| Newsletter ArchiveThe newsletter archive allows you to view all of our past newsletter content. Select an issue from the list on the left to view the articles for that date. Resolve Windows 7 Compatibility Concerns
By Sixto Ortiz Jr., Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 Get Microsoft's Newest OS To Play Nice With Your Existing Applications &Systems
Key Points
Although Windows 7 is a very reliable OS, enterprises may still faceconsiderable application compatibility issues.
Without planning or testing, a Win7 migration will quickly run aground.Planning is essential to success.
Win7 may require significant upgrades to system hardware such as RAM.
After the poor reception Windows Vista received, Microsoft badly needed a hit toget back in the game. Fortunately for Microsoft, Windows 7 has turned out to bea reliable OS that is garnering minimal bad press and much praise. Mozilla yanks password-stealing Firefox add-on
By Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 Pulls Mozilla Sniffer for being bad, and CoolPreviews for being buggy Mozilla on Tuesday warned users that a password-stealing add-on slipped intoFirefox's extension gallery more than a month ago had been downloaded nearly2,000 times before it was detected.
The malicious "Mozilla Sniffer" add-on was yanked from Mozilla's servers Monday,and added to the Firefox "blocklist," a last-resort defense that uninstallspotentially-dangerous browser extensions from users' machines.
Mozilla also notified users of a critical security vulnerability in anotheradd-on, the popular "CoolPreviews," which currently sits at No. 21 on theFirefox most-downloaded list, saying it had temporarily yanked that plug-in,too. How can enterprise WLANs manage the bandwidth crush from mobile devices and multimedia apps?
By John Cox, NetworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 Some existing wireless LANs, based on 802.11abg gear, already "are bucklingunder video applications," says Andrew Borg, senior research analyst forwireless and mobility at Aberdeen Group, a technology research and consultingfirm based in Boston. And the surge in sophisticated mobile devices is making itworse.
In higher education, Borg says, those applications include distance learning,online collaboration and social media; in healthcare, remote medicine and largediagnostic imaging; in physical security, video surveillance; and in offices,media streaming, videoconferencing, online meetings and more. Being Customer Centric Requires CIOs and CMOs Play Nice
By Harry Klein, Customer Engagement Strategies, Inc.
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 We live in the age of the customer. Customers are more empowered than ever andmarketing and IT must be on the same page or customer experience will suffer.Many companies recognize the need to be more customer centric. Many have tried,most have failed.
Why?
I think the answer is simple, but the solution is anything but. Subscribe today and be entered to win a $25 iTunes gift card from The Pulse Network!
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Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 We areexcited to introduce you to ThePulse Network, the new home of ITEC this Week (previously known asITEC TV). ThePulse Network is the first network that combines live streaming video andsocial media conversation - TPN is Social TV. Our goal at ThePulse Network is to serve up the day's most compelling content in aninnovative and entertaining format in the worlds of sports, business, andpolitics in a rich multi-media environment. Our hosts provide smart andinsightful analysis on the biggest stories of the day and use the timeliness ofsocial media to advance the dialogue while providing a three hundred and sixtydegree perspective to keep you informed. ThePulse Network, it's what's next - NOW.SubscribeToday! From July13th - August 3rd, every Tuesday during ITEC this week (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM) wewill be picking one newslettersubscriber to win a $25 iTunes gift card. Subscribe to The PulseNetwork Newsletter today and tune in to ITEC next week on August 3rd to find outif you are our lucky winner. Is antivirus software indispensable after all?
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO TechWatch
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 Dell has warned that a small number of its server motherboards may be harboring malicious software. The issue came to light after a customer wroteon a Dell support forum about being contacted by a service technician for arather unusual procedure: Dell wanted to cleanse a malware from the servermotherboard that was recently replaced. Essentially, malware has been found on the embedded server management firmwareof some of its server motherboards. While Dell insisted that the number ofeffected server motherboards is small, the company was forced to publiclyacknowledge the issue, and that it is working to rectify the problem. It wasn't clear from the limited information how the malware could be spread, itis established that certain unpatched versions of the Windows OS would have beenaffected, assuming that no antivirus software with an updated definition file ispresent. Huh, a virus spreading from a motherboard? With the goalpostsconstantly changing, it is no wonder that those with lower IT inclinations areconfused over what constitutes a virus. NAC decisions you need to make now
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 The pros and cons of different approaches to network access control One important piece of a multilevel security defense for companies of almostany size is network access control (NAC), which lets you enforce policies forend-user machines.
The basic idea behind NAC -- which can include hardware, software or acombination -- is deceptively simple. Before any end user's computer -- anendpoint -- is allowed on the corporate network, a NAC makes the computer provethat it complies with the company's security policies. For example, you couldset up a NAC to refuse to let a user's PC on the company LAN until the PCreports that it has all the latest patches for its operating system and officesoftware and that it has the latest updates for the corporate antivirus program.If it doesn't have the goods, the device is not getting on the network. 5 free online services that store, sync and share your files
By Howard Wen, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 You can upload your files to a 'virtual hard drive' and access themfrom your other devices "Syncing to the cloud" may sound like marketing-speak, but it's actually aconvenient thing to do: Upload your important files to an online server andaccess them from any of your other computers and mobile devices.
Cloud-based syncing services usually use a virtual drive that exists on yourdesktop in some manner, and it is linked directly to your online storage space.The contents of this virtual hard drive remain in sync across all of thedesktops, notebooks and mobile devices on which you have installed the clientsoftware. The Latest Security Technologies and Trends
By Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 A Look At What's Happening In The Security Field, From Technology To Strategy Key Points Data loss prevention technologies are being used more often, providingstronger protection for enterprises. Specific policies for application and device usage are on the rise and help toaddress security issues that crop up when the line between personal andprofessional gets blurred. Companies are now leaning toward a layered, centralized approach with multiplesecurity points within the network instead of just around the network. Just as threats are ever-evolving, so are security technologies and strategiesto combat them. Enterprises face new foes every day (for more on the biggestenterprise security threats, see "Today's Biggest Security Threats" on page 10);fortunately, security experts are continually working to provide betterprotection for enterprises facing security-related problems. Here's a glimpse atthe latest in the security field. Some pros and cons in Google Business Apps
By Caron Carlson, FierceCIO
Posted on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 Google ( NASDAQ: GOOG)Business Apps provides a cheaper alternative to the productivity toolsinMicrosoft ( NASDAQ:MSFT)Office, and some mid-sized companies are finding good reasons to makethe switchto this software as a service offering. Others, however, still find thatitmakes sense for them to keep productivity software on site. Goble and Associates, a Chicago healthcare marketing company, has beenusing theemail, calendar and office tools in Google Apps for Business for morethan ayear, writes Gene Marks in a post at Forbes. The firm, with a staff of80, pays$50 annually for the applications. In addition to the cost-savings,Goble andAssociates has found advantages in not having to install programs andlettingsomeone else--i.e., Google--deal with upgrades. Microsoft extends Windows XP downgrade rights until 2020
By Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 HTML clipboardWith 74% of business PCs running XP, the move is more proof that it's the OSthat won't die Just a day before Microsoftdrops support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the company announced onMonday that people running some versions of Windows 7 can "downgrade" to theaged operating system for up to 10 years.
The move is highly unusual. In the past,Microsoft has terminated downgrade rights -- which let customers replace anewer version of Windows with an older edition without paying for two copies --within months of introducing a new OS. Webinar: Cloud Managed WiFi: The Next Step in Wireless Evolution
By Kiren Sekar, product marketing manager, Meraki
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 Organizations need to operate with limited IT resources, yet with anenterprise's needs - scalability, security, and reliability - often struggle todeliver a robust wireless experience. Join Meraki for a live webinar taking place on Thursday, July 15 at 2 PMEastern/11 AM Pacific, where we will show how cloud computing brings simplicityand effectiveness to wireless networks. REGISTER TODAY for this free program! Subscribe today and be entered to win a $25 iTunes gift card from The Pulse Network!
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Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 We areexcited to introduce you to ThePulse Network, the new home of ITEC this Week (previously known asITEC TV). ThePulse Network is the first network that combines live streaming video andsocial media conversation - TPN is Social TV. Our goal at ThePulse Network is to serve up the day's most compelling content in aninnovative and entertaining format in the worlds of sports, business, andpolitics in a rich multi-media environment. Our hosts provide smart andinsightful analysis on the biggest stories of the day and use the timeliness ofsocial media to advance the dialogue while providing a three hundred and sixtydegree perspective to keep you informed. ThePulse Network, it's what's next - NOW.SubscribeToday! From July13th - August 3rd, every Tuesday during ITEC this week (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM) wewill be picking one newslettersubscriber to win a $25 iTunes gift card. Subscribe to The PulseNetwork Newsletter today and tune in to ITEC next week on July 13th to find outif you are our lucky winner. AMD's New Server Platforms
By Nathan Lake, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 What Kind Of Performance Can You Expect? Key Points - With the Opteron 6000 Series, you'll get more cores and more memory, and the 6000 Series offers improved bandwidth and support for faster memory speeds.
- You won't pay a luxury tax for investing in a 4P server.
- 6000 Series processors include a variety of ways to automatically and manually manage power and cooling.
With the new Opteron 6000 Series, AMD has taken multicore design to anewlevel-one with 12 or eight cores. The increased number of cores is idealfortoday's ecommerce, virtualization, and database environments that aredesignedto natively allocate cores and realize huge performance jumps when morecoresare added to the mix. The jump in processing power in the Opteron 6000Seriesmay even let you install a single 2P or 4P server that can replace theduties ofseveral older single- or dual-core servers. Here, we'll cover thevariety offeatures found in the 6000 Series and how the features stack up to thesix-coreand quad-core Opteron series. First look: VMware vSphere 4.1 keeps the virtualization crown
By Paul Venezia, InfoWorld
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 HTML clipboardWith scalability improvements, network and storage I/O control, and countlessother enhancements, VMware continues to redefine the possibilities for servervirtualization.
HTML clipboardVMware has never been a company to rest on its laurels, and the release ofVMware vSphere 4.1 demonstrates its continued effort on extending thecapabilities of virtualization. There are still a few bumps here and there, suchas quirky HA configuration issues, but from my preliminary testing, it seemsclear that the best virtualization solution available today just got better.
Data Center Relocation Predeployment Testing
By Barry Sherin, PacketStorm Communications
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 A move of any sort can cause significant stress and anxiety for anyone. However, a data center relocation or consolidation has the added pressure of potential disruptions to critical business operations and/or data losses that can severely damage an organization's overall business and reputation. PacketStorm IP network emulators allow companies to lower the risk in data center relocation by emulating the future company network and demonstrate application performance for the company's end users before a single server is moved. Environmental Monitoring Buying Guide
By William Van Winkle, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 What Options Are Available & Which Are Best For SMEs? Key Points - The move to wireless sensors cannot only improve security but also allow data centers to achieve a more appropriate sensor count compared to prior times with wired equipment.
- Environmental monitoring may only be part of the real picture. When weighing new solutions, keep an eye on those that can scale to include other areas, such as power consumption.
- Effective monitoring vendors should be able to help managers distinguish objective needs and display experience with integrating their solutions with any existing equipment.
If only to help ensure operational uptime, environmental monitoringoffactors such as airflow, temperature, humidity, and wetness areincreasinglyprevalent in data centers. As data centers increase in size, so does thevalueof environmental monitoring. But as with any other technology, some waysofgoing about buying environmental monitoring are better than others. Security rule No. 1: Assume you're hacked
By Roger Grimes, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 Accept that your company's IT system have been compromised -- thenget towork defending them A recent Forbes magazine article advised readers to assume that theircompanies havebeen hacked. Some readers have asked me to weigh in, and here's myassessment:The article is slightly hyperbolic, but all in all, it's a prettyaccurateassessment. Most companies are actively hacked, and their sensitive dataisbeing stolen and leaked to outsiders. Healthcare IT executives Summit invitation
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Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 This December in Boston the HealthIT Insight Summit will be addressing thelatest issues facing healthcare providers and payers, all from the CIO'sperspective. The conference, developed in conjunction with IDC Health Insights,brings together just 80 pre-qualified senior executives to talk about healthcarereform, new technologies and how CIO's are dealing with the issues of the day. This conference is unique - a combination of keynotes, panel discussions andsolution provider case studies along with peer networking. Best part - theSummit hosts qualified attendees so you don't tap your travel budget. Air fare(to $350) is covered along with hotels, ground transportation and meals! Apply today online at www.healthitinsight.com SIP trunking: A primer
By Brad Reed, NetworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 How connecting your IP PBX to a SIP trunk can save serious cash TDM trunks have long served to connect corporate PBXs to the publicswitchedtelephone network (PSTN). But with more companies moving to VoIP, SIPtrunkinghas become an increasingly popular technology companies can use tosimplifytheir network architecture and save money. Here are the basics: - Just what is SIP trunking?
- How does a SIP trunk save money?
- How much money can it save?
- and More
Microsoft Windows Azure and Amazon EC2 on collision course
By Jon Brodkin, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 HTML clipboardMicrosoft official says infrastructure and platform cloud lines will blur Microsoft'sWindows Azure and Amazon'sElastic Compute Cloud tackle two very different cloud computing technologyproblems today, but are destined to emulate each other over time, Microsoftcloud official Tim O'Brien says. WhereasWindows Azure is a platform-as-a-service cloud, giving developers the toolsthey need to build and deploy Web applications, Amazon EC2 is primarily aninfrastructure-as-a-service cloud, offering on-demand access to customizablevirtual machine instances. Making The Most of Certifications
By Veronica Williams, VeronicaWilliams.com
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 HTML clipboardImportance of training & certifications in the IT department Indeed, the IT industry knows certifications. Over 40 widely-held ITcertifications exist, conferred by associations, vendors and otherorganizations. Many certifications are a measure of one's technical proficiencyin a skill area. These are often conveyed by vendors or industry organizations.Such 'certs' include Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), ComputerTechnology Industry Association's A+ (CompTIA A+) and Cisco CertifiedInternetwork Expert (CCIE). Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Control Objectives forInformation and related Technology (COBIT®) and Six Sigma are an indication ofone's proficiency in understanding and applying processes that may improvepreparation and operations. ITIL and COBIT focus on IT and Six Sigma isheralded for quality management. While there are clear differences in the itemsaddressed by each of these certifications, they measure much more than specificskill proficiency yet are not as comprehensive a measurement of one's generalmanagement ability. Webinar: Cloud-Managed WiFi: The Next Step in Wireless Evolution
By Kiren Sekar, product marketing manager, Meraki
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 HTML clipboardOrganizations need to operate with limited IT resources, yet with anenterprise's needs - scalability, security, and reliability - often struggle todeliver a robust wireless experience. Join Meraki for a live webinar taking place on Thursday, July 15 at 2 PMEastern/11 AM Pacific, where we will show how cloud computing brings simplicityand effectiveness to wireless networks. REGISTER TODAY for this free program! Apple's iPhone 4: The joke's on us
By Robert X. Cringely® Notes from the Field, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 Hold your iPhone the wrong way and it won't work, say users. There is noproblem but stay tuned for a solution, says Apple. 'Death grip hysteria' isgetting wackier by the minute Guy walks into an Apple Store, goes to the Genius Bar. He says "My iPhonedoesn't work when I hold it like this." The genius says, "Don't hold it likethat. Next!"
Ba-dum-bum. Thank you, ladies and germs, I got a million of 'em. Budget-Friendly Equipment Acquisition
By Carmi Levy, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 HTML clipboard - Focus on TCO and not just acquisition cost. Trying to save money on cheaper but less flexible alternatives can cost IT significantly more in the long run.
- Use more than one vendor for different areas of infrastructure spend to avoid lock-in and maximize ongoing negotiation leverage.
Wherever possible, schedule major software projects to coincide with hardware refresh cycles. Combining projects in this manner can minimize disruption and maximize project management economies of scale. - The depth and breadth of the recession is driving significant and permanent changes to the way IT and data center managers make decisions. Even as the economy shifts toward recovery, long-held approaches to buying new equipment are being questioned.
Saving money and resources goes beyond focusing on the initial acquisitioncost, however. It's no longer simply about getting the best price. Astrategic approach to buying new equipment can drive long-term savingswithin IT and, just as importantly, throughout the organization it serves.Keep the following tips in mind before finalizing any acquisition deals fornew technology. Webinar: Are your IT priorities aligned with your healthcare business objectives?
By
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 Tuesday, July 20 2010 @ 2 PM ET/11 AM PT
When healthcare providers don't align business objectives with IT initiatives many critical healthcare functions can be impacted. Taking a look at the business side of healthcare IT we will address questions that every healthcare IT executive faces. 1) How can we provide higher quality of healthcare through our IT systems? 2) How is IT an enabler to business accomplishment and when is it a drag on business operations? 3) What are the top three reasons why IT strategies may cause critical healthcare services to suffer?
