Zeus Kerravala
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Zeus Kerravala
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City & Guilds Group deploys SD-WAN to improve Office 365 performance
There are many reasons to deploy a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), including saving a boatload of money, improving network agility, and increasing WAN resiliency. However, those all pale in comparison to the ROI that a business would see by making its employees more productive.One of the biggest drags on worker productivity is poor application response time. In 2016, ZK Research conducted a study that found on average, workers were 14 percent less productive than their optimal state because of poor application performance. (Note: I am an employee of ZK Research.) There’s nothing that frustrates a worker more than clicking on an icon and sitting around waiting for it to open or update, but that’s exactly what happens to global organizations that need to access resources over a long distance.To read this article in full, please click here
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Software opens up new career opportunities for network professionals
The topic of network engineer re-skilling has been front and center for the past few years. Some network professionals have embraced the concept and are leading the network industry in a whole new direction. Others, though, are more resistant and show about as much enthusiasm for this new world as my wife does when I ask her to watch a Star Trek marathon with me.Network professionals need to become software-fluent Part of the resistance to re-skilling is that change is scary and often hard. Many network engineers have been working a certain way for years, possibly decades, and now they are asking, "Do I need to throw those skills away and learn new ones?" To those people, I say an emphatic YES! It’s absolutely critical to learn new skills today, or you could find yourself quickly looking for a job.To read this article in full, please click here
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Software opens up new career opportunities for network professionals
The topic of network engineer re-skilling has been front and center for the past few years. Some network professionals have embraced the concept and are leading the network industry in a whole new direction. Others, though, are more resistant and show about as much enthusiasm for this new world as my wife does when I ask her to watch a Star Trek marathon with me.Network professionals need to become software-fluent Part of the resistance to re-skilling is that change is scary and often hard. Many network engineers have been working a certain way for years, possibly decades, and now they are asking, "Do I need to throw those skills away and learn new ones?" To those people, I say an emphatic YES! It’s absolutely critical to learn new skills today, or you could find yourself quickly looking for a job.To read this article in full, please click here
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Understanding Virtual Private Networks [and why VPNs are important to SD-WAN]
Internet-based virtual private networks rose to popularity in the 1990s by providing cost-effective connections securely across an insecure internet, and along the way VPNs have provided the impetus for today’s SD-WAN technology.VPN definition The definition of a virtual private network (VPN) is creating a secure network over network transport that is less secure, such as the internet. [ Click here to find out more about SD-WAN and why you’ll use it one day and learn about WANs and where they’re headed. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] VPNs are used to connect two or more nodes in a network and are most commonly used to connect individual users’ machines to sites or to connect sites to sites. It’s possible to connect users to each other, but the use case for that is very limited so such deployments are rare. To read this article in full, please click here
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Understanding Virtual Private Networks [and why VPNs are important to SD-WAN]
Internet-based virtual private networks rose to popularity in the 1990s by providing cost-effective connections securely across an insecure internet, and along the way VPNs have provided the impetus for today’s SD-WAN technology.VPN definition The definition of a virtual private network (VPN) is creating a secure network over network transport that is less secure, such as the internet. [ Click here to find out more about SD-WAN and why you’ll use it one day and learn about WANs and where they’re headed. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] VPNs are used to connect two or more nodes in a network and are most commonly used to connect individual users’ machines to sites or to connect sites to sites. It’s possible to connect users to each other, but the use case for that is very limited so such deployments are rare. To read this article in full, please click here
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Riverbed’s ‘firework’ CEO, Jerry Kennelly, retires
In 2010, pop singer Katy Perry released a song called Firework. Some of its lyrics are: “Cause baby you're a firework, come on show 'em what you're worth, make 'em go oh, oh, oh.” In addition to being one of my favorite Katy Perry songs, it’s always reminded me of the firework that was Riverbed and its charismatic and often outspoken CEO, Jerry Kennelly.Riverbed was the face of WAN optimization Riverbed was indeed a firework, as it hit the market with a bang and became the face of WAN optimization. (Note: Riverbed is a client of ZK Research.) Riverbed wasn’t the first vendor in this market — that was Packeteer — but Riverbed evangelized it and became synonymous with the technology.To read this article in full, please click here
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Riverbed’s ‘firework’ CEO, Jerry Kennelly, retires
