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We keep promoting creativity which meets the needs of customers. This spirit has never been changed since we developed the world's first integrated 3-in-1 data/fax/voice modem in 1992. Our ability to adapt and innovate with networking technology places us at the forefront of understanding connectivity for telco/service providers, businesses and home users.\r\nWe're building the networks of tomorrow, helping unlock the world's potential and meeting the needs of the modern workplace; powering people at work, life and play. We stand side-by-side with our customers and partners to share new approaches to networking that will unleash their abilities. Loyal friend, powerful ally, reliable resource — we are Zyxel, Your Networking Ally.<br /><br />","companyTypes":["vendor"],"products":{},"vendoredProductsCount":1,"suppliedProductsCount":1,"supplierImplementations":[],"vendorImplementations":[],"userImplementations":[],"userImplementationsCount":0,"supplierImplementationsCount":0,"vendorImplementationsCount":0,"vendorPartnersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"b4r":0,"categories":{"7":{"id":7,"title":"Storage - General-Purpose Disk Arrays","description":" General-purpose disk arrays refer to disk storage systems that work together with specialized array controllers to achieve high data transfer. They are designed to fulfill the requirement of a diverse set of workloads such as databases, virtual desktop infrastructure, and virtual networks. The market size in the study represents the revenue generated through various deployment modes such as NAS, SAN, and DAS. Some of the technologies used in the general-purpose disk arrays market include PATA, SATA, and SCSI. The application areas of general-purpose disk arrays include BFSI, IT, government, education &amp; research, healthcare, and manufacturing.\r\nGeneral-Purpose Disk Arrays market in BFSI accounts for the largest revenue. IT industry and governments are investing heavily in the general-purpose disk arrays, as a huge amount of voluminous data is getting generated which requires high storage capacity to store the classified data for analytics purpose and consumer insights. General-Purpose Disk Arrays market in healthcare is expected to show robust growth during the forecast period, as hospitals are adopting the latest technology with huge storage spaces in an attempt to track the patient history for providing better healthcare facilities.\r\nThe global general-purpose disk arrays market is fragmented owing to the presence of a large number of local and regional players, which intensifies the degree of rivalry. The market is growing at a notable pace, which leads to high intensity of rivalry. Key market players such as Dell EMC, HPE, and IBM Corporation seek to gain market share through continuous innovations in storage technology. Some of the other key players operating in a market are Hitachi, Seagate Technologies, NetApp, Promise Technologies, Quantum Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Fujitsu, DataDirect Networks, and Infortrend Technology Inc. Key competitors are specifically focusing on Asia-Pacific and Middle-East &amp; Africa regions, as they show strong tendency to adopt the general-purpose disk arrays in coming years.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the characteristics of storage?</span>\r\nStorage technologies at all levels of the storage hierarchy can be differentiated by evaluating certain core characteristics as well as measuring characteristics specific to a particular implementation. These core characteristics are volatility, mutability, accessibility, and addressability. For any particular implementation of any storage technology, the characteristics worth measuring are capacity and performance.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Volatility</span></span>\r\nNon-volatile memory retains the stored information even if not constantly supplied with electric power. It is suitable for long-term storage of information. Volatile memory requires constant power to maintain the stored information. The fastest memory technologies are volatile ones, although that is not a universal rule. Since the primary storage is required to be very fast, it predominantly uses volatile memory.\r\nDynamic random-access memory is a form of volatile memory that also requires the stored information to be periodically reread and rewritten, or refreshed, otherwise it would vanish. Static random-access memory is a form of volatile memory similar to DRAM with the exception that it never needs to be refreshed as long as power is applied; it loses its content when the power supply is lost.\r\nAn uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can be used to give a computer a brief window of time to move information from primary volatile storage into non-volatile storage before the batteries are exhausted. Some systems, for example EMC Symmetrix, have integrated batteries that maintain volatile storage for several minutes.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Mutability</span></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Read/write storage or mutable storage</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Allows information to be overwritten at any time. A computer without some amount of read/write storage for primary storage purposes would be useless for many tasks. Modern computers typically use read/write storage also for secondary storage.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Slow write, fast read storage</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Read/write storage which allows information to be overwritten multiple times, but with the write operation being much slower than the read operation. Examples include CD-RW and SSD.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Write once storage</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Write Once Read Many (WORM) allows the information to be written only once at some point after manufacture. Examples include semiconductor programmable read-only memory and CD-R.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Read only storage</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Retains the information stored at the time of manufacture. Examples include mask ROM ICs and CD-ROM.