How DevOps, agile spurred Slack enterprise adoption

If Jennifer Manry has her way bots will automate much of the repetitive and onerous workplace activities that consume her Capital One colleagues' time and effort. But until then the bank's vice president of workforce technology is busy helping 40,000 employees get more comfortable with new software from Slack, which allows corporate workers to instant message each other and share documents, files and other content.Capital One deployed Slack in mid-2016 and it quickly become the preferred tool for the IT department, which is embracing agile software development and DevOps principles that require close collaboration between software developers and product managers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco Joins Microsoft’s Azure Stack Club

Azure Stack is due to reach production midyear.

Fog Computing Group Publishes Reference Architecture

The OpenFog Consortium delineates differences between fog and mobile edge computing.

Intel: Cannonlake will be more than 15 percent faster than Kaby Lake

Upgrading CPU performance hasn't been a priority for Intel in many years, but that could be changing.Intel's upcoming Cannonlake chips will deliver a performance improvement of more than 15 percent compared to its Kaby Lake chips, said Venkata Renduchintala, president of the Intel Client and Internet of Things businesses and Systems Architecture Group.Intel didn't provide exact numbers at the company's annual investor day Thursday, but the projection is based on the SysMark benchmark. Detailed performance improvement numbers will emerge over time.The performance improvements from Skylake to Kaby Lake topped out at 15 percent. The CPU performance boost for Cannonlake should be at least that, Intel said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cray Outpaces HPC Market, Books Historic Quarter

It is hard to tell which part of the systems market is lumpier – that for traditional HPC systems like supercomputers or that for massive cluster deployments for the hyperscalers that run public clouds and public facing applications on a massive scale. But what we do know for sure is that the HPC market is slowing down, and that the bellwether for that market, Cray, is doing better than that market according to its latest financial results.

Despite the softness in the traditional HPC market for clusters to run simulations and models (partly driven by the political climates around the …

Cray Outpaces HPC Market, Books Historic Quarter was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

38% Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter – Deal Alert

This Original OEM Apple USB Lightning Cable For iPhone connects your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to your computer's USB port for syncing and charging or to the Apple USB Power Adapter for convenient charging from a wall outlet. Its typical list price of $79 has been reduced 38% to just $49. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft blends IaaS and PaaS with new Managed Disks

Microsoft introduced a nifty new feature to its Azure public cloud this week called Managed Disks. The idea is that developers will not have to worry about provisioning storage when spinning up virtual machines. Managed Disks automatically adds persistent disk storage for Azure virtual machines as applications demand it.+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: HPE's Mesosphere reseller agreement heats up the container management market | Rackspace is cutting 6% of its workforce +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows Trojan hacks into embedded devices to install Mirai

Attackers have started to use Windows and Android malware to hack into embedded devices, dispelling the widely held belief that if such devices are not directly exposed to the Internet they're less vulnerable.Researchers from Russian antivirus vendor Doctor Web have recently come across a Windows Trojan program that was designed to gain access to embedded devices using brute-force methods and to install the Mirai malware on them.Mirai is a malware program for Linux-based internet-of-things devices, such as routers, IP cameras, digital video recorders and others. It's used primarily to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and spreads over Telnet by using factory device credentials.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows Trojan hacks into embedded devices to install Mirai

Attackers have started to use Windows and Android malware to hack into embedded devices, dispelling the widely held belief that if such devices are not directly exposed to the Internet they're less vulnerable.Researchers from Russian antivirus vendor Doctor Web have recently come across a Windows Trojan program that was designed to gain access to embedded devices using brute-force methods and to install the Mirai malware on them.Mirai is a malware program for Linux-based internet-of-things devices, such as routers, IP cameras, digital video recorders and others. It's used primarily to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and spreads over Telnet by using factory device credentials.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nokia Buys OSS Specialist Comptel for $370 Million

Both companies are based in Finland.

Nokia makes bid for Comptel to boost its software business

Network equipment vendor Nokia wants to buy a software company that helps customers make do with less hardware.The Finnish networking giant competes with the likes of Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, and Cisco Systems to sell networking equipment, software, and services to telecommunications operators and large enterprises.On Thursday, it offered to buy Finnish neighbor Comptel, which develops software to help network operators manage their networks and deliver additional services.Nokia said the deal, valuing Comptel at around €347 million (US$370 million) would help it toward its goal of building a standalone software business.The bid is a logical move, said Sylvain Fabre, a research director at Gartner: "The days of proprietary infrastructure from network equipment providers are numbered. Virtualized infrastructure will increasingly be procurable from alternative vendors, so focusing on software and applications for telecommunications functions is the way forward for any large vendor that seeks longevity."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nokia makes bid for Comptel to boost its software business

Network equipment vendor Nokia wants to buy a software company that helps customers make do with less hardware.The Finnish networking giant competes with the likes of Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, and Cisco Systems to sell networking equipment, software, and services to telecommunications operators and large enterprises.On Thursday, it offered to buy Finnish neighbor Comptel, which develops software to help network operators manage their networks and deliver additional services.Nokia said the deal, valuing Comptel at around €347 million (US$370 million) would help it toward its goal of building a standalone software business.The bid is a logical move, said Sylvain Fabre, a research director at Gartner: "The days of proprietary infrastructure from network equipment providers are numbered. Virtualized infrastructure will increasingly be procurable from alternative vendors, so focusing on software and applications for telecommunications functions is the way forward for any large vendor that seeks longevity."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

HCI’s Scale Out Architecture Can Stress the Network

Hyperconverged infrastructure requires IT organizations to consider a scale out architecture.

