20

32

COVER STORY

contents COMMENT04 Speed up that WAN

NEWS UPDATE06 Huawei eyes regional enterprise market

07 UAE University rolls out a new network

10 Networking to become cheaper

12 Citrix expands Middle East presence

IN ACTION16 Bahrain is building a knowledge economy as

it looks to increase its global competitiveness

FEATURE24 What desktop virtualisation really means

28 Served up hot- Hospitality industry focus

32 Trends shaping networks

TEST 38 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

NEW PRODUCTS40 A guide to some of the new products

in the market

LAYER 842 All the news that’s fit for nothing

Blazing bytesHow to rev up your

sluggish applications

ISSUE 143 | FEBRUARY 2011

Quick FinderPage 6-22Huawei, Arc Solutions, Cisco, Brocade, UAE University, Injazat Data Systems, Avaya, NetApp, Akorri, IDC, EMC, du, Citrix, eHosting DataFort, Riverbed, F5 Networks

Page 23-44Citrix, Avaya, Cisco, Dimension Data, Wyse, Fujitsu, Google, Red Hat, Motorola, SanDisk, Western Digital

24

www.networkworldme.com4 Network World Middle East February 2011

EDITORIAL

Speed up that WAN

Jeevan thankappanSenior [email protected]

PublisherDominic De Sousa

COONadeem Hood

Commercial DirectorRichard Judd

[email protected] +971 4 440 9126

CMOKimon Alexandrou


EDITORIAL

Dave [email protected] +971 4 440 9106

Senior EditorJeevan Thankappan


ADVERTISING

Group Sales ManagerRajashree R Kumar


CIO PROGRAMMES

CIO Programmes and Events LeadKavitha Rajasekhar


Strategic Marketing Services LeadSreejith Nambiar


MARKETING AND CIRCULATION

Database and Circulation ManagerRajeesh M


PRODUCTION AND DESIGN

Production ManagerJames P Tharian


DesignerFroilan A. Cosgafa IV


DIGITALwww.cpilive.net

www.networkworldme.comwww.cpidubai.com

WebmasterTristan Troy Maagma


Web DesignerJerus King Bation


Web DeveloperElizabeth Reyes

[email protected]

Published by

1013 Centre Road, New Castle County,Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Head OfficePO Box 13700

Dubai, UAE

Tel: +971 4 440 9100Fax: +971 4 447 2409

Printed byPrintwell Printing Press LLC

Regional partner of

© Copyright 2011 CPIAll rights reserved

While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they

will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

IT managers in the region are often inclined to throw

bandwidth at their network performance issues. Most of

them are caught in the vicious web of leased lines and

costly WAN charges, and thanks to their propensity to add

more, bandwidth today represents a significant chunk of

operational costs for organisation. Now, with CFOs going

through everything with a fine-toothed comb, IT managers

are being forced to crack their network performance

issues without buying more bandwidth. As more and more

businesses looking to carry out business at wire speed, it

is an imperative for the IT organisations to keep pace and

make sure that their systems move those mission-critical apps at blazing speeds across

the wide area network. This is where WAN optimisation steps in, which is garnering

a great deal of attention lately. As employees become more mobile and distributed, the

choice is either to increase bandwidth to your remote-sites, which can cost you an arm

and leg, or clamp down on traffic on those lines without reducing their efficiency. That

can be quite tricky unless you have WAN optimisation tools at your disposal. There

is a caveat though. To understand what type of optimisation is needed, IT managers

need to have completely visibly to the network and application traffic, which is sorely

lacking in most organisations in the Middle East. Whenever users complain about

things being slow, the network usually has nothing to do with it. This is why it is

important for network folks to have tools to snoop in and find out exactly where the

problems reside. Otherwise, you are left groping in the dark for the solution. Before

you get on the WAN optimisation bandwagon, make sure you analyse your network

traffic first to figure out what WAN performance each type of traffic requires. It would

be a good idea to minimise encrypted traffic because it cannot be optimised as well

as unencrypted traffic. And finally, do yourself a favour- check out vendor best-case

performance claims in your environment before you take the plunge.

not YoUr coPY?If you’d like to receive your own copy of NWME every month. Just log on and request a subscription: www.networkworldme.com


PLUS: DeSktoP virtUaLiSation | hoSPitaLity | Storage | oPen SoUrce | Data centre

PUBL

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ENSE

D B

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ATIO

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ON

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AI T

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NO

LOG

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BLAZING BYTES

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bits

The Chinese telecom

giant has launched a

Middle East regional

enterprise business

unit to provide tailored

end-to-end enterprise

solutions to the region’s

vertical sectors. This

was announced at the

Huawei Enterprise

Solutions Road Show,

which was held in

Dubai. The event

focused on enterprise

based solutions for government and

semi-government agencies, that deliver

a variety of e-city focused programs for

healthcare, education, civil facilities and

other key environments for an eCity

environment.

Huawei Enterprise

Solutions will also

focus on delivering

end-to-end ICT

solutions to the

energy and power

sector, transportation

(aviation and rail), oil

and gas, and SMART

cities industries,

amongst others.

Dongwu, GM,

Middle East for

Huawei Enterprise, said, “We have

already built a successful enterprise

business in China and now we are looking

to replicate that in the rest of the world.

We are dedicated to providing enterprises

Huawei eyes regional enterprise market

TRUE FACT

5.6 bILLION

Devices will be connected to mobile networks by 2012. There will also be 1.5 billion machine-to-machine nodes -- nearly the equivalent of one mobile connection for every person in the world. Mobile video is forecast to represent 66 percent of all mobile data traffic by 2015, increasing 35-fold from 2010 to 2015. Mobile traffic originating from tablet devices is expected to grow 205-fold from 2010 to 2015.

Source: Cisco Visual Networking Index

Arc Solutions has been selected by Ras Al

Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ), one

of the fastest-growing free trade zones in

the UAE, to deliver advanced call handing

and to improve communication across the

organisation. The Arc solution, based on

the Arc Premium unified communications

suite, is aiding RAK FTZ to boost customer

service levels and improve efficiencies in

call handling.

RAK Free Trade Zone bolsters communications delivery

with the same level of customised

end-to-end solutions which we have

delivered to the telecom providers. As a

technology-driven company, we have the

right level of innovation and expertise

to offer discerning CIOs a high level of

ROI (return on investment) from their

technology investments.”

Huawei Enterprise’s Road Show Truck

is touring the Middle East from January to

October this year visiting UAE, Saudi Arabia

and Pakistan. The Huawei Enterprise demo

truck showcases enterprise technology

demonstrations and solutions that are

applicable to the intelligent city.

“The Enterprise Solutions Road Show

is being used as a common platform to

understand the key requirements and

associated challenges in constructing an

intelligent city. In parallel, Huawei will

present our solutions and share our global

experience with end users in an interactive

environment,” commented Dongwu on the

Enterprise Tour.

RAK FTZ is home to some 4,000+ active

companies from 106 countries around

the world. The organisation employs 350

staff, operates business centres in four

locations in the UAE and has an expanding

international presence, with liaison offices

in Germany, Turkey, India and the USA. RAK

FTZ has also created a unique, customer

centric four-park system comprised of its

Business Park, Industrial Park, Technology

Park and Academy Zone, each of which

offers access to cutting-edge technology.

The Arc Solutions unified communications

solution was chosen by RAK FTZ to

unite the organisation with a robust and

advanced suite of applications that improve

productivity and call handling services.

The Arc Solutions suite of applications has

been deployed throughout the RAK FTZ to

strengthen the organisation’s communications

delivery. The Arc Premium operator consoles

increase call handling efficiency and

productivity in the operator centre. Arc Call

Connect is used to improve service levels and

the effectiveness of contact centre agents,

and the management tools of Arc Supervisor

and Arc Wallboard deliver key performance

metrics to supervisors and managers.

Dongwu, GM, Middle East for Huawei Enterprise

February 2011 Network World Middle East 7

bits

Injazat Data Systems has received Gold

Certification from Cisco. Injazat earned

the recognition by meeting the rigorous

standards for networking competency,

service, support and customer

satisfaction established by Cisco.

As a Cisco Gold Certified Partner,

Injazat has proven its exceptional

proficiency in the four advanced

Cisco specializations of Unified

Injazat strikes Cisco Gold

United Arab Emirates University (UAEU),

based in Al Ain, has deployed switches

and routers from Brocade at the core of

a new campus network. This network is

specifically designed to enhance academic

and research functions and to manage

growing data volumes that have tripled in

the last 12 months.

Designed and built to support UAEU’s

current and upcoming needs for High

Definition (HD) Internet Protocol television

(IPTV), voice, video and data with real-

time intelligent infrastructure management,

content delivery via virtual desktop

infrastructure (VDI), IPv6, Telepresence-

based Video Conferencing, remote high

definition virtual classes over IP, HD video

and lecture capture, cloud based content

delivery in each classroom and on-demand

helpdesk, the new network will provide

a robust delivery platform for UAEU’s

UAE University rolls out a new network

classrooms, labs, library, lecture rooms and

other spaces to provide an integrated and

high performance ICT architecture.

At the heart of the new 120-hectare

campus is the UAEU data centre, housed

at the Faculty of Information Technology

(FIT) building that was designed jointly by

UAEU’s IT Services Group and Visionaire,

the appointed design and build systems

integrator. The FIT building hosts over 20

of the world’s most advanced IT laboratories,

which includes an 8.3-teraflop super grid

computer that is the fastest in the region.

The laboratories also include the latest

interactive humanoid technology, enabling

students to perform experiments in speech

recognition, vision and motion capture. Six

laboratories dedicated to IT security provide

the students hands-on experience in security

systems ranging from intrusion detection

to biometrics. A further five laboratories

dedicated to the field of networking provide

the students an opportunity to learn about

wireless networks, VOIP and other exciting

new concepts in networking.

UAEU also chose to brand its network

access with relevant names aligned to specific

functions: SpaceNET, a robust network

designed and built for research, SkyNET for

the wireless network and EarthNET, which

Communications, Routing and Switching,

Security, and Wireless LAN and its overall

expertise across multiple technologies.

The certification provides Injazat with

access to Cisco’s comprehensive sales,

technical and lifecycle services training

and support. Injazat has integrated Cisco

Lifecycle Services into its offerings and

is required to maintain high levels of

customer satisfaction.

The Cisco Resale Channel Program

provides partners with the training

required to build sales, technical and

brings together all the IT services, including

education and learning IT services leveraging

collaboration capabilities available through

VoIP and IPTV.

EarthNET consists of two Brocade

MLX-32 routers with more than 130

10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) downlinks.

SpaceNET also consists of two Brocade

MLX-32 core routers with more than 64 10

GbE downlinks to research buildings and

80 robust two-tier links to the labs, which

are terminated on Brocade TurboIron®

switches to provide high-performance access

for research applications and connectivity to

Internet 2 (Ankabut).

Following a fully routed design from

Access to Core to offer high performance,

non-blocking links each distribution room

hosts a redundant, resilient pair of Brocade

FastIron SX 1600 aggregation switches with

a capacity to support 33 10 GbE uplinks

and downlinks. There are 430 Brocade

FastIron CX access switches, which support

Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+), deployed

in the wiring rooms.

