Evaluate

Evaluate

Weigh the pros and cons of technologies, products and projects you are considering.

• Aruba wireless access points: Product overview

  Aruba wireless access points consist of three product lines designed for small, midsize and large businesses. Continue Reading

• Aruba wireless controller: Product overview

  The Aruba wireless controller product line is designed for small, midsize and large enterprise deployments. Continue Reading

• Cisco Aironet wireless access point: Product overview

  Cisco wireless access points target a wide range of deployments, including small and midsized businesses, large enterprises, and warehouse or manufacturing environments. Continue Reading

• Cisco wireless controllers: Product overview

  Cisco wireless LAN controllers are designed for a wide range of environments, including small and midsize businesses and large enterprises. Continue Reading

• Aerohive HiveManager: Access point product overview

  To support cloud-controlled wireless LAN architectures, Aerohive access points can be managed both from the cloud and from an on-location controller. Continue Reading

• IPv6 filtering threatens impact of new protocol

  IPv6 extension headers give the protocol additional versatility, but widespread IPv6 filtering is threating the new protocol's ability to survive in the public Internet.Continue Reading

• Virtual routers find evolving carrier network uses

  Virtual routers work well in some parts of carrier networks, but not everywhere. Now, mobile, cloud and SDN offer evolving uses for virtual routing.Continue Reading

• Which SDN protocol should I use?

  At the dawn of software-defined networking, there was one SDN protocol: OpenFlow. Today, users can select from a growing number of options.Continue Reading

• How to make yours a cloud-ready network

  Network managers today must get ready, fast, for the cloud. This technical guide reviews what networking professionals must consider in their move to the cloud: security, availability, software-defined networking and more. Networking pros must get ...Continue Reading

• Using quality of experience to boost mobile user experience

  Quality of experience is a handy way to measure mobile users' experience with application performance. But understanding all of the components that comprise QoE is another task entirely.Continue Reading

• How to find the best network management tools today

  Finding the best network management tools today can be a challenge. Here's guidance on how to proceed.Continue Reading

• Is a hybrid WAN architecture right for you?

  Hybrid WANs have a lot of benefits, but make sure you understand how they can work in your organization.Continue Reading

• Do managed software-defined WAN services make sense?

  By offering managed software-defined WAN services -- and potentially hastening MPLS' demise -- are providers sabotaging themselves? Our expert says no.Continue Reading

• How will software-defined WANs impact the enterprise?

  SD-WAN has a lot of potential for enterprises, especially as developers cobble together custom services and capabilities.Continue Reading

• Choose your own network operating systems? IT pros weigh bare metal

  Enterprise networking pros tend to favor uptime over innovation. Many see bare-metal switches with third-party network operating systems as risky. Can they be swayed?Continue Reading

• Cisco CCNA quiz: Take Part 2 of the advanced practice exam

  In this CCNA quiz, we present you with 10 questions on a variety of advanced CCNA topics, including IPv6, OSPF, router security, NAT, GLBP and more. Make sure you answer all 10 questions and assess your readiness to take the CCNA exam.Continue Reading

• Container networking: How does Docker relate to SDN?

  Networking expert John Burke tackles container networking in this edition of Ask the Expert, explaining how a Docker container relates to SDN.Continue Reading

• What's the status of SDN deployments in the enterprise?

  When it comes to widespread SDN deployments in the enterprise, are we there yet? Networking expert Lee Doyle says not quite… but we're on the way.Continue Reading

• The case against SDN implementation

  Networking expert and SDN enthusiast Patrick Hubbard plays devil's advocate, arguing against SDN implementation and exploring why it may be a bad idea.Continue Reading

• Data center-class switches: A buyer's guide

  This SearchNetworking buyer's guide explores the evolution and need for data center-class switches, and lays out how to procure and buy the right products for your organization.Continue Reading

• SDN monitoring means new transitions for engineers

  SDN network management means tools are transforming from listening mode to active mode.Continue Reading

• Do software containers spell trouble for SDN?

  In the brave new world of software containers, you might not notice SDN, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.Continue Reading

• SDN business case: How software-defined WANs save money

  Build a strong SDN business case in the wide area network, with potential for significant return on investment in both savings and performance.Continue Reading

• How can SDN and NFV change the telecom central office?

  SDN engineer Darien Hirotsu discusses the benefits of the Central Office Re-architected as Datacenter concept for the telecom central office.Continue Reading

• Big data impact on network operations probed in study

  Big data is big news, but it's also influencing networking pros' capacity planning, according to an Enterprise Management Associates study.Continue Reading

• When will software-driven networks become the new normal?

