Linda Musthaler

Author Archives: Linda Musthaler

Network-as-a-Service: A modern solution to today’s networking challenges

Traditional networking architectures over the past two decades or so prescribe that the hub of the network be build around a specific location, such as a data center or a company’s headquarters building. This location houses most of the equipment for compute, storage, communications, and security, and this is where enterprise applications are traditionally hosted. For people in branch and other remote locations, traffic is typically backhauled to this hub before going out to other locations, including to the cloud.Though that formula has been standard operating procedure for many years, it doesn’t fit the way of work for many enterprises today. For one thing, there has been a major migration to the cloud. Those enterprise applications that run the business are now hosted in cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, either as private applications or as SaaS apps such as Office 365 and Salesforce. In fact, companies often use multiple cloud platforms these days.To read this article in full, please click here

Network-as-a-Service: A modern solution to today’s networking challenges

Traditional networking architectures over the past two decades or so prescribe that the hub of the network be build around a specific location, such as a data center or a company’s headquarters building. This location houses most of the equipment for compute, storage, communications, and security, and this is where enterprise applications are traditionally hosted. For people in branch and other remote locations, traffic is typically backhauled to this hub before going out to other locations, including to the cloud.Though that formula has been standard operating procedure for many years, it doesn’t fit the way of work for many enterprises today. For one thing, there has been a major migration to the cloud. Those enterprise applications that run the business are now hosted in cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, either as private applications or as SaaS apps such as Office 365 and Salesforce. In fact, companies often use multiple cloud platforms these days.To read this article in full, please click here

Network-as-a-Service: A modern solution to today’s networking challenges

Traditional networking architectures over the past two decades or so prescribe that the hub of the network be build around a specific location, such as a data center or a company’s headquarters building. This location houses most of the equipment for compute, storage, communications, and security, and this is where enterprise applications are traditionally hosted. For people in branch and other remote locations, traffic is typically backhauled to this hub before going out to other locations, including to the cloud.Though that formula has been standard operating procedure for many years, it doesn’t fit the way of work for many enterprises today. For one thing, there has been a major migration to the cloud. Those enterprise applications that run the business are now hosted in cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, either as private applications or as SaaS apps such as Office 365 and Salesforce. In fact, companies often use multiple cloud platforms these days.To read this article in full, please click here

Mist’s wireless network lets companies personalize the user experience

The Wi-Fi networks of today were architected more than a decade ago. That even predates the iPhone, which ushered in the era of mobility. These old Wi-Fi architectures aren’t ready to handle the vast number of mobile devices that want to connect to wireless networks today.What’s more, these networks aren’t able to put any focus on what users experience when they are connected.The old generation of Wi-Fi networks are a hindrance to businesses that want to increase customer engagement over ubiquitous mobile devices. For example, restaurants and retail stores would like to capture customers’ attention by offering real-time discounts or coupons when customers enter or walk by the establishment. Doing so requires the use of several technologies that old wireless networks just can’t support at scale.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Mist’s wireless network lets companies personalize the user experience

The Wi-Fi networks of today were architected more than a decade ago. That even predates the iPhone, which ushered in the era of mobility. These old Wi-Fi architectures aren’t ready to handle the vast number of mobile devices that want to connect to wireless networks today.What’s more, these networks aren’t able to put any focus on what users experience when they are connected.The old generation of Wi-Fi networks are a hindrance to businesses that want to increase customer engagement over ubiquitous mobile devices. For example, restaurants and retail stores would like to capture customers’ attention by offering real-time discounts or coupons when customers enter or walk by the establishment. Doing so requires the use of several technologies that old wireless networks just can’t support at scale.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apcela advises how to build a hybrid IT platform for better performance and stronger security

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe. To state the obvious, enterprises are moving their applications to the cloud, and this movement is happening at an accelerating pace. Many technology chiefs are working under a “cloud-first policy,” which means that if an application can be deployed as a service, then that should be the first choice for the way to go.While the applications themselves are moving to the cloud, the application delivery infrastructure is still stuck in the enterprise data center. Under the existing network architecture that most enterprises still have today, all traffic comes back to the enterprise data center before going out to the cloud. The on-premises data center is where the switching and routing, security, and application delivery controllers reside. This infrastructure is architected for a bygone era when applications were all in the data center.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apcela advises how to build a hybrid IT platform for better performance and stronger security

