Musing: Conferences and Travel Bans

The IETF posted that travel bans may impact its decisions on where to hold conferences. This has got me thinking.

1. A substantial number of people travel internationally to conferences that are hosted in the USA, in part because these conferences have the best content
2. Large vendor conferences that I have attend HPE Discover, Cisco Live, VMworld have been well attended by numbers of overseas attendees. I don’t have exact numbers, can’t find any ?
3. Big deals are often done at these conferences where executives from customer and vendor will fly in to finalise a deal.
4. Confereneces are critical to sales cycles of big US companies who will 1) reward customers with free trips 2) accompany customers to see what interests them 3) forge/strengthen relationships with customers who may be moving away from them.

From a personal perspective, I’m in the final stages of content planning for the Packet Pushers two day workshop at the Interop ITX conference on May 15-16. Last year, we had a large contingent of overseas folks attend Interop in large part to hear us and for some this was their first trip to the USA.

Many conferences3 are already struggling to maintain attendees, vendors and revenue. The Continue reading

Busted: Federal Reserve employee mined bitcoin using government server

At least one employee of the U.S. Federal Reserve sees the value of bitcoin and mining for it if you get your computing power for free. Nicholas Berthaume, who is now a former employee, was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and fined $5,000 for installing unauthorized bitcoin software on a Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System server.According to a news release by the Office of Inspector General, Berthaume pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful conversion of government property.Working as a Communications Analyst, Berthaume had access to some Board computer servers. He put the computing power of a federal server to work for him. Mining is costly after all, as nowadays it tends to use more electricity than a miner earns. Unless a person has excess power from a solar farm for mining, then stealing electricity for mining is an option some people choose. You may have heard about the three men and one woman recently arrested in Venezuela for electricity theft and internet fraud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Busted: Federal Reserve employee mined bitcoin using government server

At least one employee of the U.S. Federal Reserve sees the value of bitcoin and mining for it if you get your computing power for free. Nicholas Berthaume, who is now a former employee, was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and fined $5,000 for installing unauthorized bitcoin software on a Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System server.According to a news release by the Office of Inspector General, Berthaume pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful conversion of government property.Working as a Communications Analyst, Berthaume had access to some Board computer servers. He put the computing power of a federal server to work for him. Mining is costly after all, as nowadays it tends to use more electricity than a miner earns. Unless a person has excess power from a solar farm for mining, then stealing electricity for mining is an option some people choose. You may have heard about the three men and one woman recently arrested in Venezuela for electricity theft and internet fraud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Aerohive looks to disrupt enterprise Wi-Fi with a low price point

Wi-Fi has become a critical component of digital enterprises. The wireless network connects workers, customers, Internet of Things (Iot) endpoints and virtually everything else to the company network. In addition to connectivity, the data that is generated by wireless traffic can be analyzed and used to provide the business with new insights on customer or user behavior. Choosing the right vendor for Wi-Fi infrastructure can be a conundrum for businesses. The choices available are either a low price point that carries a basic feature set or one with an enterprise-class set of functions with a much higher cost, meaning a compromise is always required. With most solutions, if a customer chooses the low-cost option, there’s no upgrade path to a more feature-rich solution other than ripping out the old stuff and putting in a whole new set of infrastructure. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Save 14% Plus Another $20 on ASUS Dual-Fan Radeon Rx 480 4GB OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card – Deal Alert

Deploy into the VR rebellion with the Dual-fan Radeon RX 480 with 1-click overclocking. Auto-Extreme manufacturing technology with Super Alloy Power II components ensures premium quality and reliability while dual fans provide a quieter and cooler gaming environment. GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster delivers ultimate monitoring and streaming control. Patented Wing-Blade Fans for max air flow with 105% more air pressure. ASUS Dual-fan RX480 graphics cards have two HDMI ports for connecting a VR device and display at the same time, so you can enjoy immersive virtual reality experiences anytime without having to swap cables. Its list price of $220 has been reduced 14% to $189.99, but an additional post-purchase rebate offer drops the price further to $169.99. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Privacy worries are on the rise, new poll of U.S. consumers shows

A recent IDC survey found 84% of U.S. consumers are concerned about the privacy of their personal information, with 70% saying their concern is greater today than it was a few years ago.These concerns of consumers should also alarm businesses: Consumers are willing to switch to another bank, medical center or retailer if they feel their personal information is threatened, the survey found."Consumers can exact punishment for data breaches or mishandled data by changing buyer behavior or shifting loyalty," said Sean Pike, an analyst at IDC, in a statement. The survey, released last week, polled 2,500 U.S. consumers about their privacy concerns across four verticals: Financial services, healthcare, retail and government.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Privacy worries are on the rise, new poll of U.S. consumers shows

A recent IDC survey found 84% of U.S. consumers are concerned about the privacy of their personal information, with 70% saying their concern is greater today than it was a few years ago.These concerns of consumers should also alarm businesses: Consumers are willing to switch to another bank, medical center or retailer if they feel their personal information is threatened, the survey found."Consumers can exact punishment for data breaches or mishandled data by changing buyer behavior or shifting loyalty," said Sean Pike, an analyst at IDC, in a statement. The survey, released last week, polled 2,500 U.S. consumers about their privacy concerns across four verticals: Financial services, healthcare, retail and government.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Maximizing use of existing cabling saves time, money and headaches

