While cloud is being put to use in a number of advanced ways, from machine learning to predictive algorithms, many would argue that the best path for the technology’s future is in establishing a broad user base as early as possible, and in finding simple ways to enable that adoption.

At this year’s AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, NV, Hatem Naguib, SVP and GM of the Security Business Unit at Barracuda Networks Inc., joined John Furrier (@furrier) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, to talk about the challenges offered by moving into cloud.

Cloud changes

As the discussion started off, the group took a quick look at the histories of Naguib and Barracuda, and what had drawn them together. Naguib professed a love of Barracuda’s “transformation story,” referring to the ways it had adapted to changes in the tech market over the years, and he noted that its innovations in different fields had been a strong part of what attracted him.

As such, he’s happy to be a part of Barracuda’s latest adaptation as it moves into the cloud services market. He noted that, so far, all of the company’s customers have shown an interest in the possibilities offered by AWS, with security generally being the second-highest point of focus.

In his assessment, as the various cloud services become “more production ready,” an emphasis on enforced security “is the number one aspect that they need” to drive customer confidence and interest. And beyond the simpler applications of cloud services, the interconnectivity of the Internet of Things is offering a tangle of challenges to puzzle out.

Security and development

“The firewall has to be everywhere, so you have to think about every IoT device down to the server,” Naguib noted, addressing Barracuda’s work with Web Application Firewalls as one of the ways in which his company is looking to tackle these problems head-on.

“Many of our customers look to us to manage [security],” he commented. And as the issue of DDoS attacks came up in the conversation, he acknowledged that these days, “You can’t have a product out there that doesn’t have some sort of DDoS protection,” characterizing it as “a critical checkbox” on the list of security concerns that everyone needs to take seriously.

While Barracuda intends to build and maintain secure defenses for its existing services, it is also looking at ways to continue expanding the abilities of its cloud utilities. As Naguib pointed out, “Traditionally, Barracuda has been more small to medium business,” but it is now working on SaaS and web services driven by customer interests across a range of enterprise sizes.

Naguib shared that resiliency in public clouds, on-prem sectioning, and other points focusing on how to best bring cloud capabilities to their users are driving Barracuda’s current developments, but as he explained, much of this is driven by the tools and flexibility of AWS. “[AWS’] ease of use, how easy it is to get stuff up and running, that’s what drives it,” he stated.

Watch the complete video interview, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (*Disclosure: AWS and other companies sponsor some AWS re:Invent segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo by SiliconANGLE