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Category Archives for "Networking"

Whose Zoomin who? Polycom is

Shortly after talking the helm as Polycom, CEO Mary McDowell discussed her strategy for the company moving forward. One of the focus areas for it is to broaden its technology partner ecosystem. The company has a great partnership with Microsoft and is the only vendor that has products that interoperate natively with Skype for Business/Office 365. As lucrative as this partnership has been to Polycom, McDowell recognizes that not everyone will be using Microsoft for their collaboration needs. + Also on Network World: Polycom brings a wide variety of video solutions to Microsoft Unified Communications + Also, Polycom will be directing more resources into endpoint innovation. The infrastructure business at Polycom has been in decline for years because customers are choosing to leverage the power and ubiquity of the cloud. Polycom has been a technology leader since its inception, but the transition of video from being on premises to the cloud has shrunk the companies addressable market. Hence the change in strategy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell EMC and The Amazing Internet Of Things

While at Dell EMC World 2017 I had a very interesting chat with Jason Shepherd, Dell EMC’s Director of IoT Strategy & Partnerships. To be clear, I’m not an expert on the Internet of Things (IOT), and our discussion was a useful reminder how much difference perspective makes when evaluating a technology.

 

Dell EMC Logo

 

Internet Of Things: Use Cases

When I think about IOT the first thing that comes to mind — naturally enough — are the items most applicable to me, like a smart thermostat, smart door locks, smart light bulbs, and so forth. I work in an enterprise, so I also think about building management in the enterprise, to include things like smart lighting, HVAC, presence sensors, temperature monitoring and more. Both of these environments are ripe for IOT functionality, and are the ones that most of us are likely to encounter on a daily basis.

However, it’s probably obvious that there are many more use cases for IOT devices, including for example:

  • industrial (monitoring critical equipment like motors, valves, temperatures, flow meters)
  • metropolitan (city-wide automotive/pedestrian traffic monitoring, traffic flows)
  • agricultural (monitoring water levels, animal health, production volumes, environmental)
  • automotive (monitoring the car’s engine, location, mechanical and electronic Continue reading

23% off iRobot Roomba 650 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner – Deal Alert

If you want a thorough, everyday clean, maybe you should consider using robots. The Roomba 650 Vacuuming Robot provides a thorough clean at the push of a button. The patented, 3-Stage Cleaning System easily picks up dust, pet hair and large debris like cereal and works on all floor types, adjusting itself and re-charging itself as needed to make sure the job is done correctly every time you need it -- preset Roomba to clean when it’s convenient for you. Roomba is just 3.6 inch tall, and is specifically designed to fit under most furniture, beds and kickboards. The 650 model is a #1 best seller on Amazon, where its typical list price of $374 is reduced right now to $286.99. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Start Using OpenConfig with NAPALM on Software Gone Wild

OpenConfig sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately only a few vendors support it, and it doesn’t run on all their platforms, and you need the latest-and-greatest software release. Not exactly a set of conditions that would encourage widespread adoption.

Things might change with the OpenConfig data models supported in NAPALM. Imagine you could parse router configurations or show printouts into OpenConfig data structures, or use OpenConfig to configure Cisco IOS routers running a decade old software.

Read more ...

Progressive Dutch Municipality Protects Citizen Data and Meets Compliance with VMware NSX

Summary: Municipality of Zoetermeer implements Zero-Trust model with VMware NSX-enabled micro-segmentation for advanced security inside data centers. Zoetermeer follows the Dutch BIG (Baseline Information Security Dutch Municipalities) regulations

Zoetermeer is a modern, fast-growing municipality in the province of South Holland. It provides local services such as water supply, sewage and garbage disposal to around 125,000 residents. As a forward-thinking organization, the municipality of Zoetermeer recognizes that the increasing volume of cyber attacks against organizations today has shown that traditional, perimeter-centric security models are no longer effective.

The municipality responded by working with VMware partner ON2IT IT Services on a solution that wouldn’t treat everything inside the network as trusted. Zoetermeer deployed VMware NSX® network virtualization to facilitate a Zero Trust security model. This Zero Trust model is enabled by the unique micro-segmentation capabilities of VMware NSX.  Zoetermeer is now compartmentalizing different segments of its network and applying automated, fine-grained security policies to individual applications.

“The municipality of Zoetermeer is committed to delivering digital services to our citizens, and also digital tools to enable the best experience for our employees,” said Mr. Van Gaalen, IT Manager, Municipality of Zoetermeer. “But security must remain paramount. Thanks to VMware, we can Continue reading

Progressive Dutch Municipality Protects Citizen Data and Meets Compliance with VMware NSX

Progressive Dutch Municipality Protects Citizen Data Summary: Municipality of Zoetermeer implements Zero-Trust model with VMware NSX-enabled micro-segmentation for advanced security inside data centers. Zoetermeer follows the Dutch BIG (Baseline Information Security Dutch Municipalities) regulations Zoetermeer is a modern, fast-growing municipality in the province of South Holland. It provides local services such as water supply, sewage and garbage disposal to around 125,000... Read more →

Technology Short Take #83

Welcome to Technology Short Take #83! This is a slightly shorter TST than usual, which might be a nice break from the typical information overload. In any case, enjoy!

