Intent-Based Networking: How Close Are We (and Should You Prepare)? Over the last several months, intent-based networking (IBNS) has gained momentum as a newly viable technology that aims to further automate traditional network management. Although IBNS has existed for a few years now as a general concept, it was more buzz than reality until Cisco® launched its first IBNS software package earlier this year. What is intent-based networking? Traditionally, network administrators manually translate business policies into network device configurations, a time-intensive and error-prone activity that contributes to rising OpEx. But as digital transformation initiatives continue to reshape the way organizations approach their business and IT strategy, it's becoming more difficult to stay on top of policy and configuration changes by hand. Enter intent-based networking, whic... (more)

Virtual #Storage From @FormationDS | @CloudExpo #SDS #SDN #DataCenter

"We formed Formation several years ago to really address the need for bring complete modernization and software-defined storage to the more classic private cloud marketplace," stated Mark Lewis, Chairman and CEO of Formation Data Systems, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. 21st International Cloud Expo, taking place October 31 - November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Download Show Prospectus ▸ Here Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud str... (more)

[slides] Composable Infrastructure | @CloudExpo @HTBase #SDN #DataCenter

Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here Why Composable Infrastructure Instead of HyperConvergence? HyperConvergence came to market with the objective of being simple, flexible and to help drive down operating expenses. It reduced the footprint by bundling the compute/storage/network into one box. This brought a new set of challenges as the HyperConverged vendors are very focused on their own proprietary building blocks. If you want to scale in a certain way, let's say you identified a need for more storage and want to add a device that is not sold by the HyperConverged vendor, forget about it. This meant that up to now the HyperConverged vendors were in charge of the requirements. Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here Composable Infrastructure came to solve this issue by putting the business in charge of the requirements and how you build your infrastructure... (more)

SD-WAN: Symbiosis Without Compromise | @CloudExpo #SDN #Cloud #Storage

SD-WAN - Symbiosis Without Compromise WAN infrastructures are highly persistent due to typically enormous investments in their dedicated hardware and management tools. WAN services like MPLS have undoubtedly been beneficial and enduring, but enterprises and IT departments require more flexible and economical solutions to provide employee access to corporate resources and cloud-based applications. SD-WAN promises to fulfill these needs with software-based, cloud-based solutions - running on commercial off-the-shelf hardware platforms - to connect their various branch offices. For more than a decade technologies like leased lines, VPNs and MPLS were the dominant architectures connecting enterprise entities. Proven to be highly secure and reliable, they nevertheless lack flexibility and typically entail high costs for limited bandwidth. On the other hand, the ubiquity ... (more)

[session] Public Cloud Alternative | @CloudExpo @Cloudistics #SDS #DataCenter

The Need for the Public Cloud Alternative What You Need to Know You know you need the cloud, but you're hesitant to simply dump everything at Amazon since you know that not all workloads are suitable for cloud. You know that you want the kind of ease of use and scalability that you get with public cloud, but your applications are architected in a way that makes the public cloud a non-starter. You're looking at private cloud solutions based on hyperconverged infrastructure, but you're concerned with the limits inherent in those technologies. What do you do? In his session at 21st Cloud Expo, Carmelo McCutcheon, VP of Pre-Sales Engineering and Services at Cloudistics, will discuss how private cloud infrastructure based on composable technologies result in environments that are suitable for all your workloads while also providing you with many of the benefits of the ... (more)

File System Market vs. Object Storage | @CloudExpo #Cloud #DataCenter #Storage #AI #DX

An article published in The Register states that object storage has missed its opportunity to serve the secondary storage market. How did this happen? Let's rewind the clock a bit. A few years ago, object storage was the new technology that promised to replace file system in the secondary storage market. It would scale beyond the limits of file systems and deliver better costs. The trade-off would be lower ease-of-use with new protocols that required rewriting of the applications. File systems would keep its place as the tier-one storage solution, because of its superior performance. The world order was clear with object storage elbowing file system out of secondary storage and gradually squeezing it out of tier one as its performance improved. The marketing message was that the role of the file system was rapidly diminishing, because its technology could not keep up... (more)

