Throwing the baby out with the bathwater (No, you’re not Google, but why does this matter?)

It was quite difficult to prepare a tub full of bath water at many points in recent history (and it probably still is in some many parts of the world). First, there was the water itself—if you do not have plumbing, then the water must be manually transported, one bucket at a time, from a stream, well, or pump, to the tub. The result, of course, would be someone who was sweaty enough to need the forthcoming bath. Then there is the warming of the water. Shy of building a fire under the tub itself, how can you heat enough water quickly enough to make the eventual bathing experience? According to legend, this resulted in the entire household using the same tub of water to bathe. The last to bathe was always the smallest, the baby. By then, the water would be murky with dirt, which means the child could not be seen in the tub. When the tub was thrown out, then, no-one could tell if the baby was still in there.

But it doesn’t take a dirty tub of water to throw the baby out with the bath. All it really takes is an unwillingness to learn from Continue reading

Talking Internet of Things in Canada at IoT613 This Week

This week, 8-9 May, we’ll be at IoT613 in Ottawa, Canada, talking about our work on “Trust by Design” – the idea that privacy and security should be built into Internet-connected products, and not just an afterthought. We have been working with manufacturers to embrace the Online Trust Alliance’s IoT Trust Framework, which identifies the core requirements manufacturers, service providers, distributors/purchasers and policymakers need to understand, assess and embrace for effective IoT security and privacy. We also work to encourage consumers to demand security and privacy and to help policymakers create a policy environment that strengthens trust and enables innovation.

This week in Ottawa, we’ll have an Internet Society booth at the event both days, and on 9 May, Mark Buell, North American Bureau Director, will be part of an “IoT in Canada” panel that will “explore current IoT trends in Canada, identify the benefits of IoT for businesses and citizens and find out how Canada’s IoT ecosystem stacks up compared to the rest of the world.” Mark will speak about the Canadian Multistakeholder Process: Enhancing IoT Security, an Internet Society-led initiative to develop a broad-reaching policy to govern the security of the IoT for Continue reading

Network Break 233: The Dell EMC Product Deluge; Cisco Rolls Out Wi-Fi 6 APs

Today on Network Break we dive in the deluge of products announced at Dell EMC World, discuss new Wi-Fi 6 gear from Cisco, explore Cumulus's latest version of its NetQ switch management software, and tackle even more tech news. It's a bonanza episode so pack a few extra virtual donuts.

The post Network Break 233: The Dell EMC Product Deluge; Cisco Rolls Out Wi-Fi 6 APs appeared first on Packet Pushers.

The Week in Internet News: Unencrypted USB Drives Pose Security Risk

No encryption for U(SB): About 55 percent of U.K. businesses don’t encrypt information on USB drives, according to the result of a survey published at Information Age. Also, 62 percent of executives surveyed admit to seeing USB devices in unsecured locations such as desks, drawers, and exposed office spaces.

Out of touch: As healthcare providers explore ways to use Artificial Intelligence to treat patients, the human touch may end up a casualty, NPR says. AI could “create a gulf between health caregivers and people of more modest means,” with some people not getting the human interaction with healthcare professionals that they need, the story says.

Ship it with blockchain: FedEx CIO Rob Carter, speaking at a recent conference, called on the international shipping industry to mandate the use of blockchain to track shipments, Computerworld notes. The technology could help weed out counterfeit goods, backers say.

Intelligent standards: The U.S. White House has launched an effort to develop AI standards, and it’s asking for public input, NextGov writes. An executive order on AI directs the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology to issue a set of standards and tools that will guide the government in its adoption of Continue reading

Dell EMC launches GPU-loaded machine learning server

The latest news from Dell Technologies World is a high-end machine learning server for the data center that has four, eight, or even 10 Nvidia Tesla V100 GPUs for processing power.The Dell EMC DSS 8440 is a two-socket server with two of the new Xeon Scalable processors and is specifically designed for machine learning applications and other demanding workloads. Each Tesla is capable of more than 100 teraflops, so the 10 GPU machine is one petaflop of processing power. Dell claims the DSS 8440 is almost on par with performance by the DGX-1, which is also Tesla-powered.[ Read also: What is quantum computing (and why enterprises should care) ] Obviously this is not a machine for beginners. That would be Dell EMC’s 740 and 7425 servers, which support up to three GPUs, and the 4140, which supports up to four GPU cards.To read this article in full, please click here

