Data Center Networking
Article | July 5, 2023
There is great potential for 5G to usher in significant near-term business impacts in the enterprise, and augmented reality (AR) applications will be the poster child that demonstrates the value of 5G.
The sprawling footprints of industrial organizations are tailor-made for 5G. High-speed wireless data coverage will be available throughout dispersed industrial environments which simply can't be served via Wi-Fi alone. 5G cellular connectivity for field-based uses, including AR platforms that help frontline workers keep complex machinery in good working order, will be rapidly adopted.
There are also many enterprises that have not deployed wireless infrastructure for cost or security reasons. The recent adoption of mobile digital tools by frontline workers to perform daily tasks and remote guidance makes 5G a valuable investment for these organizations. In many instances, 5G may be easier to deploy while delivering more functionality and higher security than Wi-Fi alone.
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5G
Article | May 18, 2023
Discover the effective tools for analyzing network traffic to improve monitoring efficiency. Enhance the network's performance and raise the network's potential by choosing the appropriate tool.
Automation adoption has become critical for companies in the dynamic fields of manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain management. By minimizing costs, enhancing efficiency, and reducing downtime, automation delivers optimal value for manufacturers. However, selecting the right partner can be challenging with numerous warehouse automation companies available. This article provides the features and benefits of top ten warehouse automation tools, offering expertise in improving business operations. These data warehouse tools provide comprehensive solutions to meet diverse needs, whether through software solutions or tools.
1. Network Performance Monitoring
Datadog Network Performance Monitoring is an exceptional software tool that enhances network monitoring capabilities, providing comprehensive visibility into all components of on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments. With minimal overhead, the tool monitors the performance of connections among hosts, services, virtual private clouds (VPCs), and other elements, enabling quick identification of network-related issues. It tracks essential network metrics such as TCP retransmits, latency, and connection churn. It also allows monitoring of traffic health between any endpoints at the app, IP address, port, or process ID (PID) layers. Datadog aids in isolating network issues within Envoy-powered service meshes and troubleshooting inefficient load balancing. The software also helps manage cloud networking costs by identifying the responsible services and teams for significant traffic spikes. Deep DNS visibility allows system-wide analysis of DNS performance without SSHing into individual machines. For granular insights, users can explore S3 buckets or RDS databases.
2. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a powerful and user-friendly real time network monitoring tool that helps enhance network traffic analysis for industry experts. It offers central monitoring for a comprehensive view of the entire IT infrastructure in one place. With on-premises installation, users have full control over data and configuration. The software supports various technologies and protocols, with automatic network discovery simplifying setup. Feature like custom maps, real-time alerts, and customizable reports provide an overview of the network and facilitate proactive monitoring. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor allows distributed monitoring across remote locations and offers a user-friendly interface for easy installation and use. With full administrative control and perpetual licenses, users have flexibility and cost-effective access to all monitoring features. It is a reliable solution trusted by businesses worldwide for efficient network monitoring, providing industry experts with enhanced visibility, control, and peace of mind.
3. OpManager Plus
OpManager Plus is a robust enterprise network monitoring software that optimizes network performance and ensures an error-free network. It offers real-time health, availability, and performance monitoring, enabling proactive and reactive monitoring techniques. OpManager Plus provides critical metrics for traffic analysis, such as packet loss, response time, resource utilization, errors, and network traffic via SNMP. It includes in-depth server monitoring features, enabling efficient monitoring of servers, routers, switches, and firewalls. The software leverages Cisco IPSLA for WAN and VoIP monitoring, visualizing paths, resolving outages, and diagnosing poor performance. OpManager Plus also offers built-in network troubleshooting tools like ICMP Ping, Traceroute, Switch Port Mapper, SNMP MIB Browser, and Telnet/SSH, empowering industry experts with the necessary tools for first and second-level troubleshooting. It is one of the best network monitoring tools for industry professionals that enhance performance, ensure network availability, and enable efficient troubleshooting.
