There's always a reason to celebrate, and Amazon does it with discounts, often times on their own devices. To celebrate Halloween, apparently, Amazon has once again activated a limited time discount on Fire tablet devices. Amazon's devices are packed with features and are suitable low cost alternatives to other high priced devices on the market. If you've been thinking about a tablet for yourself, or for the family, consider these deals:Fire Tablet Halloween Promotion, 10/22 12AM ET to 10/28 11:59PM ET
$20 off Fire Kids Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J90MSDS
$30 off Fire HD 8 Kids Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J94SBEY
$50 off Fire Kids Edition 2-pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073VVC94R
$80 off Fire HD 8 Kids Edition 2-pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072BYGPPZ
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No advance in information technology in the past six decades has offered a greater range of quantifiable benefits than has virtualization. Many IT professionals think of virtualization in terms of virtual machines (VM) and their associated hypervisors and operating-system implementations, but that only skims the surface. An increasingly broad set of virtualization technologies, capabilities, strategies and possibilities are redefining major elements of IT in organizations everywhere.Virtualization definition
Examining the definition of virtualization in a broader context, we define virtualization as the art and science of making the function of an object or resource simulated or emulated in software identical to that of the corresponding physically realized object. In other words, we use an abstraction to make software look and behave like hardware, with corresponding benefits in flexibility, cost, scalability, reliability, and often overall capability and performance, and in a broad range of applications. Virtualization, then, makes “real” that which is not, applying the flexibility and convenience of software-based capabilities and services as a transparent substitute for the same realized in hardware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
How much of an organization’s IT capabilities – including processors, storage and network – can be virtualized and moved into the cloud?The advantages of this almost “everything-as-a-Service” (EaaS) approach are numerous:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
There is enterprise-level software for surveying Wi-Fi networks, but even in large wireless networks, simple freeware tools are handy for a quick peek at the airwaves during design, deployment or troubleshooting.Here is a look at eight free tools – some for Windows and some for Mac OS X – that provide basic details about nearby Wi-Fi signals: SSIDs, signal strength, channels, MAC addresses and security status. Some can even reveal “hidden” or non-broadcasted SSIDs, display the noise levels, or display statistics on successful and failed packets of your wireless connection. One of them includes Wi-Fi password-cracking tools that are useful for educational or penetration testing purposes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Stumbling and surveyingHere are 9 tools that provide important details on known and unknown aspects of your Wi-Fi network. Each of these tools gives you the basic wireless details: SSIDs, signal strength, channels, MAC addresses and security status. Some can even reveal “hidden” or non-broadcasted SSIDs, display the noise levels, or display statistics on successful and failed packets of your wireless connection. Two of the tools include Wi-Fi password cracking tools as well, useful for educational or penetration testing purposes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There should be no question that for most organizations, hybrid clouds are the way of the future. My research shows that over 80 percent of organizations either use or plant to use a hybrid cloud strategy, so it’s coming and coming fast. However, the path to hybrid clouds won’t be the same for all companies. Some will be aggressive and migrate to a cloud-native strategy today. Others will be more conservative and will “lift and shift” a few applications at a time before rewriting them. There’s no right answer when it comes to creating a hybrid cloud world; the key is to get there. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco and Google have teamed up on a hybrid cloud partnership that will allow IT managers and application developers to use Cisco tools to manage their on-premises environments and link it up with Google’s public IaaS cloud.It’s the latest partnership for Google’s cloud since former VMware CEO Diane Greene took over management of the company’s cloud operations. Google has inked similar pacts with VMware and hyperconverged infrastructure vendor Nutanix.For Cisco though, the deal with Google marks an evolution in the company’s cloud strategy, one that has gone through many iterations in recent years.A closer look
