Stories by John Dix

The look ahead to a software-controlled world

The Interop show in Las Vegas is always a good bellwether for enterprise technology trends, and perhaps the most striking thing about the recent show was how little the term "network fabric" came up.

By John Dix | 21 May, 2012 20:32

Tags: Zynga, zCloud, software defined networking, software defined data center, SDN, OpenFlow, LAN & WAN, Interop Las Vegas, Interop 2012, Interop, internet, hybrid cloud, hardware systems, Data Center, Configuration / maintenance, cloud computing, Allan Leinwand

Don't flush privacy in the name of security

On the face of it, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) that the U.S. House of Representatives just passed seems to address the long-held notion that encouraging private and public sector concerns to share security information will improve our general security.

By John Dix | 07 May, 2012 20:33

Tags: U.S. House of Representatives, security, privacy, Intel, cyberthreat, Cybersecurity Act of 2012, cybersecurity, Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, CISPA and privacy, CISPA

SaaS offering provides detailed analysis of your software portfolio

Are you faced with the need to do a software portfolio analysis but find the prospect daunting given the scattered nature of your operation? A new SaaS-based offering from Cast might fit the bill.

By John Dix | 04 May, 2012 05:46

Tags: Software as a service, software analysis, software, SaaS, Rapid Portfolio Analysis, internet, Intel, cloud computing, Cast, applications, Application Intelligence Platform

A flurry of OpenFlow activity signals the arrival of this software-defined network tech

Belief in OpenFlow-based software-defined networking is coalescing rapidly, the latest evidence being the overflow crowds at last week's Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, Calif., and new details about a Cisco startup that has been formed to address the opportunity.

By John Dix | 23 April, 2012 20:29

Tags: Configuration / maintenance, Data Center, Google, hardware systems, NEC, OpenFlow, Open Networking Foundation, Open Networking Summit, SDN, software defined networking

The UC tide

Many companies haven't bothered to flesh out their unified communications strategies because 1) it can be hard to calculate ROI, and 2) the deployment effort is often daunting given so much custom work is required to piece together the various components that make up an integrated UC system.

By John Dix | 09 April, 2012 20:25

Tags: networking, UC, UC deployment, unified communications, unified communications deployment

IT pro rethinks infrastructure from the ground up, ends up in clouds

Mark Adams, vice president of IT at HireRight, is living the dream -- the chance to completely rethink the infrastructure for a $300 million software-as-a-service employment screening service company. While the nucleus of the 1,600 employee company has been around for 30+ years, a three year acquisition spree resulted in data center sprawl, leaving the company with 10 facilities, including company owned and collocation and disaster-recovery sites, some of them overseas. Now HireRight is three quarters of the way through a consolidation effort with a heavy emphasis on cloud. Adams gave an update on the company's modernization progress to Network World Editor in Chief John Dix.

By John Dix | 05 April, 2012 05:39

Tags: cloud computing, Configuration / maintenance, consolidation, Data Center, data centers, Ethernet Switch, hardware systems, hireright, internet, LAN & WAN, Mark adams, SaaS, security, Software as a service

Ethernet Alliance chair talks about key trends, what’s next

John D'Ambrosia, Chief Ethernet Evangelist in the CTO Office at Dell (he came onboard when Dell bought Force10), is a founder of the Ethernet Alliance and currently serving as its chairman. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with D'Ambrosia for an update on the Alliance and Ethernet advances.

By John Dix | 30 March, 2012 03:40

Tags: dell, Ethernet Alliance, Ethernet Switch, freemium, gigabit ethernet, john d'ambrosia, LAN & WAN, metro Ethernet, networking

Push your cloud supplier to participate in CSA STAR

Security is a top concern for potential cloud users so the formation of the Cloud Security Alliance was welcome news when the organization emerged in 2009. And while many vendors have since joined CSA, precious few service providers have stepped up to take part in its Security, Trust and Assurance Registry.

By John Dix | 26 March, 2012 21:22

Tags: Assurance, cloud computing, cloud security, cloud security alliance, CSA, CSA STAR, internet, Microsoft, security, Security Trust and Assurance Registry

Piston Cloud has made the tough private cloud decisions for you

Joshua McKenty, co-founder and chief executive officer of Piston Cloud, what he calls The Enterprise OpenStack Company, was in on the ground floor of OpenStack's creation, working as he was on the Anso Labs team at NASA to build a compute cloud on top of open source platform Eucalyptus. The team eventually gave up on that and wrote Nova, which NASA uses today to power its Nebula Cloud environment, and Nova was ultimately contributed to the OpenStack project, which it formed with Rackspace. McKenty left NASA after Anso was acquired by Rackspace in 2010, and formed Piston Cloud in 2011 with co-founders Gretchen Curtis (also of NASA) and Christopher MacGown of Rackspace. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with McKenty for a deep dive on why OpenStack matters and where Piston Cloud fits in.

