Looking back, moving forwardThe modern-day Apple isn't afraid to stop making a product. The company has its reasons to do so: outdated technology, what it contributes to the bottom line, resource allocation, whatever. And as far as Apple history goes, 2016 may be remembered more for the products Apple discontinued than what the company released.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bold predictions are in order at this time of year. Zeus Kerravala looked into his crystal bowl for the networking space, and Taylor Armeriding did the same for security. We went rummaging through our fortune cookies and came up with this Yoda-like one for 2017:Security shall networking become.What did that really mean? Our Yoda translator was of no help. Could networking replace security (or vice versa) in 2017? Should CIOs and CISOs prepare themselves for the inevitable assimilation (head nod to you aging Trekies)? How should, then, security and networking personnel prepare themselves for the inevitable onslaught?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Did you forget to turn off the window A.C.? How about that curling iron? Want the living room lamp to turn on when the sun goes down—automatically? The Wemo Switch gives you control of your lamps and small appliances whenever you want, wherever you choose, with tons of options for scheduling and automation. Paired with Amazon Alexa, you can control your lamps and appliances with just the power of your voice. When Wemo works with Nest Thermostat, you can set your lights to turn off automatically when you leave the house, and on when you get home again. No central hub or subscription is required. Wemo also has an on/off switch on the unit, in case the Wi-Fi goes down. This smart plug is currently discounted 20% down to just $39.99. For more information and buying options, see the discounted WiFi Smart Plug on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Did you forget to turn off the window A.C.? How about that curling iron? Want the living room lamp to turn on when the sun goes down—automatically? The Wemo Switch gives you control of your lamps and small appliances whenever you want, wherever you choose, with tons of options for scheduling and automation. Paired with Amazon Alexa, you can control your lamps and appliances with just the power of your voice. When Wemo works with Nest Thermostat, you can set your lights to turn off automatically when you leave the house, and on when you get home again. No central hub or subscription is required. Wemo also has an on/off switch on the unit, in case the Wi-Fi goes down. This smart plug is currently discounted 40% down to just $29.99. For more information and buying options, see the discounted WiFi Smart Plug on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Virtual private networks (VPNs) encrypt internet connections between two points, to secure them from casual snoopers and hackers. These VPN services are particularly useful when accessing the internet from an untrusted location, such as a hotel, café or coworking space.A plethora of modern VPN services, with dedicated connectivity apps, have put an end to the maddening manual configuration VPNs once required. No two VPN offerings are alike, however, and it can be a challenge to find the right VPN. Here's a look at some of the top VPNs for privacy and security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
“The Wi-Fi doesn’t work.” After speaking to hundreds of customers of all sizes, this is consistently one of the top help desk complaints that I hear. Not surprisingly, this creates a common perception about wireless that is unflattering to say the least.Some of the time, this is a fair complaint. Wireless is a pervasive technology, and it is difficult to deliver a consistent and reliable experience across the exploding stream of different devices and device types.+ Also on Network World: Wi-Fi troubleshooting remains a challenge for most organizations +
Other times, however, the Wi-Fi network is just getting a bad rap. It is guilty by association—i.e an easy target for people to blame when other issues might be at play. In fact, all of the following issues could impact network connectivity, casting a pall over the wireless experience:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Nmap Project just released the Holiday Edition of its open source cross-platform security scanner and network mapper, with several important improvements and bug fixes.New features in Nmap 7.40 include Npcap 0.78r5, for adding driver signing updates to work with Windows 10 Anniversary Update; faster brute-force authentication cracking; and new scripts for Nmap Script Engine, the project’s maintainer Fyodor wrote on the Nmap mailing list.[ Give yourself a technology career advantage with InfoWorld's Deep Dive technology reports and Computerworld's career trends reports. GET A 15% DISCOUNT through Jan.15, 2017: Use code 8TIISZ4Z. ]
The de facto standard network mapping and port scanning tool, Nmap (Network Mapper) Security Scanner is widely used by IT and security administrators for network mapping, port-scanning, and network vulnerability testing. Administrators can run Nmap against the network to find open ports, determine what hosts are available on the network, identify what services those hosts are offering, and detect any network information leaked, such as the type of packet filters and firewalls in use.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Procrastination has once again turned into desperation. "Maybe I could whittle a pan flute from those broken chair legs in the basement", you're thinking. Snap out of it! Stay calm and remind yourself that with just a few minutes on Amazon right now you can still snag great gifts for anyone left on your list, and have them at your doorstep with plenty of time to gift wrap. Amazon's "last minute deals" page right here features great deals in almost any department, guaranteed by Amazon to arrive by Christmas. You need Amazon Prime to take advantage of free 2-day shipping, so if you don't have a membership, take a minute to sign up for a free 30 day trial and feel the weight lift from your shoulders. But do it soon -- once the 2-day window closes, things will get ugly. Breathe deeply and go get the job done: See Amazon's Last Minute Deals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Unparalleled speed and strength. If that's what you're looking for in your next USB Lightning cable, then consider this one from Zeceen which is made with a sturdy Zinc alloy Connector and a high-strength yet fully flexible stainless steel jacket spring wire – a design that promises not to disintegrate even under extreme conditions like bad weather or rough handling. Zeceen also promises a 12-month satisfaction guarantee. Its typical list price of $19.99 on Amazon has been reduced 15% to $16.97 for this virtually unbreakable 3.3-foot cable. See it on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Interesting posts this week from a few Cisco executives taking a look forward into what should be a very interesting networking world in 2017.+More on Network World: 5 enterprise technologies that will shake things up in 2017+First up was Cisco’s Jeff Reed, Senior Vice President Enterprise Infrastructure and Solutions Group who had a blog on the top 10 list for future 2017 network trends. It reads as follow:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A sorry, sorry lotMicrosoft couldn’t get out of its culturally-clueless way in 2016. Samsung apologized over and over for its flaming Note7 fiasco. HP, T-Mobile, Facebook and pretty much every other big name in tech was forced to issue a public apology or more during the year, as public relations pros earned their money (or not) to salvage their employer or client’s reputation – for the time being. You won’t be sorry for taking a spin through this collection of corporate apologies from the tech world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It may be a brave new world in 2017 but it’s also a darn scary one for IT security professionals.READ MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 5 enterprise technologies that will shake things up in 2017+Just take a look at some recent Gartner assessments of the security situation:
By 2020, 60% of digital businesses will suffer major service failures, due to the inability of IT security teams to manage digital risk.
