Juniper Partners With VMware For DC Networks

Juniper Networks has expanded its partnership with VMware to deliver a range of solutions for unifying virtual and physical networks within a virtualized data center environment. These solutions, which will include VMware NSX L2 Gateway integration and VXLAN routing capabilities across access, aggregation, core and edge tiers of the data center network, will offer enterprise customers seamless management of workflows across virtualized and non-virtualized systems.

VXLAN routing and gateway capabilities enable both intra- and inter-data center solutions and accelerate the transition to software-defined networking (SDN).

“Juniper offers a broad level of VMware NSX integration across its routing and switching platforms, which not only provides enterprise customers with unprecedented levels of IT flexibility, but also allows them to fully maximize their data center investments. Our collaboration with Juniper is a proof point of the commitment shared by both companies to continually drive simplicity, visibility and ease of management within the software-defined data center,” said Hatem Naguib, Vice President, Cloud Networking and Security, VMware.

“For many enterprise customers, SDN in the data center represents a very real way to derive greater value and IT efficiency from the network, and the advent of VMware NSX L2 Gateway integration and VXLAN routing capabilities allows for a seamless migration to a virtual network environment. Through our partnership with VMware – which includes joint product development, technology integration and joint go-to-market strategies – we are committed to developing a range of networking solutions for use in VMware environments,” Jonathan Davidson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Campus and Data Center Business Unit, Juniper Networks.

Microsoft CEO retirement news causes share price to rocket

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's retirement announcement prompted a nine per cent leap in the software giant's stock price, with shares later trading at two dollars short of a 52-week high.
The technology giant has yet to name a successor and the board of directors has formed a special committee to find a replacement, it confirmed on Friday.

Microsoft is an amazing place. I love this company. I love the way we helped invent and popularise computing and the PC.

The committee is chaired by John Thompson, the board’s lead independent director, and includes Microsoft co-founder and chairman of the board Bill Gates.
The special committee will also work with executive recruiting firm, Heidrick & Struggles to find the new CEO. Microsoft will be considering external and internal candidates for the position.
In a memo to employees Steve Ballmer noted the company needs a CEO to oversee the new strategy which has been put in place.
"The strategy we have generated is first class. Our new organisation, which is centered on functions and engineering areas, is right for the opportunities and challenges ahead," he noted.
"Microsoft is an amazing place. I love this company. I love the way we helped invent and popularise computing and the PC. I love the bigness and boldness of our bets."
When quizzed by ZDNet, shortly after his retirement was announced on Friday, Ballmer claimed the decision to step down had been a long time coming.
"I've thought about it for a long time, but the timing became more clear to me over the course of the last few months," he told the publication.
"I would have to say my thinking has intensified really over the last couple - two, two and a half months, something thing that."
However, he revealed the decision to do it now had taken place "a day or two ago".
"Bill [Gates] respects my decision," he added. "Ultimately these kinds of things have to be one's own personal decision."
Ballmer was the 30th employee hired at Microsoft by Bill Gates when he joined in 1980. He progressed up the ranks, and was appointed to the CEO position in 2000.
Eyebrows will no doubt be raised about the timing of his retirement announcement. Ballmer had just announced one of the biggest re-organisations in the history of Microsoft.
Despite Microsoft’s core Office and Windows products continuing to generate cash, the firm has struggled to adapt to life in the post-PC era.
Microsoft was forced to swallow a $900 million write-down in the last quarter when it failed to sell a significant amount of Surface RT tablets.
Windows 8 was also critically mauled when it was released in October 2012 and head of Windows division, Steve Sinofsky, was quickly ushered out of the door as soon as it started shipping.
In Sinofsky's absense, Terry Myerson, who was promoted to head up  the Windows Phone division and veteran Jullie Larson-Green who is now in charge of all hardware development are likely to be internal frontrunners for the CEO position.
Despite all this, Ballmer told ZDNet his biggest regret during his time at Microsoft was the "loopedy-loo...that was sort of Longhorn to [Windows] Vista".
"I would say that's probably the thing I regret most. And, you know, there are side effects of that when you tie up a big team to do something that doesn't prove out to be as valuable," he added.

