In this community interview, Herb Kelsey discusses Project Zero, an endeavour by Dell focused on creating a highly secure system for the market, based on work originally developed by the United States Department of Defense.

Project Zero aims to implement a Zero Trust security model into the market after thorough incubation and testing. The discussion delves into the limitations of prior security implementations and the need to ensure seamless integration and protection of data, which is emphasised as a top priority.

Herb highlights the challenges of integrating various point solutions that result in a lack of a coherent view of the organisation’s security landscape. Dell addresses this issue by taking on the integration burden for customers and ensuring constant system updates to meet security standards.

Moreover, safeguarding data in conventional hyperscale environments presents challenges. This is due to their extensive existing operational infrastructure and potential constraints in furnishing essential information required for a successful Zero Trust implementation.

Through Project Zero, Dell is focusing on building a composed system that starts small and can be iteratively expanded, avoiding a disruptive “big bang” transformation. The importance of data security is emphasised, with a call to prioritise data protection over convenience and the potential for enhanced user experiences and reduced costs through secure systems.

The integration of generative AI within the Zero Trust model highlights how AI can significantly contribute to enhancing security and protecting critical data sources within this framework.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Project Zero is Dell’s initiative aimed at creating a highly secure system for the market, drawing from the U.S. Department of Defense’s work, with a focus on Zero Trust security.
  • The challenge with previous security implementations lies in integrating diverse point solutions, often leaving systems disjointed and necessitating risky upgrades to current environments.
  • Data protection is a paramount concern, and Project Zero’s approach involves building a scalable Zero Trust system, beginning with a small-scale deployment that can be expanded iteratively, catering to the organisation’s pace and priorities while safeguarding data effectively.
Contributors
Peter Hind Principal Research Analyst at ADAPT
Peter Hind has spent the last 25 years as an analyst and commentator on the ICT industry. ​ His primary areas of interest... More

Peter Hind has spent the last 25 years as an analyst and commentator on the ICT industry. ​

His primary areas of interest are the potential of technology to transform the way organisations operate, the change management obstacles executives encounter in realising this potential, as well as the tactics and techniques leaders have deployed to overcome these difficulties.​

Peter now takes on multiple roles within ADAPT including the moderation of private events and roundtables, interviewing business executives about the strategies they are pursuing and assisting with the structuring of delegate surveys.​

He also interrogates and analyses ADAPT’s treasure trove of end-user and C-suite data.​

Less
Herb Kelsey Industry CTO – Government, Project Fort Zero Team Lead at Dell Technologies
Herb is the Project Fort Zero team lead and Industry CTO Government at Dell Technologies. He has and extensive multi-decade career beginning... More

Herb is the Project Fort Zero team lead and Industry CTO Government at Dell Technologies. He has and extensive multi-decade career beginning as a GE trained engineer and manager, and subsequently as a successful software entrepreneur, an IBM trained architect, IBM’s first CTO for Cyber Security, and the Chief Architect for a US Department of Defense’s mission support agency’s global portfolio.  

Herb supported the Intelligence Community around the world post 9/11, designing secure clouds, secure networks, and agency-wide mission infrastructures. He was deployed to create the operational watch for our National Counter Terrorism Center and invent analytics for social media intelligence. Herb participated in joint R&D activities, including the system that became IBM Streams. In the commercial arena, Herb has designed healthcare data analytics for the affordable care act, implemented cognitive solutions for IBM Watson and applied blockchain to secure software supply chains for globally distributed IoT devices. 

Less
Data Modernisation Cloud