Nick Choban, CIO of UAEU, was

delighted with the results: “[Of the network

going live] This was a day that will stay with

me for the rest of my life. An interesting fact,

Internet bandwidth utilization has nearly

tripled in the past year, and thanks to a great

design and implementation, I can sleep well

tonight. The unanimous consensus around

the new campus today was that a great

achievement was accomplished”

Cisco Lifecycle Services skills, and

then validates their skills through

a third-party audit. Cisco resale

partner certifications—Gold, Silver,

Premier and Select—represent an

increasing breadth of skills across key

technologies and a partner’s ability

to deliver integrated networking

solutions. Cisco resale partner

specializations—Master, Advanced and

Express—reflect an increasing depth of

sales, technical and service expertise

in particular technologies.


bits

Avaya is to implement a collaboration

solution for Dubai Civil Defense (DCD)

based on its Avaya Flare Experience, a

family of next-gen, real-time enterprise

video communications and collaboration

products and services.

The company is hailing the solution as a

first amongst emergency services and armed

forces across the region and has customised the

solution to meet DCD’s specific requirements.

Due to go live by Q2, the plan is to deploy

Avaya Flare desktop devices at its DCD’s

HQ and its 15 centres across the Emirates.

Put simply, the solution will allow voice,

video and data sharing, allowing senior

management to collaborate in the event of

an emergency. With access to DCD’s central

database, it can also be used to communicate

with 3G smartphones via a VPN, allowing

real-time reporting from on-the-spot officers.

According to Major General Rashid

Al Matrooshi, Director of the General

Department of DCD, “It will save time and

costs, by allowing us to collaborate. Face-to-

face interaction will enhance control in crisis

situations and eliminate unnecessary travel

between centres for briefings and other

updates. This is a strategic move for us.”

DCD has been an Avaya customer

for more than two years, explains Nidal

Abou-Ltaif, VP - Emerging Markets,

Avaya. “The true value of the Avaya Flare

Experience is a breakthrough collaboration

experience which will dramatically expand

communications capabilities in times of

crisis as well as enabling better and more

cost-effective day-to-day communications.”

As well as seamlessly integrating with

DCD’s existing Avaya emergency response

systems, the Avaya Flare Experience also

integrates with social media, calendars and

e-mail from a single user interface on a

multi-touch device.

Cisco will be setting up its Maltese

operation at SmartCity Malta, which

is set to be the regional leader of

the knowledge economy in the

Mediterranean. As part of the strategic

collaboration pact, SmartCity Malta has

also selected Cisco’s Borderless Network

Architecture. Cisco’s Borderless Network

Architecture will create a robust, secure

and flexible networking environment,

to meet the demand of the world’s

digital operations. SmartCity Malta has

also implemented a comprehensive

Cisco Collaboration solution, designed

to provide the most advanced

Storage company NetApp has entered

into an agreement to acquire privately

held Akorri Networks, which specializes

in optimising server, storage and

application performance.

Akorri’s products will be used to extend

the functionality in NetApp’s OnCommand

management software portfolio.

Akorri’s BalancePoint platform allows IT

administrators to troubleshoot, optimize,

plan and manage service levels across both

physical and virtual environments.

Being able to handle both virtualised

and physical systems at the same time

is becoming more important for IT

departments. Companies are moving more

of their application to virtualized servers,

but a majority will in the foreseeable

future still have applications running

physical servers.

BalancePoint works with a plethora

of OSes, storage systems and enterprise

applications. The platform is also

compatible with storage switches from

Brocade and Cisco Systems as well as

virtualization products from Microsoft

and VMware.

Akorri was founded in 2005 and is

based in Littleton, Massachusetts. The

company’s list of customers include

Crocs, Time Warner Telecom and eBay,

according to its website.

Cisco to set shop in SmartCity Malta

NetApp to acquire Akorri Networks

Enhanced response

communication experience with rich,

reliable and effective voice interactions.

Using Cisco’s open architectural

approach, SmartCity Malta blended

switching and security solutions to create

a highly secure, dynamic foundation,

which will serve as a basis for the current

and evolving business requirements

of a sustainable township that caters

for a global, mobile, knowledge-based

workforce. On this borderless network,

SmartCity Malta has used Cisco’s Unified

Communications products and services,

to develop a fully-integrated, intelligent

collaboration solution.

Nidal Abou-Ltaif, Vice President - Emerging Markets, Avaya; Major General Rashid Al Matrooshi - Director of General Department, Dubai Civil Defense

Security haS a new

vantage pointSecurity Connected

Because your business knows no boundaries, you need a like-minded approach to your security. you need a strategic vantage point, and Mcafee has the security

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it’s the industry’s first open framework to integrate and connect various security technologies. it’s solutions working together to secure business wherever it takes

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• ensure efficient, streamlined compliance

get the best vantage point for success. come from a position of Security connected with Mcafee.

Learn more at www.mcafee.com/securityconnected

© 2011 Mcafee, inc. all rights reserved.


bits

The growing popularity of tablet PCs in

the enterprise is producing a noticeable

increase in wireless networking

adoption, according to analysts.

Ovum’s Tim Renowden and Nicole

McCormick have noted the increased

usage of iPads and other tablet devices is

putting pressure on IT managers to look

at deploying technologies which provide

faster wireless networking speeds.

“I think it’s fair to say that increasing

use of PCs and data-hungry tablets on

wireless networks will cause a massive

boost in network traffic, driving

investment in next-generation wireless

access technologies like HSPA+ and

LTE,” Renowden said.

McCormick said pressure to increase

Storage giant EMC has made its first

move into the SMB market, with the release

of entry-level storage systems to compete

with long-time rival NetApp. The family

of VNXe - or VNX “entry” - models are

capable of handling up to 120 drives or

240 terabytes of total storage with a SAS

backplane capable of 6 gigabits per second

(Gbps). The cheapest of the two models is

expected to retail at under $10,000, a price

tag the company claims is the cheapest on

the market.

The first version of the product will

be Ethernet-only, relegating higher

bandwidth fibre-channel interfaces to

the simultaneously launched, higher-end

VNX family of infrastructure models,

which supercede both EMC’s CLARiiON

and Celerra models. However, unified

storage division president, Rich Napolitano,

hinted that fibre-channel modules might

ultimately become available to VNXe

products in coming months.

EMC hopes the use of app-based storage

provisioning will encourage users to adopt

the new infrastructure systems.Tablets to put pressure on networks

Networking to become cheaper in 2011: IDCAnalysts across the board agree that

2011 will be the year when LTE, WiMAX

and simpler flat network architectures will

define networking in the enterprise. IDC

analyst Jamie Jin said virtualisation will be

a major trend across the sector, with the cost

of networking for IT managers decreasing

as a result.

“To address the challenges created by a

virtualised server environment, network

equipment vendors are introducing a simpler,

flatter network architecture, which features

virtual switches, unified fabric and virtual

networking service appliances,” Jin said.

“As the new technologies bring operation

efficiency and add flexibility and thus reduce

operation costs I believe it will continue to

be attractive for large enterprise and service

providers in this year.”

Gartner’s principal research analyst,

Bjarne Munch, said while the cost of

networking may well be reduced this

year, 2011 will still be a challenge for IT

managers when it comes to networking.

“The future of enterprise networking is

not going to be any easier than the past,”

Munch said.

“New technologies, such as LTE and

WiMAX, and new products, such as the

iPad, are emerging, but that’s the easy

part of the story. The complication that we

are now experiencing is the convergence of

technology domains that used to be separate

as well as associated organisational domains

that used to be separate.”

Ovum’s senior analyst, Nicole

McCormick, said the use of LTE will define

2011, with the battle against WiMAX

crowing a distinct winner in 2010. “LTE

has emerged as the clear technology winner

over WiMAX in terms of number of

deployments,” she said.

data flow rates would ultimately fall on

IT managers.

“Employee demand for tablets will

make life more difficult for some IT

managers,” she said.

“For example, let’s say an employee

adds a tablet to its laptop for work

purposes. Managing this scenario will

be more difficult for an IT manager

especially if all files are stored on these

device’s local hard drives. In turn,

this will likely push IT managers to

establishing some sort of centralized

content management system, such as an

internal data base or outside Cloud site.”

Renowden agreed, stating the popularity

of tablets would force the issue of mobile

device management on IT managers.

EMC guns for small business storage

“Provisioning and managing tablets

is a similar process to managing a

fleet of smartphones -- one major

issue is the complexity that arises

when employees demand their own

preferred model.”

Gartner’s principal research analyst,

Bjarne Munch, said the increased demand

for wireless networks would result in IT

managers taking a second look at their

security measures.

“New devices, such as the iPad, are

being pushed into the enterprise placing

pressure on especially security solutions

which must be deployed on these new

devices,” Munch said.

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CV-939-Middle East Ad 2.indd 1 1/28/11 9:46 AM


Citrix Systems has unveiled plans to

significantly grow its Middle East presence

with three new offices in Saudi Arabia,

Qatar and Oman. Citrix’s Saudi Arabian

office, located in Riyadh, has become

operational on January 1, 2011, followed by

offices opening in Doha, Qatar, and Muscat,

Oman, throughout the year. Middle East

and North African (MENA) operations

will continue to be led from the regional

head office in Dubai, UAE. The network

expansion reinforces Citrix’s commitment

to better serve the region’s enterprise and

government customers, as well as extends

support to its channel partner community

throughout the Middle East.

Citrix expands Middle East presence

Milos Hrncar, Area Vice President of

Eastern EMEA region at Citrix Systems

said, “Technology is underpinning the

Middle East’s dynamic economic growth

and this is an incredibly exciting time for

the region. Companies across all sectors

are beginning to realizing the benefits of

virtualization and cloud computing, and

we recognize the need to have a network

of local bases to operate most effectively.

Starting 2011 with our new office in

Riyadh reinforces Citrix’s optimism for

the year ahead and our commitment

to supporting customers and partners

throughout the region.”

The Middle East expansion strategy

will be led by Nehme Mouchantaf,

Citrix Regional Director for KSA,

Qatar and Oman. Nehme Mouchantaf

previously headed the Networking and

Solutions Department at Mindware, the

largest IT Distributor of Citrix Systems

in the region.

du, the UAE’s integrated telecom service

provider, has converged its fixed and mobile

IP transport networks using the Cisco CRS

Carrier Routing System. This will enable

FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) on du’s

network to meet the demand for high-

end broadband services and makes the

company unique in its ability to rapidly

deploy new high-bandwidth mobile

applications and data packages. Cisco and

du have collaborated previously to develop

a portfolio of data and mobility services

in the UAE. This new phase of network

development will allow du to improve the

speed, flexibility and scalability of mobile-

based services to its customers.

This is one of the first regional FMC

projects where all the fixed and mobile

services run on the same IP network with

mobile (signaling and bearer), mobile data,

residential internet, business internet,

residential voice, enterprise voice,

international voice, layer 2 VPNs, layer 3

VPNs and video running on a single IP/MPLS

core powered by Cisco. This collaboration

between Cisco and du also paves the way for

future mobile applications and services to

du’s customers in the UAE. By consolidating

cores, du is able to offer its customers in

the UAE a more scalable platform to deliver

future services at a higher quality. The

reduction in core equipment and moving to

latest technology also reduces du’s energy

consumption and reduce carbon footprint.