As third RSA Conference without ‘booth babes’ nears, no one seems to miss them

In March 2015, RSA Conference organizers made news by contractually insisting that vendors pitch their security wares without the help of “booth babes,” a first such ban for the technology industry.Next week’s RSAC in San Francisco will be the third without the babes, so I checked in with event staff to see if the policy had evolved at all and how it has been accepted by various stake-holders.  Here’s how the contract language read in 2015: All Expo staff are expected to dress in business and/or business casual attire. Exhibitors should ensure that the attire of al staff they deploy at their booth (whether the exhibitor’s direct employees or their contractors) be considered appropriate in a professional environment. Attire of an overly revealing or suggestive nature is not permitted. Examples of such attire may include but are not restricted to:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

As third RSA Conference without ‘booth babes’ nears, no one seems to miss them

In March 2015, RSA Conference organizers made news by contractually insisting that vendors pitch their security wares without the help of “booth babes,” a first such ban for the technology industry.Next week’s RSAC in San Francisco will be the third without the babes, so I checked in with event staff to see if the policy had evolved at all and how it has been accepted by various stake-holders.  Here’s how the contract language read in 2015: All Expo staff are expected to dress in business and/or business casual attire. Exhibitors should ensure that the attire of al staff they deploy at their booth (whether the exhibitor’s direct employees or their contractors) be considered appropriate in a professional environment. Attire of an overly revealing or suggestive nature is not permitted. Examples of such attire may include but are not restricted to:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Making the Connections in Disparate Data

Enterprises are awash in data, and the number of sources of that data is only increasing. For some of the larger companies, data sources can rise into the thousands – from databases, files and tables to ERP and CRM programs – and the data itself can come in different formats, making it difficult to bring together and integrate into a unified pool. This can create a variety of challenges for businesses in everything from securing the data they have to analyzing it.

The problem isn’t going to go away. The rise of mobile and cloud computing and the Internet of …

Making the Connections in Disparate Data was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Apple’s iPhone declines in China, and this year could be a struggle

Perhaps the next iPhone 8 will be Apple's next shot at achieving greatness in China.The current iPhones aren't helping Apple gain market share in China, according to Canalys. Markets like China and India are at the top of Apple's agenda to grow the iPhone business.China accounts for a third of worldwide smartphone shipments. Buyers in the market are leaning toward local brands like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, which formed the top four smartphone vendors in China in 2016, according to Canalys.Apple was in the fifth spot, and Samsung doesn't figure in the top five.In 2016, Apple's phone shipments in China totaled 43.8 million units, a drop of 18.2 percent compared to 2015. It's not looking any better for Apple in 2017.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Security and the Internet of Things

Last year, on October 21, your digital video recorder ­- or at least a DVR like yours ­- knocked Twitter off the internet. Someone used your DVR, along with millions of insecure webcams, routers, and other connected devices, to launch an attack that started a chain reaction, resulting in Twitter, Reddit, Netflix, and many sites going off the internet. You probably didn’t realize that your DVR had that kind of power. But it does. —Schneier on Security

The post Worth Reading: Security and the Internet of Things appeared first on 'net work.

Python – Learning Python with Kirk Byers Python for Network Engineers

As you have seen lately on the blog I’ve been fiddling around in Python. One of the best resources out there to learn Python for Network Engineers is the free e-mail course by Kirk Byers. Kirk is a CCIE emeritus with extensive knowledge and experience of Python. He offers both free and paid courses over at his site. Kirk is very active in the community and the guy behind Netmiko and the IOS driver in NAPALM. He’s also an active member of the Network to Code Slack group. I recommend that you check out Kirk’s stuff!

I plan to go through all of his exercices and write about them on my blog. That will help me in my learning and hopefully it can help you as well. Kirk publishes the answers to the exercises at Github but my plan is to be a bit more verbose and explain the code. I plan to write my posts here and also put up my answers on Github to get some exposure to using Git. My code will likely not be elegant, the most effective or good looking but hopefully we can learn from each other as I put these posts up. I Continue reading

Cisco Umbrella cloud service shapes security for cloud, mobile resources

In these days of always-on, but zero trust enterprise applications, concerns over how to keep the bad guys out 24-7 is a huge IT challenge. In an attempt to address such anxieties Cisco today announced Umbrella, a secure, cloud-based gateway, based on technology from OpenDNS and other technologies it acquired such as CloudLock as well as existing Cisco security services that together ultimately promises to offer secure business access to resources even when users are not using the safety of a VPN.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here