Cisco passes the torch

Three years into his two- to four-year window, John Chambers retired. And 16 months after a succession plan was disclosed, Chuck Robbins was tapped to replace him.Robbins, Cisco’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, will become the 31-year-old company’s fourth CEO on July 26 as Chambers steps aside after 20 years at the helm. Chambers will become executive chairman.+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: New Cisco CEO: Meet the real Chuck Robbins; How Chambers kept a high profile+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cerf thinks encryption back doors would be ‘super risky’

Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf argued Monday that more users should encrypt their data, and that the encryption back doors the U.S. FBI and other law enforcement agencies are asking for will weaken online security.The Internet has numerous security challenges, and it needs more users and ISPs to adopt strong measures like encryption, two-factor authentication and HTTP over SSL, said Cerf, chief Internet evangelist at Google, in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.Recent calls by the FBI and other government officials for technology vendors to build encryption workarounds into their products is a bad idea, said Cerf, co-creator of TCP/IP. “If you have a back door, somebody will find it, and that somebody may be a bad guy,” he said. “Creating this kind of technology is super, super risky.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cerf thinks encryption back doors would be ‘super risky’

Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf argued Monday that more users should encrypt their data, and that the encryption back doors the U.S. FBI and other law enforcement agencies are asking for will weaken online security.The Internet has numerous security challenges, and it needs more users and ISPs to adopt strong measures like encryption, two-factor authentication and HTTP over SSL, said Cerf, chief Internet evangelist at Google, in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.Recent calls by the FBI and other government officials for technology vendors to build encryption workarounds into their products is a bad idea, said Cerf, co-creator of TCP/IP. “If you have a back door, somebody will find it, and that somebody may be a bad guy,” he said. “Creating this kind of technology is super, super risky.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cool ways to celebrate Star Wars Day

May the Fourth be with youImage by Lucas Films Inc.May 4 is International Star Wars Day, the unofficial holiday where we celebrate the Force, X-wings, Ewoks and women wearing their hair in the shape of their favorite breakfast pastries.  But how do you give your week that particular galaxy-far-far-away flavor? Some suggestions follow.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New Cisco CEO: Meet the real Chuck Robbins

New man in chargeImage by Shutterstock/CiscoCisco’s choice of Chuck Robbins, Senior VP of Worldwide Field Operations, as the company’s next CEO came as a surprise given that two Cisco presidents were seen as frontrunners for the job. But a look at the 49-year-old Robbins’ background might explain why he is being given the reins of this $47 billion networking company. He’s not just a sales guy…To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

EMC’s XtremIO gets bigger, packs in more flash

EMC says enterprises like its XtremIO all-flash storage array, so in version 4.0, the company is offering more of it.The latest software for the product it introduced in 2013 will let customers tie together more systems in a cluster and also include new features for replication, copy management and other capabilities. It’s due out by the end of June.XtremIO 4.0 is a free software upgrade that will automatically boost scaling ability for clusters already in the field. Users who want to invest in new hardware will have another way to increase capacity, by using a new, higher capacity version of the X-Brick, the basic building block of an XtremIO system. Customers will be able to order that product by the end of June, though EMC hasn’t said how much it will cost.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: IKEA’s Internet of Things plans imagine the networked kitchen

You may have read about furniture retailer IKEA's plans to introduce wireless smartphone charging in some of its furniture. Its Selje nightstand includes a Qi-compatible charger, for example. Charge your phone wirelessly while you slumber, and only for $60. Well, that's just the beginning of the future for the 315-store, 9,500-product company. IKEA's future kitchen ideas include networked devices, shelves that act as refrigerators, tabletops that cook, and instant food delivery by drone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Palo Alto CEO on partnerships, platforms, the Internet of Things

Palo Alto CEO Mark McLaughlin sat down recently to talk about a range of security issues with Network World Senior Editor Tim Greene. They discussed McLaughlin optimism about turning the tide on attackers, the evolution of his company’s next-generation firewall and how to secure the Internet of Things. Here is an edited transcript.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Palo Alto CEO: Beware the Internet of Things – and watch your car

Corporate IT security pros need to consider the Internet of Things as a new and dangerous attack vector – oh, and we all should be particularly worried about the safety of our cars, says the top executive at Palo Alto Networks.“You need to be completely rethinking endpoint security and you need to be seeking out technology that will actually prevent things at endpoints before [malware] lands,” says Palo Alto CEO Mark McLaughlin in a recent interview with Network World.+ FULL INTERVIEW: Register to read the full transcript from the interview +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How Chambers kept a high profile

Oh what a trip it has beenImage by REUTERS/Robert GalbraithCisco CEO John Chambers raised the company’s profile, as well as his own, during his 20-year tenure at the helm of the largest networking vendor on the planet. Here is a sampling of the Who’s Who of dignitaries he’s pressed the flesh with over two decades.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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