Historically, organizations were often lax about data classification, creating problems that compounded quickly and led to data sprawl, lost productivity, and security concerns. But as data becomes increasingly essential for business—and accumulates in massive volumes—organizations have begun to consider data classification a pillar of their data management efforts. Here are the six top data classification trends for 2023.

1. AI is Driving Data Classification Efforts

Artificial intelligence (AI) had a banner year in 2023, and data science—like most industries—has begun to reap the benefits. Legacy data classification systems required challenging implementations and lacked the ability to perform context-based classification, but new solutions use AI to incorporate content awareness and context analysis into classifying and sorting data.

AI powered automation in data classification can help companies analyze and label unstructured data at unprecedented scales, and with minimal human intervention. This allows organizations to classify more data more quickly. It also lets them circumvent the industry-wide qualified staffing shortage.

AI also provides data leaders with actionable visibility into how data is used, shared, and acted on by different users, making it easy to flag suspicious data.

2. More Data Regulations are Being Implemented and Enforced

As more and more data breaches come to light, especially in critical infrastructure, governments have begun to tighten their grip around tech companies that violate data management and localization principles. New data privacy laws abandon the harm-based approach—preventing and punishing violations of consumer data—in favor of a rights-based approach that gives individuals control of how their data is managed, used, and processed.

The European Union is currently undertaking its largest cross-border investigation under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and taking action against member states that allow data attacks to thrive. While the U.S. has historically had a more lenient approach toward how organizations collect and classify data, that might be changing—after passage of the watershed California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), other states including Colorado, Utah, and Virginia have pursued similar legislation.

Additional policies like the National Cybersecurity Strategy, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) will create multiple federal regulators in the U.S. to oversee implementation of data governance policies, and assist with classification, usage, and archival of data in the entire data lifecycle management.

3. Better Technologies are Making Data Classification More Effective

Technology is fueling a new wave of data democratization, providing simpler access controls, more secure delivery, and greater decentralization. At the forefront is the integration of data fabric—which stitches together metadata to aid data classification—and data mesh, which can reduce information silos and aid in governance by putting the onus on teams that produce data.

The combination of technologies helps companies process data from multiple sources, producing faster insights and creating a frictionless web for all stakeholders to engage with processed data. It also helps build an autonomous, company-wide data classification and coverage interface that provides self-service access to fragmented datasets.

Enterprises can reduce operational expenses by up to 400 percent by classifying data without having to move it and creating a data abstraction layer. Enterprises can also manage their security postures with improved data access and intelligent query escalation, allowing them to build a top-down data service.

4. Zero-Trust Data Privacy Vaults are Being Used for Sensitive Data

Data classification plans must also secure confidential and restricted data by de-identifying critical datasets and exposing only the information needed to complete a task. As tech firms face greater compliance demands from regulators, privacy vaults are increasingly drawing attention as an interesting solution. A zero-trust vault eases personally identifiable information (PII) compliance concerns by providing a controlled environment to protect sensitive data.

Most privacy vaults use polymorphic encryption, two-factor authentication, and regular data audits to detect vulnerabilities and keep customer data attack-proof. They also allow governments and businesses to work together on privacy by design in big tech by redacting confidential datasets, tokenizing sensitive information, and restricting the flow of personal data in large language models (LLM) like ChatGPT.

Privacy vaults are especially popular in the pharmaceutical field, where proprietary research has to be protected across the drug lifecycle.

5. Unstructured Data is Powering Business Intelligence

Unstructured data—emails, text messages, and multimedia, for example—poses particular challenges for data classification. It is like the anti-matter of the universe in that it is difficult to detect and mostly impossible to analyze, but it accounts for a significant portion of the data enterprises collect and use.

The growing focus on unstructured data is driven by the time crunch that businesses face in a fiercely competitive market. They have to feed data pipelines faster, move only the data they need—and that has already been classified—and eliminate manual efforts to find classified datasets.

Finding ways to process and classify unstructured data can provide improved storage capacity, a data-driven way to measure consumer experience, and a better understanding of user sentiment.

Read our Comprehensive Guide to Data Pipeline Design.

6. Companies are Assessing Risks to Prevent Shadow Access

Shadow access—unintended, uninvited, and unnoticed access to datasets—is an increasingly exploited risk facing businesses with large volumes of poorly classified data. That risk is only expected to grow as more data gets stored and shared in the cloud.

About 80 percent of all data breaches occur because of existing credentials—employees intentionally or inadvertently share confidential information or access unauthorized applications and cloud services. With blurred lines between personal and professional domains and the growing complexity of cloud identity, shadow access has become an even thornier issue.

Because you can’t protect what you don’t know, new tools to assess risk for shadow access are garnering attention from data leaders. They allow them to identify data types that are vulnerable to security risks and take necessary steps to mitigate those risks.

Bottom Line: Enterprise Data Classification is Evolving

As enterprises race toward the creation of data-safe environments, their data classification policies will increasingly become one of the differentiating factors. At the moment, the field of data classification is in flux, driven by the advent of generative AI, a greater demand for customer experience, and growing pains of data sprawl. But organizations that tap into these innovations to shore up their data classification efforts and their larger data management strategies will ride the wave to a more successful, more secure, and more actionable data future.

Read The Future of Data Management to see other trends in how enterprises work with and keep tabs on mission critical information.

Why does the U.S. Need a National Cybersecurity Strategy?

The risk posed by cybersecurity threats is enormous, and the ramifications of targeted attacks are larger still. At the individual level, data breaches can cause identity theft and loss of income; at the corporate level they can disrupt business continuity, damage reputations, and steal intellectual property; and at the government level, they can cripple agencies, shut down power grids, and cut off communications networks. 

The National Cybersecurity Strategy is a government effort to expand public/private partnerships, shore up cybersecurity defenses and alliances, and protect networks, systems, functions, and data while continuing to promote tech innovation. Some of the goals of the plan include the following:

• Simplifying threat reporting 
• Creating a first-touch response to cyberattacks
• Developing timelines and execution methods
• Allocating resources and mapping responsible government agencies 
• Incentivizing cyber hygiene
• Improving public-private partnership 

Recent years have shown an increase in state-sponsored cyberattacks—a 300 percent growth from 2000 to 2022, according to government data. For enterprises, the average financial cost of a ransomware attack is already over $4.5 million, and those attacks are only getting more sophisticated.

Learn more about top data security software and solutions.

What is the National Cybersecurity Strategy?

The NCS is a five-pillar action plan to ramp up cybersecurity efforts and bring all stakeholders together to ensure success. A solid national cybersecurity policy is essential to building on the promise of emerging technologies while minimizing the risks they pose.

Pillar One: Defend Critical Infrastructure

Defending critical infrastructure, including systems and assets, is vital for national security, public safety, and economic prosperity. The NCS will standardize cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure—for example, mandatory penetration tests and formal vulnerability scans—and make it easier to report cybersecurity incidents and breaches. 

It seeks to label Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers as a “critical infrastructure,” putting more of the onus on them to ensure data security and protection and using legal accountability to eliminate insecure software products and unpatched vulnerabilities. It will also implement the zero trust cybersecurity model for federal networks.

Pillar Two: Disrupt and Dismantle Threat Actors

Once the national infrastructure is protected and secured, the NCS will go bullish in efforts to neutralize threat actors that can compromise the cyber economy. This effort will rely upon global cooperation and intelligence-sharing to deal with rampant cybersecurity campaigns and lend support to businesses by using national resources to tactically disrupt adversaries.

Components of this pillar include building awareness about threat actors, ransomware, IP theft, and other malicious attacks and creating a Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) to review catastrophic incidents and strategize based on repeated attack patterns. It will also implement new guidelines for already-impacted industries—manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and public sectors, for example—and new software bill-of-materials standards to lower supply chain risks.

