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Why device upgrade strategies fail

The industry is built on 30-year-old code, writes one analyst, and that is one reason why device upgrade strategies often fall short.

Eamon McCarthy Earls
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Published: 22 Nov 2017

Ivan Pepelnjak, writing in IP Space, was asked by one of his readers about why software anchoring a device upgrade is still plagued by delays and bugs. In Pepelnjak's view, the challenge stems from the networking industry's long commitment to command-line interface and routing platforms built atop 30-year-old code.

With device upgrade and software rollouts, engineers are often split between two realities. In one camp, engineers "vote with their wallets" and invest in technology that supports automation, while in the other group, engineers cling to manual configuration and face holdups accommodating hundreds of routers at a time because they lack a gradual rollout for updates. "I never cease to be amazed at how disinterested enterprise networking engineers are about network automation. Looks like they barely entered the denial phase of grief while everyone else is passing them by left and right," Pepelnjak wrote.

Dig deeper into Pepelnjak's thoughts on device upgrade strategies and what steps engineers should take to improve them.

Where cybersecurity jobs fall the shortest

Last week, Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group in Milford, Mass., blogged about the global cybersecurity skills shortage. This week, he revisited the topic, identifying the most acute shortfalls, using data compiled by ESG and the Information Systems Security Association. According to Oltsik, the top three areas where expertise is most lacking are security analysis and investigation, application security, and cloud security skills.

Survey respondents also pointed to concern about their organizations' gap in skills such risk-compliance administration, security engineering and penetration testing. "The overall picture is bleak -- many organizations may not have the right skills and resources to adequately secure new business and IT initiatives and may also lack ample skills to detect and respond to incidents in a timely fashion. Therefore, I keep coming back to two words -- existential threat," Oltsik wrote.

Read more of Oltsik's thoughts on the cybersecurity skills shortage.

Juniper boosts Contrail for telcos

Zeus Kerravala, writing in ZK Research, gave high marks to Juniper Networks' Contrail Cloud platform aimed at telcos. One plus: the platform's tight integration with internal and third-party services and applications.

As a result, Contrail Cloud works easily with software from a number of sources, including network functions virtualization assurance through AppFormix; prevalidated virtualized network functions with Affirmed Networks as well as Juniper's own vSRX virtual firewall, collaboration with Red Hat and end-to-end cloud management on behalf of customers.

Kerravala said in order to compete and offer services to enterprise customers, telcos must be able to exploit cloud architectures that support the rapid rollout of new services. "Juniper's Contrail Cloud offerings takes much of the complexity out of the equation ensuring that telcos can meet the increasing demands of their business customers," he wrote.

Explore more of Kerravala's thoughts on Juniper Contrail.

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