Networking » Opinions »

  • The challenges of competing with Cloud computing providers

    In discussions about cloud computing and in comments readers leave on my blog posts, I commonly get statements along the lines of "Yeah, this cloud computing stuff sounds great, but at the end of the day, you have to have an IT guy solving problems like they've always done." In personal interactions, I often hear this sentiment portrayed as, "Public cloud computing is fine for the SMB and startup market, but enterprises aren't ready to move to that model." The tone of much of this feedback is that anyone who advocates cloud computing is at best naive or at worst incapable of understanding the real details of IT.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 27 Aug. 11 03:32

  • Used IPv4 addresses need a ‘vehicle history check’

    Before buying a used car, prospective buyers can review vehicle histories in most states of Australia through a service such as the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority’s Vehicle History Check. The histories include information about how many owners the vehicle has had, whether it has been written off or stolen and other information that helps consumers understand the risks of purchasing the car. Now that new IPv4 addresses are history, there is a developing market for acquiring ‘used’ IPv4 addresses. And like used cars, there are risks involved in acquiring these used addresses. So, where is the Vehicle History Check for IPv4 addresses?

    Written by Qing Li • 10 June 11 10:08

  • Cloud computing: A sustaining or disruptive innovation?

    If you've read this blog over the past couple of years, it should be no surprise that I am a huge advocate of the theories of Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma." Christensen and his book were brought to mind this week by the cover story in Forbes about his severe health problems, his experience with the U..S healthcare system, and his prescriptions for how to fix it.

    Written by Bernard Golden • 17 March 11 05:28

  • Turning service management green - Part 2

    Is it a bird? Is it a plane?..No! – it’s service management! ITIL Version 3 may not explicitly talk about sustainability but at every stage of the service lifecycle there is implicit guidance that can assist organisations in addressing the environmental challenges of its operations.

    Written by Karen Ferris • 09 March 11 14:27
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    Like the NBN or not, let's make the most of it

    As the 2010 federal election finally came to a close this week technology and political commentators alike have centred their post-poll opinions around the most pivotal policy – the National Broadband Network. With Labor back in the driver's seat the NBN is set to go ahead. It's now time to forget the politics and get behind this advanced technology infrastructure project to make it a success.

    Written by Rodney Gedda • 08 Sept. 10 11:18

  • Being personal in a centralised world

    Personalisation is about more than decorating a user’s desktop, it must encompass business policy, end-to-end visibility and user introduced applications.

    Written by Sean Walsh • 21 May 09 11:22

  • UC security: When the shoe won't fit, compress the foot

    If your security model is location-centric and depends on keeping things separate, how do you respond to a disruptive technology like unified communications? This is a pattern that keeps repeating in many different areas: the security paradigm looked good until a technology comes along, changes the assumptions and reveals the inadequacy of the model.

    Written by Andreas M. Antonopoulos • 15 April 09 05:06

  • Trends coming together make a plan for small business

    George Peppard said as his character Hannibal Smith on The A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." Several trends, if not a plan, are coming together in interesting ways in technology for small businesses. Mix equal parts of online applications, netbooks, and constant wireless networking together, and you get new ways to do more work in more places for less money.

    Written by James E. Gaskin • 20 Feb. 09 09:36

  • A day in the life of an application

    In the quest to reduce operational costs and streamline business processes to improve company performance, organisations are increasingly Web-enabling their business critical applications and centralising operations to the data centre. This “virtual proximity” makes a lot of sense, but in making the move, many IT managers are discovering how ill equipped the WAN is to provide the backbone of application delivery. Slow or inaccessible applications mean infrastructure investments are wasted and employee productivity suffers dramatically.

    Written by Steve O’Brien • 27 Jan. 09 08:29

  • Satyam fraud has ramifications for outsourcers

    The financial fraud perpetrated by Satyam Computer Services executives could trigger near-term disruptions across the outsourcing and IT industries. Ramalinga Raju, the company's founder and chairman, resigned last week. He has admitted to inflating Satyam's cash balances and the credit amounts it was owed while understating its liabilities. This scandal has many ramifications for Satyam's customers as well as those of other outsourcing companies.

