Startup ZincFive makes old battery technology new again

A startup called ZincFive is set to launch a modular uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for data center computers using the venerable nickel-zinc technology, which it claims is more efficient than lithium-ion.Nickel-zinc batteries were invented by Thomas Edison in 1901 but fell out of favor to newer designs due to their limitations, such as a low number of charge cycles and their inability to hold a charge for long.On the plus side, the batteries could hold a stronger charge and didn’t use toxic metals like other batteries that make them difficult to recycle. And they are not flammable, something lithium-ion batteries certainly can’t claim.To read this article in full, please click here

5 years later, where are you on your Docker journey?

Docker is turning five the week of March 19-25, 2018 and in celebration of this event, we would like to turn the spotlight to our users – the customers, partners, individuals and organizations that are using the Docker platform every day. From scientific use cases in the field of medical and space research to more traditional use cases in large banks and insurance companies, Docker’s adoption is only accelerating with everyone from individual developers to global corporations. Here are some of the key figures showing the widespread adoption of Docker across the community and within enterprises.

 

Docker has evolved from a container runtime to Docker Enterprise Edition (EE), a secure enterprise-ready container platform that brings unmatched freedom of choice to enterprises, while providing a foundation for their digital and multi-cloud initiatives. Millions of users rely on Docker, downloading 100M container images a day, and over 450 companies have turned to Docker Enterprise Edition – including hundreds of the largest enterprises in the world. With such vast adoption, the range of stories to tell and the diverse set of use cases continues to grow. So where are some of these users and enterprise customers on their Docker journey?

Docker users have deployed Docker containers for a Continue reading

Don’t forget to tune into our CCNA Kickoff Session tomorrow!

Watch our March 2018 CCNA Kickoff Session with Keith Bogart TOMORROW at 1:30 PM EST.

 

This kickoff session for those who are interested in, or have started to study for the CCNA certification. In this free session, we will cover common trouble areas that most people experience when getting started with their certification. Topics include: how to approach making a study schedule, strategies for not becoming overwhelmed during the study process, deciding whether to take one test or two to get your CCNA, what to expect when you walk into the testing center, which topics to study and how in depth, and what study tools can be useful. Keith will also discuss the testing experience and the CCNA Certification test format.

When: March 7th at 10:30 am PST/ 1:30 pm EST

Estimated Length: 3 hours

Instructor: Keith Bogart CCIE #4923

Cost: FREE

NAT To Be Missed At SXSW

NAT To Be Missed At SXSW

We’re at the EDGE of our seats, about to LANd in Austin, Texas in route for SXSW. (TKIP, hip, hooray!)

ARP you going to be there? We R going to have three epoch sessions by Cloudflare speakers. Ifdown, seems apt you could SELECT to JOIN. Cat make it? Not a bg deal, wget it (though it mega hertz we won’t C you). All the audio from the three sessions will be recorded, you can listen to the cd.

WPS! I almost forgot to tel(net) you whois going to be there, and WAN and where to go.

On Friday, March 9, I’m moderating a panel with Emily Schechter from Google, Aaron DeVera from Deloitte and Gabe Kassel from eero about how Wi-Fi networks work and WEP happens when attackers coax people into joining insecure networks. It’s at Salon K in the Hilton at 3:30PM.

On Sunday the 11th, Nitin Rao is on a panel with Heather West from Mozilla, Stefan Lederer from Bitmovin and Fred Benenson from Unlimited Liability Corporation LLC about the impact of the recent revocation of Net Neutrality rules on online video streaming. It’s at 11AM at Salon J in the Continue reading

DFS and Low Points

On a recent history of networking episode, Alia talked a little about Maximally Redundant Trees (MRTs), and the concept of Depth First Search (DFS) numbering, along with the idea of a low point. While low points are quickly explained in my new book in the context of MRTs, I thought it worthwhile to revisit the concept in a blog post. Take a look at the following network:

On the left side is a small network with the nodes (think of these as routers) being labeled from A through G. On the right side is the same network, only each node has been numbered by traversing the graph, starting at A. This process, in a network, would either require some device which knows about every node and edge (link) in the network, or it would require a distributed algorithm that “walks” the network from one node to another, numbering each node as it is touched, and skipping any node that has already been visited (again, for more details on this, please see the book).

