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Category Archives for "Networking"

Wi-Fi HaLow: Wireless for the internet of things

Wi-Fi HaLow, the marketing term the Wi-Fi Alliance has chosen for the IEEE 802.11ah standard, is a long- range, low-power, low-speed version of traditional Wi-Fi. It shows promise with deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as sensors, wearables, machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, smart buildings, and smart cities.With the ability to connect low-bandwidth devices to IP networks including the internet, it supports enough bandwidth to handle HD-quality video and can even be used for rural communications and offloading cell phone tower traffic.To read this article in full, please click here

Measuring Virtual Network Device Boot Times

A senior engineer at Juniper Networks wasn’t happy with me mentioning resource hogs and Junos platforms in the same statement. Instead of engaging in never-ending angels dancing on pins deliberations comparing the virtues of Junos with other network operating systems, I decided to throw a bit of real-life data into the mix – I created a simple script that measures:

  • The time it takes to execute vagrant up to start a single network device.
  • The time it takes to deploy simple initial configuration on that device.

Server DRAM to exceed mobile DRAM, as enterprises adopt emerging tech

Semiconductor manufacturers will respond to changes in demand by producing more dynamic RAM (DRAM) for servers than for mobile devices this year, a milestone that highlights increasing enterprise use of emerging technology related to cloud computing, AI and high performance computing (HPC) applications, according to market research firm TrendForce.To handle the emerging-tech workloads, the average DRAM content of servers will increase by 12.1% year-over-year in 2023, compared to an increase of 6.7% for DRAM content for smartphones, TrendForce forecasts. DRAM content refers to the amount of DRAM memory installed in a device.In a related estimate, server memory is expected to make up 37.6% of what TrendForce determines to be the total bit output of DRAM semiconductors, compared to mobile DRAM’s 36.8%, the company said in its latest DRAM research report.To read this article in full, please click here

Server DRAM to exceed mobile DRAM, as enterprises adopt emerging tech

Semiconductor manufacturers will respond to changes in demand by producing more dynamic RAM (DRAM) for servers than for mobile devices this year, a milestone that highlights increasing enterprise use of emerging technology related to cloud computing, AI and high performance computing (HPC) applications, according to market research firm TrendForce.To handle the emerging-tech workloads, the average DRAM content of servers will increase by 12.1% year-over-year in 2023, compared to an increase of 6.7% for DRAM content for smartphones, TrendForce forecasts. DRAM content refers to the amount of DRAM memory installed in a device.In a related estimate, server memory chips this year are expected to make up 37.6% of what TrendForce determines to be the total bit output of DRAM semiconductors, compared to mobile DRAM’s 36.8%, the company said in its latest DRAM research report.To read this article in full, please click here

A Closer Look at Our Demos at Mobile World Congress 2023

A Closer Look at VMware Networking and Security Demos at MWC 2023

Efficiency, scalability, and security are critical for modern telco networks. Operating modern 5G network infrastructure requires the ability to manage complex network operations across large-scale multi-cloud and edge environments while also meeting complex security requirements.

The VMware Telco Cloud Platform was built from the ground up to help Communications Service Providers (CSPs) meet these challenges. It combines the capabilities of VMware’s cloud infrastructure and network virtualization software (VMware vSphere, vSAN, and NSX) with a set of networking, security, and management tools built for the telco industry. The platform helps CSPs deploy and manage virtualized network functions and containerized network functions (VNFs and CNFs), reduce costs, and enhance network security while enabling new revenue-generating services.

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VMware NSX: Integrated Layer 2 to Layer 7 Platform for Telco Networking and Security Services

At MWC 2023, the VMware team will demonstrate four key use cases for the VMware Telco Cloud Platform.