Register online for this free webinar: <link coming from Diana>
Seven reasons to care about SQL Server 2008 R2
By Sean McCown, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 HTML clipboardNew BI and reporting features in SQL Server 2008 R2 hit the mark, but otheradditions leave SQL Server shops wanting more With Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft begins to fully realize itsvision ofSQL Server as an information platform and not "just" a database. Hence themain theme for this release -- at least according to Microsoft -- isself-service BI. The PowerPivot plug-ins for Excel 2010 and SharePoint 2010 areeasily going to make the biggest splash of all the new features, not leastbecause they're the most complete. But then, SQL Server 2008 R2 isn't strictlynecessary for PowerPivot for Excel, which works with plenty of other datasources. Save On Power and Cooling
By Chris A. MacKinnon, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 Pinching Pennies Doesn't Mean Cutting Back On Efficiency
Key Points - Cutting power costs is a two-part problem: knowing what is happening at a power level down to the circuit and identifying inefficient pieces of equipment.
- Increasing the supply set points for CRAC (computer room air conditioner) units can have a huge impact on cooling costs.
- Small efforts such as monitoring usage, sealing airflow, and keeping equipment up-to-date can add up to big savings.
When CFOs and CEOs tell IT anddata center managers to trim the excess off their budgets, power and cooling aretwo of the usual targets. Although they are both integral players in data centerefficiency, they can't hide forever when cost cutting is the name of the game.Here are some tips and advice to use when you need to do more with less withpower and cooling. The Pulse Network, it's what's next - NOW
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Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 We would like your feedback on just launched Social TV Channel - The PulseNetwork. The Pulse Network engages it's audience in a rich multi-mediaenvironment. Our hosts provide smart and insightful analysis on the biggeststories of the day and use the timeliness of social media to advance thedialogue while providing a three hundred and sixty degree perspective to keepyou informed. The Pulse Network, it's what's next - NOW. We are currently looking forfeedback on our launch, apply now at http://thepulsenetwork.com This email will self destruct
By Caron Carlson, FierceCIO
Posted on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 Companies can have a lot of good reasons for not holding on to all of theirold email, not the least of which is getting rid of content that might otherwisebe requested through e-discovery. For regulated businesses, such as finance andhealthcare, it can make particularly good sense to use technologies that makeelectronic messages vanish, writes David F. Carr in a column at Forbes. Inside Google's Ultra High-Speed Plans
By Christian Perry, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 How The Online Giant's Fiber Project Could Change The Future Of Internet Access Key Points - Google's Fiber For Communities project will deliver speeds of more than 1Gbps to one or more trial locations as part of its effort to improve broadband penetration in the United States.
- The project's huge network pipeline will accommodate a range of applications that can overwhelm current networks, such as high-definition video streaming and real-time multimedia collaboration.
- Although Google is mum on plans following the trials, experts predict the trials will help to spur content providers to provide full network delivery of all content in the future.
5 Success Factors for Upgrading Your Wireless Network to 802.11n - Part 1
By
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 - Tuesday, June 8, 2:00 PM ET Deploying and maintaining a wireless network can be a challenge. Ensuring the network is reliable, maintains high performance, provides adequate coverage, and is secure can be complex and time-consuming. During this webinar, we will explore how advancements in radio technologies, wireless management, and network automation have enabled small, leveraged IT staffs to deploy wireless, and meet employee's needs for bandwidth and mobility.
REGISTER TODAYfor this free program! This is a two-part educational program taking place June 8 and June 22. What desktop virtualization really means
By Eric Knorr, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 Depending on whom you talk to, desktop virtualization is either the hottest trend in IT or an expensive notion with limited appeal Desktop virtualization harks back to the good old mainframe days of centralized computing while upholding the fine desktop tradition of user empowerment. Each user retains his or her own instance of desktop operating system and applications, but that stack runs in a virtual machine on a server -- which users can access through a low-cost thin client similar to an old-fashioned terminal. ITEC Portland: Now With An iPad
By
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 ITEC Portlandis just 2 weeks away on June 15th and there are lots of cool things happening. If you live/work in the Portland area make sure you join us for this fast-paced day focused on the changes in the IT landscape. 1) Check out the updated Agenda, including the just announced IBM Lunchtime Keynote. 2)iPad Giveaway - One lucky attendee will receive a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad. Budget-Savvy Security
By Chris A. MacKinnon, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 Get More Than What You Paid For By Maximizing Your Budget Key Points - Security spending isn't always top-of-mind for decision makers, so IT should stress the potentially serious costs that come with data breaches.
- Investing wisely and following the guidelines laid out for best practices can help you make the most of your budget, whether large or small.
- Security spending is dynamic, not static, so IT should make a concentrated effort to stay up-to-date on the latest threats and to take a proactive approach to ensuring security.
Unseen security risks lurk in the copy room
By Roger Grimes, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 Web-connected copiers, printers, and fax machines can provide malicious hackers with unfettered access to a trove of data As an IT admin, you likely spend much time contemplating the security of end-user machines and back-end systems -- yet how often do you consider the security risks posed by copy machines and other smart office devices in your office? As noted in recent reports, documents stored on these machines' internal hard drives can create security risks.
The problem is, today's office-class multifunction printers, fax machines, and copiers often have very capable computers in them, including memory, hard drives, network interfaces, and software...
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Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 The Web will unify fragmented mobile OS world, says Opera
By Mikael Ricknäs, IDG News Service
Posted on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 HTML 5 will make Web browsers more application friendly, according to the Norwegian browser maker Norwegian browser maker Opera has high hopes for the combination of mobile browsers and HTML 5, which will let web-based applications compete better with native applications, according to co-founder Jon von Tetzchner. IE6 past its expiration date, says Microsoft
By Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Like nine-year-old milk, aged browser is spoiled, company argues Microsoft is urging users to dump the aged Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) with a campaign that claims the browser is past its expiration date. Google's plot to change how we print
By Caron Carlson, FierceCIO
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Google is plottingto change the way we print by making it unnecessary to install print drivers on devices for use with particular printers. The company unveiled preliminary designs for a web-based service, Google Cloud Print, that would allow you to print from any device running the Google Chrome operating system (such as a netbook, tablet computer or smartphone) to any printer. Keys To Hardware Upgrade Success
By Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Assess Your Current Situation, Do Your Due Diligence & Prepare For Setbacks Key Points - Determine whether the data center is ready for an upgrade by looking at power, cooling, and existing equipment.
- Have the right people at the ready, including vendors and outside experts if needed.
- Back out of the upgrade if it's not going as planned or too many problems are cropping up. You can always go back to the planning stage and find a better way to proceed later.
Apple: Eat Dirt.
By Tom Henderson, ITworld.com
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 I'm tired of the closed system. I'm tired of the capitulation to the Hollywood moguls. I'm tired of Apple's nyet-policy. Apple: eat dirt. The 1984 images worked for a long time. I tend to identify with iconoclasts. I'm also a tool user. For better and worse, I use computers for a living. In my garage is a huge cabinet with automotive/motorcycle and homeowner tools, but I don't make my living with them. WEBINAR: 5 Success Factors for Upgrading Your Wireless Network to 802.11n
By Presented by: Kiren Sekar, product marketing manager, Meraki
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Deploying and maintaining a wireless network can be a challenge. Ensuring the network is reliable, maintains high performance, provides adequate coverage, and is secure can be complex and time-consuming. During this webinar, we will explore how advancements in radio technologies, wireless management, and network automation have enabled small, leveraged IT staffs to deploy wireless, and meet employee's needs for bandwidth and mobility. REGISTER TODAY! Citrix unveils new XenClient bare-metal desktop hypervisor
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO TechWatch
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Citrix has moved to unveil a test version of XenClient, the company's bare-metal desktop hypervisor before rival VMware.Both Citrix and VMware planned initially to ship separate bare-metal desktop hypervisor products last year, but suffered delays attributable to the complexity of the project.
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Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 The Different Universe of Offline
By Tom Henderson, ITworld.com
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Before you start using social networking and personal online services, you have little idea of the convenience, just a hazy idea that things might be better. The affirmation of social networking can be exhilarating. You get addicted to it all. The computer is your window on the world. Time to get outside that window. Social networking isn't what it's cracked up to be. Wind Power and Cooling
By Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Can Harnessing The Wind Bring Down Cooling Costs?
Key Points - Because renewable energy can increase overall data center efficiency, it can also boost cooling efficiency.
- Challenges abound when it comes to implementing wind power for a specific data center, and it's likely that managers will want to check with wind power producers rather than put their own equipment into place.
- Potential renewable energy regulations should cause data center managers to start thinking about alternative power and cooling strategies sooner rather than later.
HTML5 to be highlighted at Google event
By Paul Krill, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Google technologies such as Android and Chrome also will be topics at the Google I/O conference HTML5 will figure prominently at this week's Google I/O technical conference for developers. WhipTail Tech, Adaptec release SSD SAN appliances and adapters
By Deni Connor and James E. Bagley, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 18 May 2010 Solid state drives are pervading new areas these days. While traditionally used to accelerate IO between servers and storage, they are now being used in virtual desktop implementations, which promises tremendous advantages for organizations that require a large number of workstations. Lessons Learned In Storage Management
By Bruce Gain, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Insights & Fixes For Common & Not-So-Common Problems Key Points
Test and make sure that storage recovery plans will deliver when needed by ensuring that business continuity demands are met. Additionally, realize that even backup disks can lose data, so ensure that more than one copy exists.
Make sure that a policy is in place so that business data is stored where it should be and that superfluous data remains on workstation drives.
Using modern storage systems is more efficient than maintaining legacy equipment, so, if possible, migrate to more up-to-date systems. Storage failures are dangerous for enterprises, especially when critical data is involved. In the worst case, data loss can cause enterprises to close their doors when key data, such as customer records and contacts, is lost forever. But when mistakes are made and things go wrong, data center managers are usually not inclined to advertise their missteps, especially in scenarios where the problems could have been avoided with better management practices. Special Invite for ITEC Connect Community
By MIT Sloan CIO Symposium
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Save The Date: May 19, 2010 The MIT Sloan CIO Symposium. It's where top CIOs, technology leaders and IT professionals meet for one day to learn about the latest advances, network with their peers and strategize. Unparalleled in the realm of conferences, the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium provides each attendee with access to top minds and ideas. This is where the future is made. The theme of the 2010 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is, "Top Line Growth and Bottom Line Results: Driving Business Value Through CIO Leadership, Innovation and Collaboration." Learn More and Register with the 'CrossTech' partners promo code and save and additional 15%. http://vlt.me/16d75dd
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Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Align IT & Business
By Carmi Levy, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Learning To Work With The Business Side Effectively Can Help Ensure Your Company's Success Key Points
By partnering with the business and aligning planning and implementation closely with business objectives, IT can drive organizational competitiveness.
IT professionals-in the data center and elsewhere-need to expand their knowledge beyond technology to become business-savvy, as well.
Framework methodologies such as ITIL can help focus efforts to align IT and business needs.
As businesses in all market sectors cope with greater levels of competition and reduced time-to-market, they're leaning more heavily on IT to deliver applications and services that support greater speed and agility.
To meet these growing needs, IT can no longer afford to take a strictly technology-centric view. IT managers must understand and partner with their constituent lines of business. Business alignment is fast becoming an IT core competency, and companies that move quickly to refocus their strategies and tactics along those lines will ultimately be more competitive than those that do not.
Keep the following tips in mind when figuring out how to get IT and the business closer together. Chrome again beats Firefox in browser gain race
By Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Grabs almost all the share that Internet Explorer loses Computerworld - Chrome was the only browser to gain significant usage share last month, and it again trounced Firefox.
By the end of April, Google Inc.'s Chrome accounted for 6.7% of the browsers that surfed to the sites that Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based NetApplications monitors for its clients. Chrome boosted its share by 0.6 percentage points, by far the largest increase of any browser for the month, and the second-highest increase since Google launched the application in September 2008.
Virtually all of Chrome's April expansion came at the expense of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, which dropped 0.7 percentage points to finish the month at 59.95%, the first time that IE has fallen under the 60% mark. IE's decline was lower than the previous month -- it lost nearly a full point of share in March -- but was still above its average monthly decline. Virtualization and shared storage pave the way for affordable business continuity and disaster recovery
By Eric Faucher, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 As recently as five years ago, business continuity and disaster-recovery topics would make IT executives in small to midsize enterprises grumble that neither was affordable. Now companies of all sizes are realizing they can have both using virtualization technology. First, let's clarify the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery: Disaster recovery is about re-establishing IT services in the face of large-scale hardware failure or sabotage, facilities failure and/or regional natural disaster. Disaster-recovery capabilities are measured by the amount of time it takes to re-establish services and the amount of data loss. Business continuity is the ability to continue operations with little or no downtime in some of these scenarios.
Affordable shared storage was the first big step forward for disaster recovery for small to midsize enterprises (SMEs). When data is stored on disks inside a server, it is only as reliable and expandable as those servers: if a motherboard fails, your data is inaccessible, even though the disks may be fine. Storage-area network (SAN) and network-attached storage (NAS) devices pool the storage out of the server, increasing reliability, flexibility and ease of management. Cisco, others dance around 40G Ethernet for data centers
By Jim Duffy, Cisco Subnet, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Some mum on timelines, configurations, prices; Cisco Nexus 7000 might require switch fabric upgrade LAS VEGAS -- Notwithstanding an aggressive first strike by Extreme Networks, switching vendors are largely mum on when and in what configurations they will ship 40G Ethernet products.
Extreme announced and demonstrated four-port 40G Ethernet modules for its Summit X650 stackable edge and BlackDiamond modular switches at the Interop conference here this week. Extreme is pricing the modules aggressively: $1,000 per port, which is only $85 more than the average selling price of a 10G Ethernet port, according to Dell'Oro Group.
Yet, with the exception of Force10 Networks and Brocade, Extreme's competitors would not commit to timeframes for shipping 40G Ethernet products, and only Brocade indicated it could match Extreme's price points.
Industry leader Cisco may have a more delicate issue to deal with than determining 40G Ethernet pricing and availability. Waltham Forest using virtualisation for substantial savings
By Anh Nguyen, Computerworld UK for NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 Flexible contract 'cheaper' than big brand alternatives, council says The London Borough of Waltham Forest has signed a 4.3 million infrastructure overhaul contract with IT services provider 2e2, as it moves to a virtualised setup that is fully hosted.
The contract, which is for three years, with an option for a two-year extension, supports the council's 'One Infrastructure' programme and is aimed at generating substantial savings. Supplier 2e2 agreed, before the weekend, to acquire services firm Morse for 70 million.
Under the transformation programme, Waltham Forest Council will replace its end-of-life systems with a new IT infrastructure that will provide a foundation for more efficient and flexible working, and enable the transformation of working practices and processes.
2e2 will provide virtualised applications and servers, hosted datacentre services, network provisioning, migration to Microsoft Exchange and storage infrastructure. Steve Jobs - Flash is a closed system
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO TechWatch
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 In an unusual move, Steve Jobs has fired publicly back at Adobe's (NASDAQ: ADBE) complaint about Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL)rejection of its Flash plug-in on the iPhone and iPad platforms. Interestingly, Apple seems to be of the opinion that its platform is open whereas Adobe's isn't.Jobs said, "Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true." Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?Jobs elaborated, and pointed out that while the Mac platform is indeed proprietary, the company has adopted open standards such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. Not everyone is buying this argument though, and many are questioning if Apple's aggressive stance against third-party development tools is hurting developers who have to invest the time learning a new platform.
Tim Bray, a Google engineer on the Android team, felt that Apple is being shortsightedby blocking flash, while Al Hilwa, an analyst with IDC, called for a truce.What is your take on this matter? Is Flash still so important? Survey shows mission-critical workloads being run on VMs
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO TechWatch
Posted on Tue, 04 May 2010 A survey of more than 100 Interop attendees found that the majority (61 percent) had deployed virtualization in the data center.This represents an increase over the 55 percent at Interop 2009.While many felt hampered by the lack of good monitoring and management tools for the virtualized environment, this has not stopped 90 percent of those who virtualized part of the data centertorun what they consider to be mission critical workloads on their virtual machines. While it is easy to dismiss the survey as being too small, the fact is that those surveyed were network engineers or IT managers--folks who actually get their hands dirty and who know what they are doing "in the trenches" of corporate IT. Virtualization is notsolely about saving money or delaying hardware purchases, we are now seeing virtualization become part and parcel of the core infrastructure. Extend The Life Of Your IT Assets
By Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Strategies To Keep Assets Running Strong For organizations looking to save money, delaying the procurement of new assets can be a logical step. But it can be a tricky balance to squeeze as much life as possible out of existing assets without hazarding downtime. Here are some tips for boosting life expectancy without putting the enterprise at risk. Focus On Power & Cooling There's always plenty of discussion about power and cooling issues in the IT industry, and for good reason. Tweaking these areas can bring enormous boosts in energy efficiency and also prolong the life of IT assets. Concentrating on power and cooling-especially as high-density equipment is integrated into a center more often-can keep IT assets not only rolling longer, but also working harder. One aspect of power and cooling that's often overlooked is integrated coordination among seemingly minor data center items, notes Peter Sacco, president of PTS Data Center Solutions ( www.ptsdcs.com). He says that many data center managers don't coordinate lighting, fire suppression, equipment placement, cable pathways, and air distribution, and that can create a bad design scenario. Focusing on how cooling and airflow affect the entire center can cause less strain on specific IT assets and prolong the life of that equipment as a result. FREE Webinar -- Get More Done
By Don Khouri, Khouri Coaching & Consulting
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Three Critical Things Technology Leaders Can Do Now to Get More Stuff Done. Register Now! for this FREE Webinar to learn these critical skills. April 27, 2010 12:00-1:00PM EDT. Join Don Khouri as he shares with you some concepts and methods to track and categorize what hasyour attention which facilitates your progress effortlessly. Space is Limited. Reserve your spot now! - How to get unstuck in the face of increasing levels of complexity...
