Facebook Backpack Behind the Scenes

When Facebook announced 6-pack (their first chassis switch) my reaction was “meh” (as well as “I would love to hear what Brad Hedlund has to say about it”). When Facebook announced Backpack I mostly ignored the announcement. After all, when one of the cloud-scale unicorns starts talking about their infrastructure, what they tell you is usually low on detail and used primarily as talent attracting tool.

Brocade’s Ruckus Wi-Fi business finds a buyer

Broadcom will unload the Ruckus Wireless Wi-Fi business for US$800 million when it takes over Brocade Communications Systems later this year. The buyer, Arris International, is a maker of video and broadband equipment, including cable modems and set-top boxes with Wi-Fi inside. As part of the deal, it will also acquire Brocade’s ICX business, which makes data center, campus and carrier Ethernet switches. Ruckus makes Wi-Fi gear primarily for enterprises and service providers. Brocade acquired Ruckus last April for $1.2 billion in a bid to expand its enterprise networking business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Brocade’s Ruckus Wi-Fi business finds a buyer

Broadcom will unload the Ruckus Wireless Wi-Fi business for US$800 million when it takes over Brocade Communications Systems later this year. The buyer, Arris International, is a maker of video and broadband equipment, including cable modems and set-top boxes with Wi-Fi inside. As part of the deal, it will also acquire Brocade’s ICX business, which makes data center, campus and carrier Ethernet switches. Ruckus makes Wi-Fi gear primarily for enterprises and service providers. Brocade acquired Ruckus last April for $1.2 billion in a bid to expand its enterprise networking business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A hard drive’s LED light can be used to covertly leak data

The seemingly harmless blinking lights on servers and desktop PCs may give away secrets if a hacker can hijack them with malware. Researchers in Israel have come up with an innovative hack that turns a computer's LED light into a signaling system that shows passwords and other sensitive data. The researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev demonstrated the hack in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. It shows a hacked computer broadcasting the data through a computer’s LED light, with a drone flying nearby reading the pattern. The researchers designed the scheme to underscore vulnerabilities of air-gapped systems, or computers that have been intentionally disconnected from the internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A hard drive’s LED light can be used to covertly leak data

The seemingly harmless blinking lights on servers and desktop PCs may give away secrets if a hacker can hijack them with malware. Researchers in Israel have come up with an innovative hack that turns a computer's LED light into a signaling system that shows passwords and other sensitive data. The researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev demonstrated the hack in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. It shows a hacked computer broadcasting the data through a computer’s LED light, with a drone flying nearby reading the pattern. The researchers designed the scheme to underscore vulnerabilities of air-gapped systems, or computers that have been intentionally disconnected from the internet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Arris Buys Brocade’s Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch Business for $800M

Broadcom might have more IP pieces to divest, however.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Is Just $79.99 For a Limited Time If You Buy Refurbished – Deal Alert

Amazon has discounted its refurbished Paperwhite models for a limited time, so with the current deal you can get one for just $79.99. That saves you $30 on the typical price of a refurbished model, and saves even more over buying it brand new ($119.99 new). A Refurbished Paperwhite E-reader is refurbished, tested, and certified by Amazon to look and work like new. The popular Kindle Paperwhite has a higher res 300ppi screen, WiFi, a built-in adjustable light, a long lasting battery, and best of all it's glare-free even in bright sunlight so you can use it literally anywhere, night or day. See the discounted refurbished Paperwhite model on Amazon to learn more and explore buying options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Kite-surfing could put rural Brits online

U.K. network operator EE plans to deliver 4G internet access from a kite-like balloon first developed as an observation and communications platform for the military.The Helikite was invented in the 1990s and has also found favor with Antarctic explorers, disaster relief workers and emergency services. EE revealed its plans to deliver wide-area network coverage from the helium-filled balloons on Tuesday, although it won't have the first one in service until later in the year.According to Allsopp Helikites, the maker of the kite-balloons, hoisting a 4G base station aloft can increase its range from 3 kilometers to between 30 km and 80 km.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

58% off Alinshi Foldable Soft Silicone USB Waterproof Keyboard – Deal Alert

This keyboard from Alinshi is flexible, soft, silent, waterproof, dustproof, lightweight, roll-up-able, portable and easy to store. If you're looking for a travel keyboard you can take with you and won't have to worry too much about, this one might fit the bill, especially when you consider it's been discounted 58% to just $13. See the discounted keyboard on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Controversial LTE-U tech OK’d by FCC

The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday that it had approved two cellular base stations – one each from Ericsson and Nokia – to use LTE-U, marking the first official government thumbs-up for the controversial technology.FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement that the unlicensed spectrum – historically, the territory of Wi-Fi – can now be used to help ease the load on carrier mobile networks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7.4% of software on PCs are past end of life

