News & Reviews

ProtonMedia Takes Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to a New Dimension

2010-02-01T17:36:52Z

Responding to strong demand from customers, ProtonMedia announced the integration of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the company's ProtoSphere virtual teaming and collaboration platform. This is the first time Microsoft SharePoint services and content have been combined with a 3-D virtual collaboration platform. By adding ProtonMedia's SharePoint Media Carousel to their ProtoSphere environment, companies extend their SharePoint investment and processes while they cut travel costs, raise productivity, improve engagement, and speed learning with ProtoSphere.

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ProtoSphere's SharePoint Media Carousel makes it easy for users to share and use any media stored in or managed by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. They can securely bring live content from their company's SharePoint infrastructure into ProtoSphere's 3-D world. Once there, the virtual teams can edit, modify, change, and write the content back to their SharePoint infrastructure. This includes content and metadata subject to workflow, process, and compliance rules defined in and enforced by SharePoint.

For the full release, please visit here.

Napatech Expands IPv6 Monitoring Support

2010-01-29T17:39:43Z

Napatech announced the introduction of full IPv6 support in all Napatech PCI-Express network adapters. IPv6 usage is expected to grow with IPv4 addresses running out and the number of Internet users set to increase by 45% over the next 5 years. Napatech has therefore ensured that the advanced packet capture, analysis and transmission capabilities offered for IPv4 today are also supported for IPv6.

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Napatech's network adapters provide full line-rate packet capture, analysis and transmission of IPv4 and IPv6 packets. Full IPv6 header decoding is provided including header extensions. Napatech network adapters also recognize tunneling protocols such as SCTP, GTP and GRE , as well as a number of encapsulation methods, such as VLANs, multiple MPLS labels and Cisco ISL. This allows advanced filtering, flow identification and flow distribution to up to 32 CPU cores where hash keys based on IPv6 can now be used to identify flows.

For the full release, please visit here.

NetScout Continues Transformation of Service Assurance for Next Generation Mobile IP Networks

2010-01-27T18:44:40Z

Extended nGenius Service Assurance Solution Further Removes Barriers to Monitoring All Subscribers, All Services and All Traffic as Mobile Data Traffic Continues to Skyrocket

NetScout Systems, Inc., announced the extension of its Unified Service Delivery Management strategy and framework with the availability of nGenius® Subscriber Intelligence, providing highly scalable subscriber session-level analysis for next generation Internet Protocol (IP) networks. As an integrated software module for the widely deployed nGenius Service Assurance Solution, nGenius Subscriber Intelligence provides mobile operators a comprehensive session-oriented view of the subscribers' experience for voice, video and data services. This extends the operational and business value of the overall nGenius solution, enabling mobile operators to track real time and historical performance metrics from aggregate service views, to individual subscriber sessions, down to deep packet-level analysis to better optimize the service delivery environment and simplify and accelerate the identification of service delivery problems in 2.5G and 3G wireless technology environments.

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Deployed at more than 120 service providers in 39 countries, the nGenius Service Assurance Solution provides a unified service delivery management framework to deliver unprecedented real-time and historical analysis and reporting for complex multi-protocol IP networks. Building on the company's 25 year history of continued innovation and evolution of packet-flow technology, the nGenius solution captures and analyzes both user plane and control plane IP traffic to enable a granular understanding of subscriber experience along with network, application and service performance to deliver the most complete view of an end-to-end IP service delivery environment. In addition to supporting wireline and cable operator environments, the nGenius solution has been widely deployed in IP mobile networks and provides a direct path to support evolution to IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) implementations and fourth generation (4G) technologies such as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Purpose-built for next generation IP networks, nGenius Subscriber Intelligence cost-effectively analyzes both user plane and control plane traffic to reveal how network and application interdependencies affect overall service performance and impact subscriber experience. Addressing growing mobile data traffic volumes, nGenius Subscriber Intelligence provides highly scalable and actionable visibility into subscribers, services and network traffic with a simplified workflow optimized for IP networks. Operators can now visualize complete subscriber sessions in real-time, including both service and network control traffic, from the data center, to the mobile core, to the cell tower to instantly expose specific links or areas of the network with high traffic volumes or service failures. The software's versatile and intuitive graphical user interface provides correlated and contextual views by subscriber, application, host, network element, Access Point Name (APN) and handset. Operators can selectively view traffic by individual subscriber, by classes of subscribers, by types of sessions or even by certain types of handsets to dramatically accelerate the identification of causes of performance degradations and service delivery problems.

