The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with coining the adage “change is the only constant in life” – a saying that certainly applies to enterprises in 2019. With change as a given, it’s crucial for businesses to be agile and flexible in order to keep up.Employing software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) technology is one way to promote business agility. SD-WANs abstract the network control layer from the underlying forwarding plane and physical transport. Users can employ most any wide-area network service – leased lines, MPLS, broadband wireless, Internet – and still apply policy-based control and other SD-WAN features.To read this article in full, please click here
The internet of things (IoT) has been top of mind for network and security professionals for the better part of the past five years. This has been particularly true for the area of industrial IoT (IIoT). Connected industrial devices are nothing new, but most IT people aren’t familiar with them because they have been managed by operational technology (OT) teams. More and more, though, business leaders want to bring OT and IT together to drive better insights from the combined data set.While there are many advantages to merging IT and OT and having IIoT fall under IT ownership, it has a profound impact on the cybersecurity team because it introduces several new security threats. Each connected endpoint, if breached, creates a backdoor into the other systems.To read this article in full, please click here
AMD's $5.4 billion purchase of ATI Technologies in 2006 seemed like an odd match. Not only were the companies in separate markets, but they were on separate coasts, with ATI in the Toronto, Canada, region and AMD in Sunnyvale, California.They made it work, and arguably it saved AMD from extinction because it was the graphics business that kept the company afloat while the Athlon/Opteron business was going nowhere. There were many quarters where graphics brought in more revenue than CPUs and likely saved the company from bankruptcy.But those days are over, and AMD is once again a highly competitive CPU company, and quarterly sales are getting very close to the $2 billion mark. While the CPU business is on fire, the GPU business continues to do well.To read this article in full, please click here
If you’ve ever wished that you could line up multiple terminal windows and organize them in a single window frame, we may have some good news for you. The Linux Terminator can do this for you. No problemo!Splitting windows
Terminator will initially open like a terminal window with a single window. Once you mouse click within that window, however, it will bring up an options menu that gives you the flexibility to make changes. You can choose “split horizontally” or “split vertically” to split the window you are currently position in into two smaller windows. In fact, with these menu choices, complete with tiny illustrations of the resultant split (resembling = and ||), you can split windows repeatedly if you like. Of course, if you split the overall window into more than six or nine sections, you might just find that they're too small to be used effectively.To read this article in full, please click here
When working in shell sessions on Linux, it is sometimes necessary to investigate the settings for that particular environment, and the env command can help with that.In this 2-minute Linux Tip by Network World's "Unix As A Second Language" blogger Sandra Henry-Stocker, learn how to use the env command to provide information about the shell environment and running commands in the altered environment.
To read this article in full, please click here
Tests by the evaluation and testing site ServeTheHome found a server with two AMD Epyc processors can outperform a four-socket Intel system that costs considerably more.If you don’t read ServeTheHome, you should. It’s cut from the same cloth as Tom’s Hardware Guide and AnandTech but with a focus on server hardware, mostly the low end but they throw in some enterprise stuff, as well.ServeTheHome ran tests comparing the AMD Epyc 7742, which has 64 cores and 128 threads, and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8180M with its 28 cores and 56 threads. The dollars, though, show a real difference. Each Epyc 7742 costs $6,950, while each Xeon Platinum 8180M goes for $13,011. So, two Epyc 7742 processors cost you $13,900, and four Xeon Platinum 8180M processors cost $52,044, four times as much as the AMD chips.To read this article in full, please click here
A security group discovered a vulnerability in three models of Supermicro motherboards that could allow an attacker to remotely commandeer the server. Fortunately, a fix is already available.Eclypsium, which specializes in firmware security, announced in its blog that it had found a set of flaws in the baseboard management controller (BMC) for three different models of Supermicro server boards: the X9, X10, and X11.[ Also see: What to consider when deploying a next-generation firewall | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ]
BMCs are designed to permit administrators remote access to the computer so they can do maintenance and other updates, such as firmware and operating system patches. It’s meant to be a secure port into the computer while at the same time walled off from the rest of the server.To read this article in full, please click here
Late last year I moderated a MicroScope roundtable in the UK on the challenges and opportunities of SD-WAN. The representatives included 12 leading SD-WAN vendors, including Michael O’Brien, vice president of worldwide channel sales for Silver Peak. I started off the discussion by introducing a data point from a TechTarget survey (TechTarget owns MicroScope) that only 26 percent of companies surveyed had an SD-WAN deployment underway. This spans any stage of the deployment cycle, including testing. Given the hype around SD-WAN and how many conversations I have with IT leaders about it, this number seemed low to me, so I wanted to get a better feel for what the leading vendors thought about it. To read this article in full, please click here
Predicting the future is getting easier. While it's still not possible to accurately forecast tomorrow's winning lottery number, the ability to anticipate various types of damaging network issues — and nip them in the bud — is now available to any network manager.Predictive analytic tools draw their power from a variety of different technologies and methodologies, including big data, data mining and statistical modeling. A predictive analytics tool can be trained, for instance, to use pattern recognition — the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data — to identify issues before they become significant problems or result in partial or total network failures.To read this article in full, please click here
HP Enterprise (HPE) has been aggressively promoting its GreenLake IT consumption model since it was introduced last year. GreenLake is a pay-per-use consumption model where the customer does not take ownership of the hardware but merely leases it and pays only for their use, which is metered.Consumption models have become popular among OEMs looking to keep customers that are anxious to get out of owning expensive assets, such as servers. Dell EMC has its own program called Flex on Demand, and Lenovo has ThinkAgile CP.To read this article in full, please click here
Success for an NFL franchise involves the cultivation of a variety of core competencies both on and off the field. Recently I had the opportunity to spend time with the Seattle Seahawks organization and I was surprised by the extent to which the team utilizes data and digital tools to drive continuous improvements within their core competencies.But then why should I be surprised? Let’s face it, today, every business is a technology business. The Seahawks are no different. They are, like many other companies, investing in digital technologies to improve the product on the field and the fan experience in the stands.Data literacy is a core competency the Seahawks have added to their business. I won’t give away any trade secrets, but let’s take a high-level look at three ways this core competency creates competitive advantage.To read this article in full, please click here
The Linux touch command allows users to create an empty file or update a file’s data and time settings.You might want to do this if you need to be sure that a file exists before a script or process begins. The command can also be used to set the date and time to match those of another file.Watch this Two-minute Linux Tip video by Sandra Henry-Stocker to learn more.
