Aryaka Networks is looking to target more enterprises with a new managed secure access service edge (SASE) offering and an improved, lower cost SD-WAN offerings.Aryaka is known for offering WAN and SD-WAN services over its global Layer 2 network with more than 40 points . The new services spring from that backbone to provide additional, flexible WAN services. SD-WAN buyers guide: Key questions to ask vendors
The first is based on a new iteration of Aryaka’s L2 core—the L3—which is optimized for cost and non-mission critical applications or sites that don’t require top-shelf performance. The L2 core is optimized for performance-sensitive applications.To read this article in full, please click here
The impact of COVID on the workforce is making the IT world more challenging for infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders, but it's also a chance for those leaders to drive some serious business changes and increase resiliency, according to analysts presenting at this week’s virtual Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference.“I&O leaders need to drive change, not simply absorb it,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner, to the virtual audience. I&O leaders are expected to deliver more adaptable and resilient service from anywhere — and for an increasingly distributed workforce, Hewitt said.To read this article in full, please click here
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a cloud-based service that combined networking and security so that users located anywhere could safely and efficiently access applications and data located anywhere? That’s the aim of SASE (rhymes with gassy). SASE isn’t a single product, but rather it’s an approach, a platform, a collection of capabilities, an aspiration.Gartner coined the term Secure Access Service Edge in a 2019 research report, and the name stuck. Vendors have been doing backflips trying to cobble together complete SASE offerings, which would include at a minimum software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), secure Web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) and zero trust network access (ZTNA).To read this article in full, please click here
AWS is offering a variety of new connectivity options for enterprise customers to access distributed cloud resources.The new options – unveiled at the company’s re:Invent conference—are designed to give businesses new network options and build more secure access to on-premises and other cloud applications.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
A new network offering called AWS Cloud WAN is a managed service that promises to make it easier to build, manage, and monitor global traffic across a wide area network that spans multiple locations and networks—eliminating the need to configure and manage the different networks individually using different technologies.To read this article in full, please click here
Wireless WAN has begun to rise in availability and utility, and to improve in affordability. It brings wide-area connectivity to just about any physical space and can hit speeds far in excess of older single or multiple T1 links and DSL.It has its challenges to be sure, and the biggest ones are centered on the business model. It is hard to get a WWAN connection priced the same way a wired connection is: paying for a given speed, with no arbitrary limit on how many bits can be transferred in a billing period.SD-WAN buyers guide: Key questions to ask vendors
So IT teams using WWAN are typically faced with two unpleasant options: a) either pay a flat rate but, when a threshold number of bytes is hit, face a sharp decrease in speed; or b) pay a per-gigabyte overage fee for usage past the threshold. Sometimes carriers want to push both options—decreased speed and pay-by-the-drink overage costs.To read this article in full, please click here
Wi-Fi 6 is the most sought-after wireless LAN technology by enterprises, but the global chip shortage is preventing it from getting into the hands of IT pros as quickly as desired, according to the Dell’Oro Group.The usual amount of lead time required for a purchase of new Wi-Fi equipment is two to four weeks, according to the report’s author, Tam Dell’Oro, the CEO and founder of the group. “Now, we’re looking at between three and six months,” she said.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
The worldwide dearth of silicon is to blame. According to Dell’Oro, the biggest enterprise Wi-Fi vendors were the first to feel the pinc eharlier this year. Cisco, Extreme, and HPE/Aruba reported in their second-quarter results that the shortage was affecting supply, and many more US and European sellers reported similar problems in the third quarter.To read this article in full, please click here
Amazon Web Services has launched new support for IPv6-only subnets that can meet the needs of workloads that require more IP addresses than IPv4 can readily provide.The service is available through Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and suitable for workloads such as serverless and container applications, according to a blog by Rohit Aswani, a senior specialist solutions architect and Aditya Santhanam, a senior product manager, both with AWS. “Workloads that are constrained by the limited size of the IPv4 address space can now migrate to an IPv6-only environment on AWS to scale up,” they wrote.To read this article in full, please click here
