Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not promote a product or service and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.What if your network was more than just a collection of hardware and cables strung together over the years to solve specific problems? What if your network was agile enough to empower your business today and offer deep insight into the flow of information throughout your data center? What if this network could adapt to your changing business needs at the drop of a dime and help ensure no opportunity slips through the cracks?Sounds like a dream, but in fact its very much possible today.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco Systems has released software updates for its Nexus 3000 and 3500 switches in order to remove a default administrative account with static credentials that could allow remote attackers to compromise devices.The account is created at installation time by the Cisco NX-OS software that runs on these switches and it cannot be changed or deleted without affecting the system's functionality, Cisco said in an advisory.The company rated the issue as critical because authenticating with this account can provide attackers with access to a bash shell with root privileges, meaning that they can fully control the device.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With data breaches grabbing headlines nearly every week, threat intelligence is shaping up as the next big thing in information security. That, of course, means there’s more hype and confusion to sift through.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Cisco Systems is buying in some chip expertise that could help it in the datacenter.The networking giant's latest acquisition target is Leaba Semiconductor, a fabless semiconductor company based in Israel.The company is "in stealth mode," according to its website, which indicates only that it develops semiconductors to address "significant infrastructure challenges."Cisco had little more to say concerning Leaba's field of work in its blog post about the acquisition by Rob Salvagno, head of its mergers, acquisitions and venture investment team.However, according to information provided by Israel's Ministry of Economy, Leaba specializes in the design of chips for connecting memory, storage and compute in data center environments.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SAN DIEGO – Cisco this week introduced a software-driven architecture designed to extend policy throughout an enterprise wired and wireless network, from branch to edge to core.Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture (DNA) is a blueprint for building an enterprise network with virtualization, automation, analytics, cloud service management and programmability for ease of operation and management. It is delivered through Cisco ONE software licensing on a variety of Cisco platforms, and is anchored by the company’s APIC-Enterprise Module SDN controller, which has been slow to emerge from development and trials.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco’s reseller event, Partner Summit, kicked off this week in San Diego. The event is normally a big one for Cisco as thousands of its resellers gather to be updated on the latest, greatest plans for Cisco. All eyes are on Chuck Robbins as this is the first Partner Summit held under his watch as the company’s CEO. The event kicks off today and has already seen Cisco make a couple of significant announcements in the data center.This morning Cisco announced its intention to acquired Silicon Valley based, CliQr Technologies for $260 million. The 105-person company provides application centric cloud orchestration that enables customers to model, deploy and manage across bare metal, virtual and container environments regardless of whether the infrastructure is on premise or in a private or public cloud. The technology will be used to help Cisco customers move to a seamless hybrid cloud model where the information can be moved between clouds, and resources can be provisioned across clouds. CliQr’s technology is already tightly integrated into a number of Cisco data center products including ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure) and Unified Computing System (UCS). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please Continue reading
In 1897 the great American author, Mark Twain was rumored to have stated, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. In the tech industry, Fibre Channel could make the same statement. It seems that for years, the death of Fibre Channel has been speculated, as Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) or even IP networks would be the death knell for the more traditional storage protocol.However, Fibre Channel is still alive and kicking. It’s certainly not the high growth market it once was but the market has maintained about a $2 billion run rate over the past few years. The big driver for the continued investment has been the rise of flash-based storage. The value proposition of flash is speed so it makes sense to deploy a storage network that is as fast as possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not promote a product or service and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.
The technology industry operates on micro and mega cycles of innovation. Micro cycles happen every hour, day, week and year. Mega cycles are far more rare, occurring every 20 years or so, like the leap from mainframes to client-server computing.
