Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) is a network technology for routing and packet forwarding in private, wide-area network (WAN) connections. It is a switching mechanism that uses labels to decide the shortest possible path instead of the usual network address. In general, these labels are more effective for directing data through paths than traditional internet protocols — which use long, less efficient network addresses when moving data from one internet node to another. 1 RingCentral RingEx Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Hosted PBX, Managed PBX, Remote User Ability, and more MPLS was designed for yesterday’s enterprise MPLS has some good aspects, but it actually falls short when it comes to fulfilling today’s dynamic network needs. Originally, MPLS arose from the need to resolve internet routing issues by creating standards that improved quality of service (QoS). This was ultimately meant to boost efficiency across networks due to better data packet performance. When MPLS showed up, it was attractive because of its protocol independence and scalability. It offered both flexibility and the capacity to grow. Additionally, because of its unique architecture, MPLS was able to provide high-performance data transmission faster and more reliably, even across large enterprise networks. Nevertheless, despite how MPLS is still in use today, it has become an outdated legacy system. Below are seven reasons why MPLS has fallen out of favor. 1. MPLS is expensive As a good manager or network administrator, you must take several considerations into account when choosing your preferred technology. One of the biggest factors you have to consider is cost. As a private network, MPLS may be more secure and reliable, but it’s also expensive to implement. Compared to run-of-the-mill broadband internet connections, MPLS pricing is on another planet. Estimates on MPLS monthly costs can vary greatly depending on local costs to access fiber, so it isn’t easy to provide a reliable estimate. Still, suffice it to say that you can expect savings of at least 15% and 40% when you switch to internet VPN connections instead. The average cost of MPLS is between $300 and $600 per Mbps each month. In comparison, broadband connectivity will only set you back between $1.50 and $15 per Mbps each month, with internet services costing between $25 and $200 per month. Bear in mind the actual costs for MPLS can vary significantly based on location, service provider, and the volume of traffic purchased. Large enterprises negotiating bulk deals often receive lower rates. Setting up MPLS by yourself isn’t advisable because of the relative complexity of the manual configuration involved. Therefore, MPLS configuration is typically outsourced to managed service providers who set up and operate the infrastructure, which increases the price. Remember that MPLS’s advantages, like prioritizing traffic for different packet types, come from its ability to route real-time packets, such as video data, through a lower network latency path. To make this possible, MPLS requires specialized equipment like label switch routers to read the MPLS labels. Once again, these add to the overall cost of MPLS infrastructure. As a result, MPLS is feasible for highly specific use cases, but not ideal for your entire network. 2. Manual deployment and configuration One of the most prominent use cases for MPLS is managing more extensive networks while offering an enhanced quality of service (QoS). However, MPLS is generally difficult to deploy because its manual configuration poses a considerable challenge — which can also increase exponentially when compounded by the complexity of setting up multiple locations and branch offices that are often required by MPLS systems. As a result, your MPLS installation could also take months to complete if your offices are geographically dispersed across vast areas, such as in different countries. To complicate the scenario even further, the type of deployment and upgrades demanded by MPLS are usually resource-intensive processes to carry out on private network connections. This means MPLS can take several months to deploy, which is extraneous work that can start to wear on you and your engineers pretty fast. 3. Security issues MPLS has some built-in advantages when it comes to cybersecurity. One of these is its status as a private network, which gives it a narrower attack surface than its public counterparts. While it’s good for users to have some level of control over their security, MPLS completely hands security to the user. For example, you can leverage its labeling mechanism to mark sensitive data so it can be routed through a secure VPN. However, the drawback to this level of control is that malicious actors can manipulate data packets to fool MPLS routers into assigning labels, therefore allowing malware to slip past it and spread through the network. Of course, firewalls and antivirus systems may mitigate this, but they add yet another headache to an already challenging manual configuration process. Much like any other network, following MPLS security best practices is an ongoing battle. 