Zeus Kerravala
Author Archives: Zeus Kerravala
- Home → Author's archive:
Zeus Kerravala
0
What to expect from Cisco in 2017
Calendar year 2016 was a big year of change at Cisco.Coming into the year, I wasn’t sure how aggressive new CEO Chuck Robbins would be at making changes. It turns out, he was far more active than I would have ever imagined, and 2016 will be remembered as the year Robbins stamped the company with his own thumbprint.During the year Cisco made several, the biggest of which was Jasper Technologies. That transformed Cisco from being an IoT evangelist into a major player. We also saw the company enter the analytics market with its Cisco Tetration Analytics Platform.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
What to expect from Cisco in 2017
Calendar year 2016 was a big year of change at Cisco.Coming into the year, I wasn’t sure how aggressive new CEO Chuck Robbins would be at making changes. It turns out, he was far more active than I would have ever imagined, and 2016 will be remembered as the year Robbins stamped the company with his own thumbprint.During the year Cisco made several, the biggest of which was Jasper Technologies. That transformed Cisco from being an IoT evangelist into a major player. We also saw the company enter the analytics market with its Cisco Tetration Analytics Platform.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Ixia’s GUI faster, more accurate than Gigamon’s command line or Flowmap
The IT infrastructure that powers an organizations business strategy has become increasingly more dynamic and distributed. The introduction of new technologies to increase IT agility has made it significantly more difficult to manage and secure the infrastructure using traditional tools.That challenge has given rise to several new specialized tools that network managers have had to figure out how to integrated into their environment. The explosion of new security and management applications has something called “tool sprawl” where the number of tools has become unmanageable.Trying to connect every tool to every network device is extremely complicated and inefficient. The desire to simplify things has created strong demand for network packet brokers (NPBs). If you’re not familiar with the technology, it sits between the network infrastructure and a tool layer and performs a number of tasks to make tools more efficient and easier to deploy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Ixia’s GUI faster, more accurate than Gigamon’s command line or Flowmap
The IT infrastructure that powers an organization's business strategy has become increasingly more dynamic and distributed. The introduction of new technologies to increase IT agility has made it significantly more difficult to manage and secure the infrastructure using traditional tools.That challenge has given rise to several new specialized tools that network managers have had to figure out how to integrate into their environment. The explosion of new security and management applications has something called “tool sprawl” where the number of tools has become unmanageable.Trying to connect every tool to every network device is extremely complicated and inefficient. The desire to simplify things has created strong demand for network packet brokers (NPBs). If you’re not familiar with the technology, it sits between the network infrastructure and a tool layer and performs a number of tasks to make tools more efficient and easier to deploy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Aruba flexes some IoT muscle
The Internet of Things (IoT) is heating up and will be a hot trend in 2017. And Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, plans to be a part of it. The company has been active in the IoT industry by providing Wi-Fi connectivity to IoT endpoints and security through its ClearPass product. However, it has never put together a comprehensive IoT story that spans its portfolio.Last week at the HPE Discover Conference, though, Aruba announced several new products to position itself as a strong IoT enabler. The new solutions include security tools, wired switches and new partnerships.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Aruba flexes some IoT muscle
The Internet of Things (IoT) is heating up and will be a hot trend in 2017. And Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, plans to be a part of it. The company has been active in the IoT industry by providing Wi-Fi connectivity to IoT endpoints and security through its ClearPass product. However, it has never put together a comprehensive IoT story that spans its portfolio.Last week at the HPE Discover Conference, though, Aruba announced several new products to position itself as a strong IoT enabler. The new solutions include security tools, wired switches and new partnerships.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Brocade launches innovative data center automation tools
Earlier this year Brocade announced its Workflow Composer (http://www.networkworld.com/article/3075335/network-management/brocade-workflow-composer-enables-it-to-move-with-digital-speed.html) platform, powered by StackStorm to automate data center processes and bring DevOps like automation and continuous innovation to the network. This week Brocade expanded its portfolio with a number of new automation suites for Workflow Composer and a line of new switches with increased flexibility and programmability capabilities. The combination of Workflow Composer and the new hardware enables Brocade customers to increase the level of network agility at a workflow level or down at the individual switch. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Brocade launches innovative data center automation tools
