A Rare Tour Of Microsoft’s Hyperscale Datacenters

If you want to study how datacenter design has changed over the past two decades, a good place to visit is Quincy, Washington. There are five different datacenter operators in this small farming community of around 7,000 people, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Intuit, Sabey Data Centers, and Vantage Data Centers, and they have located there thanks to the proximity of Quincy to hydroelectric power generated from the Columbia River and the relatively cool and arid climate, which can be used to great advantage to keep servers, storage, and switches cool.

All of the datacenter operators are pretty secretive about their glass …

A Rare Tour Of Microsoft’s Hyperscale Datacenters was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Here’s how Microsoft is using containerization to protect Edge users

One of the biggest security risks for computer users is their web browser. According to Microsoft, 90 percent of phishing emails use the browser to initiate attacks, which can then be used to help attackers establish a beachhead inside a company. Microsoft is aiming to better protect users and organizations from the threats that they face with a new feature called Windows Defender Application Guard. It's designed to isolate Microsoft Edge from the rest of the files and processes running on a user's computer and prevent computer exploits from taking hold. This is a move that could drive greater adoption of Microsoft's browser in the enterprise, at a time when the company is fiercely competing with Google in that space. Security of company assets is a big problem for enterprises, and Microsoft is offering them another way to help protect their users without requiring those users to be security experts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Here’s how Microsoft is using containerization to protect Edge users

One of the biggest security risks for computer users is their web browser. According to Microsoft, 90 percent of phishing emails use the browser to initiate attacks, which can then be used to help attackers establish a beachhead inside a company. Microsoft is aiming to better protect users and organizations from the threats that they face with a new feature called Windows Defender Application Guard. It's designed to isolate Microsoft Edge from the rest of the files and processes running on a user's computer and prevent computer exploits from taking hold. This is a move that could drive greater adoption of Microsoft's browser in the enterprise, at a time when the company is fiercely competing with Google in that space. Security of company assets is a big problem for enterprises, and Microsoft is offering them another way to help protect their users without requiring those users to be security experts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Amsterdam to Zhuzhou: Cloudflare network expands to 100 cities

We’re excited to kick off Cloudflare’s sixth birthday celebrations by announcing data center locations in 14 new cities across 5 continents. This expansion makes our global network one of the largest in the world, spanning 100 unique cities across 49 countries. Every new Cloudflare data center improves the performance, security and reliability of millions of websites, as we expand our surface area to fight growing attacks and serve web requests even closer to the Internet user.

Each birthday has given us the opportunity to thank our customers with new announcements, from our automatic IPv6 Gateway to making SSL free and easy for all to unveiling our China network. Launching 14 new data center locations is one of many gifts to our users we’ll reveal this week.

Africa

Six years ago, within weeks of Cloudflare launching, we passed a major milestone: serving one billion web requests across our network every month. Since then, our traffic has grown 10,000x, and we now see over a billion web requests every month just from the country of Angola — located on the western coast of southern Africa and three times the geographic size Continue reading

Introducing Docker for Windows Server 2016

Today, Microsoft is announcing general availability of Windows Server 2016 at the Ignite conference in Atlanta. For Windows developers and IT-pros, the most exciting new Windows feature is containers, and containers on Windows Server 2016 are powered by Docker.

The first version of Docker was released in 2013, and in the 3 years since launch, Docker has completely transformed how Linux developers and ops build, ship and run apps. With Docker Engine and containers now available natively on Windows, developers and IT-pros can begin the same transformation for Windows-based apps and infrastructure and start reaping the same benefits: better security, more agility, and improved portability and freedom to move on-prem apps to the cloud.

For developers and IT-pros that build and maintain heterogenous deployments with both Linux and Windows infrastructure, Docker on Windows holds even greater significance: The Docker platform now represents a single set of tools, APIs and image formats for managing both Linux and Windows apps. As Linux and Windows apps and servers are dockerized, developers and IT-pros can bridge the operating system divide with shared Docker terminology and interfaces for managing and evolving complex microservices deployments both on-prem and in the cloud.

Running Containers on Windows Server

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Enterprise Storage: 6 Influential Trends

What’s in your code? Why you need a software bill of materials

Writing secure applications doesn't mean simply checking the code you've written to make sure there are no logic errors or coding mistakes. Attackers are increasingly targeting vulnerabilities in third-party libraries as part of their attacks, so you have to check the safety of all the dependencies and components, too.In manufacturing, companies create a bill of materials, listing in detail all the items included when building a product so that buyers know exactly what they're buying. Processed food packaging, for example, typically tells you what's inside so that you can make an informed buying decision.[ Also on InfoWorld: 19 open source GitHub projects for security pros. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ] When it comes to software, untangling the code to know what libraries are in use and which dependencies exist is hard. It's a challenge most IT teams don't have the time or resources to unravel.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The best new features in Windows Server 2016

