Stories by John Dix

SDN: The next steps

Software Defined Networking technology is maturing and there are several real world use cases, but for most shops it is still a question of figuring out how we get there from here. In this Network World special report we analyze the promise and the options:

Healthcare provider finds SDN is the proper Rx

William Hanna, vice president of technical services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), went out looking for a way to add capacity to a backup network and found what he wanted in Software Defined Networking (SDN) tools from Alcatel-Lucent. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix sat down with Hanna to learn about the process and experience.

Capital letter 'S,' 'D,' 'N' will never happen: VMware exec

Rack and stack that network and then walk away and leave it alone. VMware's NSX technology will provide all the control necessary going forward, says Steve Mullaney, senior vice president and general manager of VMware's Networking & Security Business Unit.

A Q&A with the Chair of the Open Networking Foundation's Migration Group

For an inside look at the goals, expectations and plans of the ONF's recently created Migration Group and how it hopes to help companies make the transition to SDN, Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up via e-mail with the chair of the group, Justin Joubine Dustzadeh, CTO & VP of Technology Strategy, Networks, Huawei.

You can't make it run better if you don't know where the problem lies

Riverbed Technology is best known for its WAN optimization tools, but the company has branched out over the years through multiple acquisitions. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with Eric Wolford, president of the company's Products Group, to see how the company is trying to help customers squeeze more efficiency out of their IT resources.

Google making steady progress in the enterprise

Google Enterprise is making inroads on many fronts, winning converts to everything from its productivity tools to its cloud offerings. We recently caught up with President of Google Enterprise, Amit Singh, for a progress report and to discuss what comes next.

What's next for Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi is blossoming in the enterprise as organizations find new ways to leverage the wireless infrastructure and workers, having benefited from mobility, demand increased range and better performance (and support for all those devices they are bringing in from home). The industry is responding in kind, introducing new products and technologies, including gigabit Wi-Fi, and it is up to IT to bring it orchestrate this new mobile symphony.

SDN coming ... soon

Software defined networking was a hot topic at the recent Interop conference in Las Vegas, where enthusiasm for the emerging technology overpowered any lingering doubts.

Why don't risk management programs work?

When the moderator of a panel discussion at the recent RSA conference asked the audience how many thought their risk management programs were successful, only a handful raised their hands. So Network World Editor in Chief John Dix asked two of the experts on that panel to hash out in an email exchange why these programs don't tend to work.

Understanding Software Defined Networking

If you aren't intimately familiar with Software Defined Networking, don't fret. Only 10% of 450 IT practitioners at a recent Network World event raised their hands when asked if they understand SDN. But if the emerging technology lives up to its promise to redefine networking as we know it, there is no time like the present to dig in and learn more.

The SDN incubator

A speaker at a recent Network World event asked the crowd of 450 IT practitioners if they were familiar with software-defined networking (SDN) and only about 10 per cent raised their hands.

Who has responsibility for cloud security? A Network World roundtable

As more organizations leverage the cloud for critical business applications, they are discovering one of the greatest challenges is combining existing internal controls with cloud protection efforts. Highly regulated business and government organizations in particular must maintain comprehensive security and compliance postures across these hybrid systems. Network World explores the issue in-depth with:

iPhone 5 sliding button problem, and a workaround

When you get a new iPhone there are a lot features to turn on and off as you customize the device to your liking, most all of which are controlled using sliding on/off buttons similar to the iPhone's iconic swipe-to-unlock feature. Problem is, the sliders often don't work on the iPhone 5.

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