Stories by John Dix

  • The water pump alarm

    If nothing else, the now disputed "hacking" of an Illinois water utility has brought the spotlight back to shine on the vulnerability of our national infrastructure.

  • Corralling complexity

    It has been referred to as Moore's Flaw: The IT complexity that results from the inexorable innovation driven by Moore's Law.

  • Getting a handle on complexity

    Everyone knows complexity is a foe of IT. But how bad is it, and how do you tell if your decisions are making it better or worse? Peter Leukert, CIO of Commerzbank, one of the largest banks in Germany, set to find out. Leukert, who runs the financial service giant's 3,800 member centralized IT group, built an IT Complexity Model to get a handle on the problem, and then turned to consulting firm Capco Partners to help get other financial service firms involved. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Leukert and Mat Small, Partner with Capco in New York, for a briefing on the effort.

  • Assessing the APT threat

    Do <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/security.html">security</a> vendors secretly create the attacks their tools are designed to ward off? Of course not, but that old chestnut hints at a broader suspicion about whether the current state of security is really as bad as the security firms make it out to be, especially when it comes to the latest poster child: advanced persistent threats.

  • Nudging IT forward

    There is basic agreement on the nirvana vision for the next-generation <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/data-center.html">data center</a>, but the tricky part is getting there from here.

  • The OpenStack juggernaut

    The OpenStack collaborative industry effort to build an <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/opensource/">open source</a> cloud platform is to be applauded for the remarkable gains it has achieved in a short amount of time. Founded by Rackspace Hosting and NASA in July last year, the organization is now backed by 120 companies, including the likes of HP, Dell, Intel and <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/cisco/">Cisco</a>, and has already issued four major code releases, the last of which, Diablo, just came out last month and has already been downloaded 50,000 times.

  • The new Novell

    Novell, which was <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/042711-novell-attachment-merger.html">acquired by The Attachmate Group</a> in April, wants to regain its status as an IT icon and will try to do so by focusing its efforts on its core assets and rebuilding relationships with its huge installed base. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Novell President Bob Flynn and VP of Product Management and Marketing Eric Varness for a briefing on their rebuilding plans.

  • Communicate the value, not the tech

    As we close out 2010 and welcome 2011 it is clear we're at an interesting juncture in IT, with new opportunities stretching out before us. The key will be what we make of the opportunities and how we position our efforts to capitalize on them.

  • Complexity of IT systems will be our undoing

    Roger Sessions, CTO of ObjectWatch and an expert in software architecture, argues that the increasing complexity of our IT systems will be our undoing.  In fact, he just recently got a patent for a methodology that helps deal with complex IT systems. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Sessions to get his take on the extent of the problem and possible solutions.

  • Are netbooks worth a look as PC companions?

    While the Apple iPad and other emerging tablets may ultimately shift the playing field, netbooks from the big corporate suppliers offer an interesting mobile alternative to big, bulky laptops.

  • Juniper execs share network vision

    Juniper Networks has always been about high performance and, since it straddles the carrier and enterprise markets, has an interesting perspective on where these worlds intersect. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with Kim Perdikou, EVP and GM of the Infrastructure Products Group, and David Yen, EVP and GM of the Fabric and Switching Technologies Business Group, to discuss converging needs, tech trends and the company's Stratus project, a single-layer network architecture.

  • HP puts the networking pedal to the metal

    By John Dix | 10 September, 2009 15:00

    Marius Haas is senior vice president and general manager of HP's ProCurve Networking business, which was recently aligned with the company's server, storage and services businesses under HP's Technology Solutions Group, creating an approximately $45 billion unit. Haas, who previously served as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, is charged with shifting the network business into overdrive. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with Haas to talk about the market and his plans.