</div>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Accessibility</span></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Random access</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Any location in storage can be accessed at any moment in approximately the same amount of time. Such characteristic is well suited for primary and secondary storage. Most semiconductor memories and disk drives provide random access.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Sequential access</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The accessing of pieces of information will be in a serial order, one after the other; therefore the time to access a particular piece of information depends upon which piece of information was last accessed. Such characteristic is typical of off-line storage.</div>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Addressability</span></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Location-addressable</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Each individually accessible unit of information in storage is selected with its numerical memory address. In modern computers, location-addressable storage usually limits to primary storage, accessed internally by computer programs, since location-addressability is very efficient, but burdensome for humans.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">File addressable</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Information is divided into files of variable length, and a particular file is selected with human-readable directory and file names. The underlying device is still location-addressable, but the operating system of a computer provides the file system abstraction to make the operation more understandable. In modern computers, secondary, tertiary and off-line storage use file systems.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Content-addressable</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">Each individually accessible unit of information is selected based on the basis of (part of) the contents stored there. Content-addressable storage can be implemented using software (computer program) or hardware (computer device), with hardware being faster but more expensive option. Hardware content addressable memory is often used in a computer's CPU cache.</div>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Capacity</span></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Raw capacity</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The total amount of stored information that a storage device or medium can hold. It is expressed as a quantity of bits or bytes (e.g. 10.4 megabytes).</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Memory storage density</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The compactness of stored information. It is the storage capacity of a medium divided with a unit of length, area or volume (e.g. 1.2 megabytes per square inch).</div>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Performance</span></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Latency</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The time it takes to access a particular location in storage. The relevant unit of measurement is typically nanosecond for primary storage, millisecond for secondary storage, and second for tertiary storage. It may make sense to separate read latency and write latency (especially for non-volatile memory[8]) and in case of sequential access storage, minimum, maximum and average latency.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Throughput</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The rate at which information can be read from or written to the storage. In computer data storage, throughput is usually expressed in terms of megabytes per second (MB/s), though bit rate may also be used. As with latency, read rate and write rate may need to be differentiated. Also accessing media sequentially, as opposed to randomly, typically yields maximum throughput.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Granularity</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The size of the largest &quot;chunk&quot; of data that can be efficiently accessed as a single unit, e.g. without introducing additional latency.</div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reliability</span>\r\n<div class=\"indent\">The probability of spontaneous bit value change under various conditions, or overall failure rate.</div>\r\nUtilities such as hdparm and sar can be used to measure IO performance in Linux.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Energy use</span></span>\r\n<ul><li>Storage devices that reduce fan usage, automatically shut-down during inactivity, and low power hard drives can reduce energy consumption by 90 percent.</li><li>2.5-inch hard disk drives often consume less power than larger ones. Low capacity solid-state drives have no moving parts and consume less power than hard disks. Also, memory may use more power than hard disks. Large caches, which are used to avoid hitting the memory wall, may also consume a large amount of power.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security</span></span>\r\nFull disk encryption, volume and virtual disk encryption, andor file/folder encryption is readily available for most storage devices.\r\nHardware memory encryption is available in Intel Architecture, supporting Total Memory Encryption (TME) and page granular memory encryption with multiple keys (MKTME) and in SPARC M7 generation since October 2015.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Storage_General_Purpose_Disk_Arrays.png","alias":"storage-general-purpose-disk-arrays"},"52":{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service"},"172":{"id":172,"title":"WLAN - wireless network","description":"Unified Communications (UC) is a marketing buzzword describing the integration of real-time, enterprise, communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including extension mobility and single number reach), audio, web & video conferencing, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), desktop sharing, data sharing (including web connected electronic interactive whiteboards), call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user-interface and user-experience across multiple devices and media-types.