Truth is subjective – or at least it is when it comes to Networking, says Tom Hollingsworth. Writing for GestaltIT.com, Tom writes about NetBox and how Networking Field Day sponsor Network to Code is utilizing it. NetBox is a unique solution that helps take the subjectivity out of your network and help establish a single source of truth. Check out Tom’s article and the Network to Code presentations on NetBox on the GestaltIT website!
Insightful Fabric Management With Cisco Network Insights
What is your network fabric trying to tell you? Are you missing out on important updates about the status of patches and updates? How can you learn more about what you need to accomplish? Tom Hollingsworth looks at Cisco Network Insights Advisor and how it can help you decipher what you need to be listening to. Cisco showed off NIA at Networking Field Day, and Tom sees it as a support tech dedicated to doing nothing but update you on what the latest issues are that could affect things and how you can mitigate or remove those problems. And for the times when you can do neither, NIA can help you get your ducks in a row when you need to call TAC.
NGINX Meshes Well With Others
What is a service mesh and how does it help containers? That’s exactly what NGINX went into during their recent Networking Field Day presentation. Tom Hollingsworth wades into the issue in this blog post. As a networking guy, Tom has had to adapt as the data center has changed over the years. The idea of a service mesh was one of the more recent concepts that Tom had to grapple with, and NGINX did a really great job during their presentation laying out what it is, and why it’s so important for the future of networking.
Dell EMC SmartFabric Director- Weaving a Tapestry of Green
Are you ready to build your digital transformation project? Need a new network to make it work? Tom Hollingsworth takes a look at Dell EMC SmartFabric Director and how it can help you building out your next new project. He got to hear about SmartFabric Director at Networking Field Day, and thinks that it shows Dell EMC is on the right track for large existing infrastructures that are looking to make leaps toward digital transformation initiatives to get a handle on how to make that happen.
Itential – The Network Glue You Need
How can you ensure your automation project doesn’t fall apart when you need to interface with APIs? Have you considered using the right glue to tie it all together? Tom Hollingsworth looks back at Itential’s presentation from Networking Field Day and how they are the glue you need to make automation happen. The company was founded to manage all the automation issues facing organizations today, by creating a standard interface to deal with the surfeit of API languages out there. Their Itential Automation Platform works with third-parties to build connectors that interface with the applications and devices on your network.
Moving Past the Edge With Aruba SD-Branch
How is SD-Branch different than SD-WAN? What features do you get that would make you want to implement one over the other? Tom Hollingsworth heard from Aruba recently at Networking Field Day looks at their implementation of SD-Branch and how it’s enabling IT teams to be more powerful past the edge. For Tom, we’re already living in the post-WAN world. The kind of holistic approach that Aruba takes with SD-Branch is what organizations need to get end-to-end control of their infrastructure.
Does SPB Mean “Secure Path Bridging”?
The spanning tree protocol, or SPB, never really went away. But the landscape it was built to work in changed radically. Tom Hollingsworth takes a look at where SPB is now and discusses how the new steward, Extreme Networks, is positioning SPB to secure IoT and more in the data center and campus. He got to hear a deep dive on this during Networking Field Day. Get the background from Tom’s post, then be sure to dig into all of their video coverage from the event.
Answers at Your Fingertips With Forward Networks
After hearing again from Forward Networks at Networking Field Day, Tom Hollingsworth considers the implications of their Network Query Engine in this post. This effectively provides a way to ask the network for the answers by looking into the database of network configuration. This is vitally needed to provide reliability for critical cloud services, rather they relying on the old model of each networking standing as an island of configuration settings just waiting to cause unforeseen interactions. As network’s grow more complex at ever increasing rates, Forward Network approach lets admins find meaningful answers and solve this configuration conundrum.
Priming Your Application Performance With Intel Application Device Queues
Consistent delivery is hard to pull off, whether you’re a delivery company or a networking company. With the help of the Ethernet team at Intel, however, you can accomplish some great things and set yourself up for success. After hearing from Intel at Networking Field Day last year, Tom Hollingsworth takes a look at Intel’s Application Device Queue technology and how it can help ensure consistent, reliable packet delivery. Intel is giving developers the power to enhance their networking consistency when writing applications and taking the power to make things more reliable instead of waiting for the network team to do it for them.
NGINX – Making Sense of Service Mesh
Ed Horely is no stranger to Networking Field Day for good reason. His keen insight and experience always help give context to whatever the presenters have planned. In this post, he casts his gaze at NGINX, who he saw at Networking Field Day late last year. In the increasingly crowded service mesh market, they made a convincing case that their already wide distribution as a web server makes using service mesh a natural integration and lends itself to further use on a given platform. It shows that NGINX knows how they are being used by customers currently and how to expand functionality naturally across their offerings.
Assuring Your Service Level With Ixia IxProbe
Are you getting what you’re paying for? If it’s a car wash or a movie it’s easy to figure out. But what if it’s your ISP connection? Do you even know where to find that answer? Tom Hollingsworth takes a look at the new IxProbe from Ixia that they showed off at Networking Field Day. This post examines how it can help you figure out if you’re getting your money’s worth out of your SLA.
Mock the Network With Tesuto
In this post, Brian Gleason looks at the cloud-based network emulation service from Tesuto. He got a technical deep dive on the company at Networking Field Day. In this post, he shows how the service can let organizations show customers the benefits of product integration, and also gain confidence in production changes.
Rethinking Networking Architecture With Arrcus
Is your network stuck in an old way of thinking about architecture? Is it starting to affect your applications? Maybe you need to take a fresh look with something new. Tom Hollingsworth takes a look back at Arrcus at Networking Field Day and how their fresh perspective is changing the way we build networks.
DellEMC SmartFabric Director
With Dell EMC’s SmartFabric Director, Remington Loose sees the company tightening its focus on VMware and NSX-T fabrics. Based on what he saw at Networking Field Day, the new tool seems to meet all the major needs for a fabric. While relatively versatile, he thinks it makes the most sense putting NSX-T on top.
The Steady Progression of Network Automation
Ed Horley considers the problem of networking tool proliferation. Too often a company will offer a compelling solution, but requiring an organization to abandon tried and true tools, or add to the sprawl of options. That’s why Ed was so intrigued by what Itential at Networking Field Day.
The Value of Virtual Networks From Tesuto
If you need to build a lab and don’t have the hardware or the horsepower to make it happen, you need something different to help you. Tom Hollingsworth takes a look at the Tesuto presentation from Networking Field Day and how it can help you meet your testing needs through the power of software.
20/10 Vision: Aruba’s 20th Presentation at Tech Field Day’s 10th Anniversary
We were thrilled to have Aruba Networks return for our tenth anniversary Tech Field Day event, which marked their twentieth overall presentation with the event series. Having presented at the event since 2012, in this post, Aruba details their presentation highlights from years past.
Extreme Is Bringing Purple Rain From the Cloud
At Networing Field Day, Extreme Networks showed how the company plans to integrate the assets it acquired with Aerohive. Nick Shoemaker was at the event, and breaks down what he saw in this post.
Network to Code – Changing the Networking Landscape
It’s always great to have Ed Horley at a Networking Field Day. In this post, he looks at what Network to Code presented at a recent event. The company was founded by former Field Day delegate Jason Edelman, and Ed thinks they are a company to keep an eye on in the future.