Yahoo overtakes Google and Microsoft in US traffic

Venerable web service giant tops unique user ranks.

Yahoo has outperformed rivals Google and Microsoft in terms of internet traffic across all its sites for the first time in several years.
According to internet analytics firm ComScore, Yahoo attracted 196,564,000 unique US visitors to its sites in the month of July, compared to 192,251,000 for second place Google and 179,494,000 for Microsoft.
This represents an increase of 7,837,000 unique visitors for Yahoo, while Google’s figures actually shrank by 339,000 – the third month in a row it has experienced a decline.
Yahoo also managed to top ComScore’s Ad Focus ranking, which measures top ad-focused sites and networks in order of audience size.
Yahoo has been steadily increasing the number of visitors to its sites since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO in July 2012.
She has credited the slow and steady recovery of the 19-year-old company to changes she has made since her appointment, which has included the acquisition of blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion (£704.47 million) in May 2013.
Yahoo also recently announced its acquisition of social web browser firm RockMelt.
Mayer said she hopes to end a 10-year search revenue deal that was signed with Microsoft in 2010 to use the latter firm’s Bing search engine, after she publicly claimed Yahoo was not benefiting financially from the agreement.
However, despite the upbeat news from ComScore, Yahoo reported a drop in revenues in July due to a reduction in display advertising and search revenue of 13 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. This led to a 1.7 per cent share price drop.

Lenovo to bring full Start Menu back to Windows 8

 

Chinese PC vendor is to pre-install Pokki Start Menu software on all new Winndows 8 machines.

Lenovo has partnered with start-up SweetLabs to reinstate the much-missed Start Menu in Windows 8 and restore its full functionality.
Microsoft’s decision to ditch the Start Menu has been a recurring complaint of Windows 8 users, and is something the software giant looks set to rectify on October 17 when the Windows 8.1 update drops.
However, the Windows 8.1 Start Menu will not feature the same functionality Windows fans have come to expect from earlier iterations of the OS.
As demonstrated in this video from IT Pro technical editor Khidr Suleman, pressing the Start button will no longer pull up a programme list or search box as it previously did.
Instead, a left click of the mouse on the Start button will allow users to switch between the operating system’s Live Tile interface and desktop mode.  Meanwhile, a right click will bring up shortcuts to the system control panel.
Rather than settle for this, Lenovo appears to have taken matters into its own hands by rolling out PCs pre-installed with SweetLabs’ Pokki software, which restores the full Start Menu functionality to all new Windows 8 machines.
According to a report on Bloomberg, Lenovo machines featuring the software will go on sale over the next several weeks, with English-speaking countries set to be the first to benefit.
Chester Ng, co-founder and chief marketing officer at SweetLabs, said in the report that all of the computers Lenovo sells will eventually ship with its software pre-installed.
He also told the publication that SweetLabs is in talks with other PC manufacturers that are interested in bundling its software with their Windows 8 machines.
The Pokki software is also available for users to download from its website, with the company claiming that three million Windows 8 users have already done so.
Once installed, it also offers users access to the SweetLab app store, which features a range of consumer content, including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, YouTube and Spotify.

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Telling My Dog's Dream and Ghans Rhythm

Rockbouy the most feared dog in our hood is at it again folks. This time it is barking in sleep. Ajabu! (Mysterious in Swahili). Do not be surprised because dogs really dream. Knowing the meaning of every sound made by dogs, I listened carefully to see if I could ascertain what is going on in the dreams of my own Rockbouy. It was an uninterrupted barking, a dog’s way to communicate that he is alone and lonely. This sound is a kind of plea for company or attention.

Understandably my own Rockbouy is tired of being a bachelor. But even me the owner is also a Grade ‘A’ bachelor. Nevertheless it is my dream to someday get Rockbouy a befitting partner.

