Enabled by SD-WAN, internet-first networking strategies are now the order of the day for wide-area connectivity and have been for some time. While MPLS used to be the de facto choice for enterprise-grade network transport, companies today are using internet-based transport technologies such as dedicated internet access, business broadband, cellular broadband as well as other niche network technologies like microwave.Best practices call for companies to work with multiple suppliers to get competitive prices, maximize service coverage, and secure better service delivery performance. But which suppliers should an enterprise select? How do you figure out the best fit for an enterprise’s needs, and what are some of the challenges and gotchas of a multi-supplier portfolio approach?To read this article in full, please click here
A dramatic disagreement in the enterprise Linux community has some distributions scrambling to keep their code compatible with Red Hat, as the acknowledged biggest player in the space cracks down on source code distribution.The core issue is the existence of several “downstream” Linux distributions based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Those distributions were historically based on CentOS, a free RHEL clone developed originally for the purposes of testing and development. The downstream distributions in question, however, are supported by companies like CIQ and Oracle – which sell support services for their “clones” of RHEL. This has led to a long-running tension between those companies and Red Hat, whose supporters argue that the downstream companies are simply repackaging Red Hat’s work for profit, while detractors say that Red Hat is violating the sprit – if not, technically, the law – of open source.To read this article in full, please click here
By: Nav Chander, Head of Service Provider SD-WAN/SASE Product Marketing at HPE Aruba Networking.In this first of a three-part blog series on SD-WAN, SSE, and multi-cloud networking (MCN), where we will highlight how these three technology areas are analogous to three different musical instruments that can be played separately. However, when these three technologies are “synchronized,” much like a musical ensemble of the three instruments blends the music to create a perfect harmony and an enjoyable listening experience.To read this article in full, please click here
Versa is bolstering the AI security management features of its integrated Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) package to include improved malware detection for Advanced Threat Protection, network microsegmention and generative AI protection to help customers better detect and quickly mitigate threats to their networked service and applications.The vendor supports AI in its integrated Versa SASE package that includes SD WAN, a next-generation and web application firewall, intrusion prevention, zero trust support and data loss prevention.To read this article in full, please click here
Companies trying to deploy generative AI today have a major problem. If they use a commercial platform like OpenAI, they have to send data up to the cloud, which may run afoul of compliance requirements and is expensive. If they download and run a model like Llama 2 locally, they need to know a lot about how to fine-tune it, how to set up vector databases to feed it live data, and how to operationalize it.VMware's new partnership with Nvidia aims to solve these issues by offering a fully integrated, ready-to-go generative AI platform that companies can run on premises, in colocation facilities, or in private clouds. The platform will include Llama 2 or a choice of other large language models, as well as a vector database to feed up-to-date company information to the LLM.To read this article in full, please click here
Combining things to make them easier to manage and secure is a recurring theme at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas. To that end, VMware is announcing a single console for its SASE platform and edge stack to enable unified management of edge networking, security and compute infrastructure.SASE – secure access service edge – is a way to provide security and networking to end users and manage it in the cloud. It's grown in popularity since the pandemic as employees were sent home to work and companies scrambled to figure out how to get them connected.To read this article in full, please click here
VMware customers that have both on-prem and cloud-based architecture can now manage networking and security for both in a single management console. Unveiled at this week's VMware Explore conference in Las Vegas, NSX+ is new cloud-managed service that’s geared for multicloud environments and is designed to enable consistent network and security operations, centralized security policy management, network and application visibility, and network detection and response.This latest evolution of VMware's core networking package will be available to current NSX customers as an upgrade and to new customers as both a free trial and a paid offering effective today. By the end of the year, NSX+ will also extend to businesses running their cloud infrastructure natively in public clouds, says Rob Markovich, who leads product marketing for multicloud networking and network virtualization for VMware.To read this article in full, please click here
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority Monday approved the proposed $61 billion megamerger between Broadcom and VMware, saying that the deal would not substantially affect innovation or harm the ability of rivals to compete against the merged company.While Broadcom said that it expects to receive all regulatory approvals necessary to close the deal VMware deal by the end of October, it acknowledged that it is still working with some authorities to obtain consent, and said in a filing with the US Securities Exchange Commission on Monday that it has agreed with VMware to extend the "Outside Date" for the deadline to conclude the deal. The new date was not immediately specified by Broadcom.To read this article in full, please click here
If you’re looking to add more certifications to your resume, don’t forget about wireless. Whether you’re just starting your IT career, have been in IT before Wi-Fi was a thing, or even if you have a non-IT position, there are certifications to help prove your wireless knowledge and skills.For starters, there are vendor-neutral certifications from Certified Wireless Network Professionals (CWNP), one of the most popular programs in the wireless world. These are great if you aren’t already loyal to a networking brand. And even if you already have a favorite brand, these go deeper into the 802.11 standards and radio frequency (RF) technology without all the proprietary details and brand specifics.To read this article in full, please click here
Intel's planned $5.4 billion acquisition of Israel-based Tower falls apart, as China fails to approve the deal before the companies' agreement deadline.