Pillar Three: Shape Market Forces to Drive Security and Resilience

As the world’s largest economy, the U.S. has sufficient resources to lead the charge in future-proofing cybersecurity and driving confidence and resilience in the software sector. The goal is to make it possible for private firms to trust the ecosystem, build innovative systems, ensure minimal damage, and provide stability to the market during catastrophic events. 

The priority plan under this stage includes efforts to protect privacy and personal data security by creating federal grants to encourage investments in secure infrastructure and investing in cyber insurance initiatives to help private firms recover from high-scale attacks. It will also implement an Internet of Things (IoT) security labeling program to improve consumer awareness of IoT device risks.

Pillar Four: Invest in a Resilient Future

To aggressively combine innovation with security and forge an impregnable shield against the growing number of cybercrimes, the government has earmarked funds to secure next generation technology while ensuring necessary tech transfer and information dissemination between private and public sectors. The NCS will put a special impetus on data discovery, protection architecture, and encryption in all government to business communications.

This pillar also includes cybersecurity apprenticeships and a National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance to train the workforce and improve cyber literacy, and the deployment of a unique digital identity authentication to thwart phishing attacks and create a trusted digital identity framework (TDIF).

Pillar Five: Forge International Partnerships to Pursue Shared Goals

Global leaders are learning that cyber diplomacy is the most forthcoming strategy to turn adversaries to allies. With pillar five, the government will commit to continue global initiatives against digital warfare and build a trust surplus among allies.

Among the ways it hopes to accomplish this is by creating a centralized tracker for coordinating cost-sharing initiatives, creating secure and dependable global supply chains, and strengthening partner nations’ capacities to shield themselves against cyberthreats. It will also establish a threat intelligence infrastructure to collaborate with allies and global agencies. 

Learn how to develop an IT security policy.

What Do Businesses Need to Know about the NCS?

Businesses will have to change some of their thinking around cybersecurity under the NCS. It makes the point that voluntary progress toward better cybersecurity and data privacy practices are no longer sufficient, and maybe weren’t working at all. More than that, the government will implement new standards and regulatory frameworks and shift liability to hold enterprises accountable for not doing their part. It will also incentivize cybersecurity best practices.

Here are the three main actions businesses will be pushed to take by the NCS:

1. Identify and minimize vulnerabilities by taking proactive measures to test and secure their threat landscape and holding partners and third-party vendors to similar cybersecurity standards.
2. Address supply chain vulnerabilities by sharing information through new public/private partnerships, patching known vulnerabilities, providing employee cybersecurity training, and designing critical incident response plans.
3. Put cybersecurity front-of-mind when developing software, processes, products, and networks to protect privacy and data—the NCS makes it clear that it expects businesses to take on more responsibility and will seek to enforce it. 

Bottom Line: Enterprise Changes in the NCS

The National Cybersecurity Strategy is the U.S. government’s first cybersecurity initiative in 15 years. As such, it’s a living document, an ever-evolving blueprint to build cyber-resilience and protect the U.S. and its allies from threats. More than just filling gaps, it ambitiously seeks to pave the way to a strong, equitable, and inclusive cyber future. Businesses of all sizes will have to play a role in its rollout and will be essential to its success, but it targets enterprises especially—the stakes are higher, the resources are more plentiful, and their responses have the potential to serve as frameworks and best practices for smaller businesses to follow. 

Keeping data secure is just one component of an effective data management strategy. Learn the 10 best practices for data management to make sure your business has its own data efforts under control.

See below for five case studies on how organizations across different industries are employing vulnerability scanning solutions to help solve their network security challenges:

5 vulnerability scanning case studies

1. SyCom
2. Visma
3. California Polytechnic State University
4. Bitbrains
5. Hill & Smith

1. SyCom

With annual revenue of over $70 million, SyCom is one of the leading systems integrators in the East Coast of the U.S. It designs and supports IT solutions that help optimize business growth.

SyCom has been using Invicti’s Netsparker web application security scanner for about seven years. Until the deployment of Netsparker, the company administered manual scans annually to check for vulnerabilities. This meant the application was left open for potential cyberattacks for long periods in between the scans.

SyCom also uses the Netsparker web application security platform for continuous monitoring of its customers’ websites to check for vulnerabilities. A tool integral to this is Netsparker’s web application security scanning engine.

Netsparker automatically makes use of the detected vulnerabilities and feeds them into the SyCom framework. Security professionals can then reach out to customers and suggest remedies.

Industry: IT and telecommunications

Vulnerability scanning provider: Netsparker Enterprise by Invicti

Outcomes:

• Continuous web security scanning of client websites
• Automated reporting of identified vulnerabilities to the SyCom system
• Drastically reduced workload for security professionals

See more: 5 Top Vulnerability Scanning Trends

2. Visma

With over one million customers across Europe and Latin America, Visma is a leading provider of accounting, procurement, and payroll solutions. Visma employs over 5,500 professionals and includes 200 companies spanning over 20 countries across the world.

As the firm transformed into a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, newer challenges related to security emerged. Visma not only needs to ensure the security of its own systems, but it has the responsibility of safeguarding customer data as well. With a larger attack surface, Visma wanted to gain increased protection against potential cyberattacks by effectively detecting and remediating vulnerabilities.

To strengthen its defenses against potential threats, Visma adopted the Qualys Cloud Platform for in-depth security scans. Qualys Vulnerability Management allowed the firm to automatically scan its development infrastructures and place the scan results in the same backlog with vulnerability reports on the company’s code. It also provided the firm with a 360-degree view of vulnerabilities on its network that trickled down to individual devices.

“We now have a comprehensive map of all 4,000 servers and 6,000 clients across our global IT infrastructure and an accurate view of all the vulnerabilities and their severity,” says Hans Petter Holen, CISO, Visma.

“We can perform scans in the background, even when a device is offline, and deliver the results as soon as it is reconnected to the network. When we detect a vulnerability, we deliver the findings to whoever is responsible for the machine — either via email to the local IT department or via Jira to the developer who owns the device.”

Industry: IT services

Vulnerability scanning provider: Qualys

Outcomes:

• Vulnerability detection across more than 10,000 connected devices
• Functions on minimal external management
• Quarterly patching cycles accelerated up to 80%

3. California Polytechnic State University

California Polytechnic (Cal Poly) State University in San Luis Obisbo, California serves over 21,000 students.

Cal Poly was looking for a vulnerability scanning solution to address vulnerabilities existing across its web portfolio. The tools used previously were quite expensive and didn’t meet the university’s security requirements. Cal Poly needed a scanning solution that could not only run frequent penetration tests, but also provide faster feedback to its security team.
PortSwigger’s Burp Suite Enterprise Edition helped the application security team automate security scanning. Moreover, the vulnerability solution gave Cal Poly full visibility of its entire web portfolio at a single glance with its dashboard and scan summary reports. It lends greater flexibility in security testing, because of Burp Suite’s customizable scan configurations.

“A vulnerability scanner, like Burp Suite, frees our AppSec team to spend their time where it’s most valuable,” says a Cal Poly rep.

Industry: Higher education

Vulnerability scanning provider: Burp Suite Enterprise Edition by PortSwigger

Outcomes:

• Reduced workload, resource optimization, and a faster feedback loop
• Reduced risk and increased security coverage across its web portfolio
• Security integration into the software development life cycle

See more: Why Vulnerability Scanning is Important

4. Bitbrains

Bitbrains builds native and hybrid phone apps for Android and iOS platforms. The firm is now on its third-generation cloud and has a complex IT environment: with about 3,000 virtual machines (VMs), 300 blades, and numerous network devices, with three network operations centers to manage the customer cloud.

Bitbrains’ cloud environment posed a cybersecurity challenge for the team, which needed a way to manage its baseline vulnerability checks for regulatory compliance while also keeping up with the threat environment. One of Bitbrains’ customers also requested daily vulnerability scans. Since the process wasn’t automated, the whole exercise was labor-intensive and took more than a week to complete.

