Kailem Anderson, Vice President of Product Management for Software and Services, Ciena There are many challenges that service providers must deal with in multi-layer networks. A majority of them stem from the lack of coordinated visibility and orchestration across the optical and IP/MPLS layers. Ciena’s Kailem Anderson details these challenges and the benefits that multi-layer orchestration can bring. For even more details, also be sure to attend our upcoming Light Reading webinar.To read this article in full, please click here
Daniele Loffreda, Senior Advisor, Industry Marketing For cities to evolve and realize the full benefits of becoming “smart,” they will require real-time access to multiple sources of data from different locations. Ciena’s Daniele Loffreda explains what is needed from the next-generation of networks to make smart cities a reality.Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said it best during a commencement address at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last year when he proclaimed science and technology are worthless, if they aren’t motivated by the desire to help people. This belief can be just as correctly applied to the planning and development of smart city initiatives.To read this article in full, please click here
The ability to network devices quickly and easily is critical in a hyper-connected world, and although it has been around for decades, DHCP remains an essential method to ensure that devices are able to join networks and are configured correctly. DHCP greatly reduces the errors that are made when IP addresses are assigned manually, and can stretch IP addresses by limiting how long a device can keep an individual IP address. [ Now read 20 hot jobs ambitious IT pros should shoot for. ] DHCP definition DHCP stands for dynamic host configuration protocol and is a network protocol used on IP networks where a DHCP server automatically assigns an IP address and other information to each host on the network so they can communicate efficiently with other endpoints.To read this article in full, please click here
A CIO of a retail chain recently issued an edict that all requirements for networking must be stated as business needs, including all RFIs, RFQs and internal proposals. No networking protocols, features or terms are now permitted. At first glance this seems like a relatively simple instruction, but the IT staff struggled to articulate business needs and map them to network capabilities. The CIO is imposing a discipline of asking “why” three times to try to understand and separate the inertia of past choices from what their business needs today. I believe the CIO is wise in trying to connect the business needs to network capabilities.Speaking the language of the industry Networking professionals are being left out of the narrative. We are deemed a necessary evil rather than a partner in producing products and services. We are the people that slow things down, make things harder and budget for things people do not understand nor value. Becoming part of the narrative requires that each networking professional understand and anticipate their business’s needs. In fact, I would argue that the public cloud, bring your own device and shadow IT are the result of networking not being part of the narrative. Continue reading
One year ago Charlie Giancarlo took the helm of Pure Storage, which in fiscal year 2018 reported its first billion-dollar year.Giancarlo was a managing director and senior advisor at Silver Lake Partners before joining Pure Storage. Prior to that, he held multiple executive positions at Cisco, where he helped steer the company into markets such as Ethernet switching, VoIP, Wi-Fi and telepresence.[ Check out AI boosts data-center availability, efficiency. Also learn what hyperconvergence is and whether you’re ready for hyperconverged storage. For regularly scheduled insights sign up for Network World newsletters. ] Giancarlo talked with Network World's Ann Bednarz about what Pure is doing to keep the storage industry moving forward, and how the experience he gained during Cisco’s growth spurt is helping. To read this article in full, please click here
As enterprises endeavor to expand domestic and global footprints, agile network infrastructure connectivity across geographies continues to prove an ongoing challenge. In particular, ensuring that data shared over these networks is protected from unauthorized access is a primary directive in today’s evolving cyber threat landscape. These often-contradictory demands call for IT decision makers to invest in innovation that will facilitate network flexibility and agility without compromising security, productivity or performance.This challenge begs a simple question. How can a WAN deliver the flexibility and agility necessary to help an organization grow without increasing exposure to data breaches and other security problems? After all, if the cost of convenience is increased network vulnerabilities, can it be considered a sound approach?To read this article in full, please click here
Hybrid IT networking has come a long way in the past decade, as enterprises have gradually come to embrace and trust cloud computing. Yet, despite the growing popularity of both private and public clouds, many enterprise IT teams are still struggling with how to handle the resulting migration challenges.Originally envisioned as simply a way to reduce costs, migration to the cloud has escalated in large part due to a drive for greater agility and flexibility. In fact, according to a recent State of the Network global survey of more than 600 IT professionals, the top two reasons enterprises are moving to the cloud are to increase IT scalability and agility, and to improve service availability and reliability. The need to lower costs was ranked number four, tied with the desire to deliver new services faster.To read this article in full, please click here