- Tips on how to make good decisions on what to focus on...
- How to get more stuff done in a fixed number of hours...
- Learn an approach to store and retrieve information...
This one hour will put you on the path to change your life. Due to the interest in this topic, this webinar will fill up quickly, so don't hesitate to register now!. This will ensure your space is reserved, and you will receive the webinar information. Data Center Staffing Trends
By Bruce Gain, Processor.com
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Data Center Staffing Trends Post-Recession IT Shops Are Learning To Do More With Fewer Employees Key Points
IT department hiring budgets largely remain frozen due to doubts about whether the economy will see sustained growth in the future.
Enterprises might be tempted to demand more out of IT staffers, but pushing employees too far can backfire.
IT professionals can find opportunities to widen their skills and to mentor colleagues as enterprises seek to rely on in-house talent for new projects instead of hiring additional employees or third-party consultants. Free Webinar - The Benefits of Purchasing a Warehouse Management System on a SaaS Model.
By Presented by Miles Technologies
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Thursday, June 17, 2010 2:00 PM ET
Pre-register now for this informative session! Having inventory control issues? Looking for better efficiency in your warehouse operations? With IT departments expected to do more with less resources, many companies are turning to the software as a service (SaaS) model as a means for purchasing enterprise software applications. Learn best practices for implementing warehouse management software on a cloud computing platform. Join this free webinar and learn about the 6 advantages a hosted WMS can provide for your warehouse or distribution center. The benefits of a SaaS Warehouse Management System include: - No large, upfront investment
- Access anytime, anywhere
- Deploy in weeks not months
- Integration into ERP/Accounting
- Scalable to fit any size business
- Realize ROI monthly!
The Real Secret to IT success
By Eric Knorr, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 In a desperate search for solutions to IT's organizational problems, I turn to Bob Lewis, InfoWorld's IT management guru In most companies, IT remains far less effective than it could be. And guess what? The main barriers to success are almost never technological. They're human -- how people organize themselves and how they relate (or fail to relate) to each other.
So where are we in the long-running soap opera of IT and its relationship to the business? To answer that question, I could think of no better person to ask than Bob Lewis, who has been writing about this topic for InfoWorld since (I believe) the disco era. His Advice Line blog, the "Dear Abby" of InfoWorld, remains one of our most popular items. And he has written several insightful books on IT management, his most recent being "Keep the Joint Running: A Manifesto for 21st Century Information Technology." How Technology Leaders Stay Focused
By Don Khouri, Khouri Coaching & Consulting
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Technology leaders face increased challenges. Don shares insights on how effective technology leaders manage incoming information. Get Everything Off Your Mind A popular expression claims that "all words ever spoken by human beings" could be stored in approximately 5 exabytes of data. Today, the global monthly internet trafficis estimated to be 21 exabytes. In case you were wondering, an exabyte equals one trillion gigabytes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exabyte. By 2020,there will be three billion people using the internet which will be 1/2 the world's population. Technology leaders, and many other leaders, are dealing with increasing levels of complexity and rapidly growing amounts of information. How do technology leaders effectively master increasing levels of complexity, and stay ahead of the curve? Capture Everything! Theonly way to deal with this level of complexity is to focus on it, and the only way to do that is to capture what has ourattention.Our minds are phenomenal with respect to the amount of information they can process. Imagine the potential if we could give our minds the opportunity to process and focus as opposed to remember. There was a study done several years ago byAmericanpsychologist George Miller who concluded that humans can hold about seven things in our short term memory. Anything more than that and we start to forget. For this reason, it is critical to get those items off our mind, and into a system that has the following characteristics: Four ways to save energy - and $$$ - in legacy data centers
By Robert Mitchell, ComputerWorld
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Will a server consolidation project that cuts total servers by 50% through virtualization cut operating costs by that much? Not even close. That's just one of the data center energy efficiency tips that hit the cutting room floor as my feature story, Data center density hits the wall, launched this week. Here are four more to consider: Consolidation through virtualization: A 15% solution. Consolidating servers using virtualization reduces the total number of physical servers and saves energy, but not by as much as you might think. Why? One reason is that the more fully configured replacement servers tend to use more energy than those they replace. So what should you expect to see in energy savings from a server consolidation project? Ben Stewart, vice president of engineering at hosted service provider Terremark, sees a lot of them at the company's colocation data centers. On average, he says, "You get about a 15% power savings by doing the reduction in space." High density servers? Spread 'em, Danno. Going to a higher server density may get you better performance per square foot, but it doesn't always pay off when you look at the big picture. MSDN, TechNet get Office 2010 this week
By Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Enterprises must wait until April 27 for final bits, consumers until June Computerworld - Subscribers to Microsoft Corp.'s developer and IT professional services are first in line to get Office 2010, which will be released to MSDN and TechNet on Thursday, the company has confirmed. MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) and TechNet subscribers can download the production versions of Office 2010 starting April 22, five days before volume license customers with Software Assurance will be able to obtain the new application suite. Last Friday, Microsoft announced that Office 2010 had reached the RTM, or release to manufacturing, milestone, meaning that the company had declared the code completed and was set to ship it to computer makers and media duplicators. Office 2010 will hit U.S. retail in June; Microsoft has not yet set a specific on-sale date. Users can now place pre-order three editions -- Home and Student 2010, Home and Business 2010, and Professional 2010 -- at the company's online store, as well at some third-party outlets, including Amazon.com. Israel bans the Apple iPad, confiscates it on sight
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO
Posted on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 Israel bans the Apple iPad, confiscates it on sight
If you are one of the more than 500,000 people with your hands on an iPad and traveling to Israel, well...don't bring it there.
Citing the iPad's non-compliance with European wireless standards, the Israel Communications Ministry has apparently instructed Israeli customs to confiscate any Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad that enters the country. The short answer: The FCC allows Wi-Fi devices to broadcast at higher power levels than allowable with European standards, which Israel adheres to.
Trends In Power and Cooling
By Christian Perry, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 How Data Centers Are Tackling The Latest Challenges To Their Environments
Key Points
The rise in mobile streaming has boosted the need for increased hardware, bandwidth, and storage, in turn creating a need for ambient monitoring to ensure temperatures are in check.
Data centers are taking second looks at previous efforts to cut power consumption because not all methods are turning out to be beneficial in all deployments.
Virtualization is often seen as a gateway to decreased power consumption, but its knack for increasing computing density is causing data centers to seek new strategies such as load shedding. When even the most seemingly insignificant hardware changes in a data center can wreak chaos on power and cooling systems, it's no surprise that IT personnel watch power and cooling trends with eagle eyes. Any opportunity to improve upon existing systems is a welcome one for data center managers. Here is a look at some power and cooling trends to keep an eye on.
Ruling suggests limits on employer's access to personal e-mail
By Ellen Messmer, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Network World - Can employers read an employee's personal e-mail composed and sent via a corporate computer, and does the employer own that e-mail? Or what if it's an e-mail to a lawyer, which raises special questions of client-attorney privilege that invoke confidentiality? ( Clouded views on privacy) There's often the assumption that all e-mail that employees write on company computers is under the ownership of the company, which when storing it can read it at any time, and companies typically spell out what they consider their rights in a formal corporate policy. But in a legal case that came to it under appeal, the New Jersey Supreme Court last week decided an employee should have had an expectation of e-mail privacy and confidentiality because she used a personal Webmail account, in this case Yahoo, not the corporate e-mail system. MIT Sloan CIO Symposium: The Internet of Things - A Network Of Internet-Enabled Objects (Special opportunity on May 19 at MIT Sloan CIO Symposium for ITEC Connect readers)
By MIT Sloan CIO Symposium
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Predictable pathways of information are changing as the physical world morphs into integrated information systems. In what is called the Internet of Things, sensors and tiny devices (actuators) embedded in physical objects such as roadways and pacemakers, are linked through wired and/or wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet. Applications that were once the staple of science fiction movies are now becoming a reality. Billboards can tailor their advertising messages based on sensing who is in front of them are now available to be deployed. RFID's and other technologies allow for real-time inventory control and theft aversion. These are just two examples of the fusion of the real and virtual. CIOs must be willing to tackle these new challenges in order to become co-leaders in this technology revolution. CIOs will also have to develop new capabilities within their organizations to understand, manage and support complex, distributed, embedded systems that will exist outside the walls of the data center or even the remote office. They are charged with breaking down the traditional barriers of business, including IT alignment. They must take the lead in making the existing products of their companies smart through the use of embedded technologies. http://www.mitcio.com/ IT Asset Management - Changes In The Era Of Cloud Services
By Sue Hildreth, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Key Points
Gartner predicts that by 2012, 20% of all enterprises will own no IT assets but will use the IT services and infrastructure of an outside cloud provider.
IT assets in 2012 and beyond will include services that have strategic value to the organization.
The goal for future IT departments will be to have the right selection of IT services, at the right cost, that get employees access to the data they need.
As more enterprises move their applications and data to cloud providers, the number of enterprises that own IT assets will decline, according to IT analyst firm Gartner. Gartner predicts that by 2012, 20% of all enterprises will own no IT assets but will "rent" the IT services and infrastructure of an outside cloud provider. Likewise, many of the smaller devices-the BlackBerrys and laptops-will be owned by the employees, not purchased by corporate IT. Nine Technology Launches New Company
By Nine Technology
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Delivering Online Backup and Recovery Solutions for Managed Service Providers
Focused on helping managed service providers (MSPs) meet their customers' demand for online backup and recovery services, Nine Technology is today announcing its official company launch. By leveraging the company's vast service provider experience, Nine Technology designed and architected its "Powered by Nine" online backup and recovery solutions to address the many challenges MSPs are having today when attempting to roll out their services built on consumer-grade backup technology.
"Prior to forming Nine Technology, many of our team members here ran a successful online backup service provider business. That's not to say that we didn't have our challenges with the backup vendor we chose, even after our doing our due diligence on dozens of vendors," said Tom Gelson, founder and CEO, Nine Technology. "From what we learned, we took the initiative to design our own online backup solution and go to market with it to address these challenges for other MSPs wanting to offer cost-effective and reliable online services to their customers." HTML 5 - Less than it's cracked up to be
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Computerworld - The core idea behind HTML 5, the latest proposed version of the Web's foundation markup language, is to make all resources, not just text and links, widely and uniformly usable across all platforms. Well, that was the theory. In practice, things aren't going to change that much from today's Web, with its reliance on proprietary media formats and methods. In the 20 years since HTML appeared, companies -- including Adobe with Flash, Microsoft with Silverlight and Apple with QuickTime -- have added their own proprietary media formats to the Web. In addition, other businesses -- such as Google with Gears and Oracle/Sun with JavaFX -- have created technologies for the Web that make it possible to create offline and user-side-based Web applications. This is all fine, but these proprietary formats and application platforms get in the way of the universal use vision for the Web. Enterprise cloud put to the test
By Tom Henderson, ExtremeLabs and Brendan Allen, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Terremark, Rackspace, BlueLock deliver enterprise cloud services The potential benefits of public clouds are obvious to most IT execs, but so are the pitfalls - outages, security concerns, compliance issues, and questions about performance, management, service-level agreements and billing. At this point, it's fair to say that most IT execs are wary of entrusting sensitive data or important applications to the public cloud. How we tested these cloud computing productsArchive of Network World testsBut a technology as hyped as cloud computing can't be ignored either. IT execs are exploring the public cloud in pilot programs, they're moving to deploy cloud principles in their own data centers, or they are eyeing an alternative that goes by a variety of names - enterprise cloud, virtual private cloud or managed private cloud. As Windows 7 gains steam, VDI set to rise
By James Brodkin, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Vendors duke it out as customers eye desktop virtualization The growing maturity of virtual desktop technologies and customer interest in Windows 7 has virtual desktop infrastructure vendors expecting big adoption numbers in 2010. But while most CIOs are at least thinking about desktop virtualization, this year's projects may be limited to pilots and small deployments because of up-front costs and technology challenges that hamper user experience.
An ITIC survey of more than 800 businesses worldwide shows that 31% of respondents plan to implement VDI this year, more than double the previous year. A related technology, application virtualization, is also on the upswing with 37% of respondents planning implementations, an increase from 15% the previous year. Likewise, Gartner has found that 33% of organizations plan to deploy hosted virtual desktops in 2010.
The flip side to those numbers is that about two-thirds of customers either won't deploy desktop and application virtualization this year, or are undecided. There's good reason for that, says Burton Group analyst Chris Wolf.
"The ROI case for virtual desktops [over three to five years] is break-even at best right now," Wolf says. "Contrary to what vendors are claiming, the ROI isn't there for a large-scale, server-hosted virtual desktop deployment." Adobe, Foxit examine new no-bug-needed PDF hack
By Gregg Keizer, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 Executable end-around doesn't require a vulnerability to hijack PCs Adobe and Foxit Software are investigating attacks based on a new tactic that embeds attack code in rigged PDF documents, the two companies said today.
Only Foxit has promised to address the problem, however.
Earlier this week, Belgium security researcher Didier Stevens, known for his work on PDF bugs, showed how he used a feature in both Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader to run executable code on a Windows PC from a malformed PDF . Steven's technique doesn't require an underlying vulnerability in either program to hijack the machine; all attackers need to do is dupe users into opening PDF documents.
That kind of social engineering-based attack is nothing new, but until now hackers needed an exploit of an unpatched software vulnerability to pull off a successful attack delivered via PDFs. Mozilla confirms critical Firefox bug
By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 Slates patch for March 30; flaw can't be used in upcoming Pwn2Own hack contest
Computerworld - Mozilla yesterday confirmed a critical vulnerability in the newest version of Firefox, and said it would plug the hole by the end of the month. Although the patch won't be added to Firefox before next week's Pwn2Own browser hacking challenge, researchers won't be allowed to use the flaw, according to the contest's organizer. "The vulnerability was determined to be critical and could result in remote code execution by an attacker," Mozilla acknowledged in a post to its security blog late Thursday. "The vulnerability has been patched by developers and we are currently undergoing quality assurance testing for the fix." Firefox 3.6, which Mozilla launched in January, is affected, Mozilla said, adding that it would be patched in version 3.6.2, currently slated to ship on March 30. The bug was disclosed by Russian researcher Evgeny Legerov a month ago in a message posted on a forum hosted by Immunity, the Miami Beach, Fla. developer best known for its Canvas penetration testing framework. Legerov works for Moscow-based Intevydis, which produces the VulnDisco add-on for Canvas. Is IT keeping up with a changing infrastructure?
By Kathleen Lau, Computerworld Canada
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 As IT infrastructures become increasingly converged and components increasingly interdependent, IT admins are still not factoring in the collateral impact of individual changes to the IT environment, said one exec. Joe Wolke, director of IT strategy for Skokie, Ill.-based IT consulting firm Forsythe Solutions Group said that while technology trends like virtualization, storage consolidation, cloud computing and hosted applications serve to streamline IT functions, they do change the traditional IT equation. "In many ways they are making infrastructure less complex, but are making the model for identifying direct costs much more complex," said Wolke. Changes to the IT environment like adding a new application, business unit or geographic location will have a greater impact than is immediately observable. The foundational issue of running IT as a business, said Wolke, is ensuring costs are transparent and comprehensible to users. Wolke said it's critical to align the lifecycle of a new application with that of the associated physical assets. This means recognizing that storage and servers required for the application may not have the same lifespan, so all costs must be accounted for down the road. SSD could ultimately replace hard disk drives
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 In an interview with Network World, Hitachi Data Systems' CTO, Hu Yoshida noted that solid state disks (SSD) may ultimately replace the traditional Winchester (aka mechanical) disk drive. Of course, this much is pretty obvious to anyone who's ever tried a recent generation of solid state disks; the performance boost afforded by an SSD leaves alternative upgrades options such as upping the RAM or even swapping the processor pretty much in the dust. Still, hearing it from an enterprise storage solutions maker is quite another matter entirely.Of course, Yoshida also rightly pointed out that the lifespan of 100,000 writes that SLC flash memory currently yields in current enterprise storage products "may not be adequate" to make flash a complete replacement for hard disks at this stage. Google targets Exchange users with migration tool
By Paul Mah, FierceCIO
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 Google has apparently decided that the time to hold its punches has past, as it unveils its Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange tool. As its name implies, the server-based tool will help Exchange users migrate their company's email, calendar and contact details from their server or hosted Exchange account into the Google Clouds. The tool is free to Premier subscribers of its Google Apps or Education subscribers, and will work with both Exchange 2003 and 2007.Google says that migration is a simple four-step process that starts with entering the credentials for your Exchange server and Google Apps account. There is ample flexibility to move only selected users, or transfer the data across in phases. Opinion: E-mail is dead. Long live e-mail!