4. Incompatible with the cloud MPLS systems need their own dedicated infrastructure, and their hub-and-spoke architecture makes them incompatible with the cloud. Therefore, they are a poor fit for businesses that already use the cloud or are considering transitioning to it. Similarly, MPLS is built for point-to-point connectivity, and this rigidity presents a disadvantage for the cloud. Since MPLS doesn’t support edge cases and endpoint applications, it doesn’t align with SaaS (software as a service) applications, which is a dominant model in today’s market. SEE: Learn more about computer networking fundamentals like point-to-point networks. 5. Limited control First of all, yes, an argument about limited control would apparently be contradictory to our statements about security issues. Theoretically speaking, MPLS does provide the user with control. However, because of the difficulty of its practical implementation, it is almost exclusively deployed and configured by ISPs, leaving you with little practical control over it. Thus, this compels you to work in lockstep with your service provider to tailor specifications to your

After hearing the arguments in September, the federal appeals court in Washington unanimously ruled to uphold the law signed in April that forces the app to either cut ties with its China-based parent company (ByteDance) or be banned. Despite TikTok being that much closer to a ban, we stand by our prediction that TikTok will not get banned or divest in the US in 2025. Why not? ByteDance is sure to appeal today’s ruling to the Supreme Court; a new administration takes the helm in the US in January; and the law has a 90-day extension clause. But outside of the delay tactic, TikTok’s importance to a thriving creator economy is far-reaching. Banning TikTok creates a Meta monopoly. As a recap, here’s a look back at some of our past blog posts about TikTok from earlier this year: Today’s TikTok Appeal Pressure-Tests The First Amendment [READ] Predictions 2025: The Media Industry Resolves 2024’s Unruly Unknowns [READ] TikTok’s Influence On Young Voters Makes It A Threat To US Democracy And An Asset To Marketers [READ] Banning TikTok Creates A Meta Monopoly [READ] Forrester clients: Let’s chat more about this via a Forrester guidance session. source

Centralize and improve data quality around customer interactions to enhance the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of data insights; Improve customer retention and prospect conversion rates by developing gen AI use cases aimed at personalizing marketing content campaigns; Facilitate change management in marketing and sales by gaining adoption in a few winning approaches and sharing best practices rather than serially experimenting with many capabilities. Target call center and service operations Call centers, customer service departments, IT service desks, and other support services have significant amounts of data in the form of service tickets, knowledge bases, and user profile information from CRM and HCMS platforms. Gen AI applied in these areas can have a force-multiplying impact by improving customer or employee satisfaction scores, reducing costs, and improving job satisfaction for service desk employees. “In support functions, gen AI expedites call center operations by generating rapid, context-aware responses to intelligently route queries, reduce average handling time, and improve resolution rate,” says Ram Ramamoorthy, director of AI research at ManageEngine. “In IT service management, AI-driven knowledge graphs provide issue diagnosis and proactive resolution, decreasing downtime.” Ashwin Rajeeva, co-founder and CTO of Acceldata, recommends CIOs collaborate with department leaders on gen AI use cases and “track Net Promoter Scores and resolution times in customer support to quantify AI’s impact on loyalty and efficiency. In HR, measure time-to-hire and candidate quality to ensure AI-driven recruitment aligns with business goals. Observability metrics such as data quality, freshness, and consistency provide essential insights that enhance the reliability and precision of these AI-driven outcomes.” source

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Using a password manager is a great way to protect your personal or business data and accounts. Password management software makes it easy to use complex and varied passwords for all of your accounts without having to remember them or store them in a vulnerable way. Dashlane and 1Password are among the top password management tools on the market. While both password managers offer basic and advanced features that can help you generate, store, and monitor your passwords securely, Dashlane comes with a VPN for Wifi protection. Learn what features each solution offers and how to decide between these two password managers in this in-depth comparison guide. NordPass Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Micro, Small, Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Activity Log, Business Admin Panel for user management, Company-wide settings, and more Dashlane Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Micro, Small, Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Automated Provisioning ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Access Management, Compliance Management, Credential Management, and more Dashlane vs. 1Password: Comparison table The table below summarizes and compares the key features offered by both password managers. Features Dashlane 1Password Password generator Yes Yes Self-hosted authenticator app Yes, with Dashlane Authenticator No. Requires external authenticators like Authy, Microsoft Authenticator, etc. Two-factor authentication Yes Yes Password autofill Yes Yes Single Sign-on (SSO) Yes Yes Free plan available No No VPN Yes No Starting price $4.99 $2.99 Free trial Available only in premium and business tiers 14-day free trial across all plans but Enterprise Dark Web monitoring Yes Yes Passkey support Yes Yes Cost flexibility Less flexible Super flexible Alerts and reporting Yes Yes Dashlane and 1Password pricing Dashlane offers a variety of pricing options in its Personal and Business tiers. It also has a limited but fully-free, free version. Dashlane Pricing Personal plans Free: Free. Maximum of 25 stored passwords for 1 device. Premium: $4.99 per month billed annually. A free trial is available for this plan. Friends & Family: $7.49 per month, billed annually, for 10 users. Business plans Standard: This is for small teams and costs $20 per month, for up to 10 seats. Business: $8 per seat per month, billed annually. A free trial is available for this plan. Business Plus: $5 per employee, per month, billed annually. Starts at 100 employees. A demo can be requested for this plan. Enterprise This plan is suitable for large organizations and comes with everything in the business plan, plus dedicated customer service support for onboarding technical engineers and customer support specialists. Contact Dashlane for a quote. To learn more, check our full Dashlane review. 1Password Pricing In my view, pricing for 1Password is much more flexible than Dashlane. 1Password offers multiple pricing plans for individual, family, small team, business, and enterprise use cases. There’s now also monthly options for each 1Password plan. These are the price points for their plans: Personal Individual: Starts at $2.99 per month when billed annually. $3.99 per month for monthly option. Families: $4.99 per month for five family members, billed annually. $6.95 per month for monthly option. Business Teams Starter Pack: $19.95 per month, a team of ten users, billed annually. Same price for monthly option. Business: $7.99 per user, per month, billed annually. Suitable for business users. $9.99 per month for monthly option. Enterprise Quote available upon request. Includes everything from Business subscription plus enterprise features like dedicated account manager and tailored onboarding. 14-day free trials are available for all plan options except for the Enterprise plan. To learn more, check our full 1Password review. Feature comparison: Dashlane vs 1Password From centralized password management to security, encryption, password health reporting, and 2FA, both tools offer similar features. But how do they compare? Let’s find out. Password management and sharing Winner: 1Password In terms of password management and credential sharing, I give the advantage to 1Password. 1Password features password and username generators to create secure login credentials that aren’t re-used across websites. It uses a secure vault system for password sharing — which I see adds a big benefit to larger businesses. Vaults can be created to organize your passwords and securely share them with others within the organization. In this system, I imagine enterprises easily creating specific vaults for each department or team within their organization. 1Password password generator Image: 1Password On the other hand, Dashlane has a secure sharing feature that can be used to share one or more passwords and secure notes. Users can share a password with individual users or groups and adjust the sharing permissions to provide either full or limited access. Dashlane also offers a group sharing feature on the Starter, Team, and Business plans. This feature allows admins to categorize team members into groups and create and share passwords based on the specific needs of each group. Dashlane group password sharing Image: Dashlane On Dashlane’s end, I appreciate how it provides administrators control how much access each user has to particular credentials. But if we’re strictly talking about which storage and password sharing features benefit teams and businesses more, I find 1Password to be the better choice due to its customizable vault system. Security and monitoring Winner: Tie Both services employ 256-bit AES encryption and two-factor authentication to keep your login information secure. Dashlane uses PBKDF2 encryption to protect users’ passwords, while 1Password has its own Secret Key encryption system. In terms of monitoring, 1Password includes their Watchtower monitoring feature, which integrates with Have I Been Pwned to provide alerts if any of your passwords have appeared in data breaches. To me, this is a great way to catch compromised passwords early. In addition, the Watchtower also checks and flags weak

