IDG Contributor Network: Digital services on wireless key to providing great user experiences

Seven billion connected devices and counting—and we are only at the threshold of the massive, new class of connected devices known as the Internet of Things (IoT).Devices, such as sensors, remote robots and everyday objects, are rapidly becoming connected to expand the universe of IoT and to provide valuable data. In a network-centric world, the more devices that are connected in aggregate, the more value is created for the whole. And this value scales exponentially. It’s what’s called a network effect, and it can bring boundless possibilities for value and wealth creation in the next five years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Meizu technology can charge a smartphone in 20 minutes

Chinese smartphone maker Meizu claims its Super mCharge technology can recharge batteries in as little as 20 minutes.To prove its point, the company demonstrated the superfast charging capabilities during a press conference on the show floor of Mobile World Congress, which is being held in Barcelona.The charging speed is even faster than Qualcomm's recently introduced Quick Charge 4.0, which "is engineered to charge a typical smartphone from zero to 50 percent in about 15 minutes or less," the chip maker claimed in a statement.The charging demonstration was via a USB Type-C port, and the smartphone carried a 3,000-milliamp hour battery, which is the capacity range in newer smartphones. The trick is offloading some of the charging pressure off the battery to the USB cable, which can carry a maximum of 160 watts of power.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell Boomi bringing startup mentality to hybrid cloud market

While Dell sold off many software assets as part of the 2016 mega merger with EMC that created Dell Technologies, it kept Dell Boomi as a critical component for helping IT shops build and run hybrid clouds. Dell Boomi offers integration platform as a service (iPaaS) – a set of cloud-based capabilities for connecting everything from SaaS apps to EDI and internet of things applications. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

JNCIE-ENT Passed

Yes!!! I passed the Juniper JNCIE lab last year!!  It was actually back in May 2016 that I earned my JNCIE-ENT #567 and I wanted to finally take a moment and blog about my experiences, study approach, as well as my overall impression of the certification track.  Let me answer the first question that you may have, […]

The post JNCIE-ENT Passed appeared first on Fryguy's Blog.

Enterprises enter the 5G spotlight at MWC

Mobile World Congress takes place this week, so it’s time again for carrier and vendors to serve up bold claims about what 5G cellular will do for users -- this time, with a dash of realism.“5G is not ready yet,” T-Mobile USA’s CTO Neville Ray said Monday morning. “It’s maturing quickly, but it’s not real today, and I can’t go and deploy a 5G radio to serve my customers with and give them a handset.”Like most other carriers, T-Mobile is testing pre-standard 5G technology, and Ray is enthusiastic about the next generation in the long term. But he reminded the audience that some parts of 5G, like using ultra-high frequencies to reach mobile devices, still face big technical challenges and 4G will still be around for years after the first big 5G rollouts happen around 2020.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprises enter the 5G spotlight at MWC

Mobile World Congress takes place this week, so it’s time again for carrier and vendors to serve up bold claims about what 5G cellular will do for users -- this time, with a dash of realism.“5G is not ready yet,” T-Mobile USA’s CTO Neville Ray said Monday morning. “It’s maturing quickly, but it’s not real today, and I can’t go and deploy a 5G radio to serve my customers with and give them a handset.”Like most other carriers, T-Mobile is testing pre-standard 5G technology, and Ray is enthusiastic about the next generation in the long term. But he reminded the audience that some parts of 5G, like using ultra-high frequencies to reach mobile devices, still face big technical challenges and 4G will still be around for years after the first big 5G rollouts happen around 2020.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump announces budget cuts that may give China tech leadership

The White House plans to substantially hike defense spending, but it's going to cut other agency budgets with a big axe. It is nail-biting time for people who develop supercomputers and do other scientific work that relies on federal R&D funding.The White House said today it will increase defense spending, currently at about $600 billion, by $54 billion or 9%. But most other agencies, with the exception of "security agencies," will see budget reductions, it said at a briefing for reporters on Monday.This means the cuts will fall heavily on agencies such as the Department of Energy, which funds exascale supercomputing development. Another target may be the National Science Foundation, a major funder of basic scientific research. Overall, the cuts will be focused on civilian agencies because there isn't a lot of room to cut otherwise. The Trump administration is expected to leave Medicare and Social Security alone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump announces budget cuts that may give China tech leadership

The White House plans to substantially hike defense spending, but it's going to cut other agency budgets with a big axe. It is nail-biting time for people who develop supercomputers and do other scientific work that relies on federal R&D funding.The White House said today it will increase defense spending, currently at about $600 billion, by $54 billion or 9%. But most other agencies, with the exception of "security agencies," will see budget reductions, it said at a briefing for reporters on Monday.This means the cuts will fall heavily on agencies such as the Department of Energy, which funds exascale supercomputing development. Another target may be the National Science Foundation, a major funder of basic scientific research. Overall, the cuts will be focused on civilian agencies because there isn't a lot of room to cut otherwise. The Trump administration is expected to leave Medicare and Social Security alone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to use your Android device as a mobile hotspot

