VA Business: Sunny skies for cloud computing

Forgive Virginia’s IT companies for having their heads in the clouds these days. That is, after all, where they soon expect to rack up huge profits. Cloud computing is the next frontier in information technology, driven especially by the Obama administration’s mandate that federal agencies transition to computing resources via the Internet.
Anyone who....READ MORE

Cloud Computing (in Plain English)

Cloud Computing explained by the experts

Cloud to Replace On-Site IT Spending

Cloud computing will grow at the expense of other IT ventures as more companies funnel their spending toward deployment, according to new analysis from Saugatuck Technology Inc. In a research report entitled “Key SaaS, PaaS and IaaS Trends Through 2015 – Business Transformation via the Cloud,” Saugatuck anticipates 65% or more of new enterprise IT spending to be cloud-based by 2015. Within the next four years, one quarter of total enterprise IT workloads will be cloud-based or hybrid, and 15% or more of enterprise spending will be cloud-based or hybrid, according to...READ MORE

Inter-Cloud Peering Points

The golden question in the Cloud computing industry is what role will outsourcing providers play. Enterprise customers adopting lots of Private Cloud is an internal function, it does nothing to stimulate procurement from third-party outsourcing suppliers.

The Inter-Cloud

One key answer is ‘Inter-Cloud Peering’: Gateway services to inter-connect these private clouds.

As highlighted in their ‘Cloud for Clunkers‘ plan the US Government is......READ MORE

The Clock Is Ticking On Encryption

In the indictment that led to the expulsion of ten Russian spies from the U.S. in the summer of 2010, the FBI said that it gained access to their communications after surreptitiously entering one of the spies' homes, during which agents found a piece of paper with a 27-character password.

In other words, the FBI found it more productive to burglarize a house than to crack a 216-bit code, despite having the computational resources of the U.S. government behind it.

That's because modern cryptography, when used correctly.....READ MORE

Is a next-generation firewall in your future?

The traditional port-based enterprise firewall, now looking less like a guard and more like a pit stop for Internet applications racing in through the often open ports 80 and 443, is slowly losing out to a new generation of brawny, fast, intelligent firewalls.

The so called next-generation firewall (NGFW) describes an enterprise firewall/VPN that.....READ MORE

The Smart Paranoid's Guide to Using Google

Google is nearly everyone's best friend. But have you ever stopped to think about just how much Google knows about you?

Do you realize that Google may have recorded and stored every single search term you have ever punched into its search box? Chances are some of those searches could be soberingly damaging to your reputation. What about Gmail? Have you ever sent any sensitive e-mails? How about business information stored in Google Docs?

Unless.......READ MORE

Samsung WiMAX 2 test hits 330Mbps

Yes, it's only a demonstration. Even so, Samsung's trial of WiMAX 2 technology that touched speeds of 330Mbps is still impressive.

Samsung is holding a public demonstration of the yet-to-be-finalized WiMAX 2 standard at the CEATEC IT and electronics tradeshow in Japan this week. In teaming up with Japan's UQ Communications ISP, Samsung is wirelessly streaming full-HD 3D videos over a WiMAX 2 trial network. WiMAX 2 is an evolution......READ MORE

The Next Generation of Business Networks

The wide area network (WAN) is central to the IT strategy of any multilocation business. Employees expect the WAN to be available when they need it, much like any other utility in the business. WANs have historically been built on "best effort" circuit or packet-switched IP networks such as VPN, Frame Relay, or Private Line connectivity.

This strategy is effective when the WAN is required for email and file-sharing. However, with the growing need to add.....READ MORE

100G Watch: Brocade Goes Big

The latest salvo in the war of big 100-Gbit/s numbers leads off our latest update on all things 100 Gbit/s.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) introduced its new router, the MLXe, today, saying it doubles the MLX's backplane capacity to 15.4 Tbit/s and can support 480 Gbit/s per half-slot.

The star feature, though, is the 100-Gbit/s module -- the first to carry two wire-speed ports rather than just one, Brocade claims. That's 32 ports per chassis, a figure....READ MORE

IT Shops Rally Around Private Clouds

Private clouds -- where companies use their own infrastructure and provision virtualized services to end users via automated tools -- are gaining traction among IT leaders who want to deliver advanced services at lower cost.

However, as with any new approach to computing, private clouds today fall short on manageability, and some users worry about the risk of vendor lock-in, particularly with virtualization and other tools that make cloud computing possible. Further....READ MORE

IBM's Mote Runner Project to Integrate Internet Connectivity into Everything

In IBM's planned future, everything will communicate with everything. The company has now announced a new software development kit, Mote Runner, that will allow programmers to put anything from coffee makers to environmental monitoring systems on the "Internet of things."
Mote Runner -- nicknamed for motes, wireless sensor nodes that gather information and refer it back to a network -- can interlink any hardware equipped with wirelessly connected sensors. The extremely lightweight software is made to run....READ MORE

Mobile Backhaul Driving Carrier Ethernet Success

After years of planning convergence around fixed-mobile services, telecom network operators suddenly find themselves living in a converged world primarily to deliver one big service: mobile backhaul.
The reality of the bandwidth demands for mobile data today and for the projected mobile video services of the near future is driving deployment plans for the Carrier Ethernet backbone networks of companies such as AT&T and Verizon. Mobile backhaul is a major reason the Carrier Ethernet market grew 14 percent year-over-year to $492 million in the first quarter....READ MORE

40/100G Ethernet Standard Ratified

The 40G/100G Ethernet standard has been ratified, the first specification to simultaneously utilize two new Ethernet speeds.

The IEEE 802.3ba standard was ratified last Thursday, according to the IEEE. Ratification paves the way for a new wave of higher speed Ethernet server connectivity and core switching products, the standards organization says.

Some vendors, such as Cisco and Juniper Networks have already been trialing 100G Ethernet products since late last year. By producing pre-standard products..... READ MORE