By Preston Gralla, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 Computerworld - Given the growth of social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, and the increasing use of collaboration tools such as Microsoft SharePoint, you may begin to wonder whether e-mail's day in the sun is coming to an end. Once the primary way we communicated electronically, e-mail has begun to seem less central to our daily lives. It feels as if a tipping point has been reached. Businesses recognize the power of social networking sites to attract customers, build buzz and perform sophisticated research, and they see that collaboration tools can allow employees to work with one another and with people outside the company. E-mail, it seems, is no longer the center of the universe. So is it time to say goodbye to it as the core of business and personal communication? Will e-mail go the way of the physically mailed letter -- useful for certain purposes, but not the primary way that people keep in touch and collaborate? Meeting Your IT Needs without Adding Staff
By Steve Van Tol - DoubleRadius Technical Solutions
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 As an IT Manager you face the daunting task to meeting all of your company's IT needs in a challenged economy. Hiring additional staff is one way to approach the issue, but finding and paying for qualified staff takes time and money, which are the resources you are limited on in the first place. Quite the "Catch 22." Not to mention that all you may really need is just a little extra help here and there - not another full-time or even part-time employee. Another approach is forming a partnership with an organization that has the resources you need on standby. In this scenario, you are only paying for help when you need it, and you know you are covered no matter what issue arises. There are no salaries, benefits, etc. to worry about. You also don't have to worry if the person you would have otherwise hired may have all of the skills for the multitude of issues he or she may face. You will have a team of professionals at your disposal. DoubleRadius Technical Solutions (DRTS) meets this need for small and mid-size businesses, offering solutions for: - Managed IT (Email/Web/Workstation)
- Network Infrastructure
- Point-to-Point Connectivity
- Video Surveillance
- VoIP
- 2-Way Radio
For more information, email Steve Van Tol at stevev@doubleradius.com or call 704-927-6092. Or visit: techsolutions.doubleradius.com Desktop Virtualization: Microsoft, VMware in Cost Smackdown
By Shane O'neill, CIO
Posted on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 Microsoft's new desktop virtualization initiatives announced yesterday are a long-anticipated move to make desktop and application virtualization easier and cheaper for enterprises. But it's also part of a broader Microsoft strategy to capture market share from virtualization arch-rival VMware. Desktop virtualization is still a nascent technology, but it does offer the kind of flexibility and ROI that enterprises are looking for, especially ones that are migrating to Windows 7 and are worried about application incompatibility. Microsoft's desktop virtualization model, including VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), promises to rein in desktop costs, improve security and management and speed up the delivery of new applications.
One key part of the sweeping announcements, covered in an hour-long Webcast, is a simpler and cheaper model for licensing Windows in a virtual desktop environment. Specifically, on July 1, Software Assurance customers will no longer have to buy a separate license to access Windows via a VDI. The Three Cs of Technology
By By Scott Brousseau, CTO PBG, Inc.
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 The three Cs in today's business world are consolidation, centralization, and conservation. The focus is to create a harmoniously designed network that efficiently and economically meets all of a business' desired goals. Businesses are seeking the three Cs in the areas of network storage, virtualization, and remote access: 1. Virtual NAS/SAN In today's economy, businesses are reevaluating their infrastructure; thus, the evolution of the virtual NAS/SAN. Hypervisors like VMware and Citrix can now take advantage of these virtual NAS/SAN technologies with little-to-no impact on performance or functionality from a virtualization perspective. If a company only needs to provide live VM migration capabilities, a virtual NAS/SAN is highly beneficial. In cases where the storage is being provisioned for other purposes or the need for performance outweighs the need for cost savings, then hardware-based network storage is sensible.
Another surfacing trend is the conservation of storage by reprovisioning testing environments and non-critical servers to virtual SANs, thereby achieving a higher ROI and TCO. Prediction: 75% reduction in IT staff by 2020
By Robert McMillen, All Tech 1 Computer Consulting Services
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 The IT industry is about to go through a metamorphosis in the coming decade, and technicians and engineers need to be prepared. Research is showing a 75% reduction in the work force needed in the next decade, and a 50% reduction in the next five years for the traditional company IT staff. This will occur at all levels, and the numbers presented will bear this out. Despite the recession, IT staffing added 40,000 jobs during the worst quarter of the recession in 2009. It is expected to continue to grow in the short term. So, how do we get from a growth industry to one where massive amounts of people will be out of work? Threat Protection In The Age Of Social Networking
By Kurt Marko, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 A Look At Countermeasures IT Should Take Key Points
Web 2.0 and social networking sites have changed the nature of Internet usage from mere information consumption to bidirectional information sharing by end users-a transformation that renders traditional enterprise Web-filtering solutions obsolete.
Social networks create new avenues for data loss from malware infections, targeted phishing attacks, or data leakage from employees posting sensitive information.
User awareness to new attack methods and security vulnerabilities posed by social networks is the first line of defense. However, IT should redouble efforts to ensure proper PC and Internet hygiene. Social networks and other collaborative Web 2.0 sites illustrate an interesting case of cognitive dissonance within today's business community. Many IT executives view them as just another time-wasting Internet pariah like shopping, sports, or video streaming sites. In fact, a survey last fall by Robert Half Technology of more than 1,400 CIOs found that 54% don't allow employees to visit social networking sites at work for any reason. Bolstering this response, Cisco's ( www.cisco.com) ScanSafe Web content filtering unit found a 20% increase, to 76% of their customers, in the number of companies blocking social networking sites, which was the highest level for any filtering category. Energizer Bunny's software infects PCs
By Gregg Keizer, InfoWorld.com
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 The Energizer Bunny infects PCs with backdoor malware, the Department of Homeland Security's US-CERT said Friday. According to researchers at US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), software that accompanies the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a Trojan horse that gives hackers total access to a Windows PC The Energizer DUO, a USB-powered nickel-metal hydride battery recharger, has been discontinued, said Energizer Holdings, which late Friday confirmed that the software contains malicious code. The company has not said how the Trojan made its way into the software, however. "Energizer is currently working with both CERT and U.S. government officials to understand how the code was inserted in the software," Energizer said in a statement. Cloud's Key Considerations
By Christian Perry, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 Plans For Moving To The Cloud Are Not Complete Without Thorough Assessment & Examination Key Points Although cloud computing serves a huge number of enterprise needs, managers must still determine whether cloud services will in fact meet their particular requirements. Without availability, any cloud foundation can crumble, so look closely at a potential provider's physical infrastructure to ensure it can deliver on its promises. Cloud considerations should include examination of support and extensibility options offered by cloud providers, similar to considerations involved with evaluations for internal IT deployments. Cloud computing has gradually transformed from a niche option into a full-bore opportunity for organizations to offload nearly every element of their data center infrastructures. But jumping into the cloud without a solid perspective on the key issues around the concept can be a perilous experience, particularly if you choose to rely on the cloud for business-critical applications. "While cloud computing poses new challenges to IT managers and data center providers, it also throws up interesting opportunities," says Sanjay Vyas, vice president and general manager of managed services for Arcot Systems ( www.arcot.com). "By carefully framing requirements, designing the system, choosing vendors, and deploying, you can leverage the cloud to achieve lower costs for you with better availability than usually possible with internal IT deployments." Microsoft pulls plug on business server package
By Joab Jackson, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 Microsoft will discontinue development of Windows Essential Business Server ( EBS) as of June 30, the company announced via a blog. The blog calls the elimination of this package of integrated Microsoft back-office programs a move to "streamline [Microsoft's] server product portfolio."
"[M]idsize businesses are rapidly turning to technologies such as ... virtualization and cloud computing as a means to cut costs, improve efficiency, and increase competitiveness," the post stated. "Those capabilities are already available through other offerings, including Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft System Center and the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite." IT centralization is back in fashion
By Mary Brandel, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 The pendulum is moving toward IT consolidation as CIOs try to save money and gain efficiencies. But it's possible to go too far.
Computerworld - When the economy plummeted at the end of 2008, the Western U.S. branch of The Salvation Army was ahead of the cost-cutting game. CIO Clarence White had centralized the IT organization a year or two earlier, and he had consolidated the database and storage servers from the business units into a single data center in Long Beach, Calif. The move wasn't aimed at cutting costs, but "the timing was good," White says. It reduced the charitable organization's technology footprint, encouraged more virtualization and lowered maintenance and power costs. "It was an unanticipated benefit," he says. "We looked like geniuses." Linux Windows or both?
By Eric Lai, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 Computerworld - Ulteo is poised to offer commercial support for its free virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) software, which the open-source start-up says will cost companies a fraction of established offerings from Citrix Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and VMware Inc., while offering, in some cases, more choice in platforms. Storage In A Flash
By Christian Perry, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 Solid-State Drives Are Ushering Data Centers Into A Speedy, Flash-Based Future
Key Points:
SSDs boast performance-related benefits that give them the upper hand over conventional hard drives for certain data center tasks, such as online transactional processing.
Vendors are already prepping products to mesh with SSDs, so future adoption of the storage technology shouldn't prove to be overly painful.
Instead of looking to replace all hard drives with SSDs, examine the tasks at hand and consider a hybrid environment to get the best of both storage worlds. A flash-based storage continues to enjoy immense success in the mobile sector, the technology is beginning to garner serious attention on far larger scales. SSDs, or solid-state drives, are now a viable storage option for data centers at small to midsized enterprises, thanks to impressive performance and steadily declining prices. Beware the rogue Wi-Fi access point in Windows 7
By Joanie Wexler, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 SoftAP feature in the new OS could threaten enterprise security The consumerization of IT is alive, well and causing all sorts of enterprise security challenges in the mobile arena. But highly visible issues, such as the consumer-centric Apple iPhone, represent only the tip of the vulnerability iceberg. Microsoft Windows 7, for example, contains software that allows a user's laptop to do double-duty as a rogue Wi-Fi access point that masks the entry of unauthorized users onto the corporate network. Data Center Redesigns
By Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 Revamping Existing Centers Is A Potentially Budget-Friendly & Effective Trend To Watch
Key Points
With the implementation of more blade servers, many data centers are opting to redesign rather than to use managed services or undertake a new construction.
When taking on a redesign, first quantify the overall capacity of the data center in terms of space, power, and cooling.
Run the numbers to make sure that redesign makes sense; for some data centers, the cost of new construction might actually be lower than taking on demolition and rebuilding. Because building a new data center can be capital-intensive, many companies are choosing to redesign existing centers, particularly to address power density issues. Although this type of revamp may require careful planning, many experts believe it's worth the extra effort and expense to stay up-to-date with newer technologies in such areas as cooling and power. Review: Outlook Social Connector a worthwhile add-on
By Preston Gralla, ComputerWorld
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 Microsoft's new Outlook add-on pushes Outlook into the social networking century. Computerworld - Microsoft's just-released beta of the Outlook Social Connector aims to solve a formidable problem: How to retain Outlook's centrality when social networking sites and services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have become increasingly important. It largely succeeds. FAQ: The Kneber botnet revealed
By Tim Greene, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 Infiltration of Kneber reveals interesting data, but what is the threat? Security vendor NetWitness recently tapped into the logs of a command-and-control server for a botnet it calls Kneber, which has infected at least 75,000 computers at 2,500 companies and government agencies worldwide. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the botnet. Characterizing cloud computing
By Jim Metzler and Steve Taylor, NeworkWorld
Posted on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 Given the impact that cloud computing is already having, and will continue to have, on the WAN, this is the third in a series of newsletters on cloud computing. In the previous newsletter we discussed why we think that attempting to define cloud computing is not worthwhile. In this newsletter we will continue our discussion of the primary characteristics of a cloud computing solution. Researcher reveals how IE flaw can turn your PC into a public file server
By Ellen Messmer, Network World
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Black Hat demo shows IE browser flaw; Microsoft issues security advisory
In a live demonstration Wednesday at the Black Hat DC conference, a security consultant showed how it's possible to exploit a flaw in the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser to remotely read files on the victim's local drive, prompting a security advisory from Microsoft. How Wi-Fi attackers are poisoning Web browsers
By Ellen Messmer, Network World
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Black Hat presenter describes latest public Wi-Fi security threat
Public Wi-Fi networks such as those in coffee shops and airports present a bigger security threat than ever to computer users because attackers can intercede over wireless to "poison" users' browser caches in order to present fake Web pages or even steal data at a later time.That's according to security researcher Mike Kershaw, developer of the Kismet wireless network detector and intrusion-detection system, who spoke at the Black Hat conference. Free Webinar Creating Updating and Enforcing Your Acceptable Use Policy for a Social Networking World
By Presented by Spectorsoft
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Pre-register now for this informative session! The rapid growth of social networks and electronic communications compel employers to understand, implement and update their Acceptable Internet Use Policies. But maintaining a policy is not enough. Regulatory compliance and affirmative defense strategies require employers to monitor employee use of Internet services and electronic communications. Creating, Updating and Enforcing Your "Acceptable Use Policy" for a Social Networking World The rapid growth of social networks and electronic communications compel employers to understand, implement and update their Acceptable Internet Use Policies. But maintaining a policy is not enough. Regulatory compliance and affirmative defense strategies require employers to monitor employee use of Internet services and electronic communications. How much monitoring is appropriate? What are the available technologies? How can they legally and properly be used? Enterprises clamor for usage-based software pricing
By Eric Lai, Computerworld
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Vendors that resist the call for pay-per-use models risk losing customers to SaaS providers like Amazon.com, according to an IDC report
7 Recommendations Sick of overpaying for features they don't need or use, enterprise software customers are eager for vendors to adopt pay-per-use models that better align cost with consumption, according to an IDC report. Data Center Setup Snags
By Sixto Ortiz Jr., Processor.com
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Learn From Past Mistakes In Power & Cooling Setups, Data Center Design & Personnel Decisions Key Points Common data center setup mistakes can be grouped into three categories: power and cooling, design, and people and processes. Today's cutting-edge technology is a double-edged sword, as it provides more functionality but has higher requirements. Proper power and cooling are essential to ensure good technology does not become a problem. The importance of establishing key processes, and hiring the right personnel to implement them, is vital to success. It is critical that IT administrators engaged in the task of setting up data centers pay heed to the lessons learned from mistakes made by previous businesses. Paying close attention to these lessons can provide a roadmap to successfully navigating the complex task of setting up a data center and avoiding extremely costly mistakes. After all, as George Santayana once said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." InfoWorld review: Windows on the Mac
By John Rizzo, InfoWorld
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Parallels Desktop 5 and VMware Fusion 3 get faster, smarter, and optimized for Windows 7, while Sun's VirtualBox 3.1 lags behind
Why choose between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard when you can have both? A Mac with virtualization software is a great platform for running Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, or other Intel-based operating systems, all at the same time. There's also Mac OS X's native Boot Camp, but it only supports Windows and doesn't give you access to Mac OS X without rebooting. YouTube confirms IPv6 support
By Carolyn Duffy Marsan, Network World
Posted on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 Blog post calls next-gen Internet a "win" for openness, security
YouTube confirmed that it now supports IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol, in a blog post published Friday. New Version
By Paul Krill, InfoWorld
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 A new Forrester report finds widespread use of the iterative software development processes Webinar - Creating, Updating and Enforcing Your "Acceptable Use Policy" for a Social Networking World
By Presented by Spectorsoft
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 The rapid growth of social networks and electronic communications compel employers to understand, implement and update their Acceptable Internet Use Policies. But maintaining a policy is not enough. Regulatory compliance and affirmative defense strategies require employers to monitor employee use of Internet services and electronic communications. Creating, Updating and Enforcing Your "Acceptable Use Policy" for a Social Networking World The rapid growth of social networks and electronic communications compel employers to understand, implement and update their Acceptable Internet Use Policies. But maintaining a policy is not enough. Regulatory compliance and affirmative defense strategies require employers to monitor employee use of Internet services and electronic communications. How much monitoring is appropriate? What are the available technologies? How can they legally and properly be used? Shift happens and reality doesn't go away
By Mark Gibbs, Network World
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -- Philip K Dick It seems that many businesses believe that when you've been around for long enough whatever it is you have been successful at can't possibly ever become obsolete. This is despite the fact that there are countless examples of how business models die off as our culture and technologies evolve. Migrate Smoothly To Windows 7
By Chris A. MacKinnon, Processor.com
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 Steps To Take If A New OS Is In The Cards This Year
When it comes to New Year's resolutions, jumping on the new OS bandwagon isn't exactly something an SME should do without consideration. Although your enterprise may be considering the switch to Windows 7 in 2010, you first need to know what you'll gain from the switch, what's involved, and what kind of investments you'll need to make. Here's a rundown of what the experts are advising when it comes to switching to Win7 this year.
Harness Heat & Power Consumption
By Christian Perry, Processor.com
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 Get Your Data Center Out Of The Hot Seat In 2010
Data centers aren't the only things chugging along into the new year, as heat is anticipated to have yet another successful year of delivering headaches to infrastructure managers around the globe. However, by undertaking a project in 2010 that can help to keep temperatures and power consumption under control, data centers can force heat to look elsewhere to continue its productive run. Portable flash drives often misplaced, lost
By Paul Mah , Computerworld
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 A new survey by U.K.-based Credant has confirmed what all of us have known all along: Workers are careless with their portable storage devices. Indeed, a staggering 4,500 USB flash drives were found to have been left in the pockets of clothes sent to the dry cleaners, not to mention the thousands more handheld devices left behind in taxis by harried executives. Does your office have a social networking policy?