Once this numbering has been done, the numbers now produce this interesting property: if you remove the parent of any node, and the node can still reach Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: What to understand about health care IoT and its security

As we have seen, the Internet of Things will disrupt and change every industry and how actors within it do business. Along with new paradigms in services and products that one can offer due to the proliferation of IoT, come business risks as well as heightened security concerns – both physical and cyber. In our prior column, we spoke about this topic in the context of the Smart Electric Grid. Today we’re taking a look at how IoT is disrupting the health care market and how we can take steps to secure it.To read this article in full, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: What to understand about health care IoT and its security

As we have seen, the Internet of Things will disrupt and change every industry and how actors within it do business. Along with new paradigms in services and products that one can offer due to the proliferation of IoT, come business risks as well as heightened security concerns – both physical and cyber. In our prior column, we spoke about this topic in the context of the Smart Electric Grid. Today we’re taking a look at how IoT is disrupting the health care market and how we can take steps to secure it.To read this article in full, please click here

The Roadmap Ahead For Exascale HPC In The US

The first step in rolling out a massive supercomputer installed at a government sponsored HPC laboratory is to figure out when you want to get it installed and doing useful work. The second is consider the different technologies that will be available to reach performance and power envelope goals. And the third is to give it a cool name.

Last but not least is to put a stake in the ground by telling the world about the name of the supercomputer and its rough timing, thereby confirming. These being publicly funded machines, this is only right.

As of today, it’s

The Roadmap Ahead For Exascale HPC In The US was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

BrandPost: What is Intelligent Automation?

The operations environment for service providers is growing increasingly complex. While advancements like Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enable on-demand services, among many other benefits, existing network management and Operational Support Systems (OSSs) lack the scale and flexibility to meet the requirements of these more dynamic network technologies.Simple automation techniques like custom scripting are often used to reduce repetitive manual tasks, but providers are looking for more robust automation capabilities to reduce operational complexity and improve efficiency, at scale. By leveraging software purpose-built for dynamic SDN/NFV environments, and incorporating recent advancements in big data analytics and machine learning, network operators can make true intelligent automation possible from end-to-end and, as a result, run their businesses smarter and much more efficiently.  To read this article in full, please click here

BrandPost: What Is Intelligent Automation?

The operations environment for service providers is growing increasingly complex. While advancements like Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enable on-demand services, among many other benefits, existing network management and Operational Support Systems (OSSs) lack the scale and flexibility to meet the requirements of these more dynamic network technologies.Simple automation techniques like custom scripting are often used to reduce repetitive manual tasks, but providers are looking for more robust automation capabilities to reduce operational complexity and improve efficiency, at scale. By leveraging software purpose-built for dynamic SDN/NFV environments, and incorporating recent advancements in big data analytics and machine learning, network operators can make true intelligent automation possible from end-to-end and, as a result, run their businesses smarter and much more efficiently.  To read this article in full, please click here

The real cause of large DDoS – IP Spoofing

A week ago we published a story about new amplification attacks using memcached protocol on UDP port 11211. A few things happened since then:

Let's take a deep breath and discuss why such large DDoS attacks are even possible on the modern internet.

Large attacks use IP spoofing

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CC BY-SA 2.0 image by DaPuglet

All the gigantic headline-grabbing attacks are what we call "L3" (Layer 3 OSI[1]). This kind of attack has a common trait - the malicious software sends as many packets as possible onto the network. For greater speed these packets are hand crafted by attackers - they are not generated using high-level, well-behaved libraries. Packets are mashed together as a series of bytes and fired onto the network to inflict the greatest damage.

L3 attacks can be divided into two categories, depending on where the attacker directs their traffic:

  • Direct: where the traffic is sent directly against a victim IP. A SYN flood is a common attack of this type.

  • Amplification: the traffic is sent to vulnerable Continue reading

Cisco Live CAE and Guest Keynote Announcements

As you may have heard by now, there have been a few exciting announcements from Cisco Live 2018 regarding the venue for the customer appreciation event and the closing keynote speakers.

Across The Universe

The first big announcement is the venue for the CAE. When you’re in Orlando, there are really only two options for the CAE. You either go to the House of the Mouse or you go to Universal Studios. The last two times that Cisco Live has gone to Orlando it has been to Universal. 2018 marks the third time!

Cisco is going big this year. They’ve rented the ENTIRE Universal Studios park. Not just the backlot. Not just the side parks. They WHOLE thing. You can get your fix on the Transformers ride, visit Harry Potter, or even partake of some of the other attractions as well. It’s a huge park with a lot of room for people to spread out and enjoy the scenery.

That’s not all. The wristband that gets you into the CAE also gets you access to Islands of Adventure before the full park opens! You can pregame the party by hanging out at Hogwarts, going to Jurassic Park, or joining your Continue reading