Maximizing use of existing cabling saves time, money and headaches

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Network advances often require cable upgrades, but rewiring takes time and money.  Often the existing cable can be leveraged, or the extent of the upgrade minimized, using ]media converters, one of the least glamorous yet most common and perhaps most versatile tools in a network manager’s toolbox.New media converters and extenders are available that support Power-over-Ethernet (PoE and PoE+) and legacy cabling types such as coax and 2-wire. These devices enable increased utilization of existing network cabling while upgrading network performance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Maximizing use of existing cabling saves time, money and headaches

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.Network advances often require cable upgrades, but rewiring takes time and money.  Often the existing cable can be leveraged, or the extent of the upgrade minimized, using ]media converters, one of the least glamorous yet most common and perhaps most versatile tools in a network manager’s toolbox.New media converters and extenders are available that support Power-over-Ethernet (PoE and PoE+) and legacy cabling types such as coax and 2-wire. These devices enable increased utilization of existing network cabling while upgrading network performance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber, Amazon, Tesla ramped up US lobbying in 2016

Many major tech companies spent less money lobbying in Washington in 2016, but a handful, including Uber and Amazon, invested significantly more in attempting to influence politicians and the regulatory process.The money, which totals tens of millions of dollars, is spent on workers and companies that monitor bills and schmooze with politicians and their staffs in the hopes of shaping laws in favor of their clients.Uber, which is regularly in conflict with regulators, spent $1.4 million on issues as varied as autonomous cars, access to military bases for its cars and transportation regulations. That's almost three times the $470,000 it spent in 2015, according to regulatory filings.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IT Resume Makeover: Gaining a new perspective

The last word you want to use to describe your resume is "generic," but that's exactly how Shepherd Book, whose name has been changed for this article, felt about his own resume. "It looked like a shopping list -- even though it included my latest list of duties, it really highlighted nothing," he says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

4 mini projectors: A show wherever you go

If you're on the road and want to give a presentation to your clients, you're not going to impress them if they have to squint over your shoulder at a laptop screen. But with the latest generation of mini projectors, most small enough to sit in the palm of your hand, you can carry the equivalent of a big-screen display around with you.Rif6 CubeTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

SonicWall CEO talks of life after Dell spinout

SonicWall has been through it all. The San Jose, CA-based security company began as a hot start up, went public, then private, was acquired by Dell and then spun off to a private equity firm as part of the massive Dell/EMC merger in 2016. In the wake of that change, SonicWall also got a new CEO, Bill Conner, a long-time security and tech industry leader, who took the helm in November. In this installment of the IDG CEO Interview Series, Conner spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant about what the Dell spin out means for customers and where SonicWall is focusing its development efforts. Hint: Think IoT, mobile and hybrid data centers. He also discussed the company’s cloud strategy and how the changing threat landscape opens up new opportunities in the enterprise for SonicWall, which is better known in the SMB space.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

SonicWall CEO talks of life after Dell spinout

SonicWall has been through it all. The San Jose, CA-based security company began as a hot start up, went public, then private, was acquired by Dell and then spun off to a private equity firm as part of the massive Dell/EMC merger in 2016. In the wake of that change, SonicWall also got a new CEO, Bill Conner, a long-time security and tech industry leader, who took the helm in November. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Obama’s cybersecurity legacy: Good intentions, good efforts, limited results

President Obama is only a couple of weeks out of office, but his legacy on cybersecurity is already getting reviews – mixed reviews.According to a number of experts, Obama said a lot of good things, did a lot of good things and devoted considerable energy to making cybersecurity a priority, but ultimately didn't accomplish the goal of making either government or the private sector more secure.The most recent, stark illustration was the series of leaks, enabled by hacks that US intelligence agencies attribute to Russia, that undermined both the credibility of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the election itself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Obama’s cybersecurity legacy: Good intentions, good efforts, limited results

President Obama is only a couple of weeks out of office, but his legacy on cybersecurity is already getting reviews – mixed reviews.According to a number of experts, Obama said a lot of good things, did a lot of good things and devoted considerable energy to making cybersecurity a priority, but ultimately didn't accomplish the goal of making either government or the private sector more secure.The most recent, stark illustration was the series of leaks, enabled by hacks that US intelligence agencies attribute to Russia, that undermined both the credibility of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the election itself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Unleashing the full potential of 5G to create a massive Internet of Things

By now, the term Internet of Things or IoT has become a part of the tech world’s everyday vernacular, and it broadly describes the concept of an interconnected network of physical objects, including machines, wearables, buildings, automobiles and a plethora of other types of devices. And these connected “things” are being designed to bring new services and deliver new levels of efficiency and safety all around us—in homes, businesses, cities, and across industries.Now in 2017, despite billions of already-connected devices, we are only at the dawn of the IoT era. It is estimated that there will be more than 20 billion connected devices by the year 2020. This expansion will be fueled by the rapid growth of exciting new IoT use cases and opportunities all around the world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5 Subnetting Benefits

Google’s crazy cool offices

17 photos of Google's coolest office setupsImage by GoogleGoogle is often ranked as one of the top tech companies to work for—and with good reason. The company is extraordinarily employee-friendly. In addition to a great array of benefits and employee perks, Google takes measures to ensure its employees work in extremely unique environments that are designed to foster creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Additionally, it makes going to work a far more enjoyable experience when there are slides, bikes, basketball courts, ping pong tables and video games to enjoy. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here