At the present time, there is a remarkable trend for application modularization that splits the large hard-to-change monolith into a focused microservices cloud-native architecture. The monolith keeps much of the state in memory and replicates between the instances, which makes them hard to split and scale. Scaling up can be expensive and scaling out requires replicating the state and the entire application, rather than the parts that need to be replicated.In comparison to microservices, which provide separation of the logic from the state, the separation enables the application to be broken apart into a number of smaller more manageable units, making them easier to scale. Therefore, a microservices environment consists of multiple services communicating with each other. All the communication between services is initiated and carried out with network calls, and services exposed via application programming interfaces (APIs). Each service comes with its own purpose that serves a unique business value.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco’s strategy of diversifying into a more software-optimized business is paying off – literally.The software differentiation was perhaps never more obvious than in its most recent set of year-end and fourth quarter results. (Cisco's 2018 fiscal year ended July 28.) Cisco said deferred revenue for the fiscal year was $19.7 billion, up 6 percent overall, “with deferred product revenue up 15 percent, driven largely by subscription-based and software offers, and deferred service revenue was up 1 percent.”[ Related: Getting grounded in intent-based networking] The portion of deferred product revenue that is related to recurring software and subscription offers increased 23 percent over 2017, Cisco stated. In addition, Cisco reported deferred revenue from software and subscriptions increasing 23 percent to $6.1 billion in the fourth quarter alone.To read this article in full, please click here
Domain Name System (DNS) is our root of trust and is one of the most critical components of the internet. It is a mission-critical service because if it goes down, a business’s web presence goes down.DNS is a virtual database of names and numbers. It serves as the backbone for other services critical to organizations. This includes email, internet site access, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), and the management of files.You hope that when you type a domain name that you are really going where you are supposed to go. DNS vulnerabilities do not get much attention until an actual attack occurs and makes the news. For example, in April 2018, public DNS servers that managed the domain for Myetherwallet were hijacked and customers were redirected to a phishing site. Many users reported losing funds out of their account, and this brought a lot of public attention to DNS vulnerabilities.To read this article in full, please click here
Fiber transmission could be more efficient, go farther, carry more traffic and be cheaper to implement if the work of scientists in Sweden and Estonia is successful.In a recent demonstration, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, used new, ultra-low-noise amplifiers to increase the normal fiber-optic transmission link range six-fold.And in a separate experiment, researchers at DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark used a unique frequency comb to push more than the total of all internet traffic down one solitary fiber link.[ Read also: How Google is speeding up the Internet ] Fiber transmission limits Signal noise and distortion have always been behind the limits to traditional (and pretty inefficient) fiber transmission. They’re the main reason data-send distance and capacity are restricted using the technology. Experts believe, however, that if the noise that’s found in the amplifiers used for gaining distance could be cleaned up and the signal distortion inherent in the fiber itself could be eliminated, fiber could become more efficient and less costly to implement.To read this article in full, please click here
Ask seasoned IT professionals what they dislike most about their infrastructure, and they’ll answer in unison: Change. IT, network and security professionals all rely on tried-and-true products to keep the business humming along, but is doing so exposing them to new risks? This post looks at some hidden risk factors present in many of today’s DNS environments, and what enterprises should be doing now to ameliorate them.There are very few organizations more change-averse than enterprise IT professionals – especially their network and security teams. With network stability (read uptime) at the heart of their existence, reliance on known products and services can become a crutch – and a blindfold, limiting the ability to objectively consider new infrastructure solutions. As the advent of cloud came upon IT, many organizations needed to fight the ‘server-huggers’, who insisted that their sacred server or device located in the datacenter was the only way to run a specific application or perform a specific business function.To read this article in full, please click here
As I sit at my desk and stare at the phone in front of me, I think back to a time when “experts” predicted desk phones would no longer be needed.Well, those experts were certainly wrong. Instead, we have several options in desk phones — so many, in fact, that you may feel you need directory assistance just to get started. You're left wondering if you should go with an old favorite or try a newer model. And you're likely concerned about Cisco's announced end-of-sale and end-of-life dates for the Cisco Unified IP Phones 7945, 7965, 7975, and 7916. Are they still a good value, and will they still be available in the secondary market?Or maybe you're wondering if you should go with the Cisco 8800 Series models that came out a few years ago that were supposed to eventually replace the whole 7900 Series. Can you afford all the bells and whistles that go with the 8800 series?To read this article in full, please click here