Du enters FMC world

bitsbits

EMC has appointed Mohamed

Talaa as GM of the company’s Saudi

operations. Based in Riyadh, Talaat will

be responsible for driving the overall

strategic development of EMC business

in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and

will focus on continuing the growth

of EMC operations, strengthening

strategic customer and channel partner

relationships in the Kingdom, as well

as managing the entire business of

EMC Saudi towards success.

Talaat brings to EMC more than

19 years of collective experience in

enterprise IT solutions and business

management where he has held

a number of senior positions in

the region.

“Talaat brings extensive experience

in the IT Market and understands the

Kingdom’s market very well. With

his experience and leadership, I am

confident that he will execute the

right vision and strategy for EMC’s

business in Saudi Arabia and help

bring our customers’ satisfaction

to higher levels while broadening

our relationships with local channel

partners,” said Mohammed Amin, Vice

President & General Manager of EMC

Turkey, Middle East and Africa. “The

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a strategic

market for EMC and we are very much

committed to all our customers in

the region”.

Prior to joining EMC, Talaat worked

with Microsoft Saudi as a Director,

Enterprise and Partner Group, for four

years where he, while managing the

Enterprise Sales Division, developed

effective customers and partners

oriented strategies to enhance loyalty

and the overall customer and partner

satisfaction.

Mohamed Talaa

EMC names new GM for Saudi

Home UserPacks S.M.B. Packs Available

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Partners Inquires Are WelcomedContact: +971 55 543 04 75


GOOD BAD UGLY

Cloud users do it better

Mid-sized businesses that used cloud-based disaster recovery were back up and running four times faster than

non-cloud businesses. That's according to research from the Aberdeen Group which examined the fortunes of SMEs with disaster recovery.

Not only did those companies with cloud-based disaster recovery programmes fare better but they met their recovery time objectives (RTOs) more often than companies using in-premise methods and also saw year-on-year improvements in the time need to recover from downtime, said the Aberdeen Group.

No more IPv4 addresses

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigned two of the remaining blocks of IPv4 addresses - each

containing 16.7 million addresses - to the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) last month, as predicted.

This action sparks an immediate distribution of the remaining five blocks of IPv4 address space, with one block going to each of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIR).Once the registries hand out all of the IPv4 addresses, network operators must either deploy complex, expensive network address translation technologies to share IPv4 addresses among multiple users or adopt the next-generation of the Internet Protocol called IPv6.

Social media apps top security threats

Popularity has its price. Facebook may be the most popular social networking site with more half a million of "active users". But it

also tops the list of the "worst applications" for any corporate network, according to research executives at WatchGuard.

The company recently released its list of the most risky web applications and social media applications top the list. Among these social media applications, Facebook is on top of the list, followed by Twitter, the second most popular social networking site. Others in the list are also the top favorites among social network users--YouTube and LinkedIn, the professional networking site.

BAD

UGLY

GOOD

Words like “staggering” and “huge”

don’t adequately describe Cisco’s

projected growth of mobile data traffic

through 2015.

The networking firm has released a

forecast that shows a 26-fold increase in

mobile data traffic from 2010 to 2015.

The projection is equal to an annual

growth rate of 75 exabytes through

2015. That is equal to 19 billion DVDs

or 536 quadrillion SMS texts, or 75

times all the Internet Protocol traffic

created in the year 2000.

Video over mobile devices will be

a big cause of the growth, along with

a surge in smartphone and tablet use,

Cisco said. The mobile data growth rate

is about 92% annually.

By 2015, Cisco projects that there

will be more than 5.6 billion personal

devices in use as well as an additional

1.5 billion machine-to-machine devices.

The projected numbers are nearly the

equivalent of one mobile connection

for every person in the world.

Mobile video will account for two-

thirds of all mobile data traffic by 2015,

up 35 times over the five year period

of the study, Cisco said. That is the

Cisco sees 26-fold hike in mobile data traffic

highest of any mobile data application.

Mobile traffic from tablets is

expected to grow 205 times from 2010

to 2015, the most of any device.

The Middle East and Africa will have

the highest mobile data traffic growth,

followed by Latin America, central

and eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Western Europe will follow North

America and Japan at the bottom of

the list. Even so, Japan will have a 70%

annual growth rate, according to Cisco’s

projections.

By country, India’s mobile data

traffic is expected to grow the fastest, at

158% annually, followed by South Africa

and Mexico. The U.S. growth rate is

projected at 83% a year.

Cisco also said that mobile network

connection speeds will increase 10-fold

by 2015 based on current trends.

The report estimates average mobile

connection speeds will grow from

215 Kbit/sec in 2010 to 2.2 Mbit/sec in

2015. The 2010 number is based on

the Cisco Global Internet Speed Test,

which tracks 390,000 global users on

their non-WiFi cellular connections.

Smartphone connection speeds are

projected to increase from 1.04 Mbit/

sec in 2010 to 4.4 Mbit/sec in 2015, a

four-fold increase.

Suraj Shetty, vice president of

worldwide service provider marketing

at Cisco, said that global mobile data

traffic increased by 2.6 times from

2009 to 2010, an indication of the

coming trend.

“The seemingly endless bevy of new

mobile devices, combined with greater

mobile broadband access, more

content and applications of all types-

-especially video--are the key catalysts

driving this remarkable growth,” he

said in a statement.

bits


10 April - 13 April, 2011 • Bahrain

0.5cm


Mohammed Al Qaed, CEO for Bahrain eGovernment authority

date, more than 158 services have been

streamlined and automated. This has helped

to significantly reduce the cost and delivery

time for everyday public services, such as

issuing birth certificates on-line, training

applications, car registrations, electricity &

water bill payments and the payment of all

traffic contraventions.

“Our approach is very much based on

building services around customers. We

have listened carefully to their feedback and

added more services accordingly. Training

and regular awareness campaigns have also

helped to reinforce adoption rates. In the

first year, only 7 percent of the population

was using e-services. Now we are running

at around 40 percent of the public, 94

percent of the businesses and 75 percent of

the government are using our e-services.”

says Mohammed Al Qaed, CEO for Bahrain

eGovernment authority.

Bahrain’s achievements were formally

recognised in January 2010, when it

advanced 29 places in the United Nations

e-Government Readiness index. It is now

ranked the first among Arab nations and

Middle East region, third among Asian

countries and 13th worldwide.

The latest focus of Bahrain’s

transformation is to help foster knowledge

and innovation so that businesses can

become more competitive and citizens can

realise their full potential in the digital

world. Having made e-learning more widely

available via the eGovernment Portal, the

government was keen to explore new

opportunities to help promote academic

excellence and information exchange.

The opportunity to take another step

forward in this transformation presented

itself when Cisco sought to extend its

presence and bring its Cisco Networkers

event to Bahrain. The Bahrain International

Circuit (BIC) was chosen to provide a

spectacular backdrop for the event.

Solution

The Bahrain Government, BIC, and Cisco

have created an innovative public/private

engagement model that supports the

strategic vision of all three organisations.

The engagement has clearly defined the

roles of the three organizations:

• Cisco helped the BIC to rapidly transform

from a top motor sport venue into a

multipurpose convention center. This

transformation was achieved in two phases.

Bahrain is building a knowledge

economy. Under the patronage of

HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al

Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Chairman

of the Economic Development Board, the

government has set out The Economic

Vision 2030, its blueprint for national

transformation. At the heart of Vision 2030

is an aspiration to shift from an economy

built on oil wealth to a productive, globally

competitive economy.

The foundations for this vision were

laid in 2003, when Bahrain became

the first government in the region to

implement a converged IP network. The

initial aim was to use the high-speed Cisco

infrastructure to improve the efficiency

of services and drive closer collaboration

between departments. However, return

on investment was maximised in 2007

when the network provided a ready-made

platform on which to implement the

government’s e-enablement strategy.

A new organisation, the eGovernment

Authority, was established by Royal Decree

No. (69) in August 2007, to manage the

transition of 200 key services that had been

identified for delivery during a three year

strategy through different channels, such

as the eGovernment Portal and others. To

Building a knowledge economyBahrain creates innovative public/private engagement model as it looks to increase its global competitiveness

in action: eGovernance


Cisco provided the BIC with a unified

architecture based on its latest routing,

switching, and wireless technologies. The

new network was then used as a platform to

support Cisco solutions, including Unified

Communications (IP telephony and unified

messaging), radio-frequency identification

(RFID), StadiumVision, Digital Signage, and

TelePresence Technology.

• BIC agreed to host Cisco Networkers

2010, a live technology showcase and

a four-day event for ICT professionals,

providing technical training and

networking opportunities. This event

consisted of five programs running in

parallel, attracting a varied audience from

C-level executives, key decision makers, and

ICT professionals from the Government

and Business sectors in addition to the

press and analyst communities.

• The Bahrain government has provided

substantial support to promote the event

using all available channels, such as media,

audio, video, and many other channels.

The government also urged all Meetings,

Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE)

members to ensure best and attractive

airfares, hotel rates, visa and customs fees

were waved, in addition to hosting an

evening networking reception highlighting

the culture of Bahrain.

“It really was a meeting of the minds.

It was a fantastically exciting opportunity

and, at the same time, a bit daunting. As

a relatively small country, we had to grow

awareness very quickly and make sure

people knew we were here. As the third

largest Formula One venue, our global

brand helped to fulfill that role,” says

Sheikh Salman, CEO from the Bahrain

International Circuit.

Results

Following 16 months of extensive planning,

marketing, and engineering, the BIC opened

its doors on the 28 March 2010 to over 3000

technology experts, key business leaders,

and purchasing decision makers.

Bringing Cisco Networkers 2010 to the

Middle East for the first time has been a huge

success. “It was a dream to hold such an

event in Bahrain. From day one, we could see

that Cisco shared the same passion. Together,

we created an infectious environment, and

it has been invaluable in terms of changing

mindsets, transferring knowledge, and

building contacts,” says Mohammed Al Qaed.

The natural layout of the venue helped

to create one long island of Cisco partner

stands, which were divided logically by

solution, such as Borderless Networks and

Collaboration. This arrangement provided

a valuable location for meetings with Cisco

engineers and experts and opportunity for

attendees to meet and collaborate.

The tone was set with a science-fiction-

like video welcome as a hologram of

Cisco Senior Vice President of Emerging

Technologies, Marthin De Beer, appeared

via three-dimensional Cisco TelePresence

Technology to take part in the live

keynote session.

Following the opening keynote, visitors

could make their way to the World of

Solutions to discuss emerging and core

technology solutions. Alternatively, they

could visit a Design Clinic, where Cisco

engineers were on hand to whiteboard and

share knowledge of how to fix a specific

problem. For those looking for ‘one-on-one’

time, Meet the Engineer provided the perfect

opportunity to work through challenges that

they might be facing.

For the BIC, the engagement has also

created an oasis of exciting new possibilities.

“The big challenge for us is make the

in-stadium experience as compelling and as

interesting as the watch-at-home experience.

