Scytale Acquisition Beefs Up HPE’s Edge-To-Cloud Security Arsenal

‘We recognize that every organization that operates in a hybrid, multi-cloud environment requires 100 percent secure, zero trust systems, that can dynamically identify and authenticate data and applications in real-time,’ says HPE Cloudless Initiative General Manager Dave Husak.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Monday stepped up its edge to cloud security march with the acquisition of Scytale, maker of a breakthrough open source security platform that runs across on premise, cloud and container based infrastructure.

Terms of the deal were not released.

Dave Husak, an HPE fellow and general manager of the company’s “Cloudless Initiative,” said in a blog post that San Francisco-based Scytale – which bills itself as a provider of service identity management for the cloud native enterprise- will play a “fundamental role” in HPE’s plans to deliver a dynamic, open, and secure edge-to-cloud platform.

“This acquisition will provide our customers and partners the freedom to design, deploy, and achieve their IT operational goals, regardless of supplier or location, with the same level of trust that was previously achievable only through proprietary network-security schemes,” said Husak, the founder of software defined data fabric networking provider Plexxi- which HPE acquired two years ago,

“Customers need a seamless edge-to-cloud architecture and experience that is also autonomous, open, and secure,” said Husak. “However, legacy and proprietary security models have failed to scale and keep pace in an ecosystem that is increasingly API-driven, containerized, dynamic, and spans from edge-to-cloud.”

HPE Hybrid IT President Phil Davis said that the acquisition furthers HPE’s ability to provide a “secure and open experience” from the edge to the cloud. “Every company operating in a hybrid, multi-cloud world needs to be confident that their data is 100 percent secure,” he said in a LinkedIn post.

The Scytale team of cloud native security experts are the founding contributors of the open source SPIFFE (the Secure Production Identity Framework for Everyone) and SPIRE (the SPIFFE Runtime Environment) projects to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

“SPIFFE and SPIRE form the backbone for scalable, seamless service authentication,” said Husak. “They are poised to become the de facto standards for identifying and securing enterprise workloads across cloud, container, and on-premises infrastructure.”

HPE Partners said the acquisition provides a next generation security authentication architecture in a market where customers are facing a constant barrage of security threats.

“The number of attacks and intrusions we are hearing about in the last six months is unprecedented,” said Mike Vencel, president of Comport Consulting an HPE Platinum partner, No. 333 on the CRN SP500. “The two things that are at the top of the list that customers want to talk about are security and cloud. This acquisition addresses both of those.”

Vencel sees the deal as a “massive game changer” in terms of securing and authenticating applications and workloads from the edge to the data center to the cloud. “This is another key strategic piece in the puzzle that HPE has put together to build out its hybrid IT strategy,” he said.

Vencel credited HPE CEO Antonio Neri with driving innovation across the software stack that sets HPE apart from competitors. “Building a cloud ready software defined architecture with security authenticating across all the different workloads and data locations with containers is a complex riddle to solve,” said Vencel. “With this acquisition, HPE has taken another big step in rounding out its next generation hybrid IT portfolio.”

Vencel said he sees HPE moving faster than competitors to deliver a next generation software defined experience. “Everything HPE is doing is all about making their offerings simpler, faster, more secure and easier for customers,” he said. “HPE has done a very good job of streamlining and simplifying its portfolio.”

As for the the impact on sales in the field, Vencel said the software defined portfolio is resonating with customers. “We are seeing significant acceleration from the intelligent edge with Aruba to the storage portfolio and big rapid hockey stick growth with Synergy and SimpliVity,” he said. “HPE is firing on all cylinders right now.”

Paul Cohen, vice president of sales for New York-based PKA Technologies Inc., one of HPE's top Platinum partners, said the Scytale acquisition provides more technology firepower for partners to add value to customers grappling with digital transformation.

“This is another big differentiator,” he said.”It gives us the ability to deliver secure digital transformation especially in this age of continued security stress and pressure on end users. This is going to help us provide solutions that allows those customers peace of mind so that when they go to bed at night they aren’t worried about being the target of the next big breach.”

Key to the success of acquisitions like Scytale, said Cohen, is the in the field technology enablement from the local HPE Channel team led by HPE Channel Sales District Manager Brian O’Connor. “That strong technology enablement and open communication is key to our success in the field,” he said.

Husak pledged that HPE will continue to “embrace and contribute” to open source projects in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and elsewhere as it continues its transformation.

“Our goal is to deliver services and products that advance these developments, and provide our customers and partners with the fastest-possible path to application modernization,” he said. “A great proof-point of this is the recently launched, Kubernetes-Certified HPE Container Platform, derived from our recent acquisitions of MapR (key contributors to a number of Apache Foundation projects) and BlueData.”

Scytale co-founders Sunil James, Emiliano Berenbaum, and Andrew Jessup, in fact, are leading figures in the open source movement, said Husak.

“As HPE progresses into this next chapter, delivering on our differentiated, edge to cloud platform as-a-service strategy, security will continue to play a fundamental role,” promised Husak. “We recognize that every organization that operates in a hybrid, multi-cloud environment requires 100 percent secure, zero trust systems, that can dynamically identify and authenticate data and applications in real-time. We also recognize that the open source community, which every day advances an endless array of projects designed for an open, multi-cloud, micro-services driven world, are at the forefront of writing code that delivers true zero trust, highly secure systems.”