VMware uses Rackspace for SASE security service, solving edge data center challenges

SASE is Gartner’s name for secure access service edge, which is a combination of networking and security services that are primarily delivered through a cloud-based delivery model. SASE offerings, in theory, help simplify network management by offering highly customizable policy-based control that can be tailored by user identity, session context, and application needs for performance and security.

Unifying services and delivering them in a SaaS model for customers means deploying software in as many data centers as need (meaning near customer locations) dictates.

DC in a Box from Rackspace provides end users with data center colocation and managed services for compute infrastructure, connectivity and supply chain logistics. All of this is sourced through a single service provider relationship and gives end users — VMware in this case — an entirely OpEx-based procurement model. Rackspace is partnering on the data center side with the likes of Digital Realty, Equinix, Iron Mountain Data Centers, Zenlayer and with Dell for hardware. A total of 20 locations with Rackspace are planned, with 15 going to market first and five slated for later phases. VMware will provide SD-WAN and integrated security capabilities delivered from other cloud-based services.

The data center locations are in: North America (Mexico City, Miami), South America (Bogota, Buenos Aires, São Paulo), Europe (Amsterdam, Warsaw), APAC (Auckland, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo) and MEA (Dubai, Mumbai, Tel-Aviv, Johannesburg).

Securing users in a distributed world

VMWare says its SASE platform is built to solve the problem of securing applications with increasingly distributed workloads and end users. A firewall placed in front of the application in a centralized environment is simply not enough, and SASE aims to provide security at the endpoint and over the network to clouds, data centers and other VMware SASE PoPs. VMware’s technology analyzes the traffic and optimizes where it goes.

Analysis

VMware is partnering with Rackspace to enable computing at the edge as it builds out a global footprint with its various service provider partners. This partnership creates an interesting opportunity for Rackspace. It will build a CapEx-oriented product that has the potential to drive uptake in public cloud services and integration with other traditional infrastructure. That complexity is there for Rackspace to manage and monetize through managed services. Better still, there are a number of companies with similar SASE offerings that are also expanding their data center footprints, meaning Rackspace should continue to seek out customers in the fast growing security services market.

About the author

Phil Shih is Managing Director and Founder of Structure Research, an independent research firm focused on the cloud, edge, hosting and data center infrastructure service provider markets.

DISCLAIMER: Guest posts are submitted content. The views expressed in this post are that of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of Edge Industry Review (EdgeIR.com). 

Article Topics

edge data center  |  firewall  |  Gartner  |  networking  |  SASE  |  SD-WAN  |  security  |  VMware. Rackspace