Through the use of Cisco technology, we

intend to take fan experience to the next

level by making it more personal, more

interactive, and more fun. We can also think

about developing a new business model, one

that would help us grow revenue and limit

costs,” says Sheikh Salman.

Aligned with Connected Stadium,

the Cisco vision for the next-generation

stadium, BIC can use the network as a

platform to optimise all aspects of the

business. These other aspects include the

surround components that ‘touch’ and

therefore contribute toward defining the

overall spectator experience, such as safety

and security, media content, facilities

management, event staffing, gaming,

parking, and concessions.

The Cisco wireless network allows

different event configurations to be

implemented in different areas of the

stadium, for example, to enable security

teams to use scanners and speed up

stadium entry, or concession holders to

use electronic point-of-sale. The wireless

network can also be extended, so that

spectators can access video playbacks,

message boards, gaming, statistics, or online

ticket sales and merchandising.

The Cisco architecture can also be used

in the future to deliver video, for example,

of press conferences, interviews and behind-

the-scenes action. As well as making the

in-stadium experience more compelling

to customers, this capability will help to

increase revenues from advertisers, sponsors,

and merchandise sales.

BIC can also use the network to

consolidate and centrally manage the

BIC’s building management systems. The

ability to get real-time information on the

consumption of water, gas and electricity

will help to lower running costs, while also

enabling the stadium to become greener and

more environmentally friendly.

The latest focus of Bahrain’s transformation is

to help foster knowledge and innovation so that businesses can become more competitive and citizens can realise their full potential in the digital world.

UAE’s IT managers joined CPI and eHosting DataFort (eHDF) to discuss the state of enterprise data centre and what they would like to see from vendors and service providers going forward.

Connectivity tops CIO concerns

C IOs and IT managers in the

UAE named connectivity and

the lack of redundancy in their

data centres one of the biggest issues that

they are facing in the country. They stated

that connectivity issues will have to be

rectified, and more of a free-market like

environment created for service providers

in order to improve the operational

efficiency and productivity at an exclusive

CIO roundtable conducted by eHosting

DataFort (eHDF) and CPI.

The IT decision makers had gathered

at the roundtable to discuss some of the

continuing challenges connected to their

infrastructure. When asked to name the

issues that confronted them while building

issues and the lack of redundancy was one

of the main reasons that many did not

consider managed data centre services

seriously in the country. Many also

stated that in truth there was not much

choice when it comes to managed service

provision within the country, especially

when it comes to local providers.

“Many a service provider in the market

still do not provide proper detailed SLAs

(service level agreements) to clients. Often,

this leaves the customer with nothing to

compare back to on service provision or to

properly measure the quality of the services

being provided,” said Saleem Ahmed, IT

manager at Emirates Steel.

The audience also named the lack of

experienced IT staff and the unavailability

of quality training courses as other factors

holding back the market.

“It takes me an average of six to seven

months sometimes to find the right resource

for certain job titles. We get a lot of resumes

when we put out an ad, but to find someone

who is of quality and who is the right person

it takes time and internal resources,” pointed

out Tibor Loncsar, director of strategy and

operations – IT at Dubai World Trade Centre.

The group also mourned the lack of

reliable international service providers and

the inability to access and use the resources

of international service providers in the

country due to either connectivity or data

integrity issues.

“From our part, we are constantly in

conversation with entities in the UAE to

enforce the idea that cheaper bandwidth

and better connectivity is essential to the

economic development of the country.

That if these two factors exist then it is

easier for industries to expand their bases

in the country, bring in more people and

therefore help the entire economy. This is a

constant discussion at our end and we will

continue to push it,” says Yasser Zeineldin,

CEO of eHDF.

He also assured that, unlike some other

service providers in the country, eHDF does

operate with clients on SLAs and contracts

across certain metrics.

and maintaining data centres in the

country, many also stated that they had to

constantly tackle vendors and providers

who often knew very little of the solutions

that they were selling.

“Compared to the situation in Europe

or the United States, where there is a lot

of evangelism on technologies, many

companies here do not do enough on

knowledge transfer. Their internal staff

themselves often do not know a lot about

the solutions they are selling, and they

constantly have to check with their peers in

developed markets. Many people in the UAE

are still box pushers this way,” said Sacha

Narinx, technical director for Bios ME.

According to the CIOs, connectivity

event | data centre



How to rev up your sluggish applications

The WAN plan

If you’re struggling with your

WAN to handle business growth,

you’re not alone. Enterprise

organisations are gearing up for a

bandwidth tsunami. What’s driving

the demand for growth in WAN

bandwidth? If you’re among those

experiencing it, you already know:

First is the increased dispersion of

users to branch offices, coupled with

data centre consolidation. Simply

put, this means more WAN traffic, as

IT moves servers farther away from

users. Second is the deployment

of bandwidth-hungry applications,

particularly videoconferencing and

desktop virtualisation.

The performance of applications

across the WAN are beset by a range

of problems – latency, congestion,

chatty applications, contention with

other apps, low bandwidth – that can

be addressed in a variety of ways.

There are some steps users

should follow on how to analyse the

problems and speed up application

performance over the WAN. The first

step is to identify what the problem

is - latency, low bandwidth, chatty

applications, etc. If you assume it’s

low bandwidth and throw more

bandwidth at the problem it won’t

fix the performance of a chatty

application. Fixing applications is

the next step. Many applications

are written to run on LANs where

it doesn’t make much performance

difference if it takes 50 round-

trip transactions to paint a screen.

feature | WAN


natural behaviour of application

protocols and backup/replication

software that were not designed

or optimised for WAN conditions,

application protocols that engage in

excessive handshaking, and finally

the serialisation of the applications

themselves, he adds.

Mark Lewis , Senior Director for

Marketing EMEA, Riverbed, says that

IT managers should know what is

running on their IT infrastructure

and how it is running. Network and

application visibility is an area that

has proven to be of most benefit

when looking to operate efficient

bandwidth costs and application

performance. “The reason I mention

network and application visibility is

before any IT leader can start to look

to lower bandwidth costs and improve

application performance they need

to know where they are to start with.

Once they have a good handle on

where they are today the planning

process is much easier. “

Gartner suggests if latency

is the primary problem, either

because of distance or the nature

of the application, asymmetrical

acceleration may help. This optimises

data that is sent to end machines

so it takes fewer bits crossing the

connection to get it there. This

type of optimisation could include

downloading browser applets that

promotes, for example, caching of

static data and sending only data that

changes from screen to screen.

If latency and bandwidth are

issues, symmetric acceleration may

be needed via devices deployed at

both ends of the WAN to deduplicate

transmissions by caching bit

patterns that repeat, optimising

individual applications through

knowledge of how they work and

how they can be assisted to work

better, and compression.

Though many organisations are

now turning to WAN optimisation

to improve performance of their

WAN links, it remains to be seen how

would this work in a cloud computing

environment, given the fact that

acceleration is point to point.

“Switching from your own apps to

cloud computing can mean a hit on

application performance. Latency and

distance conspire and you don’t have

the opportunity to use traditional

point-to-point accelerators (since

you don’t have control over the

other point - it’s in the cloud after

all) and some optimisation systems

cannot handle 3rd party SSL (which

most cloud services use),” says Nigel

Applications can be written with the

WAN in mind to reduce the number

of round trips and to encourage

caching data that will be reused so it

doesn’t have to be fetched repeatedly.

Writing better applications is a good

practice going forward, but there is

little chance that legacy applications

will be rewritten just to deal with the

WAN problem.

Boosting bandwidth can also help

sometimes, but only if it is simplest

and cheapest to buy more bandwidth.

If not cheap, other methods, such as

WAN optimisation will have to come

into play. “There is a longstanding

myth in IT that bandwidth is the

answer to solving all application

delivery ills, which is one reason why

people have focused on increasing

bandwidth to the extent that it now

forms a large part of IT operational

costs and, in doing so, have failed to

address the root causes of application

performance deficiencies,” says Diego

Arrabal, Regional Director (Middle

East), F5 Networks.

People need to focus on

technologies that address the

Mark Lewis , Senior Director for Marketing EMEA, Riverbed

Boosting bandwidth can also help sometimes, but only

if it is simplest and cheapest to buy more bandwidth. If not cheap, other methods, such as WAN optimisation will have to come into play.

Diego Arrabal, Regional Director (Middle East), F5 Networks


SIX QUICK WAYS TO bOOST WANPERFORMANCEGarter says there are a number of ways you can improve the performance for your WAN. Here’s a quick take:

Identify problems; Latency, low bandwidth, chatty applications?

Write and use applications that are targeted at WANs.

boost bandwidth.

Employ WAN emulation.

Tune your WAN.

Ask your application vendor what works.

Hawthorn, VP EMEA, Blue Coat

Systems.

However, some vendors feature

“asymmetric” WAN optimisation

technologies that support SSL and

use web caching, pre-fetching and

pipelining to optimise cloud-based

services, while remaining true to the

cloud computing model.

Arrabal from F5 says WAN

optimisation could provide a

boost to cloud services. “The

amount of data that is moved

between the cloud provider and the

feature | WAN

enterprise can cause performance

degradation – because there can

be so much of it. So there’s a

need for WAN optimisation, and it

can be useful when data is highly

compressible, when traffic can be

reduced by a huge amount when

it is compressed at one end and

decompressed at another.”

With the number of smart phones

and tablets latching on to enterprise

networks on the rise, mobile

optimisation is another area gaining

traction. “We all expect to access all

information wherever we are and

whenever we want it. The growth

of smart-phones and iPads mean

that ever smaller devices are capable

of ever-greater amounts of data

exchange. So, these devices need to

be optimised and we’re pleased to

offer client software for laptops as

well as traffic control applications

for Apple devices such as iPhones

and iPads,” says Hawthorn.

Arrabals adds another

perspective: “Mobile networks

are facing a choke point. Internet

traffic will never reduce and

we may reach a point – perhaps

within a matter of years – where

without significant investment

the mobile networks will become

congested to the point of

affecting end-user experience, as

device capabilities and demand

completely outstrip available

bandwidth supply. So mobile

optimisation will only become

more important.”

The bottom line? If you are

looking to improve application

performance and cut WAN costs, use

WAN optimisation or find someone

who sells cheaper bandwidth.

If you are looking to improve application

performance and cut WAN costs, use WAN optimisation or find someone who sells cheaper bandwidth.

Nigel Hawthorn, VP EMEA, Blue Coat Systems


25th April 2011The Westin, Dubai

RECOGNISING THE MIDDLE EAST’SNETWORKING CHAMPIONS

www.networkworldme.com/nwmeawards2011

SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATIONS

www.networkworldme.com24 Network World Middle East February 2011 www.networkworldme.com

feature | desktop virtualisation

Depending on whom you talk to, desktop virtualisation is either the hottest trend in IT or an expensive notion

with limited appeal

What desktop virtualisation really

means

Desktop virtualisation harks back

to the good old mainframe days

of centralised computing while

upholding the fine desktop tradition of

user empowerment. Each user retains

his or her own instance of desktop

operating system and applications, but

that stack runs in a virtual machine on a

server – which users can access through

a low-cost thin client similar to an old-

fashioned terminal.

