Tech Field Day Coverage

Our delegate panel includes independent writers and thought leaders, and we collect their coverage of the event, Tech Field Day presentations, and sponsoring companies here.

You Are Your APIs

In this article, Alex Neihaus discusses the emerging category of API security products and the potential security vulnerabilities posed by APIs. He highlights Noname Security’s product, which was outlined at Security Field Day 9. Alex is impressed with the capabilities of Noname’s API security solution, including its ability to analyze network traffic and categorize APIs based on public domain names. The post emphasizes the importance of API security in protecting businesses and encourages readers to consider adding API security to their security product arsenal.

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You Are Your APIs

StorPool – Storage Delivery With Commodity Hardware the Right Way!

In this Gestalt IT Tech Note, Chris Childerhose discusses how StorPool is disrupting the storage scene with its software-defined storage solution. The platform overcomes the challenges faced by IT teams by allowing the use of any hardware while managing it homogeneously. With broad compatibility and being a fully-managed storage solution, StorPool aims to meet the needs of various sectors, including private/public clouds and managed service providers. Its unique architecture, data integrity, scalability, and hardware-agnostic approach set it apart in the storage market, offering cost savings and simplifying datacenter design. Rear more in this article, sponsored by StorPool Storage!

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StorPool – Storage Delivery With Commodity Hardware the Right Way!

Tech Field Day – Storage Field Day 25

Chris Childerhose posted about his experience as a Storage Field Day delegate and also mentions that he had the opportunity to write a blog post about StorPool Storage, emphasizing the value of delivering storage with commodity hardware. Check out his sponsored post at Gestalt IT for more!

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Tech Field Day – Storage Field Day 25

Login…rinse…repeat

In this LinkedIn post, Alex Neihaus discusses the challenges faced by cloud infrastructure architects, engineers, and developers when it comes to managing access to hosts and databases. He highlights the convenience of storing credentials in insecure locations and the need for a more secure solution. Alex introduces HashiCorp Boundary, a cloud-native infrastructure access management tool presented at Security Field Day that combines scalable proxying and cloud-native network constructs to solve these challenges. He emphasizes its secure and auditable nature, as well as its open-source architecture, which allows for internal examination and trust in enterprise environments.

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Login…rinse…repeat

Secrets Are Difficult to Keep

HashiCorp is revolutionizing secrets management with their new offering, HCP Vault Secrets, as highlighted in Karen Lopez’s LinkedIn article. This solution provides organizations with a secure and flexible platform for storing, generating, and accessing sensitive information like API keys and passwords. With features such as tokenization, dynamic secrets, role-based access, and centralized management, Vault Secrets ensures the confidentiality and integrity of secrets across clouds and environments, while also offering auditing and compliance monitoring capabilities.

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Secrets Are Difficult to Keep

Easy, Verified M&A With Forward Networks

Forward Networks can ease the process of integrating networks after a merger or acquisition, regardless of the platforms or deployments. The company builds a digital twin of an environment and collects information to model the network and provide comparison capabilities between points in time, ensuring better observability and pinpointing changes in the environment. Forward Networks supports data collection from all major cloud providers and most network security device manufacturers, which ensures path observability from end to end in multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, cloud-only, and on-premises-only deployments, while its Network Query Engine allows for positive or negative verification of intent. In this article, sponsored by Forward Networks, Remington Loose provides a look at this unique aspect of their solution.

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Easy, Verified M&A With Forward Networks

Meraki in the Enterprise ASTERISK

In this article, Sam Clements discusses the evolution of Meraki and its suitability for enterprise deployment. He highlights that over the years, Meraki has addressed various concerns, such as external antennas, firmware update controls, RF profiles, high gain antennas, and operating temperature. He also notes that with the integration of the Catalyst portfolio, Meraki now offers monitoring and insights for Catalyst 9800 WLCs through the dashboard, hinting at a potential future for configuration capabilities. Clements suggests that those who may have previously had reservations about Meraki should reconsider, as the platform continues to evolve and align with enterprise requirements.

