Juniper's new innovation!

http://www.cio.com/article/618674 Juniper_Networks_Cooking_Up_New_Ideas_in_Incubation_Lab?source=rss_news

The article I chose from CIO this week has introduced us to what difference Juniper Networks can bring to the world of Telecommunications in the near future. This is one sector which has shown rapid innovative growth and vast profits in short time. I have always been a fan of Juniper Networks ever since I knew about them from my friends who are working on both Cisco and Juniper platforms and then from my own research. I never got a chance to work with these technologies though and hence cannot give a verdict on Juniper and Cisco’s Graphical User Interface and Command Line Interface battle that will ever go on. May be some practical experience will strengthen my beliefs in the JUNOS world.

Coming to the article, the JUNOS INNOVATION FUND (JIF) is probably the best way to back and encourage small and growing companies working with JUNOS platform. I expected virtualization and green IT to be a slow-mo spread. But JIF is sure to give the required pace for it and a run for other companies investments. Introduction of the new internal incubation labs in Juniper doesn’t come as a big surprise to me, taking into account their thirst for innovation and growth. The magnanimity and user friendliness of their projects and products has always been a customer’s delight, at least as far as I know.

The strategy involved in running the incubation lab should be well acknowledged. One of the reasons for this is the short time period involved on each incubation even though it is a high-risk or disruptive project. The other can be the verdict pronounced for each of them – which are fail, pass for internal units or pass for external units rather than keeping it on hold and getting a solution for it 5 or 10 years later. I would say this has brought a new dimension for differences between a research lab and the now getting famous incubation lab.

Though the investment for the JIF and the lab are large scale, it can be well predicted that the pay-offs for such projects will always be “owner’s pride neighbor’s envy”. I think the Telecom companies should take this as an example and innovate ways to help each other out and yet stand above in the competition.

Apple Ipad and Galaxy Tab

http://www.cio.com/article/615869/Galaxy_Tab_Vs._IPad_it_s_Oranges_and_Apples?page=1&taxonomyId=3050

The above article basically talks about the differences between the design and marketing strategies of the two tech giant’s innovations - Apple Ipad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. On the first note, it talks about the target audience both the companies aim at in their promos. Apple shows that its subjects in the ad are sitting at home or office and using the Ipad sophisticatedly, and Samsung’s user roaming around with the Tab. Both the products being aimed at technical market, I barely feel that this point in the ad would influence tech savvy people. All that a technology buyer looks for is what features it offers and its usability. 

I quite agree with the points regarding the size, weight and flexibility of both the products. Irrespective of the differences, I would say that Tab is being released into the market only after seeing the Ipad, the first tablet computing device up-close. So obviously the Ipad’s competitors would want to match up the performance and popularity of the product that has already created a stir in the market. Today, technology is all about competition and being a step ahead of another company. If I were the Tab developer, the only thought that would have come to my mind would be adding one perfect reason for people to buy the Tab and “beat the ipad”.

The core competencies of Apple have always been innovation, development and user-benefitting products. Since the very beginning of their entry into the market, they have shown their competitors what leaps technology can take in terms of features, usability and popularity. It’s very tough to maintain this since so long, yet they have been delivering the best – what they are known for. These values have already gained them really faithful consumers who am sure would go out of the way to pay more for their services. 

Samsung is planning to release Tab with a 2 year contract which the Ipad does not have. Am sure  all you Ipad users are very thankful to Apple for this wise decision. Also, this can be considered as one of the most important factors in choosing a winner in the ‘tablet wars’ compared to just an advertisement showing where and how it is being used.

The worm - "Here you Have"

http://www.cio.com/article/612363/Cisco_Here_You_have_Worm_Caused_Brief_Havoc?source=rss_news

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=iqziad#p/u/0/IkMifFGqt78

I present to you my second post for the semester. This recent article from CIO caught my attention as spamming is one of the topics that have been going on since the introduction of computers so to say. The first link talks about the recent “Here you have” worm that caused a great deal even for a few minutes by debilitating email networks of corporate giants such as NASA, Google, Wells Fargo, Disney to name a few. And the second link is a video putting forth the feelings of the hacker. We all are aware of the technological advancement that these IT companies have shown in the recent past, and yet are soft targets for hackers. This makes us think where the stance of technology and its security in today’s market is. For example, shelling out billions and billions of dollars to create a space shuttle, but compromising on its security and providing a key to hackers can be the worst ever nightmare of a scientist. 

The spammers have always been in the spotlight for creating new viruses and attack systems, dodging big companies and common people. According to the above article, the spam was not created for mere pleasure of the hacker but his feelings on a sensitive issue. The person who took “credit” for this spam seemed to be from Iraq and did this for his unacceptability of the US war in Iraq. But thanks to him for he declared that he did not want to smash any of the systems he had got control on. 

The security experts had mentioned that this virus was “not particularly sophisticated”.  So what are we expecting, wait for a virus that can be put under the category of “technologically sophisticated” and recreate history once again. Experience with Anna Kournikova and other such worms that were widespread during the early 2000s had kept anti-virus programmers on their toes to prevent their occurrences once again. But looks like even after a decade, the companies take a step behind to invest more in IT security. Why is that so? 

One could easily blame the anti-virus creators and IT security personnel, but these attacks can be looked at as new diseases cropping up even against the best medicines. In my opinion, may be one of the solutions can be to create anti viruses by getting into the shoes of a spammer or hiring the best spammers in the world and paying them huge amounts to prevent the attacks from their so called brothers. Spending an extra dollar for IT security is the best deal to prevent huge losses, but finding a brain that is worthy of that extra dollar is also a big hunt.

Firefox vs Internet Explorer

http://www.cio.com/article/609219/Microsoft_Uses_Bing_Home_Page_to_Push_IE8?source=rss_news

The above article is about Microsoft pushing Internet Explorer (IE) 8 via Bing search engine. Considering the number of Windows users around the world, you would think there won't be a necessity to advertise their browser, especially when it comes integrated with it's Operating System. Apparently not, Internet Explorer is loosing a lot of ground to Firefox, because of it's superior features and functionality.

Microsoft over the years has become a monopoly in the browser market, which is slowly
changing over the past few years. The number of security threats over an extended period of time, is pushing the users towards more secure browsers like Firefox. As a result, Firefox has become the second most popular browser around the world and pressing hard to creep past IE in the near future. The popularity of Firefox in Europe is forcing Windows to give an option of choosing their desired browser over IE. Considering the number of internet users in Europe, once Firefox takes over the market, IE could very well be in trouble.

The Significant part of Firefox's appeal is it's add-ons and extensions in the library. There are numerous extensions for the users, ranging from business integration to social networking. Once users get hooked on to these add-ons it's hard to make them switch. The second most important advantage of Firefox over IE is it's openness, Firefox being an open-source software enables users to work on improving the features continuously and hence becoming more consumer driven. On the other hand, IE lacks the benefit of having thousands of eyes working on improving it, being a closed software. Last but not the least is the security, thanks to a better core design, Firefox is inherently more secure than IE. Firefox proactively updates the versions as and when security issues arise, which is not the case with Microsoft.

Consumers realizing the superiority of Firefox, are increasingly switching from IE to Firefox, which is pressurizing  Microsoft to make a lot of changes in the newer versions of IE along with the improving security. According to me, unless Microsoft makes the browser open-source (which Microsoft will never do with their products), it will continuously keep loosing the market to Firefox. Microsoft has to realize that once they loose customers, it is very hard to get them back, no matter how secure the newer versions of the product may be and how well it is advertised.