It’s not necessarily easy to pick the coolest and wackiest tech stories of the year, especially when you have so much to choose from. Rather than trying to be all- inclusive as we have done in the past, see (here and here and here) we have tried to more “exclusive.” Have fun!To read this article in full, please click here
IDG
2019 just might be the Year of Linux — the year in which Linux is fully recognized as the powerhouse it has become. With Linux playing key roles in the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud technology, supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI), and with a plethora of conferences and new releases on the horizon, Linux is poised to have a very exciting 2019. Let’s examine some of what we can expect to see.To read this article in full, please click here
In the wake of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this seems like the perfect time to look some of the many ways that the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming the world of retail. The IoT is already in use in stores around the world, and according to estimates from Grand View Research, retail IoT could be a $94 billion market by 2025. Here are a half dozen ways that might come to pass:To read this article in full, please click here
HPE is offering new Edgeline Converged Edge System hardware and software designed to let enterprises not only control machines in their facilities, but also manage and analyze the sea of data generated by devices and sensors at the edge network.The new software lets enterprise network managers and data-center administrators merge data from a variety of third-party applications and remotely manage as many as thousands of Edgeline hardware systems, which are capable of running unmodified enterprise applications, HPE said at its Discover Conference in Madrid Tuesday.To read this article in full, please click here
HPE is targeting a new class of storage it calls Memory-Driven Flash at enterprise data centers that are increasingly being called on to handle real-time analytics, high-speed transactions, big data and AI workloads that demand more storage performance than ever before.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
Cisco foresees a massive buildup of IP traffic – 4.8 zettabytes per year by 2022, which is over three-times the 2017 rate – lead by the increased use of IoT device traffic, video and sheer number of new users coming onboard. The company also says there will be 4.8 billion Internet users by 2022, up from 3.4 billion in 2017.Those predictions are from Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, its annual look at the state of the Internet culled from actual network traffic reports and independent analyst forecasts.To read this article in full, please click here
Enterprises rely on their IoT platforms for many services. One of the most important is analytics. In layman’s terms, IoT analytics is the science and art of trying to find patterns in the massive quantity of data generated by connected assets. Or a more careful definition from MachNation’s IoT platform testing lab might be, analytics is the ability of a platform administrator or operator to monitor trends, identify abnormalities, and produce business insights from ingested IoT data.As a first step to identifying a best-in-class IoT platform for analytics, an enterprise should deploy the various platform analytics services. In particular, the enterprise should at least configure an on-platform analytics service for live streaming and stored/historical data; configure a platform for live streaming external analytics service integrations; and then export on-platform data to an external analytics service. These configuration tests will help an enterprise determine if an IoT platform vendor has designed exceptional or lackluster management tools and usability into its platform.To read this article in full, please click here
The all-electric powertrain Tesla model S provides a ludicrous acceleration. The car’s most performance-centric model, the P100D, uses its 100-kWh battery and two electric motors to achieve the highest speed—0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds, 762 horsepower, and 687 pound-feet of torque. It can comfortably seat five people with a sizable trunk while making the snowy drive to the mountains safe and comfortable. The sheer power, beauty, and luxury of a Tesla has been a recurring theme as we launch our first series of 802.11ax access points at Aruba.Introducing the latest 802.11ax access pointsPowerful, reliable, and high capacity are what you get from Aruba’s new 510 series 802.11ax (now known as Wi-Fi 6) campus access points. As more mobile and IoT devices rely on wireless access, networks have to accommodate a broad mix of devices, applications, and services. And that is even more challenging, especially now that we have very low tolerance for a bad user experience. Any voice delay or video jitter is no longer acceptable. So, before we jump into the 510 series, let’s see what 802.11ax is all about.To read this article in full, please click here
