Mike Fratto

IT Is Becoming All About The API

February 02, 2011

During a visit to Sillicon Valley a few weeks back, I had the opportunity to stop in on Cisco, HP and Juniper and get demos of products that I have been briefed on and written about but...

Planning the Interop Network Has Begun

January 27, 2011

The planning for the Interop network kicked off with engineers from the participating vendors meeting in person or via audio conferencing. The kick-off meeting starts the long process of...

Announcing Network Computing Pro: For IT, By IT

January 19, 2011

I am very happy to announce the launch of Network Computing Pro. NWC Pro is a subscription service with access to more than 450 technical analyst reports covering topics in application...

Bring-Your-Own Laptop Won't Help VDI

January 11, 2011

When I made my 2011 predictions, I didn't hold out much hope for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). I don't think that the upsides in moving to VDI--fast ROI, reduction in operations...

Cloud Infrastructure

My Five 2011 Predictions

Careers and Certifications

January 03, 2011

What's going to happen in 2011? First, we'll continue to see some cool technology and use cases in cloud computing and unified communications, but I think adoption of both will be slower...

Down For The Count; Happy Holidays To All

December 23, 2010

We are going on hiatus between Christmas and the beginning of the new year, returning on Jan. 3. I'd like to thank everyone who visited the site, and particularly, those of you who took the...

Cloud Infrastructure

Moving To The Cloud Is Not Cut And Paste

December 23, 2010

One of the issues I have been thinking about is the requirements necessary to move an application to a cloud service and, to some extent, move it with little impact to end users. Amazon's...

Think Net Neutrality Will Kill Innovation And Jobs? Think Again

December 20, 2010

I simply do not understand how Net neutrality detractors think that the proposed rules the FCC wants to put into place could hurt innovation. Even a cursory read of the rules shows that...

Cisco's FabricPath and IETF TRILL: Cisco Can't Have Standards Both Ways

December 17, 2010

Standards are standards for a reason. Standards allow customers to interconnect products with a hope that they will all work together easily and simply. It's how the Internet was built,...

Cloud Infrastructure

Amazon Dropping WikiLeaks Should Have No Impact On Your Cloud Plans

December 16, 2010

Amazon kicking WikiLeaks from its Amazon Web Services does not mean in any way, shape or form that you and your company can't trust cloud services. Extreme examples like WikiLeaks are...

The Level 3/Comcast Fight Is About Money, Not Net Neutrality

Careers and Certifications

November 30, 2010

Level 3 is positioning its peering dispute with Comcast as a net neutrality issue, when in fact it's a business conflict. By claiming that a clash over money is actually a defense of users...

Network Computing's 2011 Gift Guide

November 30, 2010

Whether you braved the crowds on Black Friday or joined the horde on Cyber Monday, it's the time of year when the shopping lists come out for our favorite IT guys and gals. IT folks' taste...

Brocade And Cisco Maintain SAN Lock-In Status Quo With FCoE

November 18, 2010

If you are a storage administrator, you are used to vendor lock-in driven by your storage vendor and you choose SAN equipment based on a qualified equipment list. You might even defend the...

Brocade, Cisco, End-to-End FCoE And Who's On First

November 17, 2010

I took some heat, in a good natured way, about my article Brocade First To Market With Native End-to-End FCoE . Brad Hedlund, Brian Gracely, and Stu Miniman contend that Cisco is first with...

On-Switch Scripting Should Be On Your Radar