Massive Scale Through Rich Metadata
To address growing mobile data traffic volumes and simplify the analysis of highly complex IP service traffic, NetScout has introduced Extended Data Record (xDR) technology for its existing nGenius InfiniStream® appliances. This innovative and highly scalable metadata dramatically reduces the data required to reconstruct end-to-end subscriber sessions, increasing the ability to capture, analyze and store massive volumes of multi-protocol subscriber traffic. Generated and correlated in real-time from continuously captured IP packets, robust xDR metadata is created for every subscriber transaction and stored locally across distributed appliances enabling nGenius Subscriber Intelligence to rapidly construct an on-demand per-session, correlated, hop-by-hop analysis of subscriber, service and network performance. Since all xDR metadata is created from the actual network packets, operators can seamlessly move from metadata-based analysis to deep packet protocol analysis from a single, unified platform.

Fully Unified Solution Leverages Existing Investments
nGenius Subscriber Intelligence leverages the same Gigabit and 10 Gigabit nGenius InfiniStream Intelligent Deep Packet Capture appliances used by the entire family of nGenius Service Assurance modules. This enables operators to reduce costs and avoid incremental investments, while ensuring consistent information across the nGenius application modules.

Easy-to-use, thin-client dashboards facilitate IP-optimized, service-centric workflows, streamlining navigation between the nGenius modules to more efficiently analyze user experience trends, proactively spot degradation and performance issues and optimize end-to-end service delivery. Customizable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) detect anomalous behavior to provide intelligent early warning when services and/or subscribers are affected by performance degradations. Operators can systematically drill-down from an aggregate service view, in nGenius K2 Service Delivery Manager, into a specific subscriber session to instantly pinpoint locations and causes of performance problems. Operators can also analyze associated packet flows and performance metrics with the nGenius Performance Manager, and drill even further to perform on-demand packet level protocol analysis using the suite of Sniffer® Analysis applications.

Extended Use Across the Organization
To leverage existing Operational Support Systems (OSS) investments, lower opex and facilitate consistent access to critical performance data across the operator organization, the nGenius Service Assurance Solution integrates with third-party and internally developed OSS environments. As an invaluable tool for the network operations and engineering groups, the nGenius Service Assurance Solution brings a versatile and meaningful perspective of subscriber service consumption that is increasingly being shared across extended operational groups such as customer care, marketing, planning, sales and product management. Its combined perspective of the subscriber and the services consumed enables greater synergy across the entire organization to drive intelligent technical and business decisions, protect the user experience, improve resource optimization and enhance agility to accelerate the introduction of new handsets and services.

Availability

The nGenius Subscriber Intelligence software module is available and shipping now. It is fully integrated and works in unison with the full portfolio of nGenius Service Assurance applications. To date, two tier-one North American mobile operators have already purchased the product. In addition, five global operators have successfully completed trials and another four trials are currently in progress. NetScout xDR technology is available now with nGenius InfiniStream software release 4.8 at no cost to customers under MasterCare maintenance agreements. Please contact NetScout or a NetScout authorized reseller for more information.

For the full release, please visit here.

Riverbed Provides Seamless Integration Between Network Assessment and Acceleration With Enhanced Cascade Solution

2010-01-27T18:38:44Z

Cascade 8.4 Delivers Intelligent, Business-Level Analytics and Visibility to Allow Organizations to Better Assess, Accelerate and Adapt Network Performance

Riverbed Technology, the IT infrastructure performance company for networks, applications and storage, announced enhancements to Cascade(R), its advanced network and application performance analysis and visibility solution. The newest version, Cascade 8.4 provides enhanced reporting and integration with Riverbed(R) WAN optimization that enable organizations to better assess, adapt and accelerate network performance. With Cascade 8.4, Riverbed allows enterprises to proactively monitor the end-user application experience in real-time. In addition, Cascade 8.4 integrates with Riverbed Steelhead(R) appliances to measure performance within optimized environments.

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The new features in Cascade 8.4 will provide customers with a complete WAN optimization solution.

