The Software Defined Networking movement is still evolving, but profiles of SDN users are becoming more clear and we're getting a bead on some of the common evaluation criteria companies are using to gauge how to go forward. We also have a sense of when companies expect to start the process in earnest.
Software-defined networking (SDN) is the hottest thing going today, but there is considerable confusion surrounding everything from the definition of the term to the different architectures and technologies suppliers are putting forward.
There are a number of emerging and proposed standard protocols focused on optimizing the support that data center Ethernet LANs provide for server virtualization. Several of these protocols are aimed at network virtualization via the creation of multiple virtual Ethernet networks that can share a common physical infrastructure in a manner that is somewhat analogous to multiple virtual machines sharing a common physical server.
The two primary forms of public cloud computing, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), are both growing dramatically in popularity. Over the last few years, the primary focus of the IaaS providers has been on offering the basic compute and storage resources required to run applications.
Kevin Mitnick, the ex-hacker turned security consultant, is such a high-profile target himself that the Web-hosting firm he was using finally told him it wouldn't host Web pages for him anymore.
I read a little about Cisco's TrustSec architecture, and I'm wondering if it's something we should take a look at. It seems like getting more security built into a switch is a good idea, but I can't tell how realistic that idea is yet.
When Soren Burkhart landed the job of CIO at Aloha Air Group a year ago, his marching orders were to quickly break through the constraints of the company's legacy mainframe system. The problem was serious. "Integration points to external vendors were very limited and very brittle. To extend the system to incorporate customer requirements was close to impossible," he says.