Presentation: All You Need Are Two Switches

I was asked to present a data-center-related talk last week and decided to focus on one of my favorite topics: because most people don’t have more than a few hundred servers in their data center, they don’t need more than two switches (or a rack of servers).

Not surprisingly, an equipment reseller sitting in the room was not amused.

The video and the slide deck are already online, but there’s a minor challenge: the whole event was in Slovenian ;) However, I plan to record the same topic in English once my SDN travels stop.

Watch the slide deck

Book Review: Design For How People Learn

Design For How People Learn, by Julie Dirksen (ISBN 978-0321768438)

I saw the title for this book roll across my Twitter feed — can't remember from who, sorry — from someone who had a blog and was advocating for other bloggers to check this book out. When I read the abstract for the book, I immediately added it to my reading list.

“Whether it's giving a presentation, writing documentation, or creating a website or blog, we need and want to share our knowledge with other people. But if you've ever fallen asleep over a boring textbook, or fast-forwarded through a tedious e-learning exercise, you know that creating a great learning experience is harder than it seems.”

Technology Short Take #56

Welcome to Technology Short Take #56! In this post, I’ve collected a few links on various data center technologies, news, events, and trends. I hope you find something useful here.

Networking

IDG Contributor Network: This software engineering school uses blockchain technology to authenticate its graduates

Holberton School is a project-based alternative to college for the next generation of software engineers. Using project-based learning and peer learning, Holberton School's mission is to train the best software engineers of their generation. Unlike the normal models, at Holberton School, there are no formal teachers and no formal courses. Instead, everything is project-centered. The school gives students increasingly difficult programming challenges to solve, with minimal initial directions on how to solve them. As a consequence, students naturally look for the theory and tools they need, understand them, use them, work together, and help each other.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

NIST publishes guidelines for SSH key management: What happens next?

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.

Secure Shell (SSH) is a tool for secure computer system management, file transfers and automation in computer and telecommunications systems. The Secure Shell protocol ships standard with every Unix, Linux and Mac system and is also widely used on Windows (Microsoft has announced plans to make it a standard component of Windows). It is also included on practically every router and mobile network base station. In many ways, the connected world as we know it runs on Secure Shell. Its keys are ubiquitously used for automating access over a network, and modern systems could not be cost-effectively managed without it.

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

IDG Contributor Network: How wireless providers are quietly cashing in on your location data

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are partnering with Big Data marketers and are actively selling, or at least getting ready to sell, data that connects consumer demographics with locations, according to an article in Advertising Age.The data lists phone subscriber location along with websites visited on mobile browsers, neighborhoods where subscribers go, and so on.Telco data-as-service This kind of telco data-as-service (TDaaS) business is currently worth $24 billion a year and will be a $79 billion business by 2020, according to 451 Research, whose numbers are quoted in the Ad Age article.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How the Internet responded to the Paris terror attacks

SolidarityImage by REUTERS/Philippe WojazerIn the hours and days following the tragic terror attacks in Paris, the Internet became a primary vehicle for not only disseminating information but also for individuals and companies to show their solidarity with the French. Check out the various ways the Internet responded to the French terror attacks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Anonymous just might make all the difference in attacking ISIS

In the wake of the horrific attacks in Paris, military operations against ISIS terrorist strongholds have increased. When someone hits you, it’s natural to hit back. But can you win by killing an enemy that seeks death — and when those who are killed inspire desperate others to replace them?Along with the news that the French had launched air strikes against ISIS positions came the word that the cyber-revenge group calling itself Anonymous has declared war on ISIS. I never thought I would say this, but Anonymous might be our savior. Attacking ISIS militarily is necessary, but the group has always exerted its influence through social media, using it for both fundraising and recruitment. Both activities are essential to ISIS’ continuing existence and effectiveness. The weaponry it uses in its terror campaign is expensive, and when every successful operation ends in death or the arrest of all participants, recruitment is critical.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Alternative processors tapped to fulfill supercomputing’s need for speed

As world powers compete to build the fastest supercomputers, more attention is being paid to alternative processing technologies as a way to add more horsepower to such systems.One thing is clear: It is becoming prohibitive to build blazing CPU-only supercomputers, due to power and space constraints. That's where powerful coprocessors step in -- the processors work in conjuction with CPUs to conduct complex calculations in a power-efficient manner. Coprocessors are an important topic at this week's Supercomputing 15 conference in Austin, Texas. According to the Top500 list of the fastest supercomputers, released on Monday, 104 systems used coprocessors, growing from 90 systems in a list released in July.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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