In an increasingly mobile world, network providers are grappling with a data explosion. Millions of mobile users are running video and other applications that require significant bandwidth.At the same time, those providers are saddled with legacy systems and protocols that leave them bloated and slow. Even to add simple services, they have to contend with hundreds of manual processes for set up, revisions, and tear down of even the simplest services.With challenges like that, anticipating and responding to dynamic traffic levels and service requests is nearly impossible. These legacy networks simply cannot handle the growing and unpredictable demands on providers, and the problem is only going to worsen.To read this article in full, please click here
VMware has expanded its portfolio of cloud tools to help enterprises improve the manageability of their public cloud and on-premises environments. At the same time, VMware announced the first global expansion of VMware Cloud on AWS, its joint hybrid cloud service with Amazon Web Services.Complexity is on the rise for enterprises as they expand their use of cloud computing – which often is not limited to a single cloud provider. VMware estimates that nearly two-thirds of companies will use two or more cloud service providers in addition to their on-premises data centers.To read this article in full, please click here
Cloud services, particularly infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service, are well established, but in some cases customers demand more – more control, more access to hardware, more performance, and the ability to pick their own operating environment.In those cases they are looking to bare-metal servcies, a niche that is growing fast.As the name implies, bare metal means no software just CPUs, memory, and storage. Customers provide all of the software from the operating system on up. That means a dedicated CPU, full access to the hardware, and freedom to run custom operating systems.According to a 2016 Markets and Markets report, the bare metal cloud market is expected to grow from $871.8 million in 2016 to $4.7 billion in 2021, at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 40.1%.To read this article in full, please click here
Ambient temperature changes, which take place natively in the environment, could power Internet of Things (IoT) sensors indefinitely, say researchers.The remarkable concept, which the inventors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) call thermal resonating, is highly flexible — unlike previous scientific attempts at developing similar things.It essentially harvests electricity out of thin air, the group claims. No batteries or solar panel-requiring sunlight is needed.To read this article in full, please click here
Digital transformation is fundamentally changing businesses of every size. Larger enterprises no longer have a unique advantage based purely on their scale. Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) can utilize new applications and services that allow them to compete toe to toe against a business or organization of any size. Not only do your customers want the latest and greatest, but employees demand it as well. If your employees can’t get the digital tools they need to be successful, they’ll go where they’re available.The focus of management and employees today is on exciting new apps and services. However, without the appropriate IT infrastructure to support them, an organization will not be able to move forward on the digital transformation journey. New apps and new devices are dependent on the servers, storage, and network gear that provide the data and back-end services. Unfortunately for many SMBs, IT equipment is stored in a 1990s server room that may be a repurposed conference room, cubicle, or spare office that cannot provide the physical environment the IT hardware needs to support a 21st century organization.To read this article in full, please click here
A startup called ZincFive is set to launch a modular uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for data center computers using the venerable nickel-zinc technology, which it claims is more efficient than lithium-ion.Nickel-zinc batteries were invented by Thomas Edison in 1901 but fell out of favor to newer designs due to their limitations, such as a low number of charge cycles and their inability to hold a charge for long.On the plus side, the batteries could hold a stronger charge and didn’t use toxic metals like other batteries that make them difficult to recycle. And they are not flammable, something lithium-ion batteries certainly can’t claim.To read this article in full, please click here
As we have seen, the Internet of Things will disrupt and change every industry and how actors within it do business. Along with new paradigms in services and products that one can offer due to the proliferation of IoT, come business risks as well as heightened security concerns – both physical and cyber. In our prior column, we spoke about this topic in the context of the Smart Electric Grid. Today we’re taking a look at how IoT is disrupting the health care market and how we can take steps to secure it.To read this article in full, please click here