Last week, AMD announced it was ready to take on Nvidia in the GPU space for the data center, a market the company had basically ignored for the last several years in its struggle just to survive. But now, buoyed by its new CPU business, AMD is ready to take the fight to Nvidia.It would seem a herculean task. Or perhaps Quixotic. Nvidia has spent the past decade tilling the soil for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC0, but it turns out AMD has a few things in its favor.[ Learn who's developing quantum computers. ]
For starters, it has a CPU and GPU business, and it can tie them together in a way Nvidia and Intel cannot. Yes, Intel has a GPU product line, but they are integrated with their consumer CPUs and not on the Xeons. And Nvidia has no x86 line.To read this article in full, please click here
IBM is looking to make it easier for customers to move to multicloud environments by adding automation tools to its cloud services, and the company is extending its relationship with cloud migration specialists ServiceNow.The driving idea behind both moves is to help customer simplify what can be a daunting task – moving new and legacy applications to multicloud environments be they based on IBM's own cloud service or others such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Red Hat.As a backdrop to the new services, IBM last month said it would buy open-source software pioneer Red Hat in a $34 billion stock acquisition. For IBM the deal could mean many things. It makes it a bigger open source and enterprise software player for example, but mostly it gets Big Blue into the lucrative hybrid-cloud party targeting its towering competitors 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
A new survey by cloud software vendor Nutanix finds that most firms are embracing the hybrid model, but few have actually achieved it. And many are shifting their workloads back on premises because of cloud costs.This was Nutanix’s first global Enterprise Cloud Index, so it doesn’t have historical data by which to measure, but its initial findings match what we’ve known for a while. Read also: How to make hybrid cloud work
The hybrid cloud, a mix of on-premises and public cloud computing, working in tandem is the preferred method for most firms; 91 percent to be exact. But only 19 percent of firms surveyed said they have that model today. One reason is that app vendors make it hard to operate in hybrid mode, said Wendy Pfeiffer, CIO at Nutanix.To read this article in full, please click here
The IoT era has arrived.Here's some proof: 83% of organizations say the Internet of Things (IoT) is important to business today, and 92% say it will be in two years.That's according to a recent DigiCert survey conducted by ReRez Research of 700 organizations in five countries to better understand the IoT and IoT security.Anecdotally, I always find that markets have matured when it’s no longer an unusual thing. For example, a few years ago, it was hard to find IoT deployments that were outside of the traditional machine-to-machine industries such as manufacturing and oil and gas. Today, connected things are everywhere. Case in point: I recently interviewed the IT director at an entertainment venue and he walked me through all the connected things without ever saying “IoT.” The organization was connecting more things to improve customer experience, and it was treated as no big deal.To read this article in full, please click here
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are still viewed with skepticism by many in IT, despite a decades-long long history, continuing advances within academia and industry, and numerous successful applications. But it’s not hard to understand why: The very concept of an algorithm running on a digital computer being able to duplicate and even improve upon the knowledge and judgement of a highly-experienced professional – and, via machine learning, improve these results over time – still sounds at the very least a bit off in the future. And yet, thanks to advances in AI/ML algorithms and significant gains in processor and storage performance and especially the price/performance of solutions available today, AI and ML are already hard at work in network operations, as we’ll explore below.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
The United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to expand available spectrum in order to increase bandwidth for connected devices, such as IoT and broadband data, including those communicating via Wi-Fi. One reason is because ISPs want to get into wireless, and they are putting pressure on. The expansion, however, will be good for all Internet of Things (IoT), too.A number of significant unlicensed bandwidth blocks are, or will be, available, including at 6GHz, 5.9GHz, and 3.5GHz. Potential stumbles include that interference mitigation needs to be resolved in a couple instances.[ Also read: Wi-Fi 6 is coming to a router near you. | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters. ]
6GHz
In the first block, the FCC is proposing making available a large 1200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6GHz band for devices, including IoT sensors, and Wi-Fi, which predominantly uses 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz now.To read this article in full, please click here