\r\n\r\nIn its broadest sense, UC can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via a network to include other forms of communications such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and digital signage Communications as they become an integrated part of the network communications deployment and may be directed as one-to-one communications or broadcast communications from one to many.\r\n\r\nUC allows an individual to send a message on one medium, and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, one can receive a voicemail message and choose to access it through e-mail or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non-real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.\r\n\r\nSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_communications","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WLAN_-_wireless_network.png","alias":"wlan-wireless-network"},"197":{"id":197,"title":"WAN optimization","description":" WAN optimization is a collection of techniques for increasing data transfer efficiencies across wide-area networks (WANs). In 2008, the WAN optimization market was estimated to be $1 billion, and was to grow to $4.4 billion by 2014 according to Gartner, a technology research firm. In 2015 Gartner estimated the WAN optimization market to be a $1.1 billion market.\r\nThe most common measures of TCP data-transfer efficiencies (i.e., optimization) are throughput, bandwidth requirements, latency, protocol optimization, and congestion, as manifested in dropped packets. In addition, the WAN itself can be classified with regards to the distance between endpoints and the amounts of data transferred. Two common business WAN topologies are Branch to Headquarters and Data Center to Data Center (DC2DC). In general, &quot;Branch&quot; WAN links are closer, use less bandwidth, support more simultaneous connections, support smaller connections and more short-lived connections, and handle a greater variety of protocols. They are used for business applications such as email, content management systems, database application, and Web delivery. In comparison, &quot;DC2DC&quot; WAN links tend to require more bandwidth, are more distant, and involve fewer connections, but those connections are bigger (100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s flows) and of longer duration. Traffic on a &quot;DC2DC&quot; WAN may include replication, back up, data migration, virtualization, and other Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) flows.\r\nWAN optimization has been the subject of extensive academic research almost since the advent of the WAN. In the early 2000s, research in both the private and public sectors turned to improving the end-to-end throughput of TCP, and the target of the first proprietary WAN optimization solutions was the Branch WAN. In recent years, however, the rapid growth of digital data, and the concomitant needs to store and protect it, has presented a need for DC2DC WAN optimization. For example, such optimizations can be performed to increase overall network capacity utilization, meet inter-datacenter transfer deadlines, or minimize average completion times of data transfers. As another example, private inter-datacenter WANs can benefit optimizations for fast and efficient geo-replication of data and content, such as newly computed machine learning models or multimedia content.\r\nComponent techniques of Branch WAN Optimization include deduplication, wide area file services (WAFS), SMB proxy, HTTPS Proxy, media multicasting, web caching, and bandwidth management. Requirements for DC2DC WAN Optimization also center around deduplication and TCP acceleration, however these must occur in the context of multi-gigabit data transfer rates.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is WAN Optimization?</span>\r\nWAN optimization involves prioritizing specific parts of the network to receive more bandwidth. For example, you might want to allocate more throughput and bandwidth to the parts of the network involved in a critical data-processing task, to make sure it’s completed quickly. Many WAN improvements can be accomplished with either physical or logical changes to your network.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Is WAN Optimization Important?</span>\r\nBusinesses are increasingly facing pressures on their WAN setups due to increased use of cloud computing, applications, and other network-wide technologies such as web portals. The associated increase in traffic across the WAN makes WAN optimization even more important, as network slowdowns can become a major issue if you don’t proactively manage this complexity and volume.\r\nNumerous different business processes are affected by a slow network. Even simple actions, like employees accessing files, can become unacceptably slow. If the network is dragging, it might take their business-wide file manager a while to load, and then even longer to open the file. Even though it seems like a small, two-minute task, these problems quickly add up.\r\nMeanwhile, admins may have trouble effectively managing and monitoring their network — and ensuring network security — if they’re fighting against inefficient, high-latency network infrastructure. WAN optimization can potentially allow admins — and their software tools — to more effectively protect all devices and end-users.\r\nWAN optimization also supports remote and mobile workers. When someone works remotely, they’re expanding the WAN and requiring business data to travel further. Without WAN optimization, their connection could be slow. Even simple business processes such as email can become inconvenient to use. If the network is optimized correctly, all employees will be able to access network portals and business information, even if they’re connecting remotely.\r\nFurthermore, even applications not directly affected by optimization processes can benefit when bandwidth is freed up in relation to other parts of the network. All these benefits increase business efficiency and promote cost savings as a result.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WAN_optimization1.png","alias":"wan-optimization"},"227":{"id":227,"title":"Advanced Analytics Software","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advanced analytics</span> is a part of data science that uses high-level methods and tools to focus on projecting future trends, events, and behaviors. This gives organizations the ability to perform advanced statistical models such as ‘what-if’ calculations, as well as future-proof various aspects of their operations.