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Demo 1 – Network Acceleration for 5G Workloads using SmartNIC for NSX

Networking and Security performance acceleration powered by Data Processing Units (DPUs) enables a telco-grade virtualized 5G infrastructure. VMware is announcing the General Availability of DPU-based acceleration for NSX Continue reading

The Chief Zero Trust Officer: a new role for a new era of cybersecurity

The Chief Zero Trust Officer: a new role for a new era of cybersecurity

Setting the stage for Zero Trust

The Chief Zero Trust Officer: a new role for a new era of cybersecurity

Over the last few years the topic of cyber security has moved from the IT department to the board room. The current climate of geopolitical and economic uncertainty has made the threat of cyber attacks all the more pressing, with businesses of all sizes and across all industries feeling the impact. From the potential for a crippling ransomware attack to a data breach that could compromise sensitive consumer information, the risks are real and potentially catastrophic. Organizations are recognizing the need for better resilience and preparation regarding cybersecurity. It is not enough to simply react to attacks as they happen; companies must proactively prepare for the inevitable in their approach to cybersecurity.

The security approach that has gained the most traction in recent years is the concept of Zero Trust. The basic principle behind Zero Trust is simple: don't trust anything; verify everything. The impetus for a modern Zero Trust architecture is that traditional perimeter-based (castle-and-moat) security models are no longer sufficient in today's digitally distributed landscape. Organizations must adopt a holistic approach to security based on verifying the identity and trustworthiness of all users, devices, and systems that access their networks and data.

The Chief Zero Trust Officer: a new role for a new era of cybersecurity

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Some Operations Are Not Worth Automating

Ish wrote an interesting comment on my Network Automation Expert Beginners blog post. He started with:

[Our network has] about 40 sites, but we don’t do total refresh cycles in bulk, just as needed. Everything we do is sporadic, and I’m trying to see the ROI on learning automation for things that are done once in a while that don’t take much time to do manually anyway.

There are two aspects to this part of his comment:

Bash scripting tips that can save time on Linux

Committing routine and even rarely required tasks to scripts is almost always a big win because you don’t have to reinvent the approach to getting work done each time it’s needed, and you save a lot of time on issues you handle often.Here are some tips for writing bash scripts and ensuring that they’ll be easy to use, easy to update/ and hard to misuse.Comments One important thing to do when you're preparing a script on Linux is to add comments – especially for commands that might be a little complex. If you don’t run a script very often, comments can help ensure that you quickly grasp everything that it’s doing. If someone else has to use your scripts, the comments can make it a lot easier for them to know what to expect. So, always add comments. Even you might appreciate them! You don’t need to comment every line, just every significant group of commands. Here's a simple example.To read this article in full, please click here

Bash scripting tips that can save time on Linux

Committing routine and even rarely required tasks to scripts is almost always a big win because you don’t have to reinvent the approach to getting work done each time it’s needed, and you save a lot of time on issues you handle often.Here are some tips for writing bash scripts and ensuring that they’ll be easy to use, easy to update/ and hard to misuse.Comments One important thing to do when you're preparing a script on Linux is to add comments – especially for commands that might be a little complex. If you don’t run a script very often, comments can help ensure that you quickly grasp everything that it’s doing. If someone else has to use your scripts, the comments can make it a lot easier for them to know what to expect. So, always add comments. Even you might appreciate them! You don’t need to comment every line, just every significant group of commands. Here's a simple example.To read this article in full, please click here

Multicloud: Keep providers separate and distinct or integrate them?

Most organizations use both on-prem data centers and cloud-based IaaS services, often employing multiple IaaS platforms.For some, this multicloud reality has come about as part of a steady, one-way migration to the cloud, and they may have intentionally kept their cloud networks distinct as part of that goal. Others may have a business strategy for keeping them distinct, such as providing services for a stand-alone division or a particular geography.As a consequence, they are almost certainly already tying their on-premises and cloud infrastructure networks together in some way or are about to be.Those with limited integration among their networks are often dealing with a patchwork of solutions that evolved haphazardly as cloud systems went from being experimental and isolated to being developmental and peripheral and then to being central and in-production.To read this article in full, please click here