Fast, faster, fastest. The pace for digital transformation has escalated such that, if your company hasn’t started, it will be left behind in a legacy bubble, according to participants in a recent IDG TechTalk Twitter chat.
A1) I hate to be mean-spirited, but #DigitalDarwinism will take hold at some point if it hasn't already. Regardless of whether your org has been disrupted, your org's sector is a red ocean, or they're just not getting it; the time for lagging is over. #idgtechtalkTo read this article in full, please click here
Walking into Amazon Go store is stepping into the future. You scan your Amazon Go app and the gates open before you. You can pick up a healthy salad for lunch, a quick snack, or dinner. You just drop the items in your bag and walk out. Seconds later, you get a receipt for your purchase. It’s truly frictionless retail. Beyond the magic, there is technology: a foundation of digital signage, cameras, smart shelves, wayfinding, point-of-sale, CRM, connectivity, and much more.Amazon Go is not alone: Numerous companies are trying to stay competitive by bringing these new experiences to their clients.Why Use 802.11ax as an IoT PlatformAt Aruba, we’ve been providing high-performance secure Wi-Fi connectivity to mobile devices for many years. With the addition of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radios into our access points, we opened up new opportunities that include wayfinding, geofencing, and asset tracking.To read this article in full, please click here
Industry trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and content distribution networks (CDNs) are driving the need for edge computing. That’s because these solutions often require low latency, high bandwidth, greater reliability, and strong security.It’s a tall order meant for Micro Data Centers (MDCs) to fulfill. An MDC is a self-contained data center architecture that offers complete IT infrastructure within a stand-alone, secure enclosure.MDCs offer a number of key advantages beyond today’s server rooms and traditional data centers. First, because they’re distributed closer to bandwidth-intensive content, MDCs can significantly reduce latency and lower costs. Secondly, it’s easy and cost-effective to add data center capacity to them anywhere and anytime it is needed – in both IT room and non-climate-controlled environments. And because MDC IT equipment is pre-installed before shipment in a self-contained and secure enclosure, it can provide physical security and protection of critical business applications.To read this article in full, please click here
SD-WAN vs. WAN Optimization
Optimization of applications and data traffic has been an integral part of the WAN since its inception. WAN optimization accelerates application traffic by overcoming latency and reducing the amount of data traversing the WAN by applying techniques like protocol acceleration, deduplication, compression, reduced latency and caching to dramatically increase the amount of available bandwidth.Today, enterprises are rapidly adopting SD-WAN as a preferred solution when rearchitecting their WANs. SD-WAN is transforming the way networks support enterprise applications, dramatically increasing application performance by intelligently controlling and more efficiently utilizing all available WAN transport resources.To read this article in full, please click here
Recent breakthroughs in technology have expanded the possibilities for where data is gathered, processed, stored and analyzed. IT staffs and their business counterparts now have the flexibility of deciding whether their applications are more efficient residing in the cloud, within a traditional data center, or on the network edge. In fact, for the first time, the nature of the applications themselves is determining where they best should run. Over the last several months, micro data centers have emerged as a technology of choice for helping to manage the growing computing needs across edge environments.To read this article in full, please click here
The IEEE's latest standard, 802.11ax, has been designed inside and out for high efficiency. Also known as Wi-Fi 6, 11ax promises real-world performance improvements that will keep today’s mobile users and IoT devices connected and happy. To achieve that, over 50 features have been proposed as part of the 11ax standard. Once adopted into the standard, they will be rolled out to the market in phases – Wave 1 and Wave 2, just like with 802.11ac.Multi-user Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) and Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) are two of the most significant technical enhancements in 11ax. Both MU-MIMO and OFDMA are multiuser technologies that enable simultaneous bidirectional communication between an access point (AP) and end users. So how are they different?To read this article in full, please click here
