Hardly a day goes by when we don’t handle an IT security-related story – hacking, spear-fishing, network intrusions, the NSA/CIA/ CSEC…. It’s a long list.
So you’d hardly expect that network security teams are on an endangered list. But Network Computing columnist Michele Chubirka argues network virtualization will mean they’ll have to adjust to a new world.
The technology, sometimes called software-defined networking (SDN), could mean that server teams will take over functions that network and security teams now hold tight to their chests, such as configuring switches and intrusion protection appliances.
She makes a provocative argument – network and security teams better be prepared because they don’t know what’s about to hit them.
I’m not sure Chubirka is right. At a VMware customer event in Toronto last week, I asked Sgaw Rosemarin, the company’s Canadian executive architecture director, what happens to all the investment companies have in their physical networks once its NSX network overlay solution becomes generally available next month.
Security on the physical layer will still exist, he replied. But appliances will also be needed at the virtual layer. So security staff won’t face mass layoffs.
Chubirka is right about one thing, though: network and security teams to have to keep an eye on what’s coming.