Dell EMC launches GPU-loaded machine learning server

The latest news from Dell Technologies World is a high-end machine learning server for the data center that has four, eight, or even 10 Nvidia Tesla V100 GPUs for processing power.The Dell EMC DSS 8440 is a two-socket server with two of the new Xeon Scalable processors and is specifically designed for machine learning applications and other demanding workloads. Each Tesla is capable of more than 100 teraflops, so the 10 GPU machine is one petaflop of processing power. Dell claims the DSS 8440 is almost on par with performance by the DGX-1, which is also Tesla-powered.[ Read also: What is quantum computing (and why enterprises should care) ] Obviously this is not a machine for beginners. That would be Dell EMC’s 740 and 7425 servers, which support up to three GPUs, and the 4140, which supports up to four GPU cards.To read this article in full, please click here

Now Boarding: Autumn 2019 Network Automation Online Course

Ladies and gentlemen, our Autumn 2019 Building Network Automation Solutions online course is now ready for boarding. Please make sure you have your boarding passes ready, board at your convenience, and start enjoying the pre-flight perks like over hundred hours of self-study materials.

Our flight will depart on September 3rd with subsequent sessions on September 26th, October 24th and November 12th. The guest speakers will focus on security, inventory managements, and describe their production deployments. More in a few days…

The only thing you have to do at this moment is to register (if you want to get the Enthusiast price… otherwise please feel free to wait ;)

And just in case you’re wondering: yes, I was sitting at an airport while writing this blog post ;))

How to staff the hybrid cloud

The IT team at Perkins+Will used to support a sprawling SAN environment for its complex commercial-building renderings.When the Chicago-based architecture firm – which has 2,500 employees in 30 locations around the world – outgrew its SAN environment, Perkins+Will chose to migrate away from on-premises data centers and edge devices to a cloud-based storage system. Suddenly CIO Murali Selvaraj faced a difficult challenge: How to restructure the firm's 50-person global IT organization to meet the needs of the hybrid cloud?To read this article in full, please click here

How to staff the hybrid cloud

The IT team at Perkins+Will used to support a sprawling SAN environment for its complex commercial-building renderings.When the Chicago-based architecture firm – which has 2,500 employees in 30 locations around the world – outgrew its SAN environment, Perkins+Will chose to migrate away from on-premises data centers and edge devices to a cloud-based storage system. Suddenly CIO Murali Selvaraj faced a difficult challenge: How to restructure the firm's 50-person global IT organization to meet the needs of the hybrid cloud?To read this article in full, please click here

A Sandbox for Learning Pulumi

I recently started using Pulumi, a way of using a general purpose programming language for infrastructure-as-code projects. I’ve been using Pulumi with JavaScript (I know, some folks would say I should question my life decisions), and while installing Pulumi itself is pretty low-impact (a small group of binaries) there are a number of dependencies that need to be installed when using Pulumi with JavaScript. As I’m a stickler for keeping my primary system very “clean” with regard to installed packages and software, I thought I’d create a means whereby I can easily spin up a “sandbox environment” for learning Pulumi.

When creating this sandbox environment, I turned to some tools that are very familiar:

  • I used virtualization (a virtual machine) as the isolation mechanism. The next step is to use a Linux container, like a Docker container, as the isolation mechanism, but I thought I’d start with something a bit simpler at first.
  • Vagrant provides a way of automating the creation/destruction of said VM. Again, Vagrant is well-understood and widely used.
  • Ansible provides the automation to configure the VM with the necessary software (Pulumi and associated dependencies).
  • I also thought that some folks might find it interesting or useful Continue reading

The speed of BGP network propagation

The speed of BGP network propagation