As many of you recall, Nixu Software launched a free online service at howismydns.com in March 2008. Since launching the website, we’ve been seeing a constantly increasing number of visitors utilizing the online test tools to check the health of their public DNS service. In fact, it currently looks like we’ll be blowing past the 10,000 page requests per day mark any day now.

Interestingly enough, we’ve also been approached by a number of TLD operators interested in providing a similar service for their own top-level domains. To address their exact requirements, we’ve continued the development of the engine used at howismydns.com, to allow TLDs to meet their country-specific decrees on how DNS servers should be set up, as well as to create even more value to people using our online tools at How Is My DNS?.

Having finalized the development of version 2 of the DNS checking engine a while back, we’ve now upgraded the server running behind the free online service to the latest and greatest. Please do give it a go, to see what we’ve done: there’s a number of new tests the engine now performs, making it even more valuable tool for network admins.

As it happened, I was interested in seeing how the networking community has responded to the free tools at howismydns.com and decided to run a Google search using the phrase. In the search results, I found a rather flattering post on the service – thanks be4u! In case you’re reading this, I hope the new version of the service is even more useful than the first one.

On October 30, I published Jake Sorofman’s great article “Cutting with a Scalpel: IT Budget Planning in a Down Economy” here at this blog. For a full story, please click here.

To make the long story short,  Jake opinioned that as IT has become rather entwiened with business models, cutting IT budgets with a hatchet will translate to trouble as the business picks up again, because the degraded IT infrastructure will not be able to scale up as business starts expanding again. Given this, smart CIOs cut costs during economic downturn with scalpels rather than hatchets, to make sure that business-critical infrastructure continues to be maintained and developed regardless of the economic landscape.

At least as far as I’m concerned, this makes perfect sense: when it comes to networking technologies in general, and D-services (DNS & DHCP) and IP address management (IPAM) in specific, there are at least three emerging technology trends that will have a huge impact on business infrastructure and operations carried out using it. These are server virtualization, IPv6 and DNSSEC. Here’s why.

Despite the economic turmoil that has been going on over the last few months, IT departments all over the world are looking at new emerging technologies creating discontinuities in the way in which networks and applications are being consumed and run. Some of the most profound discontinuities include the following:

1. Virtualization is gaining further momentum as organizations continue the consolidation of their computing resources. This creates a paradigm shift in how applications and network services are being run, as the only way to show ROI on virtualization investment is to migrate as many services and applications as possible to the virtual computing environment.
2. RIPE will be running out of IPv4 blocks that it can allocate over the course of next 18 months or so. This makes public IPv4 addresses a scarce resource, requiring organizations to make their networks IPv6 compliant sooner rather than later. Gradual shift to IPv6 enabled networks also places IP Address Management (IPAM) at the center stage, as the number of IPs that have to be managed doubles during the transition period from IPv4 to IPv6.
3. The Kaminsky vulnerability announced in July 2008 has made DNS one of the most urgent Internet security problems. While a new technology called DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) has been introduced to address the related security concerns, it makes DNS management an increasingly complicated and time-consuming task, as it adds new zone signing and key management task to DNS management processes.

Now, back in the 90s when organizations were initially designing and implementing their existing computing and network environments, on which business operations continue to trust today, organizations had ample resources set aside for designing and implementing them. This time around, however, it looks like the second generation of ICT infrastructure will have to designed and implemented with significantly lesser resources. Luckily, there are now solutions out there allowing organizations to accomplish this seemingly impossible goal successfully.

Nixu Software specializes in virtualization-ready software appliances designed for DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management, with a mission to create the benchmark for the combination of security, ease-of-use, and lowest TCO in its industry. Thanks to its technology alliances with virtualization industry leaders VMware and Citrix, and with product portfolio already supporting DNSSEC and IPv6, Nixu Software is uniquely positioned to provide your company with the goods your customers are looking for.

In practice, Nixu Software’s mission is to make it as easy and cost-efficient as possible for organizations to address these future trends, thereby ensuring the viability of their business infrastructure and operations as we enter into 2010s. For further details on Nixu Products, please visit our website.

Jake Sorfoman,  VP of Marketing at rPath, just sent me an interesting note on Barak Obama’s upcoming presidency and the impact it may have on IT transformation. As always, Jake made some rather interesting points in his piece, so I thought I’d share his views with you all. After all, the whole world is likely to be affected by President Obama’s politics, not just the US, so I’m sure this is of at least some interest to us all on this planet called Earth.

