Cisco to jettison 5,500 jobs, will reinvest in cloud, IoT & more

Cisco today confirmed it will lay off about 7% of its workforce – about 5,500 jobs.Or as Cisco put it: "Today, we announced a restructuring enabling us to optimize our cost base in lower growth areas of our portfolio and further invest in key priority areas such as security, IoT, collaboration, next generation data center and cloud. We expect to reinvest substantially all of the cost savings from these actions back into these businesses and will continue to aggressively invest to focus on our areas of future growth."During its earnings announcement the company said total revenue actually increased 3% to $48.7 billion for its fiscal year ended July 30. Still, the company faces challenges in its core switching and routing business.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco will jettison 5,500 jobs

Cisco today confirmed it will lay off about 7% of its workforce – about 5,500 jobs.During its earnings announcement the company said total revenue was $48.7 billion, an increase of 3% over last year. Still the company faces challenges in its core switching and routing business.“Product revenue growth was led by Security at 16%. Collaboration, Wireless and switching product revenue increased by 6%, 5%, and 2%, respectively. Service Provider Video, NGN Routing and Data Center product revenue decreased by 12%, 6%, and 1%, respectively,” Cisco stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Cloud Startup that Just Keeps Kicking

Many startups have come and gone since the early days of cloud, but when it comes to those that started small and grown organically with the expansion of use cases, Cycle Computing still stands tall.

Tall being relative, of course. As with that initial slew of cloud startups, a lot of investment money has sloshed around as well. As Cycle Computing CEO, Jason Stowe, reminds The Next Platform, the small team started with an $8,000 credit card bill with sights on the burgeoning needs of scientific computing users in need of spare compute capacity and didn’t take funding until …

The Cloud Startup that Just Keeps Kicking was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

33% off Hibermate Sleep Mask with Integrated Headphones – Deal Alert

Unlike most other sleep masks, this one from Hibermate has integrated speakers, allowing you to drift off in complete darkness while drowning out the world with relaxing music, sounds or white noise, without disturbing those around you. Fully adjustable and made from super-durable materials, the mask features a generous 3.3 feet of high quality Kevlar-coated cable for maximum reliability, durability and tangle free listening. Its speakers are super flat, fully removable, and produce loud, rich sound. The sleep mask with integrated audio averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon (read reviews) and its typical list price of $59.95 has been reduced 33% to $39.97.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Your chance to say no

“Passport and flight number, please. What brings you to the States? Duration of stay?” “LinkedIn username? OKCupid handle?” No, the U.S. Customs officer is not trolling you. If the Department of Homeland Security has its way, these will be standard questions for people visiting the United States. The DHS recently issued a proposal to ask tourists on visa waivers to share their “online presence” on the I-94W and the online application for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), including the social networks they use and their corresponding “identifiers”—their handles or account names. —CDT

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40+ reasons Silicon Valley’s days may be numbered

In the dog days of summer, tech news seems to slow down, as many companies hold off on big announcements until the world returns from their vacations. That means mid-August is the perfect time for Sunil Rajaraman’s brilliant, scathing and terrifyingly familiar satire of life in the trenches of Silicon Valley.

By turns hilarious and discomfiting, This is Your Life in Silicon Valley is the tale of one man’s stupifyingly superficial day in the Valley. It will ring true for anyone who toils in the middle levels of the tech industry here in the Bay Area—and beyond.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

40+ reasons Silicon Valley’s days may be numbered

In the dog days of summer, tech news seems to slow down, as many companies hold off on big announcements until the world returns from their vacations. That means mid-August is the perfect time for Sunil Rajaraman’s brilliant, scathing and terrifyingly familiar satire of life in the trenches of Silicon Valley.By turns hilarious and discomfiting, This is Your Life in Silicon Valley is the tale of one man’s stupifyingly superficial day in the Valley. It will ring true for anyone who toils in the middle levels of the tech industry here in the Bay Area—and beyond.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

19% off Goal Zero Yeti 400 Electric Power Generator with Solar Charging – Deal Alert

Quiet, portable power for when you're off-the-grid or faced with an unexpected outage. The Goal Zero Yeti 400 Generator produces a ton of juice without the noise and fumes of traditional back-up generators. The Yeti 400 gets charged from either a wall outlet, a vehicle's 12V port, or an optional solar panel (see the "frequently bought together" section on Amazon for the solar package). Once fully charged, it can power everything from an inflatable mattress to a CPAP machine. It can recharge a laptop up to 5 times. A digital camera over 20 times. A smartphone 30 times. A head lamp over 70 times. Outputs include 1.5 amp USB, 12 volt, and 300 watts pure sine AC inverters. The Yeti 400 averages 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 350 people (read reviews). It's typical list price of $460 has been reduced a generous 19% to $375 on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 cool internet of things companies to watch

Industry watcher CB Insights earlier this month showed that venture capital funding of internet of things companies is actually on the decline after years of growth. But we've still seen enough fresh funding in the months since we rounded up 10 Internet of Things companies to watch back in April, to justify doing this follow-up with 7 additional firms, most of them startups.As always, we’ve narrowed down our list -- which is not intended to be all-inclusive -- by restricting it to those vendors that have announced venture funding over the past few months and that have an enterprise focus.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