Since the dawn of the hyper-scale IaaS public cloud movement, Cisco has pivoted its cloud strategy a handful of times. The company initially made an effort to build an Intercloud, a network of its partner providers running Cisco gear that would be interconnected and allow customers to shift workloads around. In the face of massive growth from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, that strategy went by the wayside.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Understanding user experience is becoming critically important to the success of all companies. I’ve interviewed dozens of business leaders on their digital transformation initiatives, and I can sort them into two larger buckets: increasing workforce productivity and improving customer experience. Those may seem somewhat unrelated, other than they used digital technologies, but there is another point of commonality and it’s that applications play a key role.Also on Network World: 7 must-have network tools
By 2020, customer experience will be the #1 brand differentiator, topping price, product, or any other metric you can think of. While a web or mobile app experience isn’t the only thing that creates a good or bad experience, it’s often the first touch point for customers — and a bad one could drive them away.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The APC Back-UPS BE600M1 provides instant battery power to your critical electronics when the power goes out, keeping you connected and available both personally and professionally. Designed specifically to enhance the features that matter most to you, including more runtime, more battery backup outlets, and a USB port for charging convenience, the BE600M1 is also smaller and lighter than the previous model. APC's BE600M1 offers guaranteed surge and lightning protection for attached devices. When the power goes out, the APC BE600M1 will power critical devices including home networking equipment; allowing you to maintain your internet connection. This allows you to work productively, avoid the loss of valuable data, and safely shut down equipment. It currently averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 4,400 people on Amazon (read reviews), where its list price of $74.99 has been reduced 23% to $57.49.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There's always a reason to celebrate, and Amazon does it with discounts, often times on their own devices. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Kindle, and also Halloween, Amazon has once again activated a limited time discount on their Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet devices. Amazon's devices are packed with features and are suitable low cost alternatives to other high priced devices on the market. If you've been thinking about an e-reader or tablet for yourself, or for the family, consider these deals:Kindle 10th Anniversary Sale, active until 10/25 @ 9PM ET
$30 off Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZV9PXP2
$30 off Paperwhite https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OQVZDJM
$30 off Voyage https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOY8XWQ
$30 off Kindle for Kids Bundle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WWHW5LD
Fire Tablet Halloween Promotion, 10/22 12AM ET to 10/28 11:59PM ETTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Throughput testing has long been regarded as the best way to find great Wi-Fi products, validate WLAN design and troubleshoot user Wi-Fi issues. It's not. Wi-Fi throughput testing generates a single data point under a specific scenario in a highly dynamic environment. That's it. In today's enterprise network environment, we need a lot more than that.+RELATED: What is MU-MIMO and can it boost Wi-Fi capacity?+It’s tempting, for example, to use Wi-Fi throughput tests to evaluate vendor equipment by determining the maximum TCP data rate (or speed) that, say, an access point can achieve with one or more client devices concurrently connected. But these tests don’t really reflect reality because you won’t see how that equipment really measures up until you have the network fully loaded and deployed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
To solidify its position at the center of the industrial internet of things (IIoT), GE Digital is adding features to its Predix platform as a service (PaaS) that will let industrial enterprises run predictive analytics as close as possible to data sources, whether they be pumps, valves, heat exchangers, turbines or even machines on the move.The main idea behind edge computing is to analyze data in near real-time, optimize network traffic and cut costs. At its annual Minds + Machines conference this week in San Francisco, GE Digital, the software arm of industrial conglomerate GE, is offering an array of new applications and features designed to run at the edge network and let companies more efficiently and precisely plan service times and predict equipment failure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a hot technology offering today, as enterprises look for faster, more flexible WAN capabilities. When it comes to new remote locations, SD-WAN is a timely, effective option. But when it comes to existing infrastructure, what are the factors that go into determining whether an SD-WAN replacement makes sense, or when to leave well-enough alone?