This time of year, it can seem like the world is swimming in predictions for the new year, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is no exception. In fact, in fast-evolving areas like IoT, multitudes of trends and opportunities and challenges are in play, making predictions ridiculously easy — just about anything can happen, and probably will.[ Also read: Gartner’s top 10 IoT trends for 2019 and beyond | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] So, my goal here is to identify a set of IoT predictions that are both likely to happen … and likely to have a significant impact on the development and implementation of the technology.To read this article in full, please click here
Linux systems provide a handy suite of commands for helping you see how busy your disks are, not just how full. In this post, we're going to examine five very useful commands for looking into disk activity. Two of the commands (iostat and ioping) may have to be added to your system and these same two commands require you to use sudo privileges, but all five commands provide useful ways to view disk activity.Probably one of the easiest and most obvious of these commands is dstat.dtstat In spite of the fact that the dstat command begins with the letter "d", it provides stats on a lot more than just disk activity. If you want to view just disk activity, you can use the -d option. As shown below, you’ll get a continuous list of disk read/write measurements until you stop the display with a ^c. Note that, after the first report, each subsequent row in the display will report disk activity in the following time interval and the default is only one second.To read this article in full, please click here
Applications used to be vertically integrated, monolithic software. Today, that’s changed, as modern applications are composed of separate micro-services that can be quickly brought together and delivered as a single experience. Containers allow for these app components to be spun up significantly faster and run for a shorter period of time providing the ultimate in application agility. The use of containers continues to grow. A recent survey from ZK Research found that 64 percent of companies already use containers, with 24 percent planning to adopt them by the end of 2020. (Note: I am an employee of ZK Research.) This trend will cause problems for network professionals if the approach to management does not change.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco this week said it patched a “critical” patch for its Prime License Manager (PLM) software that would let attackers execute random SQL queries.The Cisco Prime License Manager offers enterprise-wide management of user-based licensing, including license fulfillment.RELATED: What IT admins love/hate about 8 top network monitoring tools Released in November, the first version of the Prime License Manager patch caused its own “functional” problems that Cisco was then forced to fix. That patch, called ciscocm.CSCvk30822_v1.0.k3.cop.sgn addressed the SQL vulnerability but caused backup, upgrade and restore problems, and should no longer be used Cisco said.To read this article in full, please click here
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are emerging fields that will transform businesses faster than ever before. In the digital era, success will be based on using analytics to discover key insights locked in the massive volume of data being generated today.In the past, these insights were discovered using manually intensive analytic methods. Today, that doesn’t work, as data volumes continue to grow as does the complexity of data. AI and ML are the latest tools for data scientists, enabling them to refine the data into value faster.[ Also read: Network operations: A new role for AI and ML | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] Data explosion necessitates the need for AI and ML Historically, businesses operated with a small set of data generated from large systems of record. Today’s environment is completely different where there are orders of magnitude more devices and systems that generate their own data that can be used in the analysis. The challenge for businesses is that there is far too much data to be analyzed manually. The only way to compete in an increasingly digital world is to use AL and ML.To read Continue reading
When Tim Callahan came to Aflac four years ago to take on the role of CISO, enterprise security at the insurance giant was embedded deep in the infrastructure team.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
It’s a mobile, cloud and IoT world. Whether it’s a workplace, a classroom or a dorm room, people are using a variety of devices beyond the usual phone and laptop combo—smart TVs, gaming consoles and fitness trackers, for starters. Offices, stores and manufacturing floors are outfitted with sensors that keep us safe, regulate the temperature, water the plants and run the production line. People use a broad variety of applications such as voice and video from their mobile devices. And expectations are at an all-time high. People will simply ditch digital services that don’t work. No one wants jittery presentations and dropped calls. The network experience must be flawless.To read this article in full, please click here
