Back up your files, precious photos and videos while connecting to and recharging any USB device, such as your tablet, smartphone or camera -- even if your system is off or in standby mode. The Backup Plus Hub for Mac is fully compatible with Time Machine, and will work with Windows based computers as well. This model has integrated USB ports, and packs a generous 4TB of space for just $109.99, a 21% discount over its typical list price of $139.99. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Note: This deal is only active until 2am ET, 4/12The SanDisk Connect wireless stick is a flash drive with a unique twist -- you can access it wirelessly. Whether it's in your pants pocket, in your bag, or on the picnic table at your campsite, the Connect wireless stick lets you stream media or move files wirelessly with up to three computers, phones or tablets simultaneously. Connections are made via built-in wifi (think "hotspot"), so no external wireless or internet services are needed. A USB connection is also available, if desired. Storage on this model is a generous 200GB. Reviewers on Amazon report at least 8-10 hours of battery life on one charge. This model is currently discounted 43%, from $119.99 down to $67.99. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Do you believe in a future where the leading source of value creation is through the experience of digital connections? If you don’t, you may want to compare the growth and value of AirBnB with many of the world’s largest hotel chains. And don’t think that this is a phenomenon limited to certain industries—evidence is mounting that across the landscape of public and private sectors, and across every industry segment, the future of business is digital business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco this week took the wraps off several products aimed at helping existing Fibre Channel customers grow the speed, capacity and management of their storage environments.In particular, Cisco rolled out a 32Gb Fibre Channel module for its MDS 9700 storage switch family with baked-in storage networking analytics, a 32Gb Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter for the rack-mounted Cisco UCS C-Series server, as well as non-volatile memory express (NVMe) over FC support for flash memory appliances.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Many businesses with branch offices that have IP-enabled phones must decide what type of circuit medium to use for their communication to the corporate headquarters site.Two of the most selected choices are a MPLS circuit or internet VPN. Both solutions have their pros and cons, and what is best can depend on your business requirements. Speed, quality of service (QoS), security and cost are the key factors you should consider when making this decision.Pros and cons of an internet VPN
A significant advantage of using an internet VPN for communication is the cost. Most times, a branch site can use its existing internet connection for communication back to its headquarters. Usually, a 10 Mbps internet circuit costs much less than a 10 Mbps MPLS circuit. This can encourage a business to purchase more bandwidth for their branch site.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has disclosed preliminary plans to roll back some of the net neutrality provisions in the U.S., which could be put to vote as soon as May or June, according to news reports.In a meeting this week with industry associations, Pai is said to have outlined a plan that would do away with the classification of broadband providers as common carriers subject to the oversight of the FCC.The new proposal would, however, require the broadband providers to promise to preserve net neutrality principles such as by not blocking or prioritizing Internet traffic, according to the news reports.The reclassification of broadband as a public regulated utility was part of a move by the previous administration of President Barack Obama to preserve net neutrality in the U.S. The FCC voted 3-2 in February 2015 to reclassify broadband as a regulated public utility by invoking Title II of the Communications Act, thus prohibiting providers from selectively blocking or throttling or offering paid prioritization of Internet traffic.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google is investing in another massive undersea fiber-optic cable as a part of its plans to build out network connectivity around the world. The company announced Wednesday that it is helping to fund a project called Indigo, which will connect Jakarta, Singapore, Perth and Sydney to one another.The cable will run for approximately 9,000 kilometers (almost 5,600 miles) and provide a capacity of roughly 18Tbps (bits per second). It's being built to bring users more connectivity in a region that has growing internet needs.Google has now invested in five submarine cables in the Asia-Pacific region and seven overall. By investing in these cables, the company hopes to better compete with other cloud providers and consumer internet companies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A coast-to-coast network trial by AT&T last month, using open-source "white box" switches, pointed toward an imagined future of more reliable services that may come quicker than some people think.The carrier ran a trial on its core network earlier this year using switches based on chips from Intel, Broadcom and startup Barefoot Networks. The latter only started shipping in sample quantities in December, making the trial deployment a remarkably quick turnaround.Like other carriers and cloud providers, AT&T is aggressively shifting its network toward SDN (software-defined networking). As these changes are carried out across more infrastructure, they should give both service providers and subscribers more flexibility and higher performance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The legal battle between Cisco and Arista is heating up as the two sides square off again in court this week in a hearing about their technology patent infringement and enforcement case.This hearing is the latest round in an ongoing battle that began in 2014. Most recently, in January the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency revoked its November 2016 finding that Arista’s redesigned products don’t infringe a key Cisco patent -- as a result Cisco called on Arista to stop importing those products and recall others sold with redesigned software.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google is working to accelerate the performance of its applications over the internet by building out a software-defined network at broad scale. On Tuesday, the company announced Espresso, a system that provides increased network performance to users of the company’s applications.It works by applying software-defined networking to the edge of the tech titan’s network, where Google connects to the peer networks of other internet service providers. Rather than rely on individual routers to figure out the best way to direct internet traffic, Espresso hands that responsibility off to servers running in the data centers Google operates at the edge of its network.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It seems that with technology, when we deploy something new, our first instincts are to make it look like the old thing. Then, at a later date, smart people figure out how the new thing can actually do something different.For example, the first Windows applications had a very DOS-like look and feel to them. Eventually the good folks at Microsoft created an ecosystem that gave us an entirely new way of working. I suppose this path creates the least amount of friction for people, as they can ease themselves out of the old way.RELATED: SD-WAN: What it is and why you will use it one day
Another example is with software-defined networking (SDN) and SD-WAN. The initial wave of solutions was really about replacing MPLS with broadband to save money. Architecturally, everything stayed the same, but the circuits connecting the branch to the data center were augmented with or replaced by broadband, which brought the cost down and created a more efficient network.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In this animation, Network World explains some of the concepts of serverless computing, and how it represents the next phase of cloud computing for Internet of Things applications and products.
