Tricky network upgrades are causing many enterprises to throw up their hands and simply not do any upgrading at all, according to Cato Networks.Nearly half of the organizations the company recently surveyed (40 percent) say they have “no plans to upgrade their network” at all in 2017. If that’s true, security will likely suffer.The Israel-based firm, which offers security solutions that function in the cloud rather than locally, says although enterprises know there are security threats out there, such as a rise in ransomware, many are simply not going to do anything about it next year—at all.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Repealing the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's less than 2-year-old net neutrality rules appears to be a top tech priority for President-elect Donald Trump, but it may not be an easy road.Trump blasted net neutrality rules in a November 2014 tweet, saying it was a "top-down power grab" that would apparently require broadband providers to give equal time to liberal and conservative media. There are no such requirements in the FCC's net neutrality rules, however; broadband users determine what media they see.Look for Republicans in Congress to re-introduce legislation to repeal the rules early next year, but with only a narrow majority in the Senate, they are likely to be blocked by Democrats, who can filibuster to stall a bill.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Almost one million Deutsche Telekom customers have been struggling to get online since Sunday afternoon.There's nothing wrong with the network, the company said, advising customers having trouble connecting to the internet to turn their router off and on again in the hope of solving the problem.Around 900,000 lines were initially hit by the connection problem, although the number affected is falling, Deutsche Telekom said Monday. But that number may be an underestimate: Since some of the affected routers also provide subscribers with telephone service, customers may have no way of letting the company know they are having difficulties.The cause of the outage is unknown, with those affected living in different areas and using different routers models, the comapany said. It dismissed suggestions that the problem was worse in congested areas.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This extremely versatile device from Lexar reads 25 popular memory card formats, and leverages SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology for high-speed file transfers, with a USB interface speed up to 500MB/s. It reads multiple slots at once to allow for simultaneous downloads/transfers, and pops closed to protect its card slots when not in use. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, where its typical list price of $23 has been reduced 44% to $13 for a limited time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This extremely versatile device from Lexar reads 25 popular memory card formats, and leverages SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology for high-speed file transfers, with a USB interface speed up to 500MB/s. It reads multiple slots at once to allow for simultaneous downloads/transfers, and pops closed to protect its card slots when not in use. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, where its typical list price of $35 has been reduced 34% to $23.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This extremely versatile device from Lexar reads 25 popular memory card formats, and leverages SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology for high-speed file transfers, with a USB interface speed up to 500MB/s. It reads multiple slots at once to allow for simultaneous downloads/transfers, and pops closed to protect its card slots when not in use. It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, where its typical list price of $23 has been reduced 44% to $13 for a limited time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last year I tried out my first holiday light display using a Light-O-Rama controller. I was sure a person could have a holiday light show that delights people of all ages and still keep their privacy intact since people wouldn’t be peering into their houses. That part was true; it’s a different story when two different TV crews show up in vans a couple different times and want interviews. Fortunately, declining is an option that doesn’t seem to impact traffic backing up to watch the lights dance to music they can hear via FM from the warmth of their vehicles.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Less than half of the world's population still isn't using the Internet, although the numbers are improving, according to a United Nations report.A report released this week by the United Nation's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) found that 47.1% of the population is online, an increase from 2015's figure of 43%.The spread of mobile networks around the globe has played an important role in increasing Internet connectivity, the report said. Mobile-broadband networks cover 84% of the world's population this year, but the number of users, at 47.1%, is well below those who have access.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has appointed two opponents of current net neutrality rules to his team charged with overseeing the transition in the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC voted in February last year by 3-2 to reclassify broadband as a regulated, common-carrier service, thus prohibiting providers from selectively blocking or throttling or offering paid prioritization of traffic. The new president, who will be sworn in January, will likely undo some of the policies in the 2015 Open Internet Order, as both his nominees to the transition team - Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison – have previously opposed the new FCC rules.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple is reportedly done with routers.While the company hasn’t said anything publicly, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (who has an excellent track record with Apple rumors) reports that Apple’s wireless router division has been disbanded. The engineers who were working on products like the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule have been moved to work on other projects over the past year, according to Gurman.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You know the adage about a cup being half full or half empty? Maybe the author had software-defined WANs (SD-WANs) in mind. Their ability to select between internet services is critical to delivering stable, predictable performance. But with multiple providers at each site, carrier management becomes a nightmare for SD-WANs. The answer might be Global Managed Internet Providers, also called Virtual Network Operators (VNOs).Multiple Paths: The key to SD-WAN availability
One of the biggest limitations of any SD-WAN is the dependence on the internet. Over the years, internet performance has improved dramatically. A look at the internet loss metrics from Stanford’s PINGer project show median loss rates across the globe have steadily declined since 1999, improving by 88 percent. Yet for all of its improvement, the internet remains an unmanaged network. Latency and loss rates may outperform private data services on some days, but enterprises look for data services to perform well every day.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The concept of 5G wireless has been around for a long time, but only recently have meaningful moves taken place to bring the new technology to customers.5G stakeholders – which include silicon giants such as Qualcomm and Intel, infrastructure players like Ericsson and Nokia, and, of course the major wireless carriers – have been unsurprisingly bullish on the technology’s rapid advance, announcing numerous breakthroughs and field trials over the past several months. We’ve constructed a timeline of these 5G trials, embedded below, to give you a visual sense of how much action has been taking place.+ MORE: Read our 5G FAQ +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Digital certificates provide the backbone of information security and trust on the Internet. Demand for certificates is exploding as companies use them to secure and build trust in web transactions, email messages, application code, and devices such as those on the Internet of Things. The use case for digital certificates continues to expand as more people and devices become connected.
