NetCitadel Delivers Software-Defined Security for Cloud, Virtual

NetCitadel is launching itself onto the market with a security orchestration virtual appliance the company promises will eliminate the manual configuration of changes in cloud, virtual and physical infrastructures, thereby freeing up IT administrators’ time and reducing the chance of human-created errors.

The OneControl Security Orchestration Platform is a virtual appliance that does the hundreds or thousands of systems changes that happen over a year, but it does it without the need for interference from an IT administrator. According to Mike Horn, co-founder and CEO of NetCitadel, one of the company’s early customers does in excess of 10,000 changes to its different infrastructures every year. With cloud continuing to take off (and some claim this will be the year cloud comes into its own), it’s not unbelievable to believe the number of annual systems changes for that company could approach 50,000.

“For us, it’s all about bringing rich intelligence and information into the environment. That was really the nexus and the reason we started the company,” Horn told Talkin’ Cloud.

Anthony James, vice president of marketing of NetCitadel, explained that OneControl deploys on-premise or in the data center as a virtual appliance, but then it reaches out to all of the virtual, physical and cloud systems that a business uses. To configure it, IT administrators simply point OneControl at the existing systems and security devices, and then it takes inventory. When changes happen, such as virtual machines going up and down, or cloud instances being spun up or put to rest, OneControl is intelligent enough to note the changes and automatically makes its own configuration changes.

OneControl is a new product line—the platform itself, as well as the Virtual Security Module and the Cloud Security Module. The modules, of course, are necessary to link virtualized and cloud infrastructure into the platform, so right up front, a lot of companies are going to need to purchase all three launch products.

Stil, according to Horn, the platform will reduce the exposure to risk that businesses are facing today and make it simpler to manage overall security. For instance, many businesses deal with cloud security issues through workarounds, which pokes holes in firewalls and causes a lot of problems for organizations’ security posture and compliance, Horn said. OneControl was designed to alleviate those problems.

For the channel, the opportunities are still coming. NetCitadel launched as a direct sales company, but Horn noted that he’s already having some conversations with prospective, security-focused channel partners. Give it time, and NetCitadel will have a hybrid sales model.