Tips for building SD-WANs

The substantially high cost of MPLS circuits ($200-$400/Mbps/month) compared to easily deployed, lower cost broadband Internet (with a price tag of $1/Mbps/month) has triggered a shift in enterprise architectures to the software defined WAN. SD-WAN provides the flexibility to choose the most optimal transport and dynamically steer traffic over a mix of MPLS circuits, the public Internet, or even wireless LTE circuits.  The access transport selection depends on a variety of factors, including the type of application, traffic profile, security requirements, QoS and network loss and latency. When implemented correctly, SD-WAN truly has significant advantages: Faster service deployment, increased flexibility, unified management and improved application performance, to name a few. But, while familiarity about SD-WAN has increased over the last year, a survey by Silver Peak and IDG shows only 27% of small- to mid-sized enterprises have shifted to SD-WAN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tips for building SD-WANs

The substantially high cost of MPLS circuits ($200-$400/Mbps/month) compared to easily deployed, lower cost broadband Internet (with a price tag of $1/Mbps/month) has triggered a shift in enterprise architectures to the software defined WAN. SD-WAN provides the flexibility to choose the most optimal transport and dynamically steer traffic over a mix of MPLS circuits, the public Internet, or even wireless LTE circuits. 

The access transport selection depends on a variety of factors, including the type of application, traffic profile, security requirements, QoS and network loss and latency. When implemented correctly, SD-WAN truly has significant advantages: Faster service deployment, increased flexibility, unified management and improved application performance, to name a few. But, while familiarity about SD-WAN has increased over the last year, a survey by Silver Peak and IDG shows only 27% of small- to mid-sized enterprises have shifted to SD-WAN.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tips for building SD-WANs

The substantially high cost of MPLS circuits ($200-$400/Mbps/month) compared to easily deployed, lower cost broadband Internet (with a price tag of $1/Mbps/month) has triggered a shift in enterprise architectures to the software defined WAN. SD-WAN provides the flexibility to choose the most optimal transport and dynamically steer traffic over a mix of MPLS circuits, the public Internet, or even wireless LTE circuits.  The access transport selection depends on a variety of factors, including the type of application, traffic profile, security requirements, QoS and network loss and latency. When implemented correctly, SD-WAN truly has significant advantages: Faster service deployment, increased flexibility, unified management and improved application performance, to name a few. But, while familiarity about SD-WAN has increased over the last year, a survey by Silver Peak and IDG shows only 27% of small- to mid-sized enterprises have shifted to SD-WAN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Isolation technologies create an “air gap” to eliminate the risk of malware

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

Like the threat landscape itself, web gateways have changed over the years. Back in the 1990s, organizations primarily used them to prevent employees from wasting time surfing the web – or worse, from visiting gambling, adult and other unauthorized websites. Today web gateways do much more than enforce regulatory compliance and HR policies. Whether they are implemented on-premise or as cloud-based services, organizations rely on web gateways to thwart Internet-borne threats delivered through users’ browsers.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Isolation technologies create an “air gap” to eliminate the risk of malware

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Like the threat landscape itself, web gateways have changed over the years. Back in the 1990s, organizations primarily used them to prevent employees from wasting time surfing the web – or worse, from visiting gambling, adult and other unauthorized websites. Today web gateways do much more than enforce regulatory compliance and HR policies. Whether they are implemented on-premise or as cloud-based services, organizations rely on web gateways to thwart Internet-borne threats delivered through users’ browsers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Isolation technologies create an “air gap” to eliminate the risk of malware

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Like the threat landscape itself, web gateways have changed over the years. Back in the 1990s, organizations primarily used them to prevent employees from wasting time surfing the web – or worse, from visiting gambling, adult and other unauthorized websites. Today web gateways do much more than enforce regulatory compliance and HR policies. Whether they are implemented on-premise or as cloud-based services, organizations rely on web gateways to thwart Internet-borne threats delivered through users’ browsers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HPE Takes On The High End With SGI Expertise

SGI has always had scalable technology that should have been deployed more broadly in the academic, government, and enterprise datacenters of the world. But fighting for those budget dollars at the high end of the market always came down to needing more feet on the street, a larger global footprint for service and support, and broader certification of software stacks to exploit that SGI iron.

