Network Architecture Alert

Still dreaming of a unified network of everything

11/18/09

Many in our industry have dreamed of a unified network, and we continue to close in on it. But the truth is we’ve been closing in on it for quite a long time.

iWARP embraced by Ethernet Alliance

11/17/09

The Ethernet Alliance this week threw its weight behind iWARP, an IETF standard that takes the concept of convergence on Ethernet networks to another level.

3Com saved by HP - and Cisco

11/11/09

3Com has been trying to sell itself for quite some time, and has finally succeeded. While HP is the lucky buyer, 3Com really has Cisco to thank.

Emulex and Broadcom aren't playing nice

11/09/09

You get the sense that if 5-year-olds had teams of lawyers at their disposal, it would go down much the way the legal battle between Emulex and Broadcom is going.

There's nothing local about this LAN

11/04/09

Verizon Business this week expanded its Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) across the world, taking a local area network technology and making it global.

Power grid getting smart

11/03/09

The federal government is about to add some serious networking to the nation’s power grid, and it’s about time.

Emulex ships converged network adapter

10/28/09

Emulex this week shipped a 10 Gigabit Ethernet server adapter that performs all sorts of functions through a single chip.

Extreme treads water

10/26/09

Extreme Networks this week finds itself with wounded revenues, an interim CEO, and doubts about its future.

LTE is on track to rock your world

10/22/09

LTE is shaping up to be a major network technology, and Infonetics Research this week released a report demonstrating just how big it will be.

What the heck are you doing on the Internet at that hour?

10/19/09

Arbor Networks recently studied Internet traffic patterns and found that U.S. Internet traffic usually reaches its highest point of the day at about 11 p.m. Eastern time and stays pretty high until about 3 a.m. What’s keeping Internet users up at night? Arbor found the answer.

The Internet has shifted under our feet

10/14/09

The way traffic moves over the Internet has changed radically in the last five years, according to a new report, and few people have realized it.

3Com patents bite back

10/12/09

Some big names in the computer industry were sued this week by a company claiming that they have infringed on Ethernet-related patents developed by 3Com.

More companies hop on the WiGig bandwagon

10/07/09

More companies recently joined the WiGig Alliance for advancing high-speed wireless technologies, lifting the group’s total membership above 20.

What has changed for Brocade?

10/05/09

The news that data center networking vendor Brocade is shopping itself around is startling, given where the company was just a little over a year ago.

Will 400G be the next Ethernet?

09/30/09

Recently, the industry has been pondering whether the next big leap for Ethernet should be 400Gbps or 1Tbps.

XO pushes Ethernet services

09/28/09

XO Communications is trying to sell customers on the idea that it can get carrier Ethernet services to them in a timely fashion by issuing a guarantee.

Some Ethernet switch vendors buck the trend

09/23/09

The market for Ethernet switches is hurting, but there are some companies that are bucking the trend, according to the latest numbers from In-Stat.

First 40G Ethernet adapter ships

09/21/09

Mellanox Technologies this week shipped a “Goldilocks” network adapter card, one that the company says is the first to run 40G Ethernet.

10G causes LAN architecture shift

09/17/09

An important article related to network architecture may have gotten a little lost in the shuffle when it was published last week on Network World, so I wanted to make sure I drew your attention to it. Jim Duffy wrote about a fundamental shift caused by 10 Gigabit Ethernet, virtualization and blade servers.

10G EPON standardized

09/14/09

The IEEE last week ratified a standard for 10 Gbps Ethernet Passive Optical Networks, or 10G EPON. The 802.3av standard builds on 802.3ah to deliver fiber-to-the-home networks.

Wi-Fi gets push from government stimulus, home networking

09/09/09

Home networking and government stimulus programs are two of the hottest drivers of network equipment sales these days, according to analyst firms.

It’s been 10 years. Let me introduce myself

09/07/09

My 10-year anniversary of writing this newsletter has come and gone, and I didn’t even realize it until just now. It took me a while to pin down the exact start date. Once I did and re-read those initial newsletters, I realized I forgot to do something all those years ago, something you might expect from a new writer of a twice-weekly newsletter.

802.11n is a-knockin'

09/02/09

It feels like we’ve been talking about the IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi specification forever, but the moment of standardization is now upon us. Does this mean it’s OK to give up our wires?

Broadcom suddenly dominates 10 Gigabit controllers

09/01/09

Broadcom pointed out at the VMworld 2009 trade show this week that the company now has almost 70% of the market for 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers, a huge jump, according to the latest Dell’Oro Group numbers.

Ethernet in motion

08/26/09

If it moves, it will probably soon run Ethernet. This week saw the formation of an industry group to drive Ethernet into automotive applications, as well as an effort to put Gigabit Ethernet into an Abrams tank.

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Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.