The future of SAP architectures is hybrid. But according to a survey conducted by the Financials subgroup of the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG), where exactly the journey will go has not yet been decided for many organizations. Nearly half of SAP customers surveyed (47%) still work with on-prem SAP ERP Central Component (ECC), and many have not yet determined which path they want to take to S/4HANA once ECC hits end of maintenance. From Aug. 15 to Sept. 16, 2024, DSAG surveyed 267 representatives of member company in its Financials subgroup, which includes verticals such as financial services, energy supply, real estate, audit and risk management, data protection, and taxes. In addition to the 47% on ECC, 42% are using S/4HANA (Classic Edition) on-premises. Just 11% of SAP customers surveyed are currently on S/4HANA cloud, with 8% on the Private Edition and 3% on the Public Edition. source

Businesses are looking for IT pros with deep expertise in the following popular and prominent platforms across the IT stack. source

TL;DR: Prepare for CompTIA exams with 17 expert-led courses in the Complete 2025 CompTIA Certification Training Super Bundle by IDUNOVA for $49.99 (reg. $493). The Complete 2025 CompTIA Certification Training Super Bundle by IDUNOVA is your gateway to earning CompTIA certifications, recognized globally as the gold standard for IT expertise. For just $49.99 (reg. $493), this bundle offers 17 expert-led courses covering 310.96 hours of training designed to prepare you for CompTIA exams at your convenience. This bundle has everything you need, whether you’re just entering IT or aiming to advance your career with advanced certifications. From foundational knowledge to advanced concepts, these courses cover various IT topics, including cybersecurity, cloud computing, and IT fundamentals. Start with CompTIA IT Fundamentals+ (FC0-U61) to comprehensively overview software, IT security, databases, and cloud systems. Move on to CompTIA Security+ (SY0-601) for a deep dive into cybersecurity strategies, from threat detection to advanced defensive measures. With lifetime access to these courses, you can learn at your own pace, whether you’re balancing a busy schedule or diving deep into exam prep. Note that while this bundle prepares you for CompTIA certifications, the official certifications require passing the CompTIA exams. If you’re an aspiring IT professional, a freelancer expanding your skill set, or an experienced worker aiming to validate your expertise, this bundle offers the tools you need to succeed. Learn on desktop or mobile, explore real-world scenarios, and complete the courses to earn certificates of completion that showcase your commitment to professional growth. Get the Complete 2025 CompTIA Certification Training Super Bundle by IDUNOVA for $49.99 (reg. $493) and start the new year with a growth mindset. Prices and availability subject to change. source

The fragility of our infrastructure has been on full display. Recently, a cyber incident at the Port of Seattle and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport highlighted the ongoing vulnerabilities we face and how critical infrastructure disruptions or outages can impact crucial avenues for travel, logistics and even power.   This incident is just one example of the growing nature of cyber threats to our digital infrastructure. A recent KnowBe4 report found critical infrastructure faced a 30% increase in cyberattacks in just one year, showing how outdated frameworks — that support vital sectors — can affect the essential sectors we rely on, such as energy, water, transportation, healthcare and finance. Moreover, according to a recent report, 44% of critical IT infrastructure is approaching end-of-life — meaning almost half of the world’s most critical infrastructure is more vulnerable to cyberattacks and at higher risk for prolonged outages.  We face this reality because technology vendors routinely retire legacy systems as new ones are developed, and they eventually stop providing necessary updates and security patches for those aging offerings. This ongoing erosion of support leaves those systems vulnerable to every manner of attack. For example, Microsoft ended support for Windows Server 2008 in 2020. At that time, they estimated that 60% of their user base was still using the unsupported software. And since then, Microsoft has reported hundreds of new vulnerabilities every year.  Related:What ‘Material’ Might Mean, and Other SEC Rule Mysteries Many public- and private-sector organizations continue to rely on legacy technologies, having made the difficult decision to leave outdated systems in place as other initiatives compete for capital. But running essential services on legacy systems constitutes a major risk, as these systems lack the modern encryption standards needed to defend against increasingly complex cyberattacks. These problems will only get worse when quantum computing makes code-cracking almost trivially easy.  Compounding these risks is the challenge of finding staff with the expertise and skills to manage legacy systems. The only thing harder than hiring someone who knows a dying programming language or system is convincing an employee to invest the time to learn it.  