Recently, I was reading a blog post by Ivan Pepelnjak on intent-based networking. He discusses that the definition of intent is "a usually clearly formulated or planned intention" and the word “intention” is defined as ’what one intends to do or bring about." I started to ponder over his submission that the definition is confusing as there are many variations.To guide my understanding, I decided to delve deeper into the building blocks of intent-based networking, which led me to a variety of closed-loop automation solutions. After extensive research, my view is that closed-loop automation is a prerequisite for intent-based networking. Keeping in mind the current requirements, it’s a solution that the businesses can deploy. To read this article in full, please click here
In our companion article, “Making network-services deals: Sourcing and service-delivery strategies that work,” we examine how enterprises should approach sourcing and designing managed network service arrangements under current outsourcing market conditions by applying certain best practices to help identy the optimal providers and service delivery approaches.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
The days of the blockbuster deal to outsource the IT department and the company’s infrastructure assets are long gone.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
We all know and appreciate DNS as the domain name system that maps names like Networkworld.com to the IP address that a browser actually connects to in order to get content from a website. DNS is obviously a foundational piece of the internet. However, the technology is a bit stale and needs a refresh to keep up with the times.Legacy DNS is a simple protocol. It is essentially a phonebook that maps a domain name to an IP address. Most commercial DNS products or services in the market today are based on an open-source software product called BIND put out by the Internet Software Consortium. The name BIND stands for “Berkeley Internet Name Daemon” because the software originated in the early 1980s at the University of California at Berkeley. Not much about the DNS protocol has changed since then.To read this article in full, please click here
When selecting VPN routers, small businesses want ones that support the VPN protocols they desire as well as ones that fit their budgets, are easy to use and have good documentation.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
Internet architecture doesn't need continuous paths between endpoints, says NASA in an announcement that may one day change the way the internet is envisioned.The U.S. government space agency says Delay or Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) — something it’s been working on for disruption-prone space internet applications — doesn’t need continuous network connectivity, unlike traditional internet.Importantly, it says the delay and fault-tolerant technology could be used down on Earth, too. The networking protocol suite concept would be particularly well suited to internet in remote locations, it says in a press release, related to demonstrations of the technology.To read this article in full, please click here
High-speed Ethernet is quickly becoming the networking norm as customer data-center servers grow to handle a ton of traffic from new, smarter applications, IoT devices, video and more.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
The Internet as we have all known it mirrors the design of old mainframes with dumb terminals: The data path is almost entirely geared toward data coming down the network from a central location. It doesn’t matter if it’s your iPhone or a green text terminal, the fast pipe has always been down, with relatively little data sent up.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
The demand is there. The hype is there. But is the world really ready for 5G?In one sense, the answer is, “absolutely.” The fifth-generation of wireless broadband technology will bring an exponential increase in data speeds that will change how people interact with the internet. For example, download time for an HD movie could go from an hour to a few seconds. 5G can also power up remote surgery. And some say truly autonomous vehicles aren’t possible without it. 5G will connect a higher density of devices, people and things in smaller areas – faster and with lower latency than ever. It promises to inspire an astounding array of innovations and new services.To read this article in full, please click here
Though I no longer actively participate in it as a pioneering player in the networking space I have always kept a watchful eye on the market and I am seeing yet another disruptive force known as SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide-Area Networking) finally gaining momentum.For starters, SD-WAN is an extension of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). As the term implies, SDN aims to automate (virtualize) various network functions that are currently touch-heavy.[ Related: SD-WAN: What it is and why you will use it one day ]
Network architects talk about separating the control plane from the data plane ad nauseum but that is just the starting point. The ability to virtualize numerous network functions from a central location and thus create an abstraction layer in a manner that is custom-tailored for each enterprise – and, by extension, perhaps for each user - has been the Holy Grail of networking for years if not decades. Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation and a longtime proponent of all things SDN, is spot on when he states that: "SD-WAN is absolutely critical, because it is the vehicle most likely to bring true virtualization to networking. Without virtualization in the network, virtualization in the Continue reading
The electromagnetic spectrum is the highway over which wireless operates, with multiple lanes capable of carrying traffic at different speeds. Higher frequencies – and thus shorter wavelengths – are able to move more information per unit of time.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
The hype around 5G and its relation to the IoT (Internet of Things) industry has been growing exponentially since its initial launch in 2012. So far, numerous telecoms have promised that 5G will be the next-generation mobile network that provides everything from superfast bandwidth speeds, to ultra-low latency, to ten-times the geographic coverage.However, the attempts to decode what all this means for product creators and enterprises who have some investment in 5G and IoT typically lacks real substance and clarity. While 5G networks may fundamentally transform mobile cellular networks, they are still in early deployment stages despite the just-around-the-corner narrative that is being spread.To read this article in full, please click here
