Rackspace adds on-demand networking and enhanced security capabilities to its Hybrid Cloud

“We’re expanding the reach of our hybrid cloud portfolio by giving customers more choices for security and networking solutions to use across their public, private and dedicated cloud environments,” said John Engates, CTO at Rackspace. “To complement our existing physical firewall capabilities, the Brocade Vyatta vRouter now delivers virtual firewall and advanced networking solutions that enable customers to connect their data centers with the Rackspace Hybrid Cloud.”

The Brocade Vyatta vRouter adds to the breadth of Rackspace’s networking solutions, which consist of physical firewalls and load balancers, as well as global traffic management, threat management, web application firewall and log management capabilities in the hybrid cloud. The flexibility to select between physical and virtual devices allows customers to choose the right solution to meet the unique networking and security needs of their business.

The Hybrid cloud also provides customers with a path to grow within Rackspace’s portfolio. Today, customers can leverage virtual appliances and then move to physical devices for networking and security services as their business and application needs evolve.

The Brocade Vyatta vRouter features a variety of capabilities, including:
· VPN: With support for site-to-site and remote access, customers can build a VPN tunnel from their data center to the Rackspace Hybrid Cloud. They can use a standards-compliant VPN device from almost any vendor at the other end of the VPN connection, or provide secure remote access for users to connect to resources in the cloud.
· Firewall: Customers can increase the security of their cloud infrastructure with a network-based firewall that performs stateful IPv4/v6 packet inspection to intercept and inspect network activity, while protecting critical data. The solution also supports zone- and time-based firewalling.
· NAT: Customers can provision application and database servers without public network interfaces, while still allowing these servers to access the Internet for OS updates and patches using Source NAT.
· Routing: By using Cloud Networks, customers can build application tiers on different isolated networks. This appliance allows them to build connectivity between these various isolated networks easily.

With the ongoing threat of cyber attacks, this on-demand solution is ideal for businesses needing to store valuable information. Ecommerce companies in particular are able to leverage the Brocade Vyatta vRouter and its firewall capabilities to enhance security around stored customer data and online transaction information.

“The value of the Brocade Vyatta vRouter is both in the security and cost savings it provides,” said Jack Lopez, chief technology officer at Netcare. “The flexibility of this solution allows us to quickly create a secure virtual firewall that our customers can use to protect their cloud servers from outside threats. This can be done in a fraction of the time it would take to configure a physical firewall solution and it is far more economical.”

Businesses using site-to-site VPN applications will also benefit from the software networking appliance, as it gives them the ability to add more utility-based resources and increase capacity outside their local datacenter, while minimizing costs.

“The strong strategic partnership between Rackspace and Brocade is a testament to our shared vision of an open cloud that enables customers to control not only their applications, but also the networks that service them,” said Kelly Herrell, vice president and general manager of Software Networking at Brocade. “Vyatta is a strategic component of the Brocade strategy for The On-Demand Data Center™, providing businesses with the flexibility and freedom to securely merge their data center with public clouds like Rackspace to form a hybrid solution.”