In 2010, pop singer Katy Perry released a song called Firework. Some of its lyrics are: “Cause baby you're a firework, come on show 'em what you're worth, make 'em go oh, oh, oh.” In addition to being one of my favorite Katy Perry songs, it’s always reminded me of the firework that was Riverbed and its charismatic and often outspoken CEO, Jerry Kennelly.Riverbed was the face of WAN optimization Riverbed was indeed a firework, as it hit the market with a bang and became the face of WAN optimization. (Note: Riverbed is a client of ZK Research.) Riverbed wasn’t the first vendor in this market — that was Packeteer — but Riverbed evangelized it and became synonymous with the technology.To read this article in full, please click here
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The cloud continues to drive network evolution
It’s fair to say that there has never been a bigger driver of network evolution than the cloud. The reason for this is the cloud is a fundamentally different kind of compute paradigm, as it enables applications, data, and architecture changes to be done seemingly instantly. Cloud-native infrastructure is what enables mobile app developers to roll out new versions daily if they so choose.The cloud is network-centric Another fact about the cloud is that it is a network-centric compute model, so a poorly performing network leads to equally poorly performing applications. A lack of network agility means DevOps teams need to sit around twiddling their thumbs while network operations make changes to the network. To read this article in full, please click here
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The cloud continues to drive network evolution
It’s fair to say that there has never been a bigger driver of network evolution than the cloud. The reason for this is the cloud is a fundamentally different kind of compute paradigm, as it enables applications, data, and architecture changes to be done seemingly instantly. Cloud-native infrastructure is what enables mobile app developers to roll out new versions daily if they so choose.The cloud is network-centric Another fact about the cloud is that it is a network-centric compute model, so a poorly performing network leads to equally poorly performing applications. A lack of network agility means DevOps teams need to sit around twiddling their thumbs while network operations make changes to the network. To read this article in full, please click here
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The cloud continues to drive network evolution
It’s fair to say that there has never been a bigger driver of network evolution than the cloud. The reason for this is the cloud is a fundamentally different kind of compute paradigm, as it enables applications, data, and architecture changes to be done seemingly instantly. Cloud-native infrastructure is what enables mobile app developers to roll out new versions daily if they so choose.The cloud is network-centric Another fact about the cloud is that it is a network-centric compute model, so a poorly performing network leads to equally poorly performing applications. A lack of network agility means DevOps teams need to sit around twiddling their thumbs while network operations make changes to the network. To read this article in full, please click here
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How converged infrastructure can accelerate the AI journey
The technology that powers businesses is evolving faster than ever before, allowing us to do more than we ever thought possible. Things that were once only seen in science fiction movies are actually coming to life.One of these areas is the field of artificial intelligence (AI). We’re on the verge of having machines diagnose cancer, map out the universe, take over dangerous jobs, and drive us around. The downside to the rapid evolution has been a rise in complexity. Putting together the infrastructure and software to power AI-based systems can often take months to build, tune, and tweak so that it runs optimally.Compounding the difficulty is that AI infrastructure is often deployed by data scientists who do not have the same level of technical acumen as the IT team. To read this article in full, please click here
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How converged infrastructure can accelerate the AI journey
The technology that powers businesses is evolving faster than ever before, allowing us to do more than we ever thought possible. Things that were once only seen in science fiction movies are actually coming to life.One of these areas is the field of artificial intelligence (AI). We’re on the verge of having machines diagnose cancer, map out the universe, take over dangerous jobs, and drive us around. The downside to the rapid evolution has been a rise in complexity. Putting together the infrastructure and software to power AI-based systems can often take months to build, tune, and tweak so that it runs optimally.Compounding the difficulty is that AI infrastructure is often deployed by data scientists who do not have the same level of technical acumen as the IT team. To read this article in full, please click here
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AI can be a game changer for WI-Fi management
There’s no question that Wi-Fi networks continue to grow in importance for most companies. Workers rely on it to do their jobs, students are being educated on mobile tablets, doctors are pulling up records at a patients' bedside, and millions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are now being connected to Wi-Fi. Wireless is no longer the connection of convenience — it’s mission critical, and a poor-performing wireless network means a key process is likely to fail. [ Find out whether MU-MIMO can really boost Wi-Fi capacity and learn why you need MU-MIMO in your wireless routers . | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] Wi-Fi troubleshooting a continued source of pain for network engineers If the wireless network is so critical, why aren’t there better Wi-Fi troubleshooting tools? A recent ZK Research survey about Wi-Fi troubleshooting uncovered how difficult this. Some interesting data points from the survey:To read this article in full, please click here
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AI can be a game changer for WI-Fi management
