Bigger, better, faster: What does Wave 2 of 802.11ac have in store?

"Bigger, better, faster" is a mantra with which many of us are now familiar. Even if it isn't something we have printed on a t-shirt, it can be how we strive to live without often realizing it. Improvement is a part of life. You don't have to look hard to see examples of certain things that have already realized their great potential for improvement. But what about things we take for granted, like wireless?  Wireless is all around us, but it's something we take for granted. Sometimes it’s harder to find a business or public location without Wi-Fi than it is to find one with it. So can wireless actually advance? Whether it's in the boardroom or the living room, we have expectations of buttery-smooth audio and video. As the number of wireless devices grows at a profound rate, how can we shore up the wireless network to provide service to all that’s connected? Wireless AC may be the light at the end of the tunnel. With Wave 1 speeds of 1.3Gbps (your mileage may vary) we're offered a chance to handle the larger amount of requests constantly bombarding our access points (APs). Still, the struggle in dense environments Continue reading

Alcatel-Lucent uses SDN to meld IP, optical services

Alcatel-Lucent this week extended its carrier SDN product line with an automation and network control system designed to accelerate service provisioning from multivendor IP and optical infrastructure.The company’s Network Services Platform combines Alcatel-Lucent’s SDN-based software with its 5260 service-aware management system, Service Router operating system and the 1830 Photonic Service Switch GMPLS routing engine algorithms from Bell Labs. It also has a REST API interface to the Nuage Networks Virtual Services Platform SDN controller for data center networks so the IP/MPLS/optical network can be quickly provisioned based on the needs of data center interconnection and virtual machine mobility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Alcatel-Lucent uses SDN to meld IP, optical services

Alcatel-Lucent this week extended its carrier SDN product line with an automation and network control system designed to accelerate service provisioning from multivendor IP and optical infrastructure.The company’s Network Services Platform combines Alcatel-Lucent’s SDN-based software with its 5260 service-aware management system, Service Router operating system and the 1830 Photonic Service Switch GMPLS routing engine algorithms from Bell Labs. It also has a REST API interface to the Nuage Networks Virtual Services Platform SDN controller for data center networks so the IP/MPLS/optical network can be quickly provisioned based on the needs of data center interconnection and virtual machine mobility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hot stuff: The coolest drones

DronesImage by Northrop Grumman/Chad Slattery/Handout via ReutersThe world of drones – military and public – is changing so fast it’s hard to keep up with the changes. Here we take a look at some of the most recent advancements, such as getting drones to fly as a group, deliver orders in restaurants and take advanced technology into space. Read on:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hot stuff: The coolest drones

DronesImage by Northrop Grumman/Chad Slattery/Handout via ReutersThe world of drones – military and public – is changing so fast it’s hard to keep up with the changes. Here we take a look at some of the most recent advancements, such as getting drones to fly as a group, deliver orders in restaurants and take advanced technology into space. Read on:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Orhan Ergun July 2015 CCDE Training

I am glad to announce that my next Online CCDE Training will start at second week of July. It will be Online through Webex , all the sessions will be recorded and you can download them to watch later as well. Also , when you pay the ccde training cost, you can attend my every… Read More »

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Mailing List

I’m switching the updates mailing list to mailchimp so I can post emails with more “stuff” from time to time that’s not posted on the blog. The signup is under the “hamburger menu” on the top left corner.

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E-paper display gives payment cards a changing security code

By embedding an e-paper display in the back of credit and debit cards, payment specialist Oberthur Technologies hopes to make online fraud a lot more difficult. An upcoming test in France will show if the underlying technology can cut it.Using payment cards with an embedded chip makes payments more secure in physical stores, but it’s still relatively easy for criminals to copy card details and use them online. Oberthur’s Motion Code technology replaces the printed 3-digit CVV (Card Verification Value) code, usually found on the back of the card, with a small screen, where the code changes periodically.Today, any criminal who has seen a card or overheard the owner dictating the CVV code can make an unauthorized purchases online or by phone. With Motion Code, because the CVV changes from time to time, the time a fraudster has to act is reduced.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Featured SDN Use Case Solution: Securing The Hybrid Cloud

A new use case looks at how to use SDN to securely bridge on-premises assets with resources in the public cloud or virtual private clouds.

Avi Networks, Layer 4-7 Startup, Lands Time Warner Cable

Avi won't comment, but Time Warner Cable already spoke for them.

Android stock browser vulnerable to URL spoofing

A vulnerability in Android’s default Web browser lets attackers spoof the URL shown in the address bar, allowing for more credible phishing attacks.Google released patches for the flaw in April, but many phones are likely still affected, because manufacturers and carriers typically are slow to develop and distribute Android patches.The vulnerability was discovered by a researcher named Rafay Baloch and was privately reported to Google with the help of security firm Rapid7.Baloch discovered the flaw on Android 5.0 Lollipop, which uses Chrome as its default browser, but then also confirmed it in the stock browser in older Android versions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Industry’s First Benchmark Test for NFV Performance at Network Edge

In a new set of benchmark tests, key industry players prove NFV is a viable option for the network edge.

