4 major IoT challenges that stand in the way of success

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.

Heralded for driving positive transformations in consumer products, retailing, healthcare, manufacturing and more, the Internet of Things (IoT) promises a “smart” everything, from refrigerators, to cars, to buildings, to oil fields. But there’s a dark side to IoT, and if we don’t overcome the challenges it presents, we will be heading for trouble.

The easiest way to see these challenges in action is to explore a possible IoT deployment. Let’s assume the following. A very large industrial food storage warehouse and distribution center is using Internet-connected devices to ensure the proper temperature of various zones, such as a massive refrigeration area for items requiring constant, non-freezing cooling and a massive freezer area for items requiring constant freezing.

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Show 282: Why We’re Stuck With Middleboxes And How To Improve Them

Middleboxes--that is, non-routing and non-switching network devices such as firewalls and caches--can be expensive, hard to manage, and prone to failure. But they're also widely deployed, and show no signs of going away. Today's Weekly Show episode goes deep on middleboxes to explore why these devices have proliferated, and find ways to make them more reliable and easier to manage.

The post Show 282: Why We’re Stuck With Middleboxes And How To Improve Them appeared first on Packet Pushers.

Show 282: Why We’re Stuck With Middleboxes And How To Improve Them

Middleboxes--that is, non-routing and non-switching network devices such as firewalls and caches--can be expensive, hard to manage, and prone to failure. But they're also widely deployed, and show no signs of going away. Today's Weekly Show episode goes deep on middleboxes to explore why these devices have proliferated, and find ways to make them more reliable and easier to manage.

The post Show 282: Why We’re Stuck With Middleboxes And How To Improve Them appeared first on Packet Pushers.

How to improve the RFP process

Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not promote a product or service and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.Requests for Proposal (RFPs) are rarely easy or even straightforward. No one wants to forget anything, so RFPs typically become long, unwieldy lists of questions -- the proverbial kitchen sink.And that translates into even more work when the answers come back -- hours and hours of scrutinizing answers to narrow down the field to the short list.  Sadly enough, all too often the RFP process raises even more questions and adds to general confusion. It’s not uncommon for a business to re-issue an RFP for a second round due to inadequate submissions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Worth Reading: Don’t ask what you can measure

One of the most striking things about the “big data” world of today is the focus on mining data over answering questions. So many projects start with asking what data is easily obtainable and which tools are most easily amenable to working with that dataset, rather than asking what question the analysis is trying to answer. The result is a landscape littered with data-intensive projects that prioritize technical prowess of execution over the robustness of the findings derived from the analysis. What does this mean for the future evolution of the field? -via Forbes

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The post Worth Reading: Don’t ask what you can measure appeared first on 'net work.

The vagaries of FTP: What to look for in a secure large file transfer alternative

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.

FTP turns 45 this year. And, while this original protocol for transferring files over the Internet is still widely used, many companies are looking for a more modern alternative. Initially, concerns about FTP centered on security. But, as IP technology became ubiquitous for global data exchange, FTP’s more fundamental performance limitations also became apparent.

Because FTP was originally designed without security features like data integrity and confidentiality, the first security concerns arose around privacy of control channel data like user IDs and passwords, and then spread to the actual data being transferred. “Secure” FTP (FTPS) was developed in response. FTPS is FTP with Transport Layer Security (TLS), which protects file content and user names and passwords while in transit over the Internet from eavesdropping and modification.

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

The vagaries of FTP: What to look for in a secure large file transfer alternative

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.FTP turns 45 this year. And, while this original protocol for transferring files over the Internet is still widely used, many companies are looking for a more modern alternative. Initially, concerns about FTP centered on security. But, as IP technology became ubiquitous for global data exchange, FTP’s more fundamental performance limitations also became apparent.Because FTP was originally designed without security features like data integrity and confidentiality, the first security concerns arose around privacy of control channel data like user IDs and passwords, and then spread to the actual data being transferred. “Secure” FTP (FTPS) was developed in response. FTPS is FTP with Transport Layer Security (TLS), which protects file content and user names and passwords while in transit over the Internet from eavesdropping and modification.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Your Docker Agenda for April

Thank you Docker community for your amazing collaborations last month! In March, the community organized over 125 Docker Birthday #3 local trainings and celebrations. This month, you can still catch a few more birthday events and lots of other awesome … Continued

The Candy Jar Effect

When I first started in Cisco TAC, as a lowly grade 3 engineer taking hardware RMA calls, I didn’t know anyone. I had just moved to North Carolina, we hadn’t found a church yet, I’m not the most social person on the face of the earth (in fact, if anything, I’m antisocial), and I was sitting in a cubicle surrounded by people who’d been working in serious networking for a lot longer than I had. Not only that, but a lot of them were a lot smarter than I was (and still are). These people were really busy; it was hard to sip from the firehose, and I really needed to find my way around. How could I go about building a network?candy-jar-effect

What to do… ??