By Judi Hasson, Feirce CIO
Posted on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 This week we report on social media; for many companies, little thought has been given to how Web 2.0 communication tools should be handled, and little input has been sought from IT professionals. Data Center Strategies For 2010
By William VanWinkle
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 Key Points The recession delayed many programs and much infrastructure growth, but continuing a policy of "buy nothing" may start to seriously harm enterprises. New methods of assessing value in the enterprise are likely to be based on TCO. This is why data centers are likely to increase their reliance on services. Energy savings will continue to be a top priority in 2010 as enterprises adopt numerous methods for reducing consumption. What we can expect from cloud computing in 2010
By Paul Mah
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 There is little doubt that Cloud computing has entered the mainstream. As with virtualization, a number of large players have already launched or will be launching new products to cater to this paradigm shift in computing. 2010 AITP Member Summit
By AITP
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 2010 AITP Member Summit Bringing Together Your Community of IT Leaders Friday, January 22 - Saturday, 23, 2010 InterContinental Chicago Chicago, Illinois Bringing value to the IT profession, the AITP Members Summit is an annual educational event hosted by aitp for all IT professionals, members and non-members. Take the next step in your IT career - Register today! The Year Ahead In Storage
By Christian Perry
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 This Innovative Realm Looks To Grow Smarter, Leaner & More Affordable Key Points Data centers will continue to harness the performance benefits of storage virtualization, which has moved beyond its one-time role as a tool for SAN data migration. Storage clouds will see more rollouts in 2010, but experts advise initial use within focused areas to best determine the use of clouds across the enterprise and to build skills. Data deduplication could take a back seat to tiered archiving in some arenas, but the technology remains poised to have a significant impact on data centers in the coming year. Arbitration: A Double-Edged Sword
By Neil S. Ende
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 Most agreements, including most telecommunications agreements, contain language identifying the forum in which disputes will be resolved. To an ever increasing degree, telecommunications agreements require the parties to submit their disputes to arbitration. Although these provisions can be among the most important in any agreement, they are little understood, buried in the boilerplate at the end of agreements and generally ignored. PBG teams with NetApp to store and stream electronic medical records
By www.pbgnetworks.com
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 Case Study - January 2010 -- Bellmawr, NJ
One of the keys to affordable healthcare is the ability to store and stream electronic medical records, providing physicians, hospitals, HMOs, and other practitioners with information relevant to diagnosing medical conditions, and evaluating and treating patients.
Sound wiring, sound network, sound mind
By Paul Venezia
Posted on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 Wiring problems are some of the most insidious and difficult problems to find and fix. Here's how to avoid getting all tangled up. Six tips for managing teleworkers
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 I once had a boss who wanted to see his workers all the time. He didn't want anyone going to a meeting or out to lunch. He wanted to see everyone working at all times.
He would not have done well in today's telecommuting environment, a trend that is growing by leaps and bounds. For starters, a manager has to trust that the employee will be working and not playing pool or watching TV while teleworking. The Changing Role of IT
By Thomas C. Staab, President, Wind Ridge International, LLC
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 Historically Information Technology (IT) has been like a "fast food" organization. The customer puts in their order for a new project, it gets approved, and the customer goes about doing their "regular work" while IT works the project. This model doesn't work in today's business environment for many reasons. Data Lockdown
By Elizabeth Millard
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 Locking down customer and employee data can be rife with challenges, but proper security measures are imperative and often involve multiple layers of defenses and processes. Here's a look at what you need to know about protecting your valuable data. What Google phone does and doesn't mean for wireless industry
By Brad Reed
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 Google apparently isn't content to have its Android mobile operating system merely dominate the season.
When Google released its own smartphone to employees to play with this weekend, it served notice that it plans to push the Android brand aggressively throughout the winter. And while the Motorola Droid garnered its fair share of hype this fall as the first-ever Android-based phone available on the Verizon network, Google's own phone -- currently known as the "Nexus One" -- significantly ups the game 2009: A year to forget but hope is on the way
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 It's been a really tough year for business and information technology. By this time last year, the market had already crashed, unemployment was rising and the future was unknown.
Next year will be better. It's a good thing, too, because everyone in the IT market is pretty tired of pay cuts, layoffs, belt-tightening and delayed upgrades. Everyone certainly is ready to move on from a year of many challenges that forced IT executives to do more with less, and IT talent simply to be grateful for a job that did not disappear. Supreme Court to consider privacy in text-messaging case
By Jaikumar Vijayan
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a federal appeals court ruling involving the privacy of personal text messages sent and received by a member of the Ontario, Calif., police department on his official pager. Go Green Affordably
By Sixto Ortiz, Jr.
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 In today's carbon-constrained, environmentally conscious world, becoming a "green" organization can result in real monetary savings. Even though being green is sometimes derisively associated with the extremes of the environmental movement, the fact is that energy will only get more expensive as natural sources of energy are depleted. Saving energy makes bottom-line sense. Google Wave: Is it useful, or just cool?
By Molly Bernhart
Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 At Gilbane's 2009 Content Management conference in Boston last week, a funny thing happened prior to the beginning of a session on Google Wave. The moderator, Gilbane's Larry Hawes, asked the attendees to raise their hands if they currently had access to Google Wave; about half of the attendees raised their hands. Hawes then said he had several extra Google Wave invites which he would be happy to share: *Crickets*. Play your game and be a standout! - my blog's first sports reference...
By Stephen Saber
Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 Having run a business for over 10 years, I have been an observer of a lot of different types of employees and types of "work personalities". Often I say to people, it is not bad if you "do not want to work hard" or "feel like you give it your all and that is good enough", but that may not be good with us. For sure, different people have different perspectives on their work life - how hard they want to work, how much they are willing to sacrifice for work, and what the balance is that they are willing to have in their life. Netbooks in the enterprise: Get ready
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 Netbooks in the enterprise are coming, some observers believe. And whether it takes a year or five for netbooks to catch on in Corporate America, it behooves IT managers to get ready sooner rather than having to clean up a mess later on. Publishers can beat free Google eBooks
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 After reviewing a couple of classics from Google Books recently, I'm convinced that publishers should not see Google as a threat to their business. Last month the folks at Astak sent me a review unit of their new EZReader Pocket Pro, a small eBook Reader to try. I was pleased to get it because I had researched and written about eBooks and eBook Readers, but only tried them briefly at demos. This time, I wanted to download some of the free classics that Google had scanned and see first-hand what the fuss was about. Citizen Engagement: Engaging the not so easily engaged -- does it matter to government efficiency?
By Jan Duffy
Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 Engagement is critical to a healthy relationship between the government and its citizens. Governments need to constantly monitor the usefulness, satisfaction, and trust levels associated with online applications and then to refine them based on the findings. Over the past few years much energy has been directed towards service delivery designed with the citizen at the heart. Do you believe that citizens really believe they are the focus of your services? Or, do they feel as though they are on the periphery and disengaged? We all know that it is vital for citizens to have a sense of belonging to the local community, but there is still a question mark associated with how well they relate to services that are delivered electronically. What's the problem? Social networking could be the vector for next malware wave
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 Security solutions firm F-Secure Malaysia has warned of the need for greater vigilance when it comes to the use of social networking. F-Secure Malaysia senior security response manager, Chia Wing Fei, noted the increasing popularity of social networking versus more traditional mediums such as e-mail. Chia argued that while users have learned to be skeptical about links forwarded from anonymous senders in e-mails, they tend to be far more trusting of their community of acquaintances at sites such as Facebook. 'Twitter' is the Word of the Year
By Sharon Gaudin
Posted on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 The dramatic leap in the use of social networks this year has extended to the language that surrounds them.
Just a few weeks after the New Oxford American Dictionary announced that "unfriend" is its 2009 Word of the Year, the Global Language Monitor announced that "Twitter" is the top word of 2009 based on its annual global survey of English words and phrases that appear in the media and online. The True Cost Of Downtime
By Jean Thilmany
Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 All data center managers hear a lot of talk about uptime. But if you're going to address uptime, you have to talk about its less welcome relative: downtime. Study: Most won't pay for newspaper, magazine content online
By Juan Carlos Perez
Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 Bad news for newspaper and magazine publishers hoping to boost their flagging businesses by charging for content: Most consumers in the U.S. won't pay for it.
That's the finding from a new study from Forrester Research, which polled around 4,700 U.S. consumers, 80% of whom indicated they're unwilling to pay for access to newspaper and magazine articles and other content. While IT waits out the financial storm, employees push mobility forward
By Eugene Signorini
Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 It's no shocker that 2009 has been a tough year on IT leaders. They have been asked to do more with less as the economy has placed unprecedented constraints on budgets: Yankee Group's 2009 Transforming Infrastructure & Transforming Applications Survey of business and IT decision-makers shows that 62 percent of enterprise IT organizations have had moderate reductions in technology spending, and 21 percent have experienced severe pullbacks. More importantly, only 4 percent of firms say they have increased technology spending, meaning innovative initiatives have been placed on the backburner. Mobile and wireless projects have felt this impact: 59 percent of companies have experienced either moderate or severe reductions in mobile application investments. Are government websites fully accessible to the disabled?
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 There's a federal law--the Rehabilitation Act--requiring that federal agencies' electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities. It's a law that every agency must take seriously, but many are falling short of the requirements to make web access fully available for 54 million Americans with disabilities. Loan Guarantee Program: $40 billion worth of projects could be enabled
By Sam Jaffe
Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 As the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee program continues to inch along, more visibility is emerging on how much economic activity it will spur. A total of $15 billion worth of projects could be financed through the new FIPP structure, which stands for Financial Institution Partnership Program, and requires that renewable energy project developers arrange financing through private banks prior to applying for the loan guarantee. This allows the DOE to streamline and hasten the application process. However, only tried and true technologies need apply for the FIPP guarantees, as few banks would be willing to take a flier on emerging technologies that haven't been tested in the field for years or decades. Pwning Humans for Fun and Profit
By Jamey Heary
Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 If you want to hack a corporation fast, Social Engineering (SE) techniques work every time and more often than not it works the first time. I'm talking about in your face, Mano-a-mano, live in the flesh social engineering techniques. Securing the information that is in the human mind is a monumental, colossal, epic, task compared with securing digital data! So it is no surprise that it is also the largest gap in a corporations IT security. Webinar: How to Cut Storage Costs by One-Third
By Wednesday, November 4, 2009 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 Unstructured data on underutilized storage devices create huge data center inefficiencies. Learn how to extend the capacity of your existing storage investment without buying new equipment. This Hitachi Data Systems webinar will teach you five important concepts that will lower your storage costs by one-third or more. Learn about money-saving tactics like: - NAS Head Consolidation
- File Tiering
- Capacity Efficiencies
- Archive Reduction
- Backup Efficiencies
You'll also learn where you can view a Video White Paper: Storage Economics: "Four Principles for Reducing TCO"  Google Apps Trump IBM / Lotus iNotes Lame Offering
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 Did you notice Google Apps has a new competitor? Didn't think so. You'd think IBM and Lotus could come up with 1) a better product to compete on Google's turf and 2) figure out a way to make a bigger splash. All we have here are lame offerings created by idiot vice presidents and marketed by other idiot vice presidents. How to improve on 'refer a friend' concept?
By Rick Quinn
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 I see this a lot - if you like this story, please share it with friends. You can email the link to your friends (with a neat customized message), or share the link ondelicious,facebook, digg and other social networking sites. Yes, you can do this within the registration process, but, as event planners, wouldn't you rather already have the data than rely on your attendees "friends" to fill it out?? Five Steps to Determine When to Virtualize Your Servers (white paper)
By IDG Connect
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 Virtualizationisn't just for big companies. Most, if not all, organizations will haveintroduced some measure of virtualization to their systems in the near future.As it's no longer a question of 'if,' but of 'when,' figure out the steps youshould take before virtualizingyour data center. The first step is to know the benefits of going virtual,which includes simplified management, cost and time savings and faster recoverytime from disaster.
For a detailed overview of how to figure out the right time to virtualize, downloadthe complimentary whitepaper "FiveSteps to Determine When to Virtualize Your Servers." It's availableright now courtesy of VMware via IDG Connect.
We think you'll find it educational and rewarding. Can government harness IT?
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 The Obama administration is working on a number of important information technology initiatives to improve government operations. On one front, the administration is trying to bring transparency to the public by making more information about government policy and spending available online, and in an accessible way and usable formats. Microsoft links malware rates to pirated Windows
By Gregg Keizer
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 Microsoft today said computers in countries with high rates of software piracy are more likely to be infected by malicious code because users are leery of applying security patches. "There is a direct correlation between piracy and the malware infection rate," said Jeff Williams, the principal group program manager for the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. Williams was touting the newest edition of his company's biannual security intelligence report. Will microservers take off?
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 On the first read, it sounded like blade servers all over again. You see, Intel is working to introduce a new "microserver" standard to be offered at the Server System Infrastructure Forum "by the end of the year." Assuming the groups' board votes for its approval, group members will be able to use the designs on a royalty-free basis, Jason Waxman, general manager of Intel's high-density computing group, told CNET News.
Storage Economics for File and Content Solutions - a webinar invitation
By Next Data Center
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 Data growth is something we all must manage within our data centers. Recent data has pointed to unstructured file data and content depots growing faster than structured data base data. As with most areas of technology, spending must be held flat if not lowered. Join Hitachi Data Systems' Peter Sjoberg for a discussion on how HDS focuses on lowering the total cost of storage ownership, including in the fast-growing area of file and content data. The webinar will also focus on five key areas of potential savings and discuss how they can be applied to lower your TCO. This is a free webinar, part of the Next Data Center series. Register now - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST 10 things you need to know about Windows 7
By Tom Henderson
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 Windows 7 officially ships on Thursday, which means end users and administrators running Windows XP (and to a lesser extent, Windows Vista) have some interesting decisions to make.To help you make those tough choices, here are 10 things you need to know, based on our hands-on testing of Windows 7. Data loss prevention market on upswing
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 A survey sponsored by Dimension Data and performed by analyst firm IDC has found that the market for data loss prevention products will be growing, reports eWeek.com. The survey discovered that 57 percent of the 400 organizations polled intend to invest in data loss prevention software during the next year. Getting Down to Business with the Cloud
By IDC
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 On November 4, 2009 IDC is hosting an invite-only executive conference for senior technology executives. The recession is driving more IT executives towards Cloud solutions, with 2 out of 3 companies now adopting Cloud strategies. According to IDC, spending on Cloud services will triple in the next three years to $42 billion. Setting IT Priorities
By Sixto Ortiz Jr.
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 Fall means cooler weather, baseball playoffs, and the winding-down process for yet another year. But, autumn also means decision makers must begin thinking about their budgetary and strategic priorities for the coming year. This year has been quite a challenging year, so setting up priorities for 2010 and beyond will prove to be especially challenging. Apple sets sales records 'as if recession never happened'
By Gregg Keizer
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 Apple reported today that it sold more Macs and iPhones last quarter than in any other three-month period in the company's history, with executives using words like "phenomenal" to describe its performance. Cloud reliability, revisited
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 Remember the recent case of how a massive cloud failure reportedly wiped out all customer data on T-Mobile Sidekicks? Detractors of cloud computing are quick to jump at the opportunity to highlight this as a perfect example of how unwise it is to trust someone else to manage your data. Three Reasons You'll Upgrade to Windows 7 - Time, Money, and Hassle
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 A few of you will move toward Macintosh and Linux operating systems for more of your computers, but not enough to hurt Microsoft. Windows 7 will become, for three reasons, the most popular personal computer OS in 2012 (assuming ancient Mayan predictions are wrong and we're still here). Those three reasons? Money, time, and hassle. The Well Equipped Mobile Professional
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 The more you leave the office and still work, the more you must plan ahead to make your work tools mobile. ComputerWorld's Office in a Bag lists many of the items some mobile professionals feel are musts for the modern digital nomad. Is purpose-built hardware the key?
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 If you haven't heard by now, Cisco made a mid-week announcement of its plan to acquire Norwegian company Tandberg, a maker of specialized equipment and software for videoconferencing. To put it succinctly, videoconferencing allows a large company to conduct meetings without having to factor in mundane limitations such as physical distance. Ready to Launch Social Networking into Space?
