IDG Contributor Network: The new branch office SD-WAN model

Wrapping up an SD-WAN workshop session with a client last week, I reflected on how rapidly the branch office WAN connectivity and management model is changing. Some great opportunities are emerging for enterprise IT teams that can materially impact how the network is designed, paid for and managed. Here are some thoughts:1. Public cloud is driving a lightweight edge security model Most people agree that SD-WAN can facilitate service chaining, and a selective backhaul model is interesting to many enterprises that want to concentrate next-generation firewall services in larger locations. But with the rapid growth of distributed content in public cloud applications (even from Microsoft and Salesforce, who long resisted this trend that Google pioneered) it’s increasingly counterproductive to backhaul browsing traffic long distances from the end users. It reduces performance, and adds significant load at hubs on the network — not ideal when this can represent 80 percent or more of the traffic.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Is your network ready for the Internet of Things?

Buying into IoT comes with a wealth of benefits, but adopting heavy use of the internet of things means more than plugging in devices and waiting for the data to pour in; it means modifying network infrastructure to accommodate them.This is not a trivial consideration. If the network doesn’t adequately support all aspects of IoT, a company may be unable to take advantage of all that data and will fail to realize the return on investment it was hoping for.+Related: Feds consider tougher requirements for IoT security;  IoT Security for Health Care is in critical condition; What is IoT?+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Beware n1wireless.com: Bait & Switch

Over the weekend, I ordered an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router from n1wireless.com. The price was great, and their site stated they had 90 in stock. This afternoon, I received from them via e-mail one of the oldest sales tricks there is–the bait and switch.

With the bait and switch technique, the victim is lured by a low price on a desirable product (the bait). The vendor of the low-priced product claims to be out of the bait, offering a different product at a higher price (the switch). N1Wireless suggested that instead of what I had ordered, I spend $50 more on an Apple Time Capsule product.

I applaud n1wireless.com for their bold ethical choices, but respectfully decline the opportunity to spend more money on a product I don’t want.

The lesson is not a new one. If something is too good to be true, then it probably is. Really, I should know better. I had a similar experience with a different vendor several months back selling a TV at a surprisingly low price. After two weeks of waiting for the order to ship, I had to call support to find out that the TV was on backorder, Continue reading

Beware n1wireless.com: Bait & Switch

Over the weekend, I ordered an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router from n1wireless.com. The price was great, and their site stated they had 90 in stock. This afternoon, I received from them via e-mail one of the oldest sales tricks there is–the bait and switch.

With the bait and switch technique, the victim is lured by a low price on a desirable product (the bait). The vendor of the low-priced product claims to be out of the bait, offering a different product at a higher price (the switch). N1Wireless suggested that instead of what I had ordered, I spend $50 more on an Apple Time Capsule product.

I applaud n1wireless.com for their bold ethical choices, but respectfully decline the opportunity to spend more money on a product I don’t want.

The lesson is not a new one. If something is too good to be true, then it probably is. Really, I should know better. I had a similar experience with a different vendor several months back selling a TV at a surprisingly low price. After two weeks of waiting for the order to ship, I had to call support to find out that the TV was on backorder, Continue reading

Worth Reading: Erasing Tech Debt

I worked on projects based on the following premise: “We’re going to switch to a different technology and everything will get discarded. For now, as long as it works, don’t worry too much about coding standards.” If it doesn’t sound too bad for you, let’s look at it from a different angle: “We’re all going to die at some point, so while you’re alive, do whatever you want and don’t worry about the consequences.” —Gabriel Colombo @ Free Code Camp

The post Worth Reading: Erasing Tech Debt appeared first on rule 11 reader.

IDG Contributor Network: Is the end of net neutrality a threat to IoT development?

The rapid spread of the internet of things quickly revolutionized how companies operated and how consumers interacted with their favorite apps and devices. Today, cars, homes, and even thermostats are all digitally connected, sharing information with one another and making consumer’s lives easier than ever before. But is this stunning phenomenon now in danger?The Federal Communications Commission has put forward a proposal under the guise of “internet freedom” that could very well spell out the end of the internet of things. The gutting of net neutrality rules could pave the way towards an unregulated future, in which the fate of the internet rest in the hands of massive corporations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What is containerd ?

containerd

We have done a few talks in the past on different features of containerd, how it was designed, and some of the problems that we have fixed along the way.  Containerd is used by Docker, Kubernetes CRI, and a few other projects but this is a post for people who may not know what containerd actually does within these platforms.  I would like to do more posts on the featureset and design of containerd in the future but for now, we will start with the basics.

