Neal Weinberg
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Neal Weinberg
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What is Wi-Fi 7, and will it replace wired Ethernet?
New Wi-Fi standards appear in such rapid succession that it’s often difficult to evaluate the differences between Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 6E—all of which are standards adopted in commercial products. And now there’s Wi-Fi 7.Chinese networking-equipment vendor H3C has released what it says is a Wi-Fi 7 router even though the Wi-Fi 7 standard isn’t expected to be finalized until 2024.What is Wi-Fi 7? Wi-Fi 7 or 802.11be is the next Wi-Fi standard being worked on by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers that promises speeds of a whopping 46Gbps, nearly five times faster than Wi-Fi 6, as well as reduced latency. Wi-Fi 7 (also known as Extremely High Throughput) is expected to deliver higher spectrum efficiency, higher power efficiency, better interference mitigation, higher capacity density, and higher cost efficiency. To read this article in full, please click here
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NaaS: Is it right for you, and how do you pick a vendor?
Enterprises have become comfortable switching from the purchase-and-refresh cycle for servers, storage and applications to a cloud-based as-a-service approach. So, why not take the same tack when it comes to the network?That’s the concept behind Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), which promises predictable costs, increased agility, better performance, cloud-style scalability, timely integration of new technologies, service-provider-level security, and a high degree of automation. [ Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ]To read this article in full, please click here
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What is Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and why do we need it?
Wi-Fi has become an indispensable technology in enterprise networks, supporting enough bandwidth and individual channels to make all-wireless LANs feasible, thanks in large part to 802.11ax, the standard more commonly called Wi-Fi 6.What is 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)? Wi-Fi 6 was officially certified in 2020 and has quickly become the de facto standard for wireless LAN technology (WLAN), superseding Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). Wi-Fi 6 delivers improved performance, extended coverage and longer battery life compared to Wi-Fi 5.Wi-Fi 6 was originally designed to address bandwidth problems associated with dense, high-traffic environments such as airports, stadiums, trains and offices. However, the explosion of IoT devices that need to connect wirelessly to edge devices, and the ever-increasing bandwidth needs of new data-thirsty applications has rendered Wi-Fi 6 not exactly obsolete on arrival, but certainly not sufficient for some use cases.To read this article in full, please click here
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What is Wi-Fi 6, and why do we need it?
Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, was officially certified in 2020 and has quickly become the de facto standard for wireless LAN (WLAN), superseding Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). Wi-Fi 6 delivers improved performance, extended coverage, and longer battery life compared to Wi-Fi 5.Wi-Fi 6 was originally designed to address bandwidth problems associated with dense, high-traffic environments such as airports, stadiums, trains, and offices. However, the explosion of IoT devices that need to connect wirelessly to edge devices, and the ever-increasing bandwidth needs of new data-thirsty applications has rendered Wi-Fi 6 not exactly obsolete on arrival, but certainly not sufficient for some use cases.To read this article in full, please click here
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DHCP defined and how it works
If Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) didn’t exist, network administrators would have to manually parcel out IP addresses from the available pool, which would be prohibitively time consuming, inefficient, and error prone. Fortunately, DHCP does exist.What is DHCP and how does it work? DHCP is an under-the-covers mechanism that automates the assignment of IP addresses to fixed and mobile hosts that are connected wired or wirelessly.When a device wants access to a network that’s using DHCP, it sends a request for an IP address that is picked up by a DHCP server. The server responds be delivering an IP address to the device, then monitors the use of the address and takes it back after a specified time or when the device shuts down. The IP address is then returned to the pool of addresses managed by the DHCP server to be reassigned to another device as it seeks access to the network.To read this article in full, please click here
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How to shop for firewalls
Enterprise firewalls have been the quintessential security device for decades, standing guard at the perimeter, inspecting all inbound and outbound traffic for malware. So, what happens to firewalls as the perimeter fades away? They evolve.Today’s firewalls are an essential piece of the enterprise security puzzle. They’ve become the foundational device upon which security vendors have stacked all of their advanced features. Cloud-based, next-generation firewalls (firewall-as-a-service) are a core component of any secure access service edge (SASE) deployment. VPN remote access for work-at-home employees typically terminates at a firewall. And firewalls play a key role in zero-trust network access (ZTNA), serving as the device that enforces access control policies and network segmentation rules.To read this article in full, please click here
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How to shop for firewalls
