Stephen Lawson
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Stephen Lawson
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Wave 2 Wi-Fi may be a sleeper, but it’s great for some
As the Wi-Fi Alliance starts certifying the latest gigabit-speed products to work together, users may not get as excited as they did for some earlier standards.On Wednesday, the industry group launched its certification program for IEEE 802.11ac Wave 2, a technology that’s been on the market for more than a year.Wave 2 can deliver up to 6.8Gbps (bits per second) and lets an access point talk to more than one device at a time. But due to issues like timing and wired backhaul, Wave 2 adoption has been relatively slow.The new technology builds on the first wave of 802.11ac, which started to emerge in 2013 and now makes up nearly three-quarters of the Wi-Fi market in terms of revenue. The new wave adds a few features with real advantages, at least for some users.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Too many IoT networks? Cisco just bet on this one
Cisco Systems just cast a vote of confidence in one of the many technologies that might get your next IoT device online.On Tuesday, the company announced gateways between LoRaWAN low-power wireless networks and fatter pipes like Ethernet cables. The gateways can take in data from sensors and other small Internet of Things devices and send it back to an enterprise or cloud.This is Cisco’s first commercial foray into LPWANs (low power, wide area networks), a new generation of infrastructure designed for devices that are too small and power-constrained to use cellular.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Tensions rise over LTE using Wi-Fi channels
The fight over LTE networks sharing channels with Wi-Fi appears to be heating up.The Wi-Fi Alliance says that by September there will be a way to test whether an LTE device can get along with Wi-Fi. But Qualcomm, one of the biggest backers of LTE-U (LTE-Unlicensed), is demanding those tests immediately.The latest disagreement arose after a workshop held last Wednesday, the latest in a series aimed at crafting a test plan for coexistence between the two technologies. That test plan, which is designed for new products that use LTE in unlicensed bands, will be finished and verified by late September, WFA said.That's at least a month later than some earlier forecasts. Test development has taken a long time because it's an unprecedented project and the tests still need to be validated, WFA marketing vice president Kevin Robinson said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Tensions rise over LTE using Wi-Fi channels
The fight over LTE networks sharing channels with Wi-Fi appears to be heating up.The Wi-Fi Alliance says that by September there will be a way to test whether an LTE device can get along with Wi-Fi. But Qualcomm, one of the biggest backers of LTE-U (LTE-Unlicensed), is demanding those tests immediately.The latest disagreement arose after a workshop held last Wednesday, the latest in a series aimed at crafting a test plan for coexistence between the two technologies. That test plan, which is designed for new products that use LTE in unlicensed bands, will be finished and verified by late September, WFA said.That's at least a month later than some earlier forecasts. Test development has taken a long time because it's an unprecedented project and the tests still need to be validated, WFA marketing vice president Kevin Robinson said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Slideshow: Check out the sensors that make IoT click
Slideshow: Check out the sensors that make IoT clickImage by Stephen LawsonSensors are at the heart of the Internet of Things, collecting the data that powers wearables and smart cities alike. This week in San Jose, makers of sensors and related gear gathered for the Sensors Expo & Conference. Here's a look at some of these components.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Is Apstra SDN? Same idea, different angle
One of the main goals of SDN (software-defined networking) is to make networks more agile to meet the changing demands of applications. A new Silicon Valley startup, Apstra, says it has an easier way to do the same thing. Rather than control the guts of individual network devices through software that makes them more programmable, Apstra says it can deal with those devices as they are and shape the network from a higher level. The result is a new approach that might let IT departments bypass some of the complex technologies and politics of SDN and still make their networks more responsive to users’ needs. It's due to go on sale by August.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Is Apstra SDN? Same idea, different angle
One of the main goals of SDN (software-defined networking) is to make networks more agile to meet the changing demands of applications. A new Silicon Valley startup, Apstra, says it has an easier way to do the same thing. Rather than control the guts of individual network devices through software that makes them more programmable, Apstra says it can deal with those devices as they are and shape the network from a higher level. The result is a new approach that might let IT departments bypass some of the complex technologies and politics of SDN and still make their networks more responsive to users’ needs. It's due to go on sale by August.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Is Apstra SDN? Same idea, different angle
