Nebulon - Experts & Thought Leaders

Nebulon, Inc.®, the pioneer of cyber-resilient smartInfrastructure™ for data centers edge to core, announced its next-generation Medusa2 SPU. It is the first and only converged infrastructure data processing unit (DPU) to unify storage, cyber and networking services on a secure, cloud-managed, server-embedded PCIe card. The Medusa2 SPU marks the first time enterprises and service providers can unify enterprise data services, cyber and network services, and server lights-out management integration, all on a single DPU. This innovation eliminates the substantial server CPU overhead and cybersecurity risk associated with hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) software, effectively freeing up more processor cores and equating to a 25% reduction in software licensing costs, data center space & power consumption. DPU market growth More firms are probing the DPU-assisted hyperscale data center architectures for on-premises keys Enterprises and service providers have infrastructure that needs to remain on-premises, particularly for edge deployments, but desire the infrastructure efficiency and security developed by hyperscalers. Given the limitations of existing alternatives, more enterprises are exploring the DPU-assisted hyperscale data center architectures for on-premises solutions based on current DPU market growth estimates, expected to reach $8.11 billion by 2028.  This growth, further supported in research by Gartner, suggests that (DPUs) “can reduce the number of servers and hypervisor licenses by 10% to 30% and may also decrease the number of application software licenses.” Gartner has also stated, “pulling security out of the server (operating system) reduces the software-based surface area for attack.” Nebulon Secure Enclave The next-generation Nebulon ‘Medusa2’ SPU is a PCIe Gen 5 DPU leveraging the NVIDIA BlueField-3 Networking Platform. Similar to hyperscale approaches, the SPU establishes a secure zone in the server separate from the operating system and applications, known as the Nebulon Secure Enclave, delivering key efficiency, security, and sustainability benefits particularly when compared to HCI solutions.  Storage, network, and cyber services, along with server management, are completely unloaded Storage, network, and cyber services, along with server management, are completely offloaded from server resources onto 16 powerful Arm-based processors and 48 GB of memory on the Medusa2 card. This reduction in overhead on server CPUs and memory means customers can support up to 33% more application workloads per server, effectively lowering server and software license costs, as well as reducing data center space and power requirements, by up to 25%. Nebulon Medusa2 SPU The Nebulon Medusa2 SPU is the operating system and application agnostic and does not require any additional drivers or software agents to be installed on the server. With the Nebulon ON cloud control plane, enterprises can benefit from the operational efficiencies offered by cloud-scale automation and fleet management of their application infrastructure—which is especially attractive for organizations with edge deployments. Nebulon Medusa2 SPU provides unified infrastructure services on a single DPU: Enterprise Data Services including data reduction, data protection, and NVMe over fabrics (NVMe-oF) Cyber Services including immutable boot/reboot from a trusted image, real-time in-line threat detection, and 4-minute ransomware recovery NVIDIA ConnectX Ethernet NIC features and hardware acceleration Server Lights-out Management integration with Dell PowerEdge, HPE ProLiant, Lenovo ThinkSystem, and Supermicro Ultra servers. Operating system support and integrations with VMware vSphere, Microsoft Windows Server, and Linux bare metal/containers NVIDIA BlueField-3 Networking Platform Computing technologies that advance data center security and operational efficiency are revolutionizing “Accelerated computing technologies that advance data center security and operational efficiency are revolutionizing every enterprise, powered by a new wave of infrastructure,” said Rob Davis, Vice President of Storage Technology at NVIDIA. “The NVIDIA BlueField-3 Networking Platform helps companies like Nebulon transform traditional servers into accelerated, secure, efficient, and sustainable infrastructure that unleashes groundbreaking innovations." New Medusa2 SPU "Enterprises have been demanding a hybrid cloud operating model that more closely resembles the hyperscalers, but have been faced with subpar options at best,” said Siamak Nazari, CEO at Nebulon.  “With our new Medusa2 SPU, we help our customers get one step closer to achieving this goal, and can deliver it in a secure, unified package.”