Proactively Monitor End-User Experience

Enhanced Application Performance Metrics

New Cascade metrics go beyond measuring the performance and availability of the network infrastructure, and enable examination of the experience of application users. Using a comprehensive set of performance metrics, Cascade 8.4 measures how fast users can conduct business.

-- Application Throughput -- This metric shows the rate at which application
    data is traversing the network, not including network overhead and
    retransmits. This feature helps assess the overall performance of the
    application and determine the need for additional optimization.
-- User Connection Throughput -- This metric shows a key proxy for end-user
    experience. A per-connection throughput measurement, measured only while
    the connection is actively transmitting.
-- Connection Duration -- This metric is leveraged when examining the
    performance of transaction-oriented applications, where a connection
    contains a limited number of application transactions.

By automatically focusing on periods of actual user activity, Cascade measures the true speed a user can achieve when performing application transactions -- therefore, measuring the true experience of the end user. The end user metrics are gathered and sent to Cascade Profiler(TM) for analysis.

Behavioral Analytics

Unlike reactive alternatives, Cascade continuously tracks end-user performance metrics, learning the normal network and application behavior, and proactively alerting the network and application teams whenever end users are experiencing slow performance. Cascade 8.4's behavioral analytics enable the network team to solve problems even before end-users are impacted, and provide a true measurement of the efficiency of the IT infrastructure.

Measure Performance in Optimized Environments

With the growing number of centralized, consolidated private cloud environments, enterprises are having an increasingly difficult time obtaining clear visibility into application performance at the branch office. With Cascade 8.4, Riverbed introduces Cascade Sensor-VE, a virtual remote sensor that runs on the Riverbed Services Platform (RSP), a virtualized partition on the Steelhead appliance. Cascade Sensor-VE takes advantage of the established Steelhead appliance footprint to enable enhanced performance measurement in optimized environments. Deployment with the RSP means that Sensor-VE is optimally located for measuring the end user experience, providing an easy-to-manage solution that eliminates the need for additional hardware at the branch. Cascade Sensor-VE is an optional software-only component that enhances Cascade's flow-based analytics, which operate across optimized and non-optimized branch offices.

Cascade 8.4 and Cascade Sensor-VE are currently available.

For the full release, please visit here.

SALSA V6, Ipanema's new version of TELCO and Managed Service Providers platform

2010-01-27T01:40:41Z

SALSA V6 provides a breakthrough in terms of scalability, flexibility and usability. Ipanema Technologies, the leader in integrated WAN Optimization, Application acceleration and Application Performance Management solutions, announced the availability

Ipanema Technologies, the leader in integrated WAN Optimization, Application acceleration and Application Performance Management solutions, recently announced the availability of its new release of the SALSA platform, Version 6.

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In the last few years, SALSA has been selected by many major providers such as Alterlab, Belgacom, BT, C&W, OBS, Reliance, Swisscom, Tata, Telecom Italia, Telindus, etc to support their industrialized application-centric service offerings. Building on this unique experience acquired with these innovative blue-chip companies, Ipanema is launching version 6 of the SALSA platform, bringing Among many enhancements, SALSA v6 provides breakthrough performance in the following areas:

Scalability

    * Managing networks of any size - handling practically unlimited numbers of sites
    * Managing any number of customer networks on one fully scalable architecture

Flexibility

    * Centralized user authentication and authorization
    * Automatic load balancing across the SALSA server farm

Usability

    * Multilevel web portal for very large networks and hierarchical organization
    * Innovative AQS (Application Quality Score) maps for unified application performance management

For the full release, please visit here.

Dialogic to Provide "Any- to-Any" PBX Connectivity for SIP Trunking

2010-01-22T15:53:09Z

Plans to Incorporate Ingate SIP Trunking Technology for New Enterprise Border Element Solution

Dialogic Corporation ("Dialogic"), a global provider of world-class products and technologies for media and signal processing, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Ingate® Systems ("Ingate") which allows Dialogic to incorporate the award-winning SIP Trunking software module from Ingate into a new enterprise border element designed to connect virtually any SIP trunk with virtually any PBX, to facilitate seamless SIP trunk deployments in legacy TDM and hybrid PBX environments, as well as new SIP-based PBX systems. ]]> The Ingate SIP Trunking software module provides enterprise session border control along with the advanced routing capabilities necessary to connect SIP trunks to enterprise networks and branch offices by employing Ingate's proxy-based traversal and security technology. The SIP Trunking software also is designed to resolve interoperability issues between service providers' SIP services and the SIP-based systems being deployed inside corporate data networks today.

