The second wave of 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology, primarily distinguished by new MIMO capabilities, bigger channels and the general ability to handle larger and denser groups of connections, is starting to make its way into enterprises.MU-MIMO is the piece that’s got everyone excited for wave 2 – it stands for multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output, meaning that access points use larger numbers of antennae that can be managed algorithmically to provide a more flexible distribution of wireless resources. In essence, these are smarter access points that are better able to handle large numbers of users at any given time, and feature more advanced ways to manage different kinds of wireless links.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
First off, CBRS is an acronym for Citizens Broadband Radio Service, and the upshot for enterprise IT pros is that it could result in improved LTE services from service providers as well as enable enterprises to build their own private LTE networks (See also: "The big CBRS promise: Private LTE networks"). Here’s a primer on CBRS — because you are going to want to know about this.Citizens Band/CB, as in CB radio?No, good buddy, this has nothing to do with the Citizens’ Band radio service used by truckers for two-way voice communications and that lives in the 27 MHz spectrum band in the U.S. CBRS lives in the 3.5 GHz band.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If your home has dead zones or areas where coverage is weak, boost your existing WiFi coverage with the Netgear N150 WiFi extender. For a limited time Amazon will sell it to Amazon Prime members (or anyone with a free trial, located here) for a significant 67% off its list price, or just $14.67. See this deal now on Amazon. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If your home has dead zones or areas where coverage is weak, boost your existing WiFi coverage with the Netgear N150 WiFi extender. For a limited time Amazon will sell it for a significant 46% off its list price, or just $24.24. See this deal now on Amazon.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If your home has dead zones or areas where coverage is weak, boost your existing WiFi coverage with the Netgear N150 WiFi extender. For a limited time Amazon will sell it for a significant 48% off its list price, or just $23.43. See this deal now on Amazon.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you can get past that unappealing acronym, you just might find that CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) is worth paying attention to as a serious wireless network alternative for enterprises in the not-too-distant future.It’s been hard to ignore the so-called CBRS "innovation band" of late, as everyone from Google to the big carriers to GE has been touting the potential benefits of indoor and outdoor LTE services within shared 3.5 GHz spectrum opened up by the FCC for commercial use. We’re talking carrier-based cellular service extensions, cable companies looking to get into wireless as well as private LTE networks within enterprises, sports stadiums and conference centers. Such services promise to complement -- and in some cases replace -- Wi-Fi, as well as pave the way for 5G wireless services. (See also: "FAQ: What in the wireless world is CBRS?")To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you know anything about NAS (Network Attached Storage), you know that it’s a great centralized backup receptacle for your PCs. If you didn’t know, we just told you. Actually, the name is bit of a giveaway: NAS is storage that you attach via ethernet or Wi-Fi and access across the network. What that doesn’t tell you is that most NAS boxes have the smarts of a PC, with a full-blown app environment that includes extensive backup abilities.But there are two things that even NAS-aware users might not realize: First, many NAS boxes are perfectly capable of backing up data from PCs running any type of operating system (e.g., Windows, OS X, or Linux) from anywhere, using nothing more than their integrated utilities. All you need to do is configure the PC to give up its data, and then use the NAS box to grab it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
We found Firebind to be an effective tool for reaching into branch office networks to diagnose internet-based performance problems. Firebind has a simple agent installation procedure and uses email-based alerting, so network managers won’t find it a burden to install or operate.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
The international body crafting the 5G standard has approved an accelerated roadmap that could see large-scale trials and deployments in 2019 instead of 2020.At a meeting this week in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the 3GPP signed off on a 5G work plan that several top mobile operators and network vendors came out in favor of last week. It would create an interim 5G specification before the full-scale standard is completed.It’s important to get the next generation of mobile out into the world soon because users keep increasing their data consumption, said Lorenzo Casaccia, vice president of technical standards at Qualcomm, in a blog post on Thursday. That’s why his company is backing the in-between spec, which is now expected to be done by the end of this year and available in software about three months later.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel surprised many observers when the company hired outsider Venkata Renduchintala to lead the company's PC, Internet of Things, and Systems Architecture groups.With more than a year under his belt, he's spearheading a cultural change inside the company, getting employees to think beyond PCs and talk about technologies like 5G and IoT.There's been a lot of chatter about changes in the company's chip development strategy, with the recent announcement of the 8th Generation Core processors, an unprecedented fourth chip architecture on the 14-nanometer process. The chip industry veteran sat down with the IDG News Service at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to talk about what spurred the move and also his thoughts on 5G.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nate Baechtold, Enterprise Architect at EBSCO Information Services, says it was going to be too hard to automate the company’s VMware environment so the firm shifted to OpenStack, which natively abstracts underlying components much like AWS. But the next sticking point was how to enable developers to build in load balancing? A self-service model using the existing hardware-based system was too complex, Baechtold tells Network World Editor in Chief John Dix, but a new software-defined tool fit the bill. EBSCO Information Services
