Network World

Author Archives: Network World

Generative AI set to reshape SD-WAN market

There are baseline security and connectivity requirements for any SD-WAN service, and then there are optional, emerging product capabilities that indicate how the market is maturing and customer requirements are expanding. AI networking support – such as for proactive remediation and incident management – is one of those optional capabilities, according to Gartner, which just released its latest analysis of the SD-WAN vendor landscape.There’s a trend toward AI capabilities that enable networking decisions to be made with little or no human intervention. These capabilities can help enterprises to streamline network design, configuration and ongoing management as well as increase agility and improve performance, according to Gartner. The research firm predicts that by 2026, generative AI technology embedded in SD-WAN offerings will be used for 20% of initial network configuration, up from near zero in 2023.To read this article in full, please click here

Intel plans spinoff of FPGA unit

Intel announced plans to spin off its programmable solutions group (PSG) as a standalone business beginning January 1, with an IPO to follow in about two to three years. The group will operate as a separate unit in the company’s financials.PSG is the group that handles field-programmable gate array (FPGA) processors made by Altera, which Intel acquired for $16.7 billion in 2015. Sandra Rivera, who currently runs Intel’s data center and AI (DCAI) group, will lead PSG as CEO. The company also plans to search for a new chief financial officer for the group.To read this article in full, please click here

UK regulator launches antitrust probe into Microsoft and Amazon cloud services

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to launch an investigation into the country’s cloud computing market, after a new report from the communications regulator uncovered a number of market features that it said could limit competition among providers.The move comes seven months after the communications regulator Ofcom first raised “significant concerns” about Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft, alleging that they were harming competition in cloud infrastructure services and abusing their market positions with practices that make interoperability difficult.To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco details first Nutanix-based hyperconvergence offering

Just weeks after Cisco killed its Hyperflex platform and turned that business over to Nutanix, the vendors rolled out their first integrated hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) package aimed at easing hybrid- and multi-cloud operations.HCI platforms combine storage, compute, networking and virtualization resources in a single system. The newly available Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with Nutanix combines Cisco’s SaaS-managed compute and networking gear with Nutanix’s Cloud Platform, which includes Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, Nutanix Cloud Manager, Nutanix Unified Storage, and Nutanix Desktop Services. The system can be centrally managed via Cisco’s cloud-based Intersight infrastructure operations platform, and it supports Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) and VMware vSphere hypervisors.To read this article in full, please click here

20th National Cybersecurity Awareness Month kicks off

As National Cybersecurity Awareness Month kicks off, it's a good time to reflect on how secure the systems you manage are – whether they’re running Linux, Windows or some other OS. While Linux is considered by many to be more secure due to its open-source nature and because privileges are clearly defined, it still warrants security reviews, and this month's focus on cybersecurity awareness suggests that an annual review is more than just a good idea.The designation became official in 2004, when President George W. Bush and Congress declared October to be National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Keep in mind that in 2004, security practice often involved little more than updating antivirus software. Today, cybersecurity practices are much more intense as the threats have grown to be far more significant and far more challenging.To read this article in full, please click here

Kyndryl expands network security lineup with Palo Alto SD-WAN, SASE

Kyndryl continues to fill out its stable of network security partners, most recently inking an alliance with Palo Alto Networks for cybersecurity, SD-WAN and secure access service edge (SASE) services.As part of the deal, Kyndryl will integrate Palo Alto's security products and services into its own managed security services, which include security monitoring, incident response, and threat intelligence.  Palo Alto brings a wide range of security offerings, including a family of next-generation firewalls, the Prisma Cloud security platform for cloud-based applications and workloads, endpoint security, and operational automation support.To read this article in full, please click here

Data centers aren’t ready for AI, Schneider warns

Schneider Electric is warning the demands of power and cooling for AI are beyond what standard data center designs can handle and says new designs are necessary.That may be expected from a company like Schneider, which makes power and cooling systems used in data centers. But it doesn’t mean Schneider isn't correct. AI is a different kind of workload than standard server-side applications, such as databases, and the old ways just don’t cut it anymore.Schneider's white paper notes that AI needs ample supply of three things: power, cooling, and bandwidth. GPUs are the most popular AI processors and the most power intensive. Whereas CPUs from Intel and AMD draw about 300 to 400 watts, Nvidia’s newest GPUs draw 700 watts per processor and they are often delivered in clusters of eight at a time.To read this article in full, please click here