\r\nThe term is an umbrella for several sub-fields of analytics that work together in their predictive capabilities.\r\nThe major areas that make up advanced analytics are predictive data analytics, big data, and data mining. The process of advanced analytics includes all three areas at various times.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data mining</span> is a key aspect of advanced analytics, providing the raw data that will be used by both big data and predictive analytics. <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Big data analytics</span> are useful in finding existing insights and creating connections between data points and sets, as well as cleaning data.\r\nFinally, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">predictive analytics</span> can use these clean sets and existing insights to extrapolate and make predictions and projections about future activity, trends, and consumer behaviors.\r\nAdvanced analytics also include newer technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, semantic analysis, visualizations, and even neural networks. Taken together, they help advanced analytics software create an accurate enough canvas to make reliable predictions and generate actionable BI insights on a deeper level.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">A list of tips on how to manage the process of building an advanced analytics program</h1>\r\n<ul><li>Start with a proof-of-concept project to demonstrate the potential business value of analytics applications.</li><li>Take training seriously. New data management and analytics skills likely will be needed, especially if big data platforms and tools like SAS advanced analytics tools are involved.</li><li>Develop processes to ensure that business units are ready to act on analytical findings so the work of data scientists and other analysts doesn't go to waste.</li><li>Monitor and assess advanced and predictive analytics software on a regular basis to make sure the data being analyzed is still relevant and the analytical models being run against it are still valid.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Advanced analytics tools</h1>\r\nThere are a variety of advanced analytics tools to choose from that offer different advantages based on the use case. They generally break down into two categories: open source and proprietary.\r\nOpen source tools have become a go-to option for many data scientists doing machine learning and prescriptive analytics. They include programming languages, as well as computing environments, including Hadoop and Spark. Users typically say they like open source advanced analytics tools because they are generally inexpensive to operate, offer strong functionality and are backed by a user community that continually innovates the tools.\r\nOn the proprietary side, vendors including Microsoft, IBM and the SAS Institute all offer advanced analytics tools. Most require a deep technical background and understanding of mathematical techniques.\r\nIn recent years, however, a crop of self-service analytics tools has matured to make functionality more accessible to business users. Tableau, in particular, has become a common tool. While its functionality is more limited than deeper technical tools, it does enable users to conduct cluster analyses and other advanced analyses.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Advanced_Analytics_Software.png","alias":"advanced-analytics-software"},"499":{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network"},"513":{"id":513,"title":"Networking","description":" Networking hardware, also known as network equipment or computer networking devices, are electronic devices which are required for communication and interaction between devices on a computer network. Specifically, they mediate data transmission in a computer network. Units which are the last receiver or generate data are called hosts or data terminal equipment.\r\nNetworking devices may include gateways, routers, network bridges, modems, wireless access points, networking cables, line drivers, switches, hubs, and repeaters; and may also include hybrid network devices such as multilayer switches, protocol converters, bridge routers, proxy servers, firewalls, network address translators, multiplexers, network interface controllers, wireless network interface controllers, ISDN terminal adapters and other related hardware.\r\nThe most common kind of networking hardware today is a copper-based Ethernet adapter which is a standard inclusion on most modern computer systems. Wireless networking has become increasingly popular, especially for portable and handheld devices.\r\nOther networking hardware used in computers includes data center equipment (such as file servers, database servers and storage areas), network services (such as DNS, DHCP, email, etc.) as well as devices which assure content delivery.\r\nTaking a wider view, mobile phones, tablet computers and devices associated with the internet of things may also be considered networking hardware. As technology advances and IP-based networks are integrated into building infrastructure and household utilities, network hardware will become an ambiguous term owing to the vastly increasing number of network capable endpoints.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is network equipment?</span>\r\nNetwork equipment - devices necessary for the operation of a computer network, for example: a router, switch, hub, patch panel, etc. You can distinguish between active and passive network equipment.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an active network equipment?</span>\r\nActive networking equipment is equipment followed by some “smart” feature. That is, a router, switch (switch), etc. are active network equipment.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is passive network equipment?</span>\r\nPassive network equipment - equipment not endowed with &quot;intellectual&quot; features. For example - cable system: cable (coaxial and twisted pair (UTP/STP)), plug / socket (RG58, RJ45, RJ11, GG45), repeater (repeater), patch panel, hub (hub), balun (balun) for coaxial cables (RG-58), etc. Also, passive equipment can include mounting cabinets and racks, telecommunication cabinets.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the main network components?