Enterprise infrastructure that supports data center, cloud and edge networks could someday be dominated by one of its tiniest components--the smartNIC or data processing unit (DPU).Use of smartNICs in the enterprise is still evolvinging, but the idea behind them--offloading server CPU duties onto a separate device to free up server cycles--is not new. Specialized hardware accelerators such as graphics processing units (GPU), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and focused NICs have offloaded CPU workloads in telco, financial, and scientific application processing. NaaS is the future but it's got challenges
Looking ahead, users and vendors see a way to reduce enterprise costs, improve performance and increase security with smartNICs.To read this article in full, please click here
Wi-Fi 6 has some impressive improvements over its predecessor Wi-Fi 5 including lower latency, faster speeds, higher throughput, and increased range that can make it a better fit to serve both dense clusters of clients and clients running high-bandwidth applications.As Wi-Fi in general replaces wired networks in some enterprises and with the increased use of tablets, laptops, and mobile phones within enterprises, wireless-network responsiveness and versatility are becoming more desirable. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 ax) can help. It can also improve the efficiency of IoT Wi-Fi networks by letting sensors lie idle more of the time so their batteries last longer.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert is Cisco’s most prestigious and most difficult certification to achieve, typically requiring years of industry experience and a deep understanding of networking technologies. The lab portion of the exam alone is eight hours long and costs $1,600, and candidates typically spend much more than that on preparatory courses. But professionals with the expert-level CCIE networking certification are in demand, and the value is reflected in significantly higher salaries. "It is a preeminent certification in the industry," says Nick Marentic, senior manager for IT infrastructure and security at cybersecurity training firm Cybrary. "It requires years in the industry to understand the concepts contained."To read this article in full, please click here
The Linux script command has been around for ages and provides a simple but useful service. It lets you record command line activity – both input and output. This can be very helpful in troubleshooting problems or verifying what was done later by reviewing the commands that were run along with their output.Even if you've used the script command time to time, it offers more options than many of us realize. In this post, we will look at the simplest use of script and some of the options that can make it even more useful.The easiest way to use the script command is simply to type "script" in the terminal window and press ^d when you want to stop the recording. The output, by default, will be saved in a file called "typescript". You will see the file name that is used in the first line of output.To read this article in full, please click here
Researchers at Singapore University of Technology and Design has released a proof-of-concept exploit for a family of vulnerabilities it has dubbed BrakTooth, which affects the software development kit used to program Bluetooth chipsets using the ESP32 standard.BrakTooth affects the Bluetooth Classic protocol, which is widely used in laptops, smartphones and audio devices. The team says 16 flaws make up BrakTooth, the effects of which, if exploited, range in severity from crashing affected systems to remote code execution.The most serious flaw, dubbed V1 by the team, targets the ESP32 SoCs used in industrial automation, smart home, and fitness applications, among others. Certain models of MacBooks and iPhones are known to be affected. Because the ESP32 BT Library does not correctly run an out-of-bounds check on certain types of inputs, a malicious request to the system can allow an attacker to inject code onto a vulnerable system and potentially take control.To read this article in full, please click here
The author of a new report from Forrester Research says that the simultaneous growth of IoT and edge computing usage are interlinked, and that future growth in both areas will be fueled heavily by federal regulations to reduce emissions.“We cannot disassociate the advancements in IoT without talking about the effect on edge,” he said. “They’re not distinct from each other..and the effect they have on use cases is combined.”[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
The demand for “sustainability-related service,” will place IoT and edge front and center, according to Forrester’s “Predictions 2022: Edge, IoT, And Networking” report. Environmental use cases like monitoring CO2 levels, pollution, and air quality will all be increasingly sought-after, as will IoT systems that allow businesses to manage their resources (think water and power usage) more efficiently.To read this article in full, please click here
