Arraya Insights

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Cisco has been touting the Internet of Things for several years, calling it a $19 trillion global opportunity over the next decade.  There are roughly 25 billion devices connected to the Internet today, but it is estimated that it will double to 50 billion by 2020.  That’s a lot of new devices, and who is better positioned to help connect all of those devices than Cisco?  For years, Cisco has been the world’s clear leader in connecting devices to the network/Internet.  So it is totally expected that they would be leading the way again by helping to create new standards for device connectivity and driving awareness through the IOT World Forum. 

Now, Cisco has announced that it has created a full suite of Big Data and Analytics solutions based on its own and partners’ technologies.  In the Data Management space, Cisco is working with companies like MapR, Cloudera, Hortonworks, and others to create fully tested reference architectures so that customers can quickly and confidently build Hadoop data lakes to take control of their disaggregated data.  In fact, Cisco has completed the world’s first Big Data TPC benchmark for Hadoop clusters to prove their architecture’s performance and scalability.  In the Data Integration space, Cisco has invested in and released several of their own offerings, as well as working with SAP, Informatica, and Affluent.  In Analytics and BI, Cisco has partnered with splunk, sas, SAP, MicroStrategy, platfora, and tableau.  [Read more…] about Cisco Data Center Partner Connection – Update 1: Where IoT, Big Data, and Analytics Meet

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Most companies have spent a lot of time and money trying to provide adequate application performance to their branch offices.  This usually has involved buying larger MPLS circuits, installing dedicated optimization appliances, and deploying virtual desktops.  With Cisco’s new IWAN offering, organizations can now gain control over their spiraling branch office infrastructure investments.  Using a single router appliance, IWAN allows you to augment your network with lower cost Internet connections, gain service provider flexibility, more fully utilize your WAN links, and provide application optimization, intelligent caching, and highly secure direct Internet access.   [Read more…] about Cisco Enterprise Executive Connection – Update 3: The Intelligent WAN

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While most people don’t think of Cisco as a software company, they are the 5th largest software company in the world.  Why then has it always been so complex to purchase and consume Cisco software?  Cisco has heard our frustration and has just announced Cisco ONE Software.  Cisco ONE helps make buying, managing, and upgrading your network and infrastructure software easier. 

Now instead of buying individual software features, you can purchase a single product and have the flexibility to decouple the software from the hardware so you don’t need to repurchase the software when you replace the hardware.  Cisco ONE will also provide ongoing innovation, updates, and upgrades.  Cisco ONE will provide the tools necessary to allow companies to gain more automation and intelligence from their infrastructure.  [Read more…] about Cisco Enterprise Executive Connection – Update 2: A Better Way to Buy Cisco Software

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While most companies are still considering moving to Gigabit Wireless (802.11ac Wave 1), multigigabit wireless is just around the corner.  802.11ac Wave 2 promises speeds up to 6.8 Gbps.  This speed is necessary to support the applications and user density that enterprises need today.  There’s just one problem with it: the switches and cables most companies have in place are unable to support those speeds. 

Most of the campus switches in use today provide a 1 Gbps link to devices over category 5e cable.  Connecting a multi-gigabit access point to this infrastructure would negate the increased wireless speed.  Upgrading all switches to 10 Gigabits might be an option but it would be costly and would also require that all cabling be upgraded to category 6a.   [Read more…] about Cisco Enterprise Executive Connection – Update 1: Multigigabit Wireless and the Campus LAN

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The fallout from last year’s Sony Pictures hack is starting to take shape and so far the cost hasn’t been all that bad. Well, at least financially-speaking, anyway. Sony revealed it has budgeted a mere $15 million to cover “investigation and remediation costs” stemming from the breach.

