Worth Reading: Modernizing business services through the CPE

In a previous blog, I discussed how equipment providers are facing a lucrative but pitfall-laden path in deciding how to invest in NFV to displace dedicated appliances. CSPs have similar NFV investment decisions to make on the user side of the equation. They need to answer the question: “Where should I start implementing an NFV strategy to deliver network functions and customer services as a means of improving my bottom line and business success?” One strong candidate for this starting point is Universal Customer Premises Equipment. —ECI

The post Worth Reading: Modernizing business services through the CPE appeared first on 'net work.

SD-WAN Manifesto: Eight Critical Characteristics for Building an SD-WAN

More than a mere trend, SD-WAN is the way of the future.

4 ways Cognizant customers can protect themselves amid corruption probe

Following Cognizant’s announcement late last week that it had launched an internal investigation into possible anti-corruption violations, there have been more questions than answers about what may have occurred at the Teaneck, N.J.-headquartered provider of offshore IT services. Particularly perplexing to some was the attendant news that the company’s long-time president Gordon Coburn was stepping down.Cognizant gave no reason for the departure of Coburn, who has been replaced by head of IT services Rajeev Mehta. However, the company did say in a regulatory filing that it was looking into whether it had violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) within a small number of company-owned facilities. Cognizant owns 12 of the 45 delivery centers it operates in India, where 75 percent of its employees work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

4 ways Cognizant customers can protect themselves amid corruption probe

Following Cognizant’s announcement late last week that it had launched an internal investigation into possible anti-corruption violations, there have been more questions than answers about what may have occurred at the Teaneck, N.J.-headquartered provider of offshore IT services. Particularly perplexing to some was the attendant news that the company’s long-time president Gordon Coburn was stepping down.Cognizant gave no reason for the departure of Coburn, who has been replaced by head of IT services Rajeev Mehta. However, the company did say in a regulatory filing that it was looking into whether it had violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) within a small number of company-owned facilities. Cognizant owns 12 of the 45 delivery centers it operates in India, where 75 percent of its employees work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Windows weakness no one mentions: speech recognition

Windows has a feature it doesn’t like to talk about. While the OS lets you scrawl notes with a stylus, log in with you face (or secure the Web) via Windows Hello, and even order Cortana to set a reminder, what it’s not so eager for you to do, apparently, is use its speech recognition engine to issue commands or take voice dictation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Deloitte leaders detail new iOS partnership with Apple

Apple will soon expand its enterprise roadmap thanks to a partnership that should result in the release of a new set of industry-specific iOS apps. The deal with Deloitte is designed to increase the value and appeal of Apple devices in the workplace with new specialized applications, network integrations and mobile-first processes for businesses. [Related: Should Apple worry about Microsoft-IBM deal]To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Watson’s the name, data’s the game

There's a data expert making a name for himself in the corporate world today, and he's attracting a lot of attention. He's a lightning-fast learner, he speaks eight languages and he's considered an expert in multiple fields. He's got an exemplary work ethic, is a speed reader and finds insights no one else can. On a personal note, he's a mean chef and even offers good dating advice.  The name of this new paragon? Watson. IBM Watson. Named after IBM's first CEO, Watson was born back in 2007 as part of an effort by IBM Research to develop a question-answering system that could compete on the American quiz show "Jeopardy." Since trouncing its human opponents on the show in 2011, it has expanded considerably. What started as a system focused on a single core capability -- answering questions posed by humans in natural language -- now includes dozens of services spanning language, speech, vision and data analysis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It’s (not) elementary: How Watson works

What goes into making a computer understand the world through senses, learning and experience, as IBM says Watson does? First and foremost, tons and tons of data. To build a body of knowledge for Watson to work with on Jeopardy, researchers put together 200 million pages of content, both structured and unstructured, including dictionaries and encyclopedias. When asked a question, Watson initially analyzes it using more than 100 algorithms, identifying any names, dates, geographic locations or other entities. It also examines the phrase structure and the grammar of the question to better gauge what's being asked. In all, it uses millions of logic rules to determine the best answers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It’s (not) elementary: How Watson works

What goes into making a computer understand the world through senses, learning and experience, as IBM says Watson does? First and foremost, tons and tons of data.To build a body of knowledge for Watson to work with on Jeopardy, researchers put together 200 million pages of content, both structured and unstructured, including dictionaries and encyclopedias. When asked a question, Watson initially analyzes it using more than 100 algorithms, identifying any names, dates, geographic locations or other entities. It also examines the phrase structure and the grammar of the question to better gauge what's being asked. In all, it uses millions of logic rules to determine the best answers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Watson’s the name, data’s the game

There's a data expert making a name for himself in the corporate world today, and he's attracting a lot of attention. He's a lightning-fast learner, he speaks eight languages and he's considered an expert in multiple fields. He's got an exemplary work ethic, is a speed reader and finds insights no one else can. On a personal note, he's a mean chef and even offers good dating advice.  The name of this new paragon? Watson. IBM Watson. Named after IBM's first CEO, Watson was born back in 2007 as part of an effort by IBM Research to develop a question-answering system that could compete on the American quiz show "Jeopardy." Since trouncing its human opponents on the show in 2011, it has expanded considerably. What started as a system focused on a single core capability -- answering questions posed by humans in natural language -- now includes dozens of services spanning language, speech, vision and data analysis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Milestones along the way in Watson’s colorful history

