Sisir Chowdhury and Subhas Bothra selected Panoptica following a rigorous evaluation of cloud native application security vendors. “Panoptica scored highly on every aspect of the proof of concept,” emphasizes Subhas. “By closely evaluating all the container security and vulnerability management capabilities offered in the Panoptica solution, we came to the conclusion that it was the perfect security solution to SMC, our private 5G network application.

1. PANOPTICA CUSTOMER STORY
Forging a Secure Path to Private
5G Networks for Enterprises
Spica Systems, a software R&D organization that builds highly secure private
5G network software uses Panoptica as its cloud native application security
solution to secure its end-to-end software suite at a lower cost.

2. Panoptica Customer Story | Panoptica.app 2
CHALLENGE
Building a Secure Path to Private 5G Networks for Enterprises
As the CEO of Spica Systems, a San Jose, California, based software R&D organization that builds highly
secure private 5G network software, Sisir Chowdhury was concerned. His DevOps team was hard at work
building SMC (Spica Mobility Core), a lightweight cloud native 5G packet core engine for private 5G networks
designed to operate seamlessly on Kubernetes clusters in any cloud environment. While the software
development of the solution was progressing swiftly and precisely, the team needed a comprehensive yet
cost-effective cloud native security solution to harden SMC’s security posture.
SMC, crafted by Spica Systems, encompasses a comprehensive suite of cloud native network functions,
including access and mobility functions (AMF), session management functions (SMF), user plane functions
(UPF), policy control functions (PCF), authentication server functions (AUSF), application functions (AF),
network repository functions (NRFs), and more. Spica Systems serves diverse customers across various
market segments and key industry verticals.
“Our customers span the spectrum from small startups to large enterprises in the oil and gas, manufacturing,
utilities, and high-tech sectors—all in the midst of transitioning to private 5G networks,” says Sisir Chowdhury.
“Ensuring their sensitive data is exchanged safely over our private 5G packet core application was a top
concern and the highest priority.”
Sisir further adds, “And yet, the widely available cloud native security solutions in the market proved
impractical for us due to how much they cost, and the intricate processes associated with their adoption. Our
customers prefer a private 5G network that can be continuously monitored for security vulnerabilities while
remaining simple to adopt, effective, and cost-friendly in delivering enterprise-grade security.”
The challenges did not stop there. From the perspective of Sisir’s DevOps teams, the big issue was a lack of
visibility into security vulnerabilities in the development and testing phases of the CI/CD pipelines. By
proactively scanning container images during these initial stages, the team aimed to prevent production issues
for their customers and ensure a seamless user experience.
Sisir explains, “Our diligent DevOps teams always strive to minimize blind spots in the network. Early detection
and continuous patching of our software to avert any potential production issues for our valued customers is a
huge priority for them. But not having visibility into the security vulnerabilities within our software posed a
formidable roadblock to achieving this objective. The inability to view, monitor, and manage vulnerabilities was
one of the main problems our DevOps teams were trying to solve on the backend.”
And then there were resource constraints that compounded the obstacles faced by Spica Systems. Mr.
Subhas Bothra, Director of IT and Security Operations at Spica Systems explains, “Our security operations rely
on a small team of professionals. We urgently needed a trusted partner who could assist us in managing
security and flagging vulnerabilities within our Kubernetes clusters, all while alleviating the strain on our human
and capital resources.”

3. 3
REQUIREMENTS
A Robust, User-Friendly, and Cost-Effective
Cloud-Native Security Solution
•
-
Sisir Chowdhury and his dedicated team promptly embarked on a search to find the ideal solution that fulfilled
their requirements. Initially focusing on a cloud native security solution that easily integrates into the CI/CD
pipeline of their SMC, they broadened the scope of their search to encompass additional crucial criteria.
The specific solution requirements were as follows:
SOLUTION
Panoptica Steps in to Meet Every Single Spica Systems Requirement
Sisir Chowdhury and Subhas Bothra selected Panoptica following a rigorous evaluation of cloud native
application security vendors. “Panoptica scored highly on every aspect of the proof of concept,” emphasizes
Subhas. “By closely evaluating all the container security and vulnerability management capabilities offered in
the Panoptica solution, we came to the conclusion that it was the perfect security solution to SMC, our private
5G network application.”
Panoptica comprises a complete, end-to-end suite of cloud native application security technologies.
“Panoptica helped us reduce tool sprawl by not having to purchase multiple security solutions and deal with
multiple vendors. It is easy to set up and integrate with the toolsets our DevOps teams already use, and simple
to institute into our workflows. My DevOps teams also found Panoptica easy to try out with the unlimited free
signup.” Subhas further adds. “Another crucial factor is that Panoptica is offered by Cisco Systems, a highly
credible brand that we implicitly trust. Not surprisingly, our pre-and post-sale customer service experience
with the Panoptica team was exceptional.”
The team should deploy a cloud native security solution that seamlessly integrates into SMC’s
CI/CD pipeline to enable early detection and prevention of threats.
• The solution should also provide comprehensive visibility within Kubernetes clusters at
runtime to effectively address potential risks in the context of telecom network infrastructure.
• The solution must be a user-friendly, DevOps-oriented cloud native security solution that can
be easily adopted by lean IT security and DevOps teams.
• The solution must be platform-agnostic and adhere to the “single pane of glass” principle
allowing flexible monitoring of cloud workloads across multiple cloud environments.
• The solution should secure a cloud native private 5G network with robust security monitoring
capabilities that are cost-effective for Spica Systems and its valued customers.
Panoptica Customer Story | Panoptica.app

4. — Sisir Chowdhury, CEO at Spica Systems Inc.
Panoptica is a thoughtfully designed cloud native application
security solution, unlike others that look like multiple products
kludged together. It is lightweight, easy to integrate, and
comes with clear, affordable pricing. In terms of the cost of
alternate solutions from other vendors out there, Panoptica
slashed our cost roughly in half and provided more value with
features like API security and serverless security,
future-proofing our investment and offering us peace of mind.
Panoptica provides comprehensive security to the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC) of modern
applications—from build pipelines to workload runtimes. “The Panoptica solution is cleverly designed with a
policy-based approach to enforcing security in modern apps that run on a multi-cloud architecture,” says
Subhas. “We rely on it every day to identify and manage security vulnerabilities. Continuous insights from the
Panoptica dashboard have enabled our teams to block the vulnerabilities before they turn into full-blown
security threats. We have successfully secured multiple Kubernetes clusters running in Azure (AKS) and AWS
(EKS) public clouds with Panoptica.”
CONCLUSION
Spica Systems and Panoptica: A Trusted Partnership
Designing a state-of-the-art private 5G network application with a Cisco security solution like Panoptica
embedded into it has transformed Spica Systems into a one-stop supplier of highly secure telecom network
applications. Sisir Chowdhury concludes, “As we scale our cloud native application development in private
5G network technology, we trust Panoptica from Cisco to be beside us.”
To learn more about Spica Systems, click here.
Curious about Panoptica? Visit our Website contact us at sales@panoptica.app
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