Aruba rolls out Wi-Fi mesh gear from Azalea deal
Aruba Networks is introducing the first fruits of its acquisition of Azalea Networks this week, boosting the speed of the wireless mesh gear with IEEE 802.11n technology and integrating it into the...
View ArticleIDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series: Meru President and CEO Ihab Abu-Hakima
Meru Networks claims to have been the first company to deliver an 802.11n access point and is now riding that technology's popularity as enterprises move increasingly to high-speed wireless networks.
View ArticleWhy network administration is so bleeping hard
At least once during a heavy network configuration or troubleshooting session, some onlooker gets a quizzical look and says something to the effect of, "Gee, that seems really complicated. Isn't there...
View ArticleThe network must converge -- but admin roles don't have to
The relentless march of network convergence is transforming the data center into a leaner, more efficient animal than ever before. But convergence also presents serious challenges to traditionally...
View ArticleVXLAN is a missed opportunity
At VMworld 2011, VMware made a big deal about a new networking protocol it has developed in cooperation with server and networking heavyweights like Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Citrix, and Red Hat. That...
View ArticleSecondhand networks and back-alley firmware
When it's time to update firmware on, say, a router or a switch, the vast majority of folks head to the vendor site and grab whatever version they need, easy-peasy. But a large and growing number of...
View ArticleGetting out of jail free
It's 1:30 in the morning. By some miracle, you were able to get approval for a four-hour downtime window to complete a long list of overdue patching and network maintenance. Even better, you're done a...
View ArticleGoogle looks to speed up the Internet
Google technicians want an overhaul of the Web's TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) transport layer and are suggesting ways to reduce latency and make the Web faster.
View ArticleJuniper exec gives inside look at QFabric
R.K. Anand, executive vice president and general manager of Juniper Networks' Data Center Business Unit, was employee No. 12 of the network startup back in 1996, leaving a job as a microprocessor...
View ArticleBuild a bulletproof network for IP storage
Virtualization continues to make huge inroads, thanks to the obvious flexibility and reliability benefits. And getting the most out of virtualization almost always requires some kind of shared storage....
View ArticleGet your storage network right for NFS
Last week I wrote about some of the basics of designing a network for use with IP storage. While building in an appropriate level of redundancy and properly configuring VLANs and Spanning Tree are...
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Could the .secure domain make the Internet safer?
Most calls for new TLD (top-level domain) names seem like little more than real estate developers proposing the creation of entire new continents just to lease the land.
View ArticlePushing the limits of virtual networking
Recently, I was faced with an interesting virtual networking problem: how to allow a large virtualization environment to be failed over to a recovery data center and thoroughly tested, without...
View ArticleHow to choose the right iSCSI switch
I've written a few times about the many unexpected complexities involved in getting an IP storage network to work optimally.
View ArticleVMware vSphere 5.1 and the end of traditional networking
Many new concepts have arisen with the advent of large-scale virtualization technologies, such as the ability to seamlessly migrate running virtual machines among physical hosts and even across data...
View ArticleThe advantages of IT on a shoestring budget
In IT, there are two schools of thought on when to replace aging equipment. Most organizations depreciate IT assets over a fixed period of time and replace them when the clock ticks down. But many...
View ArticleData center planning: Surprising tools of the trade
The last time you applied for a tech job (or evaluated a résumé of someone applying for one), how much weight did you apply to expressing your skill with basic productivity tools like Microsoft Office...
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Here's why you really need SDN
Last week, I wrote about the confused approach many of the largest network vendors are taking to software-defined networking (SDN). In most cases, the issue is that the shift to SDN from their current...
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