Security Audit and Compliance
Lumen Technologies | September 13, 2023
Lumen Technologies announces the launch of key security enhancements to its industry-leading secure access service edge product.
The company’s SASE Solutions represents a first-of-its-kind, fully digital experience for purchasing, configuring, and overseeing enterprise SASE.
The latest features incorporated into Lumen SASE Solutions are security service edge and cloud-hosted gateways.
On September 12, 2023, Lumen Technologies, a leading provider of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions, committed to advancing human progress through technology facilitating the connection of people, data, and applications, announced the addition of key enhancements to its landmark SASE product. The addition of new features makes lumen SASE solutions even more simplified and flexible for customers.
Lumen SASE Solutions represents a pioneering, entirely digital experience for purchasing, configuring, and managing enterprise SASE. This is a significant step in Lumen's ongoing efforts to drive innovation and foster growth. Notably, the SASE product improvements launch are a direct outcome of valuable customer feedback.
The Lumen SASE approach focuses on simplification in order to deliver flexible, secure, and scalable SASE solutions to organizations of all sizes and industries.
Senior Director of SASE Product Management at Lumen, Darren Wolner, said,
There has been a rapid adoption of cloud-based services as more organizations implement hybrid work, but security is paramount to any cloud-based experience. This means savvy organizations soon realized a whole new set of requirements and challenges. We quickly enhanced the product to fit their requirements.
[Source – Cision PR Newswire]
Darren mentioned that Lumen has a strong focus on meeting customer wants and needs. He cited the latest SASE updates as a prime illustration of this commitment.
The new capabilities added to Lumen SASE Solutions include:
Security Service Edge (SSE)
SSE encompasses a suite of integrated, cloud-centric security capabilities, which feature cloud-hosted gateways. These capabilities are designed to ensure secure access to websites, facilitate the safe sharing of sensitive data, and manage user permissions for software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. These solutions are delivered in partnership with prominent SD-WAN and security providers.
Cloud-hosted Gateways
Cloud-hosted gateways offer organizations the flexibility to adopt 'grow as they go' network and security management features as they scale without the necessity of on-premises equipment.
In addition to the global expansion of Lumen technologies, customers based in the US can now deploy premise-based SASE services to locations in EMEA and Canada.
Pete Finalle, Research Manager with IDC, stated,
The new, hybrid perimeter – encompassing the main office down to the remote workforce – has collided with multi-cloud resources. This has created numerous networking and security complexities that are difficult to solve without a customer outcomes-based approach, which few companies can provide.
[Source – Cision PR Newswire]
Finalle pointed out that Lumen has a distinctive position to deliver real business outcomes through a comprehensive, cloud-based network security stack. This stack significantly benefits from Lumen's presence in both network and cloud infrastructure. Additionally, he mentioned that the company's digital customer experience and managed approach to resolving the intricate security and networking challenges allow them to mitigate the deployment and management difficulties that frequently hinder the adoption of SASE.
Read More
Software Security
Cisco | September 25, 2023
Cisco and Splunk are joining forces to advance organizations from reactive threat handling to proactive threat anticipation and prevention.
Together, they will emerge as a major global software entity, boosting Cisco's shift towards recurring revenue.
This collaboration unites two esteemed workplaces with shared values, robust cultures, and skilled teams.
The synergy between these pioneering companies positions them for leadership in AI-driven security and observability.
Anticipated to yield positive cash flow and improved gross margins in the initial fiscal year following the merger, with non-GAAP EPS enhancement expected by year two.
Cisco and Splunk, the leader in cybersecurity and observability, today announced a definitive agreement under which Cisco will acquire Splunk for $157 per share in cash, representing an equity value of approximately $28 billion. Gary Steele, president and CEO of Splunk, will join Cisco's Executive Leadership Team upon completion of the acquisition, reporting to Cisco chair and CEO Chuck Robbins.