Dialogic's media gateway technologies provide the protocols and interfaces necessary to connect with a wide variety of legacy telephony equipment and networks, both TDM and IP. The new enterprise border element from Dialogic will combine the functions normally found in a media gateway and an enterprise session border controller into a single product. The result will be a solution that is designed to connect virtually any trunk with virtually any PBX, thus helping to resolve the connectivity issues with the heterogeneous environment.

For the full release, please visit here.

Imperva Releases Detailed Analysis of 32 Million Breached Consumer Passwords

2010-01-21T21:07:02Z

Data Security Firm's Report Highlights Consumer Susceptibility to Cyber Attack

Imperva, the leader in Data Security, announced today the release of study analyzing 32 million passwords recently exposed in the Rockyou.com breach. Imperva's Application Defense Center (ADC) analyzed the strength of the passwords in a report, Consumer Password Worst Practices, that analyzes 32 million passwords to help consumers and website administrators identify the most commonly used passwords they should avoid when using social networking or e-commerce sites.
]]> The report can be downloaded at: http://www.imperva.com/ld/password_report.asp (registration not required).

The report identifies the most commonly used passwords:

1.      123456

2.      12345

3.      123456789

4.      Password

5.      iloveyou

6.      princess

7.      rockyou

8.      1234567

9.      12345678

10. abc123

"Everyone needs to understand what the combination of poor passwords means in today's world of automated cyber attacks: with only minimal effort, a hacker can gain access to one new account every second--or 1000 accounts every 17 minutes," explained Imperva's CTO Amichai Shulman. "The data provides a unique glimpse into the way that users select passwords and an opportunity to evaluate the true strength of passwords as a security mechanism. Never before has there been such a high volume of real-world passwords to examine."

Some key findings of the study include:

·         The shortness and simplicity of passwords means many users select credentials that will make them susceptible to basic forms of cyber attacks known as "brute force attacks."

·         Nearly 50% of users used names, slang words, dictionary words or trivial passwords (consecutive digits, adjacent keyboard keys, and so on). The most common password is "123456".

·         Recommendations for users and administrators for choosing strong passwords.

For enterprises, password insecurity can have serious consequences. "Employees using the same passwords on Facebook that they use in the workplace bring the possibility of compromising enterprise systems with insecure passwords, especially if they are using easy to crack passwords like '123456'," said Shulman.

"The problem has changed very little over the past 20 years," explained Shulman, referring to a 1990 Unix password study that showed a password selection pattern similar to what consumers select today. "It's time for everyone to take password security seriously; it's an important first step in data security.

For the full release, please visit here.

Blue Coat Expands K9 Web Protection to Windows 7 to Protect Families from Objectionable Web Content and Threats

2010-01-20T23:15:52Z

Blue Coat Systems, Inc., the technology leader in Application Delivery Networking, today expanded its free K9® Web Protection software to include support for the new Windows 7 operating system, providing families with an easy-to-use tool for blocking objectionable Web content, such as pornography, and Web-based threats like phishing and malware.
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In addition to support for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, K9 Web Protection also supports the Windows XP and Vista operating systems, as well as Mac OS X. Blue Coat K9 Web Protection is available at no cost at www.getk9.com.

K9 Web Protection works in conjunction with the Blue Coat WebPulse™ service, a cloud-based collaborative defense that provides on-demand security intelligence about emerging threats and unknown content. WebPulse builds industry-leading awareness of known and unknown Web content with more than 62 million users worldwide to provide continuous protection against emerging threats. Families using K9 Web Protection benefit from the shared intelligence of WebPulse.

With the on-demand intelligence of K9 Web Protection, parents can protect their children from inappropriate or malicious content while allowing acceptable content. For example, K9 Web Protection can block a malicious link that has been posted on a social networking site with compromised login credentials while providing access to the rest of the content on that site.

For the full press release, please visit here.

