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Radware Survey Finds ADCs Move Beyond Load Balancing Into Critical Security Role for Enterprises

Radware Survey Finds ADCs Move Beyond Load Balancing Into Critical Security Role for Enterprises Image Credit: Radware

Radware, a leading provider of application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers, released findings from a new research report, titled “ The Expanding Role and Importance of Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs),” which reveals that ADCs are assuming a growing role as critical security controls and as a defense-in-depth security strategy for enterprises. The research also found that ADCs are increasingly deployed as virtual appliances at an increasing rate and taking advantage of ADC functionality from the network through the application layer.

Radware partnered with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), a leading IT research, analysis, and strategy firm, to conduct the collaborative research project, focusing on the current utilization and future strategies of ADCs. Respondents included 243 IT professionals in North American enterprise organizations with more than 1,000 employees.

According to the study, ADCs have become a critical security control as enterprises fine-tune security policy and enforcement. Many organizations are using ADCs as an added layer of defense beyond perimeter security devices (e.g., firewalling, IDS/IPSs, network segmentation) – nearly half (49 percent) of organizations leverage the security capabilities on all ADCs, while 44 percent leverage the security capabilities on ADC-supported applications containing sensitive data. The report said that this trend will continue to gain momentum in the next few years – 76 percent of organizations expect their use of ADC security capabilities/functionality to increase in the future.

  • The study also found that organizations are deploying ADCs as virtual appliances at an increasing rate and taking advantage of ADC functionality from the network through the application layer. While physical ADCs are still most common, two-thirds of organizations have deployed a combination of physical and virtual ADCs. 

Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst, ESG
Many IT professionals still think of ADCs as hardware-based load balancers, but this new research indicates a more evolved scenario. Organizations now rely on ADCs as an important part of their overall security strategy, and like other layers in infrastructure, ADCs are moving from physical to virtual – providing added and necessary flexibility in network management.

David Aviv, vice president of advanced services, Radware
ADCs can be programmed and fine-tuned at the IT infrastructure, security policy and even business level, providing a degree of flexibility that is difficult or impossible to implement in other IT technologies. Findings from our research suggest that enterprise organizations can be creative with their ADC deployments – for performance tuning, application-specific services, and critical system protection. CIOs, CISOs, application owners and network engineers need to be aware of the benefits and flexibility of ADC implementation.

Author

Ray is a news editor at The Fast Mode, bringing with him more than 10 years of experience in the wireless industry.

For tips and feedback, email Ray at ray.sharma(at)thefastmode.com, or reach him on LinkedIn @raysharma10, Facebook @1RaySharma

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