Announced just yesterday in security advisories from Intel, Microsoft and Red Hat, a newly discovered vulnerability affecting Intel processors (and, thus, Linux) called L1TF or “L1 Terminal Fault” is grabbing the attention of Linux users and admins. Exactly what is this vulnerability and who should be worrying about it?L1TF, L1 Terminal Fault, and Foreshadow The processor vulnerability goes by any of those names. Researchers who discovered the problem back in January and reported it to Intel called it "Foreshadow". It is similar to vulnerabilities discovered in the past (such as Spectre).This vulnerability is Intel-specific. Other processors are not affected. And like some other vulnerabilities, it exists because of design choices that were implemented to optimize kernel processing speed but exposed data in ways that allowed access by other processes.To read this article in full, please click here
Normally, this is the time of year when Intel would hold its Intel Developer Forum conference, which would be replete with new product announcements. But with the demise of the show last year, the company instead held an all-day event that it live-streamed over the web.The company’s Data Centric Innovation Summit was the backdrop for a series of processor and memory announcements aimed at the data center and artificial intelligence, in particular. Even though Intel is without a leader, it still has considerable momentum. Navin Shenoy, executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group, did the heavy lifting.News about Cascade Lake, the rebranded Xeon server chip First is news around the Xeon Scalable processor, the rebranded Xeon server chip. The next-generation chip, codenamed “Cascade Lake,” will feature a memory controller for Intel’s new Intel Optane DC persistent memory and an embedded AI accelerator that the company claims will speed up deep learning inference workloads by eleven-fold compared with current-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors.To read this article in full, please click here
Like many consumers, I tend to be automatically suspicious of insurance companies’ plans to track my behavior. And like many tech journalists, I’m also skeptical of clever new smart home automation schemes. But painful personal experience has me all excited about a new pilot program involving Travelers insurance and Notion smart home sensors.According to a post in Coverager: “Travelers has tapped Notion, the home awareness solution and smart home sensor, to offer smart home monitoring systems to Travelers customers in California. Travelers is working with Notion to provide data-driven insights to customers through Notion’s home monitoring system in order to prevent and mitigate threats such as water leaks, fire damage, and thefts.To read this article in full, please click here
The financial services industry is experiencing a period of dramatic change as a result of the growth in digitalization and its effect on customer behavior. In an emerging landscape made up of cryptocurrencies, frictionless trading, and consolidated marketplace lending, traditional banks have found themselves shaken by the introduction of new, disruptive, digitally-native and mobile-first brands.With a reputation as being somewhat conservative and slow to innovate, many financial service providers are now modernizing and improving their systems, transforming their new business models and technologies in an effort to stay ahead of the more agile challengers snapping at their heels.To read this article in full, please click here
After nearly four years of slashing at each other in court with legal swords Cisco and Arista have agreed to disagree, mostly.To settle the litigation mêlée, Arista has agreed to pay Cisco $400 million, which will result in the dismissal of all pending district court and International Trade Commission litigation between the two companies. [ Related: How to plan a software-defined data-center network ] For Arista the agreement should finally end any customer fear, uncertainty and doubt caused by the lawsuit. In fact Zacks Equity Research wrote the settlement is likely to immensely benefit Arista.To read this article in full, please click here
Ciena Rick Hamilton, Senior Vice President, Global Software and Services Ciena has officially completed the acquisition of Packet Design. Rick Hamilton, SVP of Global Software and Services at Ciena, details how the integration of these new capabilities into our Blue Planet portfolio will help our customers in their path to the Adaptive Network.Today I had the privilege of welcoming the Packet Design team into the Ciena family, following our May 31 announcement to acquire the company. On July 2, we officially completed the acquisition, bringing the Packet Design network performance management software and critical IP expertise into Ciena’s industry-leading Blue Planet software portfolio.To read this article in full, please click here
Peer-to-peer exchanges of excess bandwidth could one day be commonplace, says a firm that is attempting to monetize redundant internet capacity. It wants to create a marketplace for selling internet data throughput that has been already bought by organizations, but which is often dormant during out-of-work hours — the bandwidth is customarily just lying around then, not being used.Dove Network wants to “do to the telecom industry what Airbnb did to the hotel industry,” co-founder Douglas Schwartz told me via email.The idea is that those with excess data capacity, such as a well-provisioned office or data center, which may not be using all of its throughput capacity all of the time — such as during the weekend — allocates that spare bandwidth to Dove’s network. Passing-by data-users, such as Internet of Things-based sensors or an individual going about business, would then grab the data it, he, or she needs; payment is then handled seamlessly through blockchain smart contracts.To read this article in full, please click here