Aruba's Airwave 7™ Brings Unified Management To The Mobile Enterprise

2010-01-18T23:57:27Z

New Software Eliminates Cost and Complexity by Integrating Wireless, Wired, and Mobile Device Management

Aruba Networks, Inc., a global leader in 802.11n wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, recently announced AirWave 7, a major extension of its award-winning operations solution that integrates the management of wireless networks, wired infrastructure, and client devices into a single interface. As increasingly mobile enterprise users connect to networks from more locations, using a wider variety of devices than ever before, IT organizations have struggled with the proliferation of vendor-specific, single-purpose management tools need to support these networks. AirWave 7 solves this problem by providing a single point of visibility and control for the entire network edge, including wired and wireless infrastructure as well as individual client devices. In so doing, AirWave 7 reduces the cost and complexity of network management, while improving service quality for users. ]]> AirWave 7 significantly enhances the capabilities of Aruba's award-winning AirWave management suite by incorporating the following new features:

    * New AirWave Mobile Device Manager (MDM) module: Provides over-the-air management of business-critical devices ranging from handheld devices to self-service kiosks to wireless printers - saving time and money while improving service quality.
    * Wired infrastructure management: The AirWave Management Platform (AMP) now manages edge switches from Cisco and HP to provide integrated wired andwireless management. AMP can map upstream relationships between APs, controllers, and switches enabling root-cause analysis for scenarios such as a down AP - accelerating time to problem resolution.
    * Improvements to open architecture: XML API eases integration between AirWave 7 and the rest of the IT operations infrastructure. The use of open standards makes valuable AirWave data accessible to virtually any application developer without specialized knowledge of the AirWave platform.
    * Customizable user interface and dashboards: AirWave administrators can create customized views for specific roles, such as service desk personnel or executives, so that each person sees the information that is most useful. Users can also create and save customized reports and incorporate report components in their personalized dashboards.
    * Support for state-of-the-art wireless infrastructure: Includes support for Aruba's newest products and management capabilities.

The growing reliance on mobile devices in retail, logistics, transportation, manufacturing, and other industries has made mobile device management an essential task. The powerful monitoring, diagnostic, and Help Desk features of AirWave 7 can expedite the detection and resolution of network and device problems, maximizing device up-time.

AirWave 7 can be delivered as software, on an appliance, or using the recently announced AirWave OnDemand (AoD) software as a service (SaaS) model.

AirWave 7 is currently undergoing customer field tests and is scheduled to be shipping in March 2010. For additional information please visit our Web site.

For the full press release, please visit here.

Meru Networks Announces a Transformative Program to Enable 99.99% WLAN Service Assurance for Business Critical Applications

2010-01-18T23:56:35Z

Virtualized WLAN Architecture Enables Comprehensive Service Assurance Program for Capacity, Availability and Real-Time Application Services

Meru Networks, Inc., a pioneer in 802.11n enterprise networking, today announced a WLAN service assurance program that provides enterprise wireless customers confidence and assurance in deploying business-critical applications on wireless LANs (WLANs). The Meru Wireless Service Assurance program provides a set of three service level benchmarks that promises end-to-end predictability, high quality real-time application services and a reliable, high-capacity WLAN system. Leveraging Meru's virtualized WLAN architecture and the Meru Service Assurance Manager software, this program is designed to ensure enterprises the availability and predictability of wired networks for their business-critical wireless applications, while utilizing fewer assets with greater efficiency than competing WLAN providers. ]]> Historically, wireless has served as a network of convenience in the enterprise; but with the ability to support business-critical applications, like Electronic Health Records (EHR) over wireless, bedside patient registration, rich in-classroom learning and point of sale applications, it has the power to operate as the primary mode of connectivity and to become a network of necessity. To further drive this wireless transition, Meru's Wireless Service Assurance program is designed to enable wired-like reliability and a benchmark for transforming to an all-wireless enterprise by providing:

    * 99.99% WLAN availability to run business critical applications with less than an hour of unplanned downtime per year;
    * That enterprise WLAN capacity needs will be met, while reducing complexity with up to 30% percent fewer 802.11a/b/g or n access points than networks deployed with multi-channel microcell architecture; and
    * Real-time application service level assurance that promises voice services with quality equivalent to land-line service.