One of the main goals of SDN (software-defined networking) is to make networks more agile to meet the changing demands of applications. A new Silicon Valley startup, Apstra, says it has an easier way to do the same thing. Rather than control the guts of individual network devices through software that makes them more programmable, Apstra says it can deal with those devices as they are and shape the network from a higher level. The result is a new approach that might let IT departments bypass some of the complex technologies and politics of SDN and still make their networks more responsive to users’ needs. It's due to go on sale by August.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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The fight over a new Wi-Fi channel is coming to a head
Globalstar’s plan to open a new Wi-Fi channel under its control is nearing the moment of truth after years of regulatory wrangling.The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering Globalstar’s plan, and a vote could come at any time. News reports suggest it might be close.If Globalstar gets its way, Wi-Fi users in the U.S. will have one more channel, which could reduce congestion and improve performance. But both their mobile devices and the hotspots they use would need firmware upgrades to take advantage of the new frequency, and the channel wouldn’t necessarily be open to everyone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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The fight over a new Wi-Fi channel is coming to a head
Globalstar’s plan to open a new Wi-Fi channel under its control is nearing the moment of truth after years of regulatory wrangling.The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering Globalstar’s plan, and a vote could come at any time. News reports suggest it might be close.If Globalstar gets its way, Wi-Fi users in the U.S. will have one more channel, which could reduce congestion and improve performance. But both their mobile devices and the hotspots they use would need firmware upgrades to take advantage of the new frequency, and the channel wouldn’t necessarily be open to everyone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Samsung’s Joyent buy is a swipe at AWS and Microsoft Azure
The Internet of Things is as much about computing as it is about the "things" themselves, and that's why Samsung Electronics is buying Joyent.At first glance, a maker of smartphones, home appliances and wearables doesn’t seem like it would need a cloud computing company. But so-called smart objects rely on a lot of number-crunching behind the scenes. A connected security camera can't handle all its video storage and image analysis by itself, for example, and that's where cloud services come in.The real money in IoT will be in the services more than the devices themselves, research firm Gartner says. It’s not entirely up to Samsung to deliver services its devices, but the company sees an opportunity there.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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This startup may have built the world’s fastest networking switch chip
Networking has undergone radical changes in the past few years, and two startup launches this week show the revolution isn’t over yet.Barefoot Networks is making what it calls a fully programmable switch platform. It came out of stealth mode on Tuesday, the same day 128 Technology emerged claiming a new approach to routing. Both say they’re rethinking principles that haven’t changed since the 1990s.Now is a good time to shake up networking, because IT itself is changing shape, says Nemertes Research analyst John Burke.“Everybody pretty much wants and needs their IT services to work continuously and scalably,” Burke said. Enterprises need shorter communication delays, a way to scale networks up or down without months of preparation, and a distributed architecture to prevent breakdowns from one hardware failure. It’s happening because many enterprise applications just can’t stop working without dire consequences.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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This startup may have built the world’s fastest networking switch chip
Networking has undergone radical changes in the past few years, and two startup launches this week show the revolution isn’t over yet.Barefoot Networks is making what it calls a fully programmable switch platform. It came out of stealth mode on Tuesday, the same day 128 Technology emerged claiming a new approach to routing. Both say they’re rethinking principles that haven’t changed since the 1990s.Now is a good time to shake up networking, because IT itself is changing shape, says Nemertes Research analyst John Burke.“Everybody pretty much wants and needs their IT services to work continuously and scalably,” Burke said. Enterprises need shorter communication delays, a way to scale networks up or down without months of preparation, and a distributed architecture to prevent breakdowns from one hardware failure. It’s happening because many enterprise applications just can’t stop working without dire consequences.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Free network software might radically change how routing works
Radical new ideas are hitting network technology these days.On Tuesday, one new startup promised to make switches fully programmable. Another, routing software company 128 Technology, said it would fix the Internet.What 128 is proposing is a fundamentally different approach to routing, one that the company says will make networking simpler and more secure.The Internet was designed just to send packets from a source to a destination, but it’s evolved into a platform for delivering content and services among large, private networks. These complex tasks call for capabilities beyond basic routing, like security and knowing about the state of a session, said Andy Ory, 128’s CEO. He was the founder of Acme Packet, a session border controller company Oracle acquired in 2013. His new company is named after Route 128, the famed Massachusetts tech corridor where its headquarters is located.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Free network software might radically change how routing works
