Network World

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Intel details next generation of Xeon processors

Intel used the Hot Chips 2023 show to introduce the next generation of its Xeon processors, codenamed Sierra Forest and Granite Rapids. This will be the first generation of Xeon processors with different core designs: the new Efficient-core (E-core) architecture and existing Performance-core (P-core) architecture. The new processors will be considerably beefier than the previous generation, codenamed Sapphire Rapids. They will feature up to 144 cores and emphasize greater memory and I/O bandwidth performance, two areas where Xeon has lagged behind AMD’s Epyc processors.To read this article in full, please click here

Google’s Cross-Cloud Network service aims to simplify multicloud networking

Google Cloud has added a new service that promises to make it easier for enterprise customers to securely network multiple cloud-based resources.The Cross-Cloud Network service consists of new and existing Google Cloud technology and includes a partner ecosystem to help organizations develop, build and support distributed enterprise applications across clouds.“We know that 70-plus percent of our enterprises are going to adopt multicloud. [The] idea behind Cross-Cloud Network is that today many organizations operate bespoke networks with turnkey security to connect to those clouds that are operationally complex to manage and build, thereby resulting in a much higher total cost of ownership and soaring costs,” said Muninder Sambi, vice president and general manager of networking for Google Cloud. “They set up private data centers to connect and secure the hybrid workforce to access cloud and on-prem resources and manage multiple CDN clouds to accelerate web apps. All of this can also lead to an inconsistent security posture and drives up total costs,” Sambi said.To read this article in full, please click here

CompTIA to offer advanced cloud networking certification

A new series of advanced certifications from CompTIA aims to validate IT pros who have multiple years of work experience and expert-level skills in data, cybersecurity, and cloud networking.“Each certification exam will validate deep expertise in job roles recognized as being at the expert level,” said Thomas Reilly, chief product officer at CompTIA, in a statement. “Beyond validating technical skills, IT pros who earn a CompTIA Xpert Series certification will have demonstrated their ability to understand, implement, and articulate advanced technology solutions in any business environment.”To read this article in full, please click here

Fortinet adds wireless and IoT security features to SASE platform

Fortinet continues to enhance its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) package by adding support for microbranches, extending wireless LAN protections, and improving data loss prevention (DLP) and end-user monitoring capabilities.The vendor added the new features to its FortiSASE offering, which includes SD-WAN, secure web gateway, firewall as a service, cloud access security broker, and zero trust network access (ZTNA), all running on top of its FortiOS operating system. The package can be centrally managed via the firm’s FortiManager software, which sets network and security policies across the Fortinet product line.To read this article in full, please click here

Most hyped network technologies and how to deal with them

The appeal of promising network technologies can be jaded by pressure to adopt untested ideas. When I look over the comments I’ve gotten from enterprise technologists this year, one thing that stands out is that almost three-quarters of them said that entrenched views held by company executives is a “significant problem” for them in sustaining their network and IT operations.“Every story that comes out gets me a meeting in the board room to debunk a silly idea,” one CIO said. I’ve seen that problem in my own career and so I sympathize, but is there anything that tech experts can do about it? How do you debunk the “big hype” of the moment?For starters, don’t be too dismissive. Technologists agree that a dismissive response to hype cited by senior management is always a bad idea. In fact, the opening comment that most technologists suggested is “I agree there’s real potential there, but I think there are some near-term issues that need to be resolved before we could commit to it.” The second-most-cited opening is “I’ve already launched a study of that, and I’ll report back to you when it’s complete.” There’s usually a grain (yeah, often Continue reading

Cisco services help enterprises set infrastructure, operations priorities

Cisco has unveiled a new Lifecycle Services (LCS) offering that's aimed at enabling enterprise customers to get the most out of their networking and technology investments.LCS is being delivered by Cisco’s Global Customer Experience (CX) team, which includes some 20,000 employees that focus on supporting organizations as they choose, deploy and operate the technologies they need to achieve their business goals.Cisco CX and its partner organizations offer a suite of services to help customers optimize their network infrastructure, security, collaboration, cloud and data center operations – from planning and design to implementation and maintenance.To read this article in full, please click here

What are network assurance tools and why are they important?