It’s been nearly two decades since the coining of the term “Internet of Things,” yet we are still asking the same question: “Whose responsibility is it to secure the billions of IoT devices?” Given the market’s progress of late, you would think we’d have it figured out by now; but, it’s not that simple.Although IoT security has long been a hot topic of discussion, it has become more important—and more challenging – than ever. First, gone are the days when operational technology (OT) was single-handedly responsible for securing IoT, often taking a “security by obscurity” approach by physically separating production operations and industrial networks from enterprise networks and the Internet. Although enterprises are realizing the need to converge IT with OT to drive new use cases, enable an open flow of data between networks and applications, support better business decisions, lower costs, and reduce complexity, new attack surfaces are arising between the gaps in IT and OT practices.To read this article in full, please click here
It’s been 160 years since the world’s first submarine cable linked a remote corner of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, with Valentia Island on the west coast of Ireland in 1858. That telegraph cable failed after three weeks, but a new method for transoceanic communications had been established, and today submarine cables are a critical piece of digital infrastructure that’s fast expanding in prevalence and prominence globally – though not yet quickly enough to meet voracious demand for capacity.Between 2013 and 2017, the subsea cable industry has added an average of 32 percent of capacity annually on major submarine cable routes, according to the industry magazine SubTel Forum. Still, the industry needs to do more. “It will have to increase activity to stay ahead of demand,” SubTel Forum said in its annual report this year.To read this article in full, please click here
Internet of Things (IoT) has made a big buzzword over the past few years as organizations have added intelligent controls to refrigerators, soda machines, washer and dryers, medical robots and lightbulbs. While the consumerization of IoT is in our everyday life, enterprises have been looking for ways IoT can benefit them and their users to improve day to day tasks.+Related: Testing RFID devices for enterprise deployment; Most powerful internet of things companies+To read this article in full, please click here
Nowhere is there more pain for IT staff than in the ever-morphing healthcare market where the Internet of Things (IoT) has been gaining attention and traction.The concept of IoT involves the use of electronic devices that capture or monitor data and are connected via wireless to a private or public cloud, enabling them to automatically trigger certain events. In the healthcare context, a growing set of IoT devices have been introduced to patients and medical staff in various forms. Whether wireless bedside monitors, infusion pumps, or even voice/data-based clinician communication devices, the result is means better and more efficient patient care.To read this article in full, please click here
Microsoft’s on-premise Azure cloud platform, Azure Stack, has now been embedded in real-world, core business environments with early adopters validating business use cases that require secured and host environments. Here are some of the current uses of Azure Stack that are deployed in enterprises.+RELATED:
What IT pros need to know about Azure Stack
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Azure Stack in healthcare
Healthcare organizations have been a prime candidate for Azure Stack as they fit the model of having large (extremely large!) sets of data and customers, and also face regulatory policies and protection aimed at securing the data being transacted. Azure Stack fits the mold of providing healthcare organizations the cloud-scale that they wish to achieve, in a protected, managed and secured environment.To read this article in full, please click here
Businesses and their distributed enterprise locations grow more dependent on connected resources every day. That’s because employee and customer expectations and behaviors are evolving and having quick access to business information or constant connection to personal applications is changing the game for business networks. Every report I see indicates that our dependence on connected systems will continue to skyrocket. In fact, Cisco recently predicted that global IP traffic is set to nearly triple by 2021.To read this article in full, please click here
What makes a city a “smart city?” Some would argue that it has to do with the degree to which the city is staying abreast of technology advancements, but that is too one-dimensional. Smart cities require an integrated approach to IoT, connectivity, AI, distributed computing and other technologies.To truly capitalize on smart city technology, technologists must understand the immediate and long-term pain points for city governments; the procurement framework including budgetary and funding issues; and the overall bureaucratic and legislative processes.An integrated approach to technology implementation – cutting across all departments in the city – can help alleviate specific challenges such as parking management, traffic management, street lighting, energy consumption (and demand response), and public safety.To read this article in full, please click here
