The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has voted to deregulate the providers of the business data lines connecting broadband service to many small businesses, schools, hospitals, and ATM machines.The deregulation of business data services, or BDS, could mean broadband price hikes for those businesses as well as for mobile phone customers, critics said. BDS provides the backhaul that connects mobile towers to the wired internet.The commission's 2-1 party-line vote ends price caps on much of the BDS market across the U.S., while retaining price regulations in about a third of the country.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Broadcom this week introduced a family of Ethernet switches that support new technology aimed at helping users address the rising network implications of the Internet of Things, automotive networking and video applications.+More on Network World: Ethernet: Are there worlds left to conquer?+Key to that strategy is that the new family -- Broadcom StrataConnect BCM53570 – features support for an emerging Ethernet protocol technology called Time Sensitive Networks that brings standard deterministic real-time communications over Ethernet. The IEEE TSN standards define extremely precise, predictable timing across the network. By adding features to Ethernet such as time synchronization, ingress policing, seamless redundancy, frame preemption, scheduled traffic, and stream reservation, TSN ensures mission-critical, time sensitive data is not held up on the network, promoting an interoperable ecosystem spanning across many industries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When I’m talking with customers, I hear about a lot of challenges their businesses experience with their legacy WANs.In particular, the network architects and administrators talk about the problems their WANs present as applications move from the data center to the cloud.The challenges occur whether it is SaaS replacing traditional applications, or specific applications migrating to an IaaS service.The benefits of cloud-based applications are often readily apparent to end users, and to most IT folks. But many networking staff see the cloud opportunity differently. They are the ones stuck trying to make the old WAN do the new tricks required to support cloud applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Raspberry Pi's most famous feature is its adaptability. It can be used for thousands of electronic applications (See: "How to build a Raspberry Pi retrogaming emulation console"). This book, Exploring Raspberry Pi, is the innovators guide to bringing Raspberry Pi to life. The book favors engineering principles over a 'recipe' approach to give you the skills you need to design and build your own projects. You'll understand the fundamental principles in a way that transfers to any type of electronics, electronic modules, or external peripherals, using a "learning by doing" approach that caters to both beginners and experts. The book begins with basic Linux and programming skills, and helps you stock your inventory with common parts and supplies. Next, you'll learn how to make parts work together to achieve the goals of your project, no matter what type of components you use. The companion website provides a full repository that structures all of the code and scripts, along with links to video tutorials and supplementary content that takes you deeper into your project. The list price has been reduced 39% on Amazon, from $35 to $21.40. See this deal now on Amazon. A complete Raspberry Pi Continue reading
Ahead of Apple’s rumored augmented reality (AR) product announcement due at the end of the summer, Facebook has turned its attention to AR with the announcement of the Camera Effects Platform at its annual F8 developer conference yesterday.The announcement included compelling demonstrations of the technology’s potential. Mark Zuckerberg described a long-term path to cross-platform AR, which contradicts the specialized proprietary hardware decisions decided by almost every other AR company including Apple if rumors are true. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Network analytics is key to helping IT proactively deliver great user experiences, but analytics for the enterprise access network is complicated. Besides the array of connectivity options, the heterogeneous mix of client devices and the different application models to accommodate, there are volumes of relevant input data that can be used, such as:
Actual data packets generated by real clients
Synthetic data packets generated by simulated clients
Real-time metrics and traps from infrastructure
Logs/configuration from infrastructure and servers
Flow data from infrastructure
APIs from application servers
Nyansa
Figure 1. How network data is used today. Is this really analytics?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Although Microsoft blocked Windows updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs powered by new CPUs, one unhappy user found a way around the block so devices with next-generation processors can continue to get security updates for the older operating systems.Microsoft warned users several times that they needed to jump on the Windows 10 bandwagon. That didn’t go over very well, so Microsoft extended Windows 7 and 8.1 support on some Skylake-powered devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As one of the earliest backers of recently shuttered vendor ClusterHQ, I’ve seen a long and torturous journey for Docker add-on vendors. Part of this is a timing issue—ClusterHQ was pretty early, and arguably burned a bunch of its hard-earned cash too early.But some of the issues are more ecosystem related. When Docker, the commercial entity behind the eponymously named open-source project, was first founded, it received massive interest from funders. Multiple funding rounds saw Docker Inc. achieve incredible valuation levels that many predicted would be problematic in the future.+ Also on Network World: 5 reasons developers love containers +
That prediction would seem to have eventuated, and the recent high-profile rise of Kubernetes certainly increased the pain Docker feels. While many will be quick to point out that Docker and Kubernetes aren’t mutually exclusive, Docker’s valuation was arguably predicated on the company’s ability to expand its footprint far further into the orchestration aspects of containers. The fact that an open-source initiative came to bear, and one that has the proven track record of being directly descended from the systems that Google uses to run its own massive business, certainly put the pressure on Docker.To read this Continue reading
Got a fantastic, futuristic 5G wireless application you need to try out, but you need an FCC license to start testing? It’s about to get easier to get a program experimental license, thanks to a new web portal announced days ago by the FCC, in partnership with NYU and the University of Colorado Boulder.The idea is to make it simpler for research labs, universities, manufacturers and others to obtain the necessary permission to test new devices, while also ensuring that existing services aren’t impacted by testing.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Secrets of bimodal IT success: Tiger teams, skunkworks and the camel’s nose + Galaxy S8+ review: The future of Android is nowTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google's Go is an open source programming language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable, and efficient software. It’s part of the programming language lineage that started with Tony Hoare’s Communicating Sequential Processes, and it includes Occam, Erlang, Newsqueak, and Limbo.Use canonical import paths for repositories with aliasesTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
While blockchain is among the hottest technologies in the enterprise security, data storage and file-sharing arenas, many experts question its use or even whether it's really as secure as billed.As marketplaces struggle with how best to deploy the distributed ledger technology, IT vendors are beginning to test it in their products -- in some cases, as a reaction to customer inquiries rather than a proactive move."It's a very hot topic right now," said Zulfikar Ramzan, CTO of RSA Security, a subsidiary of the Dell EMC Infrastructure Solutions Group. "We are definitely getting a lot of inbound inquiries around blockchain and its implication within enterprise environments. I think it's driven largely by the fact that when there's a new technology out there, to some degree people want to be buzzword compliant with the latest and greatest."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Big spendersImage by UnsplashIT security professionals are in high demand in most job markets, but some metropolitan areas are better than others when it comes to offering a top pay check. Randstat recently released its annual IT salary study, which looked at the top 45 highest paying markets in 27 states. Following are the top 20 markets for cyber security engineers, based on the medium salary reported.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In canvassing the security industry, CBInsights came up with a list of startups with early-to mid-stage high-momentum that have pioneering technology with the potential to transform cybersecurity. They split the companies into the following categories: Quantum Encryption, Predictive Intelligence, Deception Security, Autonomous Systems, IoT Security, Mobile Security, Automobile Security, Critical Infrastructure Security, and Cyber Insurance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Market conditions are "highly favorable" for buyers of data visualization software because of "steady price drops," according to procurement analysts at IBISWorld Inc.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Despite increasing media attention and awareness, the gender pay gap is widening across the U.S., according to new research from financial services research and advisory firm SmartAsset. The pay gap between men and women isn't as pronounced in tech as it is in other fields, but it still exists.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Nearly two-thirds of hospitals now have formal mobile device strategies, a big jump from just five years ago, according to the latest survey by Spok, a healthcare communications company focusing on the acute-care sector. To a large extent, observers say, this growth reflects hospitals’ recognition that their doctors and nurses are already using or wish to use mobile devices at work.From 2012 to 2017, Spok found in its survey of more than 300 healthcare professionals, the percentage of hospitals with a documented mobile strategy increased from 34 percent to 65 percent. Forty percent of institutions have had mobility strategies for one to three years, 14 percent for three to five years, and 25 percent for more than five years. Twenty-one percent launched their strategies less than a year before they participated in the survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Oracle has released a record 299 security fixes for vulnerabilities in its products, including patches for a widely exploited vulnerability in the Apache Struts framework and a Solaris exploit supposedly used by the U.S. National Security Agency.The Struts vulnerability allows for remote code execution on Java web servers and was patched on March 6. Attackers have quickly adopted it and have used it in widespread attacks since then.Oracle uses Apache Struts 2 in several of its products, which is why Tuesday's critical patch update (CPU) fixed 25 instances of the vulnerability in Oracle Communications, Retail and Financial Services applications, as well as in the MySQL Enterprise Monitor, Oracle WebCenter Sites, Oracle WebLogic Server and the Siebel E-Billing app.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Today you'll see the price drop an extra 42% on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. Experience total freedom of choice in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands, the ultimate military shooter set in a massive open world setting. The Santa Blanca drug cartel has transformed the beautiful South American country of Bolivia into a perilous narco-state, leading to lawlessness, fear, and rampant violence. With their corrosive influence growing, the cartel plagues the citizens of Bolivia but all hope is not lost. The Ghosts, an elite US Special Forces team, are tasked to combat the cartel and save the country from collapse. See the discounted Ghost Recon Wildlands on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I’ve written a number of times about a class of software vendors that, in my view, are doing a heroic job. While these vendors aren’t philanthropists, they may as well be, helping millions of frustrated users of enterprise software worldwide reduce the pain they feel on a daily basis.You see, for anyone who is in the fortunate situation of not having to interact with enterprise software on a daily basis, your own interactions with consumer software on your mobile device might have lulled you into a false sense of security.+ Also on Network World: Enterprise software: A look forward to 2017 +
The reality is enterprise software, to put it bluntly, sucks. I’m self-employed and have never worked within a large corporation, but I’ve done enough consulting within these sorts of organizations to have gained a reasonably good appreciation for just how bad these solutions are. Horrible user interfaces, difficult user experiences, generally desktop-bound, slow and inflexible—there is very little to say about traditional enterprise software that is good. And I’m not just talking about the one of two enterprise software vendors who normally bear the brunt of these criticisms. Every traditional player is, in my view, guilty Continue reading
I’ve been remiss by not blogging earlier this year about ESG’s annual IT spending intentions research (note: I am an ESG employee). The year 2017 continues to follow a pattern – cybersecurity is a high business and IT priority for most organizations. Based upon a global survey of 641 IT and cybersecurity professionals, the ESG research reveals:
While just over half (53%) of organizations plan on increasing IT spending overall this year, 69% say they are increasing spending on cybersecurity. As far as cybersecurity spending goes, 48% will make their most significant cybersecurity technology investments in cloud security 39% will in network security, 30% in endpoint security, and 29% in security analytics.
Respondents were asked which business outcomes were their highest priorities for this year. The top three results were as follows: 43% said “reducing costs,” 40% said “increasing productivity, and 39% “improving information security.”
When asked which business initiatives will drive the most IT spending, 39% said, “increasing cybersecurity,” the top selection of all.
When asked to identify the most important IT initiatives for this year, the number one answer was, “strengthening cybersecurity controls and processes.”
For the 6th year Continue reading