After hearing about Tenable SecurityCenter’s Continuous View, the company decided to try it out. For the next three months, Bitbrains worked with a Tenable sales engineer and an outside consultant on the deployment of SecurityCenter CV. With SecurityCenter CV, Bitbrains could perform continuous monitoring, providing a comprehensive view of network health across different assets.

Moreover, Bitbrains’ professionals could now easily verify the status of antivirus across systems, update progress, and firewalls installed as well as check for functionally redundant network components.

“Security-wise, we have much better insight into what our current state is, what threats exist, and what solutions are available,” says Giray Devlet, chief security officer, Bitbrains.

“It also provides us insight with service customers, where we can see they did something wrong and are vulnerable to attacks, and when certain patches are not installed or missing.”

Industry: Mobile app development

Vulnerability scanning provider: Tenable SecurityCenter Continuous View

Outcomes:

• Automated scanning of external-facing sites in 24 hours
• Easy identification of weak spots in the cloud environment
• Insight into mistakes made by service customers that could lead to potential vulnerabilities

5. Hill & Smith

With a net revenue of $858.21 million, Hill & Smith is known for creating sustainable and resilient infrastructure throughout the U.K., U.S., India, Sweden, and Australia. The company has a diverse portfolio, ranging from roads and transportation to utilities, engineered composite solutions, and galvanizing services.

Hill & Smith previously deployed limited resources in protecting its internet-facing assets. The issue gave rise to a foundational hurdle in creating attack-resilient structure: The company did not have enough time to attend to every threat.

Moreover, Hill & Smith was also struggling with the lack of visibility. The security tools used by the team could only perform searches on classified assets only. Hill & Smith faced challenges in tracking all of the potential risks stemming from new system updates. The process made the organization’s operations vulnerable to attacks.

Shifting to Intruder Vanguard provided the company with much more than automated vulnerability scanning. Vanguard sent users manual reviews done by security experts, flagged detected vulnerabilities, and offered remedies to create durable infrastructure. Hill & Smith then tackled its visibility issues by seeking out extra assets that might be in use and creating a 360-degree profile of all vulnerabilities in place.

“When we needed to go way beyond the usual programmatical scans, a specialized vulnerability scanner really let us enumerate the services behind IPs and find vulnerabilities and weaknesses that were previously hidden,” says Sam Ainscow, group CISO, Hill & Smith.

“Going in, we simply wanted to get an understanding of the organizational risks associated with the services we made available online. The open-source intelligence we received with Intruder Vanguard dramatically broadened our threat awareness.”

Industry: Infrastructure and construction

Vulnerability scanning provider: Intruder Vanguard

Outcomes:

• Proactive bug hunting and reduced response time
• Expert-informed human sights and limited occurrence of false positives
• Early stage identification of vulnerabilities that could potentially turn lethal
• Automated detection combined by manual reviews to dig deeper into system weaknesses

See more: Simple Guide to Vulnerability Scanning Best Practices

Bottom Line

These case studies show examples of how vulnerability scanning software is being used in various industries: IT; telecommunications; higher education; mobile app development; infrastructure; and construction.

Clients selected a range of providers in the vulnerability scanning market for implementations: Invicti; Qualys; PortSwigger; Tenable; and Intruder.

Together, the organizations’ vulnerability scanning solutions improved numerous aspects of their networks:

• Automated reporting of identified vulnerabilities
• Drastically reduced workload for security professionals
• Vulnerability detection across thousands of connected devices
• Reduced workload, resource optimization, and faster feedback loop
• Reduced risk and increased security coverage across web portfolio
• Identification of weak spots in cloud environment

See more: 10 Top Vulnerability Scanning Tools

See below for five case studies on how organizations across different industries are employing NGFW solutions to solve their network security challenges:

5 NGFW case studies

1. VR Group
2. Pague Menos
3. Bausch Health
4. ENT Credit Union
5. Globe Telecom

1. VR Group

Finland-based VR Group is credited with sustainably managing and operating a high-speed train network since 1862.

The public enterprise had a multitude of challenges to face: average internet speed across trains, 5G integration, lower bandwidths than their European counterparts, and a lack of an off-site network management system.

“Our line of work creates unique challenges to maintaining Wi-Fi for customers and VPN for staff,” says Pasi Louko, senior network architect, VR Group.

“Due to a couple of different aspects, we were seeing internet drop for customers and operators.” 

VR Group worked with Forcepoint to install a next-generation firewall and create high-speed network architecture, enabling zero-touch deployment and remote access to the IT staff for each train. With the NGFW, VR could connect with all three mobile operators simultaneously, ensuring high bandwidth and reduced network drops.

“Our costs — both for the project and maintenance — are going down, because we don’t need resources locally — we have centralized everything,” Louko says.

“If we want a new service on a train, we define the policy and then give the hardware to the operator, who installs it. It’s that simple. We had the firewall in a train that was offline for two weeks sitting in -15 degrees Celsius temperature, and the NGFW started right up along with the train.”

Industry: Rail

Next-generation firewall provider: Forcepoint

Outcomes:

• Secured network connectivity of high-speed trains and managing 200 megabytes per second (MBps) of data transfer
• Led to lower overhead and VPN costs
• Reduced downtimes and secured connections across 100+ router cabins
• Enhanced capacity, reaching 22.8 gigabytes per second (GBps), up from 3 GBps
• Provided company-wide encryption for internal operations

See more: 5 Top Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Trends

2. Pague Menos

Brazil-based Pague Menos is one of the country’s largest pharmacy retail chains with 1,600 stores and over 25,000 employees.

During the pandemic, Pague decided to go digital and opt for a hybrid strategy to fetch more customers and retain existing ones.

“Back in 2016, we had more than 900 stores,” says Afro Vasconcelos of Pague Menos.

“It was getting hard to depend on two internet service providers, and if they did not have an operation in a specific city, we could not have it either.”

These erratic service incidences as well as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) links, limited bandwidth, and frequent network drops led to Pague installing an NGFW for growing needs. Without a firewall, Pague user services were limited to mostly credit card payments and an internet speed of 64K bits per second.

“As early as 2016, we envisioned a store with more applications, the ability to track sales with a dashboard, and online sales in the future,” Vasconcelos says. “That network would not support this demand.”

Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN and FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls fortified Pague’s security at all physical locations. Their integration with Fortinet FortiAP ensured Wi-Fi access for all customers and Pague employees. Moreover, a FortiManager integration ensured unified and centralized administration of Pague’s entire network.

“Now, customers have access to the nearly 1,000 pharmaceutical offices, Clinic Farma for health care support, laboratory tests, vaccinations, or to join plans and benefits available through agreements and partnerships,” Vasconcelos says.

“With an omnichannel structure, customers can buy the way they want and receive their products wherever they prefer. Buyers have facilities: such as Click & Collect, where consumers buy online and opt to pick up the items in a store; Infinity Shelf, which delivers to customers’ homes, free of charge, any product they cannot find in the store; lockers; telesales.

“Our physical business has become increasingly digital. Our services depend on the proper performance of the network. Laboratory tests, for example, are all real-time. Our NGFW made this all possible.”

Industry: Retail

Next-generation firewall provider: Fortinet LAN Edge, Secure SD-WAN, FortiADC, and FortiManager

Outcomes:

• Digitization of Pague’s retail services to customer’s doorstep — 60 new services added
• Unrestricted internet access across Pague’s physical stores
• Secured VoLTE telephone assistance under Special Medication Service
• Real-time lab tests and data analysis
• Centralized threat reporting and incident log management
• Hassle-free addition of another 400 stores across Brazil

See more: Fortinet vs. Palo Alto Networks: Top NGFWs Compared

3. Bausch Health

Bausch Health is a medical manufacturer with over 15,000 employees across over 150 sites.

