Symantec Envisions Future Clouds as Safe Clouds

Symantec has recently announced its vision for safe, agile and efficient clouds: in five years, companies will operate in a converged IT world of cloud, virtualization and mobile computing where clouds are safe. IT organizations will have better visibility, control and compliance across their private and public clouds. To get there, Symantec extends its security, data storage and information management expertise to help companies transition to safe clouds of the future.

Today, the cloud landscape is rapidly changing. A survey conducted by Symantec shows that, between public, private and hybrid deployments, 23 percent of business information globally is being stored in the cloud. (Symantec 2012 State of Information Report: Digital Information Index, full report available on November 13, 2012)

“The industry recognizes that protection and information management technologies found in traditional IT are accelerating cloud advancements. Companies are looking for secure private and public clouds that ensure their data and people are protected,” according to David Mitchell Smith, vice president & Gartner Fellow at Gartner Research.

Advanced cyber attacks by governments and crime syndicates will likely target highly profitable data centers and high profile clouds. In the face of these new challenges, organizations of all sizes will need a rigorous cloud approach and industry leading partners to help navigate through the cloud complexities. Symantec understands what companies need and will help them successfully migrate into safe clouds.

“Symantec has proven solutions with industry leading technologies to protect companies, information and people,” said Francis deSouza, group president, Enterprise Products and Services, Symantec. “Wherever companies go with clouds, Symantec will provide the protection and control they need across public and private cloud environments.”

“Fujitsu and Symantec share a vision where cloud computing provides the competitive advantages, flexibility and protection our global customers need,” said Cameron McNaught, senior vice president, Cloud and Strategic Solutions, Fujitsu International Business. “Fujitsu recently completed a global survey of cloud decision makers and found 76 percent of respondents had concerns about cloud security. Symantec and Fujitsu together recognize the current challenges that organizations face when pursuing cloud deployments and together can help them move to the cloud with confidence.”

Symantec Vision for Safe Clouds

• Explosion of many interconnected clouds, architectures and cloud-connected devices

  The proliferation of cloud-based applications and services will continue to grow as information explodes across IT networks, public and private clouds, mobile devices and other connected endpoints. Companies are shifting to hybrid cloud environments operating in public and private clouds, either hosted on premise or off premise. The cloud complexities increase specifically around protection, data management and control.

• Clouds of the future will be safe, agile and efficient

  With safe clouds, companies will transition confidential customer and sensitive business information to the clouds. They will realize the full cloud benefits of increased security, data control and availability while users experience greater productivity and mobile-to-cloud accessibility. In contrast, clouds will deliver improved scalability, affordability and compliance as compared to traditional data centers.

• Clouds will be the new norm

  IT will build new clouds and infrastructures from the ground up. Important workloads will shift from on-premise to off-premise clouds. Companies will reap cloud benefits, cost savings and advanced protection as new business models, new use of technologies and new ways to interact with information become available. As cloud computing advances, a need arises for specialized skills, policies and architectures. Companies will experience new demands around IT risk and compliance, governance, data privacy and regulatory requirements.

To achieve this safe clouds environment, the IT industry needs to enforce rigorous cloud strategies around the protection of policy, information, people and infrastructures.

“Staying competitive and servicing our banking customers is a top priority for Citizens Business Bank,” said Elsa Zavala, executive vice president and chief information officer, Citizens Business Bank. “We see cloud services as a major advantage for our business, associates, partners, and customers. Symantec provides the expertise, cloud training and integrated safe cloud solutions, leveraging our infrastructures, to deliver on our cloud strategies.”