</span>\r\nThe main components of the network are workstations, servers, transmission media (cables) and network equipment.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are workstations?</span>\r\nWorkstations are network computers where network users implement application tasks.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are network servers?</span>\r\nNetwork servers - hardware and software systems that perform the functions of controlling the distribution of network shared resources. A server can be any computer connected to the network on which the resources used by other devices on the local network are located. As the server hardware, fairly powerful computers are used.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Networking.png","alias":"networking"},"542":{"id":542,"title":"UTM - Unified Threat Management Appliance","description":"A unified threat management (UTM) system is a type of network hardware appliance that protects businesses from security threats in a simplified way by combining and integrating multiple security services and features.<br />UTM devices are often packaged as network security appliances that can help protect networks against combined security threats, including malware and attacks that simultaneously target separate parts of the network.\r\nWhile UTM systems and next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) are sometimes comparable, UTM devices include added security features that NGFWs don't offer.\r\nUTM systems provide increased protection and visibility, as well as control over network security, which reduces complexity. UTM systems typically do this via inspection methods that address different types of threats.\r\nThese methods include:\r\n<ul><li>Flow-based inspection, also known as stream-based inspection, samples data that enters a UTM device, and then uses pattern matching to determine whether there is malicious content in the data flow.</li><li>Proxy-based inspection acts as a proxy to reconstruct the content entering a UTM device, and then executes a full inspection of the content to search for potential security threats. If the content is clean, the device sends the content to the user. However, if a virus or other security threat is detected, the device removes the questionable content, and then sends the file or webpage to the user.</li></ul>\r\nUTM devices provide a single platform for multiple network security functions and offer the benefit of a single interface for those security functions, as well as a single point of interface to monitor or analyze security logs for those different functions.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How do UTM Appliances block a computer virus — or many viruses?</span>\r\nUnified threat management appliances have gained traction in the industry due to the emergence of blended threats, which are combinations of different types of malware and attacks that target separate parts of the network simultaneously. Preventing these types of attacks can be difficult when using separate appliances and vendors for each specific security task, as each aspect has to be managed and updated individually in order to remain current in the face of the latest forms of malware and cybercrime. By creating a single point of defense and providing a single console, UTM solutions make dealing with varied threats much easier.\r\nWhile unified threat management solutions do solve some network security issues, they aren't without some drawbacks, with the biggest one being that the single point of defense that an UTM appliance provides also creates a single point of failure. Because of this, many organizations choose to supplement their UTM device with a second software-based perimeter to stop any malware that got through or around the UTM firewall.\r\nWhat kind of companies use a Unified Threat Management system?\r\nUTM was originally for small to medium office businesses to simplify their security systems. But due to its almost universal applicability, it has since become popular with all sectors and larger enterprises. Developments in the technology have allowed it to scale up, opening UTM up to more types of businesses that are looking for a comprehensive gateway security solution.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What security features does Unified Threat Management have?</span>\r\nAs previously mentioned, most UTM services include a firewall, antivirus and intrusion detection and prevention systems. But they also can include other services that provide additional security.\r\n<ul><li>Data loss prevention software to stop data from exfiltrating the business, which in turn prevents a data leak from occurring.</li><li>Security information and event management software for real-time monitoring of network health, which allows threats and points of weakness to be identified.</li><li>Bandwidth management to regulate and prioritize network traffic, ensuring everything is running smoothly without getting overwhelmed.</li><li>Email filtering to remove spam and dangerous emails before they reach the internal network, lowering the chance of a phishing or similar attack breaching your defenses.</li><li>Web filtering to prevent connections to dangerous or inappropriate sites from a machine on the network. This lowers the chance of infection through malvertising or malicious code on the page. It can also be used to increase productivity within a business, i.e. blocking or restricting social media, gaming sites, etc.</li><li>Application filtering to either a blacklist or whitelist which programs can run, preventing certain applications from communicating in and out of the network, i.e. Facebook messenger.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Unified Threat Management?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simplifies the network</span></li></ul>\r\nBy consolidating multiple security appliances and services into one, you can easily reduce the amount of time spent on maintaining many separate systems that may have become disorganized. This can also improve the performance of the network as there is less bloat. A smaller system also requires less energy and space to run.