Bausch had an aging firewall infrastructure, leading to low bandwidth and visibility across the 150 distributed work sites.

With Cisco’s NGFW, Bausch created a policy hierarchy across locations with an intrusion prevention system (IPS), anti-malware, and URL filtering.

The process worked three ways: ensure security compliance across geographies, discover threats before they hit the Bausch systems, and remediate breaches that already happened.

The NGFW came with increased visibility to not just malware or web applications, but also covered voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, routers, operating systems (OSs), client devices, and network servers.

The Firepower management center automated impact assessment for Bausch while scaling multi-tenancy and creating role-based management based on both access and attributes.

Industry: Medical

Next-generation firewall provider: Tesrex, Cisco Firepower, and Cisco Next-Generation Firewalls

Outcomes:

• Enhanced throughput capability up to 80 Gbps
• Centralized device management through the Cisco Firepower management console
• Better threat visibility and automated log checking after threat detection
• Real-time data analytics for better anomaly detection and decision making

See more: Cisco vs. Juniper Networks: Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Comparison

4. ENT Credit Union 

Colorado-based ENT Credit Union has over $5.7 billion in assets, 30 service centers, and 355,000 members. The organization is known for their customer-centric ENT Extras cash rewards mechanism.

ENT’s issues weren’t purely financial or compliance-based but lied in ensuring remote privacy to their customer data and assets. While the credit union already had Check Point Firewalls for bank network security, internal traffic management was still a pain point for IT staff.

“We needed to replace an east-west monitoring solution that wasn’t giving us adequate visibility,” says Scott Perry, IT security architect, ENT Credit Union.

“Without the ability to see into east-west traffic, we can’t identify anomalies that would signal a possible attacker. We needed a better solution.”

The Check Point NGFW ensured maximum uptime for ENT, with advanced threat detection software for zero-day attacks. Check Point upgraded ENT’s hardware by optimizing them per data center requirements. The Check Point data center integration also supported large ENT traffic volumes and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.

“The Check Point firewalls are acting as IDS sensors for our internal traffic,” Perry says.

“We don’t want to stop east-west traffic, but we want to watch everything and be alerted when anything suspicious occurs. The ability to monitor internal traffic is vital for us to protect our members’ information. If a malicious actor comprises a single workstation and tries to move money or information, we’ll know it.”

Industry: Banking

Next-generation firewall provider: Check Point Quantum NGFW and Check Point R80

Outcomes:

• Greater visibility into network traffic
• Accelerated threat detection and remediation
• Increased operational efficiency based on higher visibility into traffic
• A firewall with a unified console

See more: Check Point vs. Palo Alto Networks: Top NGFWs Compared

5. Globe Telecom

Globe Telecom is one of the Philippines’ largest mobile operators and needs to constantly upgrade its security infrastructure.

Previously, Globe had a legacy firewall architecture with Layer 4 protection. Siloed security and mismanagement of vendors for their tech needs also hampered Globe’s efficiency. The company was looking for a solution with a specialization in customer data.

Globe deployed the Palo Alto Networks’ NGFW as a perimeter security software with special attention to cloud security — microsegmentation, Cloud Workload Protection, and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM).

Palo Alto helped Globe remove both operations and infrastructure complexities, along with offering Layer 7 firewalls and filtering. The virtual firewalls were mostly automated, helping Globe to free IT staff from manual work logs.

The NGFW also ensured rapid integration with third-party vendors, endpoint security, and business agility through best industry practices.

Industry: Telecommunications

Next-generation firewall provider: Palo Alto Networks

Outcomes:

• Enhanced cloud security
• Hassle-free 5G rollout and expansion across the Philippines
• Successful management of fintech transactions of up to 1 trillion pesos and over 1,000 cloud accounts

See more: 6 Top Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) Software to Protect Your Network

Bottom Line

These case studies show examples of next-generation firewalls being used in various industries: rail; retail; medical; banking; and telecommunications.

Clients selected a range of providers in the NGFW market for the implementations: Forcepoint; Fortinet; Cisco; Check Point; and Palo Alto Networks.

Together, the organizations’ NGFW solutions improved numerous aspects of their networks:

• Network connectivity
• Network downtime
• Network capacity
• Network throughput
• Network threat visibility and reporting
• Network traffic insights
• Cloud security
• Digital transformation of client services and internal operations

Most virtualization solutions create an integrated interface for administrators, allowing them to control applications by combining protocols and arrays.

See below for five case studies on how organizations in different industries are using storage virtualization:

1. Consolidated Communications Holdings

With a run of over 125 years in the broadband and communications business, Consolidated Communications Holdings spans over 50,000 route miles, 20+ states, and 1.8 million connections.

Consolidated Communications decided to look for a new data storage solution after it faced an email outage leaking all its residential email clients. The company then decided to employ a SAN solution with attention to flexibility and performance that could keep up with the firm’s requirements for caching.

DataCore’s software-defined storage technology enabled Consolidated Communications to create and control its own hardware storage appliances. Today the firm uses DataCore’s storage solution in two forms: a traditional storage product consisting of hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) and a hyperconverged model with greater storage through virtualized storage controllers.

“A SAN solution provides us an immense range of flexibility that enables us to implement the same product in many different ways; we can simply layer DataCore on top of our own storage designs and let things run,” said Jeff Fuesting, systems engineer at Consolidated Communications.

Industry: Communications

Storage virtualization provider: DataCore

Outcomes:

• Consistent 100% uptime delivered over a period of 10 years
• Reduced storage-related spending
• Reduced time, efforts, and cost on preventive maintenance

2. Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences

With a network of over 13 hospitals and 4,000 beds, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) provides comprehensive healthcare services across cardiac sciences, oncology, neurosciences, organ transplantation, and 20 other specialities.

As KIMS Hospitals expanded, the workload increased threefold. Due to insufficient information on the workload performance of the existing storage infrastructure, there was an increase in onsite, ad hoc, and pay-on-demand cloud storage options.

Thus, with each new storage application or rack, the management and maintenance of storage infrastructure became ever more complicated. Some of the applications were functioning on outdated software and left the information vulnerable to ransomware attacks. KIMS Hospitals needed a robust and swift IT infrastructure that could manage big data within complex systems and numerous applications.

KIMS Hospitals deployed the VMware vSAN solution with Dell hardware to meet its existing needs for redundancy, scalability and cost efficiency. VMware’s virtualized storage, combined with VMware vRealize Operations optimized data exchange between networks and applications.

The modernized hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) allowed IT administrators at KIMS Hospitals to have a virtual data plane with real-time analytics on virtual machines (VMs) storage attributes, including performance, capacity, and availability. The process, in turn, offered better control and knowledge of workload and performance to KIMS admins.

Industry: Health care

Storage virtualization provider: VMware and VMware vSAN

Outcomes:

• 80% of workloads moved from AWS to HCI, saving thousands in billings
• 98% VMware vSAN issues resolved in the pre-development phase
• No downtime encountered during maintenance activities

3. Seneca Family of Agencies

Founded in 1985, as a small residential and day treatment program, Seneca Family of Agencies’ mission has been to help children and families see through the hardest times in their lives. Today, the community caters to over 18,000 young people and families across California and Washington State, offering permanency, mental health services, education, and juvenile justice.

Seneca Family of Agencies was using a mix of dated VMware hosts and a Hyper-V cluster for its virtual environment. The high incidences of VMware cluster renewal and Hyper-V’s slow performance compelled the organization to move toward hyperconvergence. Moreover, the existing IT infrastructure was limited by storage problems and required extensive patching times done off-hours.

With StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), Seneca Family of Agencies implemented the HCA and ran high availability with simply two nodes. Now, the organization is no longer struggling with the VM’s migration issues between nodes.