The argument in favour of desktop

virtualisation is powerful: What burns

through more hands-on resources or

incurs more risk than desktop computers?

Even with remote desktop management,

admins must invade cubicles and shoo

away employees when it’s time to upgrade

or troubleshoot. And each desktop or

laptop provides a fat target for hackers and

an opportunity to steal data.

But if you run desktops as virtual

machines on a server, you can manage and

secure all those desktop user environments

in one central location. Patches and other

security measures, along with hardware

or software upgrades, demand much less

overhead. And the risk that users will make

mischief or mistakes that breach security

drops dramatically.

The argument against desktop

virtualisation is almost as strong.

Overhead costs conserved through central

management get cancelled out by the

need for powerful servers, virtualisation

software licenses, and additional network

bandwidth. Plus, the cost of client hardware

and Microsoft software licenses stays

roughly the same, while the user experience

– at least today – seldom lives up to user

expectations. And then the kicker: How are

users supposed to compute when they’re

disconnected from the network?

Decisions about whether or in what form

to adopt desktop virtualisation become a

whole lot easier when you understand the

basic variants and technologies. Here’s what

you need to know:

Desktop virtualisation really is virtualisation

Just like server virtualisation, desktop

virtualisation relies on a thin layer of

software known as a hypervisor, which runs

on bare-metal server hardware and provides

a platform on which administrators deploy

and manage virtual machines. With desktop

virtualisation, each user gets a virtual

machine that contains a separate instance

of the desktop operating system (almost

always Windows) and whatever applications

have been installed. To the desktop OS, the

applications, and the user, the VM does a

pretty good job of impersonating a real

desktop machine.

Desktop virtualisation and VDI mean

pretty much the same thing

VMware was first to promote the

VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure)

terminology, but Microsoft and Citrix

have followed suit, offering VDI solutions

of their own based on the Hyper-V and

XenServer hypervisors, respectively.

Think of it this way: VDI refers to

the basic architecture for desktop

virtualisation, where a VM for each user

runs on the server.

“Desktop virtualisation is not a

single technology – far from it; there

are several very different architectural

approaches to virtualising the desktop

that have very different use cases, benefits

and drawbacks. In a Virtual Desktop

Infrastructure, individual desktops with

different types and versions of operating

systems run as virtual machines on

servers in the data centre. In contrast

to traditional server-based computing,


applications need not be adapted.

Computing load is scaled across multiple

CPUs and servers,” points out Zia ul Haq

Syed, Director, Client Service Department,

Fujitsu Technology Solutions.

Don’t confuse desktop virtualisation with

... desktop virtualisation

The desktop virtualisation we’re talking

about refers to server-based computing.

But “desktop virtualisation” also refers

to running virtual machines on desktop

systems, using such desktop virtualisation

solutions as Microsoft Virtual PC, VMware

Fusion, or Parallels Desktop. Probably the

most common use of this sort of desktop

virtualisation is running Windows in a

Parallels or Fusion VM on the Mac. In other

words, this has nothing to do with server-

based computing.

VDI solutions cost more (and deliver more)

than traditional thin client solutions

Think about it: With VDI, each virtual

machine needs its own slice of memory,

storage, and processing power to run

a user’s desktop environment, while

in the old-fashioned Terminal Services

model, users share almost everything

except data files. VDI also means a

separate Windows license for each

user, while Terminal Services-style

setups give you a break with Microsoft

Client Access Licenses. Plus, VDI incurs

greater network traffic, which may

add a network upgrade to beefy server

hardware.

“With traditional thin client solutions,

users have access to one or more

applications from a fixed device location.

VDI on the other hand delivers entire

desktops to staff – from anywhere at any

time. The back-end costs of VDI may be

higher than traditional thin computing,

but this must be looked at in terms of the

overall cost-of ownership (TCO) and return

on investment (ROI) . The calculation

of ROI should include not only pure

acquisition cost, but also the value to the

business of longer refresh cycles, lower

power consumption, flexibility of access,

centralised management efficiencies,

data security, business agility, and green

footprint,” says Christine Carey, Regional

Manager-Middle East, Wyse.

However, in return for the extra cost,

along with a better user experience,

VDI delivers greater manageability and

availability. As with server virtualisation,

you can migrate virtual machines among

servers without bringing down those VMs,

perform VM snapshots for quick recovery,

run automated load balancing, and more.

And if a virtual machine crashes, that

doesn’t affect other VMs; with Terminal

Services, that single instance of Windows is

going to bring down every connected user

when it barfs.

What is the difference between static and

dynamic VDI architecture?

“In a static architecture, each user has a

unique virtual machine to which he or she

always connects, whereas in a dynamic

architecture, a new virtual machine is

created for each session from master

templates. Both approaches have their

benefits and disadvantages,” says Syed.

In Dynamic VDI Infrastructure a Pool is

created for a similar function of users who

will users who will be dynamically assigned

a desktop a pool. This approach results

in better utilisation of the resources in a

controlled manner.

The long march to the server side

Meanwhile, a completely different form of

server-based computing continues to gain

traction: the variant of cloud computing

known as SaaS (software as a service), where

service providers maintain applications and

user data and deliver everything through

the browser. A prime example is Google’s

campaign for Google Docs, encouraging

users to forget about upgrading to

Office 2010 and adopt Google’s suite of

productivity apps instead. Plus, Google’s

Chrome OSpromises to create entire

desktop environments in the cloud that

retain user personalisation.

Very likely, no big winner will emerge in

server-based computing. Old-style Terminal

Services setups will continue to crank along

for offices harboring users with narrow,

simple needs. True desktop virtualisation

on the VDI model will make sense where

security and manageability are paramount,

such as widely distributed organisations

that use lots of contractors. And where far-

flung collaboration is key, SaaS will flourish,

because anyone with a Web browser can

join the party. Conventional desktops may

never disappear, but one way or another,

the old centralised model of computing is

making a comeback.

In return for the extra cost, along with a better user

experience, VDI delivers greater manageability and availability.


Different flavours of desktop virtualisation

Four sizes fit all

Employees come in all manner of

shapes and sizes, with a diverse

range of skills and weaknesses;

and the best managers know how to

motivate and support every individual.

Corporate IT policy, on the other hand,

usually favours a more rigid ‘one-size fits

all’ approach.

The ‘one-size-fits-all’ mindset is

evident in the early releases of desktop

virtualisation technology because although

it can deliver far more efficient desktop

management, improved security, better

business continuity and major cost savings,

it failed to offer support for anyone beyond

www.networkworldme.com

task workers and specialist use cases such

as off shoring software development and

highly secure desktops.

To make a comparison to cars, a

compact, lightweight battery powered car

is perfect as an urban run-about but is

of little use to someone who is regularly

covering long distances and needs a large

luggage compartment. Likewise a senior

company executive, who is constantly

on the move, often using their high-

performance laptop offline and regularly

accessing company data through wireless

connections, has a very different PC and

working requirements than a customer

service representative working set hours

in a call centre.

Although the premise of desktop

virtualisation is straight forward enough

– managing and delivering the desktop

environment from the data centre –

the way in which the environment is

delivered has to change according to how

the desktop is being used by each worker.

To gain the most from desktop

virtualisation the aim should be to deploy

the technology across the organisation

from a central location, such as a data

centre, covering all worker types. Research

conducted by Citrix has identified five

types of PC-based workers within most

large organisations, ranging from task

workers (who have low-end demands of

their PCs) through to very mobile workers

(who make big demands of their PC and

access to business information).

To match the end-user needs of these

five different types of worker, there are

four core virtualisation technologies

under the umbrella term “desktop

virtualisation.” These fall into two basic

categories, server side compute and

client side compute.

Desktop virtualisation technologies

that support low-end requirements, such

as task workers, tend to revolve around

server-side computing; the execution

of the Windows environment and

applications being in the datacentre and

simply delivering the desktop display to

the client.

Technologies that support higher

end-user requirements, such as those

demanded by contractors, freelancers

and highly mobile executives, centre

on client-side computing. In these

cases the desktop environment

(Windows OS, applications and user

profile) is delivered on demand for

client side execution supporting a

wide range of PCs and enabling offline

working in a virtualised environment.

opinion | virtualisation


About the Author: Noman Qadir is the Senior Field Sales Manager (Middle East, Turkey, Greece) at Citrix Systems.

The key benefit is that no matter

where the virtual desktop is executed,

a single golden image for both the

Windows OS and applications is built

managed and delivered to all users in

the organisation.

The most cost efficient desktop

virtualisation technology is a hosted

shared desktop (Windows Remote

Desktop Services) which provides a locked

down, streamlined and standardised

environment with a core set of

applications. The level of personalisation

is limited or can be entirely locked down.

As the desktop is being run from the

data centre, the client devices can be

inexpensive ‘thin clients’ or existing PCs

that would otherwise be retired. Easy

to manage and extremely cheap (500

desktops can be supported from a single

server), a hosted shared desktop approach

is well suited to supporting tasks workers

that only require access to a set number

of applications.

Another one of the earliest ways

of delivering a form of desktop

virtualisation was virtual desktop

infrastructure (VDI), or its synonym,

hosted virtual desktop. Once again, as

signified by the words ‘infrastructure’

and ‘hosted’, the datacentre is an integral

part to the solution whereby complete

multiple instances of a Windows OS

are either hosted on shared servers or

single instances on dedicated blade PCs.

VDI is therefore restricted to connected

desktops only (LAN and WAN); typically

for task-orientated employees and office-

based knowledge workers. Desktop

images running on shared servers is the

most economical approach; for high-end

requirements such as professional CAD/

CAM or GIS graphics applications, these

are best served through dedicated blade

PC hardware .

VDI was one of the first ways

to deliver a form of desktop

virtualisation because task workers

have few requirements of their PCs

and the technology to deliver VDI

is comparatively uncomplicated.

From the end-user perspective, the

main difference between hosted

shared desktops and VDI is that

VDI preserves a personalised PC

environment, typically needed by

office workers, which can be securely

delivered over any network to any

device. While VDI can be appropriate

for many users, perhaps even entire

departments, it does not meet the

needs of an entire organisation.

Moving from server-centric

computing towards the client-

side, local streamed desktops take

advantage of the local processing

power of rich clients, while providing

centralised single-image management

of the desktop. It is well suited for

government, schools and university

labs that use diskless PCs for maximum

data security, and also offers an easy,

low-cost way for customers to get

started with desktop virtualisation by

keeping the datacentre overhead to a

minimum, while still benefiting from

single-image management. However

to fully benefit from this approach

and maximise cost savings of single

image management a homogenous PC

infrastructure is required.

However, the real cutting edge of

desktop virtualisation is local virtual

machine based desktops; the newest

desktop virtualisation technology which

takes advantage of the latest generation

of laptops, such as those with the Intel

vPro series chip sets, with type 1 (bare

metal) hypervisors. This means that, for

the first time, a secure virtual desktop

can be delivered and used in an offline

use case.

When working offline, the mobile

knowledge worker is working in a

virtualised environment supported

by the PC itself, but when suitably

connected changes to the operating

systems, applications and user data are

automatically synchronised with the

datacentre, bringing the benefits of

centralised, single-instance management

to mobile workers whenever and

wherever they roam.