  SDN engineer Darien Hirotsu explains what it will take for SDN to become the industry standard, with software-driven networks outnumbering their traditional counterparts.Continue Reading

• ALU, HP and Juniper virtual router review

  How do virtual routers from Alcatel-Lucent, HP and Juniper stack up? See where they might fit in your organization.Continue Reading

• The tools that network cloud managers need now

  If the trend continues, enterprises could have more than half of their applications in the cloud by 2020. Increased cloud adoption introduces the issue of how to manage the network for high-quality performance across a variety of access links. This ...Continue Reading

• SDN and Openflow: Is the protocol dead?

  SDN and OpenFlow were once practically synonymous, but today the protocol is conspicuously absent. Its evolution offers an important lesson for networking pros.Continue Reading

• The improbable rise of Cisco UCS servers

  Small and medium-sized businesses appear to love Cisco UCS, said Patrick Hubbard. So does this mean convergence is finally succeeding?Continue Reading

• SN blogs: Cybersecurity vendors the new Pets.com?

  Analysts say the addition of Cisco and Accenture will help efforts to standardize IoT wireless efforts, but hurdles remain.Continue Reading

• Masergy's NFV platform: An app store for virtual network functions

  Masergy's new NFV platform acts like an app store for virtual network functions. One possible hurdle: Convincing enterprises the software is secure.Continue Reading

• Successful NFV platforms hinge on middleware selection

  When selecting NFV platforms, communication service providers should look for highly reliable middleware that allows them to adapt their networks over time.Continue Reading

• What is the relationship between east-west traffic and SDN?

  SDN engineer Darien Hirotsu explains how SDN can help solve the challenges presented by east-west traffic flow in the data center.Continue Reading

• SN blogs: Ensuring access point security remains puzzle

  Industry analysts discuss steps to protect WLANs against honeypot APs and how Juniper's alliance with Ruckus could shake up the market.Continue Reading

• SDN blogs: Arista SDN cloud release could work

  This week, analysts discuss Arista's new SDN controller for cloud networks as well as SD-WAN's effectiveness in computing best path.Continue Reading

• Juniper introduces peering router for content providers

  Juniper Networks has introduced a compact peering router aimed at service providers looking to speed up content delivery.Continue Reading

• ICYMI: Dynatrace APM tools bolstered with Keynote combo

  Dynatrace expands while Extreme adds role-based policy management to its Summit line of enterprise and data center switches.Continue Reading

• What's the difference between hybrid, virtual and SD-WAN?

  An expert explains the differences between hybrid, virtual and software-defined WANs and tells how they are each related.Continue Reading

• Cisco, Brocade virtual router review

  Virtual routers can be measured by platforms, features and price. Kevin Tolly reviews VRs from Brocade and Cisco.Continue Reading

• SN blogs: New Cisco CEO Robbins' strategy praised, panned

  An analyst says incoming Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins' move to prioritize strategies will help the vendor. But there are areas that still need attention.Continue Reading

• Arista launches network automation tools for enterprises

  Arista introduces network automation tools with enterprise features like network-wide rollback.Continue Reading

• OpenStack Heat jumpstarts SDN learning, but still needs work

  OpenStack Heat -- an orchestration project -- uses SDN to launch applications in the cloud. It's one step closer to mainstream SDN, but we're not there yet.Continue Reading

• Next-generation Wi-Fi: How SDN changes the wireless landscape

  The future is now. SDN technologies are quickly becoming central to vendors' next-generation Wi-Fi products and services -- and their role will only increase.Continue Reading

• BYOD, MDM streamlined with Xirrus Wi-Fi

  Wi-Fi vendor Xirrus introduces EasyPass, a set of cloud-based Wi-Fi security services for enterprise customers.Continue Reading

• Brocade VDX 8770: Data center switch overview

  The Brocade VDX 8770 is a data center switch tailored for complex enterprise IT environments, such as data centers with extensive virtualization.Continue Reading

• Cisco Nexus 9500 series: Data center switch overview

  In this overview, learn more about the Cisco Nexus 9500 series, a family of data center switches designed for enterprises and highly virtualized data centers.Continue Reading

• Dell E1200i and E600i series: Data center-class switch overview

  Find out more about the Dell E-series family of data center-class switches, which is tailored for complex enterprise IT environments like highly virtualized data centers.Continue Reading

• HP FlexFabric 12500 series: Data center-class switch overview

  The HP FlexFabric 12500 series is designed for enterprise IT environments, including highly virtualized data centers. Learn more about the series' features and capabilities in this overview.Continue Reading

• HP FlexFabric 12900 series: Data center-class switch fabric overview

  In this data center-class switch product overview, learn more about the HP FlexFabric 12900 series, including its capabilities, features, and pricing and support information.Continue Reading

