially if an organization possesses facilities of different sizes and tasks.
The cloud and virtualization may reduce the number of physical servers needed to run an organization's applications, but they dramatically increase the amount of virtual and logical machines, according to the report. This phenomenon creates a need for hybrid security solutions that can address physical and virtual hardware needs simultaneously. According to a recent report by Infonetics, the main security-related challenge currently impacting data center owners and operators is to match protective infrastructure to network infrastructure. Facility decision makers increasingly favor multi-layered approaches, mixing hardware devices, virtual appliances and even software on a granular, per-virtual machine basis.
Additionally, upgrades to network infrastructure, particularly those that increase speed, performance and load balancing capacity, create issues for security architecture. For example, nearly two-thirds of the respondents to Infonetics' survey stated that they will require firewalls that support 100 gigabit to 499G loads, with an additional 30 percent expecting that firewalls for loads of more than 500G will be needed, all by 2015.
As security concerns increase, some facility operators are experiencing issues maintaining sufficient visibility and management oversight, according to Infonetics. Data center protection continues to evolve, and should not be forgotten in the drive for sleeker, efficient facilities."