Networking

  • I enjoyed Dave McCrory’s series on the future of the network (see part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4—part 5 hadn’t gone live yet when I published this). In my humble opinion, he’s spot on in his viewpoint that network equipment is increasingly becoming more like servers, so why not embed services and functions in the network equipment? However, this isn’t enough; you also need a strong control plane to help manage and coordinate these services. Perhaps Istio will help provide that control plane, though I suspect something more will be needed.
  • Michael Kashin has a handy little tool that functions like ssh-copy-id on servers, but for network devices (leveraging Netmiko). Check out the GitHub repository.
  • Anthony Shaw has a good comparison of Ansible, StackStorm, and Salt (with a particular view at applicability in a networking context). This one is definitely worth a read, in my opinion.
  • Miguel Gómez of Telefónica Engineering discusses maximizing performance in VXLAN overlay networks.
  • Nicolas Michel has a good Continue reading

Technology Short Take #83

Welcome to Technology Short Take #83! This is a slightly shorter TST than usual, which might be a nice break from the typical information overload. In any case, enjoy!

Networking

  • I enjoyed Dave McCrory’s series on the future of the network (see part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4—part 5 hadn’t gone live yet when I published this). In my humble opinion, he’s spot on in his viewpoint that network equipment is increasingly becoming more like servers, so why not embed services and functions in the network equipment? However, this isn’t enough; you also need a strong control plane to help manage and coordinate these services. Perhaps Istio will help provide that control plane, though I suspect something more will be needed.
  • Michael Kashin has a handy little tool that functions like ssh-copy-id on servers, but for network devices (leveraging Netmiko). Check out the GitHub repository.
  • Anthony Shaw has a good comparison of Ansible, StackStorm, and Salt (with a particular view at applicability in a networking context). This one is definitely worth a read, in my opinion.
  • Miguel Gómez of Telefónica Engineering discusses maximizing performance in VXLAN overlay networks.
  • Nicolas Michel has a good Continue reading

How to conduct an IoT pen test

Penetration testing was much like taking a battering ram to the door of the fortress. Keep pounding away and maybe find a secret backdoor to enter through. But what happens if pieces of the network are outside of the fortress? With the flurry of Internet of Things devices, is it harder to conduct a pen test with that many devices and end points?Claud Xiao, principal security researcher, Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, said for just testing some network services on IoT devices in a black box way, the difficulty level and the steps are similar with regular pen testing. But if you're discovering vulnerabilities via analyzing firmware or via analyzing wireless communications (e.g., Bluetooth or ZigBee), that's much harder.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to conduct an IoT pen test

Penetration testing was much like taking a battering ram to the door of the fortress. Keep pounding away and maybe find a secret backdoor to enter through. But what happens if pieces of the network are outside of the fortress? With the flurry of Internet of Things devices, is it harder to conduct a pen test with that many devices and end points?Claud Xiao, principal security researcher, Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, said for just testing some network services on IoT devices in a black box way, the difficulty level and the steps are similar with regular pen testing. But if you're discovering vulnerabilities via analyzing firmware or via analyzing wireless communications (e.g., Bluetooth or ZigBee), that's much harder.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Get 63% off This 76-in-1 Precision Tool Set For Smartphones, Laptops and Electronics – Deal Alert

This 76-piece repair kit contains everything you need to work on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, stereo, or anything else that requires precision instruments. Everything from screwdrivers, to a suction cup to a plastic spudger, whatever that might be. This kit is highly rated and a #1 best seller on Amazon, where its typical list price of $69.99 has been reduced 63% to $25.99. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

CCNA Wireless – CCNA Wireless Notes Chapter 2

ITU-R

A telecommunications regulatory body that regulates or decides how different parts of the RF spectrum may be used. Countries can also have own regulatory bodies that regulate the spectrum within the country. Maintains spectrum in three different regions:

Region 1: Europe, Africa, Northern Asia
Region 2: North and South America
Region 3: Southern Asia and Australiasa

Most bands in the RF spectrum are tightly regulated and require a license. Using a frequency in a licensed range requires an organization to submit an application to the regulatory body.

ITU-R allocated two two ranges for Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) use:

2.400 to 2500 GHz
5.725 to 5.825 GHz

ISM bands are unlicensed and anyone can use them.

Unlicensed bands are more vulnerable to interference and noise due to them being more accessible.

FCC

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates RF frequencies, channels and transmission power within the US but other countries may also follow the rules of the FCC. FCC has allocated Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) in addition to the ISM band. Consists of four bands in the 5 GHz band.

U-NII-1 5.15 to 5.25 GHz
U-NII-2 5.25 to 5.35 GHz
U-NII-2 Extended Continue reading