Stories by Zeus Kerravala

Not all public cloud service providers are the same when it comes to network performance.

Performance, form factors, and automation capabilities are key considerations when choosing a next-generation firewall (NGFW).

VPNs can create secure remote-access and site-to-site connections inexpensively, are a stepping stone to software defined WANs and are proving useful in IoT

Talkdesk for Sales is an excellent example of how AI can be used to augment a worker’s skill set and make them more productive.

Machine learning and AI are becoming necessary in today’s complicated IT environment, causing CIOs to figure out how to use them so IT pros and business both benefit.

The future of data centers will rely on cloud, hyperconverged infrastructure and more powerful components

Last week, Facebook announced a new product that's supposed to have the networking industry trembling. There were many news stories about Facebook's new homegrown SDN switch, known by the codename "Wedge" that's supposed to be the next big threat to Cisco and the traditional networking vendors. The operating system on the product runs Facebook's proprietary version of Linux called FBOSS.

Riverbed, the company known best for its Steelhead WAN Optimization product, has beefed up its Application Performance Management (APM) suite. In 2012, Riverbed acquired OPNET for a cool billion to complement the network performance management (NPM) suite it inherited when it purchased Mazu. The product formerly known as OPNET, AppInternals Xpert was rebranded to SteelCentral AppInternals, and this week the company released version 9.0 of the suite.

It seems every couple of years the chatter of John Chambers retirement as the CEO of Cisco comes up. Recently, there has been a flood of articles speculating when he might retire, including this one from the esteemed Jim Duffy. There seems to be no basis for this other than a report from Scott Raynovich, who cites a bunch of unnamed sources.

This morning, Cisco announced its intention to purchase Sweden-based Tail-f Systems for about $175 million in cash and retention-based incentives. That seems reasonable for a software company that did about $30 million last year and is well aligned with the emerging SDN/NFV markets. Additionally, being headquartered in Sweden means Cisco can pay for this out of its foreign war chest instead of tapping into domestic cash.

These acquisitions helped Cisco jump on market trends early on, and take hold of them as they grow into money-makers.

As long as I can remember, I've had an interest in computer programming. I started tinkering as a kid back in the early 1980s with a TI-99-4A and Atari XL Series (remember those membrane keyboards?), Atari STs and Apple II's. Most of that was just goofy kid stuff, sorting baseball and hockey cards and stuff that was Star Trek related.

Some companies actually thrived while Cisco knocked off most of its competitors.

The 10 most interesting partners at Cisco Live Europe 2013