My Stuff:
- I continued my series on Wi-Fi protocol analysis with a discussion of Wireshark WLAN Traffic Statistics and I/O Graphs, which follows previous posts on Wireshark Coloring Rules. Keep an eye out for some posts on professional grade tools which can automate some of these (tedious) tasks!
- Wi-Fi Direct is gaining momentum, as expected, with several products hitting the consumer market.
- I ran an admittedly unscientific survey about WLAN Vendor Selection Criteria and decided to giveaway a CWDP Study Guide in the process. Although the response period is over, I am compiling the survey responses and will post the results soon - stay tuned!
- I gave the low-down on what customers need to know about the Cisco Flex 7500 Cloud Wireless Controller (and lamented at the use of the term "cloud", ugh). Greg, over at EtherealMind.com, appears to agree with me!
- The CCIE Wireless Lab Exam Version 2.0 was announced. See what I think are the important changes to focus on.
- I absolutely love TED Talks, and share some of my favorites every now and then, like this one by Kathryn Schulz on "Being Wrong". If you're looking for another great talk, check out Jason Fried's TEDx talk on "Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work".
- Small market Wi-Fi vendors like Aerohive have a knack for pushing the industry forward. They are willing to take a fresh approach and are much more agile at adapting to market demands than larger vendors. I think their Credential Caching capability is a feature that provides a great value for customers and makes other vendors look out of touch with true branch environment needs. Abby at Aerohive also seems to agree (imagine that)!
- PowerCloud announced CloudCommand Hotspot Edition, which promises to ease deployment, management, and revenue generation for Wi-Fi hotspots for small customers and managed service providers. Also see their blog post on the release and its benefits.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a report classifying electromagnetic fields as "possibly carcinogenic (Group 2B)", which will undoubtedly create mass confusion among the media and spawn quite a few sensationalist journalist articles. The finding is definitely not conclusive (see the definition of Group 2B in the Preamble to the IARC Monographs) and more applicable to cellular phones which are held close to a person's body. However, I'm sure we'll see these findings reported across all RF related technologies, including Wi-Fi. Here is another article on the report from InformationWeek.
Update - IEEE Spectrum published a great analysis of the report, "What the WHO's Cellphone-Cancer Statement Really Means"
- Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, spoke at D9: All Things Digital conference and listed Wi-Fi enabled TVs and fiber optic bandwidth as the two most important tech revolutions for the company's future growth. I couldn't agree more!
- Stephen Foskett covered Apple's new AirDrop feature which is forthcoming with Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion", and broke the unfortunate news that once-again, they are relying on proprietary protocols to accomplish their goals. Why, oh why, can't they just use Wi-Fi Direct?
- Qualcomm completed its acquisition of Atheros, expanding its portfolio and strengthening the company's position in the mobile industry with solutions spanning cellular and Wi-Fi now.
- Qualcomm and Atheros released a tri-band chipset that enables Wi-Fi on 2.4GHz and 5GHz, plus 60GHz WiGig for in-room high bandwidth data transfers. This could explode the in-home video streaming market. Here are additional articles from DailyWireless and GigaOm on the announcement.
- Wi-Fi traffic is forecasted to overtake wired network traffic by 2015. Yeah, we're growing by leaps and bounds folks, where have you been!
- The Enterprise Mobility Foundation posted a great interview on enterprise mobility management, MDM, and the state of the market with Todd Delaughter, CEO of Mformation. There is some great insight and practical advice for organizations looking to define a strategy to support mobile devices more extensively. A must read in my opinion!
- The Packets Never Lie, at least according to Douglas Haider. This was a fun little video that Kevin Sandlin at CWNP, Inc. put together from the CWAP beta class attendees.
- Sam Clements busted out some Linux kung-fu on Cisco networking equipment to resurrect an NM-AIR-WLC6 from death. He reminds us just how useful some basic Linux skills can be as a swiss-army knife for many occasions as an IT professional. And that "dd" is our friend :)
- The guys at MetaGeek give practical advice on building a spectrum analysis report with their Chanalyzer Pro Report Builder. Remember, include only the appropriate amount of data and graphs to get your point across. Too much data can be self-destructive!
- Aerohive released HiveOS 4.0, which includes enhanced support for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), spectrum analysis based on the Atheros chipsets, and Partner Admin which enables managed service provider cloud NMS control for customer deployments. See reviews by Chris Lyttle and Marcus Burton.
- PC Pro (a UK based magazine) researched What's Killing Your Wi-Fi? This article is full of so many mistakes, mis-conceptions, and flat-out wrong advice, that I would caution anyone reading it to dismiss most of what it says. From getting the unlicensed frequency ranges wrong, describing co-channel interference of other Wi-Fi networks minimal compared to non-Wi-Fi interference, to coming dangerously close to advising users to leave their networks unsecured for performance gains, PC Pro shows very poor journalism. I also would like to know what "wireless industry experts" they "canvassed", because they don't site any sources (other than generically) and their facts are incomplete or wrong in many cases.
- Riverbed unleashes the fury on competitors paying for so-called "independent lab testing", which is arguably skewed to shed favorable light on the sponsoring vendor's products. I think we've all read these types of reports, and most of us are smart enough to see through them. However, it's unfortunate that some customers will never know better, and take these reports at face value. Matthew Norwood also recently called out the need to study vendor solutions and be careful who you trust prior to making decisions. Bravo Riverbed and Matthew!
- My good friend, Nate Lee, covered ARP Spoofing / Man-in-the-Middle attacks, DHCP Snooping, and Dynamic ARP Inspection security controls on wired switches. This is a great intro to these network security features that all organizations should consider implementing on edge access switches. This must be his way of showing me how secure his network can be after I've heckled him for years about how my Wi-Fi network was much more secure than his wired network :)
- Stephen Foskett gave the low-down on what Tech Field Day is all about, and I am super jealous about the Fenway Park visit during Tech Field Day 6 in Boston next week. I know it's virtualization focused, but I soooo want to be there!
- FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn visited my hometown of Omaha, NE and spoke about broadband availability being so much more than just access to the Internet. The Internet is already a necessity for almost everyone to function in today's society. She spoke of the issues of physical broadband availability, adoption, and important access provided by local libraries, schools, employers, friends and families. Also of critical importance, especially in rural America, is access to distance learning programs for children and students (something which I am proud to have worked on at my time early in my career with a local NE school district).
Take a break, with a Geek Meditation Session (courtesy of AllThingsD, via @travis_schlafke)
Cheers (and happy reading!),
Andrew