4. Domotz
A powerful network performance monitoring tool, Domotz revolutionizes network monitoring and management. With its streamlined IT operations, it enhances efficiency and strengthens security measures. As one in many top network monitoring tools, it offers unmatched visibility into digital assets and data flows, empowering users with critical insights from their networks. Its feature-rich software including network autodiscovery, automated mapping, IT asset inventory, and SNMP-based device monitoring caters to MSPs, System Integrators, IT and Security Professionals. These features facilitate effective traffic analysis and resource monitoring. Domotz also offers integrated capabilities like configuration management, versioning, backup, and seamless integrations with PSA systems. By leveraging Domotz, industry experts gain a powerful tool to monitor network traffic, optimize performance, and strengthen overall security.
5. checkmk
checkmk is a powerful network performance monitoring tool that enhances network monitoring and management. Its latest version, checkmk 2.2, provides a comprehensive solution for monitoring hybrid IT infrastructures, including native cloud applications and OpenShift support. The software offers real-time monitoring of dynamic cloud workloads, allowing users to map their cloud infrastructure, monitor cloud-native services, and track resource consumption and costs. checkmk seamlessly integrates with major cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, offering cloud-specific dashboards and easy cloud deployment. The monitoring agents of checkmk support push mode for autonomous data transmission and auto-registration for real-time host addition and service discovery. Industry experts benefit from the robust features of checkmk for effective traffic analysis, improved cloud monitoring, and simplified implementation in dynamic cloud environments. checkmk is a reliable choice among network management tools for optimizing network performance and ensuring efficient cloud monitoring.
6. NinjaOne RMM
NinjaOne RM, recognized as the top-rated network performance monitoring tool. It offers powerful and user-friendly RMM software that efficiently manages client endpoints. With NinjaOne, industry experts can monitor, support, and control a wide range of devices, servers, virtual machines, and networking devices from a single interface. The real-time network monitoring software features include alert notifications, automated patching for enhanced security, one-click device actions for streamlined management, secure remote access for fast support, endpoint task automation to optimize workflows, and a self-service portal for client end-users. Its scalability, intuitive UI, and comprehensive support make it one of the best network monitoring tools. Industry experts benefit from improved technician efficiency, reduced complexities, and enhanced service delivery, leading to greater profitability and customer satisfaction.
7. Fortra’s Intermapper
Fortra's Intermapper is an intuitive network mapping tool to monitor network traffic autodiscovery features. The network map is constantly refreshed, ensuring an up-to-date representation of any network. This software offers SNMP-based network monitoring, performance alerts, and a capacity planning tool. By implementing Intermapper, industry experts can efficiently analyze network traffic and detect performance issues in real-time. The tool allows users to set performance threshold levels and receive alerts via email or text, ensuring proactive monitoring and reducing the need for constant screen monitoring.
8. Site24x7 Network Monitoring
Site24x7 is one of the leading tools to monitor network traffic that enhances network monitoring capabilities with its comprehensive features. With granular visibility at the device and interface levels, Site24x7 enables thorough network performance monitoring. The tool offers intelligent features for deep observability, proactive insights, and root cause analysis, all within a single window. This cloud-based solution help users have complete control over their network. It monitors network traffic, allowing users to analyze traffic, packets, errors, and discards, providing actionable insights for optimizing network performance. Additionally, Site24x7 offers automatic network discovery, real-time application and device monitoring, and powerful reporting, analytics, and alerts.
9. Nagios Core
Nagios Core is one of the top network security monitoring tools that serves as an event scheduler, processor, and alert manager. It offers a robust architecture and extensive scope for monitoring various elements. With its APIs, Nagios Core allows easy extension and customization to meet specific monitoring requirements. Implemented as a highly efficient C-based daemon, it delivers optimal performance on Linux and Unix systems. Nagios Core provides a solid foundation for network security monitoring, enabling industry experts to analyze network traffic, detect issues, and receive timely alerts. Its scalability and flexibility features make it a valuable tool for enhancing network traffic analysis and ensuring the security and stability of IT infrastructures.
