The stateful LAN: Layer 7 visibility and control

osi-layer-modelEnterprises have seen an explosion of new applications, devices and classes of users on their LANs, which makes it harder than ever for IT to ensure network performance, secure corporate assets and comply with regulations. In response, next-generation intelligent LAN switches are emerging that are designed to provide stateful, deep-packet inspection up through Layer 7, providing granular user- and application-level controls.

Other network devices that have already “moved up” the protocol stack include WAN-acceleration platforms and load-balancing switches. Now, by maintaining state information, intelligent switches can forward based on flows instead of packets. Advanced deep-packet inspection provides user identity and L7 application detail in classifying flows, enabling IT to apply access and QoS policies far beyond the virtual LAN/ACL controls that traditional L3/L4 switches support.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com

Cisco Hosts Customer Webcast: Cisco Transforms the Data Center

Cisco will host a webcast presentation to discuss its strategy for transforming the data center.

Join John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer, Cisco; Sue Bostrom, executive vice president and chief marketing officer; Rob Lloyd, executive vice president-designate of Worldwide Operations, and other Cisco executives for this online Internet event.

Date: Monday, March 16, 2009

Time: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PT

To attend, register at: Cisco Transforms the Data Center

Read the full story on cisco.com…

Fluke claims fix for Cisco WAAS issues

FlukeThe latest version of Fluke Networks’ Visual Performance Manager can diagnose and fix performance problems in Cisco’s WAAS application acceleration, as well as measuring the ROI achieved by WAAS, Fluke has claimed.

The software also applies expert guidance and rules to help network administrators get to the root of a problem faster, and provides red/yellow/green dashboards or “heat charts” to show executive managers how problems affect the performance of critical network applications, the company said
Ten top problems network techs encounter: Download now

VPM version 5 can compare the accelerated and non-accelerated performance of an application, and drill through to see exactly how WAAS is accelerating WAN traffic, said Fluke business development manager Doug Roberts. It has some similarity with technology from NetQoS, he noted.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com

World’s largest cell phone

The world’s largest working cell phone has be unveiled in Chicago. Not only can those in the area venture out to see the massive cell phone unveiled for its record-setting attempt, but it actually works and you can make free phone calls and send free text messages.

The device is a replica of the Samsung Messager phone. The phone measures 15 feet wide by 13 feet tall and it broke a Guinness World Record.

Brought to you by NetworkWorld.tv and FirstDigest