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Cisco Reimagines Security for Data Centers and Clouds in Era of AI 

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News Summary:
Cisco powers and secures AI-scale data centers and clouds, safeguarding every application and device regardless of distribution or connectivity.

  • In today’s highly distributed landscape, the window from vulnerability to exploitation is shrinking rapidly.
  • Defending against this complex threat environment is beyond human scale.
  • Cisco Hypershield enables customers to deploy security wherever needed: in the cloud, data center, factory floor, or hospital imaging room.
  • With AI-native security, customers can autonomously segment networks, enjoy distributed and instant exploit protection without patches, and experience self-qualifying software upgrades with zero downtime.

News in Detail:
Cisco, the leader in security and networking, today unveiled a radically new approach to securing data centers and clouds in response to the increasing demands the AI revolution has put on IT infrastructure. Cisco is rearchitecting how we harness and protect AI and other modern workloads with industry-first, Cisco Hypershield. With this unprecedented innovation, Cisco is tipping the scales in favor of defenders, building on its recent announcements to accelerate AI infrastructure with Cisco’s ethernet switching, silicon and compute portfolio.

Cisco Hypershield protects applications, devices and data across public and private data centers, clouds and physical locations – anywhere customers need it. Designed and built with AI in mind from the start, Hypershield enables organizations to achieve security outcomes beyond what has been possible with humans alone.

“Cisco Hypershield is one of the most significant security innovations in our history,” said Chuck Robbins, Cisco Chair and CEO. “With our data advantage and strength in security, infrastructure and observability platforms, Cisco is uniquely positioned to help our customers harness the power of AI.”

Hypershield is a revolutionary new security architecture. It’s built with technology originally developed for hyperscale public clouds and is now available for enterprise IT teams of all sizes. More a fabric than a fence, Hypershield enables security enforcement to be placed everywhere it needs to be. Every application service in the datacenter. Every Kubernetes cluster in the public cloud. Every container and virtual machine (VM). It can even turn every network port into a high-performance security enforcement point, bringing completely new security capabilities not just to clouds, but to the data center, on a factory floor, or a hospital imaging room. This new technology blocks application exploits in minutes and stops lateral movement in its tracks.

“AI has the potential to empower the world’s 8 billion people to have the same impact as 80 billion. With this abundance, we must reimagine the role of the data center – how data centers are connected, secured, operated and scaled,” said Jeetu Patel, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Security and Collaboration at Cisco.

“The power of Cisco Hypershield is that it can put security anywhere you need it – in software, in a server, or in the future even in a network switch. When you have a distributed system that could include hundreds of thousands of enforcement points, simplified management is mission critical. And we need to be orders-of-magnitude more autonomous, at an orders-of-magnitude lower cost.”

Security enforcement with Hypershield happens at three different layers: in software, in virtual machines, and in network and compute servers and appliances, leveraging the same powerful hardware accelerators that are used extensively in high-performance computing and hyperscale public clouds.

Hypershield was built on three key pillars:

AI-Native: Built and designed from the start to be autonomous and predictive, Hypershield manages itself once it earns trust, making a hyper-distributed approach at scale possible.
Cloud-Native: Hypershield is built on open source eBPF, the default mechanism for connecting and protecting cloud-native workloads in the hyperscale cloud. Cisco acquired the leading provider of eBPF for enterprises, Isovalent, earlier this month.
Hyper-Distributed: Cisco is completely reimagining how traditional network security works by embedding advanced security controls into servers and the network fabric itself. Hypershield spans all clouds and leverages hardware acceleration like Data Processing Units (DPU) to analyze and respond to anomalies in application and network behavior. It shifts security closer to the workloads that need protection.

Cisco, with its industry-leading expertise in networking, security and extensive partner ecosystem, together with NVIDIA, is committed to building and optimizing AI-native security solutions to protect and scale the data centers of tomorrow. This collaboration includes leveraging the NVIDIA Morpheus cybersecurity AI framework for accelerated network anomaly detection, as well as NVIDIA NIM microservices for powering custom security AI assistants for the enterprise. NVIDIA’s class of converged accelerators combine the power of GPU and DPU computing, to augment Cisco Hypershield with robust security from cloud to edge.

