Microsoft’s Nadella sets lofty cloud goals

Less than a week after reporting that Microsoft’s enterprise cloud business is currently on an annual run rate of US$6.3 billion, CEO Satya Nadella says the company’s goal is to increase that figure to $20 billion by fiscal year 2018.“That’s the cloud that we want to build,” he said Wednesday at the company’s briefing for financial analysts during its Build conference in San Francisco. “It’s leading with some of our SaaS applications and having the IaaS, PaaS capability and our servers, which are the edge of our cloud. That’s our vision. That’s why we believe that we get to participate in future growth.”Run rate is simply quarterly revenue presented on an annualized basis. Microsoft’s cloud business includes its Azure platform and cloud versions of Office 365 and Dynamics CRM.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Techniques of a Network Detective

This is “Techniques of a Network Detective,” led by Denise “Fish” Fishburne (@DeniseFishburne on Twitter). Denise starts the session with a quick introduction, in which she discloses that she is a “troubleshooting junkie.” She follows up with a short description of what life looks like in her role in the customer proof-of-concept lab at Cisco.

Denise kicks off the main content of the session by drawing an analogy between solving crimes and solving network performance/behavior problems. The key is technique and methodology, which may sound boring but really have a huge payoff in the end.

When a network error occurs, the network is the crime scene. This crime scene is filled with facts, clues, evidence, and potential witnesses—or even potential suspects. How does one get from receiving notification of the problem, to asking the right questions, to solving the problem? Basically it boils down to these major areas:

  • First, identify the suspects (even if the problem seems immediately obvious). This involves gathering facts, collecting clues, following the evidence, and interviewing witnesses.
  • Next, question the suspects. Although you may not be an SME (subject matter expert), you can still work logically through gathering facts from the suspects.
  • After you Continue reading

Why the Apple Watch is in short supply

The Apple Watch launch has been somewhat peculiar insofar as Apple has limited purchases to online orders only. What's more, many consumers who were able to get their orders in won't be receiving their devices until mid-May, with some unlucky folks having to wait until June and July.So what's going on here? Isn't Apple supposed to have the best and most efficient supply chain in the business? Couldn't Apple have foreseen pent up demand for the Apple Watch and adjust supply accordingly?For weeks, there has been rampant speculation as to why the Apple Watch rollout has been so staggered. Now, thanks to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, we finally have some insight into what went down behind the scenes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

RSA president questions government’s role in cybersecurity

The president of one of the world’s biggest computer security vendors says he is skeptical that a stronger government role in cyberdefense will abate the growing number of attacks.In an interview with IDG News Service, Amit Yoran, president of RSA, also rejected calls by U.S. intelligence chiefs for industry to tread carefully in deploying more encryption in case it cuts off their ability to eavesdrop on communications by suspected criminals.“The government is not the answer here,” he said, when asked about White House proposals for sharing of cybersecurity information. Despite the growing severity of attacks and a feeling that the government should “do something,” the issue is best left to private companies, because they are the ones developing networks and the technology that defends them, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Who’s courting Salesforce? IBM, Oracle among top guesses

A report that Salesforce.com is entertaining takeover offers whipped up a storm of speculation Wednesday, as analysts and other observers mulled the possibility and what it could mean for the enterprise software market.“It would require a massive deal for that to happen,” noted Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst with Constellation Research. “Salesforce still has a lot of growth ahead.”Spurred by the approach of a potential acquirer, Salesforce has hired financial advisers to help it field such offers, according to the Bloomberg To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Who’s courting Salesforce? IBM, Oracle among top guesses

A report that Salesforce.com is entertaining takeover offers whipped up a storm of speculation Wednesday, as analysts and other observers mulled the possibility and what it could mean for the enterprise software market. “It would require a massive deal for that to happen,” noted Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst with Constellation Research. “Salesforce still has a lot of growth ahead.” Spurred by the approach of a potential acquirer, Salesforce has hired financial advisers to help it field such offers, according to the Bloomberg report, which was based on anonymous sources. The company’s stock closed up 11.6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, giving it a market capitalization just north of US$47 billion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Some notes on why crypto backdoors are unreasonable

Today, a congressional committee held hearings about 'crypto backdoors' that would allow the FBI to decrypt text messages, phone calls, and data on phones. The thing to note about this topic is that it's not anywhere close to reasonable public policy. The technical and international problems are unsolvable with anything close to the proposed policy. Even if the policy were reasonable, it's unreasonable that law enforcement should be lobbying for it.


