Russ

Author Archives: Russ

Worth Reading: Micro Routers

Today, Weaveworks, via the release of Weave Net 1.4, is announcing that it is using that API to simplify connecting Docker containers together using “micro routers.” Rather than relying on a central database to keep track of which Docker containers are associated with one another, Weaveworks has created what amounts to a couple of megabytes of code, using the Go programming language, that can be embedded inside a container. -via it business edge

The post Worth Reading: Micro Routers appeared first on 'net work.

Worth Reading: Broadband Investment in a Slump

Reports suggest that spending could continue to be tight among broadband carriers. Bloomberg, for instance, suggests that 2016 could be a more-of-the-same year after a slowdown of 8.1 percent in 2015. A good case in point is AT&T. Seeking Alpha reports that Evercore predicts that the carrier’s wireless investments this year may end up being 21 percent lower than in 2014. via it business edge

The post Worth Reading: Broadband Investment in a Slump appeared first on 'net work.

Worth Reading: Thoughts on the 5G Network

5G is the current title for much of the network system work in the telco industry these days. All companies, SDOs and industry fora are now working on 5G technologies. There seems to be a rough consensus on requirements and use cases, and first proposals seem to suggest that the design and the implementation will have something to do with SDN/NFV. In general, the assumptions are that 5G will be faster (thanks to better radio), larger (intended to cover more connected devices due to IoT, smart city, new markets), more flexible (network programmability), and converged (unification of mobile and fixed network access/core). -via dirk kutscher

The post Worth Reading: Thoughts on the 5G Network appeared first on 'net work.

Security ‘net: Student privacy in focus

Student Privacy in Focus

Driving your market back to the earliest age possible is a tried and true marketing technique — and technology companies are no different in this regard. Getting people hooked on a product at an early age is a sure fire way to build a lifelong habit of preference for that one brand, and for usage in general. Perhaps, though, we should be concerned when it comes to social media. As “edtech” makes its way into our schools, should we be concerned about the privacy of our children? Via CDT:

Schools have largely embraced education applications, websites, and devices (collectively referred to as “edtech”) as a means for improving classroom instruction and administration. 71 percent of parents report their child uses technology provided by schools for educational purposes. In most cases this means more data is being collected on students. However, US privacy law has not kept pace with the rapid adoption of technology and data collection in schools. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), our existing student privacy law, is outdated and there are no sector-specific privacy laws that focus on edtech.

How effective is anonymization, anyway? A good bit of research is showing Continue reading

Think visually: How graphics skills help engineers

Among all the skills I hear network engineers talk about, two that are often underrated are writing skills and graphics skills. There is some small slice of the networking world that is serious about writing (though I often think we make too big of a production out of writing, getting wrapped around tools and process instead of focusing on actual writing), but graphics is one area the we really don’t talk about a lot. After all, I’m an engineer, not a graphic designer, right? Or maybe — I’ve always heard I should be a master of one skill, rather than a jack of all trades…

Diane, over at Data Center Mix, has a great post up on four ways being an artist has helped her sell data center products. There are some great ideas in there, but as someone with formal training in graphic design (in a distant past I can barely remember any longer), I wanted to add a few thoughts about graphics skills as a network engineer.

She begins with this thought: a picture is worth a thousand words. I’m never quite certain this is actually true in every case (Charles Dickens in cartoon format doesn’t sound very Continue reading

Worth Reading: What we should fear in the world of patents

…only rarely are those accused of some patent violation really a bad actor. Rather, the patent system results in bad actors because the system is confusing with little transparency. When patents are unclear, in other words when the boundaries of a patent are vague, then people cannot adequately check whether their innovations infringe. If they have no reliable means of checking then innovators will find it hard, likely impossible, to design around a patent, or even to seek an appropriate patent license. via heartland

LinkedInTwitterGoogle+FacebookPinterest

The post Worth Reading: What we should fear in the world of patents appeared first on 'net work.

Worth Reading: Troubleshooting video applications

Maybe it’s another sign of experience, aging, cynicism, and/or ego. Lately, I seem to be doing a lot of troubleshooting of application performance problems. “What on earth was the developer thinking?” is becoming a recurrent refrain, at least in my head. This is (I hope) not ego, just a real question about what appears to be a sub-optimal approach. via network computing

The post Worth Reading: Troubleshooting video applications appeared first on 'net work.

1 … 140 141 142 143 144 … 162