Forever-together

A self-described former “internet plumber,” worried about three things that could bring the internet to its knees and make the pandemic even more disruptive than it had already been. For starters, while he knew that network architects tend to overbuild to absorb unanticipated spikes in demand, he wasn’t sure how much they had overbuilt, and whether it would be enough to handle the massive change in global traffic patterns. It was. “I thought it might only be 10 percent; it turned out it was more like 25 to 40 percent,” he told DCK in a recent interview for the Data Center Podcast (scroll down to stream, download, or read the transcript). Now CEO of Kentik, a startup he founded to give people who build and manage networks modern tools for the job, Freedman has watched the internet grow up from the front row over a span of several decades. He was one of the key architects who built the infrastructure of Akamai, one of the world’s largest CDN providers; ran technology strategy of...

  The two rivals have teamed up to create an x86 advisory group to fight off growing competition from Arm-based chips. Here’s what analysts are saying. AMD and Intel this week announced plans to collaborate together to improve and shape the future of x86. For data center operators, it’s a move that can result in improved software and hardware performance, and easier management of their IT infrastructure, analysts say. The two rival chipmakers on Tuesday (Oct. 15) announced the creation of an  x86 ecosystem advisory group  to ensure architecture compatibility, simplify software development and develop innovative and scalable solutions.   "This announcement probably surprised some people," said Daniel Newman, CEO of the Futurum Group, a research and advisory firm. "It’s unprecedented to see these two companies work together in any capacity and agree on anything other than x86 as an architecture." AMD and Intel’s large tech partners have signed onto the effort, includi...

  A world powered by digital infrastructure requires new considerations to ensure rapid deployments and optimize application delivery. A DCF special report courtesy of Panduit looks at the new cloud and data center balance demanded by the growth of digital infrastructure. In a world consumed by digital infrastructure, new considerations must be taken to ensure rapid deployments, optimized application delivery, and streamlined operational support.   There are more users, complex applications, and data points accessing your infrastructure than ever before. New demands require modern organizations and cloud leaders to rethink their data center environment and delivery model to leverage the cloud effectively. In a world of constant connectivity. Performance, efficiency, latency, and security (physical and logical) take center stage as leaders make decisions around their digital infrastructure. 2020 was a defining year for all of us. New IT computing scenarios are driving grow...