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VMware announced new solutions and expanded partnerships designed to help customers accelerate their digital 
transformation adoption of the Software-Defined Edge. Building upon the recently introduced VMware Software-Defined Edge, these innovations and new integrations are intended to help customers to simplify, better secure, and modernize their edge environments, and include:
New VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator telemetry capabilities for better visibility of edge workloads.
Introduction of Intelligent Assist for the VMware Software-Defined Edge to simplify the operational experience across multiple stakeholders.
An expanded collaboration to enable VMware SASE customers to use Microsoft Security Copilot.
New Workflow Hub for VMware Telco Cloud Automation to support the rapid rollout of cell sites.
Initial integration with Symantec to better secure the software-defined edge.
VMware defines the software-defined edge as distributed digital infrastructure for running workloads across a number of locations, close to endpoints that are producing or consuming data. It extends to where the users and devices are – in the office, on the road, in a cell site, or on the factory floor. VMware addresses all three layers of the software-defined edge: the top edge compute layer that hosts the applications and workloads; the intelligent overlay where SD-WAN and security services run; and the underlay network layer, which runs the software for network connectivity across fixed and 5G networks to provide orchestration and network programmability.
Gaining Insight into Edge Workloads with VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator
To further operationalize edge workloads, VMware announced new VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator telemetry capabilities to provide insight and visibility into edge workloads, identify end devices, and make available contextual information across workload, compute, and network to accelerate problem resolution. VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator will provide unified management for VMware SASE and the VMware Edge Compute Stack—an offering to bridge the gap between edge networking and edge compute.
Simplifying the Operational Experience at the Edge with Generative AI
Edge computing is going mainstream as enterprise application deployments accelerate at the edge. But as enterprises and service providers transform their edge environments, they can expect several challenges: edges that are too complex with Internet of Thing (IoT) devices, edge-native applications, users, and infrastructure; tool proliferation leading to fragmented insights; and gaps in budget, staff and skillset that lead to poor operational experience.
To help customers and partners address those challenges, VMware is unveiling Intelligent Assist for VMware Software-Defined Edge to operationalize connecting, securing, and managing workloads, users and IoT devices at the edge. Based on generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the solution is expected to extend the power of VMware Edge Intelligence (formerly VMware Edge Network Intelligence) to accelerate automation, shrink the skillset gap, and speed up resolution. VMware Intelligent Assist is a family of generative AI-based solutions trained on VMware’s proprietary data to simplify and automate all aspects of enterprise IT in a multi-cloud era.
Further Securing the Edge with Microsoft Security Copilot
Beyond operations, VMware will further help customers incorporate generative AI technology into their software-defined edge architectures. VMware announced that it has joined the Microsoft Security Copilot partner private preview. Microsoft Security Copilot is a generative AI-based tool that helps customers to quickly detect and respond to threats and better understand the threat landscape overall. VMware and Microsoft will collaborate to offer VMware SASE customers the option to share insights from their SASE deployment with Microsoft Security Copilot. VMware’s participation in the Microsoft Security Copilot partner private preview will help to augment the security events the tool learns from to include network perimeter security information.
New Symantec Integration to Help Strengthen Edge Security
To deliver consistent security across all edge locations, applications, users, and devices, VMware announced initial integration with Broadcom Inc.’s Symantec. VMware has extended its Security Service Edge (SSE) orchestration integration to include Symantec Cloud Secure Web Gateway (SWG) (formerly Web Security Service). With this new integration and planned evolution, VMware expects to deliver an additional single-vendor SASE option with additional best-in-class networking and security capabilities.
Further information on ARC’s coverage of industrial IoT edge hardware and software is available here.