Up_to_date_with_ me: Top Tech Reviews

Why we live in an anti-tech age

Complex planning -- and true innovation -- is out of fashion, argues PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel

Does Science Back Samsung's 80% Battery Boost Claim?

A longer-lasting smartphone battery has been on the to-do list of tech companies for years. And now Samsung claims to have developed one that could keep your phone humming for 80 percent longer. But could the new battery really boost battery life by that much? Some scientists are skeptical, saying the study researchers didn't account for energy that's permanently lost after the battery goes through its first charge-recharge cycle.

US Military's Hypersonic Jet Could Fly 5 Times the Speed of Sound

The U.S. military is reportedly developing a hypersonic jet plane that could soar at up to five times the speed of sound — faster than a bullet, which generally travels at Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound.

World's Thinnest Light Bulb Created from Graphene

raphene, a form of carbon famous for being stronger than steel and more conductive than copper, can add another wonder to the list: making light. Researchers have developed a light-emitting graphene transistor that works in the same way as the filament in a light bulb.

Remote Control Airplanes Review

Remote control airplanes bring the thrill of flight to your backyard or local field

Showing posts with label Top Tech Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top Tech Reviews. Show all posts

Friday, 3 July 2015

Enterprise Networking Trends for 2015

Enterprise Networking Trends for 2015

What networking trends will shape 2015? From Layer 1 switching to Puppet and Chef, OpenStack to public cloud, Teren Bryson makes some predictions.

By SUNIL SAINI | Posted JULY 4, 2015

Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future. - Niels Bohr

2015 is well under way, and while I have always eschewed writing anything that even smells predictive, I’ve made an exception this year. Perhaps it’s because the networking industry has been changing so rapidly that I can’t help but be wrong, so what do I have to lose? Or perhaps it’s just for an excuse to work Niels Bohr into an article, making me feel better about myself as a person.

Layer 1 Switching

Layer-1 (or Crosspoint) switching is less a new technology and more a repurposing of very old technology. Think the old telephone networks’ switchboards, where electrical connections were manipulated by humans based on the needs of the network. The cabling largely stayed the same on the backend. Layer-1 switches allow for the permanent connection of all layer-1 (wiring) connections across the datacenter, while certain manipulators like OpenFlow and Python can “move” those physical connections logically to allow for a re-cabling of the network without actually having to re-cable anything.
While not deployed by many networks yet, look for this technology to emerge as one of the must-haves in the next year. Even if still not widely deployed by the end of the year, a lot of enterprises have started to take note of the myriad possibilities made real by the flexibility of cabling datacenters using Layer-1 switching and orchestration products by vendors such as Qualisystems and Metamako.
Lab virtualization is a huge and growing application for this technology, as are flexible and large-scale datacenters. This isn’t a cheap or easy technology to deploy correctly, so I don’t expect to see this in any but the largest of enterprise networks and labs. Still, as knowledge around this builds, prices and the overall barriers to entry will drop. By the end of the year, look for more companies to be doing proof-of-concept testing with some of this gear.

ACI vs. NSX

This will continue to be the dominant developing story in the SDN world this year, at least in the enterprise space. Both vendors have invested heavily in their respective technologies, and neither has shown any sign of slowing down in 2015. VMware has come out of the gate close to a year ahead of Cisco, and while they have had some success, a large portion of the enterprise space is waiting for hands-on with ACI—something just now happening—before committing to any solution.

Geneve, VXLAN, STT, NVGRE

The Geneve spec, currently in a draft proposal status in the IETF, is interesting in that it combines elements from VXLANSTT, and NVGRE as well as being backed by Microsoft, VMware, Redhat, Intel, Broadcom, Brocade, Arista, and Cumulus. Notably absent are Cisco, Juniper, and Avaya, but with such a group of heavyweights backing the draft already, adoption may be a foregone conclusion. We’ll continue to see development in overlay technologies like this, much like the VLAN and MPLS technologies which came before them. It remains to be seen where we’ll finish the year, but this emerging technology has the smell of inevitability about it. It feels like it is going to put pressure on vendors like Cisco to eventually support it, especially as the latter makes moves towards a more cozy relationship with Microsoft.

OpenDaylight

The OpenDaylight project will continue to be an important driver in the mindshare of the open source and SDN worlds, while at the same time not necessarily putting vanilla product into the hands of customers. By that, I mean that many companies are releasing technology based on the ODL project, but with proprietary twists to suit the particulars of that vendor. The ODL is much like Linux itself—it drives a lot of other products that use it, but nobody does it the same way. Purists bemoan this, but purists don’t have mindshare in the office of the CFO, where pragmatism tends to trump ideology.

OEM-on-OEM violence

With all of the emerging standards, methodologies, and technological shifts in the industry, it should surprise no one that existing allegiances will be tested, strained, and outright broken. Cisco and VMware are moving from “frenemies” to full-blown competitors; Microsoft and Cisco are moving closer together, VCE bought back a lot of its stock, and VCE and EMC continue to experience channel conflict behind the scenes. Rumor has it that Cisco and NetApp are working toward releasing a FlexPod based on Microsoft.  OpenStack is challenging VMware on the private cloud front and AWS and Azure on the public cloud front. Cisco’s foray into storage—despite claiming otherwise—looks to be an attempt to lock-up more of the stack, while more and more storage vendors are making serious pushes into compute. HDS has been gaining mindshare with their compute platform, despite misgivings from a lot of corners of the industry.