As I tell you the disquieting thoughts of my dog which he has taken into his dreams, may I respectfully tell you my cherished reader that I have a dream too. My dream is to become the best writer in the world. I always dream of writing the best play, movie script, novels and articles. But folk, there is one movie script I wish to forever hate writing. It is titled “Ghans Rhythm”. It tells the story of a lovely and shinning country with inviting qualities in West Africa that became obsessed with the desire of two people wanting to rule them. This nation regrettably has to fickle the powerful dictation of their common values to give way to the ugly sound emanating from the barrel of the gun to dictate to them their future.

Depending on how you see it I tell you it will be a blockbuster! Hollywood is ready with cameras, directors are prepared, and actors to play leading roles are being sought for. Your simple decision to relegate your fist and its accompanying strength to your pocket and not fight even if you are right is the only way to thwart the plans of Hollywood.

Folks are we Ghanaians are not men or are we feeble? Never but because we as a people have always acted based on the outcome of our decision- that is real wisdom. Readers at this point, breathe deeply, smile and continue.

Jonas a Liberian friend is an amputee. This is the medal he received from participating actively in the Liberia war. At age 19, he buried both parents together with the help of just one friend and never saw the corpse of his only two siblings. Please give me the answer to this question: in our 21^st century wars, who is the real man? The answer is simple, it’s the gun. Bearers of it often die but the gun continues to live to send fear into people with its ugly rhythm. Your decision never to pick it at this time nor instruct someone to pick it to register your or his displeasure is all it takes to avoid the sorry experience of Jonas. Your thoughtful decision will see you live to fulfill your dreams. It will give me the opportunity to fulfill my dream of becoming the best writer in the world and by extension live to fulfill the dream of my own Rockbouy- get it a female partner, the first daughter of Eve. Yes for my own Rockbouy.

Top 10 Ugly Animals in the World

The issue of which animal is ugly is debatable. It depends on each person but these few animals would certainly no be overlooked.

1. Chinese Crested Dog:
The Chinese Crested Dog is one of a few types of hairless dogs in the world. It looks like a toy dog and normally measures less than 33cm in height.

2. Proboscis Monkey
The proboscis monkey, or long-nosed monkey, is a reddish-brown arboreal monkey that is endemic to the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. Its protruding nose makes this endangered creature easily identifiable.

 

3. Star Nosed Mole
The Star Nosed Mole is a mall mole found in the wet and low areas of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. It is covered in thick, blackish-brown, water-repellent fur and has large feet and a long, thick tail. It is good at swimming and digging, and uses its hairless nose -- shaped like a "star" of 22 fleshy tentacles -- to identify food by touch, such as worms, insects and crustaceans, making up for its poor eyesight. The tentacles are extremely sensitive and can even sense electricity.

 

4. Alligator Snapping Turtle
This is definitely a creature that you do not want to insult. The Alligator Snapping Turtle is the oldest still-existing reptile around and one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world. It is found primarily in the waters of the southeastern United States. This big guy is quiet most of the time, but bites when threatened. The great strength of its bite can easily break a human finger. Equipped not only with a ferocious mouth, the turtle also has three rows of spikes on its back.
 

5. Philippine Tarsier
The Philippine Tarsier can fit in the palm of your hand. It measures up to a mere 15 cm (6 inches), making it one of the smallest primates in the world. Its big eyes and friendly face make it sweet, albeit an oddly kind of cute. Its bulging eyes are even bigger than its brain. The hands and legs of this little beggar resemble human limbs and they can leap as high as 3.3 meters (10 feet). Coming into the world some 45 million years ago, the tarsier has now become an endangered species. 

 

6. Baird's Tapir
The Baird's tapir is the largest land mammal residing in Central America. It measures an average of up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) in length, not counting its stubby tail of 7-13 cm (2.8-5.1 inches), and 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) in height. It weighs in around 150-400 kg (330-880 lb). This tapir has a distinctive cream-colored making on its face and throat, as well as a dark spot on each cheek. The animal has four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot.