Organisations can now serve every

type of worker it has through the four

core technologies that constitute desktop

virtualisation, giving workers all the

support they need from their PC through

a single centralised approach that

delivers significant time and cost savings.

The flexibility of desktop

virtualisation finally gives centralised IT

management an approach that fits all, in

four different sizes.

The real cutting edge of desktop virtualisation

is local virtual machine based desktops.

Norman Qadir


feature | hospitality

The economic downturn may have beaten the multi-billion hospitality industry in the region down a tad. But new investments in both properties and related technologies are still underway

Served up hot

Traditionally, this industry has been

at the forefront when it comes

to adoption of new technologies,

thanks to the cut-throat competition

and the need to improve the standards

and performance of the hotels and guest

experience. From wireless to IP telephony

to unified communications, the industry

is innovatively integrating state-of-the-art

communications into all business areas,

from food orders to guest accommodations.

Wireless and convergence technologies

have become important tools for keeping in

contact with customers, even as they roam

a service area.

What technology trends will shape

the regional hospitality industry in

2011? “The hospitality vertical will

continue to look for simplistic, easy to

use technology for guests. At the front

end, simplicity remains key. At the

back end, integration with key backend

systems is vital to provide, for example,

centralised billing for the guest, or

effective use of the Room Management

System. Guests will continue to use

wireless, anywhere, anytime, anyplace

connectivity,” says Mechelle Buys de

Plessis. Sales Manager & Marketing

Lead, Dimension Data.

Fredrick Sabty, Director – Hospitality

and Healthcare Solutions, Avaya Emerging

Markets, echoes a similar opinion: “I

believe that the hospitality industry will

start using technology in a smarter way to

enrich guest experience, and reduce the

time guests take to familiarise themselves

with the systems. Technology will be

entirely focused on its guests, especially

when it comes to in-room systems. I also

see collaboration technology being more

Fredrick Sabty, Director – Hospitality and Healthcare Solutions, Avaya Emerging Markets


widely adopted than in the past.”

Almost all experts agree that wireless

is going to be important to the industry

growth. The vision and promise of wireless

strongly resonates with the hospitality

industry as some of the leading players are

toying with the idea of using one’s handset

for all hotel-related functions – check-in,

entertainment, and lightning controller,

and lots more.

“Few years ago, mobility was considered

an advantage for hotel guests. Today the

guests expectations have changed. An

increasingly global and mobile workforce

is demanding connectivity and amenities

wherever they go, and whenever they want.

The business traveller expects from their

hotels exquisite services and the ultimate

travel experience and to be connected from

any device anywhere at the hotel,” says Hani

Nofal, Regional Manager, Cisco UAE.

Mechlle adds that voice mobility will

remain a key enabler for staff productivity

and reduced costs for hotel operators.

“Guest wireless mobility is important from

a data, or internet connectivity perspective.

Mobility is therefore both a revenue stream

and a cost saving necessity.”

Cisco believes video and virtual clearly

will impact a substantial portion of the

group/meetings business and the transient

market. “Winners and losers will be

determined by their ability to innovate and

adapt quickly to this emerging landscape,

creating new experiences, services, and

business models—and by their ability to

grow profitably in the face of evolving

industry dynamics,” says Nofal.

He underscores why the hotel industry

must prepare for a coming sea change

in how meetings are conducted: “The

increasing prominence of technology-based

meetings in both transient and event-based

businesses presents a new playing field for

hospitality operators, in which virtual and

physical meetings commingle to serve the

needs of corporate customers. Some hotel

operators have already begun initiatives to

host video and virtual meetings, including

Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and

Resorts Worldwide, and Taj Hotels, Resorts,

and Palaces. Technology and the market

move quickly, so time is of the essence in

establishing a hotel’s brand association

around the next generation of meetings.”

Sabty adds another perspective on

why collaboration will emerge as a key

growth enabler for the industry: “It

enables its users a host of options to

communicate – from audio and video-

conferencing to simple phone calls,

and the ability to interact via instant

messaging. Users will spend less time

travelling to various meetings, and

therefore reduct travel time and costs, as

well as enhance their efficiency.”

Many say the hospitality industry is

also an ideal candidate for virtualisation

and cloud computing. “Virtualisation and

cloud computing will play a big roll across

all verticals and it doesn’t exclude the

hospitality vertical. It is clear that in order

to service guests more effectively, with

simplicity at the front end, the underlying

infrastructure is becoming more complex.

The focus will therefore continue to be on

ensuring a lower operational cost of the

increasingly complex infrastructure whilst

allowing quick response to addressing new

guest service, or hotel operator business

needs. Virtualisation and cloud computing

offers the hospitality industry these

benefits,” says Mechelle.

Cloud computing is transforming

the way IT departments deploy custom

applications during lean times. By offering

a fundamentally faster, less risky, and more

cost-effective alternative to on-premises

applications, cloud computing will forever

change the economics of hospitality

information technology.

“I find this to be especially true with

hospitality IT departments worldwide,

as they are re-evaluating their strategies

and looking for innovative ways to create

competitive advantages. CIOs are redefining

their value to the enterprise by looking

for new, cost-effective alternatives for

application enhancement and development,

including cloud computing. Many

hospitality organisations have already

made, or are in the process of shifting

to cloud-based solutions to deliver faster

time to value, reduce their up-front capital

expense, minimise operational cost and

simplify integration,” says Nofal.

For an industry that’s so dependent

on delivering good customer service,

it’s imperative for this sector to adopt

technology tools that can help them cut

costs and shore up bottom line. The writing

is on the wall for those who lag behind.

Hani Nofal, Regional Manager, Cisco UAE

Mechelle Buys de Plessis. Sales Manager & Marketing Lead, Dimension Data


The hockey stick growth projections for data storage and network traffic don’t look like they will level off anytime soon

Gauging the volume

So plan to stock up on disks

(or get smarter about data

management) and get ready

to install fatter network pipes

(or get more serious about WAN

optimisation).

Data is growing in enterprise

storage banks at 50% per year, says

Tam Dell’Oro, founder and president

of Dell’Oro Group, a research and

consulting firm.

The average Fortune 1,000 company

has about 1.2 petabytes of disk-

based storage today (a PB being 1,000

terabytes), according to TheInfoPro.

So, if these organizations continue to

increase capacity at the rate suggested

by Dell’Oro, they will need to

accommodate about 9PB by 2015.

The trend is being fueled by

changing work habits, increasingly

stringent compliance mandates that

require more electronic record-keeping

and falling storage costs, according to

Dell’Oro and others.

In terms of cost, IDC says the price

per gigabyte of storage is declining by

25% to 30% per year. At that rate, it

is often easier to add resources than

try to squeeze more out of what you

have.

“As you make something cheaper,

people buy more of it,” says Chuck

Hollis, vice president and CTO at

enterprise storage giant EMC. Hollis

says EMC saw 12% more dollars spent

on storage in 2010 than in 2009, even

though unit prices were falling.

New developments in healthcare,

utility, retail and other vertical

industries are also driving the need

to hold onto more data, Hollis says.

Likewise, utilities running smart

grids are collecting “billions and

billions of records,” and retailers are

“storing data about customers, their

behaviors and metrics” to better target

merchandising and sales,

Hollis adds.

Uncle Sam is also contributing to

the load, says Dell’Oro. She points out

that Sarbanes-Oxley regulations keep

getting stricter, putting the squeeze

on increasingly smaller companies and

feature | storage


lower departmental levels. That results

in more “stuff” getting socked away in

virtual filing cabinets in case auditors

come calling.

Similarly, the Health Insurance

Portability and Accountability Act

(HIPAA) continues to cover more

ground. Consider telemedicine, which

is yielding more video-based remote

patient consultations.

“HIPAA requires you to store those

video sessions,” says Arielle Sumits,

lead analyst on Cisco’s 2010 Visual

Network Index (VNI) report.

The VNI is an annual deep-dive into

IP traffic growth that Cisco conducts.

It goes without saying that data

storage growth translates into WAN

traffic demands, but those demands

are whipsawed by two macro trends:

data centralization, a byproduct of

data center consolidation; and worker

dispersion, driven by efforts to get

employees out in front of customers

and accommodate telework and other

flex employment options.

Worldwide managed IP WAN

business traffic will grow at a

compound annual growth rate

(CAGR) of 17% through 2014, while

business Internet traffic will climb at

a 20% CAGR rate, according to Cisco’s

VNI. While healthy, this growth

pales in comparison to mobile data

growth, for which the company has

assigned a CAGR of 93% over the

same time period.

Cisco bases its projections on three

main sources, Sumits says: monthly

data shared by 20 global network

service providers; data collected from

a free Cisco usage-tracking mobile

application in use by 350,000 users;

and usage data collected by the FCC

and other government regulators

around the world.

The company also factors in

projections from more than 16

industry research firms, among them

ABI Research, Dell’Oro and IDC,

Sumits says.

What’s actually on the network?

Most traffic types are growing at a

double-digit clip. VoIP is a notable

exception, growing at a mere 4% CAGR

worldwide, according to Cisco’s 2010

VNI, compared with a 29% CAGR for

Web data and 48% CAGR for video. The

Cisco VNI indicates that in 2010, there

was about 17 times more data than

VoIP traffic on IP networks.

The most demanding traffic is

video, says Alan Weckel, a director

at Dell’Oro. And it is only going to

get worse. “We’re in the early stages

of video becoming prevalent on the

desktop,” Weckel says.

Not only are more video

applications emerging, from IP

surveillance to office daycare Webcam

feeds and healthcare imaging. Driving

much of the traffic increase is the

quality of the video, Sumits says. A

high definition WAN video conference

session, for example, can require

more than 20Mbps.

Cisco predicts that by 2014 91% of

global network traffic will be video.

Mobile growth spurt

The biggest growth in 2011 will be

in mobile data traffic. For business

traffic alone, North American mobile

Not only are more video applications emerging, from

IP surveillance to office daycare Webcam feeds and healthcare imaging.

data will grow 117% from 2010 to

2011, Cisco’s Sumits estimates.

ABI Research is more conservative

in its outlook. Dan Shey, enterprise

practice director, sees North American

business mobile data traffic growing

41% from 2010 to 2011, from about

198PB to 280PB.

Chris Hazelton, research director

of mobile and wireless at The 451

Group, points to growing use of

software-as-a-service (SaaS) options

as having a large impact on data

networks in general and something to

watch out for with mobile networks.

Obviously with SaaS, all application

calls involve the network.

“How much data are SaaS

applications using? It’s tough to know,

Hazelton says, and might not matter

so much in the wired world. But if

employees are hitting that app from

smartphones it “could eat up a mobile

data plan fast.”

ABI’s Shey projects that retail,

healthcare and government will

represent the top three verticals for

smartphone use, comprising about

44% of the smartphone installed base

over the next five years. However,

those verticals might not actually

generate the lion’s share of wireless

WAN traffic because they are likely to

offload much of it onto Wi-Fi networks

indoors, he says.