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Meraki in the Enterprise ASTERISK

Out-Of-Band Management for Day 0, Day 1 and Day 2 Operations With Opengear Smart OOB

Opengear’s Smart Out-of-Band (OOB) solution is expanding and capable of serving customers for everyday use cases instead of just emergency scenarios. Opengear initially focused on console server access and sideline OOB management, providing features like Lighthouse software that offers centralized management for all Opengear appliances and deployed resources. The company’s Smart OOB provides reliable connectivity and a management plane for deployment, automation, and troubleshooting, and their enhancement, Routed Management Fabric, creates an overlay that enables routed IP access based on industry standards for people outside the serial space. Learn more by reading this article on Gestalt IT.

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Out-Of-Band Management for Day 0, Day 1 and Day 2 Operations With Opengear Smart OOB

MFD9 – Arista Lights Up Their Session With AGNI

At Mobility Field Day 9, Arista presented their Cognitive Campus architecture, including Arista Guardian for Network Identity (AGNI), which offers a cloud NAC solution that provides all the features of a modern architecture while maintaining scalability and security with multi-vendor support. Arista also announced UPSK, which can isolate clients or mark a shared resource, and a WIPS solution that uses different frames to force a target client to disconnect from an unauthorized WPA3 SSID using the multi-function radio integrated into all the Arista access points. Read this article by Mohammad Ali to learn more.

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MFD9 – Arista Lights Up Their Session With AGNI

Infusing Automation in EveryDay Networking Tasks With BackBox

Tech Field Day Extra at Cisco Live included a presentation from BackBox, which demonstrated its differentiated automation platform that simplifies day-to-day networking use cases involving upgrades, network configurations, and more. Additional features include 2300 pre-built scripts, hundreds of pre-configured automation blocks, hyperintelligent automation, and a rollback option in case of a failed update. This article from Gestalt IT goes into more detail on the BackBox solution.

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Infusing Automation in EveryDay Networking Tasks With BackBox

Cisco Introduce a Directional WIFI 6E Low Power Indoor (LPI) Access Point

Cisco introduced the Catalyst 9166D1 access point that delivers the required performance for high-density environments with its internal directional antenna feature, unlike the omnidirectional antenna access point provided by current regulation policies for Wi-Fi 6e deployment. The access point gives the same coverage pattern as previous products using a 6 dBi directional antenna but with fewer bulky cables and accessories, providing a more aesthetically pleasing solution for WLAN installations. Read this article by Mario Gingras to learn more!

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Cisco Introduce a Directional WIFI 6E Low Power Indoor (LPI) Access Point

Announcements From Cisco Live

In this episode of the Gestalt IT Rundown, Stephen Foskett and Jeff Ton discuss significant developments in the IT sector, including the recent Cisco Live event, which unveiled several new solutions for network management, Secure Service Edge, observability, and Panoptica, which offers end-to-end lifecycle protection for cloud native applications.

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Announcements From Cisco Live

Safe and Sound at Security Field Day 9

Security Field Day 9 promises to showcase how security companies and teams are addressing ever-evolving cybersecurity threats to keep users safe. A lineup of prominent security companies will present their innovative solutions to reduce security risks, ensuring a better and secure user experience. Broadcasting live on June 28 and 29, we will see presentations from Commvault, HashiCorp, NetAlly, Cisco, Cribl, and Noname Security, highlighting their approach to enhancing data security and protection focused on critical areas such as backups and disaster recovery, multi-cloud defense, and Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Learn more about Security Field Day in this video featuring Tom Hollingsworth!

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Safe and Sound at Security Field Day 9

Is the Topic of Security “dry as Dust?”

In preparation for Security Field Day, Alex Neihaus refutes the notion that enterprise security is a dry and boring topic, emphasizing its criticality as the existential risk in enterprise computing. Alex promises to provide updates on what he sees and learns at Security Field Day, which can be followed on his blog and Twitter page.