OpenStack

OpenStack continues to evolve, and as it does a greater number of companies are casting weary eyes at their existing vendor bills and wondering if this isn’t a better route. The number of consulting engagements I’ve had where OpenStack proof-of-concepts are being deployed is huge, and I expect this to continue to grow significantly. As it does, look for amended pricing models to come from the more established players in this market.
Public cloud vendors are not cheap, and the more the C-level executives get eyes on the bills from these services, expect the use cases for full-blown private clouds using OpenStack to gain momentum. Running an OpenStack private cloud, especially with automation technologies for both backend provisioning of storage and virtual machines coupled with catalog services for applications, is going to become even more popular than it is today. As with other cutting-edge technologies, as more and more people become familiar with the ins and outs of deployment and management, the knowledge base will grow linearly, with adoption rates following closely behind.

Public Cloud: Azure, AWS

On that vein, public clouds are going to continue to be a popular option for capacity bursting, but I see a contraction coming. The prices as they are today are not tenable for anything but development work, short-term testing, and the very largest enterprises with no good visibility into IT OpEx. Prices are going to have to come down to maintain market share, but with OpenStack nibbling around the edges, I still don’t see long-term viability for this model in the capacities we’re seeing today.

Automation/Orchestration: Puppet/Chef/Etc.

IT automation is a hot topic these days, and for good reason. The driver behind many of today’s hottest technologies, from virtualization and private cloud, to overlay networks and software-defined abstraction of all types, is primarily flexibility and speed to deployment. As automation and abstraction have changed compute and storage significantly in recent years, the network has lagged behind in several key areas. As a result, expect to see the serious disruption in this space continue to accelerate and bring uncomfortable changes to the status quo. While I see the possibility for industry heavyweights to be put back on their heels a bit, I don’t think the trend will last, as they either come back hard through R&D monies or through outright acquisitions of key technologies.

Storage: All-Flash Arrays

The all-flash array market is heating up something fierce, and many of the established vendors in the storage market aren’t necessarily the ones on top today. Upstarts like Pure Storage are disrupting the big-boys. I see that trend continuing in 2015. Meanwhile, don’t count out the established enterprise players like EMC, NetApp, and HDS as they make aggressive moves to take back what they haven’t had to fight for in a while. I don’t see the overall tier structure between storage vendors like HP and Dell changing this year as they stay in the mid-market space and don’t seriously disrupt the enterprise players much at all.
I could easily write a few more pages of predictions, if for no other reason than that there’s a heck of a lot going on in the IT world these days. So let’s just leave off where we are, and if feel I’ve missed something major, or you’d just like to point out places where you disagree, feel free to leave your comments below. I look forward to reading them and to seeing how much of this pans out over the upcoming year
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Top 10 Technology Trends for 2015 IT can’t ignore


Top 10 Technology Trends for 2015 IT can’t ignore

tech trends

Rise of smart machines,ubiquitous access and software-defined architectures will reshape IT, Gartner says

ORLANDO—Gartner defines its Strategic Technology Trends as those technologies that have the most potential to drive great change in the enterprise IT arena in the next three years.
Indeed this year’s crop has that potential as trends like software-defined networks and 3D printing take center stage in Gartner’s list.
“You need to be looking at linking to customers in new and unique ways; what technologies set the foundation to enable these moves,” said Gartner vice president David Cearley. IT will be dealing with everything from virtual technologies to intelligent machines and analytics data everywhere, he said. “And in the end all things run through a completely secure environment.”
So Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2015 list looks like this:
1. Computing everywhere: Cearley says the trend is not just about applications but rather wearable systems, intelligent screens on walls and the like. Microsoft, Google and Apple will fight over multiple aspects of this technology. You will see more and more sensors that will generate even more data and IT will have to know how to exploit this—think new ways to track users and their interactions with your company—in an effective, positive way.
2. The Internet of things: Yes this one is getting old it seems, but there’s more to it than the hype. Here IT will have to manage all of these devices and develop effective business models to take advantage of them. Cearley said IT needs to get new projects going and to embrace the “maker culture” so people in their organizations can come up with new solutions to problems.
3. 3D Printing: Another item that has been on the Gartner list for a couple years. But things are changing rapidly in this environment. Cearley says 3D printing has hit a tipping point in terms of the materials that can be used and price points of machines. It enables cost reduction in many cases. IT needs to look at 3D printing and think about how it can make your company more agile.  Can it 3D printing drive innovation?
4. Advanced, Pervasive and Invisible Analytics: Security analytics are the heart of next generation security models. Cearley said IT needs to look at building data reservoirs that can tie together multiple repositories which can let IT see all manner of new information – such as data usage patterns and what he called “meaningful anomalies” it can act on quickly.
5. Context-Rich Systems: This one has been a Gartner favorite for a long time – and with good reason. The use of systems that utilize “situational and environmental information about people, places and things” in order to provide a service, is definitely on the rise. IT needs to look at creating ever more intelligent user interfaces linking lots of different apps and data.
6. Smart Machines: This one is happening rapidly. Cearley pointed to IBM’s Watson, which is “learning” to fight cancer, and a mining company – Rio Tinto—which is using automated trucks in its mines. Virtual sages, digital assistants and other special service software agents will about in this world, he said.
7. Cloud/Client Computing: This trend was on last year’s list as well but Gartner says the need to develop native apps in the cloud versus migrating existing apps is the current issue.
8. Software-Defined Applications and Infrastructure: In order to get to the agility new environments demand we cannot have hard codes and predefined networks, Cearley said. IT needs to be able construct dynamic relationships. Software Defined technologies help on that scale.
9. Web-Scale IT: This trend remains pretty much the same as last year. Gartner says Web-scale IT is a pattern of global-class computing technologies that  deliver the capabilities of large cloud service providers. The likes of Amazon, Google and others are re-inventing the way IT services can be delivered. Still requires a cultural IT shift to be successful.
10. Risk-Based Security and Self-protection: Cearley said all roads to the digital future success lead through security. Trends here include building applications that are self-protecting.

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