High flying ideas Drone-related projects by enterprise IT and networking vendors are all over the map, which isn’t surprising since unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are so useful for flying from here to there. Here’s a whirlwind tour of commercial drone-related projects discussed publicly by familiar enterprise IT and networking vendors.RELATED: Commercial drones gaining altitude with enterprise IT vendorsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco’s Biren Gandhi hasn’t played around with drones as much as he’d like to, but it looks as though he’s going to have lots of chances to do so given the company’s growing interest in these high-flying Internet of Things devices.
Cisco increasingly has made its presence felt within the commercial drone/unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)/unmanned aircraft system (UAS) community, with Gandhi and others speaking at and attending industry conferences such as InterDrone (see video below) and NASA events. The company is also working with startups, carriers and others making up the burgeoning commercial drone ecosystem, and of course has been pushing hard into the broader Internet of Everything, such as through its $1.4B purchase of Jasper Technologies. Gandhi, a distinguished engineer & strategist within Cisco’s Corporate Strategic Innovation Group who early in his career worked as an R&D engineer at the Indian Space Research Organization, has also blogged about Cisco’s beliefs about drones over the past year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Here are the latest numbers on commercial drones, including FAA Section 333 exemptions and venture funding. Thanks to CB Insights for its data.
MORE: Coolest drone projects from big enterprise IT players | Commercial drones gaining altitude with enterprise IT vendors | Meet Cisco's go-to guy on commercial dronesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft dove deeper into Internet of Things technology on Tuesday with the acquisition of Solair, an Italian company that operates a cloud-based IoT platform. According to a Microsoft blog post, Solair's technology will be used to upgrade the company's Azure IoT Suite, a collection of cloud services meant to help companies use the Internet of Things. Microsoft and Solair didn't disclose the financial terms of their deal. Solair's technology, which already uses Microsoft's Azure cloud services, offers IoT services focused on a variety of markets, including home automation, smart metering, remote maintenance and inventory management. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.
In 2015 there were 781 publicized cyber security breaches which resulted in more than 169 million personal records being exposed – a number that’s steadily on the rise year over year. And with notable names like BlueCross, Harvard and Target being tossed into the mix, it’s obvious that no company is safe. Yet, only 38% of organizations across the globe can confidently say they are prepared to handle a sophisticated cyber-attack.
The numbers don’t lie. Cyber criminals are becoming savvier and their attacks are increasing faster than companies can keep up. Furthermore, it’s becoming increasingly evident that traditional methods, like anti-malware software, are no longer sufficient to keep sensitive data safe. To address this glaring need, many forward-thinking IT executives are fortifying their cyber security strategy using automation as a tool for greater defense.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
India reportedly has rejected Apple’s plan to sell refurbished iPhones in the country, a blow to the company’s hopes for growth there.The government turned down Apple’s application to import and sell the older, refreshed phones, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed official. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Apple looked to refurbished handsets as a way to attract more buyers in India. An earlier application was rejected last year by India’s Ministry of Environment.The company’s phone sales growth has been slowing in China, so it has been looking to India as its next big growth market. Apple had only three percent market share in India in the fourth quarter of last year, according to IDC. Samsung was the biggest phone seller, with 27 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Identity theft is a raging problem but at least some scammers are getting their comeuppance.The Department of Justice today touted that one scammer got four years in prison for his part in a $4.4 million fraudulent federal income tax return scheme that, according to court documents involved the filing of at least 12,000 fraudulent federal income tax returns that sought refunds of at least $42 million from the U.S. Treasury. +More on Network World: IRS: Top 10 2015 identity theft busts+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Without a complete and thorough risk assessment including all its component parts (discussed herein), you might as well open all your data assets to unbridled exfiltration via Port 80 without any security checks at all. In the end, attackers and criminal digital profiteers will get what they came for in either case.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
A new South Dakota law may end up determining whether most U.S. residents are required to pay sales taxes on their Internet purchases.The South Dakota law, passed by the Legislature there in March, requires many out-of-state online and catalog retailers to collect the state's sales tax from customers. The law is shaping up to be a legal test case challenging a 25-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits states from levying sales taxes on remote purchases.+ PAST STORY: US residents oppose Internet sales tax +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When evaluating hyperconverged infrastructure products, IT Central Station users most often examine their price, simplicity and ease of manageability, compared to more traditional storage systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
