Everyone wants a more agile, flexible network that can be easily adapted to the demands of their business, without increasing acquisition and operating costs. NSX may be the solution that we have all been waiting for.
About VMware NSX
After convincing IT teams of the benefits of server virtualization, VMware is now forging ahead with its Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) approach and NSX, a new software product that makes company network and security virtualization possible.
This emerging solution operates with a company’s existing infrastructure, hypervisors and IT team. NSX now virtualizes the existing physical network for centralized, simplified and entirely virtual management of applications, services and network resources in VMware. Everything obviously links up to the existing virtualization in terms of server environments and/or storage as long as VMware’s hyperconverged vSAN (or vVOL in use case of compatible disk systems) has been deployed. The best thing about the NSX solution is that current physical networks do not need to be manually reconfigured and deployment is transparent in terms of business continuity.
How does VMware’s NSX platform completely transform network management?
View video. This short video provides a clear overview of the revolution VMware intends to spearhead with NSX, a new network virtualization & hypervisor platform.
Micro-segmentation: Boost your security against ransomware attacks
Among its many benefits, micro-segmentation is perhaps one of NSX’s most revolutionary features, especially in the current climate of increasing incidents of ransomware attacks. In a world where networking and security go hand in hand, micro-segmentation makes it easy to completely isolate specific services in relation to others in a very granular way. This would normally be impossible to achieve on a standard physical network. Also, the security, service and access parameters specific to a VM (or group of VMs) only need to be configured (once) to be linked virtually to the VM. Then, regardless of where on the infrastructure the VM needs to be moved – to a second site or even a public cloud – the defined characteristics of the VM follow right along with it.
Lastly, the security and network teams will be able to do away with the tedious spreadsheets, manual management processes and follow-up of changes to security. In addition, the innate protection provided by the micro-segmentation integrated into NSX can be further increased through partnerships that VMware has already forged with key industry players (e.g., Palo Alto, RSA, Trend Micro, etc.) that consider NSX to be the future of IT security in the era of the cloud.
Accelerate your cloud strategy
NSX also helps businesses speed up the implementation of cloud strategies. Network virtualization combined with micro-segmentation makes the transition and relocation of VMs much easier based on pre-defined management policies (e.g., migrating private cloud services to a public cloud provider and vice versa). NSX also makes intersite migration scenarios easier by considerably simplifying IP addressing or by making it possible to switch from a cloud platform. Generally speaking, NSX will streamline and completely transform the integration of private cloud environments and integration points with various cloud providers outside the business. For many companies and their providers, NSX represents one of the key tools for expanding and managing service security in this new and increasingly hybrid reality.
When should a company begin to consider NSX?
The general trend looks something like this. Companies seem to start looking at NSX when they are considering investment and upgrading options for their network equipment. Many companies are still planning out their transition to a 10 Gbps network. That’s when companies start setting up meetings with Cisco, Brocade, Juniper and other vendors. What’s important to know is that the NSX solution and several of the security features (firewall, virtual private network (VPN), traffic-aware optimization, load balancer, etc.) will quickly transition to the software-defined approach and should therefore not be integrated into costly specialized local and physical equipment. In short, the software-defined approach enables companies to transition to NSX compatible network equipment (e.g., Arista, Brocade, HPN, etc.) and intelligence directly integrated into the network hypervisor. In essence, the solution makes it possible to explore new network architectures and possibly reduce infrastructure acquisition costs. By eliminating many of the obstacles caused by traditional physical networks, NSX significantly accelerates the provisioning of services (by reducing delays to only a few seconds) and expanding network and security management beyond the confines of company walls.
Numerous NSX projects are already underway in Quebec
As a key VMware partner, PCD Solutions and its service team is one of the first companies in Quebec to invest in creating a comprehensive portfolio of services based on the NSX range of solutions. If you would like more information or have any questions, please contact us by email at specialiste@pcdsolutions.com or call 1-866-640-6632.
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