The startup says it now has nine Fortune 1000 companies in various stages of testing. Candera wouldn't give us the names of these beta testers but says they span across financial, healthcare, high-tech, and distribution industries. Also hammering on the beta unit is In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, which holds a small stake in Candera. In-Q-Tel is working with Candera to ensure that its switch fully meets government security requirements (see Spooks Give Candera a Hand).
For now, Candera still isn't willing to tip its hand about product details. Sundaresh outlines the vision of what the product is capable of -- it's a "purpose-built platform" able to manage multiple terabytes of storage from different vendors, connected to multiple servers running different OSs -- but he refuses to drill down on particulars.
The Milpitas, Calif.-based Candera, which has around 80 employees, expects to directly engage certain customers, but "the goal is to fulfill through OEMs and systems integrator partners," says Sundaresh. He notes that the startup has no signed deals on this front yet.
Adding to the perceived momentum in this space is the fact that Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) last month announced that it plans to use Brocade's Rhapsody platform to stitch together its virtualization strategy (see HP Picks Rhapsody).
But not everyone is sold on the concept of the ber-SAN switch -- including, notably, EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) president and CEO Joe Tucci.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
