If you need comprehensive support, the comfort of having a well-established Linux vendor on your side and you have the budget to pay for it, then you should give Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 a careful look.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Ubuntu is one of the most popular versions of Linux, with a very substantial market base, especially in the cloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Linux distros are plentiful, and choosing the right server product can be a daunting task. Are you looking for a supported product, or can you go with a free version? Need Cloud support or virtualization? We’ll try to provide some answers.Although many Linux distros can quite capably be configured to run as a server, for this review we focused solely on dedicated server products, named and supported as such.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: What is Linux? A powerful component of modern data centers+We tested Ubuntu LTS (long-term support) 16.04.02, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Enterprise Server 7.4, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2, Fedora Server 26 and Oracle Linux 73. All five products tested are designed and supported as server operating systems, and each product boasts a large user base. However, each of these products appeals to a different target audience, as noted in the narrative and summary chart.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Next month, Microsoft will hold its Ignite and Envision conferences in Orlando, Florida. Ignite is aimed at enterprise IT professionals, and Envision is aimed at IT decision makers. Combining Ignite and Envision in the same venue increases the overall enterprise IT audience, so expect several enterprise-related announcements. The action will be in the cloud, as Microsoft has become cloud obsessed. Last month’s quarterly results put Microsoft as the second largest cloud company behind Amazon Web Services (AWS) — and growing faster.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Juniper today announced intentions to acquire Cyphort, a Santa Clara-based startup that offers an advanced threat detection, analytics and mitigation platform. Juniper says it will integrate Cyphort’s technology with its Sky Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) product line.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: DEEP-DIVE REVIEW: How Cyphort makes advanced threat protection easier than ever +Cyphort’s software platform detects advanced threats, evasion techniques and zero-day vulnerabilities using a combination of behavioral analytics, machine-learning and long-data security analysis, the company says. The platform can work across virtual infrastructure, cloud environments and edge devices. In addition to identifying threats, Cyphort creates real-time timelines of incidents and can integrate with network tools to update security postures.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Autonomous cars are changing the way consumer drivers and auto manufacturers alike view transportation, with bold new players like Tesla joining long-standing industry giants like BMW in their quest for a truly independent car. More so than almost anything else, smart cities and their continued development are shaping the way these autonomous cars are designed, manufactured and used around our urban environments.So how exactly are smart cities reshaping the way developers approach building truly autonomous vehicles capable of guiding themselves? What does the future of the smart cities movement hold for autonomous cars, and vice versa? A quick look at these 21st Century innovations shows just how intertwined their fates are.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Much work still must be done before the industrial and municipal Internet of Things (IoT) becomes widely adopted outside of the circle of innovators. One field, privacy, well understood by the public and private sector in the context of the cloud, PCs and mobile, is in the early stage of adaptation for the IoT.The sheer volume of data that will be collected and the new more granular architecture of the IoT present new privacy concerns that need to be resolved on an equal scale as the platform’s forecasted growth.A demonstration of this new aspect of privacy and compliance is the Privacy Guidelines for Internet of Things: Cheat Sheet, Technical Report (pdf) by Charith Perera, researcher at the Newcastle University in the U.K. The nine-page report details 30 points about implementing strong privacy protections. This report is summarized below.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With this smart plug from Etekcity, you can turn your appliances on/off remotely from your mobile device, or with your voice via Alexa. Or automate the on/off cycle with a schedule. The plug also monitors and helps control energy usage, and the slow drain that occurs even when devices are powered down. With this deal, a 2-pack of smart plugs is discounted 35% down to $38.74, or just under $20 per plug. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco made a big splash earlier this year when it revealed its vision for the future of networking: An intent-based networking system that allows users to specify what they want the network to do and management software that automatically orchestrates it.Since Cisco’s announcement, intent-based networking (IBN) has caught the networking industry’s attention and has seemingly become the buzzword-du-jour. Some see it as a logical evolution of advanced network automation. Others believe it’s a fundamental shift in how enterprises use machine learning to autonomously manage networks. Meanwhile, all types of vendors, from stalwarts of the industry to myriad startups are jumping on to the IBN bandwagon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Weather on Mount Washington in New Hampshire can be biblical. On one occasion, I started an early-morning April ascent with fresh snow at the base. Mid-day we stripped to our base layer of clothing when the bright sun warmed the temperature to 60°F. At the peak elevation of 6,288 feet, dark clouds closed in, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. We ran for cover from lightning that had a very short distance to travel between the low clouds and the high peak to travel.After hiking the mountain a half-dozen times, in all seasons and all conditions, it’s interesting to learn how the Mount Washington Weather Observatory on the peak uses IoT to update weather conditions on this frequent hiker destination.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Are you ready for the Internet of Things (IoT)? Despite its transformational potential, most organizations are not. In an era of rapid disruption and digital transformation, IT executives and managers must lead the charge. You must bridge the gap between technology, business, engineering and operations. You must be evangelists, teachers, facilitators and innovators. To succeed, I’ve listed six things you must do to accelerate IoT adoption within your organization.Increase your organization’s IoT IQ