There’s no question that Wi-Fi networks continue to grow in importance for most companies. Workers rely on it to do their jobs, students are being educated on mobile tablets, doctors are pulling up records at a patients' bedside, and millions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are now being connected to Wi-Fi. Wireless is no longer the connection of convenience — it’s mission critical, and a poor-performing wireless network means a key process is likely to fail. [ Find out whether MU-MIMO can really boost Wi-Fi capacity and learn why you need MU-MIMO in your wireless routers . | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] Wi-Fi troubleshooting a continued source of pain for network engineers If the wireless network is so critical, why aren’t there better Wi-Fi troubleshooting tools? A recent ZK Research survey about Wi-Fi troubleshooting uncovered how difficult this. Some interesting data points from the survey:To read this article in full, please click here
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Cisco continues its CSR efforts, invests $50M in Destination: Home
Cisco is well known for many things. It’s the world’s largest networking vendor, it has typically been the bell weather for IT spending, as it’s often predicted upticks or downticks in spending before other vendors, and its ability to catch market transitions has been remarkable, which is why it has a market leading position in so many technology areas adjacent to the network.I’ve always felt that one of the more under-appreciated attributes of Cisco is the work its corporate social responsibility (CSR) group does in trying to solve some of the globe’s biggest problems. Cisco has been very active at the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders, celebrities, and business leaders gather to discuss issues such as ending hunger and creating greater equality.To read this article in full, please click here
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Cisco continues its CSR efforts, invests $50M in Destination: Home
Cisco is well known for many things. It’s the world’s largest networking vendor, it has typically been the bell weather for IT spending, as it’s often predicted upticks or downticks in spending before other vendors, and its ability to catch market transitions has been remarkable, which is why it has a market leading position in so many technology areas adjacent to the network.I’ve always felt that one of the more under-appreciated attributes of Cisco is the work its corporate social responsibility (CSR) group does in trying to solve some of the globe’s biggest problems. Cisco has been very active at the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders, celebrities, and business leaders gather to discuss issues such as ending hunger and creating greater equality.To read this article in full, please click here
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Shedding light on broadband performance for an optimized SD-WAN
A decade ago, if I had asked a network manager to consider using broadband to connect branch offices, he would have looked at me as if I had a second head. Times and opinions change, though, and broadband is now as viable as MPLS or any other network service.The catalyst for this has been the rise of software-defined WANs (SD-WANs). Their multipath capabilities and network optimization make it possible to use broadband for business connectivity, and organizations of all sizes have been jumping aboard this trend. One of the challenges that remain, though, is that not all connections or types of broadband are created equal.Not all broadband is created equal A network manager at a business with branches located nationwide recently told me that his company's preferred broadband type has been cable, but he has been surprised by the variability in the resulting bandwidth by location and time of day. For example, in one large metro area, he is purchasing 50MB of bandwidth, more than adequate for most branches. During the mornings he often sees throughput of 100MB or more. Later in the day, however, when kids get home from school and the Xboxes and Netflix subscriptions start Continue reading
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Huawei jumps into intent-based networks
The concept of intent-based networks (IBN) has been around for the better part of half a decade, but it’s really only come into its down in the past couple of years. The vision of a “self-driving” network had appeal but was largely science fiction.However, over the past couple of years, we have seen this vision turn into reality with several networking vendors coming to market with products that work. Many of the use cases are still fairly basic, but the foundation has now been laid and intent is where the new battleground for networking vendors will be fought.To read this article in full, please click here
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Huawei jumps into intent-based networks
The concept of intent-based networks (IBN) has been around for the better part of half a decade, but it’s really only come into its down in the past couple of years. The vision of a “self-driving” network had appeal but was largely science fiction.However, over the past couple of years, we have seen this vision turn into reality with several networking vendors coming to market with products that work. Many of the use cases are still fairly basic, but the foundation has now been laid and intent is where the new battleground for networking vendors will be fought.To read this article in full, please click here
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Review: HPE OfficeConnect network products extremely easy to deploy, manage
The role of Wi-Fi has changed in most companies and is no longer something that’s merely convenient. Rather, it’s critical to a business’s ability to ensure its customer are happy and workers are productive.Given the growing importance of Wi-Fi, it’s essential vendors make products that are easy to set up, particularly for small businesses where the technical acumen of the person setting the product up is likely to be low.HPE had inquires as to the importance of having the product be easy to setup and manage, and I said that I felt it was the most important attribute. In fact, I chose the solution for my house — which includes four indoor access points (APs), one outdoor AP, and a 48 port Ethernet switch — based on how easy the product was to operate. I'm very technical, but I really can't be bothered to fiddle around with doing things in a CLI.To read this article in full, please click here