By John Dix | 15 March, 2012 11:10

Tags: Blades, blade servers, cloud computing, community cloud, Configuration / maintenance, Data Center, Ethernet Switch, fcoe, Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, freemium, hardware systems, internet, Josua McKenty, LAN & WAN, NASA, open source, OpenStack, Piston Cloud, Piston Enterprise OS, private cloud, public cloud, rackspace, server, servers, software, Virtualization

SaaS seeds ready to bloom

One expected benefit from the shift to the cloud is the emergence of a refreshing new crop of innovative software suppliers.

By John Dix | 12 March, 2012 21:28

Tags: Capita, cloud computing, enterprise software, internet, SaaS, SaaS startups, Software as a service

Siemens launches new VoIP/UC platform, says it has earned another look

Siemens Enterprise Communications, which has been rebuilding itself here in the U.S. for the past several years, will punctuate the idea that it deserves another look with the announcement Monday of Version 7.0 of its OpenScape UC suite that enables the VoIP platform to support up to 500,000 users.

By John Dix | 05 March, 2012 14:26

Tags: MacOS, Microsoft, networking, private cloud, siemens, Siemens OpenScape UC, Siemens VoIP, Skype, Telecommunication, unified communications, VoIP

Cisco bounces back

Cisco has been crowing about its rebound, and with good reason. What a difference a year makes.

By John Dix | 27 February, 2012 22:31

Tags: business issues, Cisco, Cisco financial results, Cisco restructuring, Cisco stock, Cisco UCE, Configuration / maintenance, corporate issues, Data Center, financial results, hardware systems, John Chambers, Microsoft, restructuring, Skype, Telecommunication, Unified Computing Environment, videoconferencing, VoIP

A10 CEO spells out application delivery controller advantage and next steps

A10 has built a solid business in the application delivery controller (ADC) market, but its platform also supports IPv6 migration and many cloud requirements, nicely positioning the company for the future. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently sat down with A10 founder and CEO Lee Chen for a company update. Chen, who was co-founder of Foundry Networks, says A10 already has 1,700 customers and more than 7,000 devices deployed.

By John Dix | 23 February, 2012 03:28

Tags: A10, Cisco, Ethernet Switch, f5, firewalls, foundry networks, IPv6, LAN & WAN, Lee Chen, nat, security

Juniper 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 designer at Sun Microsystems. Years later he left Juniper for a brief stint at another startup, but came back to help finalize the company's QFabric product and get it out the door. QFabric began shipping in September 2011. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Anand at the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., for a deep dive on the company's answer to high-end data center demands.

By John Dix | 16 February, 2012 11:36

Tags: brocade, Cisco, Data Center, data center fabric, freemium, juniper, Juniper fabric, juniper networks, networking, QFabric, R.K. Anand, Sun Microsystems

Apple tops the $100B+ tech club

Ten years ago Apple posted revenue of $5.3 billion, a mere gnat compared to the IBM elephant which topped all tech companies with sales of $85.8 billion.

By John Dix | 11 February, 2012 03:23

Tags: Apple, at&t, Bloomberg, IBM, networking, wireless

Twitter Feed

  • rohan_p RT @Techworld_AU: Gear and gadgets at @CeBITAUS 2012, Sydney http://t.co/J1Sch1sX #cebit2012
    1 day, 2 hours
  • Techworld_AU Gear and gadgets at @CeBITAUS 2012, Sydney http://t.co/J1Sch1sX #cebit2012
    1 day, 2 hours
  • HamishBarwick CeBIT 2012: Will NBN speed up freight delivery times? http://t.co/gaZyjOlH #cw #cio #tw #CeBIT2012 #nbn
    1 day, 21 hours
  • HamishBarwick CeBIT 2012: NAB calls for mobile app security overhaul http://t.co/3Z3ZPUPq #cw #cio #tw #CeBIT2012 #infosec
    2 days, 1 hour
  • rohan_p RT @Techworld_AU: BigPond Games Arena, Games Shop hit by hackers http://t.co/OXNPeDfL #bigpond #infosec #security
    2 days, 3 hours

Whitepapers

- + c

Latest News

- + c
more