Lenovo Set to Close Acquisition of IBM’s x86 Server Business

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and Armonk, New York – 29 Sep 2014: Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that conditions for Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s x86 server business have been satisfied and the parties anticipate they will begin closing the transaction effective on October 1, 2014. The acquisition will make Lenovo the third-largest player in the $42.1 billion global x86 server market.[i]

Lenovo is acquiring System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, blade networking and maintenance operations. IBM will retain its System z mainframes, Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers, PureApplication and PureData appliances.

“With the close of the x86 acquisition, Lenovo will add a world-class business that extends our capabilities in enterprise hardware and services, immediately making us a strong number three in the global server market,” said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo. “Now, our priorities are to ensure a smooth integration and deliver a seamless transition for customers. By combining Lenovo’s global reach, efficiency and operational excellence with IBM’s legendary quality, innovation and service, I am confident that we will have competitive advantages to help us drive profitable growth and build Lenovo into a global enterprise leader.”

HP Launches Industry’s First SDN App Store, Unleashing New Wave of Networking Innovations

PALO ALTO, Calif., HP today announced the general availability of the HP SDN App Store, launching a new wave of open, software-defined networking (SDN) innovation for customers and partners.

The HP SDN App Store provides HP’s ecosystem partners a go-to-market platform together with consulting and support services that will enable customers to uncover the business value of SDN.

IDC predicts that the market for SDN network applications will reach $1.1 billion by 2017,(1) increasing network application vendors’ need for a scalable open marketplace to monetize their innovations. As the first enterprise-grade SDN application ecosystem in the market, the HP SDN App Store redefines the networking business model, offering the developer community a centralized platform connecting to customers around the world. Customers can now easily discover, learn and purchase specific network applications and download them to their environment for testing and live deployment.

“Our customers are eager to transform their network architecture into a competitive advantage, and SDN applications make that possible,” said Antonio Neri, senior vice president and general manager, Servers and Networking, HP. “With the HP SDN App Store, we have completed the final piece of the SDN ecosystem by offering a vibrant, robust marketplace of innovations that supports more than 5 million users and provides support to customers as they migrate to SDN.”

Redefining an open, SDN-enabled application ecosystem

With major industry technology transitions for enterprises to address, such as security, cloud, mobility and big data, SDN is essential for paving the way to customer success in networking. HP remains focused on building an ecosystem of partners to create solution-driven applications that bring value and simplicity to customers. Examples of these offerings include the HP Virtual Application Networks (VAN) SDN Controller, which has been downloaded more than 3,000 times, and HP SDN Software Development Kit, which has been downloaded more than 5,000 times.

The HP SDN Application Store offers independent software vendors an easy way to bring creative solutions to market, enabling IT managers who embrace SDN architecture to solve their unique network challenges through these applications.

To help customers easily navigate the HP SDN App Store, HP will offer four different categories of applications defined by their support and test process:

• The HP Circle, with applications built and tested exclusively by HP.
• The Premium Circle, containing applications that are top sellers and jointly tested by HP and its partners.
• The Partner Circle, encompassing applications that have been self-tested by HP partners and reviewed by HP.
• The Community Circle, offering open-access and community-supported applications to demonstrate open source and concept SDN applications.

Introducing the first wave of applications

As part of the HP SDN App Store launch, HP is introducing six partner applications, in addition to two applications developed by HP:

• BlueCat DNS Director delivers network-driven enforcement of DNS policies that allow security infrastructures to gain complete visibility and control through IP address management data across all devices and applications.
• Ecode evolve™ is an SDN orchestrator that facilitates dynamic service provisioning with built-in quality of service and denial-of-service mitigation. Streamlining network design, change simulation and automated policy provisioning, it accelerates operations.
• F5 BIG DDoS Umbrella allows customers to implement network, application, DNS and SSL DDoS protection near the network edge, closer to the attacker.
• GuardiCore Defense Suite provides highly scalable, SDN-based network security for software-defined data centers, detecting and mitigating advanced persistent threats, malware propagation and insider attacks, at an early stage.
• KEMP Adaptive Load Balancer Application, integrated with the HP VAN SDN Controller solution, provides end-to-end visibility of network paths for optimal routing of applications across the server and switching infrastructure.
• Real Status Hyperglance is a hybrid cloud and SDN simplified-management platform that provides a unified, full-scale, interactive topology view with 360-degree navigation, intuitive monitoring and context-aware controls for confident insight and action.
• HP Network Protector enables automated network posture assessment and provides real-time security across OpenFlow-enabled network devices.
• HP Network Optimizer for Microsoft Lync enables automated provisioning of network policy and quality of service to provide an enhanced end-user experience.