Kneron has rolled out a new type of neural processing unit, the KL730, which integrates image signal processing and high energy efficiency for use in edge, security and automotive applications.The San Diego-based chip designer, in an announcement Tuesday, said that the KL730 is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex A55 CPU, along with its own-brand, fourth- generation neural processing unit, as well as a host of connectivity options, including SD, USB 2 and 3, and Ethernet. Its image processing technology also packs in the ability to read high-definition inputs at up to 8MP at 90 frames per second, hardware dewarping for full panoramic views, and several other image signal processing features.To read this article in full, please click here
As enterprise networks get more complex, so do the firewall deployments.There are on-premises firewalls to manage, along with firewalls that are deployed in virtual machines and firewalls deployed in containers. There are firewalls for clouds and firewalls for data centers, firewalls for network perimeters, and firewalls for distributed offices. According to Gartner, by 2026, more than 60% of organizations will have more than one type of firewall deployment."A firewall used to be a box or a chasse with multiple cards," says Omdia analyst Fernando Montenegro. "Then we had a firewall in a virtual machine. And now we have a container form factor for a firewall because customers are deploying containers. And, oh, we need firewalls-as-a-service to support SASE."To read this article in full, please click here
The pandemic forced businesses to send employees home to work, but even in recovery, the workforce trend is going strong. Some remote work measures were considered a temporary fix, and now the hybrid work reality demands IT organizations reassess how they can deliver consistent support, service, and technology to employees wherever they decide to work.“There have been a lot of conversations about return to work, but it’s not really happening,” said Shamus McGillicuddy, vice president of research at Enterprise Management Associates, during a recent webinar.To read this article in full, please click here
Linux shells like bash have a convenient way of remembering commands that you type, making it easy to run them again without having to retype them. Just use the history command (which is a bash built-in) and then use an exclamation point followed by the number shown in front of the command in the history command output that you want to rerun. Alternatively, you can back up to that command by pressing the up arrow key as many times as needed to reach that command and then press return. Don’t forget, though, that you can also set up commands you are likely to use often as aliases by adding a line like this to your ~/.bashrc file so that you don’t need to search for them in your command history. Here’s an example:To read this article in full, please click here
The latest quarterly report from Backblaze on hard drive reliability reveals a rise in failures among certain drives.Backblaze is a pure storage provider; cloud storage is all they do, and they dig deep into the statistics of hard drive failure and share their data with the industry. The company currently has a massive inventory of 241,297 hard disk drives of varying capacities and from various brands. (In recent quarters, Backblaze has added SSD performance to its measurements, but SSDs are still early in their deployment lifecycle, so patterns over time have yet to fully emerge.)To read this article in full, please click here
ECL has announced what it says will be the world’s first modular, sustainable, off-grid data center that uses hydrogen as its primary power source, promising carbon neutral performance and 99.9999% uptime.Modular data centers are designed to go together like building blocks, allowing companies to start small and grow as their capacity needs increase. The ECL data centers will come in 1 megawatt blocks.ECL's data-center-as-a-service offering is geared primarily to mid-sized data center operators, as well as large companies with a mix of cloud and on-premises IT environments. It claims its data centers will have a total cost of ownership that's two-thirds of what a traditional colocation data center environment would cost when measured over five years.To read this article in full, please click here
As it previewed in March, IBM is set to deliver an AI-infused, hybrid-cloud oriented version of its z/OS mainframe operating system.Set for delivery on Sept. 29, z/OS 3.1, the operating system grows IBM’s AI portfolio to let customers securely deploy AI applications co-located with z/OS applications and data, as well as a variety of new features such as container extensions for Red Hat and Linux applications that better support hybrid cloud applications on the Big Iron.In this release of the mainframe’s OS, AI support is implemented in a feature package called AI System Services for IBM z/OS version 1.1. that lets customers build an AI Framework that IBM says is designed to support initial and future intelligent z/OS management capabilities.To read this article in full, please click here
As it previewed in March, IBM is set to deliver an AI-infused, hybrid-cloud oriented version of its z/OS mainframe operating system.Set for delivery on Sept. 29, z/OS 3.1, the operating system grows IBM’s AI portfolio to let customers securely deploy AI applications co-located with z/OS applications and data, as well as a variety of new features such as container extensions for Red Hat and Linux applications that better support hybrid cloud applications on the Big Iron.In this release of the mainframe’s OS, AI support is implemented in a feature package called AI System Services for IBM z/OS version 1.1. that lets customers build an AI Framework that IBM says is designed to support initial and future intelligent z/OS management capabilities.To read this article in full, please click here
Cybercriminals aren’t slowing down, and their campaigns are becoming more complex and harder to detect. Between advanced persistent attacks, attempts to infiltrate nontraditional devices, and the increase in multifaceted attack strategies, networks are under constant siege. At the same time, the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), hybrid-cloud computing, and remote work demands, as well as the continued shortage of skilled security professionals, all make it more challenging than ever to secure and manage enterprise environments. To read this article in full, please click here
Kyndryl said it would tap into Microsoft’s enterprise-grade generative AI technology to develop business applications with Microsoft Cloud.The IT infrastructure provider announced the joint project with Microsoft on the heels of announcing significant 1Q 2024 earnings where Kyndryl executives said the company will return to profitability in the next year, at least a year ahead of what financial analysts predicted after the company spun out of IBM in November 2021.In addition, Kyndryl chairman and chief executive officer Martin Schroeter told analysts on the company’s first quarter financial call that he expects the company to return to revenue growth in calendar year 2025 and that the company will reach its medium-term profit goals – in what he called significant progress for a company that has been independent for only 6 quarters.To read this article in full, please click here