It's not always easy to find reliable Wi-Fi on the go, especially if you're looking for a secure, private connection. Public Wi-Fi networks can leave you vulnerable to hackers and create privacy issues if you're viewing sensitive data. But if you have an Android smartphone in your pocket, you're just a few steps away from having a private, personal Wi-Fi hotspot.All smartphones running Android 2.2 or later have built-in hotspot capabilities, but some carriers might limit access to the feature depending on your wireless plan. Also, your smartphone might run a slightly different version of Android depending on your device --few devices carry stock Android, instead applying a proprietary interface, like Samsung TouchWiz. So some of these steps might look slightly different on your device.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New financial regulations go into effect in New York

On March 1, new regulations go into effect in New York State, requiring that all regulated financial services institutions have a cybersecurity program in place, appoint a Chief Information Security Officer, and monitor the cybersecurity policies of their business partners.It might seem a little sudden, since the regulations were only finalized a month ago. But it's actually not as bad as it sounds."There's a transitional period," said Brad Keller, senior director of third party strategy at Prevalent. "Everyone has six months to be in compliance."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New financial regulations go into effect in New York

On March 1, new regulations go into effect in New York State, requiring that all regulated financial services institutions have a cybersecurity program in place, appoint a Chief Information Security Officer, and monitor the cybersecurity policies of their business partners.It might seem a little sudden, since the regulations were only finalized a month ago. But it's actually not as bad as it sounds."There's a transitional period," said Brad Keller, senior director of third party strategy at Prevalent. "Everyone has six months to be in compliance."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Will a cyber crisis add to chaos of Trump’s first 100 days?

While plenty of controversy has surrounded President Donald Trump’s fledgling administration, it hasn’t yet faced a major crisis.But according to Forrester Research, aside from any political or military events, the new president will face a cyber crisis sometime within his first 100 days.The company made the prediction last fall, prior to the election, as part of its “Predictions 2017” brief, so it didn’t specifically focus on either Trump or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Will a cyber crisis add to chaos of Trump’s first 100 days?

While plenty of controversy has surrounded President Donald Trump’s fledgling administration, it hasn’t yet faced a major crisis.But according to Forrester Research, aside from any political or military events, the new president will face a cyber crisis sometime within his first 100 days.The company made the prediction last fall, prior to the election, as part of its “Predictions 2017” brief, so it didn’t specifically focus on either Trump or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 universal rules of threat intelligence

ThreateningImage by ThinkstockCybersecurity is a heroic task. Every day, businesses and organizations face an onslaught of attacks from malicious actors across the globe. As part of your organization’s cybersecurity efforts, it is your job to not just catch these attacks as they happen, but try to mitigate threats and prevent them before anything occurs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 universal rules of threat intelligence

ThreateningImage by ThinkstockCybersecurity is a heroic task. Every day, businesses and organizations face an onslaught of attacks from malicious actors across the globe. As part of your organization’s cybersecurity efforts, it is your job to not just catch these attacks as they happen, but try to mitigate threats and prevent them before anything occurs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Visa, Mastercard beef up mobile payment tech at Mobile World Congress

BARCELONA -- Mobile payments made in different parts of the globe were an important theme at Mobile World Congress this week, with leaders Visa and Mastercard announcing new services.Visa on Monday announced one of the most unusual approaches, one that relies primarily on older QR code technology through its mVisa payment service. It went live Monday for merchants and customers in India, Kenya and Rwanda and will soon be available in Egypt, Pakistan and a few other developing countries.The service allows merchants and consumers to make payments via a mobile phone and a QR code kept at each merchant's store location. Visa said the flexible nature of QR codes means that merchants do not need to invest in costly point-of-sale infrastructure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Not-so-free Flow of Data

Navigating Complex Data Structures in Ansible Playbooks

Have you ever tried to navigate complex data structures within Ansible playbooks using awkward looping constructs and convoluted map filters?

It might be easier to munge the data structure into a more appropriate format first and then use the munged data in subsequent tasks. Wondering how to do it?

Adapting IT Operations to Emerging Trends: 3 Tips

8 ways to make Amazon’s Alexa even more awesome

I’ve been using an Amazon Echo for a while now, yet I still find myself amazed at how well its voice assistant technology works—at least within the relatively narrow confines it has set for itself. By sticking to what she can do well, Alexa mostly avoids the common trap of heavily hyped new technology delivering a disappointing experience in real life. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here