The White House announced Friday that come this summer it will be issuing commemorative safety glasses in anticipation of the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse, an extraordinarily rare event that will cast a rolling 60-mile wide swath of daytime darkness from Oregon cross-country to South Carolina.Emphasizing the danger of viewing a solar eclipse without protective eyewear (NASA explains), these safety glasses will come emblazoned with the slogan, “Make America Safe Again,” the choice of which need not be explained.The glasses will cost $9.95, with “100% of the proceeds going to charity,” according to a White House press release that included a photo of President Trump modeling a pair (above).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Thanks to cellular GPS, the days of pulling your car over to ask for directions are long gone. It has never been easier to find your way from point A to B and to track down nearby points of interest like restaurants or gas stations.But, what happens when you walk indoors? The “blue dot” navigation experience doesn’t exist. When inside a mall, conference center, or office complex, you are back to stopping and asking for turn-by-turn directions when needed. There is enormous demand for an indoor location experience that is on par with outdoor cellular GPS. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is an exciting technology that promises to satisfy this demand. The major mobile device manufacturers have put their weight behind BLE beaconing standards and a robust BLE ecosystem has emerged to develop indoor location solutions. But two things have held BLE indoor location services back to date:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The biggest names in technology are among 185 companies urging Congress to ignore a line item in the Trump Administration’s proposed budget that would entirely defund the Legal Services Corporation, a non-profit organization that has provided civil legal assistance to the poor since 1974.The letter to Congress reads:
The undersigned 185 leaders of corporate legal departments across the country write to urge you to support the preservation of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) and provide funding at a level of $450 million for FY 2018, which would be consistent with the appropriation received in FY2010, adjusted for inflation. As the cornerstone of equal justice in America, LSC creates a level playing field for the many lower and moderate- income families who cannot afford a lawyer. By upholding the fundamental American promise of liberty and justice for all, the minimal investment in LSC generates a significant positive return for business and for the health of individuals and communities across the nation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon has hired Hans Vestberg, the CEO Ericsson bounced last summer amid cost cutting and failing financials, to head up its Network and Technology team.Network and Technology is one of three areas Verizon will focus on under a new operating structure, with the other two being Media and Telematics, and Customer and Product Operations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A new approach that centers around performance makes the Airport Extreme taller with 6 antennas at the top, three for the 2.4GHz band and three for the 5GHz band, creating a higher platform for dispersing the signal. Together with 802.11ac wireless technology, they let you connect faster, farther. Averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon from 1,800 people, the typical list price of Apple's Airport Extreme has been discounted on Amazon by 20% to $159. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The rush by Republicans in Congress to kill still-pending Obama-era rules that would put curbs on the ability of ISPs to collect and sell our personal Internet usage data has been met with howls of protest from privacy advocates and citizens.And the outrage is no wonder, as the idea of our browsing habits and histories being hawked to the highest bidder is an affront to any understanding of personal privacy rights.It’s also an affront to public opinion, as a Pew Research Center Survey last year shows:
93% of adults say that being in control of who can get information about them is important; 74% feel this is “very important,” while 19% say it is “somewhat important.”
90% say that controlling what information is collected about them is important—65% think it is “very important” and 25% say it is “somewhat important.”
Despite such overwhelming public sentiment, Republican majorities in both the House and Senate have voted in recent days to scuttle the privacy protections authorized last October by the Federal Communications Commission, protections that were scheduled to take effect later this year. That FCC measure passed on a 3-2 party-line vote, with then-Chairman Tom Wheeler and two Continue reading
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.In the gap between plug and play unmanaged Ethernet switches and fully managed enterprise switches, vendors added the so called “smart switch,” which offer light management features to unmanaged gigabit Ethernet devices. Today, smart switches targeted at small-to-medium-size business run the gamut in terms of manageability and feature sets. The appeal of basic network management features for a small business stems from the need for performance and security. Plug and play and start right away—that’s what every start up wants—then later on, they need basic configurations and features to accommodate growth as needed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Any fan of the PGA Tour will never forget the “better than most” call by NBC’s Gary Koch. On March 24, 2001, Tiger Woods stepped up to execute one of the most difficult putts of his career. Halfway to the hole, Koch uttered the words “better than most” as it looked like his putt was going to be a good one. It wound up going in, and that become yet another notable moment in Tiger’s illustrious career where great execution was becoming the norm. In the highly tumultuous networking market, Extreme Networks’ CEO, Ed Meyercord, continues to make moves that are “better than most,” putting his company in a position to be a long-term share gainer in a market that badly needs more strong vendors. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here