Vawn Himmelsbach

Editor /

Vawn Himmelsbach is the editor of expertIP. She has reported on technology, business and travel for two decades, for media outlets such as the Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, National Post, CBC.ca, Metro News, ITBusiness, PCworld Canada and Computerworld Canada. She also spent three years covering tech as an Asian correspondent.

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Recent Posts

News / IT Management /

Will SD-WAN replace MPLS for hybrid work?

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / June 9, 2022

Tags: MPLS, SD-WAN

Digitalization and the hybrid work environment are increasing the demand for SD-WAN, including managed services. As traditional network architecture shifts from on-premise data centers to the cloud, how do legacy connectivity options stand up?

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Great Retention

News / IT Management /

The Great Retention: How to retain your top talent

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 25, 2022

Tags: Great Resignation, Great Retention

At this point, we’ve all heard of the Great Resignation. Now we’re seeing the Great Reshuffe as employees quit their jobs in search of new opportunities. For employers, it’s time to focus on the Great Retention—and take their employee retention strategies up a notch.

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News / Unified Communications /

Top UC&C trends for 2022: Beyond online meetings

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 6, 2022

Tags: 2022 trends, UC&C, UCaaS

It’s that time of year again, when we look back at the past year and make predictions for the year ahead. Of course, plenty of uncertainty lies ahead as we transition to the new world of work—but when it comes to UC&C, the future is looking bright.

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News / IT Management /

Year in review: Our top tech stories of 2021

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / December 30, 2021

Tags: SIP Trunking, UC, UCaaS

This year, technology continued to support virtual workplaces—whether it was the home office or elsewhere—and some of our most popular articles focused on the IT trends and developments that can assist employees wherever they’re working.

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firewalls to blockchain: cyber threats for financial services firms

News / Security /

Next-gen cybersecurity for financial services firms

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / December 9, 2021

Tags: blockchain, cybersecurity, financial services, NGFW

From cloud firewalls to blockchain, technology creates a foundational layer for building a culture of cybersecurity in financial services firms—at a time when the industry is digitizing services, adopting cloud and transforming the traditional banking model.

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distributed enterprise

News / IT Management /

AI, data fabrics and the distributed enterprise

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 21, 2021

Tags: data fabrics, distributed enterprise, Gartner, generative AI

Gartner has released its strategic technology trends for 2022, which includes the growth of the distributed enterprise, connected by data fabrics that integrate data across cloud and non-cloud platforms, and AI that can generate brand-new content and objects.

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News / Cloud / SIP Trunking /

UC drives future growth of PBX market

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 7, 2021

Tags: SIP Trunking, UC, UCaaS

PBX systems helped organizations stay connected through the pandemic, and productivity features like video and mobility are making cloud-based UC critical in the work-from-anywhere era. At the same time, SIP Trunking could help to further boost performance.

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News / IT Management /

Tips for a successful transition to hybrid work

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / September 16, 2021

Tags: hybrid work, hybrid workforce, WFH

Creating a hybrid workforce is easier said than done. After all, you can’t just pick up where you left off in March 2020—the office needs new infrastructure (and workflows) to support the new world of hybrid work. Here are a few tips to ease the transition back to the office.

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News / IT Management /

Overcoming the barriers to SD-WAN success

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / July 22, 2021

Tags: SD-WAN

Native SD-WAN monitoring isn’t always enough, which could be why we’re seeing a shift from DIY rollouts to managed SD-WAN and the use of third-party network monitoring tools.

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digital acceleration

News / IT Management /

You’re tired. So how do you tackle digital acceleration?

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / July 8, 2021

Tags: digital acceleration

As an IT pro, you’re expected to forge ahead with digital acceleration, yet your team is fatigued, burned out and perhaps unmotivated. A Gartner analyst explains why we’re so tired and how to successfully meet your organization’s digital goals in the second half of 2021.

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SD-WAN, security and zero trust

News / Security /

Beef up your SD-WAN security with zero trust

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / June 3, 2021

Tags: SD-WAN, Zero Trust

While software-defined WANs offer encryption, authentication is harder to do over SD-WAN, particularly in our current WFH environment. Authentication relies on trust — which is why we need a zero trust approach to network security.