To read this article in full, please click here
SAN FRANCISCO – VMware teamed with Dell/EMC this week to deliver an SD-WAN service that promises to greatly simplify setting up and supporting wide-area-network connectivity.The Dell EMC SD-WAN Solution is a package of VMware software with Dell hardware and software that will be managed by Dell and sold as a package by both companies and their partners.The package, introduced at the VMworld event here, includes VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud software available as a subscription coupled with appliances available in multiple configurations capable of handling 10Mbps to 10Gbps of traffic, depending on customer need, said Sanjay Uppal, vice president and general manager of VMware’s VeloCloud Business Unit.To read this article in full, please click here
IDG is conducting its annual Customer Engagement survey on how businesses make buying decisions for their major enterprise IT purchases. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes of your time, and it's confidential. Neither your name nor your company's name will be associated with your answers.In return for filling out the survey, you can enter to win a $500 cash prize. For complete sweepstakes rules, click here.To read this article in full, please click here
SAN FRANCISCO – VMware has added new features to its core networking software that will let customers more securely control cloud application traffic running on virtual machines, containers or bare metal. At its VMworld event, the company announced a new version of the company’s NSX networking software with support for the cloud-based advanced load balancer technology it recently acquired from Avi Networks.[ Also see How to plan a software-defined data-center network and Efficient container use requires data-center software networking.]
The load balancer is included in VMware vRealize Network Insight 5.0 and tied to NSX Intelligence software that lets customers optimize network performance and availability in virtual and physical networks. The load balancer includes a web application firewall and analytics features to help customers securely control and manage traffic. To read this article in full, please click here
Deployment flexibility is one of the most interesting aspects of software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) technology. Some solution providers offer total flexibility, while others are quite prescriptive. EMA has studied SD-WAN deployment flexibility and found a wide variety of enterprise strategies in practice today. Individual network teams will have to decide for themselves what works for them. EMA identified several aspects of SD-WAN deployment flexibility that enterprises should consider when selecting a solution. Procurement Flexibility: Selecting Your Solution Provider
First, there is the question of procurement strategy. Like many classes of technology, enterprises have many options for buying and installing SD-WAN technology. EMA found that the most popular approach (34%) is to buy SD-WAN from a WAN service provider or internet service provider. Many network providers offer managed SD-WAN services or simply resell SD-WAN technology.To read this article in full, please click here
All things cloud are major topics of conversation at the VMworld user conference next week, ratcheded up a notch by VMware's $4.8 billion plans to acquire cloud development firm Pivotal and security provider Carbon Black.VMware said during its quarterly financial call this week it would spend about $2.7 billion on Pivotal and its Cloud Foundry hybrid cloud development technology, and about $2.1 billion for the security technology of Carbon Black, which includes its Predictive Security Cloud and other endpoint-security software. Both amounts represent the enterprise value of the deals the actual purchase prices will vary, experts said.To read this article in full, please click here
There are a host of different AI-related solutions for the data center, ranging from add-in cards to dedicated servers, like the Nvidia DGX-2. But a startup called Cerebras Systems has its own server offering that relies on a single massive processor rather than a slew of small ones working in parallel.Cerebras has taken the wraps off its Wafer Scale Engine (WSE), an AI chip that measures 8.46x8.46 inches, making it almost the size of an iPad and more than 50 times larger than a CPU or GPU. A typical CPU or GPU is about the size of a postage stamp.Now see how AI can boost data-center availability and efficiency.
Cerebras won’t sell the chips to ODMs due to the challenges of building and cooling such a massive chip. Instead, it will come as part of a complete server to be installed in data centers, which it says will start shipping in October.To read this article in full, please click here