As AI adoption grows and cloud environments expand, securing data across edge, core, and cloud infrastructure has become critical.

In an exclusive conversation with TECHx Media, Shaik Asif, Regional Sales Director, Acceleration, EMEA & APJ at Riverbed, breaks down how the company’s latest platform, RiOS 10, is built to address today’s and tomorrow’s enterprise challenges, from AI workload acceleration to quantum-era security threats.

TECHx: What prompted Riverbed to develop RiOS 10, and how does it address the evolving needs of enterprises today?

As enterprises accelerate their digital and AI transformation, networks are once again becoming a critical bottleneck. The surge in data movement, particularly with AI workloads, means businesses need faster, more secure, and more intelligent infrastructure. That’s precisely why we at Riverbed developed RiOS 10.

Designed to meet the demands of the AI era, RiOS 10 powers all of our acceleration solutions, from the data centre to the edge and cloud, with performance improvements of up to 2x for virtual and cloud instances, and up to 3x for appliances over previous generations.

It’s also worth highlighting that it isn’t just perfomrance that benefits significantly from this upgrade. With RiOS 10, we have also strengthened security by enabling confidential computing, supporting Intel TDX to defend against hyperjacking threats, and incorporating post-quantum cryptography to safeguard data from future quantum attacks, all while ensuring compliance with emerging NIST and IETF standards.

TECHx: Can you explain how confidential computing works and why it’s such a game-changer for enterprise security?

While data at-rest and in-transit are typically encrypted, data in-use, that is being processed live in memory, remains exposed. This is a growing concern, particularly in shared cloud environments where hypervisor-level attacks (what we in the industry call “hyperjacking”) can compromise multiple virtual machines. In fact, real-world incidents, such as the 2022 Mandiant–VMware disclosure, show how attackers are already exploiting this vulnerability.

Confidential computing is a breakthrough approach that encrypts data even while it’s being processed. By using confidential virtual machines (CVMs) and trusted execution environments (TEEs), it ensures sensitive data remains inaccessible, even if the infrastructure is compromised.

With RiOS 10, we have integrated this capability into SteelHead Cloud and Virtual solutions via Intel TDX. In doing so, we effectively offer enterprises a powerful new layer of protection. Especially in the Middle East, where cloud adoption is booming across both public and private sectors, confidential computing is fast becoming essential to safeguarding trust in an increadinly cloud-driven digital transformation.

TECHx: Which industries or use cases will benefit the most from this added layer of protection while data is in use?

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, governments have led the charge to the cloud, and industries like banking, finance, and healthcare have quickly followed. But as organisations shift sensitive workloads into multi-tenant cloud environments, they expose themselves to the aforementioned hyperjacking attacks.

I believe we can all agree that whether you’re handling patient records, transaction logs or citizen data, if a leak could damage your business or reputation, it deserves airtight protection. Confidential computing helps address this risk head-on. Even better, with RiOS 10, enterprises can prove compliance with GDPR, HIPAA and other regulatory standards through attestation, demonstrating that sensitive data is being processed in a secure environment, even within third-party infrastructure. In short, it’s an essential layer of defence for any sector operating in the cloud era.

TECHx: How can organisations future-proof their infrastructure against the potential threats of quantum computing?

Quantum computing isn’t just science fiction anymore, it’s edging closer to reality, and with it comes a serious rethink of how we secure our data. These machines, once mature, will be powerful enough to crack the encryption protocols we rely on every day – TLS, VPNs, and digital signatures included. That means everything from private transactions to secure logins could be at risk in a post-quantum world.

But here’s the real concern: you don’t need a fully functioning quantum computer for your data to be vulnerable today. Attackers can already intercept encrypted data, store it, and wait for the day quantum decryption becomes possible. It’s known as a “harvest now, decrypt later” strategy and it poses a huge risk for organisations that deal in sensitive or long-term data.

The good news is that there’s a way to get ahead of the curve. RiOS 10 integrates post-quantum cryptography (PQC) aligned with the latest standards set by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which has selected four algorithms specifically designed to withstand quantum attacks. This means organisations can begin securing their networks against quantum-era threats today, without needing to overhaul their entire infrastructure.

By embracing PQC now, businesses not only reduce risk but also send a strong message to regulators, partners, and customers that they’re future-ready.

TECHx: How do you see confidential computing and quantum-ready networking shaping the broader cybersecurity landscape over the next 3–5 years?

Over the next few years, confidential computing and quantum-ready networking will be central to strengthening cybersecurity resilience in an increasingly decentralised, high-risk digital world. Confidential computing, like the Intel TDX integration in Riverbed’s RiOS 10, offers hardware-level isolation, even on compromised infrastructure, ensuring that sensitive data remains protected in use, not just at rest or in transit. This is especially vital as edge-to-cloud environments become the norm. Simultaneously, quantum-ready networking, through post-quantum cryptography (PQC), safeguards against “harvest-now, decrypt-later” threats. As threat actors grow more sophisticated and quantum computing inches closer to real-world viability, enterprises need to future-proof their security. By embedding these capabilities into WAN optimisation and secure edge architecture, vendors like Riverbed are setting the tone for a new era where performance, security, and observability are no longer trade-offs, but fundamental requirements.

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