Domain name system (DNS) over transport layer security (TLS) adds an extra layer of encryption, but in what way does it impact your IP network traffic? The additional layer of encryption indicates controlling what’s happening over the network is likely to become challenging.Most noticeably it will prevent ISPs and enterprises from monitoring the user’s site activity and will also have negative implications for both; the wide area network (WAN) optimization and SD-WAN vendors.During a recent call with Sorell Slaymaker, we rolled back in time and discussed how we got here, to a world that will soon be fully encrypted. We started with SSL1.0, which was the original version of HTTPS as opposed to the non-secure HTTP. As an aftermath of evolution, it had many security vulnerabilities. Consequently, we then evolved from SSL 1.1 to TLS 1.2. To read this article in full, please click here
I’m beginning to understand why Thomas Kurian left Oracle to try and right the foundering ship that is Google Cloud Platform. He reportedly butted heads with the boss (that would be Larry Ellison) over a desire to make Oracle products more readily available on competitive cloud platforms, and this announcement reflects that. It’s a nice bit of news if you are an Oracle customer, but not if you use a competitive product.Last week at KubeCon, the company announced the Oracle Cloud Native Framework, which is designed for organizations looking to build hybrid cloud architectures across both public cloud and on-premises infrastructure.It’s something all of the competition is doing, of course. Oracle’s efforts are best compared to Microsoft and IBM, since they also had legacy systems and customers to move to the cloud as well.To read this article in full, please click here
Everyone agrees that backups should be sent off site, but not everyone agrees on how that should be accomplished. The decision about which method to use will affect your recovery-time objective (RTO), recovery-point objective (RPO), risk level, and cost – so it’s rather important.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
Enterprises adopt IoT solutions for two primary reasons. First, they want to lower their companies’ operating and capital costs. These types of IoT solutions including factory automation, remote asset monitoring, fleet management, and smart metering help enterprises improve their bottom lines by focusing on all sorts of cost reduction.Second, enterprises want to add IoT to the products they sell to their customers. This allows enterprises to bundle new connectivity-based services with their core products, thereby increasing revenue and differentiating their offerings. Examples of these types of IoT solutions include in-vehicle infotainment, connected welding equipment, connected commercial-grade power tools, and many more.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco says it is buying optical-semiconductor firm Luxtera for $660 million and will build its silicon photonics into future enterprise data-center, webscale, and service-provider networking gear.This photonic technology is essential to keep up with projected massive increases in IP traffic volume over the next four years, according to Cisco's networking chief."Optics is a fundamental technology to enable this future. Coupled with our silicon and optics innovation, Luxtera will allow our customers to build the biggest, fastest and most efficient networks in the world," said David Goeckeler, executive vice president and general manager, Networking and Security Business at CiscoTo read this article in full, please click here
Open source containers are moving in a direction that many of us never anticipated. Long recognized as providing an effective way to package applications with all of their required components, some are also tackling one of the most challenging areas in the compute world today -- high performance computing or "HPC". And while containers can bring a new level of efficiency to the world of HPC, they're also presenting new ways of working for enterprise IT organizations that are running HPC-like jobs.How containers work Containers offer many advantages to organizations seeking to distribute applications. By incorporating an application's many dependencies (libraries, etc.) into self-sustainable images, they avoid a lot of installation problems. The differences in OS distributions have no impact, so separate versions of applications don't have to be prepared and maintained, thus making developers' work considerably easier.To read this article in full, please click here
Open-source containers are moving in a direction that many of us never anticipated.Long recognized as providing an effective way to package applications with all of their required components, some are also tackling one of the most challenging areas in the compute world today — high-performance computing (HPC). And while containers can bring a new level of efficiency to the world of HPC, they're also presenting new ways of working for enterprise IT organizations that are running HPC-like jobs.How containers work Containers offer many advantages to organizations seeking to distribute applications. By incorporating an application's many dependencies (libraries, etc.) into self-sustainable images, they avoid a lot of installation problems. The differences in OS distributions have no impact, so separate versions of applications don't have to be prepared and maintained, thus making developers' work considerably easier.To read this article in full, please click here