Industry: Mental health services

Storage virtualization provider: StarWind and StarWind HCA

Outcomes:

• Patching in cluster now done during business hours
• Quick migration across hosts
• Increased storage capacity

4. Grupo Alcione

With over 30 years of experience, Grupo Alcione specializes in electrical equipment and supplies. Today, the company has expanded to 22 branches, 800 employees, and 11 Mexican states.

Electronics is a competitive industry; to realize better customer conversions, Grupo Alcione wanted to quickly access inventory in real-time, so customers get the updated pricing and budgeting information in real-time without delays.

“Our main objective was to find a high-performance, multicloud system that required a lower-cost investment,” said Juan Hernández, IT infrastructure manager at Grupo Alcione.

Grupo Alcione then adopted Nutanix as its storage virtualization partner. The company’s new technological strategy had three main pillars: availability, performance, and reliability along with low-cost investment.

Nutanix AHV built Alcione’s infrastructure on nine nodes and two clusters. The first cluster, having six nodes, works as a production environment. The second cluster, with three nodes, serves the disaster recovery plan (DRP), where the important operational virtual servers replicate every hour to ensure critical service availability.

Industry: Manufacturing

Storage virtualization provider: Nutanix and Nutanix AHV

Outcomes:

• 30% savings on data center expenses
• Quick, real-time access to inventory
• Higher availability of critical services and improved reliability
• Increased operational efficiency and reduction in frequent customer support calls

5. Daegu Metropolitan City

The third largest city in the Republic of Korea, Daegu, has a population of 2.5 million residents with eight administrative districts and 13,000+ public employees. In 2015, the government decided to work on a three-phase project to create the Daegu City Cloud (D-Cloud) — an ambitious project to offer important services like public notices, healthcare, and financial assistance in a timely manner.

The city government needed to update its decade-old IT infrastructure along with hardware sourced from different places. Daegu dealt with higher operational costs, primarily because of multiplicity of hardware and software solutions.

The city initially deployed Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP), and Red Hat Virtualization to create its new cloud-based service environment. Red Hat Enterprise Linux created the foundation for Daegu to start building the hybrid cloud infrastructure.

Once the initial framework was laid out, the virtualization software laid out a central infrastructure for virtualized and cloud-native workloads. Red Hat JBoss EAP then helped Daegu to overtake the managerial part, ensure user security, and attain high performance at scale.

“We were looking for product stability, a strong partner ecosystem, and favorable industry references and availability of enterprise support in our storage virtualization software to fulfill our needs,” said Yoon Chan, team leader of information & system for Daegu Metropolitan City.

Industry: Government

Storage virtualization provider: Red Hat and Red Hat Virtualization

Outcomes:

• Reduced operating costs by 36%
• Transformation of 50% of the legacy IT systems into cloud-based environment
• Simplified infrastructure operations and management
• Created foundation for easier resident access to information and services

See below for five case studies on how organizations in different industries are using backup storage solutions to solve their data backup challenges:

DTC

Baltimore-based DTC is a managed service provider (MSP) with a centralized assistive platform for dentists and doctors throughout the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The company covers over 450 doctors and 500 servers spanning 10 geographic locations.

DTC previously realized the value of deploying backup storage after its conventional backup system failed and no other copy of a file was created beforehand.

“We’re taking care of people’s livelihoods. Reliability is extremely important to us. And there was a time when we lost an important file, because of the backup fiasco,” says Nate Smith, CTO, DTC. 

“The application we were using said they had it backed up, but we couldn’t pull it down. In the end, it was gone.”

After integrating Backblaze with their systems, DTC started verifying backups without extracting on-premises data and doing away with the hectic manual authentication process. The move to using a backup storage solution resulted in DTC offering infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to their long-term clients.

“We didn’t have to re-seed backups. The data pulled over at an average 6 Gb per second,” Smith says. “Once it was there, we just did another incremental from the client side — and done.”

Industry: IT and consultancy

Backup storage provider: Backblaze and MSP360

Outcomes:

• Cost saving of up to $68,000
• 55% improvement in backup implementation
• Backing up over 500 servers and 6,000 endpoints within half a day; previously having a track record of a minimum of two days
• Seamless migration of 575 TB of backup within weeks

The Center for Sales Strategy

Steve Marx founded The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS) to help enterprises with their sales and marketing needs, engaging old customers while converting random visitors into potential clients.

For a long time, CSS dealt with connectivity issues with their consumers. These users were distributed across the globe. Some were based in Canada, and others were located in Australia and Malaysia. CSS’s policy asks consultants to be in the same city as the client, creating the need for backup storage for remote work requirements.

“We use a combination of desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, and most of us have a MiFi hub,” says Matt Sunshine, EVP, CSS. 

“We have a business-driven need to stay on top of client requests — that means having the files we need at our fingertips.”

Previously, CSS relied on emails to store important files. However, frequent email and drive crashes forced the team to rethink its storage solutions. SugarSync came with a storage app compatible across devices, so consultants can remote access the app without having to go through emails.

“I can be at lunch with a client who references a presentation I delivered last time I was in town, and I can pull out my phone right then and there and send it over to them,” Sunshine says. “It sets us apart.

“I can share documents, even large files, with clients while I’m boarding a plane. I simply go to my backup storage account and have my stuff available to me. The ability to serve customers wherever, whenever is terrific.”

Industry: Sales and marketing

Backup storage provider: SugarSync

Outcomes:

• Implementing an easy backup storage process, especially for a non-tech audience
• Creating automated file backups with access across multiple devices
• Remote access to files without any PC requirements
• Size-agnostic backup process, reducing the need for multiple service providers

Viessmann

The German manufacturer Viessmann serves over 13,000 employees across 22 production companies.

Viessmann frequently faced inter-departmental security risks and on-premises leaks of confidential information. Moreover, the data sharing process across divisions was inconsistent, leading to pressure on information and communications technology (ICT) resources and the use of complex tooling. Ensuring uniform collaboration between in-office and remote teams posed another challenge for the Viessmann team.

“Understandably, our R&D and procurement departments had become extremely cautious when it came to collaborating with external partners, suppliers, and internal colleagues,” says Felix Nolte, solution manager workspace, Viessmann.

“We needed a storage and security solution to run smoothly for all parties involved.”

Viessmann started using Tresorit for their backup and security. Tresorit created an encrypted file sharing and backup storage system for all Viessmann departments with special access control for R&D, CAD models, and product designs. The approach ensured no confidential information goes out of the system without traces.

Industry: Manufacturing

Backup storage provider: Tresorit

Outcomes:

• Activating licenses hassle-free across units for easy and sensitive data sharing
• A unified system offering remote access, version control, and document sharing across devices
• End-to-end backup storage encryption and carefully crafted usage policy for third parties
• Streamlining the file tracking system in case of accidents and an overwhelmed system

7 Layer IT Solutions

7 Layer provides critical IT services to over 250 private equity firms. 

Michael Luehr, IT manager at 7 Layer, frequently encountered end-user errors leading to data losses. Moreover, 50% of the clients had a mobile life; meaning easy thefts and hard retrievals.

“If a computer is lost or stolen and if the data is kept only locally on it or network storage, when that computer dies, so does the data,” Luehr says. “Nothing protects those in-progress files that hours of work generate and could easily be lost on a flight, commute on a train, or taken out of a backpack when no one is looking.

“That’s where a backup storage provider comes into the picture.”

With CrashPlan, Luehr and his team create internal backup storage policies for each client, so all stakeholders can access the data copy during a disaster. Every 7 Layer client has a backup storage account tied to 7 Layer and CrashPlan’s global admin infrastructure. These backups are now protected irrespective of a user’s independent devices. 

So even if a client loses their data, they can always come back to 7 Layer, log in to their account, and access every required information. Moreover, the backup storage comes with additional protection from ransomware and online cyber threats.

“It’s so much easier to have software on a computer that backs up to the cloud and doesn’t need a VM connection to it,” Luehr says.