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Is the Topic of Security “dry as Dust?”

Tapping Into Software Extensibility With Morpheus Data

Hybrid multi-cloud mastery no longer entails hiring certified skills, but having the right solution that can make the road less rocky. In this article, Sulagna Saha delves into the Morpheus platform’s extensibility feature, which enables users to customize the platform to suit their needs, eliminating the need to use multiple solutions. The Morpheus platform provides hybrid cloud automation enabling multi-cloud implementation in record time. Read about the platform’s extensibility feature at Gestalt IT or watch the demo on the website.

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Tapping Into Software Extensibility With Morpheus Data

Making Infrastructure Lifecycle Management Painless With RackN Digital Rebar

RackN Digital Rebar extends the automation capabilities of Infrastructure as Code to any infrastructure making lifecycle management easy, effortless and self-driving. In this article, Sulagna Saha discusses how RackN’s Digital Rebar architecture provides a straightforward way for organizations to deploy and manage their infrastructure reliably, transparently, and repetitively, simplifying the provisioning and management of infrastructure by leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC) automation. Watch the demo on the website or read the review at Gestalt IT.

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Making Infrastructure Lifecycle Management Painless With RackN Digital Rebar

Netally Introduce Cyberscope

NetAlly presented their latest product, CyberScope, at Mobility Field Day, and Mario Gingras reviewed it in this post. CyberScope is a portable security scanning tool that simplifies NMAP technology into one powerful tool, dramatically reducing the time it takes to run a scan. The product is the perfect tool for security professionals to quickly have a complete picture of their network security, with real-time data displayed on a user-friendly interface. CyberScope has a user-friendly interface and is suitable for both security professionals and non-security professionals to identify their network vulnerabilities and quickly patch anything that comes up.

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Netally Introduce Cyberscope

Catchpoint BGP Monitoring

Catchpoint’s BGP Monitoring helps organizations track their networks and ensure they function at optimal levels. BGP is a complicated routing protocol used to provide information to several organizations on the web in terms of their routing peers, and each has an assigned Autonomous System Number (ASN). By monitoring such information, Catchpoint uses data center, ISP, and public route collectors to examine BGP performance, offering an overview of maintenance and usage costs, and displays charts and train tracks diagrams to highlight any issues. Catchpoint’s BGP dashboards provide useful, actionable, and straightforward information that is beneficial to clients. This article, sponsored by Catchpoint, is a follow-up to Peter Welcher’s previous discussion of their Networking Field Day presentation.

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Catchpoint BGP Monitoring

Getting Off the Storage Refresh Treadmill With StorPool

StorPool’s storage model is distinct from traditional storage platforms as it offers storage as a service by using a massively parallel, multi-node system with shared-nothing architecture and multiple redundancy. StorPool’s platforms are designed to handle the extreme demands of modern applications as it is always on and requires no downtime for upgrades or expansion and provide data protection by triple-writing data across all storage devices within storage clusters. Additionally, it provides linear scalability of storage performance regardless of any expansion in overall capacity or peaks in performance demand by including lightweight standard servers to the existing cluster. Read more in this article on the Gestalt IT website and watch their presentation from Storage Field Day to learn more.

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Getting Off the Storage Refresh Treadmill With StorPool

My Take on Juniper Network Presentation at Mobility Field Day 9

Juniper Networks’ presentation at Mobility Field Day 9 featured improvements and new features in Mist AI that caught Mario Gingras’ attention. Marvis has been upgraded to ingest user experience data from third-party apps like Zoom, which enables it to make predictions and raise alerts for issues with video calls. Next, Juniper Networks introduced a Tri-radio, Tri-band, dual band concurrent AP24 access point, which uses 100% recyclable materials. Finally, Juniper presented Mist Access Assurance (NAC), a feature that integrates network access control in the cloud, which could be a good alternative for a serverless environment with apps in private or public clouds.

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My Take on Juniper Network Presentation at Mobility Field Day 9