Nutanix recently made a series of announcements at its global flagship event regarding updates to its hybrid multicloud portfolio. Naresh Purohit, Director- Systems Engineering, Nutanix India & SAARC, shares with us some of the most recent initiatives and the impact of these initiatives on end customers
What are the latest updates to the Nutanix Platform that have just been announced?
We have just announced enhancements to our cloud platform to help enterprises build modern, software-defined data centers to speed their hybrid multicloud deployments, while supporting all their application needs including those that are business critical.
Specifically, we announced two main updates:
1. The availability of AOS 6.0 with key features like built-in virtual networking, disaster recovery (DR) and security that otherwise would require additional specialized hardware, software, and skills. Additionally, this can all be managed through a single interface, which significantly decreases operational costs.
2. New capabilities that make it easier for customers to simplify data management, and optimize database and big data workload performance.
The Nutanix Cloud Platform will deliver unstructured data tiering from on-premises to cloud, up to two times the storage performance for database workloads, and three times the performance for big data workloads without requiring complex reconfiguration, as well as Nutanix Data Lens, a new unstructured data governance service.
In addition, Nutanix Era will deliver one-click storage scaling for database management across hybrid multicloud environments.
How does this help organizations that want to simplify their cloud operations?
Businesses move to the cloud for simplicity, so every cloud solution should deliver on that promise. Organizations rightfully want cloud on their terms – they want the freedom of choice to run any application on any cloud, with the flexibility to move workloads between their private or public clouds without compromising on security and performance. However, dealing with siloed teams, multiple vendors, clouds and cloud providers can make management extremely complicated, so with these new features, we focused on addressing the common challenges that many enterprises face in hybrid multicloud environments. The new features enable built-in networking, DR and security which would have otherwise complicated the process further by involving additional skills and software/hardware solutions.
Also, thanks to the rise of the digital economy, data has become an organization’s most valuable asset. Today, data silos and mismanagement can cost an organization growth opportunities and open it up to costly security breaches. A rise in remote working and digital services has only increased the amount of data generated at the edge. Now, customers are not only asking for simplified management of these large volumes of data, they are also asking for flexibility in how they store it一both structured and unstructured. The new features on our cloud platform cater to these needs.
Concerns about security have grown over the past year- how can Indian enterprises enhance cloud security when dealing with multiple vendors and cloud providers?
With cloud security, organizations are not dealing with a singular entity but instead an ecosystem of IT administrators, processes and policies, as well as security solutions. Due to this, cloud security needs to be customized to address individual situations and ingrained into the culture of each organization.
Since there has been a rise in cyber attacks since the pandemic, more enterprises are adopting a zero-trust approach to security. The zero-trust model treats everything as equal – with the assumption that any user, application, or location, can be compromised. Zero-trust is implemented through segmentation and user policy controls, along with the ability to monitor and update those controls automatically. This is why having a hybrid multi-cloud environment is ideal – it doesn’t just have security built-in from the infrastructure, but can offer enterprise-wide visualization as new apps are deployed or scaled. Upcoming features in the Nutanix Cloud Platform will eliminate the common challenge of developing security policies that are both efficient and effective by enabling automated zero-trust security policies.
Ultimately as more businesses realize the potential of cloud, they must at the same time establish a multi-layered, ‘defence in depth’ strategy- from the platform, to application and networks, and finally through SecOps, compliance and audits.
What are your customers in India prioritizing, and what are the areas in which you see the most growth?
We work with customers in India to not only modernize their data centers but also to expedite their digital and IT transformation journey. Flexibility is a priority for all businesses today – not just in terms of the technology itself but also how it is consumed. A lot of customers want the flexibility of moving from on-premise to the cloud swiftly when needed, which is why subscription is the way to go. Should any businesses want to move their data to the public cloud or back on-premise at a moment’s notice, they should have the option of doing this conveniently and at a limited cost. The subscription model allows companies to do this seamlessly.
The next phase of innovation and growth will be in automation – automation of databases, automation of security, automation of applications. Our customers in every sector, including BFSI, Government, IT/ITeS, Manufacturing, etc., are looking at how automation can complement their operations so that they can deliver to their customers at the rapid pace of business today.