Crypto is end-to-end


The debate hinges on a huge fallacy, that it's about regulating industry, forcing companies like Apple to include backdoors. This makes it seem like it's a small law. The truth is that crypto is end-to-end. Apple sells a generic computer we hold in our hand. As a user, I can install any software I want on it -- including software that completely defeats any backdoor that Apple would install. Examples of such software would be Signal and Silent Circle.

It seems reasonable that you could extend the law so that it covers any software provider. But that doesn't work, because software is often open-source, meaning that anybody can build their own app from it. Starting from scratch, it would take me about six-months to write my Continue reading

Interop Liveblog: IPv6 Microsegmentation

This session was titled “IPv6 Microsegmentation,” and the speaker was Ivan Pepelnjak. Ivan is, of course, a well-known figure in the networking space, and publishes content at http://ipspace.net.

The session starts with a discussion of the problems found in Layer 2 IPv6 networks. Some of the problems include spoofing RA (Router Advertisement) messages, NA (Neighbor Advertisement) messages, DHCPv6 spoofing, DAD (Duplicate Address Detection) DoS attacks, and ND (Neighbor Discovery) DoS attacks. All of these messages derive from the assumption that one subnet = one security zone, and therefore intra-subnet communications are not secured.

Note that some of these attacks are also common to IPv4 and are not necessarily unique to IPv6. The difference is that these problems are well understood in IPv4 and therefore many vendors have implemented solutions to mitigate the risks.

According to Ivan, the root cause of all these problems originates with the fact that all LAN infrastructure today emulates 40 year old thick coax cable.

The traditional fix is to add kludges….er, new features—like RA guard (prevents non-routers from sending RA messages), DHCPv6 guard (same sort of functionality), IPv6 ND inspection (same idea), and SAVI (Source Address Verification Inspection; complex idea where all these Continue reading

Lawmakers criticize FBI’s request for encryption back doors

U.S. lawmakers are skeptical of an FBI request for Congress to mandate encryption workarounds in smartphones, with critics saying Wednesday that back doors would create new vulnerabilities that bad guys can exploit.It’s currently impossible for smartphone makers to build in back doors that allow law enforcement agencies access to encrypted communications but also keep out cybercriminals, witnesses and lawmakers said during a hearing before the IT subcommittee of the House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Law enforcement representatives called on lawmakers to find a way to allow access to encrypted data as a way to prevent serious crime. Late last year, FBI Director James Comey called for a public debate on encryption after Apple and Google announced they would offer new encryption tools on their smartphone OSes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lawmakers criticize FBI’s request for encryption back doors

U.S. lawmakers are skeptical of an FBI request for Congress to mandate encryption workarounds in smartphones, with critics saying Wednesday that back doors would create new vulnerabilities that bad guys can exploit.It’s currently impossible for smartphone makers to build in back doors that allow law enforcement agencies access to encrypted communications but also keep out cybercriminals, witnesses and lawmakers said during a hearing before the IT subcommittee of the House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Law enforcement representatives called on lawmakers to find a way to allow access to encrypted data as a way to prevent serious crime. Late last year, FBI Director James Comey called for a public debate on encryption after Apple and Google announced they would offer new encryption tools on their smartphone OSes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Extreme outlines SDN policy

LAS VEGAS -- Extreme Networks this week said it will support a community-developed policy framework in its SDN controller as well as tighter integration with Microsoft’s unified communications platform.Extreme is adopting the OpenDaylight Project’s group-based policy model in its OneController SDN software. Cisco contributed the group-based policy framework to OpenDaylight open source effort when it rolled it out as part of its Application Centric Infrastructure programmable fabric in November, 2013.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Extreme outlines SDN policy

LAS VEGAS -- Extreme Networks this week said it will support a community-developed policy framework in its SDN controller as well as tighter integration with Microsoft’s unified communications platform.Extreme is adopting the OpenDaylight Project’s group-based policy model in its OneController SDN software. Cisco contributed the group-based policy framework to OpenDaylight open source effort when it rolled it out as part of its Application Centric Infrastructure programmable fabric in November, 2013.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Secret, an app for anonymous posts, shuts down