Start the journey by increasing awareness, knowledge and conversations around IoT throughout the organization. This can be done in several ways:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It appears research universities are a great place to test Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. That’s because they often comprise a microcosm of a wide variety of organizational and technical environments.Gordon Wishon, CIO of Arizona State University, explained the reasoning to Campus Technology this way:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Recently I made the (unfortunate) decision to eat at a particular fast-food establishment. For the sake of this story, let’s call it Shmurger Shming.I didn’t eat at The Shming because the food tastes amazing. Nor did I choose to ingest those Shmurgers because I thought it was, in any way, healthy for me. In fact, I knew full well that eating them would cause not insignificant amounts of gastronomical distress.Which begs the question: Why, on this green Earth, would I make that decision? Why would I do that to myself?Simple. It was convenient, there was very little up-front investment (in time and money), and it was food. Technically. In other words, I was lazy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Earlier this month, Cisco completed the acquisition of SD-WAN vendor Viptela, which it had announced in early May.The companies’ recent news sparked several rumors about the fate of Cisco’s Intelligent WAN (IWAN), with publications writing such articles as “Is the End Near for Cisco’s IWAN?” and “Cisco’s Viptela acquisition could mean IWAN is dying or dead.” The content of the articles isn’t quite as aggressive as the headlines, but the articles have led to a number of misconceptions about what Cisco will do with its SD-WAN solution.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Play your way in a world where mysticism and industry collide. Will you choose to play as Empress Emily Kaldwin or the royal protector, Corvo Attano? Will you make your way through the game unseen, make full use of its brutal combat system, or use a blend of both? How will you combine your character's unique set of powers, weapons and gadgets to eliminate your enemies? The story responds to your choices, leading to intriguing outcomes, as you play through each of the game's hand-crafted missions. Right now Dishonored 2 is discounted 38% down to $24.99, for the XBOX One, PS4 and PC versions. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Connected devices, also known as the Internet of Things (IoT), will transition to cognitive, predictive computing over the next 12 to 18 months, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan. IoT, overall, is also about to grow rapidly, the firm says. It predicts a 20.3% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) worldwide leading up to the year 2023. That will be a jump to 45.3 billion devices, up from 12.4 billion IoT devices in 2016, it claims.Cognitive computing, which is when a machine is programmed to simulate human thought processes, will partly drive that growth, along with further microelectronics development and “ubiquitous connectivity,” says Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm that specializes in business disruption.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
While the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) has many investors and innovators enamored with hardware development so they can churn out millions of their own IoT-connected devices, wise industry insiders are uncovering the true IoT goldmine: data exchange services. Data sharing, exchanging and selling is rapidly coming to define the IoT market more than anything else, and investors are quickly hopping on board to cash in on this new phenomenon.So how exactly are the industry leaders of tomorrow tapping into data exchange services to fuel their success? How will recent developments in data exchange services impact IoT development, and what steps should sensible IoT developers take now to capitalize on them?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As the IoT and industries related to it continue to expand at mind-boggling speeds, it’s only natural that myths and hear-say about IoT-related technologies grow as well. One of the greatest victims of scandalous rumors is Z-Wave technology, a critical aspect of the IoT that is often unfairly castigated by those who present false or misleading information.So just how secure is Z-Wave technology? What are the most persistent myths about it, and why do some people benefit from spreading them? Below, we’ll go over five common myths about Z-Wave tech, and explain just how wrong they are.Z-Wave is difficult to integrate into the IoT
One of the most heinous hoaxes proliferating around the internet is that Z-Wave technology is difficult to integrate into the IoT, and presents serious challenges to IoT application and gadget developers. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Some Z-Wave critics argue that its development kits are few and far-between, and challenging to both locate and utilize. The reality, however, is that a plethora of Z-Wave development kits are readily prepared to help IoT developers achieve their objectives easily.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One weird little quirk about being human is that we (as a group) tend to think things have been the way they currently are for a lot longer than they actually have been — and that they're not likely to change.Even the most hard and well-backed-up science tends to change with the proverbial wind. Example: Cholesterol ... good or bad? See? Things (and ideas) change. Fast. And often we don't think they've changed at all. Sometimes it's good to sit back and look at how things have already changed — to see how things might change in the future.Let's apply that to servers. Computers serving up bits of data to other computers. What did those look like 10 years ago? 20? 50? In this article series, let's look over each major era and type of servers, in no particular order — I'll be bouncing around a bit as I tell the story of "Computer Servers."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There’s no doubt that digital transformation (DX) is revolutionizing the way we do business, and cloud computing serves as a key cog in the DX machine. Cloud’s elasticity can indeed help digital businesses communicate more rapidly and increase innovation. But to extract full value from the cloud, companies must make sure that they aren’t bringing the equivalent of a cutlass to a gun fight when it comes to migrating existing applications and accelerating software development.Here is what I mean: many businesses start their migration journeys by lifting and shifting existing on-premises applications into the cloud, making few to no changes to the application itself. But running such the same old monolithic application architectures in the cloud means that your applications aren’t built to maximize cloud benefits. Just the opposite: They often present scalability issues, increase cost and require time-consuming application support. Ultimately, this will erode DX strategies, which depend on modernizing, rapidly iterating, and scaling applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here