SUSTAINABLE HYBRID NETWORKS

A hybrid network is any network that can use more than one type of connecting technology. For example, a business network that uses both satellite, internet and Ethernet cables to connect network is a hybrid network. Hybrid environments allow organizations to keep important data on-premises. This allows them to maintain full control over sensitive assets, while also taking full advantage of the scalability and agility the cloud provides. However, as organizations become more hybrid and distributed, their security needs to be able to span across all environments.  

As applications, resources, devices, and workers work from anywhere, networks need to be able to adapt in real-time. Workflows now often span physical data centers as well as multiple cloud environments; applications, ecosystems, and tech environments follow users regardless of where they are connecting from or what device they are using; and data and other resources need to be securely accessed by any user on any device in any location. Security must be able to adapt and scale to meet these new requirements.

Hybrid environments, organizations should look for security solutions that provide the following critical functions: 

1. Broad: Security solutions need to support a distributed security model where the exact same security solutions can be deployed in any environment. 

2. Integrated: All of the various security solutions deployed across the network need to be able to see and work together as a single system to detect threats and respond to them in a coordinated fashion, regardless of where they occur. 

3. Fast: These security functions need to operate not just at the speed of business, but at the speed of threats as well. 

4. Automated: Anomalous and malicious behaviors need automated responses. 

5. Security-driven Networking: Security-driven Networking weaves security and networking into a single, integrated system. This enables them to establish and enforce zero-trust access, dynamic network segmentation, and unified enforcement anywhere, on any device, in any location, without introducing security gaps or performance lags.

The majority of today’s hybrid networks and security ecosystems are simply not fast and efficient enough, nor smart or responsive enough, don’t operate in enough places, and can’t adapt as quickly as per our organisation and business pre-requisites . This is especially true in multi-vendor environments with disparate security solutions that don’t integrate when deployed. This lack of integration makes it impossible for organizations to securely use the flexible network environments they need to compete effectively.