By Adelaide O'Brien
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 Today's announcement Cureton tabbed as next NASA chief information officer -- Government Computer News signals good news for the agency as Linda Cureton will bring to this position her savvy leadership, sense of humor, participative style, and ability to frame complex issues into everyday analogies that many can identify with. NASA will get a bonus in that Cureton brings another talent to her new position - social networking skills. Cureton is an avid blogger and Facebook user, and as CIO at NASA Goddard she helped create its own version of Facebook: Spacebook. Recognizing that the "rocket scientists" at Goddard possess some of the sharpest intellects, have deep information to share, and are curious learners, Cureton led the development and deployment of social media technology. Waging War With The Web
By Christian Perry
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 Today's World Wide Web bears little resemblance to the Web of 10 years ago. Almost every aspect of modern enterprises touches the Web in one way or another, thanks to communication and productivity innovations that continue to evolve. But evolving alongside those innovations are Web threats, which have reached confounding levels of sophistication and stealth. IT outsourcing in flux
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 IT outsourcing is not going away anytime soon, but the market is in the midst of some big changes as we report this week. New analysis by Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company, says we are at the start of a dramatic upheaval in the business process outsourcing industry that could lead to the demise of one of every four firms during the next three years. Windows 7, Not Ready for Business
By Robert McMillen
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 In late October, Microsoft will officially release the long anticipated new version of Windows. The marketing fever, as are market expectations. Businesses can no longer run XP and feel reasonably secure that its users won't be at risk. XP is long in the tooth, and although service pack 3 did improve the firewall and Windows Defender improved XP's vulnerability, the world of malicious software has made it impossible to fix the unfixable. Network neutrality: Doing the right things
By Mark Gibbs
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 Once again, the topic of network neutrality is back in the news and, as before, the argument is getting quite heated.
Supporting President Obama's campaign promise, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has weighed in big time for neutrality by proposing two new principles to be added to the four adopted by the commission in 2005, and also by announcing that they would be turning the principles into regulations. Budget conscious or not - watch procurement plans
By Stallard Technologies
Posted on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 Technology managers today are managing to multiple priorities - staffing, 100% uptime, new applications development, system migrations, and tracking and managing system upgrades and system management. Where you turn for new and used equipment can be the difference between a solid hardware procurement plan or a disastrous one. If email is dead, why is there so much of it?
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 It's common to hear these days--in the age of social computing--that email is dead, but if that's the case why are enterprises reportedly drowning in high volumes of it? The fact is that when people say email is dead, what they usually mean is that it's become such a clogged communication channel that it's hardly worth using if you really want to get in touch with somebody quickly. They also mean that as a result of uncontrolled (or at least under-controlled) Spam, the problem is even worse. Windows 7 Upgrade Mess Is Depressing
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 For an information company, Microsoft seems clueless on providing clear directions and upgrade paths. What upgrade option do you choose? How much does a Windows 7 upgrade cost? Anywhere from $60 to $300, depending on which of the many conflicting stories you believe. And if you want to upgrade from an XP system, your options range somewhere between "no way" and "plan to spend 20+ hours on the project." Why can we not get a straight answer? What's with the dumb Windows 7 upgrade chart? Cloud computing: Boon or bane?
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 Last week, I wrote about why your cloud service will eventually fail, referring specifically to Gmail's widely publicized downtime of some 100 minutes. It generated a fair amount of debate on the cloud computing front, with a number of responses from readers who added their views via the comments section, or who wrote directly to me via email. LIVE reports on ITEC-TV this week from San Diego and Savannah
By ITEC TV
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 Catch ITEC-TV this week with live reports from two key conferences - co-host Tom Henderson reports in from San Diego and the DEMO Conference, including an interview with DEMO's Chris Shipley about the future of the conference, what's hot this week and her new direction. Then ITEC-TV host Bill Sell reports in from Savannah, Georgia and the HealthIT Insight Summit, an executive conference for healthcare payers (insurance companies) and providers (hospitals and medical centers). Bill's report looks at some of the topics on the agenda and the results of the "Best of Show" participants-voted awards - quick hint, VMware wins Best Vendor at the conference. How To Negotiate Reduced Prices
By Kurt Marko
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 Budget cuts are common for most IT departments during this "Great Recession," with more possible in the coming year. Already overworked and understaffed and facing usage demands that don't seem to reflect business conditions, some IT managers are looking for ways to make suppliers and service providers share in the pain. The COMPUTER FORENSICS SHOW, Santa Clara, CA Santa Clara Convention Center October 5-6
By The Computer Forensics Show
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 Discussing Cyber Threats, Software Security, Ethical Hacking, Data Warehousing , and other security topics. To Register: Please enter Discount Code VIP50 for a 50% discount for a conference pass. Attendance to the exhibit hall is free. Contact us at (203)661-4312 or info@computerforensicshow.com. Or visit our website at www.computerforensicshow.com
Don't miss: "Key Steps to Securing Your Organization Using the OSI Layers" with Michael G. Spohn, Senior Consultant, Foundstone Professional Services (a division of McAfee). A security breach can be a daunting event, and often results in a chaotic frenzy. What should you do first? This session shares valuable information about the measures you should take in order to better secure your organization from a security breach, and the key steps to get you back on track after a hack. Wi-Fi eyes global domination
By Craig Mathias
Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 If your reaction to last week's ratification of the 802.11n standard for Wi-Fi at 100Mbps and beyond was a loud yawn or a "what took them so long," you'd certainly have some justification. Why your cloud service will eventually fail
By Paul Mah
Posted on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 I'm sure you've heard about it by now--considering the indignation and anger that rippled through the Internet--Google's Gmail went down again earlier this week, this time for a total of 100 minutes. The official Gmail blog has the technical details of what exactly happened, though I thought fellow editor of FierceCIO Judi Hasson wrote a succinct report pertaining to the important facts of this outage. Keep your thoughts off Facebook
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 Social media has become a great new way to communicate at work or from home, but it also can be dangerous.
Facebook, for example, is an uncensored forum for you to say whatever is on your mind, post personal pictures or the videos you want your friends to see. Neither Netbooks Nor Desktops Are 'The Answer'
By James Gaskin
Posted on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 Why do some IT people get so upset about netbooks? Story after story from "real IT" people accuse netbooks of trying to take over the world by fraud or trickery or magic. What IT pundits, like the writer of Forget Netbooks, Desktops Rule, forget is that "normal" people don't care about ideology when they buy a netbook, they care about price, portability, and getting their work done. If a netbook does that for them, why does that upset the IT people? Tips For Protecting The Roomless Data Center
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 Although only IT shops with sufficient budget and maturity can justify or afford the raised-floor, controlled-access, environmentally controlled facility most associated with the term "data center," those companies stashing their servers and switches in broom closets and under the receptionist's desk may want to think twice. Data centers take on many forms, and ignoring the need to secure your equipment in some way can eventually become a costly mistake. How to get fired
By Denise Dubie
Posted on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 IT professionals can do a lot to avoid layoffs, but they may be unwittingly doing even more to make themselves a target for downsizing. Is The Turnaround On Its Way?
By John Brandon
Posted on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 Clouds have darkened over the U.S. economy of late, and they are not the clouds we normally discuss (those related to cloud computing). Instead, employment rates continue to drop, the housing market is troubled in many areas, and companies are struggling to find new ways to increase revenues. And yet, not every economic indicator predicts doom and gloom. Since late June, the Dow Jones has actually made a rebound, and tech companies such as Google are doing just fine. Windows 7: It's All About The Features
By Chris A. MacKinnon
Posted on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 It's almost time for enterprises to open their doors to the newest addition to the Windows family-or is it? When Windows Vista came on the scene, many enterprises were so entrenched with Windows XP, they hesitated, and Vista was not widely deployed. So what new features has Microsoft developed that speak directly to enterprise users? What is so appealing about the latest offering from the king of OSes? Here is a look at Microsoft's newest operating system. U.S. Cell Phone Carriers Screwing Us Five Times Over
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 Tired of feeling second rate because Europe and Asia has faster Internet service for less money? Then don't look at your cell phone, because DSL Reports' story, Consumers in U.S., Canada Pay More for Wireless, describes how US cell phone carriers charge us five times more than they charge Europeans. Except the Spanish, the unlucky European country that gets charged American rates for some reason. 5 Tips For Implementing Unified Communications
By Drew Robb
Posted on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 Unified communications provides numerous ways to improve how people interact. But as it encompasses IP PBX, VoIP, email, audio/video/Web conferencing, voicemail, unified messaging, and instant messaging, most organizations don't know where to begin. SLAs and QoS guarantees spell money for operators, but can they deliver?
By Lynette Luna
Posted on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 When are we going to see high-level service level agreements (SLAs) and Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees as they relate to mobile broadband and business applications?
To date, there are few, if any, commitments that go beyond dropped data sessions and network availability, such as guaranteed speed and quality. But attitudes could be changing as operators find more difficulty in monetizing their mobile data networks. Flat-rate pricing plans are driving up traffic but the corresponding revenues aren't matching up to the cost. Offering premium services with varying levels of QoS attached is appealing to make up for that cost. At least that is what a host of experts in the industry say. We just haven't heard that mantra publicly from the operators themselves yet. AP needs to understand how the web works
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 Hey, folks. It's good to be back after a three-week hiatus. While I was gone, AP continued its quixotic attack on linking. To be honest, I find this debate tiresome, but AP insists on bringing it up every few months and somebody needs to set them straight. I find it hard to believe that in 2009, there are still those in the news business who insist that links are evil, sucking the profits from the steely fingers of dying newspapers, but this attitude, this insistence of maintaining total control of content shows a complete lack of understanding about how the web works. The Big Push
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 This will probably be the most self-promoting post I've ever written. Skip it, if you want. I'd understand.
The time has come. I have a favor to ask. If you're interested in our book, if you support all that I've given you over the past several years, if you want to buy a friend (or an entire small village) a gift, I'd like to request that you buy Trust Agents from your favorite online source. This request itself is a social media experiment in trust (or I'm just asking you to buy books) Everyone will be charging for content - really?
By Stephen Saber
Posted on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 I have to admit to it - I am obsessed with this topic. I was watching this morning on MSNBC when they mentioned that USA Today is coming up with a for fee version of their online product. They followed it up with the "brilliant" comment - "Everyone should charge" and that "if everyone charged, people would pay". Sure - if everyone charged there would be no choice, but that sounds like the death statement of every industry right before the final nail was struck - "I do not understand, what we offer is great, what that guy offers for free is a sub-standard product in my opinion, why won't people pay for what I offer???????" Going Green: A Primer
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 It's easy to say you want to go green and a lot tougher to figure out where to get started. Even worse, there's little consensus in the IT community on what Green IT is in the first place. Rumor Mill: Is Dell set to announce a phone for China?
By Phil Goldstein
Posted on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 Dell will announce the launch of a mobile phone for the Chinese market within the next few days, according to the blog TechCrunch. The report said the phone was "iPhone-like," has a touchscreen and does not have a physical keyboard. Hitachi announces first 2TB hard drive; OCZ to release 1TB SSD
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced the world's first 2TB desktop hard disk drive yesterday. Spinning at 7,200 RPM, the 3.5-inch Deskstar 7K2000 comes with 32MB cache and a SATA 2 interface. According to Computerworld, the 2TB drive is intended for gamers, workstations and desktop RAID arrays. No price was mentioned in the press release. Netbook Dead? Another IT Mag Insults Netbooks
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 Once again, IT execs want to kill the People's Choice of Computing, the netbook. Over and over we hear from IT people that netbooks are terrible and we should buy a "real" computer. Now Datamation asks Is the Netbook Dead? Ha! It Never Existed! and tries to throw more cold water on the hottest and brightest hardware sector. Welcome to the Reset Economy
By Robert Parker
Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 A term has emerged in the business press to describe our current economic situation - the Reset Economy. The term, with attribution for origination typically given to Jeff Immelt of General Electric, refers to the sense that this economic recession is more than a simple business cycle correction, but is a permanent, fundamental change to how markets will operate and be influenced moving forward. Twitter ripe for attack
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 We report this week on the growing popularity of Twitter and the inevitable fallout from it's growth. As Twitter gets more popular, it is more prone to hack attacks and phishing. Where does RFID belong at a tradeshow??
By Rick Quinn
Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 I was recently at a client's office and was asked, in my professional opinion, what the future held for RFID in the trade show environment. We all know that in today's economy that businesses need to be budget-friendly. Yes, RFID pricing has come down dramatically in the past 3-4 years (remember the days of the $5.00 tag??), but like all technology, as it becomes more mainstream, the cost will decrease more, and the technology will increase. Study: Users ignoring security warnings
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 A new study by Carnegie Mellon University has shown that users have developed an immunity of sorts to the warnings generated by invalid security certificates. What they found is that users are increasingly clicking past security errors or exceptions without a second thought. What Makes A Strong Password?
By Kurt Marko
Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 Passwords: They're the bane of online existence; the unintended consequence of our virtual, networked world. Users accessing their typical plethora of Web-based enterprise applications, not to mention an equally abundant portfolio of external, third-party sites, must recall many random bits of information. The mental stress of trying to remember so many account credentials has even entered the netizen lexicon as "password fatigue." It's no surprise that a recent survey found most people avoid the problem entirely by using the same password wherever they can. Initial Thoughts on PayPal's New Developer Platform
By Aaron McPherson
Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 I just finished watching the PayPal Platform Preview, which was PayPal's official announcement of their new open development platform (it was previously leaked on TechCrunch). Officially called "PayPal X," the platform was presented by Osama Bedier (VP of platform and emerging technology) in broad, almost utopian terms, as something that would unleash waves of innovation transforming the way goods and services are delivered. Maybe. The free content conundrum
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 With the release of Chris Anderson's new book this week on the free content model called "Free," experts have weighed in on the subject. Everyone from Seth Godin, to Malcolm Gladwell, to Chris Brogan and even Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has an opinion, so I decided to dedicate this week's Editor's Corner to the subject of free content. Researchers: Social Security numbering system is crackable
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 Researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University have warned that there is a "surprisingly easy" method of computing the nine digits of Americans' Social Security numbers. Of course, the popularity of social networking sites where users freely divulge information such as birthdays and hometowns does not help either--as with instant credit approval websites which can test for valid numbers. You didn't get that promotion, so now what?
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 Times may be tough, but you've been holding up the IT shop and you expected to get a promotion. Suddenly, the bombshell hits: "We've decided to go in a different direction," your boss tells you. Impact of the Dramatic Increase in Devices on the Cost to Support
By Dell White Paper For Download
Posted on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 IDC predicts that the total number of devices that CIOs will be responsible for managing and supporting will grow from 1.3 billion in 2007 to 2.2 billion in 2012, representing a 66% growth in the total number of devices under management. This rapid growth will cause the total cost of supporting these devices to grow from $531 billion in 2007 to $728 billion in 2012, representing a 37% growth in the cost of managing and supporting these devices. This IDC White Paper, sponsored by Dell, describes the challenges that CIOs will face in coming years due to a dramatic increase in the number of devices that need to be maintained and managed. Report: Apple 'netbook' coming in October
By Gregg Keizer
Posted on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 Apple Inc. this October will release a netbook that will sell for about $800 and sport a 9.7-in. screen, a Taiwanese news site has reported. Casino Giant Doubles Down on Data Center Automation
By Robert Lemos
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 Editor's Note: The Las Vegas Sands company is getting aggressive in a down economy, and it's using data center automation software to underwrite the effort. As the company expands into Pennsylvania and Singapore, it's deploying software BMC's BladeLogic software to efficiently manage a farm of more than 200 servers. Automation tools are helping to reduce the grueling time demands on IT staff and also to meet rigorous regulatory requirements. Developer of popular BlackBerry app shares his experience
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 Marcus Watkins, who wrote the PodTrapper software for the BlackBerry, has chronicled the journey that led him to develop for the RIM smartphone. PodTrapper is a BlackBerry podcast manager and, apparently, the only one around. Smaller, Smarter, Synced
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 I'm on several media lists as an expert source for technology quotes, especially for small business technology. One came through today that caught my eye as an interesting topic, but one that small and medium businesses should ignore. The question was about great new innovations in the pipeline. I suggest small businesses not look over the horizon but focus on what they're trying to accomplish this month. But when you do buy new software and hardware tools, focus one these innovations: Smaller, Smarter, and Synced. Social Networking: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...
By David Potterton
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 Increasingly, Financial Insights is having conversations with banks and other financial institutions around social networking; the good, the bad, and the ugly. The "good" is focused on the engagement and collaboration which financial institutions can achieve with social networking - both internally with their workers and externally with their clients. The "bad" is the potential for risk, specifically reputation risk, which can occur in the blogosphere. The "ugly" focuses on the fraudsters and the potential harm they might cause to institutions and their customers. While we continually write about the "good" and future research in our Security Practice will focus on the "ugly" issues of malware, trojans, etc., for this blog, I wanted to focus on the "bad". That is the reputation risk which is often top of mind for senior financial executives and what they can do about it. Intel and Nokia join forces on mobile front
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 Intel and Nokia announced on Tuesday a wide-ranging partnership spanning several fronts: From chips to mobile hardware and software for mobile devices. Intel and Nokia will collaborate on several open-source mobile Linux software projects. Netbooks Are Not Notebooks
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 ComputerWorld just ran a story about how "netbooks disappoint consumers" according to a recent survey. You know why, don't you? People bought netbooks when they really wanted notebooks, and were disappointed when they didn't get the power and performance of a real notebook while spending hundreds of dollars less. Guess what, folks, a chopped steak is not the same as a t-bone steak, and a used Mazda is not the same as a new Mercedes. Next-Generation Data Protection
By NetMass
Posted on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 ServerSafe Uses Advanced Backup Technologies to Protect Critical Data
NO MATTER WHAT business you are in, your company and your customers are going to be greatly impacted by tectonic shifts in data protection.