The Winds of Change: How Presidential Politics Informs IT Transformation

“For most people, the prospect of fundamental change is about as comforting as a root canal. By their state of nature, most people are change averse, preferring the quiet predictability of the status quo to the frothy tumult of a fundamental shift.

That is, until change seems to be the only tenable answer.

America voted for change during this election cycle because change seemed to be the only tenable answer. Putting politics aside, few will argue against the notion that this country faces some great challenges, many of which are fairly troubling. This sort of recognition tends to trigger a shift in our tolerance for change. It makes us more willing to think differently, take on an element of risk, and accept a degree of near-term uncertainty in exchange for the prospect of a longer-term payoff.

This is as true in presidential politics as it is in information technology.

Technology wasn’t a major theme of the 2008 presidential race. With all the issues keeping us up at night, IT policy simply didn’t rise to the top of either campaign agenda. Certainly, both candidates had technology platforms, but the emphasis was elsewhere during this election cycle.

Let’s face it: neither candidate is exactly Al Gore when it comes to technology (I’m exercising restraint on Internet jokes here). Sen. McCain’s technology experience is long in policy and short in practice; he has served on the Commerce Committee in the Senate and was involved in the seminal Telecommunications Act of 1996. But, by his own admission, he’s never sent e-mail. Sen. Obama was served well by an impressive campaign machine with a strong emphasis on e-marketing, personalization and social media, but by many accounts, he’s no power user either.

Change comes in cycles, which are impossible to predict, but unmistakable when they occur. I would argue that we’re in a change cycle today — both in terms of presidential politics and IT leadership. Just as the public voted that the old way was no longer serving us well, the same sort of vote is happening in enterprises today. Yesterday’s costly, rigid and monolithic IT architectures are giving way to a new approach centered on the principles of virtualization, cloud computing, and service orientation of application functionality.

But the reality is that this sort of IT change requires a significant rethinking of approaches to leadership. It requires a change agent who embodies many of the characteristics that elevated a Junior Senator from Illinois to the highest office in the land. Today’s IT leaders can learn from what we saw on the political stage:

A bias for change

At its most basic level, when people are in pain, it’s critical to tell a story that encompasses change at its most fundamental level. In presidential politics as well as IT leadership, the truth is that people typically gravitate to optimism, hope and positive sentiment — they want something to believe in. Have the courage to take a stand with conviction and become an agent of change. Be courageous.

Inspirational leadership

There’s no excuse for a lack of passion. Believe deeply in what you say and do — if you don’t, find a way to convincingly fake it. Paint a picture for the future — the shining city on the hill — that energizes, excites and inspires. Get out of the weeds and learn to tell a story that speaks to value, pain and outcomes.

A willingness to invest in the future

Take a short-term hit for a future benefit. Get people on board with the reality that change isn’t cheap and everyone needs to make some sacrifices for transformational benefit. This means freeing budget in challenging economic times, and it means project tradeoffs that may yield some near-term discomfort. Have the courage to place some bets and take some risk. Incremental thinking is not the friend of change.

A global outlook

Learn to be empathic about your constituents’ needs, wants and aspirations. Strike a balance between say-anything, do-anything pandering and rigid ideology and provincialism. Put yourself in the shoes of others and try to internalize their points of view. Shape the narrative of your IT transformation based on the specific anecdotes you capture. Tell stories that are respectful and inclusive of diverse needs.

A current perspective

Stay on top of current trends. You don’t need to become a Web 2.0 junkie, but learn to understand the prevailing culture of innovation. You may not be in a position to embrace every new trend that emerges, but you’ll almost certainly benefit from understanding the principles of emerging trends and weaving them into the fabric of your vision for transformation.

Setting politics aside…

Aside from religion, politics may be the most dangerous third rail of polite conversation. This perspective is not meant to be politically ideological, but to share a perspective on what worked so brilliantly well this campaign season and how that can be applied to your role as an agent of change. During his gracious concession speech, Sen. McCain called for us all to come together in support of change. This is an important call to action for both politics and IT. This is the opportunity to think differently, act and believe. Take a page from the book of American President #44: hope is the true catalyst for change.”