10. Catchpoint Network Experience
Catchpoint Network Experience, part of the Catchpoint platform, is a comprehensive network performance monitoring tool that ensures the successful delivery of web applications. It offers key features such as internet connectivity checks, BGP assessments, and the ability to assess ISPs and other services. By monitoring network performance, Catchpoint helps identify the root cause of performance issues and ensures optimal delivery of web systems. It analyzes virtual networks, identifies performance issues with remote access and site-to-site VPNs, and traces connections from LAN to web servers. Industry experts can benefit from its website delivery performance tracking, root cause analysis, and virtual network performance monitoring capabilities, making it an invaluable tool for enhancing network monitoring and optimizing web application performance.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining a robust and efficient IT infrastructure relies heavily on effective network monitoring. Integrating server, application, storage, and network management functions enables companies to deliver services seamlessly to end users. A comprehensive suite of network monitoring tools is essential for addressing various aspects of networking technology, including physical components, security measures, and environmental conditions. The ultimate goal is to proactively identify and mitigate potential network issues, reducing their impact on user productivity. In the event of failure, prompt detection and resolution become crucial, and a responsive help desk plays a valuable role in quickly receiving user alerts and uncovering previously undetected problems. By leveraging top network traffic analysis tools, businesses can elevate their network monitoring capabilities and establish a solid foundation for optimal performance and unwavering reliability.
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Network Management, Network Security
Article | July 17, 2023
Cybercrimes have increasingly become a matter of concern for companies worldwide. Over the past few years, the rise of big-ticket ransomware attacks and exposure of perilous software supply chain infections has awakened organizations to various digital dangers.
So, the big question is, how to combat the security threats that are on meteoric growth?
The best solution is to adopt a security vulnerability assessment.
What is Security Vulnerability Assessment?
A vulnerability assessment involves a systematic review of security hazards, which helps identify IT infrastructure’s weaknesses, risks, and vulnerabilities.
When it comes to mitigating vulnerabilities and resolving issues, the collective imperative is to analyze the problem areas before getting them fixed.
A security assessment is critically important to combat the complexities and with an effective vulnerability assessment program, organizations use the tools required to comprehend the probable security weaknesses and enable the protection of systems and data from intruders and unauthorized breaches.
For most organizations, ensuring the safety of devices, networks, applications, and digital assets are part of a broader vulnerability management strategy. It includes an extensive assessment, in-depth processes, and mitigation methods to explore the entire threat spectrum.
Typically, it is conducted regularly. Vulnerability assessment offers a firm assurance in the security of data, especially when some alterations have been implemented or a new service has been added, or, for that matter, and installation of new equipment has taken place.
Each assessment provides a perspective about the risk in its periphery and suggests solutions to control the risk factors and the evolving threats.
Why Security Vulnerability Assessment Is Necessary?
The perpetual threat of cybercrime has necessitated the demand for vulnerability assessments significantly. They make organizations realize their security defects and contribute towards mitigating them.
Hackers are forever ready to make phishing attacks. As per reports, hackers are at work every 39 seconds. Thus, it is extremely important to be vigilant or complacent to activate hackers’ and cybercriminals’ machinations. Over the period, cybercrimes are fluctuating and thus need ongoing attention.
The ideal solution is to undertake consistent vulnerability assessments to safeguard confidential data, systems, and networks. Furthermore, it helps organizations understand the risk and enables smart decision-making.
To ensure security, companies ought to conduct both external and internal scans of their networks.
According to Gartner (paywall), “Large organizations with thousands of employees, tens of thousands of servers and many operating systems receive hundreds of requests per year to patch thousands of vulnerabilities that cannot be remediated in less than 15 days.”
One of the best reasons security vulnerability assessments are important is because it confirms an enterprise’s management processes and whether it has covered every critical patch through outlined existing remediation.
Why Do Companies Need Vulnerability Assessment?
A vulnerability assessment provides companies insightful details on all types of security discrepancies in their environment.
It paves ways to evaluate the risks associated with the flaws.
This helps organizations have a better knowledge of their security scare, overall weaknesses, and assets.
Moreover, the first thing that strikes us on hearing about a cyber-attack is the security of data. With the right and adequate implementation of security assessments, the safety and security of important data could be easily protected. A security assessment would be helpful to reduce irrelevant expenses and make space and increase the IT budget to invest in other key aspects.
Undoubtedly, data breach causes substantial loss to an organization, which leads to legal hassles and financial hazards. In fact, most of the time companies fail to recover the loss.
Thus, it doesn’t harm to place solid policies and methods to strengthen the entire security position of the organization and this can only be possible with a strategic security vulnerability assessment.
In a nutshell, this would keep the companies aware and, in all likelihood, keep the cyber-criminals at bay.
