How Can Sustainability Become a Network Issue?

Story by Mary Shacklett

Key Points:

• There is a historical argument not to make sustainability a network issue—simply because the low-lying fruit in IT for greening its operations has always been in storage and server virtualization and in data center floor space reduction.
• At the same time that this is occurring, more corporate boards are considering linking sustainability to CIO compensation. As this happens, it isn’t a far reach to see CIOs going to their network managers and linking network sustainability performance to network manager compensation.
• The good news is that sustainability for networks isn’t likely to touch network configurations or architecture at all. In fact, the primary avenue for network sustainability improvement is in the area of network hardware, which is generally straightforward to implement.
• The most impactful way to achieve gains in sustainability on the network is through a reduction of energy usage. Here are eight network areas that should be considered: network hardware, network resource sharing, network virtualization, sustainability automation, energy audits, alternate energy sources, include sustainability in RFPs, and equipment recycling.
• There are many general IT sustainability practices that are working well and that can be adapted to networks. Networks can also add new technology and methods, such as placing network components into "sleep" mode when they are not in use.
• By necessity, many networks must also provide 24/7 service, which makes energy consumption a continuous factor. This is why managing networks for best performance and optimal sustainability makes so much sense.

Welcome to Next Up in Network Computing !

You already know that every day at Network Computing brings the how and why behind next-gen networks, data centers, storage systems, communications, and cloud architecture.

That means original reporting from our team of journalists and unique commentary you won’t see anywhere else! But in case you missed them, here are some of our other must-read favorites from this week:

VPN Infrastructure vs. Zscaler Private Access

Story by Zeus Kerravala

Key Points:

• Setting up a VPN involves multiple steps, such as configuring protocols, encryption methods, and network settings, which can be challenging for non-technical users. Additionally, VPNs often experience bandwidth limitations, server overloads, and network congestion. In medicine, this diverts valuable time and resources from patient care.
• In a recent ZKast, I interviewed Daniel Cha , principal imaging engineer at Keck Medicine, the hospital branch of the University of Southern California (USC). We met at Zscaler’s recent user event, Zenith Live, to discuss Keck Medicine’s transition from traditional VPNs to Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). The change has significantly boosted clinician productivity by simplifying remote access.
• With ZPA, clinicians no longer have to log into VPNs and complete multi-factor authentication (MFA). Instead, they can start working immediately after turning on their computers. This has resulted in fewer support tickets, allowing Keck Medicine of USC ’s IT team to focus on more valuable tasks.
• In addition to using ZPA for remote access, Keck Medicine employs several imaging-based artificial intelligence (AI) types. The primary one identifies regions of interest in images, directing radiologists’ attention to specific areas rather than having them read through stacks of images. This substantially saves time and improves efficiency.

Will AI Impact Network Security?

Story by John Edwards

Key Points:

• "AI can be targeted toward automating routine processes, freeing humans to analyze complex threats, or by trying to detect novel threats by rapidly analyzing large quantities of data." says Shing-hon Lau , senior AI security researcher at 美国卡内基梅隆大学 's Software Engineering Institute, in an email interview.
• The primary differentiator AI brings to the table is the ability to analyze large amounts of data and identify event patterns and correlations of that simply aren't feasible for a human, says Marc Herren , a director at technology advisory and research firm ISG, via email.
• Due to the fact that network security involves lots of data, AI is particularly well-suited for vital infrastructure protection. AI can also be used in network segmentation, isolating critical networks and decreasing an attack's the overall blast radius.
• A growing number of security and network technology vendors are now incorporating AI into their products to provide anomaly and threat detection capabilities. Enterprises should take advantage of such features, Herren says.

More Network Availability Options are Crucial

Story by Bob Wallace

Key Points:

• Enterprises are facing lost business, customer data, and a crucial competitive edge with cable cuts on land and sea bottom. This brings developments this week from creative network operators to the fore as they provide sorely needed route diversity.
• Seeing decades old cables and right of ways used by numerous service providers and factoring in traffic increase with the rise of AI, BIG Fiber decided to build a subsea cable spanning San Francisco Bay to give businesses route diversity. The company claims other subsea cables were decades old and their capacity severely limited.
• "Constructing the Bay crossing was a complex but necessary process. In today's AI-driven world, where the demand for more capacity and reduced latency is critical, the most direct routes possible need to be created," said Patton Lochridge , Chief Commercial Officer for Bandwidth IG. "We knew it would be hard work to go across the Bay via a subsea route, but it has resulted in a truly diverse route with a direct connection tying together two high-traffic areas."
• Not surprisingly, the upstart, which took four years to build the submarine fiber cable connection under San Francisco Bay, has no plans to build trans-oceanic routes. But when asked about adding submarine cables at a local level, Bandwidth IG's Lochbridge replied: “What we’re looking at is solving complex infrastructure projects in other markets.”