I put a candy jar on my desk, and filled it with interesting candy. How would a candy jar work? Well, it attracted all sorts of interesting people to my desk throughout the day, and as I got to know what different people liked, it gave me an excuse to bring stuff to their desk—along with a question about a case I was working on, of course. In a sense, I learned all I Continue reading

FCC votes to expand Lifeline program to include broadband subsidy

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-to-2 along party lines Thursday to expand the Lifeline telephone subsidy for low-income Americans to include Internet access.The decision generally follows an earlier proposal by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, to expand Lifeline's current $9.25 monthly phone subsidy to include broadband Internet access or bundled voice and data service plans. The fixed speed of the service will be based on what a "substantial majority of consumers receive," which is currently 10 Mbps for downloads and uploads. The changes are expected to go into effect by Dec. 1.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Photos leaked for new CCR-6506-96G-48S-16S+

So photos have been leaked (we can’t say from where exactly) for the newest experimental router from MikroTik. We don’t know much about it yet except it will be the largest router MikroTik has ever built and is currently designated as CCR-6506-96G-48S-16S+.

Rough specs are:

  • 6 slot chassis
  • Dual redundant 720 Gbps CPU modules
  • Dual power
  • 96 ports of copper 1 gig
  • 48 1 gig SFP ports
  • 16 Ten gig SFP+ ports

Apparently this device will coincide with the release of RouterOS version 8 in 2026 [an inside source at MikroTik named “Janis” confirmed this is a realistic target date.]

Many covert mAP-quadcopters died to bring us this information…these photos are NOT for public distribution.

IMAG2270

IMAG2271

IMAG2272

And if you haven’t quite figured it out yet…APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!! But seriously MikroTik….we need this router. ?

 

 

Photos leaked for new CCR-6506-96G-48S-16S+

So photos have been leaked (we can’t say from where exactly) for the newest experimental router from MikroTik. We don’t know much about it yet except it will be the largest router MikroTik has ever built and is currently designated as CCR-6506-96G-48S-16S+.

Rough specs are:

  • 6 slot chassis
  • Dual redundant 720 Gbps CPU modules
  • Dual power
  • 96 ports of copper 1 gig
  • 48 1 gig SFP ports
  • 16 Ten gig SFP+ ports

Apparently this device will coincide with the release of RouterOS version 8 in 2026 [an inside source at MikroTik named “Janis” confirmed this is a realistic target date.]

Many covert mAP-quadcopters died to bring us this information…these photos are NOT for public distribution.

IMAG2270

IMAG2271

IMAG2272

And if you haven’t quite figured it out yet…APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!! But seriously MikroTik….we need this router. ?

 

 

Microsoft is putting Windows 10, Cortana at the center of smart homes

Are you too lazy to open the door or switch on a light? Let Windows 10 and its Cortana voice-activated digital assistant do the job for you.Microsoft's vision is to make home automation a breeze in Windows 10, and the company featured several related Internet-of-things announcements at its ongoing Build conference.Windows 10 will work with a wider range of devices and appliances by integrating new Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) protocols, scheduled to be released in 2017. Additionally, Cortana will allow users to easily automate tasks using a Windows PC, mobile device, Xbox console or Raspberry Pi 3.Users will be able to program "actions" so Cortana can be used to switch on lights, air conditioning or even unlock cars. For example, users will be able to speak, "lights" to their smartphones, and the bulbs will turn on.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Come Geek Out With The Original Inventor of DNS at CloudFlare

We like DNS, we think you might too.

CloudFlare and Gandi are hosting a three-part series on DNS. Our first event will be at the CloudFlare office with Paul Mockapetris, the original inventor of the Domain Name System.

Beyond inventing DNS, Paul built the first ever SMTP server. He ran networking at ARPA, served as the chair of the IETF, and is a honored member of the Internet Hall of Fame. He is currently the Chief Scientist at Threatstop, and the visiting scholar at the Universite de Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris.

The event is on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016 at 6 PM PST at our office in San Francisco, 101 Townsend Street (RSVP here). We’ll be covering the early days of DNS, DNS and security, the commercialization of DNS (what Paul famously calls DN$), and the future of DNS.

So come, grab some beer, and hang out with people who like DNS as much as you do.

Terrible computer pranks that could get you fired

Office pranksI know, I know – that jerk from sales deserves it. That snippy attitude last time you showed up to fix his “slowdown problem,” which was obviously just him having like 150 Chrome windows open at once. Still, as tempting as it might be, you can’t just take revenge on the guy’s computer. Please, just go and read something else now. You’ll feel like a better person.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Stuff The Internet Says On Scalability For April 1st, 2016

Hey, this is no joke, it's HighScalability time:


A glorious battle in EVE. Tens of thousands of pilots fighting tens of thousands of pilots in a real time all on a single shard.

 

If you like this sort of Stuff then please consider offering your support on Patreon.
  • $9.3B: punishment for Google's temerity of using Java; 200: computer scientists and neuroscientists at Google’s DeepMind; 22: cores in Intel's new Xeon E5-2600 V4 CPU; 12: fold boost in spectrum efficiency over current 4G cellular technology using a massive antenna system; 

  • Quotable Quotes:
    • Linus Torvalds:  I’m not a big visionary. I’m a very plodding pedestrian engineer, and I try to keep my eyes firmly on the ground. I’ll let others make the big predictions about where we’ll be in 5, 10 or 25 years
    • theymos: "Core" doesn't think anything because it's not any sort of unified organization.
    • whalesalad: We are running Kubernetes in production at FarmLogs and LOVE it.
    • @StackPointCloud: The operational complexity associated with monitoring containers is multiplied given the 1:N relationship of host:containers. #NYCK8s
    • hu6Bi5To: AWS is significantly more expensive like-for-like, but it's worth remembering that you wouldn't architect your whole system that way if Continue reading
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