Redefining the network edge

The enterprise network edge has been an evolving infrastructure, as many applications have become web-enabled in addition to the increasing demand for enterprise data from business partners and other third parties. The requirement for access to enterprise data is being driven by the need for the enterprise to outsource portions of their provided services, an example being the calculation of shipping costs for an e-commerce transaction. Traditionally, the sources of enterprise data may have resided in the internal trusted segments of the network, but this is changing with new opportunities provided by cloud-based offerings and collapsed virtualized DMZ implementations.

A newer internal network trend is a "trust no one " model, where the internal data systems are firewalled and protected at the same level as a typical DMZ implementation. In order for the internally secure zone to maintain restrictive access policies, a virtualization technology may be implemented...