In a recent blog, we discussed connectivity options for enterprise data centers building hybrid clouds. One of the options was to connect cloud providers directly over the internet, which has the advantage of being able to use an existing internet connection. It’s the easiest option and you can connect to any number of cloud service providers. Following that article, we wrote about scaling the modern data center, covering interface density and other requirements for data center solutions, whether housed on enterprise premises or in colocation facilities. Here, we’ll focus on internet connectivity and some of the requirements, including scale.To read this article in full, please click here
A recent Gartner report on network performance monitoring and diagnostics (NPMD) estimated the market to a whopping $2.1 billion and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9 percent, with more growth in sight. Wow. So what will drive this growth and why?New approaches to harvesting network data using sophisticated big data analytics techniques combined with cloud computing and machine learning technologies is the answer. This perfect confluence of technologies is poised to redefine the conventional infrastructure management market.Central to this shift is the use of analytics technologies and strategies to extract new insights and value from data produced by and collected from the network to drive business value.To read this article in full, please click here
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will force very strict new privacy compliance rules on firms doing business in the EU, but a startup that has an atrocious company and product name has what it says is the solution to maintaining compliance.Cockroach Labs has introduced version 2.0 of its CockroachDB distributed database, which can be run in a data center or cloud. The company bills the product as “the SQL database for global cloud services.” It automatically scales, rebalances, and repairs databases spread over multiple locations.To read this article in full, please click here
When Campofrio Food Group’s 17-year-old factory in Burgos, Spain, famously burned to the ground, the multinational meat processor turned tragedy into opportunity. With an eye on digital transformation, Campofrio rebuilt the facility as a connected factory, powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). This allowed the state-of-the-art, greenfield meat packing plant to automate processes and provide real-time data on materials, equipment and workers to uncover new business value.Such “blank canvas” opportunities to bring a factory into the digital age from the ground up don’t happen very often. Most IoT projects are implemented in existing, brownfield environments with traditional legacy systems, requiring an incremental approach. The goal of these gradual integrations has been to optimize or automate processes, gain some efficiencies, and move onto the next low-hanging fruit. But, this approach will not work if businesses want to capture IoT’s true transformational value: the creation of new business models, new revenue streams, new products and new markets.To read this article in full, please click here
Traditional networking architectures over the past two decades or so prescribe that the hub of the network be build around a specific location, such as a data center or a company’s headquarters building. This location houses most of the equipment for compute, storage, communications, and security, and this is where enterprise applications are traditionally hosted. For people in branch and other remote locations, traffic is typically backhauled to this hub before going out to other locations, including to the cloud.Though that formula has been standard operating procedure for many years, it doesn’t fit the way of work for many enterprises today. For one thing, there has been a major migration to the cloud. Those enterprise applications that run the business are now hosted in cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, either as private applications or as SaaS apps such as Office 365 and Salesforce. In fact, companies often use multiple cloud platforms these days.To read this article in full, please click here
In comedy, unexpected actions make for good fun. The pratfalls. The eye pokes. But in networking, the unexpected is hardly funny. And yet it was the antics of the Three Stooges that came to mind as I reviewed the results of Cato Networks’ latest networking survey.The survey canvassed more than 700 enterprise IT buyers from around the globe about the drivers and challenges facing their networking and security deployments. What we observed serves as a promise and warning for anyone considering SD-WAN.SD-WAN is supposed to be the answer to network complexity. And like any good slapstick setup, we can almost see how SD-WAN meets that objective. As an overlay aggregating traffic from MPLS, broadband and any other underlying data transport, SD-WAN hides the complexity of a building a network from multiple data transports. Policies provide the intelligence for SD-WAN to select the optimum network for each application freeing IT from making those calculations and changes manually, if that was even possible.To read this article in full, please click here
