VMware Bolsters Virtualization Security Capabilities

How to Protect Your Organization from Ransomware

As part of an effort to bolster security around all things relating to virtualization, VMware announced today it has partnered with Tanium to simplify management of endpoint security within a VMware environment and revealed it has acquired Arkin Net to better secure software-defined data centers (SDDC).

VMware also announced that Blue Coat Systems, CloudLock, Palo Alto Networks and Skyhigh Networks have all become members of a Mobile Security Alliance being driven by the AirWatch unit of VMware.

Milin Desai, vice president of product management for NSX at VMware, says from a strategic perspective, Arkin Net gives VMware a framework through which security policies can be applied within the context of an SDDC. Instead of having separate security and networking frameworks from two different vendors, Desai notes that Arkin Net security software is already tightly integrated with VMware NSX network virtualization software. As a result, IT organization can now have a more holistic approach to managing security via the VMware vRealize Suite of management tools, says Desai.

None of this means the need for dedicated IT security expertise is going away. However, Desai says VMware is committed to knocking down the silos that exist today between security professionals and the rest of the IT operations team.

Naturally, it may be a while before all those walls come tumbling down inside most organizations. But at the very least, the visibility into security issues from the perspective of traditional IT operations teams may finally be about to improve.