You've doubtless heard about the Panama Papers, a leak of 2.6TB of documents from the one of the world's largest offshore law firms, Mossack Fonseca. The dump of over 11 million files containing detailed financial information on 214,000 companies illustrates how offshore tax havens are exploited.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Averaging 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 480 people (read reviews), this LG Nexus 5X unlocked, multi-mode phone will work on all US carriers including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, as well as MVNO's (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) and most international carriers. It features Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a fingerprint sensor, new USB Type-C charger, and a powerful camera. Under its 5.2-inch display is a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor for world-class speed at an affordable price, which right now gets just a bit more affordable. With a list price of $429.99, you can save $80 now and buy it on Amazon for $349.99.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Best-paying companies in techImage by ThinkstockThe modern business world runs on technology, which means companies need people to manage it. Getting a job in STEM is a great way to not only ensure job security, but also earn a six figure salary. Glassdoor -- a website that offers reviews, salaries and benefits information provided by employees on companies from all industries -- collects salary data on the biggest tech companies in the U.S. to determine the 10 highest paying tech companies. Using their self-reported data, Glassdoor calculated the average total compensation and median base salary for companies across every industry. These are the top 10 technology companies that report the highest average salaries. Juniper NetworksImage by ThinkstockTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In a tight talent market, succession planning should be a core part of any business's workforce management and development plan. Building a pipeline of talent ready to take on progressively greater responsibility and leadership in an organization is key to driving success, especially in the constantly evolving IT market.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
For years, most large outsourcing contracts have included standard provisions for annual pricing adjustments based on consumer price indices and other economic indicators. These cost of living adjustments are intended to normalize services fees with economic conditions over the life of long-term deals. The impact on pricing can be significant—in the millions of dollars for a large deal. A $50 million annual services contract with a 2.75 percent cost of living adjustment could mean a $1.375 million increase in annual fees. In theory, cost of living adjustments help service providers reduce attrition by ensuring that employee salaries keep up with market trends. Staff retention benefits providers and allows clients to avoid the disruption of employee turnover.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Windows 10 is on pace to power 20% of all Windows desktop systems by the end of June, or around the time Microsoft issues its next major upgrade, according to data published this week.Data from U.S.-based analytics vendor Net Applications pegged Windows 10's user share -- a proxy for the percentage of personal computers worldwide that ran the OS -- at 15.3% in April, a 1.2-percentage point increase from the month prior. Net Applications tallied unique visitors to clients' websites to come up with its measurements.The new operating system's growth last month was smaller than in January and March of this year, but larger than February's.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It's no secret that quantum computers could render many of today's encryption methods useless, and now the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology wants the public to help it head off that threat.The federal agency recently published a report focusing on cryptography in a quantum world that outlines a long-term approach for avoiding the problem before it happens."There has been a lot of research into quantum computers in recent years, and everyone from major computer companies to the government want their cryptographic algorithms to be what we call 'quantum resistant,'" said NIST mathematician Dustin Moody. "So if and when someone does build a large-scale quantum computer, we want to have algorithms in place that it can't crack."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Monday is still the busiest day of the week for DDoS attacks, with Thursday replacing Tuesday as the second most-active day.According to Kaspersky Lab’s DDoS intelligence report covering the first quarter of 2016, 74 countries were targeted by DDoS attacks, with China, South Korea and the the United States as the top three most-targeted countries. There was slight drop in the percentage of attacks targeting resources in the U.S.SYN, TCP and HTTP were the top three most-popular DDoS attack methods in Q1.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Terrorists are developing and distributing encryption tools that protect privacy of their communications, as well as other homegrown apps that include a news-feed compiler and DDoS attack software, according to a Trend Micro report.The tools have been made to give less tech-savvy members of terror groups the ability to use known technologies without having to trust or invest in commercial products that can perform the same functions, the report says.Some of the tools are still being updated, indicating an active development community among the terrorists.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
ExtraHop is a vendor that offers real-time stream analytics for data in motion. That's a fancy-schmancy way of saying ExtraHop analyzes communication across the network to give visibility into application performance, availability and security. ExtraHop is an agent-less, appliance-based offering that promises cross-tier visibility.Given this message of visibility across geographically distributed operations, and across multiple infrastructure providers, it is perhaps unsurprising to see ExtraHop today announce the availability of extended public cloud monitoring functionality to now include Microsoft Azure (alongside the existing Amazon Web Services). On top of the Azure extension, ExtraHop is extending its offering to support branch offices to benefit geographically dispersed organizations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here