Microsoft brings customization to its pre-built AI services

Microsoft is doubling down on its cloud AI services for business customers with a fleet of new offerings aimed at helping companies deal with video and unique problems not solved by its off-the-shelf cognitive services.New services announced Wednesday include a new Video Indexer service that will provide customers with automated captioning, sentiment analysis, custom face recognition, object detection, optical character recognition and keyword extraction of videos they provide. The tool is built on existing Microsoft services, but gives customers an easier way to process large amounts of video for indexing and analysis rather than require manual work by humans.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco patches critical IOS security fault found after CIA WikiLeaks dump

Cisco this week said it patched a critical vulnerability in its widely deployed IOS software that was disclosed in the WikiLeaks dump of CIA exploits earlier this year.Cisco had in March issued a “critical” security advisory for the IOS software that runs on some 300 models of its Catalyst switches and other networking equipment.+More on Network World: FBI/IC3: Vile $5B business e-mail scam continues to breed+Cisco this week wrote: “A vulnerability in the Cisco Cluster Management Protocol (CMP) processing code in Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a reload of an affected device or remotely execute code with elevated privileges.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco patches critical IOS security fault found after CIA WikiLeaks dump

Cisco this week said it patched a critical vulnerability in its widely deployed IOS software that was disclosed in the WikiLeaks dump of CIA exploits earlier this year.Cisco had in March issued a “critical” security advisory for the IOS software that runs on some 300 models of its Catalyst switches and other networking equipment.+More on Network World: FBI/IC3: Vile $5B business e-mail scam continues to breed+Cisco this week wrote: “A vulnerability in the Cisco Cluster Management Protocol (CMP) processing code in Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a reload of an affected device or remotely execute code with elevated privileges.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The need to automate routine work has never been higher

Anyone who has been in the workforce for any significant length of time probably feels like their workload has grown tenfold, but they likely brush it off to getting old or maybe being burned out. The fact is, however, the extra workload is very real. This week, as part of its Knowledge17 event, ServiceNow released a study called “Today’s State of Work: At the Breaking Point” (pdf) that shows how bad the problem currently is. Before I get into the details of the survey, it’s important to understand the demographics. The report summarizes a survey of about 1,850 business leaders, including C-level executives, vice presidents, directors and managers in seven countries, to understand the workload of business leaders, the impact of automation and the opinions on the future of work. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump to FBI Director James Comey: You’re fired!

As shocking as it is, President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey yesterday, despite the agency investigating possible collusion with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.Trump’s letter to Comey stated: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgement of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”Trump said new leadership was needed to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump to FBI Director James Comey: You’re fired!

As shocking as it is, President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey yesterday, despite the agency investigating possible collusion with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.Trump’s letter to Comey stated: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgement of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”Trump said new leadership was needed to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What to expect at Microsoft Build 2017

Today marks the start of this year’s Microsoft Build developers conference in Seattle, not far from Microsoft HQ. It seems like yesterday that the show was launched at the Anaheim Convention Center, which I attended for a briefing on Windows Server 2012, among other things. The show has grown tremendously and played a part in the launches of Windows 8 and 10, among many other products.So, news will roll out out throughout the day by people there to cover the show, but in advance of that, let’s take a look at what will likely be the big news in different categories, and what we hope to see. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

African Regional Internet Development Dialogue (RIDD) Explores Opportunities for Improving the Internet Economy in Africa

Excel 2016 cheat sheet

Share this story: IT folks, we hope you'll pass this guide on to your users to help them learn the Excel 2016 ropes.Simple Sharing with the desktop version of ExcelTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Business chat review: Slack vs. Teams vs. HipChat vs. Yammer

Business chat has come into its own, with Microsoft debuting its Teams system for Office 365 in March and Google promising to deliver Hangouts Chat for G Suite later this year. What had been a market owned by niche technology companies—Slack for its Slack for Teams and Atlassian for its HipChat—suddenly became an arena for the 800-pound gorillas of office software, Microsoft and Google, as they each seek to own the whole collaboration and communications experience within an enterprise.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Top DRaaS companies to watch

Forrester Research recently released its report naming Sungard AS, Bluelock, IBM and iland as the top disaster recovery-as-a-service companies.With enterprises expecting their network up at all times, backup and recovery are key to keeping things running smoothly with no downtime. With ransomware waiting to pounce the minute a user clicks on a link, companies rely on network recovery in a matter of minutes not days.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Top DRaaS companies to watch

Forrester Research recently released its report naming Sungard AS, Bluelock, IBM and iland as the top disaster recovery-as-a-service companies.With enterprises expecting their network up at all times, backup and recovery are key to keeping things running smoothly with no downtime. With ransomware waiting to pounce the minute a user clicks on a link, companies rely on network recovery in a matter of minutes not days.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 tips to uncover a company’s culture before accepting a job

