Stories by John Dix

Cloud companies argue their case at Demo Traction

The recent Demo Traction event showcased a host of young companies that are gaining market momentum.  Each gave their pitch and then answered to a panel of judges.  If it is important for you to stay on the up and up with emerging technologies, this is must watch stuff.

In case you aren't suitably impressed by the scale of Amazon Web Services

Although the video has been up for awhile, if you haven't had the chance to watch Amazon Web Service's VP & Distinguished Engineer James Hamilton spell out AWS facts at the re:Invent conference last November, do yourself a favor and pull up a chair. Fascinating stuff that gives you some insight into the rapidly evolving world of cloud computing.

The first place to tackle SDN? In the WAN

Disruptive innovation in infrastructure is on the rise, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Software Defined Networking movement. But while much of the SDN discussion has focused on the data center, the better initial use case might be in the wide area network. One advocate of that approach is Michael Elmore, IT Senior Director of the Enterprise Network Engineering Infrastructure Group at Cigna, a global health service company headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Michael is also on the board of Open Network Users Group (ONUG). Network World Editor in Chief John Dix asked Elmore to participate in an email-based Q&A to explore the promise of Software Defined WANS.

Directory-as-a-Service lets you extend Active Directory to all those items AD can't support

Startup JumpCloud was making waves with its server management tools when it occurred to them what they really had was a cloud-based alternative to Active Directory that could address all those resources AD can't reach -- like Macs, tablets, Linux servers and smartphones. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with JumpCloud CEO Rajat Bhargava to learn about the effort.

New England security group shares threat intelligence, strives to bolster region as cybersecurity mecca

<em>The Advanced Cyber Security Center is a three year old organization with a bold mission to "bring together industry, university, and government organizations to address the most advanced cyber threats" and drive cybersecurity R&amp;D in the New England region. Network World editor in Chief John Dix attended their most recent meeting in Boston and later tracked down ACSC Executive Director Charlie Benway and ACSC Board Chair William Guenther (CEO and Founder of Mass Insight) for a deep dive on the organization's goals.</em>

What happens next in the Cisco suit against Arista?

Arista Networks' stock took it on the chin when Cisco slapped the company with patent infringement and copyright law suits last Friday, losing almost 20% of its value at one point as investors and others mulled the long term implications of the suits.

How UPS uses analytics to drive down costs (and no, it doesn't call it big data)

<em>When you have an organization the size of UPS with 99,000 vehicles and 424,000 employees every single little bit of efficiency that can be squeezed out of daily operations translates into a big deal. UPS has been using analytics to do just that for a long time now, and keeps getting better and better at it.</em> Network World <em>Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with UPS Senior Director of Process Management Jack Levis for an update on their latest achievements.</em>

Fidelity peers into the future of investing by building customers virtual cities

Fidelity Investments today announced a cutting edge way for customers to check on the health of their investments by donning 3D goggles and peering around a personalized city where the size of each building relates to the health of their various stock holdings, giving them a quick way to gauge change without poring over numbers.

Why do cell phones still suck for calling?

Calling is probably only a small percentage of what the average smartphone is used for today, but you would think that with all the advances in mobile tech, this still critical function would have gotten better too.

VMware's Casado talks about evolving SDN use cases, including a prominent role for security

Martin Casado, who helped launch the Software Defined Networking concept in the labs at Stanford, was recently elevated to the top business slot in VMware's Networking and Security Business Unit, giving him the rare opportunity to see the technology through from the incubator to the data center. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix sat down with Casado for an update on the company and his thoughts on how the technology is maturing.

OpenDaylight Executive Director spells out where this open source SDN efforts stands

The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is the public face of the Software Defined Networking movement, spelling out requirements and defining standards. The group's board includes Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft and Goldman Sachs on the data center side, and Verizon, Deutsche Telekom and NTT Communications on the service provider side. Additionally, there are close to 150 members, from global telcos to startups. To get a sense of where the movement stands, Network World Editor in Chief John Dix tracked down ONF Executive Director Dan Pitt, who spent 20 years developing network architecture, technology, standards, and products at IBM Networking Systems, Hewlett Packard and Bay Networks.

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