devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Tag: OpenText

  • OpenText Extends Tool for Auditing Source Code Using Machine Learning

    OpenText Extends Tool for Auditing Source Code Using Machine Learning

    OpenText this week updated a static analysis tool it provides to audit code using machine learning algorithms to provide deeper insights into on-premises IT environments.

    Announced at the OpenText Security Summit 2024 conference, the latest generation of Fortify Audit provides additional artificial intelligence (AI) models capable of learning the unique attributes of custom source code.

    The latest version of Fortify Audit Assistant also adds the ability to detect drift in a model and, if necessary, automatically refresh it. OpenText is now committing to refreshing those models every quarter.

    The discriminant AI model from OpenText enables machine learning algorithms to learn how humans conducted an application audit to then run similar tests on other applications. Previously, Fortify Audit relied on the same core model to audit both on-premises and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications based on data collected by OpenText. Fortify Audit Assistant now provides support for more than 30 language-specific models to improve testing performance.

    Dylan Thomas, senior director for Fortify engineering and product for OpenText Cybersecurity, said this capability ensures that any sensitive data never leaves an on-premises IT environment.

    The overall goal is to streamline the number of alerts that would otherwise overwhelm a DevSecOps team trying to identify the root cause of an issue, he added. For example, Fortify Audit Assistant will identify test code that is not vulnerable because it was never deployed in an actual production environment. That approach makes it easier for DevOps teams to prioritize which vulnerabilities to fix first in their source code using a lightweight AI model that still enables them to deeply scan source code, noted Thomas.

    Historically, DevSecOps teams need to make a trade-off between lightweight approaches and deep scans of source code that is no longer required, he added.

    As regulations pertaining to software supply chain security become more stringent the number of development teams that will be subject to some type of audit is only going to increase. The cost of failing an audit will also inevitably increase as regulatory bodies look to make examples of organizations that are not properly securing their software supply chains.

    It’s not clear how aggressively organizations are embracing best DevSecOps practices to address myriad software supply chain security issues that were highlighted in an executive order issued by the Biden administration to Federal agencies. However, with the rise of AI and other forms of automation, it should become simpler to identify more vulnerabilities before they wind up being exploited in a production environment.

    There will always, of course, be a need to secure production environments because there’s always a probability mistakes will be made. However, given the lax practices many organizations have employed to build and deploy applications, it’s probable the number of vulnerabilities that exist in production environments today is beyond counting. In many cases, the better part of valor might be to replace many of those applications entirely with ones built using DevSecOps best practices.

    Regardless of the path to better application security chose the one thing that is certain is cybercriminals are only going to become even more adept at discovering those vulnerabilities.

  • Old Software Never Dies – But What is it Really Worth?

    Old Software Never Dies – But What is it Really Worth?

    I’ve been thinking about the news from last week that OpenText acquired Micro Focus for what seems to be $6 billion in cash. Mike Vizard did a nice write-up on the news with his take on it here on devopsy.kinsta.cloud (and if you’re interested in the security industry implications, Techstrong Research’s Mike Rothman talked about that, too). While I don’t flat-out disagree with Mike Vizard’s opinions, I do have a slightly different view.

    To me, this is part of a trend we have been seeing from some of the largest tech companies who are sitting on or have access to loads of dry-powder cash. In tougher economic times, cash is king and it is not unusual for the large companies to come in and pick up other companies and lines of business, usually on the cheap. 

    For instance, Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware (though I don’t know that you could call $61 billion cheap). It seems, at first blush, the Micro Focus deal would seem to fit the same kind of bill. I don’t think people believe OpenText overpaid based on these numbers:

    • Total purchase price is 2.2x Micro Focus’ pro forma TTM revenues
    • Total purchase price is 6.3x Micro Focus’ pro forma TTM adjusted EBITDA

    However, I think there’s more here than meets the eye. By OpenText’s CEO’s own admission, it is going to take at least eight quarters (two years) to integrate the Micro Focus portfolio into OpenText’s cloud delivery model.  