I’ve been spending some time the past few weeks researching the potential role of SD-WAN in enabling service providers to augment existing managed private cloud connect services with a “managed Over-The-Top (OTT) cloud connect service.”What if managed service providers could expand their managed cloud connect service offers to include an OTT Cloud Connect service powered by SD-WAN?Today, most managed service providers offer a private cloud connect service that enables enterprises to securely connect their on-net sites to their cloud-destined application traffic, leveraging the provider’s MPLS or Ethernet network. The applications are then backhauled to the closest provider PoP, where the service provider has “direct connects” to each of the major IaaS (AWS, Azure & Google Cloud) and some SaaS providers (SFDC, Oracle, SAP).To read this article in full, please click here
Earlier this week, German carmaker Volkswagen announced an upgrade to its VW Car-Net mobile app that lets iPhone users control their Golfs and Jettas using Siri commands. Specifically, iPhone users on iOS 12 can say, “Hey, Siri” to lock and unlock the car, check estimated range remain, flash the warning lights, and toot the horn. You can also add Shortcuts to Siri with personalized phrases to start/stop charging, defrosting, and climate controls; set the temperature; and even ask, “Where is my car?”Woo-hoo, pretty exciting right? Not in most cases, actually, but the announcement got me thinking about the limits and perils of voice commands in automotive applications.To read this article in full, please click here
Everyone lives on the internet, period. Whether you’re streaming a standup special on Netflix, answering emails from your boss, chatting on Tinder, or completing everyday errands like paying bills online, you’re likely spending most of your day tangled up in the world wide web. Unfortunately, that makes you a high-risk candidate for a cyber attack at some point along the way, be it through malware, phishing, or hacking. Best-case scenario, it sucks up your time to fix (or your money by paying someone else to fix it). Worst case scenario, it puts you and your computer out of commission for days and damages your files beyond repair. Not to mention the sheer terror of knowing some hacker has complete and total access to virtually everything about you, including all of your banking and credit card information. Malwarebytes is a free program built to help you avoid the above scenarios altogether — and it makes traditional antivirus look old, tired, and played out (seriously it’s free, download it here).To read this article in full, please click here
The leading enterprise Linux platform is now available in a new and highly innovative Beta release. Among other highlights that promise a transformation of business IT well into the future, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Beta:
Introduces application streams separating user space packages from core kernel operations and making it easier to update user packages without requiring major version updates of the OS itself.
Provides security updates with both OpenSSL 1.1.1 and TLS 1.3 supported.
Includes Composer to make it easier for both new and experienced Red Hat Enterprise Linux users to build and deploy custom images across the hybrid cloud.
Adds Stratis — a new volume-management file system that is faster, more efficient and easier to manage than its predecessors.
Much of the impetus for RHEL 8 has been the growing need for a common foundation that can span every IT stronghold from the data center to multiple public clouds and make application delivery a lot more manageable. Four years have passed since RHEL 7 came our way, and so much has changed in the world of IT since then, with continued virtualization and containerization along with a growing need for rapid deployment.To read Continue reading
Sigfox, the France-based wireless networking company that is trying to push IoT communications technology into the mainstream with its low-power WAN service, provided through partnerships with mobile carriers who weave its technology into their base stations, just celebrated its third year of doing business in North America.In an interview with Network World, Sigfox USA President Christian Olivier was eager to characterize his company as an operator or a carrier for the Internet of Things (IoT), not an infrastructure provider.To read this article in full, please click here
You don't have to wait for Black Friday. Deals have started to drop early, but you have to know where to look. HP has activated a whopping $330 discount on its Pavilion 15z 15.6" Touchscreen Laptop, which puts it at just $369.99 with Free Shipping, but the deal ends Wednesday 11/14. This laptop comes with Windows 10 Home 64, the AMD Ryzen™ 3 processor, AMD Radeon™ Vega 3 Graphics, 8 GB memory, 1 TB HDD storage, and a 15.6" diagonal HD touch display. See the full spec, customize, and/or buy it here while the deal is active. If you haven't seen it yet, HP has posted a Black Friday deals page right here that includes a few other early deals you may be interested in.To read this article in full, please click here