7. Blob Fish
The Blob Fish looks more like a cartoon character than a fish. This little guy has a gloomy face, so it is often referred to as the "most sorrowful fish in the world." It has very few muscles and moves very slowly, almost floating like a jelly fish. The fish usually waits on the bottom of the ocean for food passing by. It lives at depths between 600-1,200 meters (2,000-3,900 feet) off the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania, but due to the deep-sea fishing and bottom trawling, it is currently facing extinction

8. California Condor

The California Condor, a part of the vulture family, is the oldest and largest terrestrial bird in the world. It eats large amounts of carrion and is called a "scavenger of nature." Its plumage is black with patches of white on the underside of the wings and its head is largely bald, with its skin color ranging from gray to yellow and bright orange. It is also one of the world's longest-living birds, with a lifespan of 60 up to 80 years. Unfortunately, it has become one of the world's rarest bird species.

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9. Little LorikeetThe Little Lorikeet is native to Australia. Its food includes nectar, pollen and fruits. The newborns look kind of ugly, although they will finally turn into beautiful, rainbow-colored birds. These babies have a lot of growing up and coloring to do until then.

10.  Naked Mole Rat

 The naked Mole Rat is native to some parts of East Africa. They spend most of their lives underground and are well adapted to this underground environment. With most of their skin exposed, they lack sweat glands and subcutaneous fat. These ugly guys use their giant, protruding teeth and jaws to dig extensive holes in the ground. The underground parts of plants serve as their food. They live in colonies like bees and have one queen who is responsible for all reproduction.

Public Private Partnership craze, what is in it for the African Infrastructure Industry?

From a distance the scene is like a mini war. My curiosity carried me quickly to observe so I can give an accurate report to you reader. What I saw upon my curios approach can aptly be described as a fitting scene for a typical African movie- a drunk man confronting a drunk barber for disfiguring his child’s face with a poor shave. You can’t believe this folk. The barber eyes were his witnesses to the amount of alcohol he has consumed. Picture your self-receiving a shave from a drunk barber. What I saw is a clear human right abuse. The barber has clearly abused the child’s right to look nice.

Well at this stage I had to intervene. As I gasped in air to vomit the first word from my belly, the lights went off. The barber was saved as everybody changed their conversation gear to discuss the recent power failure in the country. That wasn’t my biggest problem. I had to drive home on a road worse than the boy’s haircut. Living in my country and many countries in Africa is a frustration.

Governments in many African countries face the increasing challenge of meeting the growing demand for new and better infrastructural services. This is evidenced by the increasing energy failure, increasing housing deficit, roads that serves as death traps, poor sewage system and many more. The estimated financing requirement to close Africa’s infrastructure deficit amounts to USD 93 billion annually until 2020. Successive governments in Africa are confronted with the problem of funding and providing the needed public sector capacity to implement infrastructural projects. The entire African continent is crippled by this infrastructural deficiency hampering trade with the western world and other developed nations. This has considerably reduced investors trust in the continent. 

Take the issue of Electricity as reported by the African Development bank (AFCB). In 2008, only 38% of Africans had access to electricity compared to an average of 68% for all developing countries. The figure is even lower for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), currently at 26%. Furthermore, about 30 African countries endured on average 11.5 power outages in 2007. The power outages were due largely to lack of regional interconnectivity of the electricity grids and shortages in affected countries. During this period, regional surpluses in generation capacity were noted for all the five sub-regions except for East Africa, which had intermittent shortages. Some of the surplus countries like South Africa now have deficits due to increases in demand. The costs of power outages are significant, with Africa loosing almost 12.5% of production time compared to 7% for South Asia, which the next worst case. Indeed the emergence of independent power producers (IPPs) signals sweeping changes in the power sector. For instance, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa has established a regulatory environment that would allow upward adjustments in tariffs and thus improve the viability of private sector suppliers. In Morocco, nearly two-thirds of electricity production is by private producers, the Jorf Lasfar Energy Company - presently Africa's largest IPP, Compagnie Eolienne de Detroit (CED) and Energie Electrique de Tahaddart (EET).