7 cool internet of things companies to watch

Industry watcher CB Insights earlier this month showed that venture capital funding of internet of things companies is actually on the decline after years of growth. But we've still seen enough fresh funding in the months since we rounded up 10 Internet of Things companies to watch back in April, to justify doing this follow-up with 7 additional firms, most of them startups.As always, we’ve narrowed down our list -- which is not intended to be all-inclusive -- by restricting it to those vendors that have announced venture funding over the past few months and that have an enterprise focus.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

It’s time to say goodbye to Linux 4.6

If you're using a version of Linux based on the 4.6 series of the kernel, the software's lead maintainer has a message for you: It's time to upgrade.Greg Kroah-Hartman on Tuesday announced the arrival of Linux 4.6.7 and made it clear that it will be the last in the kernel's 4.6 series. Version 4.7.1 made its debut on Tuesday as well, and that's where the future lies, Kroah-Hartman said."This is the LAST 4.6.y kernel to be released," he wrote in the 4.6.7 announcement. "Please move to 4.7.1 now, you have been warned."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Death to copper cables: Intel turns to light for fast data transfers

Intel believes the days of using copper wires for data transfers, both between computers and inside of them, are numbered because optical communications are on the horizon.The chipmaker has started shipping silicon photonics modules, which use light and lasers to speed up data transfers between computers.The silicon photonics components will initially allow for optical communications between servers and data centers, stretching over long distances, said Diane Bryant, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group.Over time, Intel will put optical communications at the chip level, Bryant said during a keynote at Intel Developer Forum on Wednesday. That means light will drive communications inside computers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Death to copper cables: Intel turns to light for fast data transfers

Intel believes the days of using copper wires for data transfers, both between computers and inside of them, are numbered because optical communications are on the horizon.The chipmaker has started shipping silicon photonics modules, which use light and lasers to speed up data transfers between computers.The silicon photonics components will initially allow for optical communications between servers and data centers, stretching over long distances, said Diane Bryant, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group.Over time, Intel will put optical communications at the chip level, Bryant said during a keynote at Intel Developer Forum on Wednesday. That means light will drive communications inside computers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AT&T wants big mobile players to form a 5G dream team

There are many possible ways to build what 5G is supposed to deliver, but only one standard. To avoid putting money and effort into technologies that don’t make the cut, the big mobile players want to get others on their side.AT&T is hoping to collaborate with a set of carriers and equipment vendors that’s so broad and powerful it might be unstoppable. On Wednesday, the company said it’s having preliminary discussions with an A-list lineup of players to align their efforts on defining the future standard.The names include Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei Technologies, Qualcomm Technologies, Intel, Samsung, and LG. AT&T also wants to pull in some big carriers, including China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Telstra, and Vodafone. One name notably missing from the list on AT&T ‘s press release was archrival Verizon, which itself is running trials of potential 5G technologies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘I’m a doofus’

Not me, at least not in this instance. The self-described doofus here is a contributor to Reddit’s section devoted to networking, who says he acquired his doofus bona fides while troubleshooting his company’s VoIP system. Mr. Doofus explains: I've been struggling with nasty packet drops occurring on VoIP calls at our data center for a few weeks now and for the life of me I couldn't find the source of the issue. I thought at first that the servers I have running our custom VoIP applications were just overloaded, but the issue would show up on just a single active call. Restarting the VoIP servers didn't help, all of the QoS markings and switch/router prioritization were spot on, the ISP was returning a clean bill of health on the circuit, etc., nothing was making sense. I made a few internal VoIP calls that stayed on the LAN which were crystal clear, and made some calls that also traverse the router to another internal subnet which were also clear, so I now knew the ISP connection was where the trouble was beginning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

‘I’m a doofus’

Not me, at least not in this instance. The self-described doofus here is a contributor to Reddit’s section devoted to networking, who says he acquired his doofus bona fides while troubleshooting his company’s VoIP system. Mr. Doofus explains: I've been struggling with nasty packet drops occurring on VoIP calls at our data center for a few weeks now and for the life of me I couldn't find the source of the issue. I thought at first that the servers I have running our custom VoIP applications were just overloaded, but the issue would show up on just a single active call. Restarting the VoIP servers didn't help, all of the QoS markings and switch/router prioritization were spot on, the ISP was returning a clean bill of health on the circuit, etc., nothing was making sense. I made a few internal VoIP calls that stayed on the LAN which were crystal clear, and made some calls that also traverse the router to another internal subnet which were also clear, so I now knew the ISP connection was where the trouble was beginning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How the internet could increase global warming

We might have to limit the growth of the Internet of Things, according Lancaster University researchers.The reason for the frightening suggestion is that massive data-collection efforts from billions of projected-to-be-commissioned IoT sensors threaten to suck up so much power that carbon emissions will be impossible to tame and global warming will escalate, they say.A kind of “speed limit” should be introduced now, the scientists suggest. By imposing restrictions in the short term, internet traffic won’t have to be curtailed in the future—when things will be really out of hand—the experts propose in their recently published paper (PDF).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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