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Provides greater security and visibility</span></li></ul>\r\nA UTM system can include reporting tools, application filtering and virtual private network (VPN) capabilities, all of which defend your network from more types of threats or improve the existing security. Additionally, monitoring and analysis tools can help locate points of weakness or identify ongoing attacks.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Can defend from more sophisticated attacks</span></li></ul>\r\nBecause UTM defends multiple parts of a network it means that an attack targeting multiple points simultaneously can be repelled more easily. With cyber-attacks getting more sophisticated, having defenses that can match them is of greater importance.\r\nHaving several ways of detecting a threat also means a UTM system is more accurate at identifying potential attacks and preventing them from causing damage.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_UTM_Unified_Threat_Management_Appliance.png","alias":"utm-unified-threat-management-appliance"},"852":{"id":852,"title":"Network security","description":" Network security consists of the policies and practices adopted to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator. Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other authenticating information that allows them access to information and programs within their authority. Network security covers a variety of computer networks, both public and private, that are used in everyday jobs; conducting transactions and communications among businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to public access. Network security is involved in organizations, enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains: it secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing operations being done. The most common and simple way of protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a corresponding password.\r\nNetwork security starts with authentication, commonly with a username and a password. Since this requires just one detail authenticating the user name — i.e., the password—this is sometimes termed one-factor authentication. With two-factor authentication, something the user 'has' is also used (e.g., a security token or 'dongle', an ATM card, or a mobile phone); and with three-factor authentication, something the user 'is' is also used (e.g., a fingerprint or retinal scan).\r\nOnce authenticated, a firewall enforces access policies such as what services are allowed to be accessed by the network users. Though effective to prevent unauthorized access, this component may fail to check potentially harmful content such as computer worms or Trojans being transmitted over the network. Anti-virus software or an intrusion prevention system (IPS) help detect and inhibit the action of such malware. An anomaly-based intrusion detection system may also monitor the network like wireshark traffic and may be logged for audit purposes and for later high-level analysis. Newer systems combining unsupervised machine learning with full network traffic analysis can detect active network attackers from malicious insiders or targeted external attackers that have compromised a user machine or account.\r\nCommunication between two hosts using a network may be encrypted to maintain privacy.\r\nHoneypots, essentially decoy network-accessible resources, may be deployed in a network as surveillance and early-warning tools, as the honeypots are not normally accessed for legitimate purposes. Techniques used by the attackers that attempt to compromise these decoy resources are studied during and after an attack to keep an eye on new exploitation techniques. Such analysis may be used to further tighten security of the actual network being protected by the honeypot. A honeypot can also direct an attacker's attention away from legitimate servers. A honeypot encourages attackers to spend their time and energy on the decoy server while distracting their attention from the data on the real server. Similar to a honeypot, a honeynet is a network set up with intentional vulnerabilities. Its purpose is also to invite attacks so that the attacker's methods can be studied and that information can be used to increase network security. A honeynet typically contains one or more honeypots.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Network Security?</span>\r\nNetwork security is any action an organization takes to prevent malicious use or accidental damage to the network’s private data, its users, or their devices. The goal of network security is to keep the network running and safe for all legitimate users.\r\nBecause there are so many ways that a network can be vulnerable, network security involves a broad range of practices. These include:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deploying active devices:</span> Using software to block malicious programs from entering, or running within, the network. Blocking users from sending or receiving suspicious-looking emails. Blocking unauthorized use of the network. Also, stopping the network's users accessing websites that are known to be dangerous.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deploying passive devices:</span> For instance, using devices and software that report unauthorized intrusions into the network, or suspicious activity by authorized users.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Using preventative devices:</span> Devices that help identify potential security holes, so that network staff can fix them.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Ensuring users follow safe practices:</span> Even if the software and hardware are set up to be secure, the actions of users can create security holes. Network security staff is responsible for educating members of the organization about how they can stay safe from potential threats.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is Network Security Important?</span>\r\nUnless it’s properly secured, any network is vulnerable to malicious use and accidental damage. Hackers, disgruntled employees, or poor security practices within the organization can leave private data exposed, including trade secrets and customers’ private details.\r\nLosing confidential research, for example, can potentially cost an organization millions of dollars by taking away competitive advantages it paid to gain. While hackers stealing customers’ details and selling them to be used in fraud, it creates negative publicity and public mistrust of the organization.