We have Apple to thank for the

mobile data surge, which ignited

with the iPhone launch in 2007. The

multimedia, bandwidth-intensive

nature of smartphone apps that have

rolled out since has sent mobile

broadband operators scurrying to

enhance network capacity to keep up.

In turn, the mobile apps - now used by

consumers and enterprises alike - are

quick to fill those pipes right back up.

And so it continues.


trends | networking

Server and storage environments have seen a lot of changes in the past ten years, while developments in

networking have remained fairly static. Now the demands of virtualisation and network convergence are driving the

emergence of a host of new network developments

Trends reshaping networks

Here’s what you need to know and

how to plan accordingly.

• Virtualisation. Virtualisation has allowed

us to consolidate servers and drive up

utilisation rates, but virtualisation is

not without its challenges. It increases

complexity, causing new challenges

in network management, and has a

significant impact on network traffic.

Prior to virtualisation, a top of rack

(ToR) switch would support network traffic

from 20-35 servers, each running a single

application. With virtualisation, each

server typically hosts 4-10 VMs, resulting

in 80 to 350 applications being supported

by a single ToR rather than multiples

switches, consolidating the network

traffic. As a result, the ToR is much more

susceptible to peaks and valleys in traffic,

and given the consolidation of traffic on

one switch, the peaks and valleys will be

larger. Network architectures need to be

designed to support these very large peaks

of network traffic.

• Flattening the network. It is not possible

to move VMs across a Layer 3 network, so

the increased reliance on VMs is driving

the need to move toward flattening the

network – substituting Layer 2 architecture

for older Layer 3 designs. In addition,

a flatter network reduces latency and

complexity, often relying only on ToR

switches or end of row (EoR) switches

connected to core switches. The result is

lower capital expenses as fewer switches

need to be purchased, the ability to

migrate VMs across a larger network, and

a reduction in network latency.

• TRILL. To facilitate implementation

of Layer 2 networks, several protocols

have emerged. One major change is the

replacement of Spanning Tree Protocol

(SPT). Since there are usually multiple

paths from a switch to a server, SPT

handled potential multipath confusion

by setting up just one path to each

device. However, SPT limits the network

bandwidth and as the need developed for

larger Layer 2 networks, SPT has become

too inefficient to do the job.

Enter the Transparent Interconnection

of Lots of Links (TRILL). TRILL is a new way

to provide multipath load balancing within

a Layer 2 fabric and is a replacement for

SPT. TRILL has been defined by IETF and

maps to 802.1q capabilities within the

IEEE. TRILL eliminates the need to reserve

protected connections for future use, and

thereby stranding bandwidth.

• Virtual physical switch management. In

a virtualised environment, virtual switches

typically are run on servers to provide

network connectivity for the VMs in the

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server. The challenge is each virtual switch

is another network device that must be

managed. Additionally, the virtual switch is

often managed through the virtualisation

management software. This means the

virtualisation administrator is defining

the network policies for the virtual

switch while the network administrator

is defining the network policies for the

physical switch. This creates potential

problems as two people are defining

network policies. Since it is critical to

have consistent security and flow control

policies across all switches, this conflict

must be resolved.

EVB (Edge Virtual Bridging) is an

IEEE standard that seeks to address

this management issue. EVB has two

parts, VEPA and VN-Tag. VEPA (Virtual

Ethernet Port Aggregator) offloads all

switching from the virtual switch to the

physical switch. All network traffic from

VMs goes directly to the physical switch.

Network policies defined in the switch,

including connectivity, security and flow

control, are applied to all traffic.

If the data is to be sent to another

VM in the same server, the data is sent

back to the server via a mechanism

called a hairpin turn. As the number

of virtual switches increases, the need

for VEPA increases because the virtual

switches require more and more

processing power from the server. By

offloading the virtual switch function

onto physical switches, therefore, VEPA

removes the virtualisation manager

from switch management functions,

returns processing power to the server,

and makes it easier for the network

administrator to achieve consistency for

QoS, security, and other settings across

the entire network architecture.

In addition to VEPA, the IEEE standard

also defined multi-channel VEPA, which

defines multiple virtual channels,

allowing a single physical Ethernet

connection to be managed as multiple

virtual channels.

The second part of EVB is VN-Tag.

VN-Tag was originally proposed by

Cisco as an alternative solution to

VEPA. VN-Tag defines an additional

header field in the Ethernet frame that

allows individual identification for

virtual interfaces. Cisco has already

implemented VN-Tag in some products.

• VM migration. In a virtualised data

centre, VMs are migrated from one

server to another to support hardware

maintenance, disaster recovery or

changes in application demand.

When VMs are migrated, VLANs and

port profiles need to be migrated as

well to maintain network connectivity,

security and QoS (Quality of Service).

Today, virtualisation administrators

must contact network administrators

to manually provision VLANs and port

profiles when VM’s are migrated. This

manual process can greatly impact the

data centre flexibility as this manual

process could take minutes, hours

or days, depending on the network

administrator’s workload.

Automated VM/network migration

addresses this problem. With automated

VM/network migration, the VLAN and

port profiles are automatically migrated

when a VM is migrated. This eliminates

the need for network administrators to do

this manually, ensuring that VM/network

migration is completed immediately.

• Convergence. The other major trend

underway in data centre networking is

fabric convergence. IT managers want to

eliminate separate networks for storage

and servers. With fabric convergence they

can reduce management overhead and

save on equipment, cabling, space and

power. Three interrelated protocols that

enable convergence are Fibre Channel over

Ethernet (FCoE), Ethernet itself (which is

being enhanced with Data centre Bridging

(DCB), and 40/100GB Ethernet.

Storage administrators initially

gravitated to Fibre Channel as a storage

networking protocol because it is

inherently lossless, as storage traffic can’t

tolerate any loss in transmission. FCoE

encapsulates Fibre Channel traffic onto

Ethernet and allows administrators to

run storage and server traffic on the same

converged Ethernet fabric. FCoE allows

network planners to retain their existing

FCoE controllers and storage devices while

migrating to a converged Ethernet network

for transport. This eliminates the need to

maintain two entirely separate networks.

DCB comes into the picture because

it enhances Ethernet to make it a lossless

protocol, which is required for it to carry

FCoE. A combination of FCoE and DCB

standards will have to be implemented both

in converged NICs and in data centre switch

ASICs before FCoE is ready to serve as a fully

functional standards-based extension and

migration path for Fibre Channel SANs in

high performance data centres.

Another advancement being driven by

the rise in server and storage traffic on the

converged network is the move to 40GB

and 100GB Ethernet. With on-board 10GbE

ports expected to be available on servers in

the near future, ToR switches need 40GB

Ethernet uplinks or they may become

network bottlenecks.

Some of the protocols discussed are

still in development, but that doesn’t

mean you shouldn’t begin planning now

to leverage them.

The other major trend underway in data centre

networking is fabric convergence. IT managers want to eliminate separate networks for storage and servers.

trends | networking

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www.networkworldme.com36 Network World Middle East February 2011 www.networkworldme.com

What are the challenges and

satisfactions of being CIO of

a company with thousands

of computer engineers, as opposed to

being CIO of, say, a fast-food or retail

store chain?

Ben Fried: Some things about it are really

hard because many brilliant technologists

are my customers. You have to have a

thick skin. That’s also true for people in

engineering who build Google products,

because we test the products internally.

What’s different about Google is that we

produce astoundingly high-quality products

and we have an ability to use technology

to shape the organization that you don’t

necessarily have in other companies. We

have leadership that fundamentally and

Google CIO finds job rewarding

deeply understands what me and my people

do, which is awesome. So it’s incredibly hard

because I have the most demanding users

in the world but there’s no better way to be

great than by having demanding customers.

The results are incredibly rewarding. When

I see the work that my people produce, I’m

just awed by it.

What have been your biggest

accomplishments as Google CIO?

Fried: Every manager I know hesitates to

answer that type of question because it’s the

things you don’t put in the answer that will

cause you problems and I’d risk offending a

lot of people. At a high level, there’s this really

neat value at Google that we don’t create the

processes that our technology allows, but

rather we decide what we want Google to be

and we create technology to enable that.

I’m proudest of things where we’ve

allowed Google to be different. Google

hires people, promotes people and rewards

people in ways that are unique. All of those

things and many other things that [Google

does] that are unique are also supported by

software that my organization does, builds

and writes. I’m also proud that we give

our users choice in personal technology

and that we’ve built an astoundingly good

customer support organization: The first

responder to your problem will solve it

about 90 percent of the time. I’m also proud

that we did a very successful financial

systems upgrade last year with a ton of

planning and that it went flawlessly. There

are many other things my organization

accomplished that I’m very proud of.

Do you think that the changing landscape

of tablets is something CIOs need to pay

attention to. Why?

Fried: There’s going to be a ton of tablets out

there and people will bring them to work.

It will follow the path of BlackBerrys in the

enterprise years ago. Road warriors brought

in their BlackBerrys and demanded service

and pretty soon some were dropping their

laptops and going BlackBerry only. CIOs

needed to figure out what services they were

going to provide on top of this. My advice to

CIOs now is to look at tablets and think hard

about what your strategy is. Some people

already feel that they’re behind on the game

on this. But if you look at the variety of

Android tablets coming out, it’s clear that it

will be a diverse landscape and you have a

chance to get in ahead of this. CIOs are going

to have to think about software delivery. Are

we going to buy software for these tablets?

Do we have to think about training for our

development organizations to learn how to

build for these things? Do we have to think

about optimizing Web browser experiences

to work for this stuff? CIOs need to have a

strategy and opinions about tablets because

it will be the next personal computing

platform that we’re expected to provide at

the enterprise, and very quickly. It will be

this year.

interview | google

Google CIO Ben Fried is proud to offer choice in technology to the company’s users

34428-GTW Barter-Batch 01-Network World ME.pdf 1 1/31/11 11:59 AM


Three years in the making, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 is a gutsy, green upgrade that features native support for KVM, the Linux kernel-based virtual machine

The vendor says its FabricPath

RHEL6 isn’t revolutionary. But

it does a nice job of advancing

ideas that first appeared in other releases.

For example, Security Enhanced Linux

(SELinux), a security-focused subset of

Linux, offers partitioning of resources so

that user processes can’t hijack kernel root-

privileged processes.

RHEL6 takes SELinux and adds

sandboxing policies that allow sysadmins

or processes to further isolate sessions or

applications. Policy controls also allow

admins to confine session or resource

access as well.

We were heartened by these

extensions, as they’re needed tools to

isolate both users and processes from

destabilising busy servers.

And while Novell’s SUSE Linux 11

first championed a production release of

the Linux tickless kernel in a corporate

distribution of Linux, Red Hat goes further

toward kernel-based power management.

A tickless kernel doesn’t interrupt the

processor every thousandth of a second,

waking it up from power saving states.

This feature has been available in Linux

for a while, but not often implemented

because there are some applications that

applications are built with that need a

System Tick timer clock.

Red Hat builds gutsy, green virtualisation machine

test

Control groups, first seen in SLES

11, are also implemented in RHEL6.

The cgroups allow tasks to be grouped

together as an object, in terms of their

accessibility to system resources. Tasks

and cgroups can be confined in terms of

CPU strokes (and which CPU), memory

allocation, network I/O, storage, or access

to the system scheduler.