“Enterprises across all industries are seeking the security that can protect them against ever expanding cyber threats,” said Kevin Deierling, Senior Vice President of Networking at NVIDIA. “Together, Cisco and NVIDIA are leveraging the power of AI to deliver powerful, incredibly secure data center infrastructure that will enable enterprises to transform their businesses and benefit customers everywhere.”

As a revolutionary new security architecture, Hypershield is solving three key customer challenges in defending against today’s sophisticated threat landscape:

Distributed Exploit Protection: Attackers are adept at weaponizing newly published vulnerabilities faster than defenders can patch. With defenders seeing nearly 100 new vulnerabilities every day, according to Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence, this can lead to catastrophic results. Hypershield delivers protection in minutes by automatically testing and deploying compensating controls into the distributed fabric of enforcement points.
Autonomous Segmentation: Once an attacker is in the network, segmentation is key to stopping their lateral movement. Hypershield perpetually observes, auto-reasons and re-evaluates existing policies to autonomously segment the network, solving this in large and complex environments.
Self-qualifying Upgrades: Hypershield automates the incredibly laborious and time-consuming process of testing and deploying upgrades once they are ready, leveraging a dual data plane. This completely new software architecture allows software upgrades and policy changes to be placed in a digital twin that tests updates using the customer’s unique combination of traffic, policies and features, then applying those updates with zero downtime.

Built into the Security Cloud, Cisco’s unified, AI-driven, cross-domain security platform, Cisco Hypershield is expected to be Generally Available in August 2024. With Cisco’s recent acquisition of Splunk, customers will gain unparalleled visibility and insights across their entire digital footprint for unprecedented security protection.

“AI is not just a force for good but also a tool used for nefarious purposes, allowing hackers to reverse engineer patches and create exploits in record time. Cisco looks to address an AI enabled problem with an AI solution as Cisco Hypershield aims to tip the scales back in favor of the defender by shielding new vulnerabilities against exploit in minutes – rather than the days, weeks or even months as we wait for patches to actually get deployed,” said Frank Dickson, Group Vice President, Security & Trust at IDC. “With the number of vulnerabilities ever increasing and the time for attackers to exploit them at scale ever decreasing, it’s clear that patching alone can’t keep up. Tools like Hypershield are necessary to combat an increasingly clever malicious cyber adversary.”

“Cisco Hypershield takes aim at the complex security challenges of modern, AI-scale data centers. Cisco’s vision of a self-managing fabric that seamlessly integrates from the network to the endpoint will help redefine what’s possible for security at scale,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst of ZK Research. “For instance, this level of visibility and control across a hyper-distributed environment prevents lateral movement of attackers, enabled through a unique approach to segmentation that’s autonomous and highly effective. While this may seem fantastical, the time is right given recent AI advances combined with the maturity of cloud-native technologies like eBPF.”

“At AHEAD we believe cybersecurity should be integrated into everything we do. Bolted-on security is more expensive and less effective,” said Steven Aiello, Field Chief Information Security Officer at AHEAD. “Cisco Hypershield ensures that cyber protections are included into the fabric of the enterprise. Distributed Exploit Protection will be a massive win for blue teams – legacy synthetic patching was primarily limited to edge devices, allowing lateral movement once an attacker breached the perimeter. It’s a great day for cyber-defenders!”

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PNY and Do IT Now Form Strategic Partnership at NVIDIA GTC Paris and ISC

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PNY x Doitnow Collab - announcement poster

PNY Technologies, a global leader in cutting-edge hardware solutions (GPUs, storage, networking and software), and Do IT Now, a specialized expert in High Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration and services, are proud to announce a strategic partnership to jointly develop, deploy, and support turnkey HPC and AI cluster solutions for enterprise and research customers.