“The HP SDN App Store offers a platform for customers to see real, high-value use cases of SDN that can benefit their organization,” said Thomas Borrel, vice president, Strategic Alliances, BlueCat. “Customers can easily access and deploy innovative solutions like BlueCat DNS Director to solve real business problems that legacy infrastructures cannot, and gain the complete visibility and control only IP Address Management can provide.”

Integrating multiple SDN apps

Available now from HP Technology Services, HP Trusted SDN Security Deployment helps customers successfully integrate, deploy and support multiple SDN security apps on their production network, getting simplified, coordinated security with surgically precise control. This deployment is part of HP’s end-to-end Trusted Network Transformation approach for a safe journey to an SDN-enabled network without impacting business continuity. Information on additional SDN consulting and support services — such as SDN Application and Controller Services and HP Foundation Care and Proactive Care — is available on the HP SDN App Store.

Supporting channel partners through the HP SDN App Store

HP’s channel partners play an end-to-end role in supporting customers on their transition to SDN. Upon purchasing SDN-enabled architecture, customers will work with channel partners to determine the right SDN applications for their environment, and will receive a discount code to be used in the HP SDN App Store.

HP at Interop New York 2014

HP will demonstrate the HP SDN App Store and available applications Sept. 29–Oct 3 in booth No. 121 at Interop New York. HP’s networking products and SDN Apps are also powering theInteropNet Data Centers, a multivendor, high-speed network that serves the SDN lab, exhibitors and attendees at the event.

Availability

The HP SDN App Store will be generally available on Oct. 1.

HP’s premier EMEA client event, HP Discover, takes place December 2-4 in Barcelona.

Media contacts

• John D’Avolio, HP

  john.davolio@hp.com

Check Point Protects Customers Against Shellshock

San Carlos, CA  Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the internet, today announced that it has issued an IPS protection against the GNU Bourne Again Shell (Bash) ‘Shellshock’ Vulnerability, securing the integrity of its customers’ network data.

Check Point released an IPS update to block exploits from Shellshock this morning. For more information, see: sk102673 – Check Point Response to CVE-2014-6271 Bash Code Injection and CVE-2014-7169.

“Check Point issued an IPS protection this morning to detect and block attempts to exploit the vulnerability. We recommend that all of our customers make the update immediately in order to secure their networks,” said Dorit Dor, vice president of product at Check Point Software Technologies. “Shellshock leaves many systems vulnerable to attack, with a global impact that reaches far beyond any other network vulnerability.”

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) writes: “A critical vulnerability has been reported in the GNU Bourne Again Shell (Bash), the common command-line shell used in most Linux/UNIX operating systems and Apple’s Mac OS X. The flaw could allow an attacker to remotely execute shell commands by attaching malicious code in environment variables used by the operating system.” (1)

“Check Point will continue to monitor and access the Shellshock vulnerability, and will issue additional protections for our worldwide partners and customers as needed,” concluded Dor.

(1) US-CERT Alert (TA14-268A), GNU Bourne Again Shell (Bash) ‘Shellshock’ Vulnerability (CVE-2014-6271/7169), https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA14-268A

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Citrix Extends Software-Defined Workplace Vision

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – This week Citrix announced to more than 100 industry analysts the next stage in its vision for empowering people to work better. Leading analysts from firms such as Forrester, Gartner and IDC listened as Citrix president and CEO Mark Templeton reiterated the company’s core belief that “work is not a place” and highlighted how software-defined storage, datacenters, networks – and now the software-defined workplace – are helping customers accelerate the path to a mobility-transformed business. Templeton highlighted how innovation around this industry imperative supports the company’s 25-year commitment to making IT simpler and people more productive.

As IT has rapidly moved through the web, cloud and mobile eras, people, apps and info have become increasingly more mobile. With the trend toward “software-defined everything” (SDx), the IT function has evolved into a strategic service delivery provider for desktops, apps and data. By extending SDx to the entire workplace, Citrix is helping to reinvent how people work, enabling them to seamlessly communicate and collaborate across any device or location, and gain borderless access to relevant data through contextual security. As a result, meetings, communications, apps, support, desktops, networks and servers become strategic virtual tools for business mobility regardless of the type of cloud or infrastructure from which they originate. Above all, a software-defined workplace transforms traditional physical places and resources into an all-digital virtualized workspace that delivers consumer-like experiences to all users.