“Enterprises have been using WANs for decades, primarily to connect their remote offices or branches with their headquarters by leasing secure networking capabilities from telco carriers and running private networks over them,” industry analyst and Intellyx President Jason Bloomberg writes in a Forbes.com article. “The underlying WAN protocols have evolved over the years, and the current one is Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Have you ever wondered how a hacker breaks into a live system? Would you like to keep any potential attacker occupied so you can gather information about him without the use of a production system? Would you like to immediately detect when an attacker attempts to log into your system or retrieve data? One way to see and do those things is to deploy a honeypot. It’s a system on your network that acts as a decoy and lures potential hackers like bears get lured to honey. Honeypots do not contain any live data or information, but they can contain false information. Also, a honeypot should prevent the intruder from accessing protected areas of your network.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fires have laid to waste huge swaths of Northern California. The deadly blazes have burned through more than nearly 400 square miles forcing 100,000 people to evacuate, and destroying over 8,400 structures.How do firefighters respond to such a disaster? Where are they dispatched? When and where are evacuations ordered? How can a fire being propelled by 78mph gusts of wind be contained? How do planes know where and when to deploy fire retardant?Sensors, drones, fire-cams, crowdsourcing and geographical information systems all help minimize damage and deaths.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Two decades ago, the Internet was the shiny new object in the room. The Worldwide Web was just emerging as a new paradigm for communication and commerce, and the world brimmed with possibilities. Today, not only has the Internet fulfilled those nascent dreams, it has become the undisputed foundation of the digital age.But now there’s a new paradigm in town—the Internet of Things (IoT).For years, IoT has been growing up inside factories and oil platforms, in ships, trucks, and trains—quietly changing long-standing industrial processes. It has made its way into virtually every industry—agriculture, aviation, mining, healthcare, energy, transportation, smart cities, and on and on. IoT is no longer just the next phase of the Internet—it’s fundamentally reshaping the Internet as we know it.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A few weeks back I told you how white box vendors, those Chinese-made, unbranded server vendors that compete with HP Enterprise and Dell EMC, were taking a sizable chunk of the business from the brand-name vendors.Well, now HPE has made it official and announced it will no longer try to sell commodity hardware — the cheap, low-end servers used in abundance in public-facing data centers — to tier 1 customers like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. Also on Network World: How HPE plans to spin out its software assets
HPE president Antonio Neri made the announcement at HPE’s analyst day event last week. He added that HPE would continue to sell higher-end servers to those vendors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SD-WAN might have begun as a networking technology, but the SD-WAN’s future lies in security. Integrating branch security features into SD-WAN, allow leaner, simpler remote office deployments. To those ends, security vendors have introduced SD-WAN capabilities — and SD-WAN vendors add security capabilities.1. SD-WAN appliances with basic firewalling
Many SD-WAN vendors deliver basic firewalling capabilities in their SD-WAN appliances. These firewalls are roughly equivalent to the stateful firewalls you might see in a branch office router. Capabilities will include policy-based filtering and blocking applications based on port or IP addresses. Examples include Cisco (Viptela), Silver Peak and Velocloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Earlier this year, Cisco surprised many industry watchers when it forked out a cool $3.7 billion to acquire AppDynamics, which was about 2x the valuation it had going into its IPO. Most people know Cisco as the de facto standard and market leader in networking. AppDynamics lives higher up the stack and provides a view into how applications are performing by collecting data from users, applications, databases and servers.One might surmise that Cisco will use AppDynamics to go after a different buyer, and that assumption is correct. AppDynamics paves the way for Cisco to have a meaningful discussion with lines of business, application developers and company leaders. However, thinking AppDynamics isn’t for Cisco’s current core customers, network engineers, is wrong. AppDynamics can provide an equal amount of value to that audience.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The HD1 In-Ear Wireless headphones from industry veteran Sennheiser combines immaculate sound quality with take-anywhere mobility. Utilizing a sleek ergonomic design and crafted with high-quality materials, this premium headset exudes luxury. Exceptional wireless hi-fi sound is assured thanks to Bluetooth 4.1 with ACC and Qualcomm apt-X technologies. Featuring NFC for simple one touch pairing, an integrated microphone and ten-hour battery life, the HD1 In-Ear Wireless is a perfect companion to mobile devices. The typical list price of the HD1's is discounted 25% for today only, so you can get them for $149.95. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here