Chair and CEO of Cisco, Chuck Robbins, remarked,
We're excited to bring Cisco and Splunk together. Our combined capabilities will drive the next generation of AI-enabled security and observability. From threat detection and response to threat prediction and prevention, we will help make organizations of all sizes more secure and resilient.
[Source: Cision PR Newswire]
Every company relies on data to operate its business and make mission-critical choices in today's hyper-connected environment. Accelerating and adopting generative AI, growing danger surfaces, and different cloud environments offer unprecedented complexity for enterprises. To be digitally resilient, organizations must better manage, preserve, and unleash data's value.
Gary Steele, president and CEO of Splunk, stated that they would together form a global security and observability leader that will harness the power of data and AI to deliver outstanding customer outcomes and transform the industry. Steele added that they’re eager to join forces with a trusted and long-time partner who shares their passion for innovation and top customer experience, and they expect their community of Splunk employees to benefit from the greater opportunities as they bring together two purpose-driven and respected organizations.
Cisco and Splunk will give insight across hybrid and multi-cloud systems, enabling clients to provide seamless application experiences for digital enterprises. The companies can help other organizations responsibly use AI due to their scale, data visibility, and trust. These two firms will unite to invest more in innovative products, accelerate innovation, and expand globally to serve clients of all sizes. The transaction is expected to be cash flow positive and gross margin accretive in the first fiscal year post-close, with non-GAAP EPS accretive in year two. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, including approval by Splunk shareholders.
Advisors for the Cisco-Splunk acquisition include Tidal Partners LLC, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Cravath and Swaine & Moore LLP, among others.
Read More
Enterprise Security
OpenAI | September 07, 2023
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Enterprise, which provides businesses with enterprise-grade advanced capabilities.
ChatGPT Enterprise offers a brand-new administrator portal with tools to manage how employees utilize ChatGPT within an organization.
The launch of ChatGPT Enterprise coincides with intensifying competition in the chatbot domain with companies such as OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic.
According to OpenAI, artificial intelligence can enhance numerous aspects of professional lives and increase team creativity and productivity. This represents an important milestone in the development of an AI assistant for the workplace that can help with any task, which is tailored to business needs and protects sensitive information.
OpenAI, an industry-leading AI research and deployment organization that conducts research and implements machine learning (ML), announced the introduction of ChatGPT Enterprise. The latest product offers enterprise-grade protection and privacy, extended context windows for processing longer inputs, limitless higher-speed GPT-4 access, customization possibilities, additional data analysis capabilities, and much more.
ChatGPT Enterprise introduces an all-new admin portal equipped with essential tools for managing and controlling ChatGPT's usage within a company. These tools include domain verification integrations, single sign-on integrations, and a user-friendly dashboard packed with usage statistics. Employees can leverage ChatGPT to streamline internal processes and construct internal workflow through easily shareable discussion templates. Additionally, businesses have the option to tailor ChatGPT-powered solutions to their specific needs by utilizing credits on OpenAI's API platform.
OpenAI’s latest product grants users unrestricted access to an advanced data analysis feature previously known as Code Interpreter. This capability empowers ChatGPT to proficiently analyze data, solve mathematical problems, create charts, and perform a range of other tasks.
Both ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Enterprise operate on the powerful GPT-4, OpenAI's cutting-edge AI model. However, ChatGPT Enterprise customers enjoy priority access to GPT-4, which boasts twice the speed of the standard GPT-4 model and an expanded context window that accommodates up to 32,000 tokens, equivalent to approximately 25,000 words.
The introduction of ChatGPT Enterprise overlaps with intensifying competition in the chatbot sector. OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic are engaged in an intense AI arms competition. In addition to releasing new chatbot applications, their objective is to introduce innovative features that encourage the widespread adoption of generative AI in daily operations.
Google and Microsoft, for example, are continuously refining their respective Bard and Bing chatbots with innovative features such as visual search. In the meantime, Anthropic, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI executives, has made a splash with its AI chatbot, Claude 2.
Read More