This week at VMworld 2020, VMware announced Future Ready Workforce solutions to provide exceptional workforce experiences, end-to-end Zero Trust security controls, and simplified management. The Future Ready Workforce solutions combine VMware Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Digital Workspace and Endpoint Security capabilities to help IT manage and optimize more secure access to any app, on any cloud, from any device while providing a simple, high performant, and a safer user experience for the distributed workforce.
“Organizations are navigating one of the most significant disruptions of our generation. These challenges will accelerate a shift to cloud-centric strategies, like SASE, that address the requirements of enabling people to work from anywhere. The VMware Future Ready Workforce solutions help businesses enable their people to work from anywhere with intrinsic security, delightful end-user experiences and lower operational complexity.” – said Rajiv Ramaswami, chief operating officer, products and cloud services, VMware.
SASE: An Emerging Architecture for Unifying Networking and Security in the Cloud
Legacy networking and security approaches lack the automation, cloud scale and intrinsic security needed to connect and protect apps, data, and users across a globally distributed business fabric. The VMware SASE Platform converges cloud networking, cloud security and zero trust network access with best in class web security to deliver flexibility, agility, and scalability for enterprises of all sizes. It is a cloud-first offering that delivers application quality assurance, intrinsic security, and operational simplicity, and is ideal for organizations that are supporting a work from anywhere workforce.
- Industry-leading SD-WAN – VMware has been positioned as a leader in the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure three consecutive years for its SD-WAN solution(1). The VMware SD-WAN global network has now been expanded to more than 2,700 cloud service nodes across 130 points of presence (POPs). The new VMware Edge Network Intelligence gives IT teams added visibility and telemetry into the end-user experience as applications are accessed from anywhere, and application traffic traverses many different networks. The Dell EMC SD-WAN Solution powered by VMware has also been expanded to include built-in LTE to support mobile clinics / temporary sites as well as higher reliability for work from home.
- Industry-Leading Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) – VMware Secure Access is a ZTNA service that combines VMware Workspace ONE and VMware SD-WAN into a single, cloud-hosted offering that enables more secure, optimized, and high-performance access for remote and mobile users. VMware has been positioned as a leader in the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management three consecutive years for its Workspace ONE solution(2).
- Best-in-Class Cloud & Web Security – VMware is partnering with leading companies to provide customers flexibility and choice in meeting their cloud and web security requirements. The new VMware Cloud Web Security service will integrate Menlo Security’s best-in-class secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access service broker (CASB), Data Loss Prevention, sandbox, and remote browser isolation capabilities natively into the VMware SASE solution. VMware Cloud Web Security will be sold and supported by VMware, with a single management interface and integrated back end operations, offering customers of all sizes an easy to deploy and ready to use solution.
VMware and Zscaler announced an expanded strategic relationship to enable enterprises to combine VMware SD-WAN and VMware Secure Access with Zscaler Internet Access into a best of breed SASE solution. VMware and Zscaler will join forces to support the needs of the world’s most demanding enterprise organizations.
- Integrated Next-Gen Firewall as a Service – The VMware NSX Firewall is a stateful Layer 7 firewall that will be integrated into the VMware SASE Platform for cloud-delivered firewall as a service in both single-tenanted and multi-tenanted deployment options. This will complement the firewall capabilities of the existing VMware SD-WAN solution today. Forrester Research recently categorized VMware as one of five “large” firewall vendors in their report, Now Tech: Enterprise Firewalls, Q1 2020(3).
A Vision for the Future of Work
The global pandemic has changed the future of work forever. According to VMware research, 42% of global employees surveyed say the ability to work remotely is a prerequisite to their job, not just a perk. 90% say that it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure employees have appropriate access to digital tools to enable remote work(4). However, enabling a distributed workforce is fraught with challenges ranging from remote employee on-boarding, visibility and compliance, security, employee safety, and more.
To address these challenges, VMware Workspace Security combines industry-leading unified endpoint management and endpoint security platform to enable customers to leverage the power of big data to provide comprehensive endpoint visibility as well as actionable insights in conjunction with data-driven prevention technology through a single dashboard. Today, VMware announces additional Workspace ONE and Workspace Security offerings available to effectively and efficiently better secure devices, and are easy to deploy, manage, and scale including:
- VMware Workspace Security Remote – Combines industry-leading unified endpoint management (UEM), endpoint security, and remote IT support into an integrated solution to better manage and protect Mac and Windows 10 devices. While InfoSec teams focus on preventing, detecting, and responding to threats, IT teams enable broader compliance and help to operationalize security updates. Workspace Security Remote brings the two teams, technologies, and consoles closer together to enhance overall device health, provide Zero Trust access and efficiently automate threat response.
- VMware Workspace Security VDI – Integrates VMware Horizon and VMware Carbon Black Cloud into a single unified solution that helps security and IT teams deliver highly secure virtual desktops and applications. Workspace Security VDI goes beyond legacy solutions as it uniquely integrates Carbon Black technology directly into the VMware vSphere Hypervisor and VMtools to deliver an agentless approach with improved anti-tamper capabilities, audit, and remediation, and uses behavioral detection to protect against ransomware and file less malware.
