President’s Club 2020 did not disappoint this year. The 2020 Winners enjoyed a four-day, three-night trip to Atelier Playa Mujeres, Mexico. The team spent time playing golf, at the spa, swimming, relaxing in beach cabanas, sand volleyball, and more. Congratulations to all of the winners!
Interested in learning more about our culture and career opportunities? Learn more here.
The internet has evolved for nearly three decades, driving fundamental changes in IT infrastructure in every era. A closer look at the history of that evolution gives us a glimpse of how the current Web 3.0 era is reshaping IT infrastructure and helping IT leaders adapt their own strategies accordingly.
Web 1.0 was the first stage of the internet revolution during the 1990s. User bandwidth was generally slow (dial-up) and almost exclusively wired. Content and data were generated by a relatively small number of parties. There was little sensitivity to latency because applications were not real-time, consisting mostly of static web pages and emails. The dominant computing platform of the time was the PC, which was used in a client-server model. Much of the underlying infrastructure of the internet was centralized to a small number of backbone networks and exchange points (MAE-East, MAE-West, etc.).
In the early 2000s, we moved into the Web 2.0 era. The first widely available broadband access arrived in the form of DSL and cable connections and users could access the web via their mobile devices for the first time as well (albeit not at broadband speeds). Where relatively few parties created content in Web 1.0, the arrival of the first social media networks and blogging in Web 2.0 suddenly mean every person could be a publisher, significantly accelerating data creation.
The arrival of video and VoIP applications suddenly highlighted the importance of latency in networks. Enterprises began to move away from a pure client-server compute model and embrace internet-hosted applications as well as the first software-as-a-service models. Later in the decade, the virtualization of hardware spawned the first cloud-computing platforms.
These trends triggered an evolution in the IT infrastructure of the internet. Instead of a handful of network exchange and content-hosting points, we saw the arrival of the first third-party data centers and neutral interconnects. And the first CDNs arrived on the scene to help push content closer to end uses and reduce latency.
With Web 3.0, IT infrastructure will undergo an even bigger evolution. Ubiquitous 5G access will mean most of us have a faster broadband connection on our phones than we do in the office. The ever-expanding Internet of Things (IoT) trends means not only is every person creating content, but everything is now generating data and doing so everywhere imaginable. Applications like augmented/virtual reality and robotics are demanding ultra-fast network response with less than 10-millisecond latency. Where PCs and centralized clouds dominated the compute landscape in former eras, small, embedded edge computing devices are the primary compute platform of Web 3.0.
In response to this new era of the internet, IT infrastructure is evolving in two fundamental ways:
1. Infrastructure is becoming much more agile and software-driven. We’re moving away from traditional telecommunications-based models, where assets and connections were once physical entities, provisioned slowly, and managed by the provider. Now, thanks to digitally-driven models, these same assets are increasingly virtual, provisioned instantly and on-demand, and managed by the users themselves.
2. We are now seeing a shift to a geographic, localized edge model that provides faster, better services to customers, consumers, and end users. But it’s important to note that the edge is not simply a matter of geography or distance; instead, it’s a ubiquitous edge that can exist in different modes. Sometimes the edge will be geographic, extending from Tier 1 cities to more rural markets. It may also be application-specific, depending on a company’s core business and application latency sensitivity, which can vary depending on whether it provides content, networking, or computing.
Understanding these changes, and how to adapt to them, will be the key to capitalizing on all that Web 3.0 has to offer. One approach we’re developing here at DataBank is the concept of a “digital asset allocation” strategy, whereby IT leaders can dynamically adjust their infrastructure among platforms, interconnections, technologies, and edges to best meet their needs.
In parts two and three of this blog series, we will take a closer look at both these Web 3.0 infrastructure evolution trends and how they will fundamentally change the experience of consuming IT infrastructure. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about our “Digital Asset Allocation” strategy, check out our recent article in Data center Frontier: Digital Asset Allocation Strategy and Web 3.0
After much anticipation, PCI DSS 4.0 is finally expected to arrive in mid-2021. Do you know how the updates will affect your organization? If not, you’ve come to the right place. This quick guide will help you better navigate the PCI DSS waters and help keep your organization afloat. From Point-to-Point encryption to Software-based Pin entry, and everything in between, PCI DSS 4.0 has got it covered. Let’s Dive In.
Since PCI DSS version 3.2, the technology utilized by today’s organizations to accept and process credit card payments has seen substantial changes and evolved at a rapid pace. As expected, Cybercriminals have adjusted to meet those changes and upped the ante, introducing new threats to exploit vulnerabilities in the payment systems and processes. PCI DSS 4.0 seeks to ensure data security controls are effective through these changes. This starts with creating Strong Key Objectives that include:
• Continuing to provide the critical foundation for securing payment data
• Promoting security as an ongoing process
• Improving flexibility for organizations with a wide range of technologies
• Enhancing validation methods and procedures
In addition to updating the objectives, PCI DSS 4.0 takes on the risks associated with contactless payments, including those processed by merchants with commercial off-the-shelf mobile phones and tablets. Other trends PCI DSS covers include cloud adoption, new software development practices, and increased dependency of third parties in the payment process. It was necessary for PCI DSS to adapt to these trends to avoid being outdated.
Lastly, PCI DSS added several critical updates to which organizations should pay special attention. These additions provide better direction and more insight than the previous version on certain topics, such as authentication and cloud environments.
Critical Updates include:
• Sampling – Sampling guidance will be included for assessors to validate controls are in place consistently across the entire population.
• Cloud Environments – Requirements will be more accommodating for technologies, such as cloud hosting services.
• Authentication – This provides more flexibility for authentication techniques and changes to MFA requirements
• Risk Assessment – The requirement seeks to ensure this process isn’t used as a checkbox.
• Security Awareness Training – Training on threats, such as phishing and social engineering, will be required for end-users.
• Scoping – More testing and documentation will be required for confirmation of scope accuracy and completeness, and validation of processes.
With these impending changes, organizations should take the necessary steps to increase awareness and put a plan in motion for the new version of changes that will directly affect them. It is important to note that controls under the current version should be maintained, and organizations should steer clear of early drafts of PCI DSS 4.0 (Wait until the final version is released). Now that you have this information, go forth and conquer PCI DSS 4.0. Have any questions? Contact us!