Folks, the new jargon in finance and governance is the portmanteau Abenomics introduced by the current prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. This policy is becoming as popular as the ripe tomato hair cut craze in Japan.  In this policy, Abe vowed to deregulate the energy, and infrastructure industries. He also plans to boost power industry investment to 30 trillion yen within a decade. This election winning policy is to be achieved by his established goal of tripling the use of Public-Private Partnerships to 12 trillion yen to fund infrastructure projects such as airports, waterworks and highways.

Perhaps this is the time to consider seriously the issue of Public Private Partnership (PPP). PPP- the new craze in infrastructural development for many developing countries is imagined to be the long-awaited solution for Africa infrastructural deficiency. Few governments in Africa have already taken advantage of this to form new strategic alliances and reducing government cost in providing the infrastructural needs of their countries.

PPP is when Governments turns to and/or collaborates with the private sector to provide infrastructure services in energy and power, communication, transport and water sectors that were once delivered by the public sector. The flaunted infrastructures of developed countries like US, UK, and Australia are strong evidence that to close the wedge between African citizens and infrastructure, PPP is the way to go now.

Africa stands to glean lots of infrastructural benefits from Public-Private Partnership which in effect enhance the livelihood of the citizens.

Public Private Partnerships could increase and provide greater infrastructure solutions offering faster project completion and reducing delays on infrastructure projects.

The Public private partnerships return of investment (ROI) is greater when compare to traditional methods, due to innovative design and financing approaches

Risks are weighted from initial conceptual stages to determine the feasibility of a certain project

The operational and project execution risk is transferred totally to the private sector, leaving the public component on a win-win situation

Public private partnership is a concept where early completion is expected under expected budget, reducing the claims and change order process.

Public-Private Partnership allows government funds to be re-directed to other important socio-economic areas reducing government budget and budget deficit.

P3 also provides economic growth and increased and wider employment opportunities.

The successful establishment of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAPCo) is an evidence of the profit of PPP. WAPCo is a public-private partnership owned by Chevron-Texaco West African Gas Pipeline Ltd (42%), Nigerian Natural Petroleum Corporate (25%), Shell Overseas Holdings Limited (17%), and Takoradi Power Company Limited (16%). Its shareholders are Shell, Chevron, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Volta River Authority (VRA) of Ghana, BenGaz of Benin, and SotoGaz of Togo.

Folks, after letting you know the benefits of PPP, let me also add quickly that PPP contracts are typically much more complicated than conventional procurement contracts affecting the tendering and negotiation. This is principally because of the need to anticipate all possible contingencies that could arise in such long-term contractual relationships. Parties bidding for projects spend considerable resources in designing and evaluating the project prior to submitting a tender. In addition, there are typically very significant legal costs in contract negotiation. Having several bidders do this involves a cost which can add up in total to tens of millions.

These shortcomings need careful consideration and the wobbling wheels of African infrastructure development and the benefits of PPP must compel all African nations to develop policies to guide the successful implementation of Public-Private Partnerships.

However, failure in making projects bidding transparent and publicly stating government’s stake in the joint venture could turn any PPP project honeymoon into divorce.

Folk, I believe you are interested in what happened next after the blackout. The conversation changed and eventually everyone left for our homes conversely settling the quarrel. Do not quickly commend the blackout because robbery is rampant these days and they take advantage of such situations.

Mickey Mouse and his Cigarette

Our household calls it Mickey, others in the neighborhood has named it ‘Mickey Musculus’. All these names refer to a large mouse freely roaming in our area and often admired by onlookers. It is not as if people in the neighborhood fear it which is why it is still alive, but we are all amazed at the fact that its size almost equals that of a rat! Cats even do not approach it; it enters any opened room uninvited and without a knock; little kids run away from Mickey. Uncharacteristic of typical African and mouse relationship, Mickey even receive food from the neighborhood.