The incredible power and automation offered by today’s more advanced SD-WAN platforms is transforming how enterprises are building and managing their networks. Operations that were once massive resource-intensive projects for network teams, have now been reduced to mere minutes of work. Need to change how an application operates across 1000+ locations, modify QoS settings across every site in your network or enforce a common security policy simply? Just point and click.What’s been missing from this incredible transformation is how the power of automation can be extended to ecosystem partners. Today is the day we’re going to change all of that.To read this article in full, please click here
IT professionals have been honing their data center management expertise for decades. However, migrating these best practices to an edge computing environment can be challenging.That’s because many workers located in edge environments, such as retail store clerks, lack the necessary data center expertise to ensure edge sites are properly maintained. Complicating matters is the fact that edge data centers can be expensive and complex to run.Clearly, organizations need a new way forward. Fortunately, cloud-based platforms are designed for the edge, and can simplify remote monitoring and management. Here’s what every business should look for in a solution:To read this article in full, please click here
IPsec is a critical element in building a scalable and secure SD-WAN fabric. The right IPsec is key to making it happen.Robert Sturt published an article title “SD-WAN vs. VPN: How do they compare?” While Robert tried to illustrate when and how to use SD-WAN vs. VPN, the objective of this blog is to look deeper into existing IPsec approaches and challenges in building and securing an SD-WAN fabric, and how IPsec UDP can help address these challenges. At the end of this blog, I have included a link to a Silver Peak white paper that provides a detailed explanation of IPsec options.To read this article in full, please click here
As edge computing deployments get under way, organizations need to make their edge computing sites resilient. As the saying goes, “you’re only as good as your weakest link,” so if edge computing locations are allowed to be the weakest link in a multi-location environment, the entire network surely will suffer.You can’t have a truly resilient IT deployment without resilience at these edge computing sites. So organizations have to harden these sites with best-in-class technology as they do at centralized and regional data centers. Organizations need redundancy, security and management controls designed to prevent downtime.To read this article in full, please click here
There are plenty of reasons for organizations to embrace edge computing. By moving applications, data, and computing services to the edge of a network, as opposed to a large data center or cloud, organizations can lower operating costs, improve application performance, reduce network traffic, and achieve real-time data analytics.As more organizations come to know the advantages of edge of network devices, many are eyeing deployments. In fact, according to the IDG 2018 State of the Network, 56% of networking professionals have plans for edge computing in their organizations.To read this article in full, please click here
Ciena
Mina Paik, Director of Portfolio Marketing, Blue Planet
Integrating AI and advanced analytics into your network processes and operations can seem like a daunting task. Mina Paik provides three guidelines for choosing a solution that best fits your company’s unique requirements.Artificial intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly a very hot topic across many industry segments and verticals, with one analyst even pointing out that “it will empower the fourth industrial revolution.” In the telco world, AI when used together with analytics is now associated with powering intelligent and “self-aware” digital networks (which Ciena and Blue Planet refer to as the “adaptive network”). While there are substantial discussions and write-ups around the topic of AI-driven analytics, our VP of Blue Planet Solutions & Engineering, Kailem Anderson, made a very important point in one of his recent blog posts—namely, that the term “AI” must avoid becoming a cliché.To read this article in full, please click here
The primary driver cited is an aging worker pool and the overwhelming male makeup of this sector.Other factors contributing to skill shortages include a lack of:
Hybrid IT skills
New skills like managing SLAs for off-premise workloads
Software skills with adoption of software-defined technologies
Fewer young men and women entering the field
How is this affecting branch office networks?
