IT Automation Frameworks to Accelerate NV Adoption

The rise of IT automation frameworks will force companies to rethink who in the IT organization will ultimately be responsible for networking.

SDN Roundtable Insights

HPE recently organized two series of roundtable discussions at the OpenDaylight Summit in Seattle and at the SDN and OpenFlow World Congress 2016 in The Hague, Netherlands.

21% off Seagate Expansion 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 – Deal Alert

The Seagate expansion desktop drive provides extra storage for your ever-growing collection of files. Instantly add space for more files, consolidate all of your files to a single location, or free up space on your computer's internal drive to help improve performance. Setup is straightforward; simply plug in the included power supply and USB cable, and you are ready to go. It is automatically recognized by the Windows operating system, so there is no software to install and nothing to configure. Saving files is easy too-just drag-and-drop. Take advantage of the fast data transfer speeds with the USB 3.0 interface by connecting to a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port.  This drive receives 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, where its typical list price of $70 has been reduced 21% to $55. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SimpliVity Pairs Its Software With Huawei Servers

The deal gives SimpliVity another angle in the market as it continues to battle Nutanix.

Datrium Raises $55M to Challenge Storage Arrays & Nutanix

NEA helps bring the startup's total funding to $110M.

Trump Cybersecurity Do’s and Don’ts (Part 2)

Given recent cybersecurity incidents like the Google Android data breach, the DDoS attack on Dyn and the data breach of the DNC, President-elect Donald Trump will find cybersecurity policy a top priority when he takes office in January.What should Mr. Trump do and what should he avoid?  In my last blog, I presented some recommendations for the “do” column.  Alternatively, here is a list of things President Trump should eschew in his administration’s cybersecurity agenda.  The “don’t” column includes the following: Don’t obsess over cybersecurity intelligence sharing path.  Public/private partnerships for cybersecurity cooperation have roots that go back to the Clinton administration’s original PDD-63 for critical infrastructure protection.  In more recent times, congress struggled with CISPA then CISA as stand-alone bills before sneaking CISA into a federal spending bill in late 2015.  Intelligence sharing is a good step but it’s been beaten to death and most large organizations have figured this out on their own.  What’s needed is a concerted effort on best practices and sharing threat intelligence with small businesses.  Yes, these things should happen but the feds should do so as part of CISA and not spin up Continue reading

Trump Cybersecurity Do’s and Don’ts (Part 2)

Given recent cybersecurity incidents like the Google Android data breach, the DDoS attack on Dyn and the data breach of the DNC, President-elect Donald Trump will find cybersecurity policy a top priority when he takes office in January.What should Mr. Trump do and what should he avoid?  In my last blog, I presented some recommendations for the “do” column.  Alternatively, here is a list of things President Trump should eschew in his administration’s cybersecurity agenda.  The “don’t” column includes the following: Don’t obsess over cybersecurity intelligence sharing path.  Public/private partnerships for cybersecurity cooperation have roots that go back to the Clinton administration’s original PDD-63 for critical infrastructure protection.  In more recent times, congress struggled with CISPA then CISA as stand-alone bills before sneaking CISA into a federal spending bill in late 2015.  Intelligence sharing is a good step but it’s been beaten to death and most large organizations have figured this out on their own.  What’s needed is a concerted effort on best practices and sharing threat intelligence with small businesses.  Yes, these things should happen but the feds should do so as part of CISA and not spin up Continue reading

Trump cybersecurity dos and don’ts (Part 2)

Given recent cybersecurity incidents such as the Google Android data breach, the DDoS attack on Dyn and the data breach of the DNC, President-elect Donald Trump will find cybersecurity policy a top priority when he takes office in January.What should Mr. Trump do and what should he avoid? In my last blog, I presented some recommendations for the “do” column. Alternatively, here is a list of things President Trump should eschew in his administration’s cybersecurity agenda: Don’t obsess over cybersecurity intelligence sharing path. Public/private partnerships for cybersecurity cooperation have roots that go back to the Clinton administration’s original PDD-63 for critical infrastructure protection. In more recent times, Congress struggled with CISPA then CISA as stand-alone bills before sneaking CISA into a federal spending bill in late 2015. Intelligence sharing is a good step but it’s been beaten to death and most large organizations have figured this out on their own.  What’s needed is a concerted effort on best practices and sharing threat intelligence with small businesses. Yes, these things should happen, but the feds should do so as part of CISA and not spin up another distracting effort. Remember that threat intelligence sharing is a means Continue reading