Based on over 2,700 customer deployments, Meru has battle tested its service-level claims and brings a new level of trust to WLAN customers. By leveraging the power of Meru's virtualized WLAN architecture, which pools wireless resources and presents a single network to the user, Meru's patented Air Traffic Control technology, and its Service Assurance Manager software, which Meru uses to maintain service levels, combined with its leadership in 802.11n, Meru can provide specific service level specifications and ongoing monitoring for capacity and management, 99.99% availability, and real-time application performance for wireless environments, affording the benefits of a wired-like network with the flexibility and mobility of wireless, to IT, businesses and end-users.

For the full press release, please visit here.

AirTight Enhances WLAN Performance and Forensics for Risk Management and Security

2010-01-13T17:14:30Z

New Dashboards and Interpretive Reporting Simplify Forensic Analysis and Accurately Report on WLAN Network Performance

AirTight® Networks, the leading provider of wireless security and compliance solutions, recently announced the availability of SpectraGuard® 6.0. The release applies AirTight's approach of simplicity and ease of use for wireless LAN security to WLAN performance management and forensics, adding what the company calls Smart Forensics™ and Predictive Performance™.

"Traditional forensics provide too much raw data requiring manual inspection and interpretation, a high level of RF expertise and are time consuming," said Sri Sundaralingam, Vice President of Product Management at AirTight. "As they scale their networks, our customers need reliable tools that allow them to quickly see what factors or threats are impacting the network, drill down to the heart of the problem and resolve it quickly. AirTight has applied the same philosophy of accuracy and simplicity to WLAN forensics and performance that it applies to wireless intrusion prevention - that is keep it simple, weed out irrelevant data and allow the user to proactively monitor and manage only what matters."
Using SpectraGuard Smart Forensics, customers can understand the what, when, where and who of threats in just two clicks.

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The company has also added a new performance dashboard and reports which provide visibility into performance events by severity, time based trending and in depth performance analysis.

AirTight's SpectraGuard Enterprise 6.0 release includes several other major enhancements including IPv6 support. IPv6 support meets US DoD requirements as well as requirements around the world for integrating SpectraGuard Enterprise system into IPv6 networks.

Please visit the AirTight site for a complete copy of the News Release, including sample dashboards and graphics that support this release.

http://www.airtightnetworks.com/no_cache/home/news/press-releases.html

Xangati Delivers Essential Subscriber Intelligence to Help Service Providers Run, Grow and Transform Their Businesses

2009-12-28T20:57:19Z

Xangati enables 360° data mining capabilities in its flagship service provider offering

Xangati, the company bringing service providers and IT organizations the next generation in application management, recently announced the availability of Xangati Broadband Subscriber Intelligence. By extending its ground-breaking Application Management 2.0 framework, Xangati provides service providers previously unavailable insights that allow them to track cumulative usage patterns of their subscribers, shrink operations costs and create new revenue streams.

]]> Xangati Broadband Subscriber Intelligence leverages the ability of the Xangati system to be used for 360° data mining capabilities focused on subscriber application activity. The ability to directly access rich subscriber intelligence, through a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API, is another example of how Xangati continues to deliver enhanced value for its service provider customers. The API allows the service provider to query the system for the specific insights in need to help steer their business in the right direction.

The heightened level of intelligence now possible, alerts service providers to the percentage of bandwidth their subscribers are using; and, what applications they're running to consume that bandwidth. Information such as this provides service providers with the necessary intelligence to validate usage plans, revenue and cost estimates, and ensure the highest return possible from their extensive network investment.

Service providers are making big decisions regarding the direction of their business, often following the lead of the larger incumbents, without the data to back it up. For example, Matt Davis reported in an IDC survey conducted in August 2008 that four-fifths of consumers don't approve of "bandwidth capping." Yet, the approach still being contemplated by many - with huge ramifications that include costs for the necessary infrastructure change and risk of churn from disgruntled users. Data mining the rich information found on a service provider's own network, with the Xangati solution, helps analyze whether usage-caps make sense for their unique subscriber base; and if so, how to most effectively tier that model.

"We recognize the challenges that service providers face in trying to keep up with the dynamic nature of the Internet and the evolving needs of their subscribers," said Alan Robin, CEO of Xangati. "By providing a better way to data mine subscriber application activity, Xangati delivers service provider business leaders with the critical insights they seek to plan their next strategic moves, define new product bundles and drive down costs. By knowing more about their subscribers, our service providers find themselves in the enviable position of being able to outmaneuver their competition."