When organizations do step up to the challenge of replacing outdated systems, they tend to focus on the IT assets — the systems and technologies responsible for data storage, processing and transmission. But operational technology (OT) typically does not receive the same level of attention or investment. These are the systems and devices that oversee and regulate physical operations such as manufacturing, refining and distribution processes. As a result of being commonly overlooked, these critical OT systems typically are antiquated, non-standardized, complex, and unsecured. The fact that these legacy OT systems have become increasingly interconnected with IT networks and connected to the Internet significantly raises the exposure of all systems to cyber threats. An attack on any one of these OT systems could jeopardize product safety, inflict physical harm, or massively disrupt supply chains.  Related:What You Can Do About Software Supply Chain Security The problem of vulnerable legacy systems does not stop at the software level. In many ways, the underlying hardware on which these systems run presents even greater risk. Hardware flaws expose all an organization’s electronics to attack, since they affect systems at a base level and vastly increase the number of available targets. And while organizations can address software flaws with a patch or update, hardware vulnerabilities are harder to find and cannot be overwritten as simply. Given the potential of these types of attacks to wreak havoc, we expect them to increase over time.  Related:How to Prep for AI Regulation and AI Risk in 2025 In addition, the growing power and presence of AI is a double-edge sword. On one hand, AI will empower bad actors to create even more sophisticated attack strategies. But AI also can significantly help businesses and governments protect their vital systems. Enterprise AI can deliver a variety of capabilities, from automating processes to providing sophisticated data analytics and actionable insights. For instance, AI systems can scan IT and OT systems for weaknesses to pinpoint vulnerabilities and recommend remedial actions. They also can conduct cyber risk assessments by sifting through historical and contemporary data on cyber incidents to forecast the likelihood and outcomes of future events.  But even the vast power of AI will not address the fundamental issue of our widespread dependance on outdated, unsecured IT and OT systems. Achieving a more secure posture will require a more determined and holistic approach. This must include a concerted effort by governments and businesses to establish security standards for digital infrastructure and the reporting of cyber incidents; a systematic review of the legacy systems that underpin crucial functions; a strict policy of managing the lifecycle of hardware assets; and a longer-term roadmap for modernizing aging systems.  Organizations also must embrace a new mindset as they go about the task of better securing critical digital assets. The current tendency is to focus on securing, defending and protecting systems against threats. But given the rapidly increasing sophistication and number of attacks, along with the widening attack surface of digital infrastructure, a security-only mindset is insufficient. We must intensify our focus on assuring organizational resilience — the capacity to recover from the inevitable disruptions. As we embark on the essential work of updating our physical and digital systems, we also must build our ability to get back on our feet and keep moving forward.  source

Nearly every IT leader today is in the midst of moving the next generation of AI apps from the design phase into deployment, and they are finding that they must grapple with the problems that arise when those apps are dependent on legacy data or infrastructure. And according to the attendees of our CIO Roundtables, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Each case of legacy dependence must be evaluated separately. Once IT leaders have evaluated how specific AI projects are impacted by technical debt, they then check the organization’s existing plan for addressing technical debt, possibly choosing to accelerate the parts of that plan that will best help meet the goals of the specific AI project. Particularly tricky are AI apps that are dependent on resources that are trapped by technical debt, usually because data is stuck in a system with substantial issues. Er There are two common problems.  In some cases, it is not possible to extract the data from the legacy environment in a way that will support the goals and functionality of the AI app. That might require a rebuild or a total scrapping of the app, with a new design needed to replace it. That’s expensive and time-consuming, but there might be no other option. The second scenario occurs when the new app can get at the data, but the data cannot be delivered at the speed necessary to support a real-time or somewhat real-time AI app. Addressing this issue is possible, but the solution will depend on what the particular legacy system can technically support. Again, one size does not fit all. source