    Written by Shaalu Mehra • 14 Jan. 09 09:34

  • Can Cisco compete in the CE mass-market?

    Cisco has won much attention from consumer news sites since the New York Times reported Monday that the networking giant at CES this week is expected to unveil a digital stereo system that can move music wirelessly around a house, among other consumer offerings. But analysts and pundits say there are hurdles that Cisco must overcome in a market where Cisco is an unknown brand. Pundits also point to similar offerings from Sonos, Logitech and Apple.

    Written by Cisco Subnet • 05 Jan. 09 07:42

  • The NOC on systems management

    EMA recently completed a major landscape survey on network management, including updates on technologies, process, and organization affecting the tools and practices used within network operations. One of the more interesting themes that emerged was the overwhelming indication that systems management is now part and parcel of most network operations teams' daily lives.

    Written by Jim Frey • 30 Dec. 08 10:29

  • Making big plans work (even when many of them don't)

    Probably the single biggest thing that stood out to me as I reviewed our IT consulting guidance on CMDB System deployments, service catalog deployments, and plans for end-to-end application and service management strategies, is how consistent the reasons for failure are.

    Written by Dennis Drogseth • 17 Dec. 08 08:50

  • Countdown to IPv6 - it’s time to plan for migration

    Questions surrounding Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) have been debated for the past decade, beginning with when and why to deploy. The network address space problem on the Internet, which IPv6 is expected to solve, also has been disquieting for organisations planning ahead for their future network growth.

    Written by Aaron Condon • 15 Dec. 08 10:30

  • Vista SP2 beta: Nothing obviously new has been added

    If you install the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) expecting to see visible changes to your version of Vista, you'll be sorely disappointed. At least in this initial beta, all the changes are under the hood, and even they are far from earth-shaking.

    Written by Preston Gralla • 09 Dec. 08 09:30

  • Economic crisis threatens networking growth

    The beginning of a new year normally is a time to reflect; it's all the more so when the network industry is facing (along with the rest of the economy) a major financial crisis. We are of a generation that has taken network growth for granted, that has seen the Internet reshape culture and that has come to believe that "more bits" paves the road to the future. It just might be that this comfortable view is the greatest threat we face, because networking is going to change one way or the other.

    Written by Thomas Nolle • 04 Dec. 08 08:00

  • Saving through network convergence

    There's likely a number of building systems in place at your organization: HVAC, lighting, fire, security, telephone, and the like. You also have your IT infrastructure. Turns out that converging those systems on a single IP-based network promises a wealth of money-saving benefits and efficiency gains, according to a recently released white paper from Johnson Controls titled "The Perfect Technology Storm."

    Written by Ted Samson • 28 Nov. 08 10:44

  • Drive the goblins out of your converged network

    Small businesses converging voice, video and data traffic sometimes end up with haunted networks, but you can exorcise the demons. Affordable QoS mechanisms are available to oust the goblins that cause delay, jitter, bit-rate errors and dropped packets.

    Written by John Klein • 03 Nov. 08 10:49

  • A glimpse of the (networked) future

    One of the signs of getting older is the feeling that things were better "back in the day." I've been lucky enough to avoid it, most of the time. OK, I'd like to have tasted Coca-Cola back when it had the original ingredients. And I'll admit to being a bit nostalgic for the days when you didn't have to take your shoes off to get on a plane. But overall, it strikes me things are generally better today, from medical advances that didn't exist three years ago to being able to Google on your mobile phone.

    Written by Johna Till Johnson • 16 Oct. 08 11:01

  • Blogger warns: 'Nortel doesn't make it out alive'

    An investor and blogger on Yahoo's Tech Ticker site doesn't expect Nortel to survive the current market downturn which he says is stalling big infrastructure buildouts.

    Written by Jim Duffy • 13 Oct. 08 10:41
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