VMware is increasing its CPU licensing prices for customers running CPUs with more than 32 physical cores. Effective April 2, if CPUs with more than 32 cores are deployed, then customers need to purchase additional CPU licenses.Such a change doesn't seem surprising. For the longest time, 32-core processors seemed like a pipe dream. Intel was hovering in the range of 20-odd cores, and AMD was a non-player. Then came the AMD Epyc with 32 cores in 2017, followed by Epyc 2 with 64 cores in 2019 .
READ MORE: VMware’s ongoing reinventionTo read this article in full, please click here
AI and behavioral analysis are key to elevating the level of security for devices and back-end systems and are a prerequisite for IoT devices and services. Is your vendor moving in the right direction?
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
“We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
From end points and edge to the core, our world is increasingly connected via the Internet of Things (IoT). Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are enabling new use cases across industries. In this second part of a 2-part series on the Evolving Data Center, Western Digital executives share their AI predictions for 2020, including a unique perspective from its own CIO, who implements cutting-edge innovations daily.Prediction #1: In 2020, we will see a proliferation of customized AI chips hitting the market. As a result, almost every vertical will begin to tap into the power of AI/ML. To read this article in full, please click here
Early SD-WAN products provided enterprises with a way to decommission expensive, inflexible MPLS links, connect branch offices directly to the cloud and optimize WAN traffic. But many of the initial SD-WAN offerings lacked features such as integrated firewalls, application-aware routing, and advanced data analytics.Over time, SD-WAN vendors have beefed up their products to encompass a robust set of additional features. However, many enterprises are not taking advantage of the full capabilities of the latest SD-WAN products and managed service options.
READ MORE: 5 reasons to choose a managed SD-WAN and 5 reasons to think twiceTo read this article in full, please click here
Merger and acquisition activity surrounding data-center facilities is starting to resemble the Oklahoma Land Rush, and private-equity firms are taking most of the action.New research from Synergy Research Group saw more than 100 deals in 2019, a 50% growth over 2018, and private-equity companies accounted for 80% of them.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
M&A activity broke the 100 transaction mark for the first time in 2019, and that comes despite a 45% decline in public company activity, such as the massive Digital Reality Trust purchase of Interxion. At the same time, the size of the deals dropped in 2019, with fewer worth $1 billion or more vs. 2018, and the average deal value fell 24% vs. 2018.To read this article in full, please click here
If anyone was still wondering how serious IBM is about being a major cloud player that question was resoundly answered this week when its current cloud and cognitive-software leader Arvind Krishna and Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst to be CEO and president, respectively, to replace long-time CEO Virginia Rometty.Krishna, 57, was a principal architect of IBM’s $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat last year and is currently IBM’s senior vice president of Cloud and Cognitive Software, which has become the company’s palpable future. [Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
The Red Hat acquisition not only made Big Blue a bigger open-source and enterprise-software player, but mostly it got IBM into the lucrative hybrid-cloud business, targeting huge cloud competitor Google, Amazon and Microsoft among others. Gartner says that market will be worth $240 billion by next year.To read this article in full, please click here
IDC analyst and networking expert Brandon Butler joins Computerworld Executive Editor Ken Mingis and IDG Video Content Producer Juliet Beauchamp to discuss networking trends.They hit upof Wi-Fi versus 5G and how artificial intelligence and machine learning can simplify network management. They also discuss how enterprises are beginning to deploy more advanced networks to enable newer tech innovations like IoT and successfully analyze huge amounts of data.Watch here:
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Biologically created computing devices could one day be as commonplace as today’s microprocessors and microchips, some scientists believe. Consider DNA, the carrier of genetic information and the principal component of chromosomes; it's showing promise as a data storage medium.A recent study (PDF) suggests taking matters further and using microbes to network and communicate at nanoscale. The potential is highly attractive for the Internet of Things (IoT), where concealability and unobtrusiveness may be needed for the technology to become completely ubiquitous.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco says it will offer a Kubernetes-based “container-as-a-service” for its HyperFlex hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) environment.The turnkey system, called HyperFlex Application Platform (HXAP), is Kubernetes at its core and includes all manner of integrated tools such as container networking, storage, a load balancer and more to let customers install, manage, and maintain a complete platform for cloud-native application development, Cisco stated.See predictions about what's big in IT tech for the coming year.