Network assurance tools, which use advanced analytics to optimize and automate network management, are becoming an essential component in every network team’s toolkit.Network assurance was once viewed as a routine IT responsibility. "This attitude essentially reduced assurance to a checkbox," says SQL server consultant Mark Varnas. As enterprises became increasingly data-driven, this perfunctory approach no longer worked. IT leaders needed a better handle on their network in order to advance their data capabilities.And these tools are more than just a simple technology investment. "They're a strategic decision that supports business growth and customer satisfaction," says Matt Aird, CTO at Custom Neon, which makes and sells LED neon lights and signs. "Regular monitoring, clear insights, and preventative measures are vital in competitive markets."To read this article in full, please click here

Generative AI dominates VMware Explore news

There were some cloud announcements this week at VMware Explore in Las Vegas, but AI was the star, as it has been at nearly every tech company lately. Vendors have been rushing to add generative AI to their platforms, and VMware is no exception.The biggest AI features to emerge from the conference – VMware Private AI Foundation and Intelligent Assist – won't be fully available for months. VMware Private AI Foundation is a joint development with Nvidia that will enable enterprises to customize models and run generative AI applications on their own infrastructure. Intelligent Assist is a family of generative AI-based solutions trained on VMware’s proprietary data to automate IT tasks.To read this article in full, please click here

What shortage? Nvidia blows past expectations in second quarter

Nvidia exceeded all expectations for its second fiscal quarter of 2024 with revenue of $13.51 billion, a 101% jump from the same quarter last year. Net income came in at $6.74 billion, or $2.48 per diluted share, which is up 854% from a year ago and up 202% from the previous quarter.Analysts had expected revenue to come in at $11.04 billion with earnings per share totaling $2.07, according to data from Bloomberg.And it’s all thanks for enterprise sales. Last quarter, enterprise sales accounted for 60% of total revenue. This quarter, $10.3 billion of the $13.5 billion in total revenue – 76% – came from data center sales.“A new computing era has begun. Companies worldwide are transitioning from general-purpose to accelerated computing and generative AI,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, in a statement. “Nvidia GPUs connected by our Mellanox networking and switch technologies and running our CUDA AI software stack make up the computing infrastructure of generative AI.”To read this article in full, please click here

Cisco, Kyndryl step up partnership to cut enterprise security threats

Cisco and Kyndryl have expanded their partnership to offer new services that are aimed at helping enterprise customers better detect and respond to cyber threats.Specifically, Kyndryl will be integrating its own cyber resiliency offering with Cisco’s overarching Security Cloud platform that includes security components such as Cisco’s Duo access control, extended detection and response features, and Multicloud Defense, which orchestrates security and policy across private and public clouds.Security Cloud operates as a layer on top of the infrastructure across a customer’s cloud services – including Azure, AWS, GCP and private data-center clouds – to protect core applications, Cisco said. It features a unified dashboard, support for flexible trust policies, and open APIs to encourage third-party integrators. By correlating data and employing artificial intelligence and machine learning, Cisco Security Cloud can detect and remediate threats quickly throughout an organization, Cisco says.To read this article in full, please click here

Carriers vs. aggregators: How to select the optimal mix of network transport providers

Enabled by SD-WAN, internet-first networking strategies are now the order of the day for wide-area connectivity and have been for some time. While MPLS used to be the de facto choice for enterprise-grade network transport, companies today are using internet-based transport technologies such as dedicated internet access, business broadband, cellular broadband as well as other niche network technologies like microwave.Best practices call for companies to work with multiple suppliers to get competitive prices, maximize service coverage, and secure better service delivery performance. But which suppliers should an enterprise select? How do you figure out the best fit for an enterprise’s needs, and what are some of the challenges and gotchas of a multi-supplier portfolio approach?To read this article in full, please click here

OpenELA group pushes for bug compatibility with RHEL

A dramatic disagreement in the enterprise Linux community has some distributions scrambling to keep their code compatible with Red Hat, as the acknowledged biggest player in the space cracks down on source code distribution.The core issue is the existence of several “downstream” Linux distributions based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Those distributions were historically based on CentOS, a free RHEL clone developed originally for the purposes of testing and development. The downstream distributions in question, however, are supported by companies like CIQ and Oracle – which sell support services for their “clones” of RHEL. This has led to a long-running tension between those companies and Red Hat, whose supporters argue that the downstream companies are simply repackaging Red Hat’s work for profit, while detractors say that Red Hat is violating the sprit – if not, technically, the law – of open source.To read this article in full, please click here

Versa enhances SASE package with AI-based security tools

Versa is bolstering the AI security management features of its integrated Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) package to include improved malware detection for Advanced Threat Protection, network microsegmention and generative AI protection to help customers better detect and quickly mitigate threats to their networked service and applications.The vendor supports AI in its integrated Versa SASE package that includes SD WAN, a next-generation and web application firewall, intrusion prevention, zero trust support and data loss prevention.To read this article in full, please click here