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe. To state the obvious, enterprises are moving their applications to the cloud, and this movement is happening at an accelerating pace. Many technology chiefs are working under a “cloud-first policy,” which means that if an application can be deployed as a service, then that should be the first choice for the way to go.While the applications themselves are moving to the cloud, the application delivery infrastructure is still stuck in the enterprise data center. Under the existing network architecture that most enterprises still have today, all traffic comes back to the enterprise data center before going out to the cloud. The on-premises data center is where the switching and routing, security, and application delivery controllers reside. This infrastructure is architected for a bygone era when applications were all in the data center.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apcela advises how to build a hybrid IT platform for better performance and stronger security

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe. To state the obvious, enterprises are moving their applications to the cloud, and this movement is happening at an accelerating pace. Many technology chiefs are working under a “cloud-first policy,” which means that if an application can be deployed as a service, then that should be the first choice for the way to go.While the applications themselves are moving to the cloud, the application delivery infrastructure is still stuck in the enterprise data center. Under the existing network architecture that most enterprises still have today, all traffic comes back to the enterprise data center before going out to the cloud. The on-premises data center is where the switching and routing, security, and application delivery controllers reside. This infrastructure is architected for a bygone era when applications were all in the data center.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Skyport Systems plugs the agility, security gaps of hybrid cloud

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.As organizations move more of their infrastructure to the cloud, they are ending up with hybrid cloud applications. Part of the application runs in the traditional data center, and part runs in a cloud infrastructure such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform. In addition, organizations often need to connect SaaS services to resources that continue to reside inside their datacenters.Applications that run in this mode typically use a connecting software gateway between the data center component and the cloud component, for example, Mule ESB or OneSaaS. This gateway allows the components to share data and work together seamlessly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Skyport Systems plugs the agility, security gaps of hybrid cloud

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.As organizations move more of their infrastructure to the cloud, they are ending up with hybrid cloud applications. Part of the application runs in the traditional data center, and part runs in a cloud infrastructure such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform. In addition, organizations often need to connect SaaS services to resources that continue to reside inside their datacenters.Applications that run in this mode typically use a connecting software gateway between the data center component and the cloud component, for example, Mule ESB or OneSaaS. This gateway allows the components to share data and work together seamlessly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Area 1 Security stops phishing campaigns before they become attacks

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.Anyone who has spent any amount of time trying to secure their organization’s endpoints or network would not be surprised to learn that phishing is now the #1 delivery vehicle for malware and ransomware.According to Mandiant, phishing was used in about 95 percent of the cases of successful breaches where an attacker has been able to get into a target network and do something malicious. A phishing campaign is likely to have a 90 percent success rate—i.e., someone takes the bait—when the campaign is sent to 10 or more people.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Area 1 Security stops phishing campaigns before they become attacks

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.Anyone who has spent any amount of time trying to secure their organization’s endpoints or network would not be surprised to learn that phishing is now the #1 delivery vehicle for malware and ransomware.According to Mandiant, phishing was used in about 95 percent of the cases of successful breaches where an attacker has been able to get into a target network and do something malicious. A phishing campaign is likely to have a 90 percent success rate—i.e., someone takes the bait—when the campaign is sent to 10 or more people.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VeloCloud launches an SD-WAN security ecosystem

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  It’s a great time to be in the SD-WAN business. IDC estimates that worldwide SD-WAN revenues will exceed $6 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 90% over the 2015-to-2020 forecast period. According to IHS, as of the end of 2016, 13% of North American enterprises already have the technology in production and 62% are in lab trials. By 2018, 82% are expected to be using SD-WAN.Those are some pretty remarkable adoption rates for a technology that is still in its early days.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

VeloCloud launches an SD-WAN security ecosystem

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  It’s a great time to be in the SD-WAN business. IDC estimates that worldwide SD-WAN revenues will exceed $6 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 90% over the 2015-to-2020 forecast period. According to IHS, as of the end of 2016, 13% of North American enterprises already have the technology in production and 62% are in lab trials. By 2018, 82% are expected to be using SD-WAN.Those are some pretty remarkable adoption rates for a technology that is still in its early days.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sift Science uses machine learning to help businesses reduce fraud without impacting the user experience  