23% off LilGadgets Premium Children’s Wireless Bluetooth Headphones with SharePort – Deal Alert

These highly rated & multi-award winning Bluetooth headphones from LilGadgets are designed for kids. The Untangled Pro offers several fun color options, is durably constructed out of a high quality polycarbonate & stainless steel, and is covered with comfortable SoftTouch fabric. Fully charged, the Untangled Pro has a generous 12 hour battery life with 180 hours on standby. It features a 93db volume limiter for safe listening, and an integrated "SharePort" that lets multiple headphones connect and listen along. Each pair comes with a high quality microfiber travel pouch, a four foot premium nylon braided 3.5 millimeter audio cable with an inline microphone and a micro-USB charging cable. They are currently rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 1,700 people (84% rate 5/5 stars: read recent reviews). Its typical list price of $64.95 has been reduced 23% to $49.95. See them on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HPE Networking: Past, Present, and Future

I had the chance to attend HPE Discover last week by invitation from their influencer team. I wanted to see how HPE Networking had been getting along since the acquisition of Aruba Networks last year. There have been some moves and changes, including a new partnership with Arista Networks announced in September. What follows is my analysis of HPE’s Networking portfolio after HPE Discover London and where they are headed in the future.

Campus and Data Center Divisions

Recently, HPE reorganized their networking division along two different lines. The first is the Aruba brand that contains all the wireless assets along with the campus networking portfolio. This is where the campus belongs. The edge of the network is an ever-changing area where connectivity is king. Reallocating the campus assets to the capable Aruba team means that they will do the most good there.

The rest of the data center networking assets were loaded into the Data Center Infrastructure Group (DCIG). This group is headed up by Dominick Wilde and contains things like FlexFabric and Altoline. The partnership with Arista rounds out the rest of the switch portfolio. This helps HPE position their offerings across a wide range of potential clients, Continue reading

What were the best tech-themed songs of 2016?

The Best Songs of the Year lists are flooding the Internet these days, with music watchers from NME to Rolling Stone to Fuse sharing their picks. But what about the best technology-themed songs of 2016?I know a few possible candidates, including Tacocat's take on anonymous trolls in "The Internet" (see video below), but could use your help if you have candidates please email me here.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Brocade launches innovative data center automation tools

Earlier this year Brocade announced its Workflow Composer (http://www.networkworld.com/article/3075335/network-management/brocade-workflow-composer-enables-it-to-move-with-digital-speed.html) platform, powered by StackStorm to automate data center processes and bring DevOps like automation and continuous innovation to the network. This week Brocade expanded its portfolio with a number of new automation suites for Workflow Composer and a line of new switches with increased flexibility and programmability capabilities.  The combination of Workflow Composer and the new hardware enables Brocade customers to increase the level of network agility at a workflow level or down at the individual switch. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Brocade launches innovative data center automation tools

Earlier this year Brocade announced its Workflow Composer (http://www.networkworld.com/article/3075335/network-management/brocade-workflow-composer-enables-it-to-move-with-digital-speed.html) platform, powered by StackStorm to automate data center processes and bring DevOps like automation and continuous innovation to the network. This week Brocade expanded its portfolio with a number of new automation suites for Workflow Composer and a line of new switches with increased flexibility and programmability capabilities.  The combination of Workflow Composer and the new hardware enables Brocade customers to increase the level of network agility at a workflow level or down at the individual switch. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco Meraki sees the hotel of the future in its new Wi-Fi gear