Amazon Web Services has denied publicly and privately to Cisco that it is targeting Cisco’s bread-and-butter network switching market after a report emerged a few days ago claiming AWS was intending to do just that.A report in The Information last Friday said AWS was preparing to enter the network switching market, using off-brand “white box” products powered by open-source software. The news quickly made the rounds on Monday, when everyone started paying attention (including me), and the result was a big hit to Cisco’s stock.To read this article in full, please click here
The EU General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, came into force on May 25. With every organization with customers and suppliers in the European Union now accountable for the way in which they handle or process personal data, much work has been done to ensure compliance by the deadline. As a result, all levels of a business are now concentrated on meeting the requirements of the new regulation, throwing the issue of data protection into focus like never before.When you consider how big and complex IT networks have become in recent times, however, it has become almost impossible to detect just when and how a security breach or network failure might occur. Unsurprisingly, network security and information assurance are crucial to GDPR compliance, with the regulation stating that measures must be put in place to mitigate the risk associated with assuring information integrity and availability in the face of threats such as malicious code or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.To read this article in full, please click here
It’s hard to remember a time when people thought Amazon was nuts for going into the cloud computing business, since it was so far removed from the company’s core ecommerce business. No one is laughing now.It seems history could repeat itself. According to an article in The Information, Amazon is rumored to be targeting a new industry, albeit one dominated by a giant player and multiple healthy competitors — the network switching business. The move would put it in direct competition with Cisco, HPE, Juniper Networks, and Arista.To read this article in full, please click here
Tunnels for networking are not good. We see a real-life example taking place with the twelve Thai boys that were stuck at the end of a tunnel with a very narrow section under water preventing passage. The tunnel offered them only one way out, and the particular path was not passable. This is what happens in networks. We’re thankful for the heroic rescue of these brave boys, but networks don’t always fare as well.You will hear others speak about how a tunnel-based virtual network is the next amazing trend in networking. In fact, an analyst recently told me tunnels are great. And they are, when used for the purpose they were intended. But, using tunnels to get aggregates of packets to go where they wouldn’t go otherwise is dangerous, and will lead to the accumulation of technical debts.To read this article in full, please click here
An infrastructure design consideration that arguably frustrates users, and creates a never-ending headache for network administrators, is the quality of Wi-Fi service in a building. Typically, a poor user experience is one where users have either no signal on their wireless device or see “full bars” but cannot connect to the network.In an office environment poor Wi-Fi performance is undoubtedly an annoyance, but in a hospital, it could prevent medical staff from delivering care in a timely manner. Waiting for a mobile terminal to retrieve the medical history of a seriously ill patient can literally be a matter of life and death.Proper cabling is the foundation of Wi-Fi performance
Configuring a wireless access point system (AP) is a complex project and is not the subject of this post, although Aps or AP systems of course plays an important role in Wi-Fi network best practice. To provide network integrators with the best chances of success, the cabling infrastructure must be available to support optimal installation and placement of AP.To read this article in full, please click here
Extreme Networks is contending for greater influence from the data center to the network edge, but it has some obstacles to overcome.The company is still grappling with how to best integrate, use and effectively sell the technologies it has acquired from Avaya and Brocade in the past year, as well as incorporate and develop its own products to do battle in the cloud, mobile and edge computing environments of the future. Remember, too, that Extreme bought wireless player Zebra Technologies in 2016 for $55 million.[ Now see: The hidden cause of slow internet and how to fix it.]
In terms of results that Wall Street watches, Extreme Networks grew revenue 76% to $262 million in its recent fiscal third quarter. According to Extreme, those gains were fueled mostly by growth from its acquisitions and around an 8% growth in its own products. To read this article in full, please click here
As networks become more software-driven, they generate vastly greater amounts of data, which provides some challenges: adhering to compliance and customer privacy guidelines, while harvesting the massive amounts of data—it is physically impossible for humans to tackle the sheer volume that is created. But the vast amounts of data also provide an opportunity for businesses: leveraging analytics and machine learning to gather insights that can help network management move from reactive to proactive to assurance. This doesn’t just mean a massive shift in technology because the human element won’t simply go away. Instead, by combining human intellect and creativity with the computing power AI offers, innovative design and management techniques will be developed to build self-improving intelligent algorithms. The algorithms allow networks to operate in a way that far outweighs networks of the past.To read this article in full, please click here
A 75-mile, quantum-secured, high-speed fiber link has been built in the United Kingdom, the largest internet supplier there has said.Particles of light, known as photons, carry encryption keys over the same connection as data. Hijacking those photons within the link immediately notifies the system that the keys have become bad — the thief interfering with those keys alters them and then they can’t be used by the interceptor — and the traffic becomes garbled instantly.It’s “virtually un-hackable,” said Gavin Patterson, outgoing BT chief executive, announcing the link at Internet of Things World Europe that I attended in London last month.To read this article in full, please click here