NFV Terminology and Architecture from ETSI

Well, if you thought SDN introduced a lot of terminology, you’ll love NFV! The good news is that ETSI, which defines NFV, does a great job documenting NFV, with extensive term and acronym lists to support other documents about the details of NFV architecture. Several of the ETSI NFV docs provide some great stepping-stones for understanding the basic concepts and terminology, which is where we’ll go in this post.

This is the last in a related series! The other posts:

• SDN Terms and Architecture from RFC 8426
• SDN Terms and Architecture from ITU Y.3300
• And this post! About ETSI NFV Terms and Architecture

A Brief Big Picture of NFV

One of the challenges with this blog is figuring out how much prior knowledge to assume. If you don’t know much at all about NFV, read this section for a quick intro. Otherwise, skip to the next heading.

Briefly…

Think of every networking device used in the IT world. Those include routers, switches, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, load balancers, and so on. Traditionally, those devices have indeed been devices – purpose built hardware, running some OS that performed the networking function.

While you’re thinking of the old way to network, Continue reading

LTE smartphones are becoming faster and cheaper

High-end smartphones offer high-speed wireless connections—but few mobile operators have made the infrastructure investments required to keep up with them. The arrival of cheaper phones with 300Mbps LTE capabilities may encourage that investment.LTE chips with real-world download speeds over 100Mbps have become a standard feature on high-end smartphones, while smartphones costing under US$100 now include LTE chips, albeit slower ones.Better cameras, screens and design have gotten most of the attention on this year’s crop of high-end smartphones, but support for the latest versions of LTE, a rarity a year ago, has become a standard feature. Download speeds on the HTC One M9 and the LG G4 top out at 450Mbps on paper, while the Samsung Galaxy S6 is theoretically capable of 300Mbps.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

First look: Windows Server 2016 goes on a cloud diet

Windows Server 2016 is both an evolution of the current Windows Server 2012 R2 release and a revolution in the making. If you plan to use Windows Server 2016 in the same way you’ve used Windows Server all along, you’ll be able to pick it up and work with it with very little learning curve. But if you are ready to abandon the old ways and embrace the new world of cloud servers, containers, and microservices, Windows Server 2016 has something new for you.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Experts bust Android security myths

Thanks to its inherent "openness," the open source Android OS is vulnerable to a variety of security risks, but how often do people you know actually fall victim to Android malware or other attacks?Is the Android security risk overstated? Is the Android risk really greater than the risks posed by its iOS and Windows Mobile counterparts? And what can users, and the enterprise IT departments that support them, do to better protect their Android devices? + ALSO: Researchers build security framework for Android +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

8 Android security tips for IT, corporate users

The security pros interviewed for our article, "Experts bust Android security myths," offered up the following eight Android security tips for IT administrators and users1) Don't root that Android device"To do significant damage in the mobile world, malware needs to act on devices that have been altered at an administrative level," according to Dionisio Zumerle, principal research analyst at Gartner. "The most obvious platform compromises of this nature are 'jailbreaking' on iOS or 'rooting' on Android devices ...To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Huawei launches its own OS for the Internet of Things

China's Huawei Technologies is targeting smart homes, cars, wearables and more with its own operating system, Liteos, intended for the international market.On Wednesday Huawei launched the OS to help third-party vendors break into the emerging Internet of Things space. The whole industry is eyeing opportunities to turn household objects and industrial equipment into connect devices, but the development costs still remain high, according to the Chinese company.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats Huawei, however, claims its new "lightweight" OS can streamline the whole process. The Liteos software can be as small as 10 kilobytes in size, and is designed to run on minimal power, making it suitable for a wide range of hardware, including microcontrollers and ARM Cortex embedded processors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT/IT: Data Can’t Lie?

A statistician is someone who can put their head in a hot oven, and their feet in a bucket of ice, and say, “on the average, I feel fine.”

Before we move completely into a world where people are counseled, “use the data, Luke,” disregarding their own beliefs and feelings, we need to have a little discussion. As an example of what we might get wrong, let’s take a look at some interesting problems in the polling from recent elections. According to one article (which happens to have all the numbers conveniently gathered in one place) —

• On May 7th, in an election in Britain, the pre-election polls showed conservatives would win around 280 seats. The exit polls during the election showed the conservatives would win around 316 seats. During the election, conservatives actually won 330 seats.
• In 1992, also in Britain, the pre-election polls showed the conservative and liberal parties in a dead heat. The conservatives actually won by 7.5 points.
• In the recent election in Israel, Likud was predicted, through polling, to win 22 seats. Likud actually won 30 seats.

These aren’t random events — they are repeated time and again in elections through the last Continue reading

Congratulations to Roy Lexmond on Passing CCDE Practical Exam !

I am very glad to announce that Roy Lexmond from my April CCDE training class passed his CCDE Practical exam yesterday in France. Below is his success story and here is his earlier feedback for the class. I should say that He really likes the design and open to learn new things and very clever.… Read More »

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