Consider a few key trends: the quantity of data businesses are generating is growing exponentially; the importance of that continuously generated data is also growing exponentially; and the near-constant threat to that data from multiple areas. Have Something to Say, and Say it Well
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 Use the principles of Persuasive Communication to enhance your selling and marketing communications, online content and blog posts.
Persuasive Communication is a powerful approach. The method helps you deliver a key argument or message and deliver it in a logical way. You can capture the essence of the situation or problem, ask the key question your audience has on their mind, and deliver the single-minded message and evidence that you want to deliver. Too much risk in Indian Outsourcing?
By Dana Wiklund
Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 A number of companies are closing software development and customer call centers in India by selling the local resources - systems and human infrastructure to offshore consulting companies and then signing multi year contracts for services. Is this the end of an era in off-shoring of programming and customer service work to India as we have known it? Dan Woods discusses social media for grownups
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 Dan Woods, CTO and editor of Evolved Media, gave a presentation on Friday at the ECM Writer's Summit called "Social Media for Grownups." His idea is that the open web is different than inside the firewall and companies have to learn to treat it differently or face unreasonable expectations about results. Use of private IPs could leave enterprises vulnerable
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 Network administrators are using "private" nonroutable IP addresses as specified in the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) RFC 1918 standard, with the mistaken belief that these IP addresses afford them with an additional layer of security. Micropayments and Microcredits - Start of a new era?
By Trevor LaFleche
Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 Alternative payment mechanisms and credit systems might finally be coming of age as a way of monitizing software and services value on the internet. In the era of Internet 1.0 there was significant hype surrounding micropayments and the ability to charge users a small fee for accessing content. This subsided as it was much easier and cheaper for purveyors of content to secure ad revenues. With the recent economic shift there are new business and technical capabilities that mean the era of micropayments and microcredit systems will find favour with internet users. Security Will Always Be a Headache
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 I wrote last month about Security Risks on Your Macintosh. I'm going to reference another report that explains how Apple's approach to security leaves quite a bit to be desired. Before that, however, I want to say this isn't potshots at Apple or Microsoft or anyone. Well, maybe we should take shots at the criminals creating malware and stealing information. But until computers and their users are 100 percent secure, there will be ways for criminals to make money. That's why security will always be a headache.
Finding New Efficiencies In Today's Data Center - Technologies To Watch
By Paul Gillin
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 With budgets squeezed in the current economic climate, data center investments are being scrutinized more closely than ever. The cost of adding capacity precludes new capital investments for many companies. Instead, they are looking to do more with what they have.
New technologies can help wring unprecedented efficiencies out of existing assets. Consolidation, virtualization and intelligent management can more than double data center efficiency, optimize floor space, reduce environmental costs and enable companies to defer new investments for years. To Inform, Perchance to Act
By Janice Young
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 Historical efforts focused on just releasing available information locked in legacy environments. As information is released, particularly to external environments and stakeholders, new hurdles emerge which will be focus of future innovation and investment: data quality standards and tools, new delivery technologies (cell phone, texting, iPhone applications, etc.) and "actionable analytics." Among these, the most interesting emerging business intelligence and transparency trend is the long awaited arrival of "actionable analytics." Changing the Education and Information Delivery Paradigm
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 Use new technologies to enhance your education and information delivery strategy!
I think we all agree that education and learning is critical - for students, educational institutions, corporations, and governments. An educated workforce delivers competitive advantage of nations, and our educational institutions and information resources must deliver the best possible learning experience. Can't Blame This One On The Small Banks
By Marc DeCastro
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 As I continue to see the big banks and the small banks go after each other about who should pay a larger premium to the FDIC, I thought of a poll question. Feel free to take the LinkedIn poll, and leave your comments here, but so far there are some pretty interesting trends. A major cybersecurity step
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 President Obama declared last week that cybersecurity was a top government priority, calling it "one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation." Beware of Getting Woozy About Wave
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 News sites are all atwitter (sorry) about Google's announced, by not yet available, Wave. What is Wave? Evidently it's hard to describe, as the Google announcement took about 90 minutes and spawned widely varying descriptions. But I know what this product is: another in a long line of "stuck to the screen" apps that try to turn knowledge workers into mouse potatoes. If you can't leave your screen, can you still do your job? Searching for new models to make content pay online
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 Companies that sell content are finding themselves under tremendous pressure. Old revenue models are crumbling before our eyes, their demise seems to be accelerated by the recession and we are grasping for new ways to monetize content. This is especially true for newspapers, which have been failing at an alarming rate this year. Could micro payments save the news business?
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 When you place content on the web, you are doing it for some purpose: * You may want to show your expertise. * You may want to drive traffic to sell ads. * You may want to sell a product or service. Getting to the Definition of "Meaningful Use"
By Judy Hanover
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which provides about $20 billion in funding for healthcare IT, including incentive payments to physicians who implement and use eligible electronic medical records under the conditions laid out in the law. The payments are conditional upon implementing an "eligible" product, and demonstrating "meaningful use" of EMRs. However, the definition of meaningful use provided in the bill is far from specific, and many questions remain to be answered. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it will offer guidelines on meaningful use for hospitals and practices. The Law of Meeting Coordination
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 Working on a project for a collaboration service, I just coined the Law of Meeting Coordination: MV=P2. This formula stands for Mail Volume = Participants Squared. If you have two people involved, you'll generate four emails. 10 participants? Around 100 emails will go flying back and forth. Treasury Services Spending Forecast - A Bright Spot, But Still Trending Negative for 2010
By Jeanne Capachin
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 One benefit of the financial crisis is a renewed interest in corporate treasury - both from banks and their corporate customers. To increase visibility into cash flows, improve efficiency, and increase controls, businesses are investing in financial management tools. Corporate treasurers now have wallets with cash in them, and they are investing in new technologies - but in this case it doesn't mean bank IT spending on treasury services (including cash management) will also rise. Internet Marketing Strategy Checklist
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 When setting out to develop an Internet Marketing strategy, you need to connect the dots between a wide range of business, marketing, technology and project elements. Business intelligence on a budget
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 Business intelligence tools are an essential part of any enterprise. But with the economy still in a downturn, IT organizations aren't rushing to buy newly created BI software. Smart Move for The Small Business Web
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 I may be a big fan of Software as a Service offerings for small businesses, but that doesn't mean some of you resist jumping into the world of SaaS. Customer Profile: Time Warner Cable at ITEC Dallas
By Pam Wong
Posted on Tue, 19 May 2009 A snapshot of one of our many sponsors taking part at an ITEC Conference this year - ITEC Dallas takes place next Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at the Dallas Convention Center.
Customers across Texas are singing the praises of Time Warner Cable Business Class.
In Texas, you don't have to look far to find positive feedback on Time Warner Cable Business Class. Whether it involves their reputation for providing reliable and personal customer service, their commitment to always be at the forefront of cutting edge technology or their determination to give you the best value for your dollar, people just like you appreciate the difference we can make in their lives. New surveys on small business security and success
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 Symantec and Network Solutions get some odd answers.
Understanding small business is tough because there are so many of them and they vary so widely. But all small businesses share certain problems, attitudes, and approaches to those problems. Let's give a hand to Symantec and Network Solutions for doing their part to discover the state of security and creating (and studying) the Small Business Success Index. Life Science Supply Chain Priorities for 2009
By Eric Newmark
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 Health Industry Insights recently completed its annual survey of supply chain technology priorities in the life sciences. One hundred twenty-one industry leaders were asked to identify what their most important IT-related supply chain investments will be in 2009. Results suggest that investments in analytics and business intelligence solutions will be front and center this year, as companies seek more intelligent, actionable information from their supply chain data. One on One with Ric Shreves of Water and Stone
By Ron Miller
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 Ric Shreves is an author and one of the founding partners of Water & Stone, a web development company that specializes in open source content management systems. Shreves has been building CMS websites for over 10 years for global brands such as BASF, Colgate-Palmolive, Tesco Lotus, FPDSavills and many others. He has also published several books on open source and open source content management systems. He is presently working on two titles for Wiley & Co., the Joomla! Bible and the Drupal Bible, which are scheduled for publication later this year. We asked him about using open source content management tools. Solving problems graphically
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 A new look at old problems will generate solutions.
Businesses, especially white collar businesses, are all about "processes and information" (thank you Michael Dortch). But what do you do when you find yourself looking at the same processes and the same information and can't improve your results? Try looking at things in a new way, graphically, using tools such as MindManager or TheBrain. Left to Their Own Devices: Moving Beyond the Healthcare Portal
By Janice Young
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 The April 16th edition of The Economist notes the growing use of "smart phones" and personal digital assistants (PDAs) among physicians and consumer for healthcare diagnostic, communication and administrative purposes. Despite the economic downturn, IDC projects continued (but moderated) growth in sales and delivery of new mobile phone units. Some healthcare payer technology vendors are now reporting considerable strategic investments in PDA and smart phone technologies as the next generation information and transaction delivery platform. Symbian looks beyond Smartphones
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 The recently re-branded Symbian Foundation is charting a course that the organization hopes will form the genesis of a comeback. Now wholly owned by mobile phone giant Nokia, Symbian commands the largest share of the market. This is despite the fact it lost some 15 percentage points of the market share just last year--not a trivial figure by any standards. Certainly, a drastic change in strategy is called for. Fixing the B2B Revenue Engine
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 With the advent of new media and digital marketing, marketing and sales processes need to be joined at the hip.
There is a lot of focus now - even more than usual - on sales and the revenue model and how to make it work. With tougher economic times, business leaders are looking with even greater scrutiny at how the revenue model is working and what levers to pull to make it work better.
What's new at MIT?
By Susan McKittrick, Co-Chair, Marketing at 2009 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 On May 20th at MIT's Kresge Auditorium, more than 500 IT leaders will gather for the 6th annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, recognized as the premier international event for CIOs and senior IT executives to become better business leaders. In today's economy, this conference is more important than ever, as reflected in the strong response organizers have received. "No Comment" is Another Way to Say "We are hiding something."
By Robert Minicucci, Account Manager, Warner Communications
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 In today's global universe, not having the right message at the right time can be disastrous to your company's image. Moreover, not having a crisis communications plan can leave your organization at the mercy of its competitors. Today, more than ever, people want news -- good and bad. When you say nothing, people fill the vacuum with the worst ideas their minds can create - and the human mind can be quite creative. A Guide to Survive Software-as-a-Service Applications
By Peter A. Cohen, Managing Partner, SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 Whether you've approved them or not, software-as-a-service applications and cloud computing have probably already infiltrated your organization. Somewhere, someone is tracking their sales pipeline with an on-demand sales force automation solution, they're handling recruiting with a SaaS application, or they're doing email with gmail. Technologies for Virtual Organizations
By John Stone, President, CrossTech Partners
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 The issues confronting the adoption of a virtual organization are many, but with the right culture, business systems, and technologies companies can really benefit from becoming more virtual. Cloud Computing: Both Sides Now
By Annie Shum, Ph.D.
Posted on Tue, 05 May 2009 Over the last 50 years, IT has been invaluable as a tool for improving enterprise efficiency. Even today, this continues to be an essential role. But as IT evolves to meet future needs, the industry's focus must be to enable business and organizational transformation by offering sustainable innovation within and across the enterprise. As market pace quickens, companies must become more nimble; it is imperative for IT to change from its traditional perception of bottom-line cost management to a new role in top-line value creation. Instead of focusing exclusively on optimizing internal efficiencies, forward-looking information and communication technologies must support the business goal of achieving a competitive edge and long-term profitability. Effective Practices in Technology Project Delivery
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 By focusing on five things, you will begin delivering projects more effectively and build a better "project culture".
We all understand that effective project and program delivery is vital to support the agenda of and organization and that good project management is a critical business skill. Even in the challenging climate, typically the demand for projects exceeds the capacity to deliver. In addition to good project management, organizations need to effectively manage a portfolio of projects. Different groups within the organization compete for scarce resources and priorities and needs change over time. Netbook and Mobile Handset='Phlaptop'
By John Dodge
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 Where are netbooks taking us? Where are mobile handsets taking us? Smash! As they race toward each other for an eventual love embrace, the mating of these two devices will result in the perfect marriage of full browsing and VoIP telephony. Performing the ceremony will be Father Wireless F. Broadband (f as in free). Saving Money with Free Open Source Software
By Alan Runyan
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 There is no doubt that Open Source software can save organizations significant amounts of money. If Google, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube were running on Windows, the licensing fees would be in the tens of millions of dollars. These are enormous systems that are written by really smart engineers. What about the small and medium business? Money can be saved but some of the obstacles that prevent adoption of FOSS in the SMB market include: From the Leapfrog Group to ARRA - Looking Back...
By Judy Hanover
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 The Leapfrog Group promised to change hospitals' relationships with employers when it was founded in 2000. The Group's mission was to leverage the buying power of employers to drive hospitals to install computerized physician order entry systems (CPOE) that attempt to reduce the incidence of and cost attributed to medical errors. The landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine report titled To Err is Human report placed the price tag on these errors in the U.S. at $20B per year. Ten years later, with medical errors still rampant, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) attempts once again to address the problem by offering incentives to hospitals to adopt EMRs, which have CPOE as a critical component and also promise reductions in medical errors as well as gains in efficiency. One foot on the ground and one in the clouds
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 The days of all local or all cloud data storage are numbered.
The early adopter "cloud crowd" makes the most headlines, but they're only the tip of the small business iceberg. Looking at various data storage vendor customer numbers has convinced me 90% of small businesses are still mostly land (or LAN) based. Some people don't yet trust Internet data storage, and some like to wear data storage suspenders with their data storage belts. The good news for both? Options for combo cloud and local storage hybrids continue to grow. The Age of The Stimulus: Which Asian Banks Will...
By Michael Araneta
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 The total price tag for government-led stimulus programs in the Asia/Pacific region will easily tip over US$1.5 trillion by mid-2009. This massive injections of liquidity will up the ante in the already fierce competition of banks. Which banks will win? Bloggers Square off on Windows 7 Starter for Netbooks
By John Dodge
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 PCmag.com editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff takes issue with a post by Computerworld blogger Seth Weintraub and anyone else who are arguing Window 7 Starter could be a netbook non-starter for Microsoft. A Wall Street Journal story last night about Windows 7 Starter prompted several posts concluding Microsoft may have opened the door to a Linux client on netbooks. Starter promises to be a smaller and more limited version of full Windows 7. Improving local storage capacity and flexibility
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 New storage options for those with no servers or many.
I said it years ago, but it's even more true today: you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much data storage. Now that you can buy hard drives holding a terabyte of data (1,000 gigabytes) for a little over $100, you might think storage isn't a problem anymore. But upgrading storage across various desktops and laptops isn't really data storage, it's just data scattered. Organized storage takes some planning, so let's talk about three new products that will help you intelligently increase local storage capacity. A Top-Ten List for Digital Communications
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 To succeed in marketing and communications, you need to tie digital communications channels together and understand your audience.
There is a lot of discussion about social media today and my colleagues, Chris Brogan, and his team of pirates in the New Marketing Labs are paving the way with their leading work in this area. We are often asked how social media marketing fits into a broader strategy of digital marketing and communications. What is the new role of the corporate web site, newsletters and eMail? How do we tie in our event marketing and focus our strategic sales teams? How do we focus limited marketing resources and messages on the right targets? Bankruptcy is a Venue Not a Destination
By Dana Wiklund
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Well that is what they say, but the truth is somewhere in between. As we find ourselves in new, strange financial waters with the executive branch of the U.S. government effectively firing the CEO of General Motors and pressuring board replacements one has to consider what is bankruptcy? Web 2.0 works to solve problems
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Surprise! Web 2.0 does more than social networking.
Every marketing firm must have the same set of buzzword stamps they use, inking every product with Green and Collaboration and Easy to Use and Do More With Less, often tagged additionally with the ever popular Web 2.0. Since the Web 2.0 buzzword long ago became so vague as to be useless, let me introduce you to three companies that solve Real World 1.0 problems with the help of Web 2.0 technology: YouSendIt, EchoSign, and Casdex.
Let's start with YouSendIt, in Campbell Calif., although being Web 2.0, "where" doesn't really matter. YouSendIt focuses on one function: sending large files you can't send via e-mail. Just about everyone has tried to send some file, maybe a bloated PowerPoint file with too many transitions and added sounds like a cash register ca-ching, and had it bounced back by an e-mail server. Cut HVAC Power Usage
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Streamline Your Cooling & Airflow Setups & Save Money At The Same Time
As belts tighten and budgets shrink, CIOs and IT directors are scouring every last line item for inexpensive fixes and major savings. The data center's electricity bill has emerged as a major target of opportunity. You don't need to rip out and replace your equipment to drive efficiencies in power and cooling. Often, the savings are right under your nose.
