Siloing operations within the data center is a completely non collaborative and inefficient practice. Breaking down the walls between teams has been a goal for enterprise IT in recent years. We’ve seen, for example, the merging of Storage, and Virtualization, as well as the goals of virtualization moving into the networking space. The next frontier is the Network Operations and the Security Operations groups.

Let’s imagine a situation where a key application stops working. Traffic no longer flows from that app to the user base. Where does the problem lie? Is it a networking function, a route that’s no longer working, a security breach? The truth is it could be any of these things. But to do discovery requires the cooperation of the networking team as well as the security team. Each group has their own tools, and collaboration between the tools and the personnel is hindered, particularly as both groups are heads down trying to resolve. Now, imagine that these two teams and separate tools are merged into a group with not so discrete responsibilities. The singular tool allows for a focused mitigation effort, while either responsibility may be more suited toward remediation. This becomes a far more efficient practice.

The key advantage of merging the teams of NetOps and SecOps into a single group are obvious. The two areas are complimentary, and while the core technologies are separate, each category presents the significant benefit of categorical insight toward the other.

Additionally, the fiscal benefits of a single tool and a single team reduces overhead, and salary as well, also with the merging of teams, personnel needs could be overlapped maybe to the point of reducing headcount.

Flowmon from Kemp (being acquired by Progress) is just the tool to combine these tactical concepts into an easy to understand, well-organized threat detection, forensic dashboard. In addition, the functionality of predictive planning, and the performance monitoring across the organization’s entire cloud infrastructure grants the bird’s eye view that is necessary to really ensure the insight desired by the operations teams across the network and security landscape.

 The full suite of products covering the use case capacities

The ramifications of such a product become obvious, across a huge variety of organizations, and businesses. Service providers, enterprises, telcos, education, the public sector, and others can clearly benefit from the insights and mitigative aspects of this suite of products.

As the enterprise moves further along the path from hybrid toward multi-cloud, the software’s ability to view traffic flow, internal and external threats, application performance, DDoS attacks both potential or existing which merges the security as well as the network operations functions into a single approach across the full IT landscape is somewhat of a game changer.

In addition, the scope of offerings within the product suite is significant.

By increasing the visibility over the entire network, including the traditionally segregated teams of network operations and security operations, improves the operational efficiency in the datacenter, and across the entire landscape of the infrastructure to the cloud. It also allows for interoperability of these teams, operationally and in the operations center. When changes are made on one side, the ramifications toward the other side historically haven’t necessarily been accounted for. This eliminates the need for much of the oversight and change control.

It seems to me that merging these silos of administration, and operations can be a significant step toward efficiency, and not just that, but a level of oversight, management and troubleshooting can be achieved that will surpass where these groups are today. So, better operations, better cost, better and more efficient collaboration? Seems a Win Win Win to me.