The software-defined workplace drives both human and business outcomes, resulting in dramatic improvements across multiple dimensions for customers. For the workforce, it means increased productivity and maximized job satisfaction. In fact, recent research from McKinsey Global Institute estimates that optimizing workflows and increasing collaboration via software-based solutions by even 20 percent can save workers up to 200 hours per year¹. For the workplace, it speeds change by making onboarding easier for both new hires as well as in mergers and acquisitions; optimizes human capital costs by generating higher levels of employee engagement; accelerates leadership insights into work patterns, tools and flows for greater efficiencies; improves disruption and disaster readiness; and reduces carbon footprints of offices, equipment and commuting-related travel.

Citrix enables customers to build and operate a software-defined workplace by providing them a complete range of mobile workspace apps and delivery infrastructure solutions that inspire delight and are intelligently integrated, fully secured and always available. The design principles of Citrix solutions are people-centric with the goal to deliver value that is greater than the sum of its parts – in sharp contrast to competitive offerings which, in many cases, are a loose assembly of products originating in the datacenter and solely focused on virtualizing the infrastructure “plumbing” such as physical servers, networks and storage. By enabling customers to leverage its solutions for app and desktop virtualization, mobility management, networking and cloud services to enable a software-defined workplace, Citrix will further extend its leadership in transforming the way IT services are delivered, managed and consumed.

FireEye Introduces New FireEye App for Splunk Enterprise

Sep 25, 2014 – FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE), the leader in stopping today’s advanced cyber attacks, today announced the new FireEye App for Splunk® Enterprise. The FireEye App for Splunk Enterprise leverages Splunk’s unique big data capabilities to more rapidly detect advanced threats targeted against organizations of all sizes.

Drawing on data from the FireEye Threat Prevention Platform – Network, Email, Content, and Endpoint Security, as well as FireEye Forensic Analysis – the FireEye App for Splunk Enterprise allows organizations to visualize internal and external threats and unearth threat patterns in FireEye data by leveraging Splunk Enterprise’s ability to correlate multiple data sources from across their IT infrastructure.

“As the threat landscape becomes even more layered and complex, FireEye and Splunk are expanding our relationship and accelerating collaboration around advanced threat protection,” said Steve Pataky, vice president of global channels & strategic alliances, FireEye. “Together, FireEye and Splunk give organizations the expertise and intelligence to make organizations more resilient to modern attacks.”

“Analyzing machine data from across an entire organization and utilizing advanced threat intelligence is key to strong security,” said Colin Savage, vice president of business development, Splunk. “The alliance between Splunk and FireEye helps our joint customers better identify malicious activities, potentially reducing the impact of breaches from months to minutes.”

“As threat groups get more sophisticated we recognize the need to provide visibility across our IT and security systems so we have a complete picture of a potential attack,” said Sheryl Hanchar, senior manager cyber network defense and incident response, Broadcom. “The combination of Splunk and FireEye provides our incident responders with the capability to rapidly analyze incident data, correlate the indicators to identify affected systems, and respond in near-to-real-time.”

The FireEye App for Splunk Enterprise is designed to help secure enterprises with the following features:

• Holistic view on the security posture. Combine, integrate and correlate FireEye data with all other data, including FireEye meta-data, malware events, and data on known and new threats. Data in Splunk Enterprise includes machine data from IT and business systems distributed across the enterprise.
• Shorten Incident Detection and Reporting. Respond to incidents faster and streamline reporting by aggregating FireEye original data and long-time horizon events.
• Unified, Interactive User Experience. Visualize and analyze data across multiple FireEye platforms through a single Splunk interface with extensive search capabilities, risk prioritization, and threat trends to shorten security response times and streamline reporting needs.
• Determine Malware Impact in the Organization. The FireEye App for Splunk Enterprise provides insight into raw data about malware, allowing customers to drill down into patterns, alerts and data across the enterprise and show the impact of malware events on the rest of the organization.

The new FireEye App for Splunk Enterprise can be found here: http://apps.splunk.com/app/1845/

Media Contact :
Vitor De Souza
FireEye, Inc.
vitor.desouza@fireeye.com
(415) 699-9838

Investor Contact
Kate Patterson
FireEye, Inc.
kate.patterson@fireeye.com
408-321-4957