Nebulon, Inc.®, the pioneer of cyber-resilient smartInfrastructure™ for data centers edge to core, announced TripLine™, a new threat detection service designed to alert customers when a cryptographic ransomware attack has been detected, as well as the precise location and point-in-time the attack occurred. The company also announced smartDefense, a cybersecurity solution that narrows threat vectors, detects ransomware attacks, and accelerates recovery. Despite the growing awareness about the dangers of ransomware—nearly two-thirds (63%) of the codebases in production have unpatched vulnerabilities rated “High” or “Critical” according to the March 2023 Unit 42 Cloud Threat Report. The same report also cites an average response time of approximately six days to a security alert, whereas it only takes a few hours for threat actors to start exploiting a newly disclosed vulnerability.  Two parts of the Nebulon solution Nebulon TripLine is the first combined server-storage threat detection solution for ransomware Nebulon TripLine is the first combined server-storage threat detection solution for cryptographic ransomware. The new smartInfrastructure service can identify attacks on application data as well as the operating system and application software.  TripLine is enabled within two parts of the Nebulon solution: (1) the Nebulon Secure Enclave, an isolated infrastructure domain that includes all server lights-out management, data services, boot and data volumes, and attached SSDs, and (2) the Nebulon ON cloud control plane. Nebulon ON cloud Machine learning (ML) runs in the Secure Enclave and identifies encrypted versus unencrypted blocks in real-time. Every 30 seconds, these results are sent to the Nebulon ON cloud, which uses a combination of ML and statistical models to compare that data to the historical average of encrypted blocks for a given volume. A spike in encrypted blocks will generate an alert within a few minutes of the first suspicious result.  “As a provider of Electronic Medical Records and Practice Management solutions, HIPAA compliance is a top priority for our organization and our clients,” said Hamid Amjadi, CTO of Prime Clinical Systems. “Nebulon’s new ransomware detection service, combined with their existing recovery features, helps us better protect patient privacy and should be a checklist item for any healthcare provider looking to bolster HIPAA compliance.” HCI operating system HCI provides no isolation between infrastructure services and application services, particularly cyber-attacks  Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), which provides no isolation between infrastructure services and application services, is particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. When the HCI operating system (OS) becomes infected, data services become unavailable and the disks that store snapshots protecting application data become compromised, making fast recovery impossible. This leaves enterprises with no choice but to re-install and reconfigure operating systems and clustering software, then recover application data from backup servers which also likely have been compromised—a process that can take days or even weeks. Nebulon TripLine   Unlike HCI, Nebulon TripLine enables performant ransomware detection and recovery of the entire physical infrastructure without resorting to re-installation or backups. Combined with Nebulon ON, enterprises can benefit from push-button, API-accessible recovery of all affected volumes using TimeJump, Nebulon’s 4-minute ransomware recovery service.   Nebulon also announced smartDefense, a new smartInfrastructure solution for narrowing threat vectors, detecting ransomware breaches, and accelerating recovery. smartDefense is intended to complement what organizations have in place for their cybersecurity framework, adding a solution for the deep server-storage application infrastructure.  Nebulon ImmutableBoot smartDefense detection and recovery capabilities leverage Nebulon TripLine and Nebulon TimeJump smartDefense protection relies on Nebulon ImmutableBoot, which maintains a known good version of the operating system and application stack within the Secure Enclave of every server. With every reboot, the server reverts to this trusted software instance, eliminating errant firmware updates or dormant malware in the process.   smartDefense detection and recovery capabilities leverage Nebulon TripLine and Nebulon TimeJump. TimeJump can rapidly recover operating systems, application configurations, and data, reducing recovery time from days to less than 4 minutes for multiple clusters simultaneously. With the addition of TripLine to the smartDefense solution, customers can precisely identify the point of attack within their infrastructure and revert to a secure state using TimeJump, resulting in a significant reduction in overall threat response and recovery time. Author's quote “The focus is shifting from perimeter-level protection to comprehensive solutions that cover the entirety of an organization's infrastructure, and there are woefully few options to protect the server-storage infrastructure,” said Siamak Nazari, Nebulon CEO. He adds, “Since powerful detection and recovery services are architecturally built-in, not bolt-on, CISOs and CIOs should demand such capabilities be an inherent part of any modern infrastructure deployment.”

From July 27 to July 29, 2021, Super Micro Computer, Inc.’s (Supermicro) three-day Open Storage Summit 2021 is a virtual event bringing together industry experts and thought leaders in server storage technology and data center applications, in order to discuss and present the latest developments in software-defined storage. The Open Storage Summit 2021 is the leading online conference for innovations in all the latest storage technologies, groundbreaking ideas, and compelling insights on future storage trends. Open Storage Summit 2021 Open Storage Summit 2021 will commence with keynote presentations from Nutanix, Intel and Supermicro executives Supermicro’s Open Storage Summit 2021 will commence with keynote presentations from Nutanix, Intel, and Supermicro senior executives on the latest software-defined storage (SDS) technology developments for enterprise, data center, and multi-cloud infrastructure, and an overview of Supermicro’s expansive storage system product lines. Keynote presenters include: Charles Liang - the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of Super Micro Computer, Inc., Rajiv Ramaswami - the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nutanix, Tarkan Maner - the Chief Operating Officer (CCO) of Nutanix and Alper Ilkbahar, the Vice President (VP) & General Manager (GM), Data Center Memory and Storage Solutions at Intel. Live panel discussion and sessions on SDS technology In addition to a live panel discussion on SDS technology, led by IDC, each day, there will also be SDS technology sessions that feature Commvault, Intel, Nebulon, NVIDIA, OSNexus, Panasas Quantum, Red Hat, Rozo, Seagate, and WekaIO. What: Supermicro Open Storage Summit 2021 Where: Virtual When: July 27, 2021 - North America/EMEA –10:00 AM PDT / 19:00 PM CEST / Asia-Pacific-July 28, 2021- 10:00 AM GMT+8; July 28, 2021 - North America/EMEA –10:00 AM PDT / 19:00 PM CEST / Asia-Pacific-July 28, 2021- 10:00 AM GMT+8; and July 29, 2021 - North America/EMEA –10:00 AM PDT / 19:00 PM CEST / Asia-Pacific-July 28, 2021- 10:00 AM GMT+8. All sessions and information will remain available online for one year.