\r\nThe majority of common attacks against networks are designed to gain access to information, by spying on the communications and data of users, rather than to damage the network itself.\r\nBut attackers can do more than steal data. They may be able to damage users’ devices or manipulate systems to gain physical access to facilities. This leaves the organization’s property and members at risk of harm.\r\nCompetent network security procedures keep data secure and block vulnerable systems from outside interference. This allows the network’s users to remain safe and focus on achieving the organization’s goals.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Do I Need Formal Education to Run a Computer Network?</span>\r\nEven the initial setup of security systems can be difficult for those unfamiliar with the field. A comprehensive security system is made of many pieces, each of which needs specialized knowledge.\r\nBeyond setup, each aspect of security is constantly evolving. New technology creates new opportunities for accidental security leaks, while hackers take advantage of holes in security to do damage as soon as they find them. Whoever is in charge of the network’s security needs to be able to understand the technical news and changes as they happen, so they can implement safety strategies right away.\r\nProperly securing your network using the latest information on vulnerabilities helps minimize the risk that attacks will succeed. Security Week reported that 44% of breaches in 2014 came from exploits that were 2-4 years old.\r\nUnfortunately, many of the technical aspects of network security are beyond those who make hiring decisions. So, the best way an organization can be sure that their network security personnel are able to properly manage the threats is to hire staff with the appropriate qualifications.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Network_security.png","alias":"network-security"}},"branches":"Information Technology","companySizes":"More than 2000 Employees","companyUrl":"https://www.zyxel.com/homepage.shtml","countryCodes":["ARG","AUT","AUS","BEL","BGR","BRA","CHE","CHN","COL","CZE","DEU","DNK","ECU","EST","EGY","ESP","FIN","FRA","GBR","HUN","ISR","IND","ITA","KOR","KAZ","LTU","LVA","MYS","NLD","NOR","PHL","PAK","POL","ROU","SWE","SGP","SVK","THA","TUR","TWN","TZA","UKR","USA","VNM","ZAF"],"certifications":[],"isSeller":true,"isSupplier":false,"isVendor":true,"presenterCodeLng":"","seo":{"title":"Zyxel","keywords":"","description":" Focused on innovation and customer-centricity, Zyxel Communications Corp. has been connecting people to the internet for nearly 30 years. We keep promoting creativity which meets the needs of customers. This spirit has never been changed since we developed th","og:title":"Zyxel","og:description":" Focused on innovation and customer-centricity, Zyxel Communications Corp. has been connecting people to the internet for nearly 30 years. We keep promoting creativity which meets the needs of customers. This spirit has never been changed since we developed th","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/uploads/roi/company/Zyxel_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","vendorPartners":[],"supplierPartners":[],"vendoredProducts":[{"id":3334,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Zyxel_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"Zyxel SD-WAN","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"zyxel-sd-wan","companyTitle":"Zyxel","companyTypes":["vendor"],"companyId":5237,"companyAlias":"zyxel","description":"Today most of the people in the branch offices are consuming more and more WAN bandwidth as they are collaborating online applications (e.g., Skype, Webex…) and will access large rich-media files. As more Internet communication and cloud-based application adoption, it becomes a critical challenge for how to efficiently optimize the WAN bandwidth, manage Internet application usage, and secure the connection between B2B and B2C.\r\nCombining the flexibility of cloud-based technology and its high-speed deployment benefit, Zyxel SD-WAN solution helps IT administrators to simplify branch network deployment. With the variety of optimization design for internet connectivity and applications, Zyxel SD-WAN also enables ZyWALL VPN Series to support online application growth, efficiency WAN bandwidth usage and increase network agility.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Key Features:</span>\r\n<ul> <li>WAN Optimization</li> <li>Application Prioritized for Assuring Delivery</li> <li>Dynamic Route for Simplifying Configuration</li> <li>Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)</li> <li>Dynamic Path Selection</li> <li>Mobile Application</li> </ul>","shortDescription":"Zyxel SD-WAN solution helps IT, administrators, to simplify branch network deployment.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":14,"sellingCount":2,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"Zyxel SD-WAN","keywords":"","description":"Today most of the people in the branch offices are consuming more and more WAN bandwidth as they are collaborating online applications (e.g., Skype, Webex…) and will access large rich-media files. As more Internet communication and cloud-based application adop","og:title":"Zyxel SD-WAN","og:description":"Today most of the people in the branch offices are consuming more and more WAN bandwidth as they are collaborating online applications (e.g., Skype, Webex…) and will access large rich-media files. As more Internet communication and cloud-based application adop","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Zyxel_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":3335,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[{"id":93,"title":"Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN)"}],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.&nbsp; In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png"},{"id":197,"title":"WAN optimization","alias":"wan-optimization","description":" WAN optimization is a collection of techniques for increasing data transfer efficiencies across wide-area networks (WANs). In 2008, the WAN optimization market was estimated to be $1 billion, and was to grow to $4.4 billion by 2014 according to Gartner, a technology research firm. In 2015 Gartner estimated the WAN optimization market to be a $1.1 billion market.