Networking Nuggets and Security Snippets

Jon Oltsik

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A Few Quick Shout Outs

Kudos to 60 Minutes, F5 Networks, and HP

By joltsik on Wed, 11/18/09 - 1:39pm.

It's tought to blog from the road so I'll make this brief with a few notworthy "atta boys" I've been thinking about.

1. Huge kudos to the CBS News Magazine 60 Minutes for its November 8 segment titled, "Sabotaging the System." This piece described how hackers could launch a cyber attack and take down critical infrastructure like the power grid.

I can't tell you how many people came up to me afterward and asked me if this story was true (note: "of course it's true," I replied). In my recent visit to Washington DC, other security and technology professionals said the same thing. I give 60 Minutes a ton of credit for exposing a very serious issue that average citizens need to be aware of. Exposing these problems can only put pressure on businesses and policy makers to fix them. Incidentally, this was 60 Minutes' second story related to information security. Obviously, someone at CBS gets it.

2. Kudos to F5 Networks for its recently announced support for DNSSec. Why the kudos? Federal government agencies are trying to do two things simultaneously. First, they are trying to create new web-based e-government applications to increase online services for citizens and promote transparency. At the same time, the feds are under intense pressure to improve security with technologies like DNSSec. F5 recognized that these two goals could end up blocking each other and thus derail both efforts. To overcome this, F5 added DNSSec support in Big-IP. Federal IT gets a one-stop-shop for application acceleration and DNSSec while F5 should get lots of phone calls and sales from within the Beltway.

3. Kudos to HP on its ProCurve ONE support announcement. Here's the thing: The 3Com announcement could become a huge distraction and thus usurp the effectiveness of historical programs like ProCurve ONE. Rather than let this happen, HP bolstered its ProCurve ONE marketing programs, messaging, and educational material within days of the 3Com announcement. This should reassure technology partners (like F5, McAfee, and Riverbed), channel partners, sales people, and customers that HP wants to build a networking ecosystem, not a proprietary portfolio of HP/3Com products for every networking need.

Gotta go, feel free to add to my list.

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About Networking Nuggets and Security Snippets

Jon Oltsik is a principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group responsible for the networking and security services at ESG. Prior to joining ESG, Jon was the founder and principal of Hype-Free Consulting. Mr. Oltsik previously served as VP of Marketing & Strategy at GiantLoop Network where he managed all marketing activities and defined the company’s strategic vision. Jon was also a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research where he covered a wide range of infrastructure and IT topics. In this role, he was frequently quoted in business journals, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the New York Times, and was also the recipient of a prestigious "best research" award for his breakthrough report, "The Internet Computing Voyage."