HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) is the latest Video Compression standard that is being developed by JCT-VC (Joint Collaborative Team – Video Coding) and is expected to be completed and available by January 2013. Like the H.264-AVC, the HEVC is also a standard and can be licensed across products, irrespective of the vendor. The... »

This is a guest post by Kerby Smith. Mobile applications bring many benefits and could be very useful for those who appreciate the latest technology available. One of the reasons for the popularity of mobile applications is its inherent capability for faster data sharing. With a faster data sharing, the productivity level of your... »

What is a honeypot? A honeypot is an isolated and vulnerable system that is deliberately kept in the network in order to attract attackers, study their method of attacks and protect the actual systems from being attacked. When used properly, honeypots can be part of an effective network security strategy of any big company.... »

This is a guest post by Jena Branch. A phrase which has been doing the rounds of the tech world is network virtualization. But what exactly does it mean? If you Google it, you’re likely to get an answer you won’t understand, so here is a basic definition for you. When you’re running several... »

This is a guest post by Kerby Smith. Most companies do their business online since it saves time, human resources and money. Along with the benefits that online business transaction gives, there are also risks that your important documents and even money could be stolen by crooks or competitors that is trying to hack... »

Though Wi-Fi is relatively secure these days, its security implementation and user mishandling still remain a concern for network administrators. A new wall paper technology offers to block Wi-Fi signals at the perimeter. Though enterprise Wi-Fi technology is mature enough, there are still some security issues that need to be addressed. Not everyone is... »

Many of us might be familiar with Stuxnet, a major worm that was discovered in the Iranian nuclear facility. More recently the news about another major worm called Flame discovered in Iranian oil companies has hit the headlines. While Stuxnet was about 500 KB in size, the new worm is around 20 MB when... »

This is supposed to be a humorous post. So, take it in that spirit! Sometimes, we get brainwaves on what can be done differently on a computer network (than what it is now). I am adding five hopeless network concepts/ideas below. Readers can add their own, in the comments section below (if they have... »

What is an IP Clock: Yes, there is something called as IP Clock! The main purpose of an IP Clock system is to connect to the computer (IP) network and synchronize with the NTP server so that the same time can be displayed on all the clocks connected over the network. The above Youtube... »

What is LLDP? The full form of LLDP is Link Layer Discovery Protocol. It simplifies the deployment of access devices and enhances endpoint mapping, troubleshooting and management. LLDP is an IEEE standard and hence it can be used in multi-vendor networks (which is the case with most networks). What is the need for LLDP?... »

Link Aggregation Groups (LAG) and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) are methods to provide more than one link between two switches and automate its configuration and maintenance, respectively. Let us look at why LAG/LACP are required and their advantages, in this article. LAG – Link Aggregation Groups To connect two switches, we use a... »

Conventional Data Center networks (Limitations) Conventional Data Center networks have 3-4 tires like access layer, aggregation layer, core layer, services layer, etc. Each layer duplicates many of the IP/Ethernet packet analysis and forwarding functions. This adds end-to-end latency. To reduce costs and make these networks scalable, over-subscription (higher downlink capacity and lower uplink capacity)... »

“ODIN (Open Data-center Inter-operable Network) is a set of technical briefs which describe best practices for developing a flat, virtualized, converged data center network based on open industry standards” is what IBM’s FAQ document says about ODIN. When companies are building large cloud-scale data centers, it is important to consider open-standards and multi-vendor compatibility... »