    In the meantime, Micro Focus has struggled to maintain profitability and previously announced a $300 million cost-cutting program which will continue with the acquisition. Additionally, the company is saying they will cut another $100 million in costs on top of that; so, a total of $400 million in cuts. 

    Where are the cuts coming from? It’s not like Micro Focus’ broad portfolio of software products are revolutionary new technology—quite the opposite, in fact. Micro Focus, through various acquisitions over the years, has largely scooped up mature product lines from large technology brands that unloaded unwanted or non-strategic software lines-of-business. Of course, the HP/HPE deal was a whole different animal, but the result was not much different. 

    Some mature software came under Micro Focus’ control and Micro Focus has done a decent job of keeping those lines of business turning out what cash they can. They haven’t really “reinvigorated” that software, but have been running out the cycle. Now, OpenText says moving it to their cloud service over the next eight quarters is going to turn things around. I’m skeptical, to say the least.

    I think it will be old software that will be two years older and delivered via the cloud. What must be done goes beyond just putting that software in the cloud—they have to commit to truly relaunching it. Move it to cloud-native architecture; kill some of the older product lines that are near end-of-life and, frankly, which should have been put out to pasture some time ago. Build on the brand equity, sure, but launch some new software.

    At the end of the day, $6 billion is a lot of money—but more money than that has been wasted buying old software in the past. Without a much bolder plan from OpenText, just mumbling about digital transformation and cloud will not be enough to make the Micro Focus portfolio worth anything close to the amount of money they paid for it.

    Like Mike Vizard—and, I am sure, many OpenText investors and Micro Focus users—I will be looking for signs that OpenText are not settling for a lift-and-shift with the old Micro Focus software wrapped in the cloud. It is going to take more than that for this deal to pay dividends. 

    I am not saying it can’t be done. When this deal closes, OpenText will be a software powerhouse with a broad set of customers. Finding new software and services to sell to those customers is the key to this deal.

  • OpenText to Create Software Powerhouse – Acquires Micro Focus for $6B

    OpenText to Create Software Powerhouse – Acquires Micro Focus for $6B

    OpenText this week announced it will acquire Micro Focus for $6 billion. The acquisition is part of an effort to reinvigorate a broad portfolio of information management, application development and testing, integration and cybersecurity platforms by accelerating the rate at which they are transitioned to OpenText’s managed private cloud.

    The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, and the combined company expects to reduce costs by an additional $100 million on top of the $300 million Micro Focus previously committed to cutting as part of an ongoing effort to return to profitability and growth.

    OpenText CEO Mark J. Barrenechea told analysts the ultimate goal is to enable organizations to accelerate their digital business transformation initiatives using a set of application programming interface (API)-centric offerings that reside on a private cloud.

    Digital transformation represents the largest opportunity in the history of computing, he said, but Barrenechea also acknowledged that a lot of companies are still struggling with making that transition. “There has to be a better way to get digital transformation right,” he said.

    The Micro Focus portfolio includes everything from a robotic process automation (RPA) offering, a recently-launched IT service management (ITSM) offering—dubbed Service Automation Management X—along with the Vertica database and LoadRunner testing tools. There is also a slew of cybersecurity platforms that include ArcSight, Fortify, IDOL Zenworks and Sentinel along with legacy COBOL application development tools and even the remnants of Novell.

    In effect, OpenText now has one of the broadest software portfolios in the industry after previously acquiring Documentum, Carbonite, Hummingbird and Zix. “The strategy appears to be to simply gather up all the pieces on the chess board,” said Mitch Ashley, principal analyst for Techstrong Research, an arm of Techstrong Group that is also the parent company of devopsy.kinsta.cloud.