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  Companies that provide online transactional services to consumers or other businesses have to be concerned about fraud. Whether it is renting hotel rooms to travelers, selling books to avid readers, arranging shipping services for hard goods, or any of the thousands of other types of sales and services transacted online, the entity behind the online business needs to know if the end user and transaction can be trusted.The credit reporting company Experian says that e-commerce fraud attack rates spiked 33% in 2016 compared to 2015. Experian attributes this increase to the recent switch to EMV (those chip-based credit cards), which drove fraudsters to online card-not-present fraud, and to the vast number of data breaches in which users’ online credentials were stolen. The Federal Trade Commission says the number of consumers who reported their stolen data was used for credit card fraud increased from 16% in 2015 to 32% in 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sift Science uses machine learning to help businesses reduce fraud while enhancing the user experience​

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  Companies that provide online transactional services to consumers or other businesses have to be concerned about fraud. Whether it is renting hotel rooms to travelers, selling books to avid readers, arranging shipping services for hard goods, or any of the thousands of other types of sales and services transacted online, the entity behind the online business needs to know if the end user and transaction can be trusted.The credit reporting company Experian says that e-commerce fraud attack rates spiked 33% in 2016 compared to 2015. Experian attributes this increase to the recent switch to EMV (those chip-based credit cards), which drove fraudsters to online card-not-present fraud, and to the vast number of data breaches in which users’ online credentials were stolen. The Federal Trade Commission says the number of consumers who reported their stolen data was used for credit card fraud increased from 16% in 2015 to 32% in 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sift Science uses machine learning to help businesses reduce fraud while enhancing the user experience​

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  Companies that provide online transactional services to consumers or other businesses have to be concerned about fraud. Whether it is renting hotel rooms to travelers, selling books to avid readers, arranging shipping services for hard goods, or any of the thousands of other types of sales and services transacted online, the entity behind the online business needs to know if the end user and transaction can be trusted.The credit reporting company Experian says that e-commerce fraud attack rates spiked 33% in 2016 compared to 2015. Experian attributes this increase to the recent switch to EMV (those chip-based credit cards), which drove fraudsters to online card-not-present fraud, and to the vast number of data breaches in which users’ online credentials were stolen. The Federal Trade Commission says the number of consumers who reported their stolen data was used for credit card fraud increased from 16% in 2015 to 32% in 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Forget signatures for malware detection. SparkCognition says AI is 99% effective  

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  The notion of detecting malware by looking for malicious file signatures is obsolete. Depending on which source is cited, anywhere from 300,000 to one million new malware files are identified every day.Kaspersky Lab says it finds 323,000 files daily, AV-TEST claims to discover more than 390,000 new malicious programs every day, and Symantec says it uncovers almost a million new threats per day. No matter how you count it, that’s a lot of malicious software being unleased into the wild day after day.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Forget signatures for malware detection. SparkCognition says AI is 99% effective  

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  The notion of detecting malware by looking for malicious file signatures is obsolete. Depending on which source is cited, anywhere from 300,000 to one million new malware files are identified every day.Kaspersky Lab says it finds 323,000 files daily, AV-TEST claims to discover more than 390,000 new malicious programs every day, and Symantec says it uncovers almost a million new threats per day. No matter how you count it, that’s a lot of malicious software being unleased into the wild day after day.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Silver Peak enhances its SD-WAN edge device to improve the branch experience  

This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices.  Click here to subscribe.  If you want to get a sense for how rapidly the SD-WAN market is evolving, go back and read some of the articles from, say, two years ago. Some of the talk was about startup companies entering the market, while other items describe how traditional WAN hardware vendors were pivoting to get into the lucrative new market of building network functions in software.Predictions of the eventual market size varied back then, but everyone knew it would be big. Doyle Research thought it might get to $3.2 billion by 2018. IDC projected a $6 billion market by 2020. I wouldn’t be surprised if those estimates from a few years ago turn out to be too conservative.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here