Folk you may be surprised at this report about Mickey. As usual of Accra life, I had to get to the road side early enough to avoid the traffic. I was walking towards the roadside when   I saw thick smoke coming out of Mickey Mouse’s nostril! Incredible! You shouted. It was real I reply you. It was so engulfed in the smoking that it did not even recognize anyone passing. An Englishman will call it miracle; a Spaniard will say milagro and a German will exclaim wunder!

I was blessed to meet an area man who knows Mickey Mouse. Apparently he also saw what I’m reporting to you. Fortunately for me he has an answer for me. He told me Mickey Mouse has been spending his nights in their house inside an unused wooden structure. Unfortunately for Mickey Mouse, this family got three visitors and since their hall is already accommodating four people, they were left with no option than to prepare that wooden structure for their guest, conversely ejecting Mickey Mouse.

I quickly called to mind the news item I listened to the previous day; that Ghana has 1.6 million housing deficit.

This news is sad to hear but it’s real. According to this news, almost a quarter of Ghanaians live in slums, while an estimated average of 8.7 people share a house in urban areas. Successive governments have expressed their concern about this problem and most often their solution is only on building more houses. Folks, join me in asking these two questions:

1.     What if there are more buildings but we cannot afford the rent?

2.     Considering the time it takes to construct a house, could there be any cost effective way of building more houses at affordable prices?

Would you not agree with me that if the rent act of 1963, ACT 229 is strictly enforced, it can reduce the housing deficit albeit it will not completely solve it? The Rent Act stipulates that 'no one shall rent a room or a house and pay an advance fee beyond 6 months'.

The fact that we have housing deficit does not mean we do not unoccupied houses. There are a lot of vacant rooms and estate development companies are adding new ones daily. The problem is about the cost in renting and rent advance which is forcing people to sleep together in large numbers. It is not uncommon now to see in all our capital cities about 6-8 people sleeping in one single room. It is not as if all these people are completely poor but cannot raise the needed money to pay for the unregulated two or three years rent advance requested by landlords.

Admittedly regulating rent only cannot solve the huge housing deficit. What if we turn modern technology that ensures that houses are built fast and cheap without compromising quality?

One such modern building technology that has been adopted by countries like the US is the Expanded polystyrene (EPS). EPS is a product that provides smart solutions and durable, efficient results. It is a sustainable product that is recyclable and environmentally sound. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is an innovative building material that lends to the design and structural integrity of many building projects. Polystyrene is extracted from oil. Thousands of small units of styrene, called monomers, link together to form large molecules of polystyrene by a process called polymerization.

The Expandable Polystyrene (EPS) production process uses a pure hydrocarbon, which does not contain any halogens and does not damage the earth's protective ozone layer, as the expansion agent. Since the 1950s, EPS has been recognized as a mainstream insulation material. Now, EPS is a powerful design element and an ideal choice for green building design, offering tangible environmental advantages that can maximize energy efficiency, providing improved indoor environmental quality and enhancing durability.

EPS is used widely in the building and construction industry. EPS is widely used in many everyday building and construction situations where its light weight, strength and thermal insulation characteristics provide cost effective high performance solutions.

Major applications of EPS include insulated panel systems for use in floors, walls and roofs of domestic as well as commercial buildings as well as facades for both domestic and commercial buildings. It is also used as a void-forming fill material in civil engineering projects.

 EPS is an inert material that does not rot and provides no nutritional benefits to vermin therefore does not attract pests such as rats or termites. Its strength, durability and lightweight nature makes it a versatile and popular building product.  EPS has successfully become the smartest option for modern building construction and a responsible choice for the environment.

It is therefore urgent for building construction and real estate developers to seriously consider this option of cost-effective housing. This will help in reducing if not eradicating at all, the housing deficit in the country and our area mouse, Mickey Musculus will not be ejected.

Thankfully as I stepped closer to have a close look at our most adored Mickey Musculus smoking, I woke up from sleep and realized it was dream. Mickey Musculus is still freely patrolling the area. I wish long life.