• Juniper EX9200 series: Data center-class switch overview

  The Juniper EX9200 series is a family of data center-class switches for enterprises and service providers with large data centers and campuses with highly virtualized and cloud environments.Continue Reading

• Cisco Nexus 7700 series: Data center switch overview

  The Cisco Nexus 7700 series is a family of data center-class switches designed for enterprises and highly virtualized environments. Learn about the features of this series in this product overview.Continue Reading

• Silver Peak launches gear to boost hybrid WAN performance

  Silver Peak has released an appliance that lowers networking costs by providing more traffic control in a hybrid WAN.Continue Reading

• The new cloud network: More than an Internet link

  Learn about the virtual WAN, the software-defined WAN and other new cloud network possibilities.Continue Reading

• ICYMI: Group issues open source NFV app to spur expansion

  In this week's SDN news, the OPNFV Project releases its open source NFV platform to help companies add virtual functions while NEC releases two new switches to help build large software-defined data centers.Continue Reading

• Cisco broadens SDN on Nexus switches

  Cisco is using open SDN technology to make its Nexus switches more appealing to services providers, enterprises.Continue Reading

• Data warehousing projects benefit from cloud and Hadoop

  SN blogs: This week, analysts discuss a new way to network a campus LAN and if ACI and NSX can work well together.Continue Reading

• How software-defined WAN architecture is changing the market

  SDN principles are transforming the wide area network, with a number of networking companies -- both startups and established players -- offering software-defined WAN technologies to enterprises.Continue Reading

• Brocade app ups performance of OpenDaylight SDN

  Brocade makes generally available an OpenDaylight SDN app that improves network performance through more efficient traffic flow.Continue Reading

• Buying data center-class switches: What you need to know

  Choosing the right switches for your data center can be difficult in an increasingly virtual environment. In this article, we explore the purchasing criteria for data center-class switches.Continue Reading

• Making the business case for data center-class switches

  Choosing the right data center-class switch depends on your needs. This article breaks down the benefits and uses for data center-class switches in emerging data center architectures.Continue Reading

• What are data center-class switches?

  Choosing the right switch for your data center can be a difficult task. This article looks at how data center-class switches are evolving in the enterprise to offer flexibility and speed for new traffic flows.Continue Reading

• Understanding the basics of a hybrid VPN

  In part two of a three-part series, an expert looks at how hybrid VPNs are impacted by the shift from private services to the public Internet.Continue Reading

• Will IT generalists replace network engineering jobs?

  Network engineering jobs have moved from crimping cable to managing traffic between VMs. Software-everything means another seismic shift. Is the network engineer still relevant?Continue Reading

• The science behind virtual routers and their emerging roles

  The evolution of virtualization has now hit the router market. Here's what you need to know to make virtual routers work for you.Continue Reading

• Could SDN network virtualization change everything?

  Jim Metzler explains the need for network virtualization, explores SDN in the WAN and discusses bringing SDN into the data center.Continue Reading

• NFV basics: Hold the specialized hardware

  John Burke writes that network functions virtualization goes way beyond merely deploying a physical appliance.Continue Reading

• What to consider when choosing the best Ethernet switch

  IT pros need to consider new developments in technology like software-defined networking and the Internet of Things when choosing the best Ethernet switch for their current and future network.Continue Reading

• IT managers should focus on capacity, not wireless throughput

  Wireless throughput is getting faster, but capacity is the measure you should really be studying.Continue Reading

• Service providers take cautious approach to NFV implementation

  Service providers' strategies for NFV implementation are designed to minimize disruption while transitioning legacy architectures to a virtualized world.Continue Reading

• The evolution of Carrier Ethernet service chaining offers new options

  Operators looking to service chaining for Carrier Ethernet must assess both the issues and opportunities for use via NFV or as hosted network edge services.Continue Reading

• Shattering the 'single pane of glass' myth of network management

  Vendors claim that their network management systems can do it all, but in a world of virtualization and cloud, is that still true?Continue Reading

• 802.11ac speed gains may drive WLAN architecture changes in Wave 2

  How much your network needs to adapt to the jump in 802.11ac speed from Wave 1 -- or even from 802.11n -- to the standard's next phase, Wave 2, depends on where you are in the upgrade cycle.Continue Reading

• Will 802.11ac speeds redefine network architectures?

  After months of anticipation, the first 802.11ac Wave 2 access points are hitting the market, ushering in the era of multi-gigabit speeds on wireless LANs.