IBM spin-off Kyndryl has made the first of what likely will be many strategic cloud partnerships with a pact with business software giant Microsoft.Under the agreement the companies will develop new products built on Microsoft Cloud and aimed at facilitating digital transformation, Kyndryl stated. Microsoft has also become Kyndryl’s only Premier Global Alliance Partner.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
Microsoft will sell products developed by the two companies through its global enterprise sales force and will develop a Microsoft Cloud training ground for employees called Kyndryl University for Microsof. The companies said they will focus on data modernization and governance, AI-driven innovations for industries, cyber security and resiliency, and transformation of mission critical workloads to the cloud. Kyndryl will lead with advisory, implementation, and managed services for hybrid environments, Kyndryl stated. To read this article in full, please click here
Red Hat has rolled out version 8.5 of its main-line branch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which upgrades its support for containerization, predictive analytics, and multicloud.Red Hat Insight, the company’s predictive-analytics service—available through most RHEL subscriptions—now has more robust abilities in the areas of vulnerability identification, compliance, and remediation, the company said.Containerization is upgraded with RHEL 8.5 to make containerized applications easier to deploy and manage, according to Red Hat. The company introduced the ability to create containerized images faster through rootless use of the OverlayFS filesystem. OverlayFS is “union file system,” which allows users to overlay one file system over another, enabling multiple users or applications to access it at the same time.To read this article in full, please click here
A demonstration earlier this year at Stanford School of Engineering proved that a small fleet of computer-controlled drones can maintain their flight integrity in the face of continual cyberattacks on the 5G network used to manage the devices through the deployment of software-defined networking (SDN).For enterprise IT pros charged with securing devices wirelessly across a 5G network, the drone test results are promising evidence that SDN can help networks under cyberattack to recover almost instantaneously.To read this article in full, please click here
The chpasswd command allows admins to change account passwords by piping username and password combinations to it.This can be done one-account-at-a-time or by putting all of the accounts to be modified in a file and piping the file to the command.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
How to use chpasswd
Using the chpasswd command requires root privilege. You can switch to the root account and run a command like this:# echo nemo:imafish | chpasswd
Better yet, you can use sudo with a command like this:To read this article in full, please click here
A startup called Rockport Networks has exited stealth mode with an intriguing product: a switchless network. It claims the Rockport Switchless Network product can move data faster and with better latency than switched networks.In a Rockport Switchless Network, switching functionality has been reassigned to intelligent endpoint network cards where these devices (nodes) become the network. Each device has an FPGA and can connect up to 24 endpoints to a dedicated 1U SHFL (pronounced “shuffle”) optical device using passive cabling.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
SHFLs need no power or cooling and can be linked together to scale out the network. Ethernet and InfiniBand traffic can be carried over the Rockport network. The network cards are standard, low-profile half height, half length (HHHL) PCIe cards.To read this article in full, please click here
In our modern world, “metaverse” is the term applied to an artificial reality, a virtual world inhabited by avatars that represent real people and perhaps other AI virtual beings, too.What makes the concept relevant to enterprises are the Facebook decision to embrace metaverse as the future, the fact that others like Microsoft are following along, and the promise that it could redefine meetings, sales calls, support, and even work overall. Network planners would then have to consider its impact on traffic and connectivity.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
One big get-it-approved problem with the metaverse for enterprise is likely to be security. Facebook has had a lot of recent bad press for favoring profit over the welfare of its users, and that sort of thing sets compliance officers a-tingle, so self-hosting might be a solution. Executing that is partly a software issue and partly a network issue.The former, we can assume, would be handled by open-source development arising out of the interest Facebook has created. The latter isn’t as easy to dismiss.To read this article in full, please click here
Graphcore, the British semiconductor company that develops accelerators for AI and machine learning, has greatly increased the performance of its massively parallel Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) servers.Graphcore sells its AI-oriented chips in rack-mounted designs called IPU-PODs. Up until now, the maximum per cabinet has been 64 units (in the IPU-POD64). The newest racks are twice and four times as large: the IPU-POD128 and IPU-POD256.
Read more: 10 of the world's fastest supercomputersTo read this article in full, please click here