You might think the perfect job is one that fits your skills, comes with the right salary and offers you the best benefits, but the evaluation doesn't end there. There's one more thing to consider, and that's whether or not you'll fit in with the company culture, which can differ greatly among companies.But you don't have to wait until you've gone through onboarding to parse out the company culture, according to Tom Gimbel, founder and CEO of LaSalle Network, a professional staffing and recruitment firm. If you ask the right questionas during the interview process and keep an eye out for certain signs, you'll be able to tell if you're a good cultural fit before you sign the offer. Here are a few things to consider if you're trying to determine company culture during the interview process.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Versa brings multiple functions to software-defined branch networks

Branch sites are ideal places to make networking simpler and less expensive. There's often little or no IT expertise there, and it's harder to justify costs because only a fraction of a company's business happens at a given branch.Yet the rise of software-defined WANs and branch offices, designed to scale back the expense and complexity of far-flung networks, has left some parts of the problem unsolved, according to SD-WAN startup Versa Networks.For one thing, replacing branch appliances for each function with applications running on one system may raise software compatibility issues that are even more complicated than wiring up several boxes. Also, swapping out private WAN links for lower-priced internet service can open branches up to some new security threats.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Versa brings multiple functions to software-defined branch networks

Branch sites are ideal places to make networking simpler and less expensive. There's often little or no IT expertise there, and it's harder to justify costs because only a fraction of a company's business happens at a given branch.Yet the rise of software-defined WANs and branch offices, designed to scale back the expense and complexity of far-flung networks, has left some parts of the problem unsolved, according to SD-WAN startup Versa Networks.For one thing, replacing branch appliances for each function with applications running on one system may raise software compatibility issues that are even more complicated than wiring up several boxes. Also, swapping out private WAN links for lower-priced internet service can open branches up to some new security threats.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Check Point boosts cloud-security education to help IT security pros stay relevant

Check Point is investing heavily in educating IT pros about the cloud, not only to promote their own cloud security products but to give potential customers the skills they’ll need to keep their jobs as their employers move more and more resources to public cloud providers. Check Point “We try to explain how to be relevant in the cloud,” says Itai Greenberg, head of cloud security for Check Point.A lot of old-school IT security workers need to learn about how cloud infrastructure works, the terminology used, the interconnections between cloud and corporate owned networks and the ins and outs of APIs, among other skills.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Check Point boosts cloud-security education to help IT security pros stay relevant

Check Point is investing heavily in educating IT pros about the cloud, not only to promote their own cloud security products but to give potential customers the skills they’ll need to keep their jobs as their employers move more and more resources to public cloud providers. Check Point “We try to explain how to be relevant in the cloud,” says Itai Greenberg, head of cloud security for Check Point.A lot of old-school IT security workers need to learn about how cloud infrastructure works, the terminology used, the interconnections between cloud and corporate owned networks and the ins and outs of APIs, among other skills.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Episode 3 – The Unique Challenges of Working in SMB

In this episode of Network Collective we dive in to the challenges of working as a technologist in a small or medium sized business (SMB).  We look at things like staffing, budgets, and small business mindsets that make working in this space very different than working in mid-market or enterprise organizations.  Matt Haedo, John Duprey, and Kevin Blackburn join the Network Collective hosts in talking about this common, but often under the radar topic.

Outro Music:
Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Matt Haedo

Guest

John Duprey

Guest

Kevin Blackburn

Guest

Jordan Martin

Co-Host

Eyvonne Sharp

Co-Host

Phil Gervasi

Co-Host

Audio Only Podcast Feed:

The post Episode 3 – The Unique Challenges of Working in SMB appeared first on Network Collective.

Episode 3 – The Unique Challenges of Working in SMB

In this episode of Network Collective we dive in to the challenges of working as a technologist in a small or medium sized business (SMB).  We look at things like staffing, budgets, and small business mindsets that make working in this space very different than working in mid-market or enterprise organizations.  Matt Haedo, John Duprey, and Kevin Blackburn join the Network Collective hosts in talking about this common, but often under the radar topic.

Outro Music:
Danger Storm Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Matt Haedo

Guest

John Duprey

Guest

Kevin Blackburn

Guest

Jordan Martin

Co-Host

Eyvonne Sharp

Co-Host

Phil Gervasi

Co-Host

Audio Only Podcast Feed:

The post Episode 3 – The Unique Challenges of Working in SMB appeared first on Network Collective.

Backup and Recovery Software: IT Pros Weigh In