We are now entering the next mega innovation cycle. As with the previous seismic shifts, the benefits will be massive for those who adapt and potentially catastrophic for those who do not. We all know the compute layer is moving to the cloud – we’ve been watching this shift for years. Big Data, mobility, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are well on their way. Security, which seems to grab all the headlines lately, is still clearly a work in progress.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nearly 20 years after its launch, Internet2 is quietly humming along on university campuses across the country, doing its R&D work and connecting researchers who might otherwise not be able to share information so readily.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
To the surprise of perhaps no one, Cisco maintained its dominant leadership share of enterprise and service provider switching and routing in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Synergy Research. Cisco’s share was 56% of both the aggregate $11 billion market in Q4, and the $41 billion market for all of 2015. Synergy Research Group
Its share remained flat from 2014, when the aggregate market was $39.8 billion, Synergy found.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Walk into a security operations center (SOC) and the first impression you get is of an immense war room, with large screens across the entire front wall displaying a world map and endless rows of tabular data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
In a traditional WAN infrastructure, the control plane and data plane are tightly coupled, typically congruent, and cannot be separated due to how they are integrated with each network device. This architecture served the networking needs of enterprises well until now, since most data flows were structured around data centers with centralized exits.
However, the emergence of cloud computing and new dynamic business requirements that involve communicating with multiple partners and suppliers have forced enterprises to embrace new connectivity models. Today, enterprises need secure access to both partners and cloud provider infrastructures. This new model requires a different policy structure that is very difficult to instantiate and maintain within a legacy MPLS WAN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Critical security flaws in routers and cloud computing services offered by Asus put hundreds of thousands of customers at risk, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has charged.Taiwan-based Asus has agreed to settle an FTC complaint that it failed to take reasonable steps to secure the software on its routers, the agency said Tuesday. In addition to well-documented vulnerabilities in the routers, its cloud services led to thousands of customers' storage devices being compromised and exposed their personal information, the agency said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Almost a third (31%) of workplace tech-users said that network outages and poor Internet speeds were the “biggest recurring technology problem” at their company, a new survey has found.Remembering passwords was also a big issue. Close to a quarter (22%) of the respondents thought remembering all of their passwords was the biggest tech difficulty they faced.INSIDER: 5 tricks to improve poor TCP performance
IT service management company Samanage surveyed about 3,000 U.S. adults. Around half of them said they used technology at work. Those respondents were given the study’s questions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Our top 5 quick fire list of real-time deals, found around the web and available for only a few days.Discounted by $1,300 at BestBuy.com: Samsung 65" Class (64.5" Diag.) LED 4K Ultra HD Smart 3D TV.Save $800 at BestBuy on Sony's 65" Class (64.5" Diag.) - LED - 2160p - Smart - 3D - 4K Ultra HD TVTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins gave up a chance to strongly support enterprise mobility partner Apple in its fight with the FBI over iPhone encryption.Asked about the controversy during a press briefing at Mobile World Congress, Robbins said he doesn't think vendors should put back doors in products. But when it comes to personal privacy versus national security, "There needs to be a balance," he said. Ultimately, the two sides will need to compromise, Robbins said.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD Tim Cook refuses order to help unlock terrorist's iPhone 5c +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Intel sparked a wireless revolution over the last decade with its Centrino processor platform, designed to connect laptops over Wi-Fi, and now believes the 5G mobile standard will fuel the next big change in the way a new generation of devices communicate.
The move to 5G networks will provide faster wireless connectivity through a host of technologies and change the way computing devices are built, said Aicha Evans, corporate vice president for Intel's Platform Engineering Group and general manager for the Communication and Devices Group.
Wi-Fi is ubiquitous today, but upcoming changes may involve making cellular connectivity a common feature on laptops. This is why Intel is putting a lot of energy into modem development for laptops and mobile devices. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not advocate a position that is particular to the author’s employer and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.Software Defined Networking (SDN) is one of the hottest trends in security and networking right now. Many enterprises are considering moving to virtualized networks such as VMware NSX as part of an overall shift from relatively inflexible hardware-based architectures to nimbler, faster, more scalable virtualized deployments.But as with any migration project, careful planning and management is required. Here we look at the steps involved in an SDN migration and what you need to consider at each stage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The move to a cloud-based ERP system forced Skullcandy to rethink its global network, which ultimately led to the decision to migrate to an offering from Aryaka. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently discussed the migration with Systems Manager Yohan Beghein.
Skullcandy Systems Manager Yohan Beghein
What WAN problem were you having that encouraged you to go looking for an alternative?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here