Networking vendors highlight AI opportunities as order backlog challenges begin to subside

The heavy buzz around all things AI got louder in the financial reports of networking vendors this quarter, even though AI hasn’t made a significant impact on most vendors’ financial performance and supply chain challenges remain a more immediate concern.Vendors such as Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Extreme and HPE’s Aruba report that they are shipping more products, thanks to multi-month efforts that include significant product redesigns and relentless efforts by their supply-chain teams to address component shortages. But the situation is still challenging, and some enterprise customers still face order delays.To read this article in full, please click here

VMware, Nvidia team on enterprise-grade AI platform

Companies trying to deploy generative AI today have a major problem. If they use a commercial platform like OpenAI, they have to send data up to the cloud, which may run afoul of compliance requirements and is expensive. If they download and run a model like Llama 2 locally, they need to know a lot about how to fine-tune it, how to set up vector databases to feed it live data, and how to operationalize it.VMware's new partnership with Nvidia aims to solve these issues by offering a fully integrated, ready-to-go generative AI platform that companies can run on premises, in colocation facilities, or in private clouds. The platform will include Llama 2 or a choice of other large language models, as well as a vector database to feed up-to-date company information to the LLM.To read this article in full, please click here

VMware combines SASE and edge management in new orchestration platform, announces private 5G service

Combining things to make them easier to manage and secure is a recurring theme at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas. To that end, VMware is announcing a single console for its SASE platform and edge stack to enable unified management of edge networking, security and compute infrastructure.SASE – secure access service edge – is a way to provide security and networking to end users and manage it in the cloud. It's grown in popularity since the pandemic as employees were sent home to work and companies scrambled to figure out how to get them connected.To read this article in full, please click here

VMware NSX+ centralizes cloud networking and security for multicloud environments

VMware customers that have both on-prem and cloud-based architecture can now manage networking and security for both in a single management console. Unveiled at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas, NSX+ is new cloud-managed service that’s geared for multicloud environments and is designed to enable consistent network and security operations, centralized security policy management, network and application visibility, and network detection and response.This latest evolution of VMware's core networking package will be available to current NSX customers as an upgrade and to new customers as both a free trial and a paid offering effective today. By the end of the year, NSX+ will also extend to businesses running their cloud infrastructure natively in public clouds, says Rob Markovich, who leads product marketing for multicloud networking and network virtualization for VMware.To read this article in full, please click here

VMware Cloud gains faster ransomware recovery, expanded management capabilities

VMware announced a raft of improvements to its VMware Cloud platform at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas.Previously, VMware's on-premises private cloud solution, VMware Cloud Foundation, and its public cloud offerings were managed separately. Now, enterprises will be able to manage all their cloud deployments from a single location. In addition, customers will see improved integrations with the major cloud providers as well as faster disaster and ransomware recovery.Central management "We're actually bringing together a lot of disparate solutions under a common framework, VMware Cloud," says Rick Walsworth, VMware's director of product marketing for the cloud infrastructure team.To read this article in full, please click here

UK authority OKs Broadcom’s VMware buy but regulatory hurdles remain

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority Monday approved the proposed $61 billion megamerger between Broadcom and VMware, saying that the deal would not substantially affect innovation or harm the ability of rivals to compete against the merged company.While Broadcom said that it expects to receive all regulatory approvals necessary to close the deal VMware deal by the end of October, it acknowledged that it is still working with some authorities to obtain consent, and said in a filing with the US Securities Exchange Commission on Monday that it has agreed with VMware to extend the "Outside Date" for the deadline to conclude the deal. The new date was not immediately specified by Broadcom.To read this article in full, please click here

Bugs in x86 chips force Linux kernel update

Bugs emerged earlier this month in Intel and AMD processors that affect both client and server processors over multiple generations. Fortunately, the bugs were found some time ago and researchers kept it quiet while fixes were developed.Google researchers found the Intel bug known as Downfall (CVE-2022-40982) and reported it to Intel more than a year ago, so both parties had plenty of time to work things out. The Downfall bug exploits a flaw in the "Gather" instruction that affected Intel CPUs use to grab information from multiple places in a system's memory. A Google researcher created a proof-of-concept exploit that could steal encryption keys and other kinds of data from other users on a given server.To read this article in full, please click here

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