Clearpath’s Blog on IT Infrastructure, Hybrid Clouds and IT Security

Cisco Meraki recently released a new product called the Meraki MG Cellular Gateway which Cisco SVP Todd Nightingale believes will be the fastest-launching Meraki product of all time (https://www.crn.com/cisco-takes-aim-at-cradlepoint-enters-new-market-with-meraki-cellular-gateway). We at Clearpath think that Meraki's new line definitely solves a problem with remote network connectivity that a lot of our clients have. With that being said I’ll now cover the following: what does it do, what is its significance, and should your organization be considering it?

Back in the early 2000s VMware transformed the datacenter giving birth to the ‘cloud’ when they brought ESX server to market. Since then, VMware has continued to innovate both organically and via acquisition helping customers cut costs and increase revenue all while giving customers a jump start to their digital transformation journey. Cloud Foundation aims to decrease complexity, increase cloud adoption, and better align IT resources to business outcomes.

Rumors have been circulating for some time that Oracle’s lack of support for the growing number of customers who run its software on VMware would soon be a thing of the past. That time has arrived. 

A recent survey by Datamation reveals that multi-cloud computing has gained significant traction in the enterprise. Multi-cloud strategies combine the services of several cloud companies, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, into one deployment. While 43% of organizations still rely on a single cloud provider, a growing number of organizations are diversifying – 35% of organizations use two cloud providers, 17% use three, and 6% use four or more providers.

VMworld 2019 made a glorious return to its more traditional location at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This was a welcomed location change across the VMware community (except, perhaps, for the hotel room costs) after a three-year stint in steaming Las Vegas. The marketing tag line was “Make your mark…” and the general session theme was “Build, Run, Manage.” Kubernetes played center stage which isn’t a surprise considering this is the first VMworld since the Heptio acquisition was announced at VMworld Europe in 2018. In this blog post I’ll cover the major announcements and sprinkle in some honorable mentions that caught my eye. This is not an all-inclusive list of all the happenings at VMworld as that would be more of a blog series than a post. Feel free to reach out on our contact us page if you have questions about announcements you don’t see mentioned in here.

If you’re leveraging container technology and using Kubernetes to orchestrate those containers, you’ll know that building and operationalizing an enterprise-grade Kubernetes services isn’t easy. In areas such as security, networking, multi-tenancy, and persistence, container orchestrators are still maturing. Complementary tools to maintain, scale, monitor, and self-heal are also lagging.

There are literally thousands of enterprise security solutions on the market. Yet, 82% of enterprises want an integrated security solution and 62% are considering consolidating their security vendors (ESG Research Report). There are many benefits to this approach, but only one company is building it: Cisco. 

According to Enterprise Strategy Group, Cisco leads the pack in enterprise-class security across network, cloud, internet, email, and endpoints. But more than relying on a single anchor product surrounded by rudimentary products, Cisco is expanding and upgrading its leading products across the board and applying automation, machine learning, and threat intelligence to stop threats at the edge, protect users wherever they are, and stop threats faster.

Consider this scenario: Your network is growing. More and more people and devices are connecting to it. You’ve thrown money at optimizing and maintaining it. Security policies and sensor equipment are deployed to secure it.

Clearpath Solutions Group announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Clearpath to its 2019 Solution Provider 500 list. This annual list ranks the largest North American IT channel partner organizations by revenue. The Solution Provider 500 is the industry standard for recognizing the highest performing technology integrators, strategic service providers and IT consultants. It is the industry's predominant channel partner list, serving as a valuable resource for technology vendors looking to partner with top solution providers.