A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
To cite an example, let’s take how Zensar conducted a three-pronged vulnerability assessment with port scan and penetration scanning. It determined the security of its offerings to meet customer requests for Brainshark, a leading provider of on-demand presentation solutions, helping customers deliver business interaction across 600+ ranking companies in the market.
While Brainshark knew their systems were secure and could also establish it through their documentation, they still undertook a third-party security vulnerability assessment.
Zensar’s vulnerability assessment procedures were based on the industry’s best practices that included tests for SQL injection, cookie manipulation, access control weakness, session state, and cross-site scripting.
The focus of the test was to identify the host and application security concerns. Upon completing the tests and assessments, Brainshark expressed satisfaction and was confident enough in their ability and solution. They knew their security posture was highly protected and secure.
Types of Vulnerability Assessments:
Vulnerability assessments unearth a variety of system and network vulnerabilities. This indicates the reliability of the assessment process, which is implemented with different tools, scanners, and methods that helps discover the vulnerabilities, risks, and threats.
Network-based assessment scanning: It is used to determine the presumptive network security attacks. This kind of scanning can also detect the vulnerable systems on wired as well as wireless networks.
Host-based scans: It is easy to locate the vulnerabilities in servers or other network hosts with host-based scanning. This type of scanning provides visibility into the configuration settings and legacy systems.
Database scans: Database scans ascertain the weak points in a database to preclude malefic attacks.
Application Scans: It examines websites to identify and recognize software vulnerabilities and inaccurate configurations in network or web applications.
Summing Up
Organizations need to be watchful every minute and ensure the security posture is rigorous, which is only possible with security vulnerability assessments. Based on this criterion, understanding company risks gets simplified in turn preventing intrusions and threats.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What Are the Advantages of Security Vulnerability Assessment?
There are several advantages attached to security vulnerability assessments. To put it precisely, it can help identify the vulnerabilities before cybercriminals do and determine the level of risk.
Undoubtedly, opting for vulnerability assessment would save a lot of time and money and mitigate the risk and prevent the irrelevant expenditure that follows after the cyber-attacks.
What Are the Disadvantages of Security Vulnerability Assessment?
While vulnerability assessments are highly advisable, it has its share of drawbacks which cannot be ignored. One of the primary limitations of vulnerability assessment is that it does not hint at every vulnerability that exists. Moreover, it sometimes signals false positives too.
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5G
Article | September 28, 2023
Asia stands out as home to a handful of telcos busy building an international business out of selling their internally developed IT platforms. Leading the way are Jio in India, Japan’s Rakuten and Singapore operator Singtel.
Having built their own businesses, they are now selling their platforms to support new 5G business models for enterprises and other operators. In the case of Singtel, this means its 5G multi-access edge computing (MEC) services, based on Paragon, its orchestration platform for enterprise services.
Manoj Prasanna Kumar, Head of Enterprise Platforms at Singtel, who is responsible for the Paragon platform, discusses in this article the company’s enterprise service ambitions, how it’s partnering with global enterprise software vendors and the obstacles it still sees to 5G B2B service uptake.
Paragon, which falls under the telco’s DigitalInfraCo arm, aims to give enterprises “a single pane of glass that provides an end-to-end view and control of the network, the edge and the application ecosystem,” says Manoj. “It opens up the edge to the enterprise world, allowing them to deploy either their own applications or applications from Singtel's ecosystem.”
Launched last year, Paragon also lets telcos orchestrate end-to-end 5G enterprise networking services in combination with applications from software and cloud computing partners. Paragon’s application partners include Amazon Web Services, Intel, Microsoft and SAP, and the platform is available to every 5G enterprise user within the Singtel Group.
Singtel’s bet is that a growing number of enterprises will need a tightly intertwined combination of 5G connectivity and cloud computing on the edge to run specific vertical applications.
“Our strategy is to become a super aggregator of MEC,” says Manoj. “We focus on high throughput, low latency use cases, such as video analytics or streaming, mixed reality and virtual reality which pump data into the back-end applications and where the decision-making cannot afford even a few milliseconds of extra latency.”