By 2020, 60% of enterprise information security budgets will be allocated for rapid detection and response approaches, which is an increase from less than 30% in 2016.
By 2018, 25% of corporate data traffic will flow directly from mobile devices to the cloud, bypassing enterprise security controls.
Through 2018, over 50% of IoT device manufacturers will not be able to address threats from weak authentication practices.
So what technologies are going to change this scenario back in favor of IT? The new security AAA: Automation, analytics and artificial intelligence say proponents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Enterprises trying to use the internet of things already face a deluge of data and a dizzying array of ways to analyze it. But what happens if the information is wrong?Bad data is common in IoT, and though it’s hard to get an estimate of how much information streaming in from connected devices can’t be used, a lot of people are thinking about the problem.About 40 percent of all data from the edges of IoT networks is “spurious,” says Harel Kodesh, vice president of GE’s Predix software business and CTO of GE Digital. Much of that data isn’t wrong, just useless: duplicate information that employees accidently uploaded twice, or repetitive messages that idle machines send automatically. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Posted to Reddit’s section devoted to networking by user felixdgniezno, this IPv6-enabled Christmas tree is garnering rave reviews from the kinds of people who read Reddit’s section devoted to networking and are amused by the notion of an IPv6-enabled Christmas tree.From the instructions found on the hosting site, which is located in Belgium, not surprisingly (I’ll explain why below):
Ping it to light it up!
2001:6a8:28c0:2017::AA:BB:CC for HTML Color #AABBCC
2001:6a8:28c0:2017::FF:00:00 for color RED
2001:6a8:28c0:2017::00:FF:00 for color GREEN
2001:6a8:28c0:2017::00:00:FF for color BLUE
2001:6a8:28c0:2017::FF:FF:FF for color WHITE
... and so on...To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler will step down on Jan. 20, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to appoint a Republican chairman and majority at the agency.Wheeler, a Democrat appointed chairman by President Barack Obama in late 2013, was the architect of the FCC's strong net neutrality regulations, approved by the FCC in February 2015. Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner who's mentioned as a possible successor to Wheeler, has vowed to repeal the net neutrality rules and to take a "weed wacker" to other FCC regulations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Citrix is a bit like the pachyderm in the proverb about the blind men and the elephant. How customers describe the company depends a lot on which of Citrix’s diverse products they touch. It’s a desktop and app virtualization company. It’s a networking company. A secure file sharing company, a mobility management firm.Mobility and networkingTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Cisco Systems suffered a major defeat in its long legal fight against rival Arista Networks on Wednesday when a federal court jury rejected its demand for damages.The jury in the Northern California district court in San Jose also ruled Arista didn’t infringe a Cisco patent, nor Cisco’s copyright on its user manuals, Arista said in a statement. Other patents had been removed from the case earlier.Cisco sued Arista, an upstart maker of enterprise network gear, for patent and copyright infringement in 2014. It alleged the company had copied Cisco’s products and the CLI (command-line interface) that engineers have long used to configure and manage Cisco switches and routers. Arista was founded by former Cisco executives in 2004.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cloud providers and large enterprises don't know enough about what's going on in their networks, according to Nokia.The networking equipment vendor wants to remedy that by enhancing its products with technologies from U.S. IP network analytics vendor Deepfield, which it has just announced plans to acquire. Deepfield provides real-time information about application demand and data flows that Nokia intends to use to help its SDN (software-defined networks) steer traffic.Nokia sees Deepfield's analytics tools as a way to help its customers -- including ISPs and telcos, hosting companies and others operating cloud services at scale -- to better control and protect their networks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Riverbed, with its highly successful WAN optimization technology, has long competed with Cisco – but in a niche fashion, acknowledges CEO and co-founder Jerry Kennelly. Now, the company is taking its fight to the core of Cisco’s business with new SD-WAN routing technology that could make existing routers obsolete in the world of hybrid clouds and virtual networks. I want to talk more specifically about how SteelConnect makes hybrid cloud easier?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
With the U.S. Presidential election over, there is now talk about infrastructure investment, and by that, most people mean roads and bridges.But not so fast. The most important infrastructure of a modern economy or a modern business is the digital infrastructure. And it’s in worse shape than our roads and bridges. Most of today’s networks were put in place 20 years ago, well before the debilitating forces of cloud, big data, social, mobile computing, and most recently the Internet of Things (IoT) eroded their effectiveness and caused data traffic congestion.+ Also on Network World: Digital transformation: Not your grandfather’s bank +
Sure, these networks still work—they still chug along, even if they’re slower and more vulnerable than we’d like. And let’s face it; it’s human nature to take an "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" approach. But that approach didn’t work in the 1990s for the brick-and-mortar businesses as the internet era emerged, and it won’t work today for any company that needs to digitally transform and do business in the network age.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here