  This second and final phase of the latest Wi-Fi standard boasts a theoretical maximum ...Continue Reading

• MPLS fabric is natural fit for ISP backbone overlays

  While data centers typically use an IP fabric under their network overlays, ISPs may find that MPLS fabric makes more sense as backbone underlays.Continue Reading

• How network overlays could benefit provider backbones

  ISPs are weighing potential benefits of network overlays in the backbone, including increased agility, faster service provisioning and lower Opex.Continue Reading

• Overlay networks could revolutionize ISP backbone

  Overlay networks have already taken the data center by storm, but they also offer advantages to the ISP backbone network, including more agility and reduced Opex.Continue Reading

• What you need to know about application performance monitoring tools

  The use of application performance monitoring tools in any organization arms network engineers with key performance metrics.Continue Reading

• SN blogs: OpenStack deployments still lacking

  SN blogs: This week, a research director explains that even though OpenStack is a popular open source framework, it's not seeing as many deployments as one might expect.Continue Reading

• NFVi: Virtual networks drive changes in telecom infrastructure needs

  Expert Lee Doyle explains why service provider networks need NFV infrastructure -- high-performance, reliable and scalable platforms to support virtual network functions.Continue Reading

• Time to replace RJ-45 connectors in the data center?

  Ubiquitous RJ-45 connectors reign supreme even in the wake of newer data center technologies. USB 3.1 cables are out there; can they be the next big thing?Continue Reading

• What is SDN? The answer now includes automation and virtualization

  What is SDN? What software-defined networking really means has evolved dramatically and now includes automation and virtualization.Continue Reading

• Minecraft paves the way to grow enterprise SDN, seriously

  Insight from the Minecraft video game points to how enterprise SDN adoption could grow faster with a single interface for monitoring, confirmation and troubleshooting.Continue Reading

• Network virtualization now, and the overlay network future

  In this presentation, our expert reviews traditional approaches to network virtualization and considers its future.Continue Reading

• Cisco vs. VMware vs. BYOC: Bright-box war heats up

  Big vendors like HP are jumping on the bright-box bandwagon, which could represent a new angle in the Cisco ACI-VMware NSX showdown.Continue Reading

• Identify the right WAN optimization products for your company

  Leading WAN optimization product vendors use a variety of techniques to get the job done. Find out who does what and if it's right for you.Continue Reading

• Choosing WAN optimization techniques, more is better

  When it comes to choosing WAN optimization techniques, more is definitely better. Part two of this three-part series offers up a catalog of optimization options.Continue Reading

• Before you buy: Finding the right WAN optimization appliance

  Picking the right WAN optimization appliance for your environment involves comparing different data reduction methods. Learn how to pinpoint the best option.Continue Reading

• The WAN connection waiting game: Engineers long for faster provisioning

  It can take one to three months to install a private WAN connection at a new branch office. For many enterprises, that’s just not acceptable anymore.Continue Reading

• WAN 2.0: Say goodbye to network provisioning delays

  Network engineers have long suffered the consequences of slow provisioning times for many traditional wide area network (WAN) connections like point-to-point T1 lines or MPLS networks. They're at the mercy of carriers that can take as long as three ...Continue Reading

• Virtual network functions, not network functions virtualization, belong in enterprise

  While network functions virtualization is exclusively a service provider technology, virtual network functions are at home in the enterprise space.Continue Reading

• Facebook, Google use SDN to boost data center connectivity

  Internet content providers like Facebook and Google are already using SDN to improve hyperscale data center connectivity. But more could be done.Continue Reading

• What's involved with global ISP Internet breakout?

  An expert explains how to achieve global Internet breakout connections and gives examples of different connection options.Continue Reading

• Are OpenStack and NFV MANO interchangeable?

  Network functions virtualization and cloud management systems appear to overlap, but whether or not the latter can manage and orchestrate a virtual network is open to debate.Continue Reading

• Advent of 2.5, 5 Gigabit Ethernet switches roiling market

  Faster wireless has opened the market for a new breed of switches. Expert Craig Mathias will tell you what you need to know.Continue Reading

• SDN load balancer debate: Controller or ADC?

  Expert David Jacobs discusses whether software-defined networking will render application delivery controllers obsolete or complement evolving SDN.Continue Reading

• SN blogs: Lenovo Superfish security breach unnerves customers

  SN blogs: Analysts this week discussed why big data analytics needs to be reassessed and why Lenovo's response to Superfish spawned consumer distaste -- and distrust.Continue Reading

• Virtual network function development: Ecosystem or silo?

  The future of virtual network functions depends on how easily they can be deployed. Consensus is still a ways off.Continue Reading

• SDN starter kits remove some do-it-yourself aspects of an SDN deployment

  Not many network engineers can confidently design and launch an SDN deployment from scratch. But with SDN starter kits, there's less need to do that on their own.Continue Reading

• Ten recommendations to improve your NFV network evolution

  As providers move into network functions virtualization, these 10 recommendations can help guarantee a successful NFV network transition.Continue Reading