What is NFV and what are its cost, performance and scaling benefits?

Network functions virtualization (NFV) enables IT pros to modernize their networks with modular software running on standard server platforms.Over time, NFV will deliver high-performance networks with greater scalability, elasticity, and adaptability at reduced costs compared to networks built from traditional networking equipment.  NFV covers a wide range of network applications, but is driven primarily by new network requirements, including video, SD-WAN, Internet of Things and 5G.To read this article in full, please click here

What is NFV and what are its cost, performance and scaling benefits?

Network functions virtualization (NFV) enables IT pros to modernize their networks with modular software running on standard server platforms.Over time, NFV will deliver high-performance networks with greater scalability, elasticity, and adaptability at reduced costs compared to networks built from traditional networking equipment.  NFV covers a wide range of network applications, but is driven primarily by new network requirements, including video, SD-WAN, Internet of Things and 5G.To read this article in full, please click here

Help Make the Internet a Safer Place for Everyone

Ash Ball, a young person in Australia, is working to end cyberbullying as part of the Project Rockit team. Ball, one of the Internet Society’s  25 Under 25 awardees, says he believes that it’s important to empower the younger generation to step in when they see someone being harassed online.

That message is especially important today, which is Safer Internet Day, a call to action to make the Internet safer for everyone.

Linda Patiño is another 25 Under 25 awardee leading the charge. “I was a victim of online harassment, receiving kidnapping and rape threats,” she says. Patiño’s work with the Colombia-based organization Colnodo uses ICTs to promote Internet safety and gender equality. “A tool can be so harmful. I enter this world [of activism] so other girls know they are not alone, that we are creating things to help them get through this. Even though these tools have serious impacts, we are doing good change” in the world.

We all have the power to help make the Internet a more welcoming and accessible place, but Ash Ball and Linda Patiño show that it’s a Continue reading

History of Networking: Paul Vixie on the Origins of DNS

Paul Vixie joins us on the History of Networking to talk about the spread of the DNS system—like a virus through the body network. All those radios in the background at a bit of history; Paul is an Amateur Radio Operator of many years, though, like me, he is not as active as he used to be in this realm.

AMD lands Dell as its latest Epyc server processor customer

AMD scored a significant win in its efforts to retake ground in the data center with Dell announcing three new PowerEdge servers aimed at the usual high-performance workloads, like virtualized storage-area networks (VSAN), hybrid-cloud applications, dense virtualization, and big data analytics. The servers will run AMD's Epyc 7000 series processors.What’s interesting is that two of the three new Dell servers, the PowerEdge R6415 and R7415, are single-socket systems. Usually a single-socket server is a small tower stuck in a closet or under a desk and running as a file and print server or departmental server, not something running enterprise workloads. The R7425 is the only dual-socket server being introduced.To read this article in full, please click here

AMD lands Dell as its latest Epyc server processor customer

AMD scored a significant win in its efforts to retake ground in the data center with Dell announcing three new PowerEdge servers aimed at the usual high-performance workloads, like virtualized storage-area networks (VSAN), hybrid-cloud applications, dense virtualization, and big data analytics. The servers will run AMD's Epyc 7000 series processors.What’s interesting is that two of the three new Dell servers, the PowerEdge R6415 and R7415, are single-socket systems. Usually a single-socket server is a small tower stuck in a closet or under a desk and running as a file and print server or departmental server, not something running enterprise workloads. The R7425 is the only dual-socket server being introduced.To read this article in full, please click here

ANSIBLE COMMUNITY – 2017 YEAR IN REVIEW

2017 Community Post

It's time again for the annual Ansible community review. Let's start again, as we do every year, with a quick look at the numbers.

Debian Popcon

Debian’s Popularity Contest is an opt-in way for Debian users to share information about the software they’re running on their systems.

As with every year, caveats abound with this graph -- but even though it represents only a small sample of the Linux distro world, it’s useful because it’s one of the few places where we can see an apples-to-apples comparison of install bases of various automation tools. Because Ansible is agentless, we compare the Ansible package to the server packages of other configuration management tools. (Chef does not make a Debian package available for Chef server.)

We see that Ansible has continued its steady growth in 2017, increasing its user base here by approximately 50% in the past year.

GitHub Metrics

2017 was a busy year for Ansible on the GitHub front, and in 2017 we caught the notice of GitHub itself. Ansible now has its own top level topic for GitHub searches, and that search reveals over 5000 repositories of Ansible content. We also made the 2017 GitHub Octoverse report, placing Continue reading

BrandPost: Manufacturer improves app performance, productivity with SD-WAN

IMMI is an Indiana-based manufacturer of safety products, such as seat belts, car seats, and other specialized vehicle safety devices. It has more than 1,600 employees in six countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.IMMI has invested heavily in computer-assisted manufacturing for its main plant locations. In addition, it relies on Oracle ERP and Microsoft Office 365 in hosted locations for day-to-day productivity.The company continues to expand through acquisition and requires agile WAN to facilitate communications between its locations and to ensure optimal user experience with cloud-based applications.Deployment details IMMI had been using Cisco ASA firewalls to provide secure IP VPN connections to its 12 main locations (headquarters, main data centers, and manufacturing plants). WAN connectivity is provided by a mix of high-speed broadband Internet, private links, and 4G LTE (as back up). IMMI found the Cisco ASAs complex and time consuming to manage, especially in remote locations. Application performance across the company was negatively affected by high latency and occasional brownouts due to reliance on Internet connectivity from distant locations (e.g., China).To read this article in full, please click here

Private Equity Amps Up Arm Servers With Applied X86 Techies

The Carlyle Group, the publicly traded investment firm that has invested in nearly 300 companies that have a net worth of $170 billion and which itself could make around $4 billion in management fees and income from those investments for 2017, does not invest in any technology lightly.

So the fact that it has acquired the X Gene server processor assets that were created over many years by Applied Micro and briefly owned last year by Chinese IT supplier MACOM means that Carlyle believes Arm servers have a shot in the datacenter and that its investors want to get a

Private Equity Amps Up Arm Servers With Applied X86 Techies was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.