Microsoft’s announcement of $5 billion in new IoT investment is a public demonstration of the company’s commitment to the internet of things, but it's not immediatly clear what it will spend all that money on.In a statement announcing the new spending – to be spread out over the next four years – Microsoft cited research from A.T. Kearney that said IoT will bring a nearly $2 trillion productivity increase to the global economy and a $177 billion reduction in business costs by the end of the decade.[ For more on IoT see tips for securing IoT on your network, our list of the most powerful internet of things companies and learn about the industrial internet of things. | Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] There are a lot of use cases for IoT in the enterprise, and Microsoft listed several customer wins in its announcement, including Johnson Controls, Kohler and the Alaska Department of Transportation. Gartner research vice president for AI and IoT Mark Hung said that it’s possible to divide those cases into internal and external uses.To read this article in full, please click here
An important side effect of digital transformation is that your network is likely to become a digital crime scene. As such, it needs a systematic approach to identify the culprit. In this analogy, a crime can be equivalent to a network outage or gray failure. And this is where intent-based networking (IBN) can help.The general approach in solving a crime like this is to collect as much information as possible, as soon as possible, and to narrow down the pool of suspects. So, let’s see via an example what role IBN plays in all this.Digital crime scene profiling Without “intent” you don’t even know that a crime has been committed. Finding traces of blood in a room in a blood bank or hospital are expected. Finding traces of blood in a room of a home of a missing person is a different matter. But without intent it’s hard to distinguish a blood bank from a home. In a similar manner, dropping a packet of an intruder or forbidden traffic source is a good thing. Dropping a packet of a customer because of a misconfigured ACL is a bad thing. Intent helps you differentiate the two.To Continue reading
A thin beam of invisible laser light has been used to safely charge a smartphone across a room. The experiment by researchers at the Univeristy of Washington lends credence to the futuristic idea that one day all computers could operate without any plugs or wires — that’s both for data and power.The revolutionary smartphone-charging laser system, which functions from up to 40 feet away, detects devices through inaudible acoustic chirps, according to its desginers at the university. It then zaps a couple watts of power at them using laser beams. Importantly, it does it safely and is potentially scalable to computers.To read this article in full, please click here
Not everybody in business IT seems like they’re having a great time at their job, but Aruba CTO Partha Narasimhan is an exception. He sat down with Network World at the company’s 2018 Atmosphere conference in Las Vegas to talk IoT, onboarding and more.Like company president Keerti Melkote, Narasimhan noted that Aruba’s experience in onboarding devices during the era of BYOD being an issue has stood it in good stead for IoT, but he said that the technical challenge is far greater.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Getting grounded in intent-based networking + Aruba co-founder: We want to live on the edgeTo read this article in full, please click here
IoT security is about the farthest thing from a laughing matter in the world of technology today, threatening global trade, privacy and the basic infrastructure of modern society. So you could be forgiven for being taken aback that the newest defender of vulnerable systems against bad actors looks a little like Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit.Researchers at Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering rolled out the HoneyBot robot late last week. In essence, it’s a canary in the digital coal mine, offering an early warning that someone is trying to compromise an organization’s systems.To read this article in full, please click here
We are witnessing a huge explosion in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices as a growing number of new “smart” consumer items, appliances, and vehicles are brought to market. While these devices introduce conveniences and enable new exciting applications and experiences, they introduce a high level of security risk to business and consumer networks. This is because manufacturers are frequently lax when it comes to the security implications of deploying smart connected devices in the wild.So why does IoT pose a potential risk to consumers? These devices fall under the “set it and forget it” bucket. They are typically easy to set up – you connect them to whatever network or networks you use regularly and then you don’t have to think about the devices again. Consumers are focused on functionality instead of the way the devices are communicating with the outside world, about updates to the devices, or about the network security characteristics of the devices. To read this article in full, please click here
In 2010, pop singer Katy Perry released a song called Firework. Some of its lyrics are: “Cause baby you're a firework, come on show 'em what you're worth, make 'em go oh, oh, oh.” In addition to being one of my favorite Katy Perry songs, it’s always reminded me of the firework that was Riverbed and its charismatic and often outspoken CEO, Jerry Kennelly.Riverbed was the face of WAN optimization Riverbed was indeed a firework, as it hit the market with a bang and became the face of WAN optimization. (Note: Riverbed is a client of ZK Research.) Riverbed wasn’t the first vendor in this market — that was Packeteer — but Riverbed evangelized it and became synonymous with the technology.To read this article in full, please click here