First things first, we should probably point out “all that bad” is relative. For some organizations, an unexpected expense of $15 million would be more than enough to force them to shut off the lights and lock the doors for good. However, when you’re a division of Sony, spending $15 million to mop up after hackers can safely be described as not being “that bad.” To further put that into perspective, initial estimates had Sony spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million to cover the costs of dealing with the hack. If you’ve prepared yourself to spend $100 million and only end up spending $15 million, it softens the blow a little. [Read more…] about Examining the True Scope of the Sony Hack

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After a long week of pre-conference boot camp training, the “Big Game,” and plenty of sessions and meetings, as well as a visit (and escape!) to Alcatraz, I’ve returned from VMware Partner Exchange (PEX) in San Francisco. VMware certainly made some exciting announcements, including the much anticipated introduction of vSphere 6.0. You can learn about all of the details of vSphere 6 in this whitepaper and this video. Other significant announcements during the week of PEX included EMC’s introduction of their EVO:RAIL device, VSPEX BLUE, VMware VSAN 6 and Virtual Volumes and the VMware acquisition of Immidio and its user environment management software. 

Instead of rehashing all of the announcements that you can read all about in the preceding links, I’m going to focus on VMware NSX. I participated in the Advanced NSX Boot Camp in the days prior to PEX. NSX is often dubbed a “network hypervisor” for virtualized networks, but let’s dissect what that really means. It means taking concepts and features traditionally available only in physical network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls and load balancers and bringing them into the virtual world.  [Read more…] about VMware Partner Exchange 2015 Recap and NSX Introduction

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At Arraya, we pride ourselves on the level of personalized service and attention we provide our customers. After all, we recognize the fact that your IT challenges are unique to your company – so a cookie-cutter approach likely won’t get the job done. At the root of every effective and lasting solution is a combination of in-depth tech knowledge and a partner who’s willing to take the time to get to know your organization.

That’s the idea which led us to form the Arraya Briefing Center. Our mission is to deliver personal service which brings about powerful, long-lasting business outcomes. So we’re inviting IT pros from every level – front line staffers up through the C-suite –to schedule a day to come to Arraya’s corporate headquarters in our briefing center. [Read more…] about Arraya Briefing Center Offers a Unique Learning Experience

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Even though many of us are still struggling with remembering to write 2015 and not 2014, we may already have a winner for the biggest hack of the New Year. That unfortunate distinction falls on the Indianapolis, IN-based Anthem, Inc. Anthem, the nation’s second-biggest health insurer, has announced a data breach which could affect a truly staggering 80 million people.

Anthem believes the names, birthdays, addresses and Social Security numbers of current and former customers, as well as employees, were exposed by the breach. At this time, the insurer doesn’t believe hackers were able to gain access to sensitive medical records or credit card or bank account numbers. [Read more…] about Unprecedented Healthcare Data Breach Puts 80M at Risk

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Pssst! We’re going to let you in on a little secret. At Arraya, our top goal isn’t to sell you any thing. We know what you’re thinking: “Right, I’ve heard that one before. Now tell me more about that swampland in Florida.” But hear us out.   

See, we’re not in the business of selling one particular IT product or solution. We work with a diverse group of industry-leading partners. That gives us the flexibility to focus on your business and your desired business outcomes, as opposed to trying to push a particular technology.  [Read more…] about What Your Consultant Really Wants You to Know

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New strategic partnership will allow Arraya to deliver essential IT service management tools to customers

Arraya Solutions announced today it is now a registered solution partner of ServiceNow. This partnership will allow Arraya to provide IT service management solutions that innovate and automate business processes, saving customers money, increasing efficiency, and giving their IT teams the freedom to focus on what matters most to their business.

ServiceNow is an enterprise IT cloud company that transforms IT by automating and managing service relationships across the global enterprise. Organizations deploy this service to create a single system of record for IT, which allows them to automate manual tasks, standardize processes, and consolidate legacy systems. With this new partnership, Arraya Solutions will be able to provide integration and implementation services for ServiceNow products to customers. [Read more…] about Arraya Solutions Announces ServiceNow Partnership