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Category Archives for "Networking"

Announcing EVPN for scalable virtualized networks

This post was updated on 2/22/17 to reflect the official launch of EVPN. You can now access EVPN in general availability. Read the white paper to learn more about this exciting new feature.

When we set out to build new features for Cumulus Linux, we ask ourselves two questions: 1) How can we make network operators’ jobs easier? And 2) How can we help businesses use web-scale IT principles to build powerful, efficient and highly-scalable data centers? With EVPN, we believe we nailed both.

Why EVPN?

Many data centers today rely on layer 2 connectivity for specific applications and IP address mobility. However, an entire layer 2 data center can bring challenges such as large failure domains, spanning tree complexities, difficulty troubleshooting, and scale challenges as only 4094 VLANS are supported.

Therefore, modern data centers are moving to a layer 3 fabric, which means running a routing protocol, such as BGP or OSPF between the leaf and spine switches. In order to provide layer 2 connectivity, between hosts and VMs on different racks as well as maintain multi-tenant separation, layer 2 overlay solution is deployed such as VXLAN. However, VXLAN does not define a control plane to learn and exchange Continue reading

The group that hacked the DNC infiltrated Ukrainian artillery units

The cyberespionage group blamed for hacking into the U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC) earlier this year has also infiltrated the Ukrainian military through a trojanized Android application used by its artillery units.The group, which is known in the security industry under different names, including Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm, and APT28, has been operating for almost a decade. It is believed to be the sole user and likely developer of a Trojan program called Sofacy or X-Agent that has variants for Windows, Android, and iOS.Fancy Bear has been responsible for many cyberespionage operations around the world over the years, and its selection of targets has frequently reflected Russia's geopolitical interests. Researchers from security firm CrowdStrike believe the group is likely tied to the Russian Military Intelligence Service (GRU).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nokia files even more patent lawsuits against Apple

Nokia has filed new patent infringement lawsuits against Apple on Thursday, a day after it weighed in on a licensing dispute with the company by filing claims in Germany and the U.S.On Wednesday, the Finland-based mobile network vendor filed lawsuits in three German courts and two lawsuits in a Texas court, leveling infringement claims against Apple on the widely used H.264 video codec and other technologies. Those suits cover 32 of Nokia's patents.Nokia's first round of lawsuits came after Apple filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Nokia of working with patent assertion firms Acacia Research and Conversant Intellectual Property Management to “extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively” from Apple and other smartphone makers. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Looking Back to Look Forward on Cybersecurity

By now, everyone in our industry has provided 2017 cybersecurity predictions and I’m no exception.  I participated in a 2017 infosec forecast webcast with industry guru Bruce Schneier, and ESG also published a video where I exchanged cybersecurity prophecies with my colleague Doug Cahill (note: I am an ESG employee).Yup, prognosticating about the future of cybersecurity has become a mainstream activity, but rather than simply guess at what will happen next year, I think it is useful to review what actually happened over the past few years and extrapolate from there.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Looking Back to Look Forward on Cybersecurity

By now, everyone in our industry has provided 2017 cybersecurity predictions and I’m no exception.  I participated in a 2017 infosec forecast webcast with industry guru Bruce Schneier, and ESG also published a video where I exchanged cybersecurity prophecies with my colleague Doug Cahill (note: I am an ESG employee).Yup, prognosticating about the future of cybersecurity has become a mainstream activity, but rather than simply guess at what will happen next year, I think it is useful to review what actually happened over the past few years and extrapolate from there.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Looking back to look forward on cybersecurity

By now, everyone in our industry has provided 2017 cybersecurity predictions, and I’m no exception. I participated in a 2017 infosec forecast webcast with industry guru Bruce Schneier, and ESG also published a video where I exchanged cybersecurity prophecies with my colleague Doug Cahill.Yup, prognosticating about the future of cybersecurity has become a mainstream activity. But rather than simply guess at what will happen next year, I think it is useful to review what actually happened over the past few years and extrapolate from there.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Event-driven infrastructure and the move to higher worlds

At Amazon Web Services' (AWS) re:Invent conference two years ago, the company introduced AWS Lambda, a mind-blowing service that allows developers to specify and set up specific functions that would run in the event of particular events.This was a remarkable development, for it heralded the ability to move beyond servers for specific processes and move to a model where the operation was the unit of measure. Functions would run only in the event of the particular triggers and would set in a idle state for eternity in the absence of those triggers. Developers would pay only when the particular functions were running.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple shortens annual iTunes Connect holiday shutdown

Apple has alerted app developers that it will not be accepting new app or app update submissions from Dec. 23-27, so the clock is ticking... Apple annual announces a holiday schedule, presumably to give some of the real people behind the app management process some time off. However, this year the break is only 5 days vs. 7 the past couple of years. While developers won't be able to submit new apps or updates during the break, they will have access to other iTunes connect features. Apple recently announced its Best of 2016 list, highlighting top apps and developers. Statista shows that about 2 million mobile apps are available for download on the Apple App Store, including the top new free app (well, it costs $10 to activate the good stuff), Super Mario Run. Nintendo says Super Mario Run was downloaded 40 million times in its first 4 days of availability, and Apple confirmed that is a record-breaker.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Red Hat Falls 11% on Flat Q4 Forecast

Red Hat Falls 11% on Flat Q4 Forecast Shares of Red Hat fell 10.6 percent in after-hours trading today as the company’s fourth-quarter forecast disappointed investors. Red Hat’s fourth-quarter projection of $614 million to $622 million in revenues means sales will be just about flat quarter-to-quarter. Revenues for the company’s third quarter, which ended Nov. 30, were $615 million. Investors expected third-quarter revenues... Read more →

IDG Contributor Network: Surprise! Polar codes are coming in from the cold

As the festive season approaches, there is nothing better than a good surprise. If you follow my blog regularly, you’ll have read my position on Polar codes—great technology, but perhaps not quite ready for prime time.Well, I guess I was wrong, or maybe not? Recently, 3GPP selected Polar codes as the official coding method for the control channel functions in the 5G enhanced mobile broadband use case (one of the three main use cases being developed), and the LDPC method was crowned as the channel code for the data channels in the same use case. Turbo codes are not in the game yet, at least in this round. So, what happened?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here