Radical new ideas are hitting network technology these days.On Tuesday, one new startup promised to make switches fully programmable. Another, routing software company 128 Technology, said it would fix the Internet.What 128 is proposing is a fundamentally different approach to routing, one that the company says will make networking simpler and more secure.The Internet was designed just to send packets from a source to a destination, but it’s evolved into a platform for delivering content and services among large, private networks. These complex tasks call for capabilities beyond basic routing, like security and knowing about the state of a session, said Andy Ory, 128’s CEO. He was the founder of Acme Packet, a session border controller company Oracle acquired in 2013. His new company is named after Route 128, the famed Massachusetts tech corridor where its headquarters is located.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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iPhones are about to get plugged into enterprises with Cisco’s help
Apple and Cisco Systems have fleshed out their plans to make iOS devices work better in enterprises and said the new capabilities will arrive in the fall.Voice calls on Cisco’s Spark collaboration app will act like regular phone calls, IT departments will be able to give Cisco apps priority on iOS devices, and iPhone calls will run over corporate networks. These are some of the ways the two companies’ technologies will mesh in enterprises.Cisco announced the coming features on Monday after Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote. They’ll ship in a version of Cisco Spark updated for iOS 10. Apple also touched on the news at WWDC as one of very few enterprise announcements at the show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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iPhones are about to get plugged into enterprises with Cisco’s help
Apple and Cisco Systems have fleshed out their plans to make iOS devices work better in enterprises and said the new capabilities will arrive in the fall.Voice calls on Cisco’s Spark collaboration app will act like regular phone calls, IT departments will be able to give Cisco apps priority on iOS devices, and iPhone calls will run over corporate networks. These are some of the ways the two companies’ technologies will mesh in enterprises.Cisco announced the coming features on Monday after Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote. They’ll ship in a version of Cisco Spark updated for iOS 10. Apple also touched on the news at WWDC as one of very few enterprise announcements at the show.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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HPE’s new converged IoT systems bring horsepower to the edge
The biggest names in data centers and clouds are now vying to dominate the emerging IT battleground in factories, vehicles and power plants.The so-called industrial Internet of Things calls for data-gathering and analysis at the edge of enterprise networks, where conventional systems wouldn’t be efficient or hardy enough. IT stalwarts like HPE, IBM and Dell say they can now meet those requirements.The challenge is to make sense of large amounts of data pouring in from sensors on industrial equipment and act on what the data reveals. It may alert companies to immediate problems or give long-term insights into how things are working. For example, IoT can tell enterprises when parts are getting worn down so they can replace them before systems fail.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Emergency responders might share their LTE network with the rest of us
A national LTE network for U.S. public-safety agencies would also give consumers better mobile service if a startup gets to build a futuristic network-sharing system.The company, Rivada Mercury, is one of the players that wants to build the so-called FirstNet LTE network, the government's plan to unify mobile communications for first responders. The federal government is allocating a block of spectrum and about $6.5 billion in funding for the network, which is supposed to start going live next year.Rivada Mercury is a partnership that includes major mobile network vendors, Intel Security and other companies. At the center of this group is Rivada Networks, a startup with a technology called DSA (Dynamic Spectrum Arbitrage).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Four top innovators are leaving Cisco
Four Cisco Systems executives who led “spin-in” ventures that became important parts of the company have resigned.The longtime leaders decided to leave the company on June 17 because of “a disconnect regarding roles, responsibilities and charter” after a new Cisco business unit was announced, according to an internal memo posted Monday by CEO Chuck Robbins and seen by IDG News Service. The move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.Engineers Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain and Luca Cafiero, and marketer Soni Jiandani, nicknamed “MPLS” after their first initials, started several companies with Cisco’s backing that later were absorbed back into the networking giant. The companies included Andiamo Networks in storage, Nuova Systems in data-center switching and Insieme Networks in SDN (software-defined networking).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here