Inside Massachusetts’ 911 System Outage

Story by Pam Baker

Key Points:

• On June 18, a day after the Boston Celtics won the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship, officials in Massachusetts announced an outage of the statewide 911 system as they were holding a news conference to discuss plans for the team’s parade, which was held on June 21. The outage also occurred during the middle of a Northeast heat wave.
• The firewall was designed to protect the 911 system from cyberattacks and hacking, but instead, it prevented calls from reaching the 911 dispatch centers, which are called Public Safety Answer Points (PSAPs). In 2023, 8,800 calls a day reached Massachusetts’ 204 PSAPs combined, according to the State 911 Department.
• The firewall blocked the 911 calls because it detected anomalies with inbound data management in how the traffic was traveling across the state’s network, according to the State 911 Department. The State 911 Department and Comtech quickly adjusted the firewall's rules following the outage to restore communications on the 911 network.
• Companies such as satellite-enabled platform Somewear Labs offer an alternative to the primary cellular communications systems in case people lose a primary mode of communications during an emergency.

Latest Major Tech Layoff Announcements

Original Story by Jessica C. Davis, Updated by Brandon Taylor

Key Points:

• As COVID drove everyone online, tech companies hired like crazy. Now we are hitting the COVID tech bust as tech giants shed jobs by the thousands.
• Updated July 6, 2024 with layoff announcements from UKG , OpenText , and Unacademy .
• Check back regularly for updates to InformationWeek's IT job layoffs tracker.

Commentary of the Week

Story by Salvatore Salamone

Key Points:

• The reason carrier Ethernet is so well suited to play a role in modern enterprise infrastructures goes back to its roots. For nearly 25 years, carrier Ethernet has provided enterprises with standards-based, interoperable, and high-bandwidth connectivity over metropolitan and wide-area networks.
• "Carrier Ethernet is the backbone of modern connectivity, providing reliability and speed that fuels the enterprise, empowering them to seamlessly communicate, innovate, and thrive in the digital landscape,” says Kevin Vachon , COO of MEF Forum , a global industry association of network, cloud, and technology providers.
• “As a source of scalable and flexible networking solutions built on 20 years of open MEF standards, and now able to automate with MEF APIs, carrier Ethernet is the crucial link between businesses and the opportunities of a connected future.”
• To meet the enterprise demand for ubiquitous connectivity and advanced digital services requires a resilient and high-performance network infrastructure. Increasingly, providers of all types are looking to use carrier Ethernet to meet these service needs.

Network Computing 's 2024 State of Networking Report

2024 State of Networking Report [Follow this Link for the report]

Networking budgets remain strong, with priorities centered on network security, network monitoring/observability, and network resiliency.

Download this Network Computing research report today which explores the current state of network management priorities, practices, challenges, and investments. Learn how the IT leaders responsible for architecting and managing enterprise networks are adapting for the future.

In spite of some economic headwinds and tech industry layoffs, the prognosis for network spending is still quite strong. The 2024 annual state of network management survey found that security, network monitoring, and network resiliency continue to be the focus of network spending and management priorities.

• Over half of organizations reported that they increased their spending on networking in the past twelve months.
• Network spending will likely remain strong through 2025, with 85% of organizations planning to increase or maintain the same level of spending next year.
• While a significant portion of network spending is allocated to keeping the lights on, more than one-third of existing budgets are dedicated to investing in new technologies and innovation.
• Many of the investment and management priorities in 2024 are focused on security, network monitoring and observability, and network resiliency.
• New technologies like SD-WAN, Zero Trust network access, cloud-based security and services (SASE), and Wi-Fi 6 are among the budgeted technologies for organizations surveyed.

This is just a taste of what’s going on. If you want the whole scoop, then register for one of our email newsletters,?but only if you’re going to read it.?We want to improve the sustainability of editorial operations, so we don’t want to send you newsletters that are just going to sit there unopened. If you're a subscriber already, please make sure Mimecast and other inbox bouncers know that we’re cool and they should let us through.

Our bi-weekly LinkedIn newsletters arrive on Saturdays, so keep your eyes peeled for the top stories you may have missed between now and then.