Earlier this year Brocade announced its Workflow Composer (http://www.networkworld.com/article/3075335/network-management/brocade-workflow-composer-enables-it-to-move-with-digital-speed.html) platform, powered by StackStorm to automate data center processes and bring DevOps like automation and continuous innovation to the network. This week Brocade expanded its portfolio with a number of new automation suites for Workflow Composer and a line of new switches with increased flexibility and programmability capabilities. The combination of Workflow Composer and the new hardware enables Brocade customers to increase the level of network agility at a workflow level or down at the individual switch. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Arista brings network flexibility to the network switch
The terms digital, speed and agility all go hand in hand. In the digital era, companies need to make decisions and implement them quickly. This has put new pressures on the IT department to responder faster than ever before. To accomplish that, IT needs to be agile, which is why there has been such heavy investment in things such as containers, the cloud, virtualization and other technologies that make the infrastructure more dynamic. The drive to be more agile has been the primary force behind the shift to software-defined networks (SDN). SDNs increase dynamism through programmability, orchestration and network virtualization at a network level.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Arista brings network flexibility to the network switch
The terms digital, speed and agility all go hand in hand. In the digital era, companies need to make decisions and implement them quickly. This has put new pressures on the IT department to responder faster than ever before. To accomplish that, IT needs to be agile, which is why there has been such heavy investment in things such as containers, the cloud, virtualization and other technologies that make the infrastructure more dynamic. The drive to be more agile has been the primary force behind the shift to software-defined networks (SDN). SDNs increase dynamism through programmability, orchestration and network virtualization at a network level.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Actionable network intelligence from DDI fuels digital transformation
Success in the digital era requires a significant rethink of IT strategy. Technology approaches have historically focused on the compute platforms, but in today’s digital world where billions of devices are being connected and the cloud and mobility have become the norm, IT strategies must become network-centric.In a digital organization, the network will evolve from being a tactical resource into a high-value, strategic asset that will have a direct impact on the success of new business initiatives.However, if the network is to become the foundation for the digital enterprise, it must evolve to do the following: Ensure the availability, flexibility and scalability of digital services. Provide security that cuts across silos and eases operations. Automate compliance tasks. Unlock meaningful insights to transform the organization. Provide full visibility and operational efficiency to make the network a competitive differentiator. Accomplishing the above requires IT to find a way to control and automate processes. This can be achieved through the use of actionable network intelligence (ANI) that ensures network and service availability, improves risk management and operational efficiencies, and transforms the network into a competitive advantage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Actionable network intelligence from DDI fuels digital transformation
Success in the digital era requires a significant rethink of IT strategy. Technology approaches have historically focused on the compute platforms, but in today’s digital world where billions of devices are being connected and the cloud and mobility have become the norm, IT strategies must become network-centric.In a digital organization, the network will evolve from being a tactical resource into a high-value, strategic asset that will have a direct impact on the success of new business initiatives.However, if the network is to become the foundation for the digital enterprise, it must evolve to do the following: Ensure the availability, flexibility and scalability of digital services. Provide security that cuts across silos and eases operations. Automate compliance tasks. Unlock meaningful insights to transform the organization. Provide full visibility and operational efficiency to make the network a competitive differentiator. Accomplishing the above requires IT to find a way to control and automate processes. This can be achieved through the use of actionable network intelligence (ANI) that ensures network and service availability, improves risk management and operational efficiencies, and transforms the network into a competitive advantage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Cisco sees Wi-Fi market in transition to controller-less solutions
Last week Cisco held its quarterly call for investors. These calls are done to update the financial community on the state of Cisco’s business and discuss other trends that will impact the company in the near future. Because of Cisco’s massive size and dominant market share, the entire industry often looks to Cisco commentary to validate market transitions. One such transition was called out during the Q&A portion by Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. + Also on Network World: Cisco CEO Robbins: Wait til you see what’s in our innovation pipeline + The wireless business at Cisco is currently going through an evolutionary change. The overall business was down 2 percent due to softness with E-rate funding and declines in traditional Wi-Fi controllers. However, this was offset by strong growth with Cisco’s cloud-managed solution, Meraki. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
BroadSoft: The most important UC vendor you probably haven’t heard of