Red Hat also added Aggressive Link

The powertop application in RHEL6 is

used to actively command and monitor

power usage in great detail. Applications

can be tuned to spoof needless tick-

based interruptions to the CPU without

reducing functionality of the application.

These noisy applications become quieter,

and the CPU sleep states can become

longer with tuning. When the CPU sleeps,

it uses far less power.


Power Management that works (for

now) only on SATA host bus adapters/

controllers to jump to a low power

state when there’s no pending disk I/O.

Coupled with aggressive use of powertop,

an administrator has the ability to assert

more active control over server/instance

power consumption.

In an ideal future world, applications

would set their use based on

configuration information, but there

are no real standards for this today, so

administrators are left to tune application

instances for power consumption.

Samba 4.0 inside

Directory service and authentication

is enhanced through a new edition

of Samba, open source software that

provides file and print services for

Windows clients. Samba 4.0 contains

support for Active Directory trust

relationships that work with Windows

2008 R2 Editions.

Samba 4.0 features additional support

for IPv6 and connects to a System

Security Services Daemon in RHEL6 that

allows centralised access to different

identity/authentication services, such

as linking LDAP with Kerberos, Active

Directory, and so on.

Products like Synchronicity and

Microsoft acquisition Zoomit have

provided similar directory/authentication

mapping services, but RHEL6 is the first

to put this into the kit.

Installation has become more

sophisticated. We installed RHEL6

onto VMware ESXi, which had a

configuration wrapper available to

deal with RHEL6 specifics before

RHEL6 was released.

The installation GUI also has detailed

specs to install storage devices. If you

want your server to use iSCSI or Fibre

Channel over Ethernet, you get device

and method-specific help and the same

is provided for detected storage-area

network (SAN) devices or firmware-based

RAID drives.

RHEL6 also takes advantage of multi-

queue networking. While we were

unable to test this, we find its inclusion

encouraging, as it gives administrators the

capability to assign core-specific I/O tasks

at a low-level, meaning that traffic doesn’t

have to go up and down an application

stack to get CPU boosts.

Virtualisation support

Support for kernel-based KVM hypervisor

virtualisation is native (as it is on Ubuntu

Server) and supports up to 64 virtual CPUs

on virtualisation-enhanced AMD and Intel

server platforms.

CPU drivers (actually extensions) are

available to put into virtual machines

running atop KVM to enhance the virtual

machine’s ability to support updated CPU

instruction sets.

Like paravirtualisation, which makes

generic socket connections to network

and storage devices, CPU extensions

allow applications written with advanced

libraries (and their instruction sets) to

skip the step of interpretation when the

hypervisor must deal with complex VM

instance states. The result ought to be

higher efficiency between hypervisor

host and VM.

Cloud connections

We examined how RHEL6 plays into

cloud platforms and came to several

conclusions.

1. Where a server is the host to user

environments, RHEL6’s SELinux

controls, coupled with advanced Control

Group use, permits a user and session

resource partitioning profile that places

a number of walls and limitations

around users/tasks. As a user/process

host, it passes nicely.

2. Where RHEL6 becomes a host for

the random/sporadic traffic associated

with private cloud virtual machines,

RHEL6 is poised towards virtual

machine life-cycling.

But it has no inherent applications

that spin up instances the way an

enlightened civilian might like, and

so private cloud management tools

are needed.

3. Using RHEL6 in the public cloud ought

to be simpler, as RHEL6 can play with its

KVM use and ability to confine instances

with SELinux and cgroups.

4. We found KVM simpler to install and

support than XenServer 5.6 (the latest

version), but it’s ultimately not as full-

featured as XenServer.

5. RHEL6 plays now on ESXi and therefore

VMware’s vCloud. RedHat includes a new

tool, virt-v2v which allows importation of

Xen, ESX, or other KVM virtual machines.

Unfortunately, it can’t be done live—just

from disk images.

Conclusion

Red Hat 6 is a maturation of concepts

found in prior editions, but with a decided

emphasis on directory services integration

and security components. It’s neither

radical nor destabilising, but it does put

Red Hat at the forefront of sponsoring

the KVM hypervisor infrastructure. While

there are pockets of excitement, there are

many smaller components that have been

revised to give Red Hat 6 an incremental

feel, and one we think is solid.

The powertop application in RHEL6 is used to

actively command and monitor power usage in great detail.

FOR MORE PRODUCT REVIEWS, LOG ON TO:www.networkworldme.com


motorola launches Xoom tablet

Cisco has launched its all-new face-to-face virtual meeting solution, Cisco TelePresence EX60. This system represents the latest addition to the Cisco

TelePresence EX Series, which also includes the Cisco TelePresence EX90. Designed for desktops at work or at home, Cisco’s all-in-one EX60 is stylish and simple to use, offering an interactive touch screen and true, lifelike full HD video in a large-screen format.

The Cisco TelePresence EX60 combines work, communication and collaboration – all on the desktop – with just the touch of a finger. It works anytime, anywhere and supports full HD video, natural collaboration and a simple touch-screen interface for a complete solution that keeps conversations natural and

productive. Cisco TelePresence EX60 offers video resolutions of 1080p30 and 720p60 on a high-quality 21.5-inch screen with clear 1920-by-1080 resolution that enables participants to work, meet and collaborate via a one-tool device.

Motorola has finally unveiled its highly anticipated tablet, the Xoom, with a 10.1-inch touchscreen with the latest version of Google’s Android mobile software on board, formerly

called Honeycomb.Motorola’s Xoom hosts a number of upgraded specifications

that could see the device carry a hefty price tag. Motorola did not announce pricing.

It has two digital cameras on board: A front-facing 2.0-megapixel camera acts as a webcam for video chat, and a 5.0-megapixel camera on back is for photos and 720p high-definition video capture.

The touchscreen has a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels, compared with the iPad’s 1024 by 768 and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Tab, at 1024 by 600.

Users will be able to watch 1080p HD video on the Xoom and output HD video to other devices via an HDMI slot. Adobe’s Flash Player is also on board the Xoom, making it good for viewing Web video.

The Xoom measures 249.1 millimeters by 167.8mm and is 12.9mm thick. By way of comparison, the iPad is 13.4mm thick and the Galaxy Tab is 11.98mm thick. At 730 grams, the Xoom weighs the same as the iPad with 3G and Wi-Fi.

toolshed tools & gadgets

cisco telePresence eX60


Sandisk offers security software and online back-up

wd expands enterprise portfolio

SanDisk is offering encryption and online backup features across its entire retail USB portfolio. SanDisk SecureAccess software protects files against unauthorized access by creating an encrypted, password-protected folder or ‘vault’ on the USB drive. The software also

includes up to 2 GB of secure online backup storage offered by Dmailer. SanDisk is also expanding its USB product portfolio with two new drives to meet the

needs of a broad set of customers. The SanDisk Ultra® USB flash drive features faster transfer rates and the SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB drive offers easy portability.

The SanDisk Ultra USB flash drive features faster transfer speeds of up to 15 megabytes per second and large storage capacities that help consumers conveniently manage libraries of multimedia content. The drive carries a five year limited warranty and comes in 8GB to 32GB capacities. The SanDisk Cruzer Edge USB flash drive features a compact slider design for easy portability, allowing consumers to carry anywhere their photos, music and videos with them. The drive carries a two year limited warranty and is available in 2GB to 16GB capacities.

Western Digital has launched its second-generation WD S25 SAS drives and its latest WD RE SAS 3.5-inch drives for the traditional enterprise market.

Shipping now, the 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM, WD S25 with SAS 6 Gb/s interface hard drives offer IT professionals ultra-reliable and efficient, high-performance storage with new 450 GB and 600 GB capacities. The WD S25 line, including the previously released 147 GB and 300 GB capacities, is designed for mission-critical server and storage systems.

Also shipping now to OEMs, the new 3.5-inch, 7,200 RPM, WD RE SAS with 6 Gb/s interface hard drives offer 1TB and 2TB capacity points, and represent a key addition to WD’s expanding enterprise product portfolio. The WD RE SAS drives mark an important commitment to the expansion of WD’s SAS portfolio for high-capacity data center storage, storage area networks (SAN), network attached storage (NAS), direct attach storage (DAS), networked surveillance systems and cloud storage.


Astronomers said they have used the NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to spot a galaxy whose light traveled

13.2 billion years to reach Hubble, about 150 million years longer than the previous record holder.

According to NASA the tiny, dim object is a compact galaxy of blue stars that existed 480 million years after the big bang. More than 100 such mini-galaxies would be needed to make up our Milky Way. The new research offers surprising evidence that the rate of star birth in the early universe grew dramatically, increasing by about a factor of 10 from 480 million years to 650 million years after the big bang, NASA stated.

Sign of the digital times

layer 8

google on hiring spree

Sony is shuttering

one of its largest CD manufacturing plants - citing the impact of digital downloads and other economic issues.

The plant, which is in

Pitman, NJ and has been in operation for some 50 years, first producing vinyl records, will close on March 31 and about 300 people will lose their jobs. The 500,000-square-foot warehouse began producing vinyl LPs in 1960 and moved to CD manufacturing in 1988. At its capacity, the plant was making 18 million CDs per month, according to its website.

The closure is a reflection of the seismic shift that has been going on in the music industry for years. In the first half of 2009, CD album sales were down about 18% to 110.3 million units from 134.6 million units during that same time last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Vinyl record sales actually have been doing quite well, over the past four years. In 2009, 2.5 million albums were sold in the US, up from 1.88 million in 2008, according to Nielsen Entertainment.

Google seems poised to hire more than 6,000 people this year all goes according to plan. That amazing fact was

posted on the company’s website by Alan Eustace, Google’s senior vice president of engineering and research.

“In 2010 we added more than 4,500 Googlers, primarily in engineering and sales: second only to 2007 when we added over 6,000 people to Google. I love Google because of our people. It’s inspiring to be part of the team. And that’s why I am excited about 2011-because it will be our biggest hiring year in company history,” Eustace wrote.

The hiring figure is based on Google’s growing efforts in mobile display advertising and the cloud to name a few successes, Eustace stated. “Amazingly, Android now runs on over 100 devices with more than 300,000 activations each day. Chrome has at least 120 million active users and it’s growing quickly. Last year more than 1 million businesses switched to Google Apps and embraced its 100% web approach.“

US begins sophisticated wireless jamming project naSa’s Hubble spots most far

away galaxy everThe US military is beginning to develop algorithms and other technology that can automatically learn to jam certain new

wireless transmissions that may threaten personnel.BAE Systems recently got about $8.4 million from the Defense

Advanced Research Projects Agencyto begin work on what’s known as the Behavioral Learning for Adaptive Electronic Warfare (BLADE)system.

According to DARPA: As wireless communication devices become more adaptive and responsive to their environment by using technology such as Dynamic Spectrum Allocation, the effectiveness of fixed countermeasures may become severely degraded. The BLADE program will develop algorithms and techniques that will let our electronic warfare systems to automatically learn to jam new RF threats in the field.

DARPA added that it expects new software algorithms will be integrated into existing electronic warfare gear and not require new hardware.

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