This collaboration brings together the best of both worlds:

  • PNY’s renowned hardware portfolio, including powerful NVIDIA GPUs, high-performance storage, advanced networking components, and optimized software stack.
  • Do IT Now’s deep expertise in system integration, configuration, deployment, and ongoing HPC and AI operational support.

Together, the two companies will deliver complete, ready-to-use cluster solutions that accelerate innovation, simplify deployment, and ensure optimal performance for organizations looking to harness the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing.

A Joint Vision for Scalable, Ready-to-Deploy Solutions

In today’s fast-evolving AI and HPC landscape, organizations face increasing pressure to deploy scalable, efficient, and cost-effective infrastructure, but many lack the internal resources or expertise to integrate complex hardware and software environments.

By combining PNY’s technical excellence in hardware with Do IT Now’s proven operational and integration know-how, this partnership aims to provide HPC and AI clusters that are fully tailored to customer needs, covering everything from the hardware to the software stack. It also offers expert consulting and support services to ensure smooth deployment, precise configuration, and reliable long-term operations. Together, PNY and Do IT Now deliver scalable, future-proof solutions designed to grow and evolve alongside customers’ workloads and changing business requirements.

Statements from Leadership

“We are thrilled to partner with Do IT Now to bring the next generation of HPC and AI cluster solutions to market,” said Jérôme Bélan, CEO at PNY EMEA. “Their outstanding expertise in system integration and operations perfectly complements our high-performance hardware and software portfolio, allowing us to offer clients complete, ready-to-deploy solutions that accelerate their innovation journey.”

“This partnership is a natural fit,” added Roberto Strano, CCO and co-founder of Do IT Now. “Together with PNY, we can deliver unmatched value to our clients by combining world-class hardware with expert services, ensuring they achieve maximum performance, reliability, and scalability in their HPC and AI projects.”

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AVEVA Awarded 2025 Databricks Manufacturing ISV Partner of the Year at Data + AI Summit

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A group shot of of AVEVA team being recognized as the 2025 Databricks Manufacturing ISV Partner of the Year

AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving innovation and sustainability, is honored to announce it has been named as the 2025 Databricks Manufacturing ISV Partner of the Year. Presented at the annual Data + AI Summit, the award highlights AVEVA’s exceptional contributions to innovations in data-powered manufacturing.

Over the past year, AVEVA, in strategic partnership with Databricks, the data and AI company, launched a ground-breaking integrative solution through its CONNECT industrial intelligence platform that redefines how industrial and enterprise data can be unified, analyzed, and operationalized.

This collaboration addresses one of the most pressing challenges in modern industry: turning vast amounts of siloed operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) data into meaningful insights, while ensuring data integrity, minimizing the development and maintenance costs, and significantly shortening time-to-value.

By using the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform alongside CONNECT, customers can securely unify industrial data with enterprise business systems in an open, governed, and scalable manner via Delta Sharing, Databricks’ open source approach that enables customers to share live data across platforms, clouds, and regions. This enables AI, machine learning, and real-time analytics to be applied to data sets that were historically isolated or underutilized. Manufacturers can now leverage Databricks with CONNECT for smarter decision making, predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, sustainability tracking, safety monitoring and boosted operational efficiency.

“At AVEVA, we’re proud to have established Databricks and Delta Sharing as key foundation-stones of our strategy for our industrial intelligence platform, CONNECT,” said Bry Dillon, SVP of Partners and Commercial Strategy at AVEVA. “Together, we’re enabling our joint customers to access real-time insights, accelerate AI, and deliver tangible outcomes across the industrial landscape. Our partnership with Databricks marks a pivotal moment in the advancement of industrial AI. This collaboration presents a powerful opportunity to accelerate the deployment of AI-driven solutions and drive greater industry-wide collaboration — capabilities that are needed for companies across the industrial sector to stay relevant, remain competitive, and build efficient, sustainable businesses of the future.