Most businesses aren’t aware of who BroadSoft is, but if they use a unified communications as a service (UCaaS) provider, they are likely using BroadSoft’s services. The company provides the building blocks for service providers to build cloud-based communications services such as voice, video, web conferencing and now team messaging and contextual services. Customers of BroadSoft are a veritable “who’s who” in the telecom world, including Verizon, Comcast, Vonage and Orange. Service providers have sold over 15 million BroadSoft seats, so the company may be the most important vendor that most businesses have never heard of.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
FireEye’s iSIGHT threat intelligence exposes security blind spots
What separates a great Major League Baseball hitter like David Ortiz from some run-of-the mill player? Great eyesight and intelligence. Ortiz sees more than others and takes all of the rich information he sees to make an intelligent, actionable decision to swing a baseball or not. While lots of players claim to do this, only a few have the right combination of the two to separate themselves from the field. The same thing can be said for IT security. It takes visibility across the entire attack spectrum, plus analytics and real-world insight, to provide actionable threat intelligence. Many vendors claim to have threat intelligence, but they operate by looking for anomalies in the network to flag something that might be a breach. This can be valuable, but it addresses only part of the security continuum. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
FireEye’s iSIGHT threat intelligence exposes security blind spots
What separates a great Major League Baseball hitter like David Ortiz from some run-of-the mill player? Great eyesight and intelligence. Ortiz sees more than others and takes all of the rich information he sees to make an intelligent, actionable decision to swing a baseball or not. While lots of players claim to do this, only a few have the right combination of the two to separate themselves from the field. The same thing can be said for IT security. It takes visibility across the entire attack spectrum, plus analytics and real-world insight, to provide actionable threat intelligence. Many vendors claim to have threat intelligence, but they operate by looking for anomalies in the network to flag something that might be a breach. This can be valuable, but it addresses only part of the security continuum. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Cybersecurity fabric vs. a security platform: Fabric wins
The shift to digital has introduced several new technologies into businesses. Internet of Things (IoT), mobility, cloud and the like allow companies to become highly agile and move with speed.However, the increased agility businesses are realizing has come with a price, which is that the complexity of IT has never been higher. There are many implications to increased complexity, but the biggest is that securing the business has become more difficult.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats Securing organizations used to be straight forward: Put up a big, expensive firewall at the sole ingress/egress point, and all was good. Today there are dozens or even hundreds of entry points created from an increase in the use of cloud services, mobile workers and consumer devices. Security must now be applied at the perimeter, but also in the data center, campus, cloud, branch offices and anywhere else the business might have assets or people.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Vonage partners with IBM Watson to enable cognitive communications
Since Alan Masarek joined Vonage as its CEO, the company has been on a mission to redefine how businesses communicate with workers and customers. The term unified communications has been somewhat of a fallacy, as collaboration tools are disjointed and require a high amount of manual integration. Sure, there has been some advancements with respect to bringing voice, video and content sharing together, but the tools are primarily limited to users communicating with other workers with basic collaboration tools. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Nyansa brings a new approach to end-user management
Legacy network and application management tools are significantly underpowered for today’s digital organizations. These old-school tools operate with a “bottoms-up” view of the IT environment, with each element having its own management tool.Gathering insights from these discrete platforms is very difficult, as it requires a tremendous amount of manual data collection, aggregation and analytics. If Spock happened to be the lead engineer, this might be fine, but assuming no one in the IT department went to the Vulcan Science Academy, it’s likely that most organizations struggle with this model.The big weakness of bottoms-up management is that it gives no real view of the end-user experience. It might be helpful in understanding if a certain element is down, but there’s no way to correlate that to the actual performance of an application, which is what the user is seeing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
0
Ixia’s Flex Tap Secure+ protects against injection breaches
We’ve probably all used the phrase “too much of anything is a bad thing.” Too much ice cream makes you fat, too many cats and you get called crazy, and too much NFL football on Sunday gets you banned to the doghouse by your wife. + Also on Network World: Network World annual State of the Network survey results + In IT, too much network traffic is certainly a bad thing. We need networks and rely on them to access cloud applications, call people on via videoconferencing and do a whole bunch of other tasks. However, too much traffic and the network becomes unusable and a source of frustration for workers. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here