It’s not unusual for an enterprise organization to have 10,000 or more certificates in use. For example, a company might use certificates to digitally sign and encrypt email messages and attachments. Allowing for one certificate per email account, this can amount to tens of thousands of certificates for this use case alone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.
Digital certificates provide the backbone of information security and trust on the Internet. Demand for certificates is exploding as companies use them to secure and build trust in web transactions, email messages, application code, and devices such as those on the Internet of Things. The use case for digital certificates continues to expand as more people and devices become connected.
It’s not unusual for an enterprise organization to have 10,000 or more certificates in use. For example, a company might use certificates to digitally sign and encrypt email messages and attachments. Allowing for one certificate per email account, this can amount to tens of thousands of certificates for this use case alone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New research paints a somewhat bleak picture of network performance. Outages are frequent. Hours typically pass before an issue is reported and resolved. Protective measures are manual and error prone.The source of the data is a survey of 315 network pros at midsize and large enterprises. The survey was sponsored by Veriflow, a San Jose, Calif.-based startup that aims to minimize the risk of network vulnerabilities and outages. Veriflow’s software is designed to catch network problems before they happen by predicting possible network-wide behavior and continually verifying that a network model adheres to an enterprise’s security and resilience policies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tighter security will soon be mandatory for IoT devices that use the popular Z-Wave wireless protocol.Starting next April, the Z-Wave Alliance will require all products to include its S2 (Security 2) framework before they can be certified as Z-Wave compliant. S2 is designed to prevent hackers from breaking into IoT devices that are on Z-Wave networks.Home IoT has recently proved to be a dangerous vector for internet-based attacks, such as the one that corralled thousands of IP cameras and other devices into the so-called Mirai botnet that disrupted internet service last month.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A U.S. Federal Communications Commission plan to cap, and in some cases cut, prices charged for widely used business data lines is probably dead after Republicans in Congress pressured the agency to drop a scheduled vote.For more than a decade, some U.S. businesses and advocacy groups have been pushing the FCC to regulate prices for middle-mile business broadband connections largely owned by AT&T and Verizon. This so-called duopoly has forced customers to pay billions of dollars in inflated prices, critics say.Supporters of price caps were oh-so-close, with the FCC scheduled to vote on a plan from Chairman Tom Wheeler on Thursday, but the agency abruptly canceled the vote Wednesday afternoon after pressure from congressional Republicans. The proposal remains under consideration by the FCC but appears to be dead, observers said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
That SD-WANs will replace routing was not the most important message from last week’s Gartner webinar with Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Joe Skorupa.No, the biggest message came in some startling statistics. Half the market revenue is held by just two startups, which begs the question: With 30-plus vendors in the SD-WAN space, are you sure the SD-WAN vendor you’re considering has the cash for the long haul?No more routing
Back in September, we wrote about the argument for replacing routing with SD-WANs. It’s a message we've been thinking about for some time, listening to the frustrations of many of our enterprise customers. It’s also a trend that Skorupa's market data supports—and for good reason.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Right now if you buy a WeMo Smart Plug along with an all new Echo Dot, you'll save 27% and get them both for $73 versus buying them separately for $100. Simply plug WeMo into any standard outlet, and control your appliances from anywhere in the world using your smartphone. Program on/off times for your lights, A/C or a fan. Put it in "away mode" while you're on vacation and it will randomly turn on/off throughout the day to mimic someone in the home and confuse would-be intruders. You'll think of a hundred ways to automate with this device. Pair WeMo with an all new Echo Dot and gain the power of voice control over your appliances, not to mention streaming music, weather updates, sports scores -- anything you can think of, just ask and Alexa will help via the Echo Dot. The Dot/Plug bundle will save you 27% when bought together on Amazon right now. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The whole point of a network is just to connect stuff, right? Connect people to people, people to machines, and machines to machines. It’s pipes and plumbing, a necessary part of the business infrastructure and, hopefully, one that costs less and less over time. After all, it’s a cost center not a growth engine. At least, that’s the way it’s treated by most businesses these days.Most, but not all.+ Also on Network World: Accelerating business innovation: Don't let networks get in the way +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here