Server Storage I/O Data Infrastructures | @CloudExpo #SDN #AI #DataCenter

HPE Continues Buying into Server Storage I/O Data Infrastructures This past week HPE continued buying into server storage I/O data infrastructure technologies announcing an all cash (e.g., no stock) acquisition of Nimble Storage (NMBL). The cash acquisition for a little over $1B USD amounts to $12.50 USD per Nimble share, double what it had traded at. As a refresh, or overview, Nimble is an all flash shared storage system leverage NAND flash solid storage device (SSD) performance. Note that Nimble also partners with Cisco and Lenovo platforms that compete with HPE servers for converged systems. Earlier this year (keep in mind its only mid-March) HPE also announced acquisition of server storage Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) vendor Simplivity (about $650M USD cash). In another investment this year HPE joined other investors as part of scale out and software de... (more)

ARM Server to Transform #BigData to #IoT | @CloudExpo #IIoT #AI #ML #DX

A completely new computing platform is on the horizon. They're called Microservers by some, ARM Servers by others, and sometimes even ARM-based Servers. No matter what you call them, Microservers will have a huge impact on the data center and on server computing in general. What Is a Microserver...and What Isn't Although few people are familiar with Microservers today, their impact will be felt very soon. This is a new category of computing platform that is available today and is predicted to have triple-digit growth rates for some years to come - growing to over 20% of the server market by 2016 according to Oppenheimer ("Cloudy With A Chance of ARM" Oppenheimer Equity Research Industry Report). According to Chris Piedmonte, CEO of Suvola Corporation - a software and services company focused on creating preconfigured and scalable Microserver appliances for deployin... (more)

Niagara Networks at @CloudExpo | @NiagaraNetw #API #SDS #ML #DataCenter

"We are a leader in the market space called network visibility solutions - it enables monitoring tools and Big Data analysis to access the data and be able to see the performance," explained Shay Morag, VP of Sales and Marketing at Niagara Networks, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 19th Cloud Expo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Niagara Networks exhibited at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which took place at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, in November 2016. Niagara Networks offers the highest port-density systems, and the most complete Next-Generation Network Visibility systems including Network Packet Brokers, Bypass Switches, and Network TAPs. For more information, visit http://niagaranetworks.com. The World's Largest "Cloud Digital Transformation" Event @CloudExpo / @ThingsExpo 2017 New... (more)

Two Options for Web Content Filtering at the Speed of Now | @CloudExpo #SDN #Cloud #Virtualization

Two Options for Web Content Filtering at the Speed of Now Because not everything the internet offers is suitable for all users, organizations use web filters to block unwanted content. However, filtering content becomes challenging as networks speeds increase. Two filtering architectures are explored below, along with criteria to help you decide which option is the best fit for your organization. How Fast Can You Filter? To ensure service level and capacity as internet traffic increases, organizations need higher-speed networks. In telecom networks, to serve hundreds of thousands of users, 100 Gbps network links are introduced to keep up with the demand. Today, the market has reached a state of maturity regarding solutions for web content filtering at 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps, but filtering at 100 Gbps poses a whole set of new challenges. To filter content this quickly, th... (more)

WAN Challenges of Large Enterprises | @CloudExpo #Cloud #AWS #Virtualization

When it comes to wide area networking, large global enterprises have some unique challenges to ensure that networking capabilities keep up with their complex business requirements. The most obvious challenge is the sheer scale of WAN operations. A very large enterprise could have hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of locations around the world-and this makes the cost multipliers huge. Changing the cost equation for branch access can mean a difference in saving versus spending millions of dollars per month. Branch growth might happen in multiple global locations, often in countries where traditional MPLS service may not be cost effective-if it is available at all. Think about trying to stand up a new location on a small island in the South Pacific, or in a village in the Andes Mountains. Not only are communication options extremely limited, but the IT exp... (more)