John Dix

Author Archives: John Dix

The security implications of IoT: A roundtable discussion with four experts

The Internet of Things (IoT) will usher in a new era of network intelligence and automation, but its arrival raises a host of serious security questions. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix explores the topic in depth with four experts: * Marc Blackmer,
 Product Marketing Manager, Industry Solutions, Cisco * Ari Juels, Professor in the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech (formerly Chief Scientist at RSA) * Patrick Tague, Associate Research Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Information Networking Institute, and Associate Director, Information Networking Institute Carnegie MellonTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The first place to tackle SDN? In the WAN

Disruptive innovation in infrastructure is on the rise, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Software Defined Networking movement. But while much of the SDN discussion has focused on the data center, the better initial use case might be in the wide area network. One advocate of that approach is Michael Elmore, IT Senior Director of the Enterprise Network Engineering Infrastructure Group at Cigna, a global health service company headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Michael is also on the board of Open Network Users Group (ONUG). Network World Editor in Chief John Dix asked Elmore to participate in an email-based Q&A to explore the promise of Software Defined WANS. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Inside AT&T’s grand plans for SDN

AT&T spends some $20 billion per year on capital expenditures, the bulk of that on its massive network, and recently announced a bold plan to adopt Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization in a big way. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with AT&T Senior Vice President of Architecture & Design Andre Fuetsch for a deeper dive on the grand plan. Let’s start with some background on your role. As I understand it you lead a team of 2,000 engineers and computer scientists. Basically I’m over the architecture and design organization and that includes AT&T’s advanced research organization, AT&T Labs. Our Foundry is also under my purview, which is basically an innovation program where we invite select vendors to come play in our sandbox and innovate new ideas. The bulk of my organization is architecture and design, as well as development. What we do is take the architectures we’re working on, prototype them, build them out, test them, and, if they look viable, scale them and put them into production.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What’s the best approach to building next-generation data center networks?

Experts are in agreement that Software Defined Networking/Network Virtualization will make the network world more efficient and more agile, but opinions vary on the best path forward. We reached out to two of the most prominent players to ask them to spell out why they think their approach is best.

The Experts
Chris King, vp product marketing, vmware
Chris King

vice president of product marketing in VMware’s Networking & Security Business Unit, argues that network virtualization – embodied in the company’s NSX product -- is the way to go because it abstracts network control from network hardware while replicating everything the application expects to see, vastly simplifying the task of building and managing complex network environments. View debate

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What’s better for your big data application, SQL or NoSQL?

One of the critical decisions facing companies embarking on big data projects is which database to use, and often that decision swings between SQL and NoSQL. SQL has the impressive track record, the large installed base, but NoSQL is making impressive gains and has many proponents.  We put the question to experts in both camps.

The Experts
Ryan Betts
Ryan Betts

CTO, of VoltDB says SQL has already earned its stripes in large organizations and big data is just one more job that this stalwart can shoulder. View debate

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