Soon we may have a space-based optical backbone capable of transferring data 1.5 times faster than Earth-based terrestrial fiber, now that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given LeoSat the go-ahead to start its build-out.Moving “large quantities of data quickly and securely around the world, is fast outpacing the infrastructure in place to carry it,” says LeoSat in a press release announcing its FCC market-access grant last month. Upcoming LeoSat, will be a “a backbone in space for global business,” the company says.To read this article in full, please click here
Over the next two to three years, we will see an explosion of new complex processors that not only do the general-purpose computing we commonly see today (scalar and vector/graphics processing), but also do a significant amount of matrix and spatial data analysis (e.g., augmented reality/virtual reality, visual response systems, artificial intelligence/machine learning, specialized signal processing, communications, autonomous sensors, etc.).In the past, we expected all newer-generation chips to add features/functions as they were being designed. But that approach is becoming problematic. As we scale Moore’s Law closer to the edge of physical possibility (from 10nm to 7, then 5), it becomes increasingly lengthy and costly to perfect the new processes. What was generally about 12 months between processing improvement steps now is closer to two years, and newer process factories can cost upwards of $10 billion or more.To read this article in full, please click here
As we head towards the end of the year and end of our budgets, my engineers are reminding everyone that the Cisco 2960-XR family is an affordable and under-utilized option compared to other switch siblings in the Cisco 2960 family.The 2960-XR Series switches provide easy device onboarding, configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting. These fully managed switches can provide advanced Layer 2 and Layer 3 features, as well as optional Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) power. The switches deliver enhanced application visibility, network reliability, and network resiliency that continues to make it a great networking choice.Since the 2960-XR switches are part of the 2960-X family, users will be familiar with the switches port counts and types, the identical levels of PoE+, and the identical stacking module/capability. But be sure to read on, as I have more to say about stacking.To read this article in full, please click here
The word “tarball” is often used to describe the type of file used to back up a select group of files and join them into a single file. The name comes from the .tar file extension and the tar command that is used to group together the files into a single file that is then sometimes compressed to make it smaller for its move to another system.Tarballs are often used to back up personal or system files in place to create an archive, especially prior to making changes that might have to be reversed. Linux sysadmins, for example, will often create a tarball containing a series of configuration files before making changes to an application just in case they have to reverse those changes. Extracting the files from a tarball that’s sitting in place will generally be faster than having to retrieve the files from backups.To read this article in full, please click here
GE has spun off its industrial internet of things platform into a separate company while making other changes including selling off its interest in field-service software ServiceMax.These moves shake up of the company’s GE Digital division and also include parting ways with the group’s CEO, Bill Ruh.Predix is GE's ingestion and processing platform for industrial operations data, developed with the idea of providing a standardized way for companies to utilize the information coming from their sensor-equipped industrial gear. One business might use the software, which is delivered in a PaaS format, as a way to automate reliability and maintenance for production line equipment, another might use it to track whether a generator is in danger of breaking down.To read this article in full, please click here
In network circles, there may be no hotter topic right now than software-defined WAN (SD-WAN). Given WAN technology stood still for the better part of three decades, this makes sense, as most companies have a WAN that’s long overdue for a refresh and architectural update — and SD-WANs make this a reality.SD-WANs are definitely moving out of the early-adopter phase and into mainstream adoption. And anytime a technology does this, the market changes. Below are the primary ways SD-WANs will change in 2019.[ Check out: 10 hot SD-WAN startups to watch | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] Less focus on cost savings The initial wave of SD-WANs was sold with the promise of slashing network costs by replacing MPLS with broadband. If a business is willing to ditch all of its MPLS, and that’s a big if, and replace it wholly with broadband, it will save money on transport. However, it will likely need to add some optimization technologies to account for the unpredictability of broadband.To read this article in full, please click here