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SD-WAN and the future of work

News / IT Management /

The business benefits of SD-WAN for the future of work

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / May 20, 2021

Tags: future of work, hybrid workforce, SD-WAN

As we consider a return to the office, we should also consider revisiting our network architectures. The future of hybrid work requires stepping up application performance and multi-cloud connectivity — and SD-WAN could play a key role.

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News / IT Management /

What will the future of work look like?

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 15, 2021

Tags: digital worker, future of work, Gartner

Gartner’s latest digital worker experience survey explores what workers really think about remote work, WFH productivity and virtual collaboration — and how IT and business leaders can adapt and prepare for the future of work in a post-pandemic world.

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hybrid workplace

News / IT Management /

How to create an inclusive hybrid workplace

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 1, 2021

Tags: Cisco Live, future of work, hybrid workplace

As we start to think about life after the pandemic, Cisco execs share tips on how to make the hybrid workplace more engaging, inclusive and collaborative — for employees and their customers — during this week’s virtual Cisco Live conference.

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Hybrid workplace

News / IT Management /

The next normal: Preparing for the hybrid workplace

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / March 18, 2021

Tags: Cisco Webex, hybrid workforce, hybrid workplace, WFH

As organizations get ready to go back to the office, the trends toward flexibility, virtual collaboration and intelligent office spaces all point toward a new hybrid workplace. But what does this mean for the traditional office and how can IT pros better support workers?

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SD-WAN transformation during COVID

News / IT Management /

Transforming the network: SD-WAN and SASE

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 14, 2021

Tags: hybrid WAN, SASE, SD-WAN

Four or five years ago, the conversation around software-defined WANs was about saving money and getting a return on your investment. Now that’s at the bottom of the list, according to EMA’s latest research into WAN transformation, SD-WAN and SASE during the pandemic.

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IT security priorities for 2021

News / Security /

Looking ahead: Top IT security priorities for 2021

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / December 10, 2020

Tags: cybersecurity, IT security, security priorities for 2021

Even if you were already shoring up your defences — systems, networks and devices, in the office and remotely — the pandemic pushed this to the top of the IT security agenda with an unprecedented urgency. We look at what organizations can expect in the year ahead.

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digital disruption

News / IT Management /

5G, AI and blockchain drive digital disruption

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / November 26, 2020

Tags: 5G, AI, digital disruption

The pandemic is accelerating digital disruption, from re-engineered networks to public cloud adoption. We sum up the key takeaways from the Canadian Telecom Summit held earlier this month, including key technologies driving this disruption and the challenges ahead.

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IoT cyber attacks on the rise

News / Security /

IoT cyber attacks escalate during pandemic

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 29, 2020

Tags: cyber risk, Cyber-Attacks, cybersecurity, IoT

The number of cyber attacks on IoT devices is soaring, in part due to COVID-19 — and this will only increase as 5G is rolled out. We look at some of today’s biggest malware threats, how COVID-19 plays a role and how to protect employees who are working from home.

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Cyber attacks on the rise during COVID

News / Security /

Cyber attacks on the rise: Mitigating new risks

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 2, 2020

Tags: Cyber-Attacks, cybersecurity, ransomware, WFH

Pandemic-related vulnerabilities, including home-based workforces and mobile WFH devices, have left big gaps in security. And evolving cyber attacks — like blended extortion-ransomware — mean that organizations can’t afford to let their guard down.

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IT budgets rebound fuelling DX projects

News / IT Management /

IT budgets rebound, fuelling new DX projects

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / September 10, 2020

Tags: BPM, digital transformation, DX, IT budgets, IT spending

After IT spending came to a standstill in the spring amid economic uncertainty, digital transformation (DX) projects are starting to move forward—in many cases at an accelerated pace—to navigate new go-to-market strategies and manage remote workforces.

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5G in the enterprise

News / IT Management /

5G back on track to transform the enterprise

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 13, 2020

Tags: 5G

COVID-19 may have slowed the adoption of 5G as the world hit pause in mid-March, but spending on worldwide 5G network infrastructure is set to almost double this year, setting the stage for new use cases in verticals like industry, transport and health.

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