Japan invests $1.3 billion in Micron to subsidize chip manufacturing: Report

The Japanese government on Tuesday said that it had invested $1.3 billion in Micron’s Hiroshima factory as subsidy for manufacturing more advanced chips that support or power AI and quantum workloads.The investment is expected to cover the cost of installing ASML Holding’s extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment at the factory, according to a Bloomberg report. Lithography machines are used to draw patterns on silicon chips using light, and Dutch company ASML Holdings is one of the top producers of these lithography machines.To read this article in full, please click here

Microsoft puts its Cloud for Sovereignty in public preview

Microsoft on Tuesday moved its Cloud for Sovereignty offering from private preview to public preview and said the offering is likely to be made generally available this December.Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, which is aimed at helping government bodies meet specific compliance, security, and policy requirements, was first introduced in July of last year. Since then the company has released two private releases of the offering.The public preview version of the offering includes new features such as the Sovereign Landing Zone, support for two country-specific requirements, transparency logs, and automated workload templates.The Sovereign Landing Zone and policy initiative, which is now available on GitHub, instantiates guardrails for sovereign cloud environments for customer workloads, enabling customers to leverage best practices for secure and consistent environments while supporting their efforts to meet evolving local regulations, the company said.To read this article in full, please click here

AI startup SambaNova updates processor, software

SambaNova Systems, maker of dedicated AI hardware and software systems, has launched a new AI chip, the SN40, that will be used in the company’s full-stack large language model (LLM) platform, the SambaNova Suite.First introduced in March, the SambaNova Suite uses custom processors and operating systems for AI inference training. It's designed to be an alternative to power-hungry and expensive GPUs.To upgrade the hardware so soon after launch means that there ought to be a big jump in performance, and there is. The SN40L serves up to a 5 trillion parameter LLM with 256K+ sequence length possible on a single system node, according to the vendor.To read this article in full, please click here

Data storage archive options: Batch, real-time and hierarchical storage management

When it comes to archiving data, there are three different approaches, generally speaking. Selecting the right system hinges on technical capabilities as well as external factors such as budget constraints. Enterprise storage pros need to balance data- preservation, accessibility, and resource-optimization requirements as they weigh the various archive systems available in the market. Let's take a deeper look into the different types of archive systems.Traditional batch archive With a traditional batch archive, data serves its purpose for a certain period before being tucked away in a safe repository, awaiting the possibility of being of some use in the future. The main idea behind this type of archive is to preserve data over an extended timeframe, while keeping costs at a minimum and ensuring that retrieval remains a breeze even years down the line. In this kind of archive system, each collection of data selected for archiving is given one or more identities, stored as metadata alongside the archived data. This metadata plays a pivotal role in locating and retrieving the archived information, with details such as project names, tools used for to create the data, the creator’s name, and the creation timeframe all forming part of this digital fingerprint. Continue reading

What IT needs to know about energy-efficiency directives for data centers

Creating energy-efficient and sustainable data centers makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. Aside from the obvious environmental impact of lower carbon emissions, the potential business benefits include lower operating costs, reduced space requirements and a positive brand image.There’s another good reason for building more sustainable and energy-efficient data centers: Regulations and standards are emerging around the world that will require or recommend such actions.IT and networking executives and their teams need to get up to speed on a host of sustainability regulations and standards that are going to require a response on their part. Energy efficiency and sustainability are not just issues for facilities teams anymore. They are a concern for IT teams that will be asked to provide metrics, so the need for reporting will become more urgent. They will also need to select more energy-efficient hardware.To read this article in full, please click here

Nvidia’s French offices raided for anti-competitive practices: Report

France’s competition watchdog has raided the local offices of chipmaker Nvidia while investigating anti-competitive practices in the graphics cards sector with a focus on cloud computing.While the competition watchdog did not confirm the identity of the entity being investigated or the practice in question, a report from The Wall Street Journal cited sources saying that the raids conducted targeted Nvidia.The watchdog, however, confirmed that the operation was a result of it trying to investigate the graphics cards sector as part of an expanded study to understand anti-competitive practices in the cloud computing sector. The study, according to the watchdog, was started in January 2022.To read this article in full, please click here