The data center IT skill set shortage is spilling over from the data center to the management and administration of branch office infrastructure. The two go hand in hand as most skills are leveraged across both areas; branch office networks are merely a “miniature architecture” of the data center network. Branch office networks typically include switches, routers, WAN optimization appliances, firewalls, and other networking gear that all require similar IT knowledge and skills as the data center.To read this article in full, please click here
Now that edge computing has emerged as a major trend, the question for enterprises becomes how to migrate the data center management expertise acquired over many years to these new, remote environments.Enterprise data centers have long provided a strong foundation for growth. They enable businesses to respond more quickly to market demands. However, this agility is heavily dependent on the reliability and manageability of the data center. As data center operational complexity increases, maintaining uptime while minimizing costs becomes a bigger challenge.To read this article in full, please click here
What do embedded sensors, ecommerce sites, social media platforms, and streaming services have in common? They all produce vast volumes of data, much of which travels across the internet. In fact, Cisco estimates global IP traffic will grow to 3.3 zettabytes annually by 2021 – up three times compared to internet traffic in 2017.For many businesses, these data packets represent treasure troves of actionable information, from customers’ buying preferences to new market trends. But as the volume and velocity of data increases, so too does the inefficiency of transmitting all this information to a cloud or data center for processing.To read this article in full, please click here
What do embedded sensors, ecommerce sites, social media platforms, and streaming services have in common? They all produce vast volumes of data, much of which travels across the internet. In fact, Cisco estimates global IP traffic will grow to 3.3 zettabytes annually by 2021 – up three times compared to internet traffic in 2017.For many businesses, these data packets represent treasure troves of actionable information, from customers’ buying preferences to new market trends. But as the volume and velocity of data increases, so too does the inefficiency of transmitting all this information to a cloud or data center for processing.To read this article in full, please click here
Most networking groups have a wireless guy, maybe two – you might be that person. For years, the rest of the campus network group hasn’t really had to think about what they plugged into the network. Give them a gig port, PoE, probably set up a VLAN and that’s it: wireless sorted.Because when it all came down to it, it didn’t matter how many wireless users connected to the access point because only one device, the client or the access point, could transmit at one time. What’s more, a single wireless client is not going to tax a gig port. In fact, the more clients there are on an AP, the less traffic ends up on the wire since they spend more time trying to get a timeslot to transmit, like the seagulls in “Finding Nemo” yelling “Mine, mine, mine.”To read this article in full, please click here
Most networking groups have a wireless guy, maybe two – you might be that person. For years, the rest of the campus network group hasn’t really had to think about what they plugged into the network. Give them a gig port, PoE, probably set up a VLAN and that’s it: wireless sorted.Because when it all came down to it, it didn’t matter how many wireless users connected to the access point because only one device, the client or the access point, could transmit at one time. What’s more, a single wireless client is not going to tax a gig port. In fact, the more clients there are on an AP, the less traffic ends up on the wire since they spend more time trying to get a timeslot to transmit, like the seagulls in “Finding Nemo” yelling “Mine, mine, mine.”To read this article in full, please click here
In a competitive environment, with so much emphasis on the need for communications service providers (CSPs) to offer more personalized services to increase customer loyalty, the network plays a crucial role, explains Kent McNeil, Vice President of Software for Blue Planet. While the connection between network infrastructure and the customer relationship isn’t obvious, it is actually what drives personalization of services and competitive edge.Enhancing the customer experience and lowering churn rates are key objectives for CSPs; however, an influx of competition is challenging customer loyalty. Equally, leading-edge technologies, from devices to cloud, have created new visions for consumers and enterprises. This has significantly changed customer demands, as well as expectations about how those requirements are fulfilled. Customers expect more personalized services, with tailored offers and ease-of-use.To read this article in full, please click here
In a competitive environment, with so much emphasis on the need for communications service providers (CSPs) to offer more personalized services to increase customer loyalty, the network plays a crucial role, explains Kent McNeil, Vice President of Software for Blue Planet. While the connection between network infrastructure and the customer relationship isn’t obvious, it is actually what drives personalization of services and competitive edge.Enhancing the customer experience and lowering churn rates are key objectives for CSPs; however, an influx of competition is challenging customer loyalty. Equally, leading-edge technologies, from devices to cloud, have created new visions for consumers and enterprises. This has significantly changed customer demands, as well as expectations about how those requirements are fulfilled. Customers expect more personalized services, with tailored offers and ease-of-use.To read this article in full, please click here
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