Industry: Fintech

Backup storage provider: CrashPlan

Outcomes:

• Shift from backing servers to individual end-user devices
• Easy monthly backups with minimal (around 2%) transfer corruption
• Simultaneous backup in the cloud and a physical storage space
• Weekly backup reports and set up alerts for managing a client’s data needs
• SEC-compliant storage and management practices

Alchemy Communications

Alchemy Communications offers data center services to Southern California customers, including large companies and government agencies.

Alchemy needed a backup storage provider that met both HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements while offering an online access option for the stored data.

Since its inception, Alchemy relied on tapes to store sensitive user data; however, the process turned out to be resource-intensive and unreliable for clients’ demands.

IDrive converted all tape backups into cloud storage by extending access to not only Alchemy employees, but to remote clients. Stakeholders need login credentials enabled with end-user access.

The backup storage solution has also made disaster recovery simple for Alchemy. In case an attack strikes, Alchemy can shut off its data centers and control cloud backup access on a need basis.

Industry: Cloud and data center provider

Backup storage provider: IDrive

Outcomes:

• Shift from tape backups to remote, cloud backups
• Reducing CapEx requirements and taking them down to the OpEx levels
• Zero upfront hardware costs and reduction in maintenance requirements

With major governments pursuing 5G as the next generation of internet and the Biden administration pledging $65 billion for telco infrastructure, global wireless players are looking to bridge gaps in digital connectivity.

To make sure the internet reaches every corner, wireless networking has an indispensable role to play. 

See below how five companies in the market are advancing wireless networking technology in different industries: 

1. Meraki

A solution by the cloud networking brand Meraki, part of Cisco, powers wireless connectivity for enterprises by designing both software and hardware equipment.

“Meraki makes these top-of-the-top features available to everyone, even small networks with IT teams of just one or two. When I actually tried it, I truly believed that it could work for the biggest of the big … and the smallest of the small,” says Meraki CEO Todd Nightingale. 

“We make our products easy to use, manage, and monitor for our customers, and I believe we’re the only enterprise IT group that is truly focused on that as our number one priority..”

Meraki’s client base includes Stanford, Burger King, and Telmex. Meraki creates easily deployable and scalable networks with centralized management through a dashboard and Meraki mobile app.

Industry: Network management

Wireless network provider: Roofnet and Meraki 

Outcomes:

• Cost reduction through a centralized management software with options to create and modify IT policies
• Security architecture through a firewall, well-defined threat detection, and integrated Sourcefire intrusion prevention
• Wide avenues for clients to troubleshoot, monitor, enhance visibility, and keep their teams lean
• Real-time analysis and customer insights
• Mobile device and switch port management

2. Cradlepoint

Cradlepoint is a network-as-a-service (NaaS) company that delivers 4G and 5G connectivity to businesses. 

The Ericsson subsidiary doesn’t only offer WAN connections but links offices, vehicles, and homes with IoT devices for better communication.

“When you think about what’s happening to enterprise networks, it’s not just about connecting branch offices anymore. In the future, it’s about connecting sites and people in those sites, out in the wild, mobile workers — and all of the things are getting connected to networks,” says Cradlepoint CEO George Mulhern.

Cradlepoint started as a fail-over product company where users can access the internet if the wired network faces glitches. Cradlepoint switched to cloud connection management and can deliver wireless access in the absence of broadband.

Industry: Wireless WAN and edge networking

Wireless network provider: NetCloud Manager

Outcomes:

• Increasing bandwidth availability for business while bringing down connectivity costs
• Pooling down mobile data among geographically distributed locations 
• Cradlepoint powers its routers via Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), providing cellular backup. The protocol also helps teams to flag network attacks immediately
• Combining LTE with Wi-Fi through a single router to create Wi-Fi as a WAN service
• Securing private communication lines over a public internet via NetCloud Perimeter

3. AOptix

Now acquired by Anova, AOptix is a NASA-recognized deep space platform offering wireless laser-radio technology (LRT) for astronomers and scientists to capture deep space objects. 

With DARPA, NASA, the U.S. military, and international airports across countries as its clientele, AOptix is leveraging both air-to-air and air-to-ground wireless networks. Its wireless networking product also extends to identity verification for immigration and aviation security.

“AOptix has deep roots in space research, and America’s space program should be now evaluating our technology for future communications applications,” says Dean Senner, CEO of AOptix, after NASA deployed AOptix Intellimax in Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. 

Industry: Deep space communication

Wireless network provider: AOptix and Intellimax

Outcomes:

• AOptix’s wireless links save resources and time for enterprises over fiber installations that take weeks or months to set up
• Long-range, reliable, wireless communication with ultra-high bandwidth offering mobile backhaul
• Blending radio frequency with laser optics to create all-weather, error-free communication with a strong uptime rate
• Generating performance and higher speed over fiber networks, AOptix reports 50% added speed, low latency, and a reduction in noise and external barriers
• AOptix partnered with Nasdaq and BATS to offer wireless network services with low latency to reduce system meltdowns in financial institutions, regardless of company size

4. Strix Systems

Most autonomous vehicles today send and receive data via internal sensors. However, the portable devices aren’t designed to communicate with external surroundings, let alone offer full-fledged internet access. 

Strix Systems makes it possible for autonomous vehicles to communicate with the outside environment through its wireless network extensions with fewer nodes.

“Infonetics believes that Strix Systems is a key manufacturer and critical solution provider in the wireless mesh network industry. The market is accelerating, and we’re now experiencing the greater penetration and ultimate benefits that solutions like Strix Systems Access/One have to offer,” says Richard Webb with Infonetics Research.

Industry: Autonomous vehicle communication and wireless meshing

Wireless network provider: Strix Systems

Outcomes:

• Creating intelligent vehicles by converting real-time data into actionable insights for vehicles to ensure maximum safety
• A centralized monitoring system integrated with Condition Acquisition Reporting System (CARS) to communicate with the vehicles as needed
• Built-in Wi-Fi and GPS services with added sensors and a high-resolution satellite imagery
• Efficient handling of physical obstructions, disruptive weather, and distance

5. Veniam

Veniam is offering the next phase of IoT — the Internet of Moving Things, a concept to turn public transport into Wi-Fi hotspots. 

Veniam creates a full-fledged infrastructure to connect everyday devices over a wireless platform. The product has applications in smart cities where regular transport facilities, ports, waste collection centers, schools, container terminals, and public parks can be converted into mobile internet devices. 

Veniam’s cloud stores and interprets machine data from sensors and performs tasks without much human intervention.

“We envision a future where mobility is provided as a service by a fleet of autonomous vehicles,” says João Barros, CEO, Veniam. “The way to get there is to enable carmakers, who produce cars, trucks, and buses, to share huge amounts of data with each other and with the cloud.

“Veniam’s technology will make it possible for cities to provide the bandwidth necessary for devices to connect to the internet and each other.”

Veniam is credited for building a large vehicular network covering 600 vehicles in Portugal. Today, Porto’s 73% of bus riders are powered by Veniam’s Wi-Fi with a monthly transmission of 3 TB of data.

Industry: Internet of Moving Things and smart cities

Wireless network provider: Veniam

Outcomes:

• Connecting public and private spaces with citizens for successful data dispatch across devices
• Powering smart cities and improving quality of life for residents
• Turning fleets, vehicles, and mobile objects into live networks
• Reducing dependency on cellular networks, while collecting official data for third parties, like traffic and bandwidth, for scalability

While both approaches have their own pros and cons, they have differing training methods and pre-required datasets that make them beneficial in specific use cases.

See below to learn all about supervised learning and unsupervised learning in the ML market:

What is Supervised Learning?

Supervised learning requires human supervision to label and tame raw data. Once the data is classified, the model learns the relationship between input and output data for the engineer to apply to a new dataset and predict outcomes.