In addition to Paragon, Singtel Group’s investments in 5G infrastructure and service delivery include a national 5G standalone (SA) network, covering more than 95% of Singapore, and international investment in data centers to support cloud computing on the network edge. Today, there are signs that its investments in 5G enterprise services are starting to bear fruit. In the second half of the 2022/23 financial year, which ended on 31 March, Singtel reported that higher demand for technology solutions and 5G services contributed to ICT revenue growth of 11%, with ICT revenues contributing 23% of Singtel Group’s overall enterprise revenue.
Singtel scored a notable win for the Enterprise 5G offering powered by Paragon platform last year when Silicon manufacturer Micron said it would deploy it and Singtel’s 5G campus network infrastructure to support its smart manufacturing operations. Micron is using Singtel’s solution to help manage and analyze its manufacturing processes for enhanced efficiency. Likewise, Singtel recently announced Hyundai as another customer for their Enterprise 5G offering powered by the Paragon platform to deliver digital twin for their electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Singapore for advanced manufacturing operations.
Nonetheless, Manoj recognizes that challenges remain when it comes to growing the 5G enterprise business. “5G and edge in Singapore have had quite a good start. But I would say we've got a long way to go,” he says.
Convincing customers
One of the biggest obstacles is generating customer demand. After all, just because enterprises are able to set 5G connectivity parameters on demand or use MEC for 5G applications at the click of a button doesn’t mean they see a reason to do so.
“Many customers don't have a lot of awareness of how edge computing can really transform their business and how a few milliseconds of latency can actually save money for them, make them more efficient, and reduce errors and so on,” says Manoj.
This reality has shaped Singtel’s sales process. “We spend quite a lot of time in raising awareness amongst customers,” he explains. “We never start with what 5G can do. Instead, we focus on understanding their challenges, their current processes, what gaps there are, and…start with applications that can help solve their problems.”
Another challenge is a lack of 5G-native devices. “This puts us in a very tough spot because when we go and connect devices to wi-fi hotspots, and then use 5G as backhaul, customers often ask ‘isn't this similar to wi fi? Why do I need 5G?’” He adds: “It will be a bit of a roadblock…for all telcos until the 5G-native device ecosystem matures.”
There is also a need for software applications that can perform optimally on 5G and the edge, and switch between network slices with different payloads. “There is a little bit of hand holding required when we bring in an ISV to qualify their application so that it can benefit from all the capabilities of 5G and the edge,” says Manoj.
And then there are the engineering challenges associated with orchestration. Paragon sets out to automate much of the orchestration and management capabilities that make it possible to request quality of service on demand for specific applications and use cases. But here again, success is dependent on close partnerships with third parties.
“Strategic partnerships with Ericsson on the network side and with Intel, Microsoft and AWS help us boost the infrastructure and the application side to stitch together the network and the infrastructure capabilities,” explains Manoj.
Choosing your vertical
Singtel is currently targeting three strategic verticals: manufacturing, public safety and urban planning. Its choice reflects the opportunities in both Singapore and the domestic markets of members of the Singtel Group.
“In Singapore, we are lucky because both enterprises and the government are very, very future-looking and invest quite a lot in adopting new technology,” says Manoj. In particular, “public sector customers are more motivated to explore something new because they carry the digital footprint of the country,” he says.
And because governments operate public safety and urban planning systems at a national level, the promises are on enough scale to spur third parties to invest in developing devices and software applications. Typical public safety use cases include video analytics, surveillance systems and robotics applications; urban planning covers systems such as traffic management.
Some of the enterprise applications Singtel sees gaining traction include immersive B2B2C content, such as delivering real-time analytics to gamers via a 360-degree video feed or mixed reality applications to train factory workers on how to troubleshoot to use complex equipment. “If they need an augmented overlay of information through the camera feeds then they need 5G and edge because a lag will make users nauseous,” explains Manoj. Other promising use cases include autonomous drones and robots.
Singtel has drawn on standard APIs, including TM Forum’s Open APIs, CAMARA APIs to build Paragon. Manoj encourages both technology standardization and collaboration with hyperscalers and software vendors to grow the enterprise market.
“Telcos should be embracing tech players as partners, seeing them as catalysts of more pull through on their services,” says Manoj. “When you partner with them, you expose your services on the hyperscale infrastructure, you naturally work with developers, which allows telcos to expand the services market.”
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