    Despite the disjointed Micro Focus portfolio, OpenText has no intention of selling off any of those offerings, said Barrenechea. Going forward, the strategy is to not only accelerate the transition to the cloud but also expand application license renewal services, he added. OpenText also sees an opportunity to expand the appeal of the Micro Focus portfolio into the small-to-medium business (SMB) market, noted Barrenechea.

    All told, it will take six quarters once the deal is closed to align the Micro Focus business model with the one OpenText currently employs, which Barrenechea said should result in growth starting eight quarters after the deal closes.

    There’s no doubt that, once the deal closes, IT organizations that rely on Micro Focus will be closely watching the level of ongoing investment in the portfolio for any signs of one platform being deemphasized in favor of another. It’s also probable that many customers will be relieved to see the stewardship of those platforms assumed by a company that is on firmer financial footing.

    Regardless of how the OpenText portfolio evolves in 2023, however, one thing that is certain is IT organizations have no shortage of alternatives to consider.

  • OpenText Migrate Achieves AWS Outposts Ready Designation

    OpenText Migrate is trusted by enterprise customers and global systems integrators to move complex, integrated, mission-critical systems

    Waterloo, ON – 2021-3-18 – OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX: OTEX), today announced that that OpenText™ Migrate (formerly Carbonite Migrate) has achieved the AWS Outposts Ready designation, part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Service Ready Program. This designation recognizes that OpenText Migrate has demonstrated successful integration with AWS Outposts deployments. AWS Outposts is a fully managed service that extends AWS infrastructure, AWS services, APIs, and tools to virtually any datacenter, co-location space, or on-premises facility for a truly consistent hybrid experience.

    “We know the importance of helping customers and organizations to more easily migrate their applications and data to a modern cloud infrastructure,” said Joshua Burgin, General Manager, AWS Outposts, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “With OpenText Migrate, customers can seamlessly migrate to a modern cloud infrastructure while still keeping those applications on premises using AWS Outposts.”

    OpenText Migrate allows organizations to easily migrate physical, virtual and cloud workloads to AWS infrastructure including AWS Outposts with minimal risk and near-zero downtime. Customers can orchestrate every stage of the process with OpenText Migrate via finely tuned automation options to deliver:

    • Continuous data replication that minimizes downtime and enables fast cutover
    • Unlimited testing of the new environment without disrupting operations
    • Downtime reduced to minutes or seconds as you cut over to the new server
    • Data, files and system settings that are replicated reliably

    The AWS Outposts Ready designation signifies that OpenText Migrate is generally available and fully tested on AWS Outposts with strong support and clear deployment documentation. It also shows that OpenText Migrate has been successfully integrated with AWS services, and that OpenText can help AWS customers evaluate and use their technology productively, at scale and varying levels of complexity.

    “OpenText Migrate provides a reliable and repeatable way to move critical workloads of any size,” said OpenText Chief Product Officer Muhi Majzoub. “Migrate ensures safe, predictable cutover windows, minimizing the chance of downtime that is commonly associated with moving large quantities of data. Our team is dedicated to helping companies migrate their mission-critical workloads to leverage the agility, breadth of services, and pace of innovation that AWS provides.”

    For more information on OpenText Migrate, click here.

    About OpenText

    OpenText, The Information Company™, powers business transformation through market leading information management solutions, on-premises or in the cloud. For more information about OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTEX) visit www.opentext.com.

    Connect with us:

    OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea’s blog

    Twitter | LinkedIn

    Certain statements in this press release may contain words considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities laws. These statements are based on OpenText’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies, and markets in which the company operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and the actual outcome may be materially different. OpenText’s assumptions, although considered reasonable by the company at the date of this press release, may prove to be inaccurate and consequently its actual results could differ materially from the expectations set out herein. For additional information with respect to risks and other factors which could occur, see OpenText’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC and other securities regulators. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, OpenText disclaims any intention or obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Copyright © 2021 OpenText. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks owned by Open Text.  One or more patents may cover this product(s). For more information, please visit https://www.opentext.com/patents.