Secret, an app for anonymous posts that initially attracted buzz but drew criticism after a redesign, is shutting down.The company, also named Secret, formally launched its app last year and is said to have raised between US$33 million and $35 million in funding. “After a lot of thought and consultation with our board, I’ve decided to shut down Secret,” CEO David Byttow said Wednesday in a blog post, who noted that the app does not represent the vision he had when starting the company.Secret had attracted over 15 million users, he said in the post. Byttow will spend the next couple weeks winding down Secret, he said. Funding will be returned to investors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Secret, an app for anonymous posts, shuts down

Secret, an app for anonymous posts that initially attracted buzz but drew criticism after a redesign, is shutting down.The company, also named Secret, formally launched its app last year and is said to have raised between US$33 million and $35 million in funding. “After a lot of thought and consultation with our board, I’ve decided to shut down Secret,” CEO David Byttow said Wednesday in a blog post, who noted that the app does not represent the vision he had when starting the company.Secret had attracted over 15 million users, he said in the post. Byttow will spend the next couple weeks winding down Secret, he said. Funding will be returned to investors.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Airbnb’s new app for tablets features magazine-style layout

Airbnb has developed a new app customized for iOS and Android tablets in an attempt to give those users a better way to browse its million-plus home rental listings than with the devices’ web browsers.The free app, to be released Wednesday, lets users navigate its content as if they were flipping the pages of a magazine. Airbnb, founded in 2008, already has mobile apps for iOS and Android smartphones.The tablet app emphasizes big, high quality photos of people’s homes arranged on the screen in varying layouts, which can be easily flicked through. With the tablets’ larger screen size, pages for individual listings also feature photos and links to similar listings, resembling the look of a print magazine’s sidebar article. Rotate the tablet from a horizontal to vertical position, and the app’s interface will reorient itself.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Social media helps curb Nigerian election deathtoll, paving future path

The dozens of deaths that marred the recent Nigerian elections would be considered shocking by the standards of most developed nations. Compared to past elections, however, the violence this time around was limited, and many observers say social media and technology such as biometric card readers played a big role in minimizing conflict.Online services are credited with keeping people informed during the runup to the elections, promoting the feeling they could communicate and express their views without resorting to violence, and other technology helped to ensure cheating would be kept to a minimum. Nigeria’s experience suggests that tech can play a role in reducing election-related violence in other countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Salesforce said to be fielding buyout offers

Salesforce is working with financial advisors to field bids after being approached by an unnamed party about a possible buyout, according to a Bloomberg report.The cloud-based CRM (customer relationship managment) company has a market value of more than $40 billion. It could be the largest software acquisition ever, according to Bloomberg.The report cited unnamed sources and did not name any potential bidders. There is no guarantee a deal will come together, the sources told Bloomberg.Salesforce stock was up almost 9 percent on the New York Stock Exchange less than an hour before the end of trading Wednesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: New algorithms could keep drones from crashing into people

Major delivery firms are experimenting with drones for deliveries. If you've started to experiment with drone flying for fun, you'll know that it isn't easy. There's a steep learning curve, and they crash quite a lot, I've found.However, it doesn't have to be like that. Collision avoidance is technically feasible. The drone senses objects and diverts.One of the issues with that, though, has been that developers only have a certain amount of time and money to develop new features. Those features have, thus far, been the tempting, seductive ones, like "follow-me" where the hobbyist drone follows the pilot like a dog on a leash. It's the latest thing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Adobe Marketing Cloud gets a CRM boost with Microsoft Dynamics integration

While marketers want to engage customers in a unified way, disconnected systems often make that difficult. Adobe and Microsoft aim to tackle that problem by integrating Adobe’s Marketing Cloud with Dynamics CRM.The goal of the integration, announced Wednesday at Adobe Summit in London, is to let companies execute marketing strategies that take all customer engagements into account, from reach and acquisition to retention and loyalty.Microsoft Dynamics Marketing complements Adobe’s Marketing Cloud with capabilities including marketing-resource management. With the new integration, companies get a combined tool for both customer relationship management and marketing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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