Companies are scrounging for some thread to tie their many cloud services together. One option is Kubernetes, the open-source orchestration platform for containers (a virtualized method for running distributes applications). Another is the use of application program interfaces. In tandem at the networking level, they’re a walloping punch in the face of multicloud complexity.  “You look at a ...

The world’s data just keeps growing, zipping information across global networks in excess of 1 billion gigabytes every month. Add the most advanced artificial intelligence software to date, shake and pour all over everything. The results are better applications, analytics, storage — you name it. Unfortunately, the recipe is not so simple for one area in ...

The cybersecurity threat landscape shifts with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it frequency. Heard of cryptojacking? It’s one relatively new offender on the block. Security pros are fighting it and other threats with telemetry data from network devices like switches. The network increasingly provides a wide window through which to spy on hackers, according to TK Keanini (pictured), distinguished engineer and ...

Application-centric information technology is putting resources like compute, network and storage in their place. New application architectures like microservices and containers (a virtualized method for running distributed apps) are saying, “Jump,” while infrastructure answers, “How high?” Human infrastructure provisioners can’t keep up.  The solution is an intelligent, automatic marketplace from which they can pick their own ...

Network as code , or NaC, isn’t just a fresher, trendier term for software-defined networking. It also means applying infrastructure as code, or IaC, practices to network engineering and administrating. Networking as code has given rise to developer operations specialized for networking. It’s called NetDevOps. It enables agile, application-centric networking for multicloud. IaC methodology configures infrastructure using code rather than ...

Software-defined technologies are often lauded as flexible and customizable, through customer-set policies, etc. Liberally kicking in new application program interfaces can give end users even more options and control. Cisco Systems Inc. is using APIs to satisfy every single last user of its intent-based networking. “We we have gone from … a bottom-up way to build a ...

Application-first information technology is changing everything — compute, storage, development and operations. The network, however, is arriving a bit late for its application-first makeover. The best networking solution for the agile, multicloud world is going to win a lot of fans. Two heavyweight contenders are VMware Inc.’s NSX network virtualization and Cisco Systems Inc.’s Application ...

Cisco Systems Inc. has been selling networking boxes long enough to earn the legacy label. What does it have to offer today’s customers shifting to cloud-native and multicloud technologies that span the range of computing platforms? With hardware networking set to play a starring role in multicloud, the answer might be, a boatload. Cisco has a huge install base ...

Kubernetes for containers; Kubernetes for data; Kubernetes for multicloud. Is there anything Kubernetes can’t do? In real-life deployments, bare-naked Kubernetes isn’t the super power it’s cracked up to be. The trending method for running distributed software applications needs help from distribution channels and ecosystem tools, according to Stephan Fabel (pictured), director of product management at Canonical ...

The serfs revolt, seize the land from feudal lords, only to find freedom is not what they imagined. Sounds like the plot to a Russian novel. It might also be a parable about enterprise customers wading into open source. They love all the software choices but miss the guidance of proprietary vendors. Working with open-source tools ...