Compared to the unsupervised approach, supervised learning has higher accuracy and is considered trustworthy, due to the human involvement. Moreover, the approach allows users to produce an input based on prior references and experiences.

What is Unsupervised Learning?

Unsupervised learning involves identifying patterns in raw and unlabelled datasets. It is a hands-off approach — the data scientist will set model parameters, but the data processing will continue without human intervention.

Unsupervised learning works without labels, which is a major drawback to analyzing comparative models. However, the technique works well for exploratory analysis by identifying data structures. Unsupervised learning is the go-to method for a data scientist looking to create customer segmentation with given data. Moreover, the approach is ideal for offering initial insights when human predictions or individual hypotheses are likely to fail.

Features

Supervised Learning

• Training data: Supervised learning requires both labeled input and output data variables.
• Learning method: Under supervised learning, the model interprets the relationship between labeled input and output data to predict outcomes.
• Resource-intensive: Supervised learning is resource-intensive due to the requirement of data scientists to label data.
• Complexity: Relatively simpler programs like R and Python are used in supervised learning.
• Algorithm used: Supervised learning uses classification trees, vector machines, linear and logistics regression, neural networks, and random forests.
• Number of classes: Known
• Drawback: The training involved in the supervised learning approach can be time-consuming. Although labeling might seem like a simple task, it is quite a tedious job. Therefore, the labeling of the input and output data can only be done by an expert data scientist.

Unsupervised Learning

• Training data: Unsupervised learning involves the processing of raw and unlabeled data. Moreover, only input data is accommodated in the process.
• Learning method: Unsupervised learning learns patterns via an unlabeled, raw training dataset to find the inherent trend.
• Application: Unsupervised learning is done to cluster similar data points to identify patterns.
• Resource-intensive: Compared to supervised learning, unsupervised learning is less resource intensive and requires no human intervention.
• Complexity: Unsupervised learning requires computationally complex programs to work with large amounts of unlabelled data.
• Algorithms used: Unsupervised learning uses K-means, cluster algorithms, and hierarchical clustering.
• Number of classes: Not known
• Drawback: It is difficult to give a sufficient level of explanation or to validate the output variables without human intervention.

Points to Consider

Before picking a machine learning approach, consider:

• Evaluation of the dataset: Check whether your data is labeled or unlabeled. If it is unlabeled, do you have the required expertise to carry out the labeling of the data?
• Know your goals: Do you want to go for classification or regression (supervised learning) or clustering or association (unsupervised learning)?
• Size of the dataset: Is your dataset too large to be handled by supervised learning? Are you looking to generate accuracy or precision for your data trends?

Benefits

Supervised Learning

Supervised learning is mainly used to recognize and classify unseen data into specific categories, such as images, documents, and words. Other areas where the approach has advantages are data prediction and forecasting trends and outcomes, like projecting house pricing or customer purchase patterns. Supervised learning mostly solves two categories of problems: regression and classification.

• Regression typically establishes causality between an independent and dependent variable using linear, logical, and polynomial techniques, which is ideal for predicting numerical values, like annual revenues, shares, and market projections. for a company.
• Classification problems sort test cases into separate classes for better identification through decision trees and linear classifiers. If you want to divide spam mails from your inbox, then classification criteria are at play here.

Unsupervised Learning

Unsupervised learning usually involves representation learning, clustering, and dataset density estimation without official labels through an autoencoder algorithm. Benefits of unsupervised learning include:

• The method has a use case in image compression and user segmentation, which is ideal for data clustering based on similarities and differences.
• Association analysis determines the variable relationship in market conditions, search engines, and product carts of e-commerce websites. Next time you see the Based on Your Search results, know unsupervised learning is at work here.
• Dimensionality reduction is an ideal technique for heavy datasets. The method compartmentalizes inputs into manageable sizes while also maintaining their integrity.

Use cases

Supervised Learning

• Content recommendation: A streaming provider’s supervised machine learning algorithm can produce personalized recommendations based on an individual’s previous activity and favorite genres as well as content consumed by other users with similar interests. 
• Spam detection: Supervised learning can help clear your inbox by detecting spam. Email providers deploy supervised learning techniques to recognize and segment emails with specific keywords into the spam folder.
• Identity verification: Most websites employ Recatch to verify authentic users through supervised ML tools. Facial recognition systems use supervised learning to differentiate and identify individuals. Traffic lights can operate on a similar concept to fine users violating traffic rules.
• Bioinformatics: Supervised learning can help in storing genetic information, like retinal screening, fingertips, iris textures, swabs, and eyes. A smartphone can use the technique to unlock itself every time a user puts their fingerprint on the sensor.

Unsupervised Learning

• Anomaly detection: Unsupervised learning is used to pinpoint specific logistical barriers and detect mechanical issues during predictive maintenance. The technique can also help in fintech to spot scams and save resources.
• Targeting specific consumer market: Unsupervised learning deploys clustering tools to classify and segment users with similar traits to create personas for targeted marketing.
• Clinical studies: Studying and reading genes and tissue expression and making predictive analysis for early stage diseases are examples of unsupervised learning’s clustering approach.

Arista Networks is led by Jayshree Ullal, a Cisco protegee, and has more than 7,000 global customers.

See below to learn all about Arista Networks and where it standing in the networking market:

Networking Portfolio

CloudVision 

Arista’s CloudVision software enables network virtualization, bolstering security through scalable, resource-extensive, and low-latency solutions. It also offers a high degree of customization, add-ons, automation, and flexibility.

Moreover, Arista’s networking products run on distributed servers, enabling the interconnection of server nodes and end-user access points.

Cloud-Grade Routing

Arista Networks R-Series has use cases across core routing, internet peering, Telco NFV data centers, and content distribution networks.

R-Series comes with storage dimensions of 10 G, 25 G, 100 G, 200 G, and 400 G, segment routing, EVPN’s open standards, and high portability to reduce opex through a single train. Arista delivers the networking solution through 7280 R/R2/R3 Universal Leaf, 7500 R/R2/R3, 7800 R3 Universal Spine platform, and Arista EOS.

With these solutions, Arista is planning to enter the multicloud and 5G RAN edge market.

Universal Cloud Network

Arista Universal Cloud Network consists of a spine-leaf design infrastructure supporting millions of server connections with fail-over capabilities, so every time a node fails, the remaining networking system doesn’t have to bear the brunt of the collapse. Currently, the spine-leaf network is powered by 16-slot 7500 R Series 15 petabits of the spine, expandable capacity to incorporate up to two million hardware routes, and 100 G worth of 576 ports in a unified system.

EOS

Arista Extensible Operating System (EOS) powers over 50 million ports across WANs, campuses, data centers, and cloud operators. The next-generation EOS, NetDL, has applications in network data sources, like alerts, full packet capture, flows, and control plane traffic. It allows third-party integrations with data providers and a setup available across multiple platforms with rich data analytics. The EOS also authorizes cloud security integration, 2x network segmentation, and full inventory integration along with live chatops/bot and tracking configuration.

Partners 

Arista has several types of partners: strategic partners; cloud networking solutions; software-driven networking; network virtualization; big data and HPC clusters; high frequency trading; internet edge; IP and storage; TAP aggregation; network operations; security partners; media and entertainment; and wireless partners. 

Here are a few of its biggest partners in its networking segments:

• Hitachi Vantara
• Microsoft
• Nutanix
• Palo Alto Networks
• Docker
• VMware
• Red Hat

Arista also offers a channel partner program for resellers and system integrators.  

Networking Use Case

Arista is looking to solve the bottlenecks of the traditional cloud environment by enhancing virtualization access across servers. Most legacy clouds require separate disaster recovery (DR) data centers for operations when needed. These DR units are resource-intensive, with a low RoI in the long-term.