Nate Baechtold, Enterprise Architect at EBSCO Information ServicesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A systems administrator was showering the other day (maybe not literally) when he had this thought: “I’ve never actually seen Stack Overflow’s front page. I wonder what percentage of their traffic requests are to simply http://stackoverflow.com.”As with any knowledge market – and news sites such as this one – most of the traffic to Stack Overflow would be assumed to arrive at addresses other than its homepage. The wondering here was about details. And no one need wonder any longer, as stepping up to the plate is Nick Craver, Stack Overflow Architecture Lead:
Someone poked me for an answer here so here's some data:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IBM this week said its speech recognition system set an industry record of 5.5% word error rate, a percentage that lets a computer understand human conversation almost as well as the average person does.According to IBM human parity was considered a 5.9% word error rate but IBM who partnered with Appen, a speech and technology service provider, reassessed the industry benchmark and determined that human parity is lower than what anyone has yet achieved: 5.1%.+More on Network World: Gartner: Artificial intelligence, algorithms and smart software at the heart of big network changes+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should reverse course and keep the net neutrality rules it passed just two years ago, several Democratic senators said Wednesday.The FCC has not yet moved to repeal the regulations prohibiting broadband providers from selectively blocking or slowing web traffic, but the agency's new chairman, Republican Ajit Pai, has called the rules a "mistake."Broadband customers, however, still need the protections of the net neutrality rules, several Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee said during a hearing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Juniper is reshaping some of its top executive roles as Jonathan Davidson, executive VP and general manager of the firm’s Development and Innovation group resigned from the company.Davidson, a former Cisco executive in charge products such as the Cisco 7200 and Enterprise ASR 1000 product management team joined Juniper in 2010 to lead the company’s Security, Switching and Solutions Business Unit. He ultimately became executive vice president and general manager of the Juniper Development and Innovation group, where he replaced Rami Rahim who is now the company’s CEO.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The fate of Avaya’s networking business has been the subject of speculation for well over a year now. In December, I wrote about the most likely suitors for the business. Ideally, I would have liked to have seen Avaya remain a “full stack” solution provider and keep the group, but it appears that wasn’t in the bankruptcy cards. This brings us to the current news where the winner of the Avaya Networking sweepstakes is (drum roll… although its in the title) Extreme Networks. That’s correct: Purple Extreme Networks is purchasing the networking assets from Avaya (Red) that came to it from Nortel (blue), so from a color perspective, it all makes sense. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Extreme Networks continued to expand its enterprise networking portfolio today buying up the network technology of Avaya Holdings– which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy -- for $100 million.
Extreme’s Ed Meyercord, President and CEO said he expects the deal will broaden the company’s software and strengthen its presence in vertical markets such as healthcare and manufacturing.
Norman Rice, an executive vice president with Extreme added that some of Avaya’s strengths included its networking fabric and Network Micro-Segmentation technology that helps customers secure enterprise components.
+More on Network World: Avaya wants out of S.F. stadium suite, not too impressed with 49ers on field performance either+ To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Chinese smartphone maker ZTE has agreed to pay US$892 million to the U.S. government for illegally selling networking technology to Iran.
ZTE entered a guilty plea over the charges, which include violating export controls meant to keep sensitive U.S. technology away from the Iranian government, the U.S Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
"They (ZTE) lied to federal investigators and even deceived their own counsel and internal investigators about their illegal acts," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It has been almost a year since Cisco jumped into the hyperconverged arena and while the HyperFlex business has done well – landing 1,100 customers -- the company is expecting a burst of upgrades to significantly speed and simplify management of its HyperFlex systems.+More on Network World: Cisco, Mitel, NEC and others are targeting Avaya’s customers as the networking company goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
GE is rethinking many aspects of IT, including its internal reporting structure, where and how it supports apps, and how it networks its 4,500 offices. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix got an update from Chris Drumgoole, Chief Technology Officer of IT. GE
Chris Drumgoole, GE Chief Technology Officer of IT
As Chief Technology Officer for GE IT (GE also has a CTO on the product side), how do you work with the IT teams in the business units?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here