Enterprise firewalls have been the quintessential security device for decades, standing guard at the perimeter, inspecting all inbound and outbound traffic for malware. So, what happens to firewalls as the perimeter fades away? They evolve.Today’s firewalls are an essential piece of the enterprise security puzzle. They’ve become the foundational device upon which security vendors have stacked all of their advanced features. Cloud-based, next-generation firewalls (firewall-as-a-service) are a core component of any secure access service edge (SASE) deployment. VPN remote access for work-at-home employees typically terminates at a firewall. And firewalls play a key role in zero-trust network access (ZTNA), serving as the device that enforces access control policies and network segmentation rules.To read this article in full, please click here
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How to buy enterprise firewalls
Enterprise firewalls have been the quintessential security device for decades, standing guard at the perimeter, inspecting all inbound and outbound traffic for malware. So, what happens to firewalls as the perimeter fades away? They evolve.Today’s firewalls are an essential piece of the enterprise security puzzle. They’ve become the foundational device upon which security vendors have stacked all of their advanced features. Cloud-based, next-generation firewalls (firewall-as-a-service) are a core component of any secure access service edge (SASE) deployment. VPN remote access for work-at-home employees typically terminates at a firewall. And firewalls play a key role in zero-trust network access (ZTNA), serving as the device that enforces access control policies and network segmentation rules.To read this article in full, please click here
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How to buy SASE
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a cloud-based service that combined networking and security so that users located anywhere could safely and efficiently access applications and data located anywhere? That’s the aim of SASE (rhymes with gassy). SASE isn’t a single product, but rather it’s an approach, a platform, a collection of capabilities, an aspiration.Gartner coined the term Secure Access Service Edge in a 2019 research report, and the name stuck. Vendors have been doing backflips trying to cobble together complete SASE offerings, which would include at a minimum software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), secure Web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) and zero trust network access (ZTNA).To read this article in full, please click here
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How to buy SASE
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a cloud-based service that combined networking and security so that users located anywhere could safely and efficiently access applications and data located anywhere? That’s the aim of SASE (rhymes with gassy). SASE isn’t a single product, but rather it’s an approach, a platform, a collection of capabilities, an aspiration.Gartner coined the term Secure Access Service Edge in a 2019 research report, and the name stuck. Vendors have been doing backflips trying to cobble together complete SASE offerings, which would include at a minimum software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), secure Web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) and zero trust network access (ZTNA).To read this article in full, please click here
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How to choose an edge gateway
There could be as many as 15 billion IoT devices connected to enterprise infrastructure by 2029, according to Gartner. These devices will generate massive amounts of operational data that needs to be translated from their original protocols, aggregated, and analyzed in order to deliver real-time actionable alerts as well as longer-term business insights.For organizations with significant IoT deployments, edge computing has emerged as an effective way to process sensor data closest to where it is created. Edge computing reduces the latency associated with moving data from a remote location to a centralized data center or to the cloud for analysis, slashes WAN bandwidth costs, and addresses security, data-privacy, and data-autonomy issues.To read this article in full, please click here
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How to choose an edge gateway
There could be as many as 15 billion IoT devices connected to enterprise infrastructure by 2029, according to Gartner. These devices will generate massive amounts of operational data that needs to be translated from their original protocols, aggregated, and analyzed in order to deliver real-time actionable alerts as well as longer-term business insights.For organizations with significant IoT deployments, edge computing has emerged as an effective way to process sensor data closest to where it is created. Edge computing reduces the latency associated with moving data from a remote location to a centralized data center or to the cloud for analysis, slashes WAN bandwidth costs, and addresses security, data-privacy, and data-autonomy issues.To read this article in full, please click here
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SD-WAN buyers guide: Key questions to ask vendors (and yourself)
Prior to the pandemic, SD-WAN was primarily a niche technology pitched to enterprises as a way to cut costs and improve WAN flexibility by allowing traffic to burst directly from the branch office to the Internet, rather than backhauling it over expensive MPLS links to a central site. SD-WAN resources What is SD-WAN and what does it mean for networking, security, cloud? 10 SD-WAN features you're probably not using but should be SD-WAN may be the key to smart network services SD-WAN and analytics: A marriage made for the new normal Native SD-WAN monitoring tools are not enough, survey says Today, SD-WAN has emerged as a key enabler of the post-COVID enterprise in which mission critical applications live in multiple clouds, employees connect and collaborate from everywhere, and remote access to applications like Office 365, Salesforce and Zoom must be fast, secure, reliable, optimized, and automated for maximum business productivity and end user satisfaction.To read this article in full, please click here
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The 10 most powerful companies in enterprise networking 2021
