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One Left Tackle. One Quarterback. One Cloud Network.
In American football, there are precisely 11 offensive players on the field at any one time. Ultimate success requires the disciplined coordination amongst all of the players. Yet, there are two positions that typically anchor the strategy for the entire squad – the left tackle, and the QB. Why? The left tackle is primarily responsible for protection. Namely, protecting the quarterback’s ‘blind side’ so the he ...
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Mobile Workstyles + Cloud Services = Citrix
It’s not often that one witnesses a convergence of technological trends, each of which is fundamentally altering the entire IT landscape. That’s why today’s announcement that Citrix has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bytemobile qualifies as really big news. First - Powering Cloud Services Gone are the days when organizations developed all of their applications in-house, deployed them in their own data centers, and delivered them ...
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Look What’s Powering the Cloud and Virtual Desktops
While Citrix NetScaler solutions have long been recognized as the most technologically advanced in the fast-growing service and application delivery market, our stellar financial performance too often flew ‘under the radar.’ That’s beginning to change. With its success in driving both enterprise and public cloud networks, as well as powering 1000’s of new virtual desktops every day, Citrix NetScaler is coming into clear view. Whether you’re ...
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Enterprise Clouds – Don’t hit the wall
If you’ve attempted an Olympic distance marathon you may already know what it’s like to ‘hit the wall.’ It’s the sudden and painful fatigue that sets in when you’ve depleted all of your energy – but haven’t yet completed the race. For some, it happens at the mid point. For others, it sets in when the finish line is tantalizingly close. Whenever it happens, it ...
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The SSL Challenge: 2048-bit, 2049-bit – whatever it takes. Just make it fast.
If ever there was an IT technology one could count on to stay essentially static, with very little innovation, it would be SSL. (I’ll squint my eyes and blur the distinctions with TLS) Yes, new ciphers and authentication hashes occasionally get added, but the basic scheme works and hasn’t undergone significant change in many years. What has changed, however, is the security threat facing SSL communications. ...
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NetFlow – “It’s like déjà vu all over again”
Okay, so Yogi Berra wasn't an IT administrator and has likely never heard of NetFlow. (But then again many IT admins have never heard of Yogi Berra) But Yogi possessed wisdom far beyond the game of baseball. Quick primer: In the not too distant past (maybe two recessions ago), network managers struggled to answer the most basic questions concerning their own network. Who are the top ...
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The Clouds are Here to Stay
A popular exercise these days is to question when Cloud Computing will become mainstream. We've all heard the refrains; Cloud technology is immature. Security concerns are holding back adoption. Demonstrating compliance is impossible in the cloud. Wrong on all counts. Those who are still waiting for cloud computing to hit puberty are simply looking backward. Just a sampling of recent evidence pointing to rapid cloud maturation: • ...
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Convergence Made Easy – NetScaler VPX Integrates with HP Switches
HP and Citrix have been strong partners in a number of key technology markets, but haven't collaborated much in the networking arena - until now. We just announced that the Citrix NetScaler VPX virtual appliance now integrates with HP E-Series data center switches. For the first time, enterprises can converge two core data center capabilities, LAN switching and L4-7 load balancing, into a single device. ...
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Virtual Appliances – The Dog or the Tail?
Hardware is now the new software. Well, at least some hardware-based network appliances (e.g. load balancers, routers and VPNs) are now available as virtual appliances leveraging off-the-shelf servers. This discernable push toward software form factors is occurring rapidly because rather than supporting commercial operating systems, appliance vendors are simply making their code available as virtual machines. Great. The more choices the better. Next question: ...
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What’s at the Core of Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs)?
Why do so many security and networking products ship as appliances? Raw performance is a consideration, certainly. But convenience is arguably more important. With an appliance, I can simply rack a box, cable it, IP it and I'm good to go (usually). To preserve this perception of the perfect turnkey solution, many vendors are reluctant to reveal what's 'under the hood.' Too often, if you ask ...