"I am all about useful tools. One of my mottos is 'the right tool for the right job.'" –Martha StewartIf your "right job" involves wrangling computer networks and figuring out how to do digital things effectively and efficiently or diagnosing why digital things aren't working as they're supposed to, you've got your hands full. Not only does your job evolve incredibly quickly becoming evermore complex, but whatever tools you use need frequent updating and/or replacing to keep pace, and that's what we're here for; to help in your quest for the right tools.[ Don’t miss customer reviews of top remote access tools and see the most powerful IoT companies . | Get daily insights by signing up for Network World newsletters. ] We've done several roundups of free network tools in the past, and since the last one, technology has, if anything, sped up even more. To help you keep up, we've compiled a new shortlist of seven of the most useful tools that you should add to your toolbox.To read this article in full, please click here
Extreme networks recently released our brand-new report: Quantifying the Value of the New Extreme Networks Solution (an Enterprise Strategy Group Economic Value Validation report). We set out to show IT organizations like yours the costs and benefits of deploying Extreme Networks compared with alternative network vendors, and trust us, the results are pretty mind-blowing.“Extreme Networks convinced us that for a reasonable price you can get a technologically advanced and reliable solution that can be managed through a unified management console.” - Extreme CustomerTo read this article in full, please click here
We asked CIOs and IT managers from all industries around the world to find out how they are embracing the Internet of Things. They told us about their plans, concerns, benefits, and the issues they've encountered.The vast majority have already implemented or are planning to implement IoT projects. Building-related projects involving smart lighting and energy management are the most common, followed by video surveillance and data collection projects.On the concerns and drawbacks side, device security, an issue addressed by ExtremeControl, swamps all other challenges. Data privacy, fear of rogue control and hijacking, service interruptions, and data integrity are all issues that CIOs face when implementing IoT.To read this article in full, please click here
Fedora 28 has just been released in its Beta version. That means that it isn’t likely to be completely free of bugs and that you have a chance to participate in ensuring that it’s ready to go public on May 1st.This news won’t be particularly surprising to the more enthusiastic Fedora users. Fedora’s release cycle is a fairly regular after all. Every 6 months, more or less, a new Fedora release is published. Many Fedora users have come to expect to see them around May Day and Halloween each year. Yet, while not surprising, the news is still exciting because of a number of new and enhanced features.So, what do you have to look forward to in this Beta release or the planned May release?To read this article in full, please click here
Fedora 28 has just been released in its beta version. That means it isn’t likely to be completely free of bugs and that you have a chance to participate in ensuring that it’s ready to go public on May 1.This news won’t be particularly surprising to the more enthusiastic Fedora users. Fedora’s release cycle is a fairly regular after all. Every six months, more or less, a new Fedora release is published. Many Fedora users have come to expect to see them around May Day and Halloween each year. Yet, while not surprising, the news is still exciting because of a number of new and enhanced features.Also read: Review: Free Linux Fedora server offers upgrades as they become available – no wait | Sign up: Subscribe to receive daily Network World updates New features in Fedora 28 beta So, what do you have to look forward to in this beta release or the planned May release?To read this article in full, please click here
Every day, vendors are trying to sell you on digital transformation, but are they truly helping you transform? Most are simply looking for a sales pitch to move you to their latest and greatest products. They’re plying you with stories of operational savings and productivity numbers.However, they’re missing the key to a successful digital business: the experience. Be it customer, user, or administrator experience, the human interaction with technology is the difference between successful digital transformation and simply being on the cutting edge of technology.At Extreme, our tagline is Connect Beyond the Network. We understand the importance of the experience. Yes, we’ll offer you scalability, security, simplicity and all the other buzzwords touted throughout the industry; however, what we really offer are experience-driven outcomes.To read this article in full, please click here
The concept of digital transformation is rather simple, but the process to actually transform the organization is quite complex and far-reaching. Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are not exempt from this transformation and must meet many of the same challenges that far larger enterprises face. The reality is that SMBs need the same level of IT capabilities and services as their large competitors.One of the most elemental changes impacting the IT environment is the need to ensure that the physical infrastructure supporting servers, storage, and network equipment is up to the job of enabling digital transformation. A digital business is truly reliant on its systems, and any outages, downtime, or service interruptions have major consequences on both the business and the business’s customers. Given that substantial downtime is caused by power, wiring, or cooling problems that impact key hardware systems, investing in digital systems that have circa 2005 physical infrastructure supporting them is a losing proposition.To read this article in full, please click here