Hewlett Packard (HPE) Introduces Data-centric IoT Security

　　Palo Alto, CA-based tech giant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE - Free Report) surprised the RSA Conference 2017 crowd yesterday by introducing a new service that will help organizations protect their data across the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. The company launched HPE SecureData for Hadoop and IoT, which it claims is “designed to easily secure sensitive information that is generated and transmitted across Internet of Things (IoT) environments, with HPE Format-preserving Encryption (FPE).”

　　The service features the industry’s first-to-market Apache NiFi integration with NIST standardized and FIPS compliant format-preserving encryption technology to protect IoT data at rest, in transit and in use.

　　Derived from the National Security Agency's Niagarafiles project, Apache NiFi is an integrated data logistics platform for automating the movement of data between disparate systems. It provides real-time control that makes it easier to manage the movement of data between any source and any destination. The platform enables business users, security and risk architects to graphically design and manage data flows in their IoT or back-end environments.

　　The HPE SecureData NiFi integration helps “organizations to incorporate data security into their IoT strategies by allowing them to more easily manage sensitive data flows and insert encryption closer to the intelligent edge.”

　　Security Issues Cast a Cloud Over IoT Implementation

　　IoT connects our household or commercial items to a wireless network by embedding them with electronic, software, or sensor technology. This network of devices allows us to take the next step into a wireless world that relies less and less on direct human-to-computer interaction.

　　In the technology sector, IoT is believed to be the next major market. The Internet of Things is definitely present in our everyday lives right now, but there is a lot more room to grow. Market research firm IC Insights’ predictions validate this belief. IC Insights had predicted that Industrial IoT implementation revenues will approximately double to $29.6 billion by 2019 from $15.4 billion in 2015.

　　However, security is currently posing a major barrier to the successful adoption of IoT. Highlighting the survey conducted by Gartner Inc. (IT - Free Report) , Hewlett Packard Enterprise revealed that 35% of the respondents have named security as a major concern for IoT success, while 32% have cited cost and funds as other top hurdles.

　　In the recent years, the world has seen a number of attacks on connected car, connected camera vulnerabilities, and DDoS. Many enterprises see this as just the beginning and consider it a major concern going ahead when it comes to deploying IoT across their networks.

　　Bottom Line

　　Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s newly introduced HPE SecureData for Hadoop and IoT will come to the aid of enterprises.  As per Albert Biketi, Vice President and General Manager of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Data Security segment “HPE SecureData enables business users to easily build data security in, delivering persistent protection in IoT and big data ecosystems, and allowing organizations to securely innovate.”

　　We believe that the recently launched HPE SecureData for Hadoop and IoT will soon attract enterprises, thereby boosting Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s revenues and simultaneously encourage the adoption of IoT across enterprises.

　　At the RSA Conference 2017, which started on Feb 13 and will run through Feb 17, HPE SecureData is going to be the most talked about product.

　　It should be noted that the company has taken a number of restructuring initiatives since its split from HP Inc. (HPQ - Free Report) in Nov 2015. In our opinion, although the company is still struggling to determine its true business focus, its turnaround strategies, which include trimming down businesses, lowering costs through job cuts and making some strategic acquisitions, are in the right direction.

　　This is evident from the last four quarterly results in which it surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate twice while matching the same on the other two occasions.

　　Investors are also encouraged by the initiatives undertaken by the company, as evident from the share price appreciation in the last one year period. In the said period, shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise gained 95.8%, outperforming the Zacks categorized Computer-Integrated Systems industry’s gain of 56.2%.

　　Currently, Hewlett Packard Enterprise carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

　　A better-ranked stock in the Computer-Integrated Systems space is Fortinet Inc. (FTNT - Free Report) , which sports a Zacks Rank #1. The stock has an estimated long-term EPS growth rate of 20.6% and has witnessed upward estimate revision for 2017 and 2018 in the last 30 days.

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