Infoblox Delivers the Industry's Most Automated DNSSEC Solution

2009-12-22T16:41:20Z

Fully Automated Key Management and Rollover Eliminates Barriers to DNSSEC Adoption

Infoblox Inc. recently announced availability of additional functionality to help organizations simplify deployment of the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a suite of IETF specifications for securing information provided by DNS.

Many security researchers are expressing growing alarm over the state of DNS security. Security researcher Dan Kaminsky, Director of Penetration Testing at IO Active who exposed the "Kaminsky DNS vulnerability" and is advocating implementation of DNSSEC, commented: "The lack of DNS security not only makes the Internet vulnerable, but is also crippling the scalability of important security technologies.

And, underscoring the importance of DNS security and DNSSEC, implementation of DNSSEC is mandated for U.S. Federal government agencies by the end of December 2009.

]]> However, DNSSEC adoption until recently has been slow, hampered by concerns over the operational complexity associated with provisioning and distributing encryption keys and the overhead required to digitally sign DNS information. Implementing DNSSEC using DNS freeware or general-purpose operating systems requires the execution of numerous, time consuming and error prone steps each time DNS data are added or modified.

Infoblox addresses this with its "one-click DNSSEC" solution that automates the processes of signing and maintaining a signed zone. Key generation is performed automatically using DNSSEC properties specified at the Grid or zone level; resource record signatures are maintained; and, zone signing key rollover occurs seamlessly at the interval specified.

Infoblox also automates the critical process of periodically changing keys, also known as "key rollover", which is essential to ensuring that secure DNS data cannot be compromised. Keys are rolled over automatically according to best practices recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST-800-81) and RFC 4641 standards. DNSSEC records are signed and re-signed automatically each time DNS data are changed. This eliminates dozens of error-prone, manual operations and eliminates the need to write and maintain custom scripts.

Further, configuring a secondary and/or recursive name server for DNSSEC can also be accomplished with a single click. The solution also automates important administrative functions including easy importing of trust anchors.

Infoblox Vice President of Architecture and DNS expert, Cricket Liu, commented: "Addressing the most threatening DNS security concerns requires a globally coordinated effort to deploy DNSSEC. The functionality Infoblox provides in its purpose-built, highly automated solutions helps organizations overcome deployment challenges by eliminating the complex tasks required to support DNSSEC with conventional solutions."

For more information, see http://www.infoblox.com/solutions/dnssec-overview.cfm.

Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy

2009-12-22T16:14:31Z

Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age
A project of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy is a group of 17 media, policy and community leaders. Its purpose is to assess the information needs of communities, and recommend measures to help Americans better meet those needs.

The Knight Commission sees new thinking about news and information as a necessary step to sustaining democracy in the digital age. It thus follows in the footsteps of the 1940s Hutchins Commission and the Kerner and Carnegie Commissions of the 1960s.

]]> But in the digital age the stakes are even higher. Technological, economic and behavioral changes are dramatically altering how Americans communicate. Communications systems no longer run along the lines of local communities, and the gap in access to digital tools and skills is wide and troubling.

The Commission seeks to start a national discussion - leading to real action. Its aims are to maximize the availability and flow of credible local information; to enhance access and capacity to use the new tools of knowledge and exchange; and to encourage people to engage with information and each other within their geographic communities.

Both the report and commentary are available at http://knightcomm.org/.

Online Wi-Fi Planning Tool Available

2009-12-17T00:36:47Z

To access the tool and or to view a video demonstration, click here.

Aerohive Networks has announced the availability of an online planning tool that can give you an estimate of how many APs are needed in a Wi-Fi deployment using Aerohive or other vendor APs.

According to Aerohive, "This tool can give you an estimate of how many APs are needed in a deployment and where to place them. You can model the physical space that you're in, and see how the Wi-Fi network reacts when you drop in APs. As well as being useful for planning Aerohive deployments, because it estimates the coverage based on the radio type (e.g. 802.11n 3x3 MIMO), it also works for other vendors' products too. Finally, you can print a report of your planned deployment."

]]> To access the tool and or to view a video demonstration, click here.