Now that Hewlett Packard Enterprise owns SGI – or more precisely, owns its operations in the United States and will finish off its acquisition, announced in August, probably sometime in the middle of next

HPE Takes On The High End With SGI Expertise was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Spooked by Trump, Internet Archive looks to make a copy of itself … in Canada

The folks who run the indispensable Internet Archive Wayback Machine, among other services, have seen the future of a Trump Administration and it scares them enough to spur the creation of the Internet Archive of Canada … just in case.From the organization’s blog post today: The history of libraries is one of loss.  The Library of Alexandria is best known for its disappearance.Libraries like ours are susceptible to different fault lines: Earthquakes, legal regimes, institutional failure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows could get design language overhaul

Microsoft is reported to be working on a new design language, which affects how the UI looks and functions, that will eventually be rolled into one of the major Windows 10 updates coming out next year. Windows Central said Microsoft is working on what it called Microsoft Design Language 2 (MDL2), or Project NEON. A design language is a term that refers to a language for how controls, fonts and iconography in the desktop and mobile versions of Windows 10 are controlled. It manages things such as switches, toggles, pickers and dialog windows. You know and hate MDL1 already. It was Metro, introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7. It introduced the flat, dull UI instead of the more 3D-looking skeuomorphism that iOS and Android were adopting. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA building space consortium to set standards for safe robotic maneuvers

DARPA next month will talk about a proposed consortium of industry players that will research, develop, and publish standards for safe commercial robotic servicing operations in Earth’s orbit.Specifically, DARPA said it wants to create the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations or CONFERS that looks to establish a forum that would use best practices from government and industry to research, develop and publish non-binding, consensus-derived technical and safety standards for on-orbit servicing operations. In doing so, the program would provide a clear technical basis for definitions and expectations of responsible behavior in outer space. In the end the ultimate goal is to provide the technical foundation to shape safe and responsible commercial space operations to preserve the safety of the global commons of space, DARPA stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DARPA building space consortium to set standards for safe robotic maneuvers

DARPA next month will talk about a proposed consortium of industry players that will research, develop, and publish standards for safe commercial robotic servicing operations in Earth’s orbit.Specifically, DARPA said it wants to create the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations or CONFERS that looks to establish a forum that would use best practices from government and industry to research, develop and publish non-binding, consensus-derived technical and safety standards for on-orbit servicing operations. In doing so, the program would provide a clear technical basis for definitions and expectations of responsible behavior in outer space. In the end the ultimate goal is to provide the technical foundation to shape safe and responsible commercial space operations to preserve the safety of the global commons of space, DARPA stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The metrics that matter for your private/hybrid cloud

So you want a private/hybrid cloud strategy for your company. Great idea. Now, how do you ensure that your cloud strategy will be successful? Well, this requires understanding how to measure success. Let me suggest the following criteria: Your constituents (generally the business and applications owners) can voluntarily decide to adopt your cloud or not. You need to be able to prove to them that it is to their advantage to run their applications in your cloud. MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: How to build a private cloud Now, to do the above, you need to be able to provide cloud operational metrics that mirror what the business uses. Let’s review what the business uses as metrics:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 tips for succeeding with a virtual workforce

With the rise of technology, the availability of instant communication and collaboration tools that bring the virtual world into the boardroom, the face of the modern office is rapidly changing. According to Gallup's most recent Work and Education poll, 37 percent of U.S. workers say they have telecommuted. And with GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com reporting that at least half of all jobs in the U.S. lend themselves to telecommuting that number is likely to continue to rise. Already, in Fortune 1000 companies, increasingly mobile employees “are not at their desk 50-60 percent of the time,” according to GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to defer Windows 10 updates

Forced updates in Windows 10 have their appeal. For Microsoft, it helps keep the majority of its users on the same build of Windows 10, reducing legacy support issues. For users, it keeps your system up-to-date and reduces the chances of getting hit with malware that takes advantage of unpatched systems.But some folks resent the idea of having updates forced on them—especially when some of those updates cause problems or won’t install properly. If you’re running Windows 10 Home you’re at the mercy of Microsoft’s update schedule (though we have some tips for you at the end of this article). Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise users, however, have the opportunity to defer certain types of updates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Changing Landscape of Selling in the Age of SDN

There are massive waves of technology upheaval taking place in the marketplace, causing disruption and providing a challenge to technology salespeople who are used to selling in the traditional ways. Cloud, Automation, Mobility, Adaptive Security and the Internet of Things are just a few of the major changes affecting the landscape right now. And while these technologies are certainly challenging in their own right, there is one technology that stands on it’s own, not only in terms of how technology decisions are made, but also how technology is bought.

That technology is Software Defined Networking (SDN). SDN is causing a fundamental shift in the way that technology is procured. There is a major shift away from buying point products and technologies which only meet a specific need and instead looking at the bigger picture with an aim of technology procurement fitting into a larger ecosystem that is providing broader solutions, enabling shorter ROI and better business agility.

Application-Centricity Creates New Stakeholders

The buying process used to be relatively straightforward, and different technology groups within an organization could procure technology within their own silo with little regard to how it fit within the broader ecosystem. Often times, the technology implemented would dictate and limit what applications could Continue reading