\r\nThe most common measures of TCP data-transfer efficiencies (i.e., optimization) are throughput, bandwidth requirements, latency, protocol optimization, and congestion, as manifested in dropped packets. In addition, the WAN itself can be classified with regards to the distance between endpoints and the amounts of data transferred. Two common business WAN topologies are Branch to Headquarters and Data Center to Data Center (DC2DC). In general, &quot;Branch&quot; WAN links are closer, use less bandwidth, support more simultaneous connections, support smaller connections and more short-lived connections, and handle a greater variety of protocols. They are used for business applications such as email, content management systems, database application, and Web delivery. In comparison, &quot;DC2DC&quot; WAN links tend to require more bandwidth, are more distant, and involve fewer connections, but those connections are bigger (100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s flows) and of longer duration. Traffic on a &quot;DC2DC&quot; WAN may include replication, back up, data migration, virtualization, and other Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) flows.\r\nWAN optimization has been the subject of extensive academic research almost since the advent of the WAN. In the early 2000s, research in both the private and public sectors turned to improving the end-to-end throughput of TCP, and the target of the first proprietary WAN optimization solutions was the Branch WAN. In recent years, however, the rapid growth of digital data, and the concomitant needs to store and protect it, has presented a need for DC2DC WAN optimization. For example, such optimizations can be performed to increase overall network capacity utilization, meet inter-datacenter transfer deadlines, or minimize average completion times of data transfers. As another example, private inter-datacenter WANs can benefit optimizations for fast and efficient geo-replication of data and content, such as newly computed machine learning models or multimedia content.\r\nComponent techniques of Branch WAN Optimization include deduplication, wide area file services (WAFS), SMB proxy, HTTPS Proxy, media multicasting, web caching, and bandwidth management. Requirements for DC2DC WAN Optimization also center around deduplication and TCP acceleration, however these must occur in the context of multi-gigabit data transfer rates.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is WAN Optimization?</span>\r\nWAN optimization involves prioritizing specific parts of the network to receive more bandwidth. For example, you might want to allocate more throughput and bandwidth to the parts of the network involved in a critical data-processing task, to make sure it’s completed quickly. Many WAN improvements can be accomplished with either physical or logical changes to your network.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Is WAN Optimization Important?</span>\r\nBusinesses are increasingly facing pressures on their WAN setups due to increased use of cloud computing, applications, and other network-wide technologies such as web portals. The associated increase in traffic across the WAN makes WAN optimization even more important, as network slowdowns can become a major issue if you don’t proactively manage this complexity and volume.\r\nNumerous different business processes are affected by a slow network. Even simple actions, like employees accessing files, can become unacceptably slow. If the network is dragging, it might take their business-wide file manager a while to load, and then even longer to open the file. Even though it seems like a small, two-minute task, these problems quickly add up.\r\nMeanwhile, admins may have trouble effectively managing and monitoring their network — and ensuring network security — if they’re fighting against inefficient, high-latency network infrastructure. WAN optimization can potentially allow admins — and their software tools — to more effectively protect all devices and end-users.\r\nWAN optimization also supports remote and mobile workers. When someone works remotely, they’re expanding the WAN and requiring business data to travel further. Without WAN optimization, their connection could be slow. Even simple business processes such as email can become inconvenient to use. If the network is optimized correctly, all employees will be able to access network portals and business information, even if they’re connecting remotely.\r\nFurthermore, even applications not directly affected by optimization processes can benefit when bandwidth is freed up in relation to other parts of the network. All these benefits increase business efficiency and promote cost savings as a result.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WAN_optimization1.png"},{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as &quot;on-demand software&quot;, and was formerly referred to as &quot;software plus services&quot; by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term &quot;Software as a Service&quot; (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure.&nbsp; While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies.&nbsp; Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">&nbsp;</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png"},{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","alias":"itsm-it-service-management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lower costs for IT operations</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Higher returns on IT investments</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Minimal service outages</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the &quot;needs&quot; primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]}],"suppliedProducts":[],"partnershipProgramme":null}},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"implementations":{"implementationsByAlias":{},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"agreements":{"agreementById":{},"ids":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"comparison":{"loading":false,"error":false,"templatesById":{},"comparisonByTemplateId":{},"products":[],"selectedTemplateId":null},"presentation":{"type":null,"company":{},"products":[],"partners":[],"formData":{},"dataLoading":false,"dataError":false,"loading":false,"error":false},"catalogsGlobal":{"subMenuItemTitle":""}}