When the pandemic hit last spring, employees suddenly began working from home, enterprises quickly shifted applications to the cloud, and secure remote access became critical. As we move (hopefully) beyond the pandemic, it’s clear that enterprise networking has been changed forever.Companies are looking at new technologies like SASE to combine networking and edge security into one manageable platform. Zero-trust network access has moved from the back burner to the hotseat as companies seek a more effective way to fight cyberattacks in a world where the traditional perimeter no longer exists. The lines between security and networking are blurring, with traditional security companies moving into the networking realm, and networking companies upping their security game.To read this article in full, please click here
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The 10 most powerful companies in enterprise networking 2021
When the pandemic hit last spring, employees suddenly began working from home, enterprises quickly shifted applications to the cloud, and secure remote access became critical. As we move (hopefully) beyond the pandemic, it’s clear that enterprise networking has been changed forever.Companies are looking at new technologies like SASE to combine networking and edge security into one manageable platform. Zero-trust network access has moved from the back burner to the hotseat as companies seek a more effective way to fight cyberattacks in a world where the traditional perimeter no longer exists. The lines between security and networking are blurring, with traditional security companies moving into the networking realm, and networking companies upping their security game.To read this article in full, please click here
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IoT cloud services: How they stack up against DIY
Eager to cash in on the massive potential for IoT-based data storage and analytics, public-cloud vendors are diving headlong into the IoT market, offering enterprises everything from individual building blocks to fully managed services and every combination in between. Tech Spotlight: Cloud Computing Cloud or bust: IT leaders go all in on cloud computing (CIO) Migrating to hosted Exchange: Do’s and don’ts (Computerworld) AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Azure: How their security features compare (CSO) From legacy to the cloud: The 3 stages of enterprise modernization (InfoWorld) IoT cloud services: How they stack up against DIY (Network World) The amount of data that is expected to be generated by IoT devices is staggering. IDC predicts that by 2025, there will be 55.9 billion connected devices worldwide, 75% of which will be connected to an IoT platform. IDC estimates the amount of data generated from IoT devices will be 79.4 zettabytes by 2025.To read this article in full, please click here
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COVID-19 upends disaster recovery planning
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in enterprise disaster recovery and business continuity planning in areas such as remote access, networking, SaaS applications and ransomware. Over the past year, IT execs have been scrambling to plug those gaps and update DR plans on the fly.More significantly, the pandemic triggered fundamental IT changes at many organizations, including a hasty migration of applications to the cloud, an acceleration of digital transformation efforts, the emergency provisioning of new systems and services outside of traditional procurement procedures, and, in many industries, the emergence a new category of full-time, work-at-home employees who are handling mission-critical data on their personal devices.To read this article in full, please click here
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COVID-19 upends disaster recovery planning
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in enterprise disaster recovery and business continuity planning in areas such as remote access, networking, SaaS applications and ransomware. Over the past year, IT execs have been scrambling to plug those gaps and update DR plans on the fly.More significantly, the pandemic triggered fundamental IT changes at many organizations, including a hasty migration of applications to the cloud, an acceleration of digital transformation efforts, the emergency provisioning of new systems and services outside of traditional procurement procedures, and, in many industries, the emergence a new category of full-time, work-at-home employees who are handling mission-critical data on their personal devices.To read this article in full, please click here
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IoT, edge computing and AI projects pay off for asset-based enterprises
Bill Holmes, facilities manager at the Corona, Calif., plant that produces the iconic Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars, remembers all too well walking the factory floor with a crude handheld vibration analyzer and then plugging the device into a computer to get readings on the condition of his equipment.While all of the woodworking was done by hand when Leo Fender founded Fender Musical Instruments Corp. 75 years ago, today the guitar necks and bodies are produced with computer-controller woodworking routers, then handed off to the craftsmen who build the final product. Holmes says he is always looking for the latest technological advances to solve problems (he uses robotics to help paint the guitars), and there's no problem more vexing than equipment breakdowns.To read this article in full, please click here
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IoT, edge computing and AI projects pay off for asset-based enterprises
Bill Holmes, facilities manager at the Corona, Calif., plant that produces the iconic Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars, remembers all too well walking the factory floor with a crude handheld vibration analyzer and then plugging the device into a computer to get readings on the condition of his equipment.While all of the woodworking was done by hand when Leo Fender founded Fender Musical Instruments Corp. 75 years ago, today the guitar necks and bodies are produced with computer-controller woodworking routers, then handed off to the craftsmen who build the final product. Holmes says he is always looking for the latest technological advances to solve problems (he uses robotics to help paint the guitars), and there's no problem more vexing than equipment breakdowns.To read this article in full, please click here