As we’ve come to expect from new versions of Windows Server, Windows Server 2016 arrives packed with a huge array of new features. Many of the new capabilities, such as containers and Nano Server, stem from Microsoft’s focus on the cloud. Others, such as Shielded VMs, illustrate a strong emphasis on security. Still others, like the many added networking and storage capabilities, continue an emphasis on software-defined infrastructure begun in Windows Server 2012.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

The best new features in Windows Server 2016

As we’ve come to expect from new versions of Windows Server, Windows Server 2016 arrives packed with a huge array of new features. Many of the new capabilities, such as containers and Nano Server, stem from Microsoft’s focus on the cloud. Others, such as Shielded VMs, illustrate a strong emphasis on security. Still others, like the many added networking and storage capabilities, continue an emphasis on software-defined infrastructure begun in Windows Server 2012.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

7 hidden features in macOS Sierra you may have missed

There’s a lot going on in macOS SierraSiri, Universal Clipboard, Auto Unlock with Apple Watch—these are just three of the features that Apple showcases for macOS Sierra, the latest version of the company’s Macintosh operating system that made its debut last Tuesday. We go over the marquee features in our review, but there are a few features that go unheralded. We’ll shine a little bit of the spotlight on them in this slideshow. These are less glamourous, but they make your Mac a lot easier to use.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The best online backup service for securely encrypting your data

Many people resist backing up their data to an online backup service like MozyHome, Carbonite, or Backblaze because they worry their data will be poked through by company employees, hijacked by criminals, or provided to law enforcement or government agents without due process. The sanctity of your data boils down to whether the encryption key used to scramble your data can be recovered by anyone other than yourself. Below I outline the various methods and levels of encryption that can be employed by these services, and then evaluate six of the best options for home users. Several give subscribers full control of their encryption. If you’re already using a service, it’s possible you can even upgrade to take advantage of greater ownership options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hillary Clinton’s email has vanished but why can’t yours?

The warnings about the longevity of email are regular and ominous: Don’t be careless with it. Email is forever.Indeed, in some very high-profile cases it seems that way. Former CIA director and retired US Army General David Petraeus lost his job and his reputation, and "gained" a criminal record in 2012, when emails from an account he thought was private exposed his mishandling of classified information and an affair with his biographer.Much more recently – just in the past couple of weeks – a trove of embarrassing correspondence from the email account of former secretary of state Colin Powell was posted on the website DCLeaks.com. In the words of an anonymous television anchor, they upended the perception of Powell, also a retired four-star US Army general, as a stoic diplomat and revealed him to be, “just as gossipy as everyone else.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Real SDN

IDG Contributor Network: Gesture-controlled IoT extends freedom for the disabled

Christopher Reeve is famous as Superman in movies. As the man of steel with amazing superpowers, he was unbeatable.In real life, though, a bad fall from his horse left Reeve a quadriplegic. How suddenly life changes. One day you’re a hero with superpowers. The next day you’ve lost control of your body.The loss of control over their bodies is devastating for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. An Israeli startup now offers the hope to regain some of the lost control with its app, Sesame Enable.Background The spinal cord is the main pathway for transmitting information between the brain and the nerves that lead to muscles, skin, internal organs and glands.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New products of the week 9.26.16

New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.Adaptiva OneSite 6.0Key features – OneSite 6.0 is the IT industry’s first serverless option for distributing software from the cloud at on-premise speeds, using Microsoft System Center Configuration (ConfigMgr). More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New products of the week 9.26.16

New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.Adaptiva OneSite 6.0Key features – OneSite 6.0 is the IT industry’s first serverless option for distributing software from the cloud at on-premise speeds, using Microsoft System Center Configuration (ConfigMgr). More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Citrix wins virtual desktop interface shootout

Virtual Desktop Interface is becoming easier to do, with potentially killer graphics, reasonable port virtualization, fine-grained administrative control, and with potential hosts other than Windows.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Citrix wins VDI shootout

Virtual Desktop Interface is becoming easier to do, with potentially killer graphics, reasonable port virtualization, fine-grained administrative control, and with potential hosts other than Windows.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Noction bets on BGP FlowSpec

The post Noction bets on BGP FlowSpec appeared first on Noction.

802.11ad is the fastest Wi-Fi that you might not ever use

Millimeter-wave Wi-Fi technology, better known as 802.11ad, is a powerful new wireless standard, for which products are just beginning to hit the market – a router from TP-Link and a laptop from Acer are the only ones so far. 802.11ad is based on very high-frequency radio waves – where today’s 802.11n and 802.11ac standards use 5GHz frequencies, ad uses 60GHz. That means that it’s both capable of handling a lot more data than earlier standards, and a lot more short-ranged, since higher frequency signals dissipate much faster.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here