IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh is designed to simplify networking across private clouds, public clouds and edge environments. Credit: Aorpixza / Shutterstock IBM is developing a SaaS package to help enterprises securely network heterogenous environments, including edge, on-prem and multicloud resources. The IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh is a SaaS service that implements a virtualized Layer 3-7 environment to rapidly enable secure connectivity between users, applications, and data distributed across multiple locations and environments, according to Andrew Coward, general manager of IBM’s software defined networking group. In a nutshell, Hybrid Cloud Mesh deploys gateways within the clouds – including on-premises, AWS or other providers’ clouds, and transit points, if needed – to support the infrastructure, and then it builds a secure Layer 3-7 mesh overlay to deliver applications, Coward said. At the application level, the exposure to developers occurs at Layer 7, and the networking teams see Layer 3 and 4 activities, Coward said. “Managing how applications behave across a vast virtualized infrastructure is what we’ve challenged ourselves to go after, and we really wanted to make it a simple, kind of drag-and-drop experience for how businesses connect applications together. So that’s the primary goal,” Coward said. When the service is available later this year, IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh will also employ the DNS traffic-steering capabilities IBM gained when it acquired NS1 earlier this year. The NS1 technology will help the service to find and set up the best connection between clouds and end users and deliver applications that are optimized for performance, cost and availability, Coward said. NS1 brings some important capabilities to IBM’s networking plans, including its global network of high-performance points-of-presence and zero trust, intent-driven traffic steering, which can support a number of features including network segmentation. “We recognize that DNS is a really important control point in the network, and it really doesn’t get used enough to dictate the flows and aggregate traffic, but we will be making that a key part of our mesh strategy over time,” Coward said. As for potential use cases, Coward identified core applications in global banking systems that need to offer cloud sovereignty for the data they access. The Hybrid Cloud Mesh service can be segmented to individual business needs, he said, and it can connect workloads running in multiple clusters in clouds and on premises. “The first use cases we’re seeing [are] around Kubernetes-to-Kubernetes, cluster connectivity, applications like that, which [require] a lot of fairly manual work today that we can easily automate and manage with the new service,” Coward said. “A lot of infrastructure pain points come with new applications and application migration, where businesses want a new way of handling applications that’s easier and less painful, which is what we can do with this service.” Five or 10 years ago, setting up a large enterprise network, including MPLS connectivity and security, took a lot of time and effort, Coward said. “Now, designing and building a global network in this virtual world takes literally an afternoon or morning. It’s a very different construction environment that we’re working on.” IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh service is currently being tested with early customers and should be generally available in the second half of 2023, Coward said. Related content analysis At RSA, Cisco unveils Splunk integrations, Hypershield upgrades At RSA Conference 2024, Cisco announced plans to integrate its XDR platform and Splunk’s SIEM, bolster its Hypershield AI-native security architecture, and add to its Duo access-protection software. By Michael Cooney May 06, 2024 5 mins Network Management Software Network Security Networking how-to Download our Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) enterprise buyer’s guide From the editors of Network World, this enterprise buyer’s guide helps network and security IT staff understand what ZTNA can do for their organizations and how to choose the right solution. By Josh Fruhlinger and Steve Zurier May 06, 2024 1 min Network Security Enterprise Buyer’s Guides news Network jobs watch: Hiring, skills and certification trends What IT leaders need to know about expanding responsibilities, new titles and hot skills for network professionals and I&O teams. By Denise Dubie May 06, 2024 6 mins Careers Data Center Networking feature IBM’s bets on AI and hybrid cloud pay off Three key differentiators of IBM’s AI and cloud offerings are cross-platform automation, integration with multiple clouds, and tie-ins to IBM professional services. By Jeff Vance May 06, 2024 9 mins Hybrid Cloud Network Management Software Cloud Computing PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe