Some of the best technology in the world has begun with a simple "Hello World." I wanted to do the same and introduce myself, along with this new blog entitled "The Agile Data Center." With this blog, I will focus on some of the latest technologies around modernizing data center software and hardware, as well as aligning skill sets and introducing new roles in the IT space. So, what defines an agile data center and why should you care? Growing up in the technology space, I've worked for companies such as VERITAS, Symantec, SAP and EMC. During that time, and especially now, I can see and realize that most companies have not aligned business and IT. While this has "worked" for a number of years, companies are now becoming quickly disrupted by startups that have successfully aligned IT and can keep up with the rapid pace of business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Earlier this month I wrote a post asking the question: “Who speaks for multi-vendor environments?” Since then, I’ve had a few vendors reach out to me about their solutions that could indeed meet the needs of a vendor-agnostic data center. One of the most interesting, Apstra, came out of stealth mode this week and has a solution that’s certainly up to the challenge that I laid out in my blog.Apstra’s solution automates the data center operations across the lifecycle of the network—from the design/build phase through deployment/operate. The Apstra Operating System (AOS) takes an integrated approach to managing the data center that starts with business intent and is fed into a closed loop system. The data center operator then selects a pre-configured, and a validated template applies any constraints to it, which creates a blueprint for deployment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One of the main goals of SDN (software-defined networking) is to make networks more agile to meet the changing demands of applications. A new Silicon Valley startup, Apstra, says it has an easier way to do the same thing.
Rather than control the guts of individual network devices through software that makes them more programmable, Apstra says it can deal with those devices as they are and shape the network from a higher level.
The result is a new approach that might let IT departments bypass some of the complex technologies and politics of SDN and still make their networks more responsive to users’ needs. It's due to go on sale by August.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft believes its refusal to turn over email held in Ireland to the U.S. government got a boost from an opinion of the Supreme Court on Monday, which upheld that U.S. laws cannot apply extraterritorially unless Congress has explicitly provided for it.In a decision Monday in a separate case on the extraterritorial application of a provision of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Supreme Court set out the ground rules for its analysis, pointing out that “absent clearly expressed congressional intent to the contrary, federal laws will be construed to have only domestic application.” The court was applying a canon of statutory construction known as the presumption against extraterritoriality.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Android users beware: a new type of malware has been found in legitimate-looking apps that can “root” your phone and secretly install unwanted programs.The malware, dubbed Godless, has been found lurking on app stores including Google Play, and it targets devices running Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and earlier, which accounts for more than 90 percent of Android devices, Trend Micro said Tuesday in a blog post.Godless hides inside an app and uses exploits to try to root the OS on your phone. This basically creates admin access to a device, allowing unauthorized apps to be installed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Don’t be surprised if you see spam coming from the top websites in the world. Lax security standards are allowing anyone to "spoof" emails from some of the most-visited domains, according to new research.Email spoofing — a common tactic of spammers — basically involves forging the sender’s address. Messages can appear as if they came from Google, a bank, or a best friend, even though the email never came from the actual source. The spammer simply altered the email’s "from" address.Authentication systems have stepped in to try and solve the problem. But many of the top website domains are failing to properly use them, opening the door for spoofing, according to Sweden-based Detectify, a security firm.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As the head of Amazon Web Services, Andy Jassy has seen a lot of big organizations start using the public cloud. The biggest indicator of success for a cloud transition is simple, he says: Has the business' senior staff bought into it?In his view, organizations will usually stick with their status quo on-premises data centers unless leaders are ready to promote the use of public cloud services. "And it sounds a little bit simple, but the reality is that there's so much inertia all over these organizations in continuing to things the same way they've been done for the last number of years, for a variety of different reasons," Jassy said at the AWS Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The IT employees at Unum Group, a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based insurer, are alert to the possibility that their employer may shift work to an offshore outsourcing firm. The employees don't know much yet, but they know enough to be alarmed -- and a letter sent out last week by the CIO did little to change that.The news about Unum, which reported nearly $11 billion in revenues last year, originated in a recent blog post by Sara Blackwell, a labor attorney in Florida who represents former Disney IT workers in a lawsuit after that firm replaced them with offshore outsourcer workers. Some of the replacements were on H-1B visas.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In early May, FireEye announced that company president Kevin Mandia would replace industry veteran Dave DeWalt as CEO. My colleague Doug Cahill had a chance to catch up with Kevin yesterday to get his perspectives on FireEye, enterprise security, and the threat landscape amongst others. Here are a few highlights:On FireEye’s direction: In spite of lots of distraction, Mandia is focused on driving “engineering innovation” at FireEye. Normally, this vision would be equated with security products alone but Kevin’s believes that products can anchor services as well. This involves installing FireEye’s endpoint and network security products on a customer network, collecting telemetry, comparing it to current threat intelligence, detecting malicious activities, and then working with customers on remediation. To accomplish this, FireEye products must be “best-in-class” for threat detection on a stand-alone basis. The FireEye staff is then available to add brain power and muscle to help product customers as needed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In early May, FireEye announced that company president Kevin Mandia would replace industry veteran Dave DeWalt as CEO. My colleague Doug Cahill had a chance to catch up with Mandia yesterday to get his perspectives on FireEye, enterprise security and the threat landscape amongst others. Here are a few highlights:On FireEye’s direction: In spite of lots of distraction, Mandia is focused on driving “engineering innovation” at FireEye. Normally, this vision would be equated with security products alone, but Mandia believes products can anchor services as well. This involves installing FireEye’s endpoint and network security products on a customer network, collecting telemetry, comparing it to current threat intelligence, detecting malicious activities, and then working with customers on remediation. To accomplish this, FireEye products must be “best in class” for threat detection on a stand-alone basis. The FireEye staff is then available to add brain power and muscle to help product customers as needed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the face of relentless attacks – via malware, DDOS and malicious email – the defenses that protect the nation’s most “high impact” systems are spotty at best and could leave important programs open to nefarious activities, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.+More on Network World: Not dead yet: 7 of the oldest federal IT systems still wheezing away+At issue here the GAO wrote is the weakness of “high impact” system protection because the government describes those “that hold sensitive information, the loss of which could cause individuals, the government, or the nation catastrophic harm,” and as such should be getting increased security to protect them.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
At Dockercon this week many vendors are singing the praises of their platforms being ideally suited to run application containers. One company with a particularly strong showing at the conference has been Microsoft though, which announced today it is further integrating Docker’s container management products into its Azure cloud portfolio.Microsoft’s container-related announcements at Dockercon include:-Docker Datacenter, the container management platform product is now available as a service in the Azure public cloud marketplace. This is a big deal because it allows customers to run Docker Datacenter on their own premises, and in the public cloud. This is not an exclusive agreement however; Docker Datacenter is also available in Amazon Web Service’s cloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You know that stack of books you’ve been meaning to tackle, but thought you never had the time? The Essential Speed Reading Bundle comes with a 3-year subscription to Spreeder and 7 Speed Reading EX, two tools proven to boost reading speeds. Spreeder is a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) e-reader that presents any digital text at a natural speed that reduces eye movement and increases comprehension. Meanwhile, 7 Speed Reading EX is a speed reading software that trains you to read up to 3.417 times faster through video tutorials and comprehension exercises. Retailing for $146.95, the Essential Speed Reading Bundle is available on sale for $19, almost 90% off its original price.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Salesforce has already rolled out several tools that aim to let business users create their own mobile apps, and on Tuesday it unified them into a suite and added some new services on the back end.The new App Cloud Mobile suite includes Salesforce's Lightning app creation tools, which require little to no coding and are supposed to make it easy enough for everyday business people to create their own iPhone and Android applications.It also includes the development services of Force and Heroku, and the ability to bring Wave Analytics and Lightning Snap-ins to any mobile app.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When it comes to 911, a dichotomy of functionality seems to exist. We have apps to organize our lives, link us to friends and summon our favorite pizza delivery dude. Despite this, providing 911 centers anything more than very coarse location granularity remains a challenge.Apps promoting personal safety do exist. They claim to provide access to 911 through virtual panic buttons. Many also notify friends and family, which oddly enough are often in no position to provide any help or assistance. “Oh my gosh! Fletch is in trouble in Cucamonga, California! Let’s do something! Wait, we’re in New Jersey and have no idea who to call in Cucamonga or what to tell them!”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the future, everything will be connected -- even your grandparents.That's what Samsung Electronics is counting on as it draws up a four-year plan to invest US$1.2 billion in U.S. IoT startups and research.The company sees the Internet of things as a way to provide dementia care and to help millions of elderly people live independently, using a range of devices including some akin to fitness trackers."We can keep people out of hospitals and nursing homes," Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon said at a company event in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "As our populations live longer, these benefits and cost savings for society cannot be ignored."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Say hello to Fedora 24, a Linux OS for a containerized worldImage by The Fedora ProjectFedora 24 is the first 2016 release from the Red Hat-sponsored Fedora Project, and it made its debut on Tuesday. Included in the software are several key new features for enterprises. Here's a look at some of the highlights.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Congress should block proposed changes to rules governing U.S. law enforcement investigations that could give law enforcement agencies new authority to hack thousands of computers, several tech and advocacy groups said.Congress should stop the proposed changes, approved by the Supreme Court in April, that would allow judges to issue warrants for hacking and surveillance in cases where investigators don't know the target computer's location, a coalition of 50 tech trade groups, digital rights groups, and tech companies said in a letter sent Tuesday to congressional leaders.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Rights activists led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Tor Project are rallying similar organizations and their constituents to step up opposition to a rules change backed by the U.S. Justice Department that would grant law enforcement vast new surveillance authorities and undermine anonymity online.Website operators are being asked to join the effort today by posting banners on their sites.From an EFF press release:
EFF and over 40 partner organizations are holding a day of action for a new campaign—noglobalwarrants.org—to engage citizens about the dangers of Rule 41 and push U.S. lawmakers to oppose it. The process for updating these rules—which govern federal criminal court processes—was intended to deal exclusively with procedural issues. But this year a U.S. judicial committee approved changes in the rule that will expand judicial authority to grant warrants for government hacking. …To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The United States and China forged an agreement last year not to conduct cyber espionage against corporations, but it seems pretty likely that groups based in China have continued to do so. However, it might not all be the fault of the government there, according to a report from security company FireEye.
Of 72 groups that FireEye suspects of operating in China or in China’s interests, 13 of them compromised corporate networks in the U.S., Europe and Japan between last fall - when the agreement was reached - and this month, according the report, “Redline Drawn: China Recalculates Its Use of Cyber Espionage”.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here