I think the container ecosystem can be confusing at times. Especially with the terminology that we use. Whats this? A runtime. And this? A runtime…  containerd as the name implies, not contain nerd as some would like to troll me with, is a container daemon.  It was originally built as an integration point for OCI runtimes like runc but over the past six months it has added a lot of functionality to bring it up to par with the needs of modern container platforms like Docker and Kubernetes.

containerd

Since there is no such thing as Linux containers in the kernelspace, containers are various kernel features tied together, when you are building a large Continue reading

The OSPF Two Part Metric

Looking at the capabilities of any given protocol running in our networks today, it certainly seems there are few use cases left the protocol cannot support. In fact, modern interior gateway protocols have become so capable that it almost seems like we only need one to support everything. This is not reality, of course—there are many places where a specialized protocol would do better than a general purpose one, and there are still many use cases current protocols cannot support. One such use case, for OSPF, illustrated below, uses a two part metric to solve a very specific problem, as illustrated below.

On the left side of this diagram you can see the “typical” broadcast network. Originally common in what used to be called local area networks, these sorts of broadcast segments are actually more common on metro edges and wireless networks today than in a campus or data center. Anyone familiar with OSPF should already know what the problem is with this sort of configuration—if you build an adjacency between every pair of routers illustrated here, you end up with just too much state. For instance—

  • Each pair of routers in the network will form an adjacency, and hence Continue reading

Wrenching Efficiency Out of Custom Deep Learning Accelerators

Custom accelerators for neural network training have garnered plenty of attention in the last couple of years, but without significant software footwork, many are still difficult to program and could leave efficiencies on the table. This can be addressed through various model optimizations, but as some argue, the efficiency and utilization gaps can also be addressed with a tailored compiler.

Eugenio Culurciello, an electrical engineer at Purdue University, argues that getting full computational efficiency out of custom deep learning accelerators is difficult. This prompted his team at Purdue to build an FPGA based accelerator that could be agnostic to CNN …

Wrenching Efficiency Out of Custom Deep Learning Accelerators was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Worth Reading: AMD Thread Ripper

The AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor offers higher core and thread counts, which equates to more capability and performance than any other consumer-level processor for high-end computing functionality. By doubling the core count found in the Ryzen chip that launched late in the first quarter, AMD can address different markets that requires higher levels of performance, including video editing, rendering, software development and others. AMD even paints this chip as being able to handle “mega-tasking,” the ability to run two complex workloads (video transcoding and gaming, for example) without the same kind of performance drop you would find on other processors. —Ryan Shrout @ Market Watch

The post Worth Reading: AMD Thread Ripper appeared first on rule 11 reader.

IDG Contributor Network: I see dead zones

Dead zones have plagued users since the dawn of wireless networks.I know my wife is making or answering a call when she runs for the kitchen window. Sometimes I even find her outside, pointing her smartphone at the sky as she desperately searches for a cellular signal.We’ve all been there. And the struggle to find a strong connection now goes beyond cellular to Wi-Fi and the Internet of Things (IoT). But why?One answer is standards – or lack thereof. Until recently, there were no guidelines for integrating wireless networks directly into homes. Thick walls, frame and cement block many wireless signals. Most architects and builders don’t design around radio frequency (RF), and few people position their Wi-Fi router where they’re spending most of their connected time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Guest Wi-Fi access should always be ‘easy, peasy’

My kids use the expression “easy, peasy” to describes something that is super simple. For example, I might ask my youngest child, “How was your math test?” And because high school math is beyond simple, he would respond, “Easy, peasy.” In life, there are things that should be easy, but we often overcomplicate them. One thing that should be easy every time is signing on to guest Wi-Fi. The fact that it isn’t, makes it one of my biggest pet peeves.+ Also on Network World: 9 free Wi-Fi stumbling and surveying tools + Before I get into the why, I’ll take a step back and define guest Wi-Fi. Webopedia describes it as “a wireless router feature that is designed to allow users to easily grant visitor access to your wireless Internet connection.” Not to nitpick, but it’s more a Wi-Fi feature than a router feature, but most readers of this will get that. Also, note the word EASY in the definition, so all you Wi-Fi administrators out there, take note. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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