How did IBM's Watson get to where it is today? Here are some key events that happened along the way.May 1997: Deep Blue conquers chess IBM's Deep Blue computer beats world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match that lasts several days and receives massive media coverage around the world. It also inspires researchers at IBM to undertake an even bigger challenge: build a computer that could beat the champions at Jeopardy.February 2011: Victorious at Jeopardy Watson competes on Jeopardy and defeats the TV quiz show’s two biggest all-time champions. It wins US$1 million; IBM donates the full amount to charity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s to our health, with help from Watson

IBM may have originally built Watson to win at Jeopardy, but it saw potential applications in healthcare early on. Eventually, it formed a dedicated business unit focused squarely on making those applications happen.As far back as 2012, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and IBM teamed up to develop a Watson-based system that could help doctors create individualized cancer treatment recommendations for their patients.The following year, IBM, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and WellPoint introduced products based on Watson. A project with Cleveland Clinic, meanwhile, focused on developing a new tool to help physicians and medical students learn how to make better decisions more quickly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Milestones along the way in Watson’s colorful history

How did IBM's Watson get to where it is today? Here are some key events that happened along the way. May 1997: Deep Blue conquers chess IBM's Deep Blue computer beats world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match that lasts several days and receives massive media coverage around the world. It also inspires researchers at IBM to undertake an even bigger challenge: build a computer that could beat the champions at Jeopardy. February 2011: Victorious at Jeopardy Watson competes on Jeopardy and defeats the TV quiz show’s two biggest all-time champions. It wins US$1 million; IBM donates the full amount to charity.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s to our health, with help from Watson

IBM may have originally built Watson to win at Jeopardy, but it saw potential applications in healthcare early on. Eventually, it formed a dedicated business unit focused squarely on making those applications happen. As far back as 2012, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and IBM teamed up to develop a Watson-based system that could help doctors create individualized cancer treatment recommendations for their patients. The following year, IBM, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and WellPoint introduced products based on Watson. A project with Cleveland Clinic, meanwhile, focused on developing a new tool to help physicians and medical students learn how to make better decisions more quickly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cloud-Managed WiFi Provider Open Mesh Adds Switches

Omron’s table tennis robot gets machine learning smarts

Omron's table tennis robot is getting smarter. At this week's Ceatec electronics show in Japan, the company has unveiled a new version that uses machine learning to assess the strength of an opponent and ramp up its game accordingly.The robot, named Forpheus, was first shown at the event in 2014 to impressive reviews. A series of robotic arms manipulate a table tennis bat, guided by cameras that watch the ball and predict where it's going to land.Omron developed the robot to promote the company's sensor technology and this latest version is showing off some of what can be done when sensing combines with machine learning and artificial intelligence.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: DDoS attacks using IoT devices follow The Manchurian Candidate model

In the movie The Manchurian Candidate, two soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed into sleeper agents. Later the soldiers become unwitting assassins when activated by a handler.  Sound familiar? It should.Hackers use a similar model for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks using IoT devices. This process has four phases. Capture: Identify and take over control of IoT devices Subvert: Reprogram the device to conduct malicious acts Activate: Instruct the hacked device to launch attack Attack: Launch the DDoS attack  Why are such attacks increasing? How can IoT device security be hardened? What DDoS protections are available? What advisory resources are available? Let’s take a look.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: DDoS attacks using IoT devices follow The Manchurian Candidate model

In the movie The Manchurian Candidate, two soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed into sleeper agents. Later the soldiers become unwitting assassins when activated by a handler.  Sound familiar? It should.Hackers use a similar model for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks using IoT devices. This process has four phases. Capture: Identify and take over control of IoT devices Subvert: Reprogram the device to conduct malicious acts Activate: Instruct the hacked device to launch attack Attack: Launch the DDoS attack  Why are such attacks increasing? How can IoT device security be hardened? What DDoS protections are available? What advisory resources are available? Let’s take a look.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Deep-dive review: The iPhone 7 Plus is the best iPhone yet

Let's get this out of the way about the biggest change to the iPhone 7: The elimination of the old-style audio jack doesn't mean Apple is trying to force users to buy wireless AirPods. The iPhone 7 comes with wired headphones (that plug into the Lightning connector port), and it comes with a free adapter if you have your own headphones you'd rather use.If you're hung up on the missing audio jack, which you shouldn't be, then the iPhone 7 isn't for you. For everyone else, I'll be clear: The iPhone 7 is the best iPhone I've ever used - and I've owned every single version, dating back to 2007.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to keep IT security together in a company that’s gone bankrupt

Corporate chaosImage by peteThe supply chain upon which modern multinational commerce depends was thrown into chaos earlier this year when South Korea's Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy. Dozens of container ships with hundreds of crew and thousands of pounds of cargo onboard were essentially stranded at sea, as ports barred the ships' entry for fear that they wouldn't be able to pay for docking services.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here