Nvidia’s French offices raided for anticompetitive practices: Report

France’s competition watchdog has raided the local offices of chipmaker Nvidia while investigating anticompetitive practices in the graphics cards sector with a focus on cloud computing.While the competition watchdog did not confirm the identity of the entity being investigated or the practice in question, a report from The Wall Street Journal cited sources saying that the raids targeted Nvidia.The watchdog, however, confirmed that the operation was a result of it trying to investigate the graphics cards sector as part of an expanded study to understand anticompetitive practices in the cloud computing sector. The study, according to the watchdog, was started in January 2022.To read this article in full, please click here

IDC: SD-WAN adoption gets a boost from cloud connectivity requirements, SASE appeal

SD-WAN deployments continue to grow at an impressive clip, and the leading adoption drivers include cloud connectivity requirements, interest in SASE packages, the promise of simpler WAN management, and cost savings potential, according to IDC.The research firm evaluated 12 SD-WAN vendors for its newly published IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SD-WAN Infrastructure 2023 Vendor Assessment, which found the SD-WAN infrastructure market grew 25% in 2022. Looking ahead, IDC is forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 10% and expects the market to reach $7.5 billion by 2027. To read this article in full, please click here

Cloudflare wants you to build AI applications on its edge network

Content delivery network (CDN), security and web services company Cloudflare is opening its worldwide network to companies looking to build and deploy AI models with new serverless AI, database and observability features, working with several new tech partners to do so.Part one of Cloudflare’s new AI-focused initiative, announced today, is the Workers AI framework, which offers access to GPUs in Cloudflare’s network for a serverless way to run AI models. For users trying to run AI systems that are heavily latency dependent, the framework should offer the option of running workloads much closer to the network edge, reducing round-trip time. The company said that Workers AI is also designed to separate inference from training data, ensuring that consumer information is not misused.To read this article in full, please click here

HPE restructures around hybrid cloud

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is undergoing a reorganization that includes the formation of a new hybrid cloud business unit and top-level executive shifts.Fortunately, CEO Antonio Neri is going nowhere. Neri may not have a rock star profile, but his success as a leader is undeniable.Two key executives are departing, however. Vishal Lall, general manager of HPE GreenLake and the cloud solutions group, is leaving the company. Pradeep Kumar, senior vice president and general manager of HPE services, is retiring after 27 years with the company.With Kumar’s departure, all operational activities for HPE services, supply chain and quote-to-cash will now be handled by Mark Bakker, executive vice president and general manager of global operations.To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco boosts Catalyst SD-WAN capabilities

Cisco is unwrapping a range of enhancements for its SD-WAN package that it says will help enterprise IT organizations secure, simplify and optimize their wide-area network operations and management. The upgrades include new routing management capabilities, integration with Microsoft Sentinel and Skyhigh Security systems, a new Catalyst edge device, and improved support for Catalyst cellular connectivity. Cisco’s SD-WAN package includes myriad features to tie together routers, switches or virtualized customer premises equipment (vCPE) from cloud, branch and remote sites, all managed through a single console, the Catalyst SD-WAN Manager.To read this article in full, please click here

Oracle Cloud delivers Nvidia-powered generative AI service

Oracle last week announced limited availability of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI, which aims to enable business users to integrate AI into their line-of-business applications.OCI Generative AI is a managed service built on Oracle's cloud infrastructure in collaboration with Cohere, an AI platform for enterprise. The managed service and Cohere models will work in conjunction with AI Vector Search, a feature of Oracle Database 23c that provides retrieval augmented generation (RAG), an AI technique that combines pretrained LLMs and proprietary business data to deliver responses with higher accuracy. OCI Generative AI will also form the basis for generative AI capabilities embedded across Oracle’s suite of SaaS applications, including Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, Oracle NetSuite, and industry applications such as Oracle Cerner.To read this article in full, please click here

IBM brings AI to Z series mainframes, z/OS, Cloud Paks

New AI toolkits, machine learning (ML) frameworks and AI-based private cloud tools are on their way to IBM Z-series mainframe users, as the company looks to preserve its share of the fast-growing AI marketplace.The company announced today that its newest offerings, meant to help organizations get to work on the latest and greatest in AI frameworks, will be available for IBM Z, LinuxOne, z/OS and Cloud Pak architectures. The first new feature, AI Toolkit for IBM Z and LinuxONE, is designed to help enable mission-critical business applications on open-source frameworks like IBM’s Z Accelerated line with TensorFlow, SnapML and more. A Python AI Toolkit for the underlying z/OS also provides an open-source Python library for AI/ML workloads, designed to conform with the company’s Security and Privacy by Design guidelines.To read this article in full, please click here

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