Five Steps For Securing The Data Center: Why Traditional Security May Not Work

Data center administrators face a significant challenge: They need to secure the data center without compromising the performance and functionality that new data center environments enable. Many are looking to secure the data center using solutions designed for the Internet edge, but these solutions are not enough. The data center has unique requirements around provisioning, performance, virtualization, applications, and traffic that Internet-edge security devices are simply not designed to address.

Securing the data center requires a solution that can:

•     Provide visibility and control over custom data center applications
•     Handle asymmetric traffic flows and application transactions between devices and data centers
•     Adapt as data centers evolve: to virtualization, software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV), Cisco Application-Centric Infrastructures (ACIs) and beyond
•     Address the entire attack continuum: before, during, and after an attack
•     Integrate with security deployed across the entire network
•     Support geograpically dispersed inter-DC traffic and deployments, including private, public and cloud environments