Both dynamic VLANs and 802.1q auto-negotiation can enable a hands-off approach to server changes, but there are design and security tradeoffs. Are they worth the convenience?

Working Smarter, Part Four: From repairing and analyzing its physical assets to optimizing its design, you need to assemble a toolkit for every stage of your network's development and life.

From change management to outage alerts, you can put the power of Twitter to work in your IT department.

Network managers sometimes find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to configuration management. Solar Winds' Orion NCM fills the bill and even ventures into NMS territory.

With its release of the Xeon 5500 and an accompanying 10Gbps network controller, Intel provided improvements to Ethernet throughput that put the chipmaker on the leading edge of network evolution.

Configuration management has meant everything from a custom script executed over a remote shell to increasingly sophisticated applications like Puppet and cfengine. What's next? And what about your network gear?

Nehalem's launch is of interest beyond the crew minding the server closets: Combined with a new network controller, Intel's Xeon 5500 could have far-reaching effects on your network.

Working Smarter, Part One: You probably can't work any harder to keep your network running smoothly and efficiently, so get ready to learn how to work smarter.

Why send a tech to do a machine's job? Extreme Networks says its Universal Port technology automates myriad time-consuming LAN configuration and management chores.

Divisions in WAN optimization are crumbling through acquisitions and market consolidation. BlueCoat Systems is one company leading the way.

With sustainable computing looming large in the sales pitch for new technologies, you've got to learn how to balance your goals against realistic choices.

Consulting services are tailored to cover the entire technology lifecycle from assessment and design to ongoing management.

Ecessa has a solution for your WAN performance problems others in the WOC space may not have mentioned: Throw bandwidth at them.

Times are tough, and IT consulting is a viable career path, not just a way to make ends meet between "real" jobs.

Opinion: If there's a digital divide, why's outsourcing to developing countries such a big deal for US workers? Not if they focus on the parts of IT that can't be shipped overseas.