A new Secunia Research report states that the average private user in the U.S. has 75 programs installed on their PC, and 7.4% of them are past end of life and no longer patched by the vendor.   By being past end of life, this software becomes a popular attack target by hackers because the programs are so widespread on devices today. This was the warning from Microsoft when it ended support for Windows XP in 2014—that people should no longer use it because exploits would no longer be fixed.  The report from Secunia Research, which is owned by Flexera Software, covers findings for the fourth quarter of 2016 in 12 countries. In the U.S., it found 7.5 percent of private users had unpatched Windows operating systems in Q4 of 2016, up from 6.1 percent in Q3 of 2016 and down from 9.9 percent in Q4 of 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7.4% of software on PCs are past end of life

A new Secunia Research report states that the average private user in the U.S. has 75 programs installed on their PC, and 7.4% of them are past end of life and no longer patched by the vendor.   By being past end of life, this software becomes a popular attack target by hackers because the programs are so widespread on devices today. This was the warning from Microsoft when it ended support for Windows XP in 2014—that people should no longer use it because exploits would no longer be fixed.  The report from Secunia Research, which is owned by Flexera Software, covers findings for the fourth quarter of 2016 in 12 countries. In the U.S., it found 7.5 percent of private users had unpatched Windows operating systems in Q4 of 2016, up from 6.1 percent in Q3 of 2016 and down from 9.9 percent in Q4 of 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon plans 5G wireless trial service in 11 cities this year

Lab tests of pre-standard 5G wireless with multi-gigabit speeds are evolving into trial services that users can actually enjoy in the real world – though not necessarily while walking around with a smartphone.Verizon said Wednesday it will launch pre-commercial 5G service in 11 markets around the U.S. by the middle of this year, joining rival AT&T in aggressively deploying the future technology.MORE: 2016 -- the year 5G wireless trials really took offAt Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, carriers are expected to announce more upcoming 5G trials.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Battle of the clouds: Amazon Web Services vs. Microsoft Azure vs. Google Cloud Platform

Amazon Web Services is the consensus leader of the IaaS public cloud computing market according to industry watchers, but they credit Microsoft for closing the gap with Azure and say Google with its Cloud Platform has made considerable strides as well.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

5G Moves from Concept to Reality at MWC

See 5G come to life on the show floor.

Worth Reading: What Cisco reveals about the enterprise market

Cisco is now sitting on a staggering $71.85 billion in cash, a lot of it overseas and inaccessible for doing acquisitions or anything until it is repatriated to the United States, where it is headquartered. Cisco could borrow money to build its appliances, offsetting its cash hoard without actually drawing it down and incurring taxes, and then simply offer every switch, router, and server with a monthly rental price. It would have to wait three to four years until most of the base converts from purchases to rentals. If Cisco set the rental rate fairly, then it could get off the product sales mouse wheel completely, and if Cisco made more malleable switches, with a mix of FPGAs and maybe ASICs like Cavium’s XPliant or Barefoot Networks’ Tofino chips, it could extend the life of these rented machines quite far and not incur hardware upgrade cycle costs like it is now. —The Next Platform

The post Worth Reading: What Cisco reveals about the enterprise market appeared first on 'net work.

IDG Contributor Network: Reaching the cybersecurity tipping point

Remember that moment when you really committed yourself to solid security and privacy practices? The moment when you committed to never clicking on a link you weren’t sure about, to always checking for badges on people coming in the door, to always using your password manager to create a complex password? If you do, you reached your “cybersecurity tipping point.”For many, that moment has not yet come. And if you are reading this article, it might be your job to get your employees to hit that point. And you already know that the hard part is figuring out how.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Reaching the cybersecurity tipping point

Remember that moment when you really committed yourself to solid security and privacy practices? The moment when you committed to never clicking on a link you weren’t sure about, to always checking for badges on people coming in the door, to always using your password manager to create a complex password? If you do, you reached your “cybersecurity tipping point.”For many, that moment has not yet come. And if you are reading this article, it might be your job to get your employees to hit that point. And you already know that the hard part is figuring out how.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What to expect from the Trump administration on cybersecurity

Look for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to push for increased cybersecurity spending in government, but also for increased digital surveillance and encryption workarounds.That's the view of some cybersecurity policy experts, who said they expect Trump to focus on improving U.S. agencies' cybersecurity while shying away from new cybersecurity regulations for businesses. Trump is likely to look for ways for the National Security Agency and other agencies to assist the government and companies defend against cyberattacks, said Jeffrey Eisenach, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a tech advisor during Trump's presidential transition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What to expect from the Trump administration on cybersecurity

Look for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to push for increased cybersecurity spending in government, but also for increased digital surveillance and encryption workarounds.That's the view of some cybersecurity policy experts, who said they expect Trump to focus on improving U.S. agencies' cybersecurity while shying away from new cybersecurity regulations for businesses. Trump is likely to look for ways for the National Security Agency and other agencies to assist the government and companies defend against cyberattacks, said Jeffrey Eisenach, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a tech advisor during Trump's presidential transition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here