Arista introduced its DWDM network solution to reduce dependency on DR entities while synchronizing data beyond geographies. The solution proved to be cost-effective and eliminated the need to maintain remote DRs. The DWDM product empowers data centers with a 10 G-40 G frequency, an uptick from the previous 1 G mark.

Arista’s networking solution also helped Arqiva, a U.K.-based telecom provider, oversee media distribution and content scheduling across global channels. Arista’s EOS and EAPI platforms are ideal for Arqiva’s multicast workflows.

Moreover, the telco’s transition to SDI was based on Arqiva’s decision to shift from legacy software and configure more All‐IP architecture to manage a dynamic consumer. Arista’s recent announcement in enabling 5G operations is another boost for telecoms by expanding communication infrastructure and connecting customers together.

User Reviews

Arista offers an operating system without backward compatibility and lower latency to configure back and forth between new and older switches.

According to a user, “Arista Networks Platform offers straightforward deployment and good features. Support for the platform is also good.”

Another user says, “The most valuable features I’ve found are that the product is easy to configure, inexpensive, and its ability to multitask. The most valuable feature is stability.”

However, some customers leave feedback on Arista’s lack of third-party integrations.

Arista has an overall 4.6 score out of 5 at Gartner Peer Insights, and over 94% of users would recommend the networking solution to peers.

Industry Recognition

Arista has received numerous accolades for its innovation, software, and company culture. Here are some recent examples:

• A “leader” in the “Magic Quadrant” by Gartner for data center networking 
• “100 Fastest-Growing Companies” by Fortune
• “Fast Tech 25” by Forbes
• Great Place to Work Institute, “Best Workplaces” in Bay Area
• “Technology Fast 500” North America by Deloitte

Arista in the Networking Market

The global network market is expected to exceed $7 billion by 2024. Regarding the network economy, Arista controls a 10% share. In the high-speed data center switching market, Arista has a 19.5% share. It is now looking to expand its campus business through mergers and acquisitions.

Moreover, Arista registered a net CAGR of 24% in Ethernet switch revenues, and it occupies 7.5% of the switch market.

Some of Arista’s competitors in the networking market include:

• Cisco
• Dell Technologies
• Juniper
• Extreme Networks
• NVIDIA
• H3C
• Nokia 

Today, computer vision has transcended the traditional use cases of spatial recognition and found a role in solving some of the fundamental enterprise value chain issues.

See below how five companies benefited from using computer vision in various sectors: defense, insurance tech, cybersecurity, waste recycling, and 3D vision systems:

1. Anduril

Seattle-based Anduril uses a combination of computer vision and AI to secure defense equipment for the frontline. Lattice, Anduril’s in-house infrastructure uses computer vision to build inspection systems and border surveillance guides, connecting ground radar with aerial jets and live sensors to detect and blend data into moving pictures.

“We founded Anduril because we believe there is value in Silicon Valley technology companies partnering with the Department of Defense,” says Brian Schimpf, co-founder and CEO, Anduril.

Anduril’s Lattice was also selected by the U.S. Air Force under Advanced Battle Management System, where it helped take down a mock missile using its computer vision algorithm. They have also built products for Ghost4 sUAS, Sentry Tower, and Anvil sUAS.

Industry: Defense technology

Computer vision solutions: Lattice

Outcomes:

• Spatial recognition to detect moving weapons, aerial systems, drones, and UAVs
• Surveillance system for U.S.-Mexico border and some other U.S. bases
• Creating a full-fledged war operating system with minimal human supervision

2. Arturo

Arturo’s USP lies in using a computer vision system to detect property casualties and determine insurance claims. The AI-powered sensors detect aerial, satellite, and ground-level images to verify damages and predict property data, thus minimizing the need for human intervention.

Currently, Arturo analyzes more than 71 types of property data and has completed 35 million inspections in Oceania and the North American region.

“Arturo’s vision is to revolutionize the way businesses interact with properties by providing greater transparency into a building’s physical makeup, and we believe we’re only scratching the surface in terms of the level of value we can bring to our customers,” says John-Isaac Clark, CEO, Arturo.

Industry: Insurance technology

Computer vision product: Arturo’s InsureTech

Outcomes:

• Simplifying underwriting, quoting, and claim settlements for both businesses and housing customers
• Multi-source imagery supporting 3D visualization of properties
• Detect climate impacts on properties and craft mitigation strategies
• Settle historical claims and determine the habitability of property within five seconds
• Confidence scores and predictive property analysis for maintenance and repairs
• API-enabled feedback loops

3. Zivid

Zivid creates 3D cameras that can give robots human-perfect vision. The enterprise uses computer vision to translate an input device into vision software for humanoids, cobots, and other industrial/household electronics. Zivid, with its recently launched Zivid Two product, boasts HD resolution and up to 55 μm imaging precision.

“Limitations like resolution, artifacts, and trueness errors in today’s vision systems restrict their potential in pick-and-place applications,” says Thomas Embla Bonnerud, CEO, Zivid.

“With the Zivid Two 3D camera, we’ve taken a giant leap forward in reducing these constraints. Using Zivid Two combined with deep learning, AI, and object detection algorithms, pick-and-place robots can recognize more objects, plan better grasps, and place more reliably. It all comes down to this — if your system can see more, it can do more.”

Industry: 3D vision system

Computer vision product: Zivid Two and Zivid One+ line

Outcomes:

• Creating second-generation cameras to enrich quality and take image recognition to a 10x scale
• Reduce logistics and create a shorter product development life cycle
• 3D precision with applications in piece picking, welding, soldering, bin-picking, and machine-tending
• Hassle-free storage of shiny and absorptive products where high precision was previous difficult
• A capture time of 0.3 seconds makes Zivid Two fit for industrial use

4. AMP Robotics

Denver-based AMP Robotics was born out of the sheer necessity of reducing and recycling waste through an integrated AI and computer vision mechanism.

The platform deploys computer-visioned robots with improved pick rates, 80 per minute, and holistic monitoring; automated waste segregation; easy adaptation to landfills and waste plants; and higher durability across waste types, including metals, plastic, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), cartons, cardboard, thin films, etc.

“AMP’s robots have quickly doubled the pick rates we were accustomed to, maintaining and even improving the purity of our bales, which we depend on to maximize prices with our end-market buyers,” says Michael Cunningham, CEO, Recyco.

AMP Robotics recently went global with its first waste plant in Europe, taking the number to 160 plants set globally.

Industry: Waste recycling

Computer vision product: AMP Neuron, AMP Insights, and AMP Cortex

Outcomes:

• Machine-visioned robots identify, segregate, and disintegrate solid waste at twice the average speed
• Sorting and listing of materials across 100 categories with precision and transporting them to separate decomposers via AI-enabled pickers
• AMP Insights to visualize processing, key commodities, per-hauling load, monitor material activity, and real-time performance
• Flexibility to automate stock keeping units (SKUs)

5. Onfido

The brainchild of Oxford University, Onfido helps businesses handle cyberattacks through stringent identity verification protocol.

The idea of using computer vision in e-commerce stem from the aggravated attacks on financial services while the world migrated to online mediums, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, Onfido conducts KYC, secures financial transactions, and authenticates consumer backgrounds through computer vision and facial recognition.

“The current identity verification process is a big issue for underbanked and unbanked people. It’s also an insecure process: almost two trillion dollars yearly are laundered due to identity fraud. This is what Onfido is looking to solve,” says Husayn Kassai, CEO, Onfido.

Today, more than 1,500 global enterprises, including UberEATS, use Onfido to secure their platforms while ensuring smooth service standards for consumers.

Industry: Cybersecurity and identity authentication

Computer vision product: Onfido

Outcomes:

• Verifying a user identity without a need for physical visit — front camera selfies are the key
• Reducing human intervention in the form of clerical checks by comparing the selfie and user photoID through an AI-enabled software
• Automatic document validation when submitted and regular cross-checks with law enforcement, thus saving government resources