Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Highlight launches Application Visibility (AppVis™) to secure and deliver insight into cloud apps across the enterprise

Guildford, UK – 20 September 2016: Highlight launches Application Visibility (AppVis™) so enterprises can see and understand how their vital applications are performing, particularly the growing use of unauthorised cloud apps. Visibility is the first step in ensuring corporate data is well managed and helps to prevent accidental loss of information or security breaches.

AppVis™ is one element in Highlight’s new Application Awareness™ suite of tools that delivers insight into the performance of business critical applications, wherever they’re hosted. It helps to manage shadow IT and contain cloud sprawl, and ensures that every customer interaction is a good experience.

Presented in visually accessible charts, the cloud-based Highlight AppVis™ service automatically audits an IT estate to reveal every app, its location and usage patterns. With its friendly, concise and simplified reports, Highlight is not just for those who run the network, it is ideal for business level audiences.

Richard Thomas, CEO of Highlight says, “It is so easy for individuals to sign up to a cloud app with a credit card and expose a corporations’ information. Seven out of ten UK workers use cloud technologies that are not supervised by their company* and nearly one in four organisations have no idea which “unofficial” apps are running on their IT infrastructure**. Organisations need to know what is happening and we can give them that insight, so that they can start from an informed position when deciding on cloud usage. Our aim is to help organisations to embrace cloud services and frame policies so people can use apps in a compliant, governed way.

“This is a major shift in thinking,” he adds. “People no longer need to get hysterical about cloud security but rather use services like Highlight to help them manage this new world. In fact, more organisations are becoming aware that there are many valuable apps available in the cloud that can benefit their operations. With Highlight AppVis™ they can be fully aware of the apps being used and then develop security policies to ensure those apps are governed, compliant and budgeted correctly.”

Service Providers and their Enterprise Customers can both view and understand the same information on Highlight AppVis™ to help deliver improved consistency, clarity, transparency, predictability and accountability.

Highlight AppVis™ is built on Cisco’s latest Application Visibility and Control (AVC) solution.

AppVis™ leverages multiple technologies to recognise, analyse, and control over 1000 applications, including voice and video, email, file sharing, gaming, peer-to-peer (P2P), and cloud-based applications.

Note to editors:

* Seven in ten workers in the UK are using cloud technologies that are not managed or supervised by their company (Source: Cloudstanding.co.uk, May 2016).
**Nearly one in four organisations (72%) have no idea which “unofficial” apps are running on their IT infrastructure (Source: Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Jan 2015).

Ends

About Highlight
For over sixteen years, Highlight has been giving Enterprises clear, fast visibility into the performance of their technology – their public-facing websites, business-critical applications, and IT infrastructure.

As well as delivering visibility and analytics, we help our enterprise customers manage the growing list of relationships they have with external providers. By improving these conversations, we strengthen these relationships and allow both sides to move forward confidently with projects to expand, deploy new technologies and transition to the cloud.

Highlight is delivered to enterprises through our service provider partners, who range from Tier 1 providers with turnovers in the tens of billions, to boutique VARs with a headcount of twenty. They value Highlight’s fast and easy deployment, its simple pricing structures, the OPEX subscription-based format for predictable costs and the ability to scale with customers’ needs. The results include clarity of service delivery, reduced churn, improved customer advocacy and efficient cost management.

The Highlight service is used in 90 countries, on 6,000 enterprise networks including 40% of the FTSE-100.

For further press information, please contact:
Fiona Cousins,
PR to Highlight
T: 01252 850182
E: fiona@osmo.co.uk