The document discusses several game-changing IT solutions for enterprises, including the Extended Enterprise Operations Center (EEOC) which integrates network, mobility, security, and cloud monitoring; Enterprise Performance Management tools for automating business processes and providing dashboards; a secure Enterprise AppStore for mobile applications; adopting Trusted Computing technologies to secure devices on networks; client-side virtualization for security and efficiency; and how these solutions can help enterprises innovate and transform even during challenging economic times. The document was published by IT solutions provider DMI to promote their services and solutions.
1. GAME-CHANGING
IT SOLUTIONS
FOR THE ENTERPRISE
Taking Advantage of the New Reality
In the current era of economic malaise, increasingly austere federal budgets, global uncertainty,
and daunting cyber threat environment, it’s easy to take the few CIO dollars you have and retrench,
focusing on what HAS to be done rather than on what SHOULD be done. But as Forbes Magazine
wrote in July, 2008, just as our last recession was getting underway, “…curtailing innovation efforts
in tough times is a long-term strategic mistake.” Innovation is the only way to reach new, loftier
mission objectives, which all of us have been given.
So, let’s look at these tough economic times as an opportunity to catapult the enterprise forward,
to transform it so it runs leaner, operates faster, and delivers better results. Below, we’ve assembled
a few (and by no means all) of the technology game changers worth considering as you plan the
future of your enterprise in this most dynamic and challenging era. Some of these concepts may
seem new, others may seem like motherhood and apple pie, but each of them can forever change
the way you do business.
GAME-CHANGING IT SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTERPRISE WHITE PAPER 1
2. Taking Advantage of the New Reality
The Emergence of the Extended Enterprise
Operations Center (EEOC)
Most large enterprises have had a Network Operations Center (NOC) for ten or 20 years. This is
the pulsing heart of your IT infrastructure—the central place where you monitor and manage your
networks, servers, and endpoints. But the NOC is no longer sufficient. Today, enterprises need to
accommodate a dizzying array of mobile devices which everyone uses at home and expects to be
able to use at work. The cybersecurity implications are complicated, but assuming you can weave
your way through that morass (which, in many cases, you can—see below), then you need
a Mobility Operations Center (MOC) to accommodate this newly empowered mobile workforce.
Cybersecurity has also caught us off guard. In the last five years alone, unique malware signatures
have increased exponentially, from less than 2 million in 2005 to over 50 million in 2010, making
signature-based malware detection a losing game. Concurrently, the number of security incidents
reported to US-CERT has rocketed from less than 3,000 in 2006 to over 45,000 today, a 12-fold
increase in five years. If 2011 taught us one thing, it was that no enterprise is secure. Not Lockheed.
Not Sony. Not RSA. Not Google. Not the U.S. Government. Not your enterprise. And that means
that the traditional static approaches to cybersecurity – including Certification and Accreditation
(C&A) and virus detection – are both outmoded. A more proactive and ongoing approach to
monitoring security is required to even have a hope of keeping up with the cyber threat and
keeping your enterprise data secure. Enter the Security Operations Center (SOC), a place where
you can continuously monitor and address cyberthreats—reactively, or better yet, proactively.
FISMA compliance then becomes an artifact of good security, rather than an objective in and
of itself.
And then there’s the cloud. With a federal Cloud First strategy, every agency is headed to the
cloud. But with private clouds, hybrid clouds, and public clouds, where do you draw your enterprise
boundaries for operational monitoring? The lines are blurry. From an operations perspective, you
now have to consider your Extended Enterprise—the enterprise that goes beyond the networks
and devices that you manage directly and include the infrastructure, platforms, and applications
you have incorporated from other organizations that you entrust with portions of your business
and assets.
Thus will evolve the Extended
Extended Enterprise Operations Center
Enterprise Operations Center (EEOC), (EEOC)
a place where the NOC, MOC, SOC,
and Cloud Monitoring Service (CMC)
all come together into a unified NOC MOC SOC CMC
operations center. The EEOC will
integrate, automate, and anticipate
network, mobility, cyber, and cloud
Enterprise Network Cloud(s)
operations for a far more efficient,
adaptive and secure enterprise.
GAME-CHANGING IT SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTERPRISE WHITE PAPER 2
3. Taking Advantage of the New Reality
Enterprise Performance Management
Business process automation has been around since Henry Ford created the assembly line.
However, in the last ten years, service-oriented architectures (SOA) and evolutionary advances in
web application architecture, workflow management, and portal technology have all converged to
your transformational benefit. Standards like SOAP and IF-MAP enable you to integrate disparate
components, data feeds, applications, and sensors and tie physical and logical systems together,
automating operations with unprecedented speed and flexibility. Meanwhile, portal technologies
like Microsoft’s SharePoint have matured to offer the power to integrate, route, and display
information for a modern look and an efficient operation. Add some smart data visualization and
you have compelling dashboard decision support views of nearly every facet of your enterprise.
Manage performance—for you, your employees, and your customers.
These platforms allow an array of
capabilities, including automating the
FOIA process; audit tracking, managing
workflow and suspense items; performing
Enterprise Content Management;
delivering training in a video-on-demand
environment; and executing high-volume
e-commerce activities.
Graphical dashboards with filtering and
drill-down capabilities provide additional
intelligence tools for management. Trend
analysis tools provide intelligence on
how the enterprise has been managing
performance over time.
