SDN tools increase WAN efficiency

	Public cloud storage can be efficient, but the potential is still limited | How to get more out of your virtualized and cloud environments
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	SDN tools increase WAN efficiency Configuring, maintaining and changing WAN infrastructure can be a nightmare given the distributed nature of the beast and all the remote touch points, but emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) tools promise to make these operations more efficient. Usually touted as a data center tool, SDN can be used to automate and manage WAN operations, says Zeus Kerravala, principal of ZK Research. WAN issues are hard to address because of the dispersed nature of the resources, he says. "There's no perfect way of making changes to the WAN," but "SDN brings automation and orchestration from a centralized location and allows you to react faster."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More   WEBCAST: Ciena Corporation   Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals Serious IT breaches happen too often. Is there a way to reduce or eliminate the impact on consumers? Attend this Live Webinar Dec. 2nd,1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT to learn methods for protecting your information resources. Learn More In this Issue Public cloud storage can be efficient, but the potential is still limited How to get more out of your virtualized and cloud environments How UPS uses analytics to drive down costs (and no, it doesn't call it big data) How to get the most out of your IT talent AT&T backs off threat to halt its fiber rollout Net neutrality: Five myths, and the real facts IDG Contributor Network: Using lasers for backhaul Internet WEBCAST: Ciena Corporation   Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals Serious IT breaches happen too often. Is there a way to reduce or eliminate the impact on consumers? Attend this Live Webinar Dec. 2nd,1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT to learn methods for protecting your information resources. Learn More Public cloud storage can be efficient, but the potential is still limited Public cloud storage can be a cost efficient alternative to rolling your own, but observers warn that it isn't a cure all. Price is the lure. Even if you have room in your data center for expansion, in-house storage infrastructure won't ever be as cost-scalable as a public cloud option, says Forrester analyst Henry Baltazar. And cloud storage will always give you more agility, he says: Once you add storage capacity in your data center, it is likely yours for the life cycle of the equipment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More   How to get more out of your virtualized and cloud environments After Dammions Darden arrived as the new senior systems administrator for the city of Garland, Texas, he knew that the 50 to 60 physical hosts for this 234,000-person city outside of Dallas were not running nearly as efficiently as they could be. Some had excess capacity, others were running way too hot. Traditionally if apps are slow and virtual machines need more memory the easy answer is an unfortunate one: Throw more hardware at the problem. But Darden wasn't satisfied with that. While roaming the expo floor at VMworld two years ago he stumbled across VMTurbo, a company that specializes in analyzing virtual environments.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More   WEBCAST: Ciena Corporation   Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals Serious IT breaches happen too often. Is there a way to reduce or eliminate the impact on consumers? Attend this Live Webinar Dec. 2nd,1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT to learn methods for protecting your information resources. Learn More How UPS uses analytics to drive down costs (and no, it doesn't call it big data) 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. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with UPS Senior Director of Process Management Jack Levis for an update on their latest achievements. How does UPS use analytics to optimize its operations? Let me take you back 15 years ago and then work our way back to today, and then I'll give you a glimpse into the future. Also, to frame the discussion, let's think of analytics in three forms: descriptive analytics says, "Where am I today?"; predictive analytics says, "With my current trajectory, where will I be headed tomorrow?"; and then at the highest level you have prescriptive analytics, and that's where you say, "Where should I be?"To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More   How to get the most out of your IT talent As the spotlight on cost reduction has dimmed, IT has picked up plenty of new directives: to deliver business agility, drive innovation, and increase its value to the business, to name a few. Yet at the same time, IT remains responsible for all the tactical and operational activities it has always performed, such as keeping systems running, delivering new capabilities, and securing intellectual property and corporate data.For CIOs and IT leaders, the management challenge is how to help IT employees break the tactical habit and use their strategic skills more effectively. We asked for advice from three tech professionals with different perspectives on IT talent. Their expertise can help IT leaders who want their teams to work smarter and be more engaged. Some of the tactics can be adopted without a lot of investment, while others require outside help or more significant cultural overhauls.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More   WEBCAST: Ciena Corporation   Security+ Guide to Network Security Fundamentals Serious IT breaches happen too often. Is there a way to reduce or eliminate the impact on consumers? Attend this Live Webinar Dec. 2nd,1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT to learn methods for protecting your information resources. Learn More AT&T backs off threat to halt its fiber rollout AT&T now plans to continue its plans to expand fiber optic networks to 100 cities, backtracking on comments by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson after President Obama voiced support for net neutrality last month. Read More   Net neutrality: Five myths, and the real facts No matter how you feel about net neutrality, these five myths only make the issue more confusing. We tease out the truth beneath the rhetoric. Read More   IDG Contributor Network: Using lasers for backhaul Internet You can now add laser to the list of Internet delivery methods available. Here's what you need to know about a new combined optic and Millimeter wireless technology being pitched. It's called Composite Optical RF, or COR. Read More
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