“The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from.” Andrew Tanenbaum's statement may be a cynical and dismissive, but it's not far from the mark. Indeed, there are a great many standards, perhaps as many as there are efforts to standardize the world around us! But what good are standards, really? The 3 Standard Types In technical fields, standardization … [Read more...] about The Myths of Standardization
standards
Why I Am Biased Against FCoE
I stirred up a lot of controversy last week after posting what I thought was a fairly innocuous question: Will 16 Gb Fibre Channel Derail FCoE? That short post focused on the prospects for 16 Gb FC and was the result of questions I received from the audience at Interop New York. Yet the resulting controversy is all about the fitness of FCoE and my personal motivations. So I … [Read more...] about Why I Am Biased Against FCoE
Not All 802.11n Networks Are Alike
Consumers and businesses love wireless networking, but the latest version of 802.11 "Wi-Fi" will leave many scratching their heads. With a confusing array of optional features, most of which are disabled by default for compatibility, today's 802.11n products will not deliver the performance gains promised by vendors and expected by consumers. Let's take a look at the key … [Read more...] about Not All 802.11n Networks Are Alike
4G: Is It Really A Standard If No One Cares?
Americans have terrible mobile broadband network infrastructure, yet our service providers make it sound awesome. Now that 2 of our 4 national wireless providers now offer 4G service, one might conclude that the United States is awash in mobile broadband. But neither of these supposed 4G offerings is anywhere near fast enough to meet the ITU standards for 4G, and even our 3G … [Read more...] about 4G: Is It Really A Standard If No One Cares?