As an electrical engineer growing up in the power industry, I was fortunate to be around much of the electrical power infrastructure that most of us take for granted. From coal-fired power plants, hydroelectric, and gasification, I also had the good fortune to learn about high voltage transmission, substations and switching, and SCADA first-hand. It’s
Does Cloud Computing Make You Hyperventilate?
It’s no wonder. With so much hype at the intersection of the economy and all manner of magic that is supposed to save you money, it’s easy to simply dismiss the cloud as all hat and no cattle. The Cloud is Loud and Proud and not going to diminish for some time. After reading Randy
The Loud and Proud Cloud
Cloud computing enjoys the current marketing hyperbole cycle and vendor marketing departments know that. Everyone wants to be the leader in the cloud. However, like “Web 2.0″ before it, it’s questionable if the term “Cloud Computing” can be used in any meaningful way. There are efforts to create a taxonomy of meaning to keep track
Comcast DNS – Is it time to switch?
Since posting about the Comcast Broadcast storm, a steady stream of e-mail continues to arrive about Comcast’s other troubles…specifically DNS. Preston Gralla asks Why can’t Comcast run DNS? I don’t know why Comcast continues to have DNS issues, but you can switch to a free DNS provider such as OpenDNS. I’m still trying to figure
Vonage isn’t the only option for stranded SunRocket Customers
SunRocket, a VoIP provider, ceased operations and stranded all of its customers. Unfortunately, many of those customers pre-paid for their service. That means not only did their phone service stop functioning, they are unlikely to see any refunds for pre-paid service. And while Vonage is often mentioned as a replacement option, it looks like Packet8
Test before upgrading to Vista
A quick web search should give you a taste for both the horror and success stories that a Vista upgrade brings. Before your IT staff decides that Vista is your standard, make sure they didn’t forget to test these items: Does Vista work with your VPN solution? (Specifically, does your VPN software even support Vista
Are Broadcasts Contributing to Comcast Slowness?
I’ve been getting reports about Comcast slowness in this area for several weeks. Taking a closer look,a quick speed test confirmed that performance is awful. A look at the cable modem revealed that quite a bit of traffic was inbound without anything else plugged into the modem. A sniffer trace revealed that nothing was attacking
Has something taken over your e-mail form?
E-mail form spam seems to be growing in popularity where automated programs fill out web e-mail contact forms. There are various opinions about why they do this including exploiting vulnerabilities for doing injection or using the form to send the spam directly. However, for the cases I’ve inspected, I’ve observed that there is no injection
The Game is Called Connect The (unrelated?) Dots
Cisco announced it will acquire WebEx for $3.2 billion dollars. Now it’s time to play the Connect the Dots game where everyone struggles to understand the deal on a number of levels and backs up the speculation with a series of dots (including unrelated dots) to bolster their thesis. 1. Did they pay too much?
No Love for NAC (Network Access Control)?
The main message of CIO Insight’s article is that NAC could require expensive network upgrades and is not ready for prime time. The market will ultimately decide if NAC makes an impact or falls back to earth failing to escape gravity. Before deploying a NAC solution, ask yourself some questions to determine if you’ve even