“We are thrilled to name AVEVA the 2025 Databricks Manufacturing ISV Partner of the Year,” said Shiv Trisal, Global Manufacturing, Transportation & Energy GTM Leader at Databricks. “As more enterprises leverage data intelligence to solve challenges across the manufacturing and energy industries, AVEVA’s partnership with Databricks is essential to helping organizations everywhere harness the full potential of their data.”

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FUJIFILM seeks to extend role in region’s economic and technological development with new offices at Expo City Dubai

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FUJIFILM

FUJIFILM Middle East and Africa recently announced the inauguration of its new offices at Expo City Dubai, – an innovation-driven, people-centric community designed as a blueprint for sustainable urban living and the new centre of Dubai’s future. The site will also host the FUJIFILM Technology Center (FTC) to support the training of employees, business partners, and end-users in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

FUJIFILM brings world-renowned expertise and innovations to some of the region’s vital sectors. As a global leader in healthcare, imaging and printing technologies, the firm supplies cutting-edge solutions in the UAE such as innovative diagnostic imaging systems helping raise the standard of care in the country and contributing to its development goals. The company is also preparing to launch AI-driven screening centers (NURA) in the region, reflecting its commitment to early detection and better health outcomes.

Over the past five years, FUJIFILM has more than doubled its number of staff across its offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa. The establishment of its new offices in the UAE is part of the company’s future-facing mindset, as well as efforts to increase proximity to end-consumers and key partners. The company also recorded impressive annual performance in 2024 and is looking to repeat the feat this year with an expected double-digit growth.

H.E. Ken Okaniwa, Ambassador of Japan to the UAE, said: “We welcome the inauguration of FUJIFILM’s new offices and Technology Center in Expo City Dubai. This new investment by Japan’s top company in healthcare, imaging and printing reflects the excellent relations between Japan and the UAE as well as the strategic position of the UAE as a global hub for business. I look forward to FUJIFILM’s technologies contributing to better healthcare, promotion of industries and human capacity development.”

Manal AlBayat, Chief Engagement Officer, Expo City Dubai, said: “With its technologies used in vital sectors and its commitment to knowledge-sharing, FUJIFILM’s choice of Expo City Dubai for its new offices and Technology Center reinforces the city’s position as a hub for global businesses driving innovative solutions in the UAE and beyond. We are proud to welcome FUJIFILM to our innovation- and sustainability-focused community – an ecosystem where like-minded entities collaborate to drive meaningful progress.”

The FUJIFILM Technology Center (FTC) is equipped with a comprehensive range of FUJIFILM solutions for live demonstrations, allowing visitors to try and test multiple products and services.

Underscoring the global importance of the center for the company, Masataka Akiyama, President and CEO of FUJIFILM Europe, also stated: “Our investment in the new offices  and FUJIFILM Technology Center is a powerful enabler for product showcases, including a full-fledged center with hands-on training and lectures delivered by professionals in the UAE, Egypt, and Morocco. We are now also inviting imaging and printing experts to our new Dubai office space to facilitate the exchange of ideas and support the delivery of unrivaled solutions to our customers. The FUJIFILM Technology Center will be invaluable asset in the efforts to leverage our rich heritage of innovation and continue to serve as a benchmark for progress in the region.”

Michio Kondo, Managing Director of FUJIFILM Middle East and Africa, commented: “With the opening of our new offices at Dubai Expo City, FUJIFILM is starting the next exciting chapter of our success story in the Middle East. As we look to deepen our contribution to the region’s prosperity and the wellbeing of its people by providing value through innovation and purpose-driven growth, our new space will be a focal point for co-creation, training, new partnerships, and the development of high-tech solutions to help enhance lives and economies.”

At the end of last year, FUJIFILM signed six Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with prominent healthcare and medical institutions in Saudi Arabia. These partnerships aim to enhance healthcare solutions by promoting digitalization, improving efficiency, and delivering better patient outcomes, underscoring FUJIFILM’s enduring collaboration with regional and Saudi organizations. FUJIFILM Middle East and Africa will also extend its commitment to the development of the region’s talent, with plans to introduce new hires to support FTC operations and cement the company’s leading role in knowledge sharing.

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