HyperFlex is Cisco’s HCI that offers computing, networking and storage resources in a single system.To read this article in full, please click here
Intel has denied reports that its Xeon supply chain is suffering the same constraints as its PC desktop/laptop business. CEO Bob Swan said during the company's recent earnings call that its inventory was depleted but customers are getting orders.The issue blew up last week when HPE – one of Intel's largest server OEM partners – reportedly told UK-based publication The Register that there were supply constraints with Cascade Lake processors, the most recent generation of Xeon Scalable processors, and urged HPE customers "to consider alternative processors." HPE did not clarify if it meant Xeon processors other than Cascade Lake or AMD Epyc processors.To read this article in full, please click here
There’s no question that we will continue to experience massive data growth in 2020. The question for data center architects is how to manage this unprecedented influx of data and future-proof enterprise infrastructures for the next decade’s Zettabyte Age. From emerging architectures to adoption of composable disaggregated storage to greater TCO value, Western Digital executives weigh in on top data center trends for 2020 in this first of a 2-part series.To read this article in full, please click here
Digital Innovation at the Branch Requires SD-WAN
Most organizations with multiple locations are in the process of implementing a distributed networking strategy that ensure that all branch offices and users are able to take advantage of ongoing digital innovation efforts. For true cross-organizational collaboration, productivity enhancement, and improved user experience, every user needs access to essential business applications. To achieve this, they need highly flexible and scalable access to cloud-based applications and resources, direct access to the internet, and on-demand connections to other users and devices.That’s simply not possible with traditional hub-and-spoke branch networking models built around WAN routers and a fixed MPLS connection. Business applications, especially those that deliver rich media or enable highly flexible collaboration between users and locations – such as unified communications, Office 365, and similar tools – require massive amounts of bandwidth. And in a traditional model, all of that traffic needs to be backhauled through the core network. Multiply that by scores of remote workers located in dozens of remote offices and you can quickly overwhelm internal servers, compute resources, and even security and inspection tools.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco has taken the wraps off of new tools it says will boost on-premises or cloud application performance by helping IT and devops work together to automate and more quickly resolve software problems.The new tools include a package from Cisco AppDynamics that lets customers track the key components users interact with as they use enterprise applications. Cisco paid $3.7 billion for AppDynamics three years ago for its application-performance monitoring and problem-resolution automation technology. The idea was to develop products and applications that would give customers better end-to-end visibility of the IT infrastructure, including cloud, devices, security, network, compute and applications.To read this article in full, please click here
Currently, we have over 26-billion IoT devices running in our workplaces, offices and homes. If you're looking for an IoT security scorecard, it looks something like this:
Security Threats: 26,000,000,000, IoT Secure Devices: 0.
Hybrid cloud environments can deliver an array of benefits, but in many enterprises, they're becoming increasingly complex and difficult to manage. To cope, adopters typically turn to some type of management software. What soon becomes apparent, however, is that hybrid cloud management tools can be as complex and confounding as the environments they're designed to support.A hybrid cloud typically includes a mix of computing, storage and other services. The environment is formed by a combination of on-premises infrastructure resources, private cloud services, and one or more public cloud offerings, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, as well as orchestration among the various platforms.To read this article in full, please click here
A Congressional committee is weighing in on a spat between the FCC and parts of the automotive industry over a plan to appropriate a piece of wireless spectrum set aside for connected-cars and instead designate it for Wi-Fi.The dispute centers on Dedicated Short Range Communications or DSRC, a point-to-point communication standard designated to let vehicles close to each other on roadways share information to improve safety. The go-to example is using it to warn a driver near-instantly if the car ahead suddenly slams on its brakes.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
DSR and its 75MHz of spectrum in the 5.9GHz band has been a relatively obscure technology until late last year when the FCC started considering that 45MHz of that spectrum should be made available for unlicensed wireless use such as Wi-FiTo read this article in full, please click here
Cisco and IBM have rolled out a pair of managed private-cloud services aimed at customers looking for the utility of a public cloud delivered on premises. Cisco and IBM Services have partnered to offer a Managed Private Cloud-as-a-service powered by Cisco's Unified Computing System and available in two varieties, one for VMware and one for RedHat OpenShift environments. Cisco’s UCS combines x86 servers with networking and storage access into a single packaged system.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.]
IBM installs and manages the compute environment and delivers tools for support and enhancement requests. In addition, the offering places a high priority on security, proactive monitoring, and reporting. Cisco’s cloud-based Intersight system helps to manage the environment, according to a blog post about the services from Keith Dyer, a vice president in the Global Partner Organization at Cisco.To read this article in full, please click here
With new technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence (AI) emerging all around us, enterprise digitalization is inevitable. But however much enterprises want to transform, there is a significant cost in terms of time and technological manpower to ensure the system runs smoothly. In particular, enterprises are often faced with a variety of human factors that can hamper digitalization projects, including organizational resistance to change, lack of a clear vision, and inability to gather and leverage customer data, to name just a few.On the technical front, the challenge is in finding the right products and services to overcome the inflexibility of technology stack and development processes. Therefore, picking the most suitable and flexible solutions to meet the transformation challenges is usually the key to success. The right solution not only streamlines deployment but also makes it easier for people who are involved in the exercise – the easier the jobs, the less reluctant the organization towards the changes.To read this article in full, please click here
Setting up an account on a Linux system that allows you to log in or run commands remotely without a password isn’t all that hard, but there are some tedious details that you need to get right if you want it to work. In this post, we’re going to run through the process and then show a script that can help manage the details.Once set up, passwordless access is especially useful if you want to run ssh commands within a script, especially one that you might want to schedule to run automatically.It’s important to note that you do not have to be using the same user account on both systems. In fact, you can use your public key for a number of accounts on a system or for different accounts on multiple systems.To read this article in full, please click here