Automation itself, and the idea that technologies could be self-provisioning, self-diagnosing, and self-healing, has been around for some time. But with advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies, such fanciful notions are quickly becoming realities.Nowadays, most of us use AI-enabled apps when we ask Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa for help with a task. And even streaming services like Netflix help us pick movies and TV shows using AI.WHITE PAPERIntroducing the Adaptive Network VisionTo read this article in full, please click here
In-house IT hardware spending has been on hold thanks to executives flip-flopping on whether to move to cloud computing. It hasn't been because they've actually shifted to cloud services.The problem has been merely inertia caused in companies by "decision-making around the cloud," says Morgan Stanley in a new financial research note published this week. The financial services firm suggests that once enterprises complete their cloud assessments, their checkbooks will open once more.Also read: Top 10 data center predictions: IDC
In fact, Morgan Stanley, which advises people on industry investments, says investors could see double-digit earnings growth from the IT hardware sector in 2018. And it has upgraded its fiscal view from "cautious" to "attractive."To read this article in full, please click here
With the release of Microsoft Windows Server 2016 a couple years ago, Microsoft directly entered the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platform space that has been served by organizations like Nutanix, Scale, Cisco, HP, Dell, and others — only Microsoft comes at it with a fully software-defined platform rather than hardware and applicances.The underpinnings
HCI environments are based on the following:
Scalable and Shared Compute: The ability to aggregate processing power beyond a traditional “server” with two or four sockets spanning a finite 24, 32, 64 cores to an array of multiple servers where the core processing capabilities brings together four, eight, 16, or more servers with hundreds of cores that can be shared and allocated to workloads as needed.
Scalable and Shared Storage: The core storage component of HCL is very similar to the traditional Storage Area Network (SAN) model of the past decade where dozens of drive subsystems are spanned for high performance and capacity and allocated to workloads as needed.
Flexible and Customizable Networking: The networking component of HCI provides virtual networks that isolate traffic and shape communications to optimize the workload to workload communications for performance and security purposes
HCI compute on Windows Server 2016 — based Continue reading
Beyond basic network connectivity and network-centric features such as WAN optimization, security has been one of the promised next-wave roadmap features surrounding managed SD-WAN services.In early customer deployments, network connectivity was the spotlight feature, along with managing the mix of network types and diversity of providers. Security was a concern early on, but most customers have realized they can retain their existing security infrastructure and environment with little change. They can also enhance their security measures with the many security options available through managed SD-WAN.To read this article in full, please click here
At MWC 2018, Swisscom and Huawei announced they has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on NetCity project, intended to build a world-class, highly reliable, next-generation wireline network infrastructure that can provide customers in Switzerland with innovative products and services.NetCity, a project developed by Huawei and leading carriers for building the cities of the future, is intended to bring humanity a step closer to achieving a fully-connected, intelligent world by means of constructing a broadband, cloud-based and intelligent network architecture.The MoU marks an important step toward building a leading position for the two companies in technology, business and social responsibility. Working hand in hand on this project, Swisscom and Huawei will explore new concepts in wireline network deployment, developing innovative solutions that enable "zero-touch operations" for telecom and data center networks and accelerating the application of cloud computing, telemetry, AI, and Big Data on networks.To read this article in full, please click here
Super Bowl LII was played about a month ago, and much to the chagrin of New England Patriots fans, the team lost despite a number of records being set by Tom Brady and his team. In a losing effort, the QB threw for over 500 yards, something that had never been done before. Also, no losing team has ever had as many yards or points. It was certainly one of the most memorable games in recent history, particularly for the long-suffering Philadelphia Eagles fans.Records were also set in the stands with new highs in Wi-Fi network usage. For the fifth consecutive year, Extreme Networks was the Official WiFi Analytics provider of the Super Bowl, and its ExtremeAnalytics (formerly known as Purview) captured all the data transferred over the stadium Wi-Fi network. (Note: Extreme is a client of ZK Research.) The NFL and its individual teams have been using the data to better understand what fans do on their mobile devices during games in hopes of creating an overall better experience. Some of the highlights from the big game are listed below.To read this article in full, please click here