GAME-CHANGING IT SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTERPRISE WHITE PAPER 3
4. Taking Advantage of the New Reality
Secure Mobility and the Long-awaited
Enterprise AppStore
While our enterprises were asleep, the world has gone mobile. As of July 2011, the Apple
AppStore had over half a million apps available for download. Amazingly, every single one was
built in just the last three years. Is it any wonder that our enterprises can’t keep up with personal
expectations set by the consumer electronics market?
How many mobile apps does your enterprise have? If it’s fewer
than the number of non-mobile apps you have, there’s work to
do (and you’re not alone). Unfortunately, trying to play mobile
catch-up has been (rightfully) hampered by the cybersecurity
risks, which have tempered the rollout of mobile applications
across government. Fortunately, new tools and technologies on
the market are addressing the mobile cybersecurity challenges
and today it’s possible to deploy, provision, and manage mobile
devices with applications that are sufficiently secure for most
enterprise purposes. This means FIPS 140-2 certification, AES
encryption, and secure VPN—all that good stuff.
What does this mean? It means the foundation has been laid for the creation of your very own
Enterprise AppStore, a place where employees and partners can download and use the enterprise
apps they need on their mobile devices, which you can safely provision and allow them to use. And
all this can be done in a secure fashion to your CISO’s satisfaction and configuration managed the
way your IT department wants it done (in the MOC, which is part of your EEOC).
The question now is, what have those mobile apps people been so desperately clamoring for?
It’s time to start putting some serious creative thought behind how users of all shapes and size—
both inside your enterprise and out—can optimize their productivity through the use of mobile
applications. And these aren’t just applications you already have that you can mobile-enable;
they’re applications you don’t have yet and
can’t yet fathom. Remember, in 2008, there
was no Apple AppStore and no one was
complaining, but today we can’t imagine
living without it (or its Blackberry or Android
equivalent). You probably don’t need 500,000
apps, but don’t be surprised if you need 500
to realize the true power of secure mobile
computing. Be careful not to underestimate
this mobility trend.
GAME-CHANGING IT SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTERPRISE WHITE PAPER 4
5. Taking Advantage of the New Reality
The Necessary Migration to a Trusted Enterprise
(using Trusted Computing)
The cyber threat is increasing exponentially. What’s causing this ominous trend? The equally
exponential explosion in networked devices, growing from less than 1 billion in 2005 to over
10 billion in 2010. Each of these devices is like an open door that malware threats are walking
through with impunity. What’s worse, growth of the number of networked devices is only expected
to accelerate, reaching 20 billion in the next four years. One of the biggest threats to enterprise
networks is the un-trusted nature of these devices.
Traditional defenses are clearly no longer viable. So, how do we address this pervasive and
accelerating problem? Trusted Computing technologies alone hold the promise to enable
enterprises to be sure of the identity, configuration, and health of every device on their networks,
closing the vast majority of the doors that threats enter through. Trusted Computing technologies
use hardware-based security to establish trust in the devices we use every day.
Many of the standards and technologies for Trusted Computing exist today, developed over the
last ten years by members of industry’s Trusted Computing Group (TCG). Moreover, NSA has
proven the validity of these standards and technologies and is openly promoting the adoption and
use of commodity-based Trusted Computing to protect National Security Systems. In September
2010, at the first annual NSA Trusted Computing Conference, NSA’s Michael Lamont, Chief of
Network Solutions, said it bluntly, “…broad implementation of Trusted Computing technologies will
dramatically improve cybersecurity. … Our new goal for government systems is to work to mandate
the use of Trusted Computing technologies to harden commercial products, thus creating trusted
devices.”
With Trusted Computing we are able to close the open doors—the devices we use every day—
that are together the greatest threat to the network and the security of our data. With Trusted
Computing we are simultaneously able to open a new world of possibilities, where information can
be separated based on its sensitivity and access can reliably be granted based on trust.
Trusted Computing is a paradigm shift in
cybersecurity and network, hardware, and
software design. As you consider the computing
devices you purchase, the network architecture TRUSTED COMPUTING TENETS
you design and implement, and the future of your Hardware Root of Trust
cybersecurity operations (the SOC, which will be Device Measurement
part of your EEOC), consider the possibilities that Measurement Monitoring
Trusted Computing offers: Defeat threat vectors,
Long-term Protected Storage
enable unprecedented operational flexibility, be
Process Separation
more compliant, and save money all at the same
time. Five years from now, the Trusted Enterprise Program Isolation
will be reality, but will you have one?
GAME-CHANGING IT SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTERPRISE WHITE PAPER 5
6. Taking Advantage of the New Reality
Client-side Virtualization: A New World
Most enterprises are cutting costs and creating efficiencies with data center consolidation,
server virtualization, and migration to the cloud. At the edge of the enterprise lies another pot of
proverbial gold: the client machine. Desktop (or laptop) virtualization creates a far more secure
and flexibly configurable user platform. Anyone who uses two computers at their desk will tell you
the potential efficiencies in virtualization are huge, and anyone who has paid for the duplicate
machines or the electric bill will tell you there’s money to be had in client-side virtualization.
Coupled with Trusted Network Connect (TNC) and secure virtual LANs—both components of a
Trusted Enterprise—secure virtualization also offers a newfound ability to dynamically configure
secure virtual networks on the fly. No cables to run. No hardware to install.
Imagine a world in which a new virtual network for a community of interest could be securely
configured and deployed in seconds, and torn down just as fast. That’s all possible today.
GAME-CHANGING IT SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENTERPRISE WHITE PAPER 6