The days when hotel Wi-Fi just connected travelers to the Internet are going away. Now it can be part of a system that helps give guests more personalized service – if they don’t mind the hotel tracking their location on the property.The new MR30H access point from Cisco’s Meraki division will work with Bluetooth beacons - small wireless location devices that stores and other businesses are starting to use so they can tell where people are.The benefits, as long as guests are willing to opt in, could include things like having an attendant walk up and offer a drink or a towel as you go out to the pool, thanks to your frequent-guest status, said Pablo Estrada, Meraki’s director of marketing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco Meraki sees the hotel of the future in its new Wi-Fi gear

The days when hotel Wi-Fi just connected travelers to the Internet are going away. Now it can be part of a system that helps give guests more personalized service – if they don’t mind the hotel tracking their location on the property.The new MR30H access point from Cisco’s Meraki division will work with Bluetooth beacons - small wireless location devices that stores and other businesses are starting to use so they can tell where people are.The benefits, as long as guests are willing to opt in, could include things like having an attendant walk up and offer a drink or a towel as you go out to the pool, thanks to your frequent-guest status, said Pablo Estrada, Meraki’s director of marketing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: CloudVelox offers automated cloud network customizations

CloudVelox offers migration and disaster recovery (DR) tools for cloud computing environments. That’s a simple enough task, right? Well, kind of.The company's software automates the migration of applications to public clouds, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. But its aim to reduce the time, complexity, and hassle around this process is hampered somewhat by the fact that in the trio of functions that applications rely upon—storage, compute and networking—it is the last, networking, that dictates the availability or otherwise of an application. If the networks behind an application fail, the application essentially fails to exist.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

First look: Google jumps into crowded wireless mesh market

Google made a bunch of new hardware announcements earlier this year, which included new smartphones (the Pixel) and a virtual assistant (Google Home), but they also announced Google Wifi (love how they drop the hyphen and lowercase the F, causing whatever copy editors are left on the planet to wring their hands in anger), a wireless mesh platform to go up against the likes of other startups like eero, Almond, Luma, Amplifi, to name a few. Google Wifi is the update to its OnHub Wi-Fi platform - Google says that it's now on its third generation of products (the first one didn't make it to market, and the second one was OnHub). Google sent me a three-pack of the new system, which goes on sale to the general public today ($485 via Amazon, but also available from Best Buy, Walmart or directly from Google).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Up close with Google Wifi’s setup process

Google Wifi jumps into the wireless mesh spaceImage by GoogleGoogle's new Google Wifi system combines wireless access nodes called "points" with a mobile app that lets you manage your mesh system. A mesh is created when you add two or more points to the existing system.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Expedia IT tech made $330K by secretly accessing execs’ files for insider trading

Lots of IT techs have access to network credentials to access company files and emails, but it wouldn’t cross the minds of most to abuse that knowledge for a “get-rich-scheme” in the flavor of insider trading. Yet that doesn’t apply to everyone, since a 28-year-old admitted to exploiting his position in order to gain insider knowledge and illegally trade and profit from those secrets.Jonathan Ly, a former IT tech for Expedia, pleaded guilty to securities fraud – something FBI Special Agent in Charge Jay S. Tabb, Jr. called, “Particularly egregious because Mr. Ly abused his special access privileges as an IT administrator. On top of violating the trust of the public and his company, he violated the privacy of fellow employees by surreptitiously accessing their files.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Expedia IT tech made $330K by secretly accessing execs’ files for insider trading

Lots of IT techs have access to network credentials to access company files and emails, but it wouldn’t cross the minds of most to abuse that knowledge for a “get-rich-scheme” in the flavor of insider trading. Yet that doesn’t apply to everyone, since a 28-year-old admitted to exploiting his position in order to gain insider knowledge and illegally trade and profit from those secrets.Jonathan Ly, a former IT tech for Expedia, pleaded guilty to securities fraud – something FBI Special Agent in Charge Jay S. Tabb, Jr. called, “Particularly egregious because Mr. Ly abused his special access privileges as an IT administrator. On top of violating the trust of the public and his company, he violated the privacy of fellow employees by surreptitiously accessing their files.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here