FireHost Selects VMware NSX to Innovate Unique Secure Cloud Services That Protect Healthcare, Payment and Other Highly Regulated Industries

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - April 27, 2015) - VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today announced that secure managed cloud provider FireHost is implementing the VMware NSX™ network virtualization platform as a key component of its highly secure cloud infrastructure. With VMware NSX, FireHost is enhancing its security posture by establishing a software-defined data center to deliver secure managed cloud services that protect companies in healthcare, payment, and other highly regulated industries.

FireHost protects sensitive data for some of the biggest companies in the world, including organizations that must comply with HIPAA, PCI, and other regulatory standards. FireHost was seeking to extend the same automation and agility they achieved with compute virtualization to the network. After evaluating numerous hardware-defined and software-defined offerings, FireHost selected VMware NSX.

"Our approach is unique in the cloud provider industry," said Jason Rieger, Principal Cloud Architect for FireHost. "Our cloud was born secure and is purpose-built for security and compliance. We partnered with VMware because their vision for security and networking is aligned with ours. We believe VMware NSX is the most mature and extensible network virtualization solution in the market today. It's that extensibility that will enable us to continue innovating and expanding our own intellectual property so that our security differentiation always meets our customers' evolving security needs."

FireHost will leverage the built-in security benefits of VMware NSX-isolation, micro-segmentation, advanced security service insertion-to offer customers greater protection and reduced risk in a multi-tenant environment. VMware NSX isolates virtual networks from any other virtual network, and from the underlying physical network by default. With micro-segmentation, FireHost can programmatically provision network and security services and policies for tenant workloads, including segmentation and firewalling at Layer 2 and Layer 3, and enforce those policies at the virtual network interface This helps address the issue of threats entering the cloud and moving laterally (east-west) within the tenant environment, or even between two different tenants. Finally, through the VMware NSX platform's extensible support for third-party security services, FireHost can quickly add advanced security layers to meet various risk and compliance requirements for customers.

"VMware NSX takes all the security and network configuration and logic of the network that was previously confined to rigid hardware and moves it up into software to allow us to programmatically shape and mold our environment," Rieger said. "With NSX, we can onboard customers and perform the necessary moves, additions, and changes to their services more quickly than ever before. We represent what a secure cloud provider should be, and this technology is a critical part of our differentiation from commodity providers to help manage the security and compliance needs of our customers."

VMware NSX -- The Platform for Network Virtualization
VMware NSX is software that virtualizes the network to deliver the entire networking and security model from L2-L7 in software. The platform decouples the network from the underlying hardware, yet takes advantage of the existing network infrastructure without changes to enable new levels of service delivery speed, agility and cost reductions. VMware NSX delivers a completely new operational model for networking and security that breaks through current network barriers and enables data center operators to achieve better agility and improved economics.

Additional Resource

• Learn how to #VirtualizeYourNetwork
• For more information, visit the VMware NSX network virtualization platform web site
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About VMware
VMware is the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build, deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013 revenues of $5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.

VMware and VMware NSX are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other
company.