"The impact of the economic downturn is really twofold," says Tim Hirschenhofer, director of sales for Degree Controls' AdaptivCool division (www.adaptivcool.com). "Customers want to save money, and certainly controlling airflow and HVAC costs are the easiest ways to gain efficiencies in the data center. This approach also extends the life of existing data centers by allowing more equipment to be put into the same size facility." Tunnel borer mishap results in outage affecting 70,000 customers
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 In yet another data cable severing mishap, contractors working on an Olympic site in Stratford, United Kingdom, sent a large tunnel borer into a deep level British Telecom (BT) tunnel. The resulting carnage cut through fiber optics and copper wire, disrupting service to some 70,000 customers. Internet access, phone lines, private digital circuits and mobile cell sites were affected, though BT says service has been restored to 50,000 homes and businesses so far. Physician Rating Sites: Good Idea? Bad Idea?
By Lynne Dunbrack
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Provider ranking sites are in the news again with the usual debate about whether physicians can be rated like restaurants by Zagat or handymen on Angie's List. Both sites now rate health professionals. On the pro side of the debate is that the ranking of products and services is a fundamental concept of consumerism. Consumers are being asked to be more financially accountable in their healthcare decision making and are thus seeking more online decision support tools to make more informed decisions, such as physician rankings. The discerning consumer will be able to distinguish between crackpot and legitimate reviews. On the con side of the debate is that one such crackpot review can irreparably damage a physician's reputation. Medical services are not like restaurants or books and lay consumers are not equipped to evaluate physicians medical expertise. Are Flywheels For You?
By William Van Winkle
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Data Centers Could Benefit From Kinetic Energy Devices
Inertia is the central principle behind flywheel technology. It may also be the central reason why chemical battery-based UPSes have been the predominant backup approach for SME data centers over the last three decades. But market inertia and convention are no reason to overlook the potential benefits that flywheel UPS systems could offer your organization now. Skype comes to BlackBerry and iPhone
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Skype has unveiled native BlackBerry and iPhone clients of its popular Skype VoIP application at the CTIA Wireless trade show this week. According to Skype COO Scott Durschlag, this move to offer clients additional platforms represents the first stage of Skype's strategy. The idea is that Skype will progress on to preloading by handset makers, and then to carriers themselves offering Skype. With the recent furor resulting from Nokia preloading Skype on its N97 smartphone though, it is not clear how Durschlag intends to achieve his final point. Project Spring Cleaning 2009
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 Get the broom and clean out some technology corners.
Technology needs spring cleaning just like rugs and garages. The trick today is to focus on security and maintenance issues that get ignored during normal work days. Set aside some time now to clean up and your technology will support you much more smoothly through the summer.
First, rather than last where we usually think of it, let's talk security. A huge number of security issues would be history if only vendors considered security at the beginning of product or service development rather than tacking on a sloppy coat of security paint at the end. Don't take the same attitude with your technology. New botnet targets home routers and modems
By Paul Mah
Posted on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 A new piece of malware is making its rounds, this time targeting consumer routers and DSL modems. First discovered by the folks behind the DroneBL DNS Blacklist services, Psybot ignores PCs and services, and attempts to exploit linux mipsel routing devices with a router administration interface or outward-facing SSH or telnet daemon. Such devices with weak usernames and passwords are likely to fall prey. Up to 100,000 hosts are believed to be infected as part of a botnet at the moment. Too Many Data Centers?
By William Van Winkle
Posted on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 Decide Whether You Need To Consolidate
Companies grow, mergers happen, times change. Whatever the cause, many enterprises eventually find themselves poring over a roster of data center locations and wonder just how many are actually needed-especially when the economy turns south. But deciding on whether and how to pare down the number of facilities can be a challenging process. Wiki: Silly name, useful technology
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 First appearing in 1995, the "wiki" approach to creating interactive and collaborative Web pages quickly became the star format for social networks, but too often business also-rans. Part of the problem comes from top-down managers uncomfortable with underlings making changes without authorization, and from stories of update wars on the most famous wiki, Wikipedia, the encyclopedia written by users. But successful corporate wikis abound, including SamePage from eTouch Systems.Wiki is the Hawaiian word for fast, and wiki wiki is nonsensical, like saying "fast fast" or "run run." The word sounds cute and friendly, another strike against the technology being accepted in the board room. Companies wary of cloud computing
By Judi Hasson
Posted on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 Many companies are hesitant about embracing cloud computing. While the concept allows companies to store data off site, enabling startups to build their businesses without significant investments in equipment, many companies don't want to give up control of their data. Business Week reports that in many cases, IT companies are introducing a new idea--private or internal clouds that give a company complete control over their information and the security to protect it. Storage At A Premium
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 Boost Performance & Stay On Budget In The Face Of Shrinking Storage Space
Tough economic times are prompting IT shops to scour their infrastructures for the most efficient ways to reduce costs, improve performance, and reduce risk. Because the amount of managed data continues to grow even in a suppressed business environment, storage is rapidly becoming a priority area of focus.
In many cases, relatively small investments in storage can return significant savings. Before diving in, however, it's important to keep some challenges in mind. The three cornered Symantec yellow blanket
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 Altiris is digested and the future CEO defines focus.
For some reason, Symantec's corporate yellow color always reminds me of a blanket. But unlike some companies that seem to plot global domination at every turn, Symantec seems happy with its three cornered blanket. Executives expect to do more in the areas of security, backup, and storage management rather than take on new markets. Growth by improving on its strengths, rather than by chasing new markets.
Symantec bought Altiris, according to executives, because you can't have a secure server or client until you manage it properly, and you can't properly manage a non-secure server or client. It actually makes sense, and the Altiris technologies can help Symantec's reach into their three-pronged market of security, backup, and storage management. Unified Security Monitoring
By Tenable Network Security
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 Today, modern enterprises face a plethora of technical, political, and business hurdles which make accurate security and compliance monitoring difficult and costly. Tenable has pioneered and continues to innovate a unique Unified Security Monitoring approach that is revolutionizing the way enterprises are monitoring (i.e. gathering, evaluating, communicating, and reporting) security and compliance information. Tenable Network Security is the pioneer and leader of Unified Security Monitoring. Keeping Mobile Devices Up-To-Date
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 Careful Management & Diligent Maintenance Are Key
Before the age of wireless, employees worked together in common buildings, their computers connected over wired networks and supported by IT professionals who usually sat down the hall. As mobile technology makes it more cost-effective to work from home-or from anywhere-the very definition of "office" is being rewritten. Semantic Technology is Real
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 Semantic technology addresses the data-explosion problem by providing more intelligent ways to search, sort, and filter data based on business and user relevance.So, what is Semantic Technology? Here is what Tim Berners-Lee stated as a vision back in 1999:"I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web - the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A 'Semantic Web', which should make this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The 'intelligent agents' people have touted for ages will finally materialize." Trends coming together make a plan for small businesses
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 Netbooks, wireless, and SaaS make a great team.
George Peppard said as his character Hannibal Smith on The A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." Several trends, if not a plan, are coming together in interesting ways in technology for small businesses. Mix equal parts of online applications, netbooks, and constant wireless networking together, and you get new ways to do more work in more places for less money. Blade Trends
By William Van Winkle
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 Convergence & Efficiency Increase In A Tight Economy
According to the Blade.org consortium, three "mega-trends" are now reshaping the landscape of enterprise computing. The first of these is network convergence of all storage and data communications onto Ethernet, thereby eliminating today's diversity of connector and switch types. This plays well in a down economy because a unified Ethernet infrastructure bringing technologies such as iSCSI and eventually FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) onto a single fabric will reduce total operating cost. Also consider that many blade chassis need a Fibre switch to fit into an existing Fibre-based SAN environment. If data centers can leverage 10 Gigabit Ethernet in this role, it will reduce overall complexity and lower the barrier costs on blade adoption. Tight Budgets? Tap Into Your Accounting Software To Do More With Less!
By Jason Hull
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 We all know the story and all of our businesses have been impacted to some degree: the economy is in recession and personal and business spending is down. For some businesses that means painful layoffs and cutbacks but for all businesses is means belt-tightening and doing more with less.
When it comes to your accounting system, there's probably untapped capability that you're not taking advantage of, untapped potential waiting to help your business work smarter, save time and money, and do more with less. Sales Compensation Resources and Tools for SMB
By Makana Solutions
Posted on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 At www.makanasolutions.com you'll find free expert resources to help you be more effective with your sales compensation, including sample plans, reports, webinars, white papers, and recent user survey findings. In addition, you can try out our self-service sales compensation planning software for just $19/month. Plus you can upgrade to calculate payments at any time. Learn how customers have increased sales and profits. ITEC-TV Announced: Weekly netcast on the latest issues
By Bill Sell
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 Join tech industry veterans Bill Sell, the general manager of ITEC, and Tom Henderson, principal researcher with ExtremeLabs in Indianapolis as the hosts of the new ITEC-TV. This half-hour weekly program will take a look at the issues facing today's technology and business manager and will include guests from the tech community, market analysts and commentators. ITEC-TV will be cover the issues that make up the ITEC Conference: security, data centers, social media and enterprise apps, cloud computing and unified communications. Upgrade, repair, replace, or limp along?
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 Tight money makes for tough technology decisions.
When money's tight, how do you keep things going and save money at the same time? I think you need a process to decide what to do with equipment that dies. When are you better off repairing/replacing, when to upgrade, and when to just let it die and do without? Rationalize Your Communications Technology: Cut Costs and Improve Impact
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 I am workingwith a global financial services company that needs to overhaul itsportfolio of communications technology. These include theirpublic/customer facing web sites to intranets and broadbandcommunication services serving their internal associates acrossfunctional areas. To add further complexity, this is a globalorganization across time zones embodying different cultural norms andstyles of communication along with different languages. Typical of many organizations, the communications technologyportfolio has grown out of different business organizations that havechanged and been re-aligned over the years. While IT has been workinghard all along to deliver and manage a set of solutions that align withbusiness needs, the changes in business structure and focus hasincreased the "value gap" over time and resulted in a highly disparatesystems portfolio that can no longer support the business. Multipleemail systems, disparate intranet channels and internal web sites,experimental broadband video services, third party communicationplatforms, and multiple public facing or customer-specific web siteshave been deployed across the businesses have created a complexcommunication portfolio making it impossible to deliver a consistentand timely brand message to either the internal and external audiences. What's the solution? They need a rational communications technology portfolio and the governance structures to manage it well over time. In The Spotlight: Integrating Your Member Database Webinar
By TJ O'Connor
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 Part 4 of 4: Integrating Your Member Database Webinar March 4, 2009 2:00 PM EDT Register Now!Are you a membership based organization struggling with managing your member data? - Want an alternative to expensive AMS solutions?
- Would benefit from membership reports, as highly detailed or streamlined as you needed?
- Would like a more effective way of managing your organization?s chapters, officers, and rosters?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, this is a must attend webinar for marketers, business leaders, content editors, and developers. Join TJ O'Connor, Principal Consultant, CrossTech Partners, along with Mark Boisvert Account Executive, CrossTech Partners, in part four of our four part series on Business Strategies for Content Management and learn strategies and technologies for managing your member database and provide a seamless user experience for your members. Bringing Technology To Furniture
By Christian Perry
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 Decades Of Computer Experience Bolster Hergo's Furniture & Enclosure Options
Agility is a valuable trait for any enterprise, but in the IT industry, it's generally required to successfully traverse the constantly changing technology landscape. Companies unable to adjust to this change inevitably fall by the wayside, but Hergo tapped into its roots to build a foundation that helped the company become a premier provider of computer furniture and rackmount enclosures. Trends coming together make a plan for small businesses
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 Netbooks, wireless, and SaaS make a great team.
George Peppard said as his character Hannibal Smith on The A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." Several trends, if not a plan, are coming together in interesting ways in technology for small businesses. Mix equal parts of online applications, netbooks, and constant wireless networking together, and you get new ways to do more work in more places for less money. Data Center Industrialization
By Sixto Ortiz, Jr.
Posted on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 Bring Standardization To The Data Center
The process of designing and building a brand new data center is much like building cathedrals once was during the Middle Ages: Developers, as medieval architects and laborers once did, often start with a "white board" approach and essentially reinvent the wheel each time a new data center development and construction project is undertaken. While it doesn't take decades to get a brand new data center constructed, the fact remains that data center builders often ignore best practices that could make projects more successful, reduce costs, and avoid common pitfalls. Learning from A-Rod: Putting Marketing on Steroids
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 As A-Rod has taught us this last week... steroids obviously DO accelerate performance - MVP seasons!
No matter what your view of A-Rod (I live in Boston, so I don't have to go far to get an opinion), we can see that steroids can drive performance. While we may not want to use that controversial approach, there are some things we can do to drive the performance of our marketing spend by better connecting marketing with sales and embracing a digital strategy.
At a recent event, I was asked by the Boston Business Journal to talk about trends in technology that may impact the Boston metro area in this difficult economic cycle. I outlined both a positive macro trend along with troubling micro-trends. On the one hand, we see a seismic shift in spending from traditional media for brand awareness to digital media strategies to drive 1:1 interactions and relationships. On the other hand, we are all seeing increasing levels of micro day-to-day pressure on spend and current marketing programs.
The good news is that digital media and new marketing strategies help us drive down the cost of marketing, sales and lead generation and helps us nurture relationships through a logical buy-sell cycle. Traditional marketers are brilliant with brand identity and creative ideas, but we need more linkage between marketing and sales and better systems to synchronize to the sales process. We need to embrace the principles of permission marketing and "opt-in" lead management processes that are tightly aligned with the buy-sell process.
So what are the strategies? Here are six steps you can take to build an integrated sales and marketing program "on steroids": The Financial Meltdown Points to a Growing Role for BI, GRC
By Gordon Burnes
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 As the regulatory environment tightens resulting from the current financial crisis, it's no surprise that companies will be looking to do more with less. In the risk management space, companies will begin to leverage their siloed risk and compliance capabilities across functions throughout the enterprise. Resolving Disaster Recovery Problems
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 What To Do When Even The Best-Laid Plans Hit Snag
Although disaster recovery planning is never easy or straightforward, it's especially delicate when data centers are included in the mix. The density of equipment and the mission-critical nature of these facilities make it especially important to get the DRP (disaster recovery plan) right. The approval process goes Web
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 Growing businesses often catch the dreaded "bureaucrat" parasite that suck the fun, energy, and life blood from the company. Decision processes that once snapped and crackled now groan and sigh and stop. The more parasites, er, bureaucrats you have, the harder it is to get work done. Proposals go out, but approvals disappear into an alternative universe like stray socks from the dryer. If you have this problem, instead of an exterminator perhaps you should call Zapproved. Encryption Doesn't Always Mean You're Compliant
By Robert McMillen
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 I had an interesting but tragic customer interaction last year. It was for an accounting firm and their representative was a little more than agitated when he walked into our office. Although his company has their own IT department, they occasionally use our services to audit their external internet security. Considering A Rental?
By Jean Thilmany
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 Weigh Basic Factors When Deciding Whether Colocation Or Managed Hosting Is Right For Your Data Center
For enterprises looking for greater redundancy and cost savings or for those with a limited staff, data center colocation or managed hosting are definite options to consider.
In fact, today's economic realities mean more IT managers are weighing those options. But whether or not one or the other is right for them depends on a number of factors, says John Rath, service center manager for Team Companies (www.team-companies.com), which provides data center colocation. "It's quite a complex decision to make, and it depends on a lot of internal factors about your business," he says. In The Spotlight: Publishing Web content to InDesign and Quark via XML
By TJ O'Connor
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 Part 3 of 4: SPublishing Web content to InDesign & Quark via XML February 18, 2009 2:00 PM EDT Register Now!How do you manage your print content? The latest print publishing tools allow you to quickly and easily populate a print document with database-driven content using XML. - Do you need a centralized, fully managed repository of data; allowing greater control and end to end assignment management?
- Would you like to reduce document production lead times?
- Reduce costs in editing and proofing?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, this is a must attend webinar for marketers, business leaders, content editors, and developers. Join TJ O'Connor, Principal Consultant, CrossTech Partners, along with Mark Boisvert Account Executive, CrossTech Partners, in part three of our four part series on Business Strategies for Content Management and learn strategies and technologies that will help you automate the publishing of content from a digital repository into your print publications. New Year's Resolution 4: Backup, backup, backup
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 The last of our resolution reminders this year is backup, because that's too often when people think of backup: at the end of the planning process. I understand, because thinking about backup makes you realize how fragile and fleeting our data can be, a distressing thought. But every dollar spent on data backup returns tenfold in peace of mind while protecting your business. After all, if you don't have your data, you don't have your business. Application Rationalization: Moving to a Second Circle Portfolio
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 I wrote a few weeks ago about strategic outsourcing and technology rationalization (link).Today, I am sharing some further views on successful technologyportfolio assessment and a transformation strategy to Second CircleTechnology ™. As the economic downturn continues we are seeing and increasingnumber of companies looking at cost reduction through applicationportfolio transformation. Application transformation with Second CircleTechnology drives more flexible and lower cost while legacy systemsconstrain IT's ability to meet business needs. We have seen reductionsin cost that range from 15% to 30% of IT spend. At the same time,legacy application portfolios constrain the ability to meet businessneeds. Some of the typical constraints are: - applying systems and processes consistently throughout the company
- adapting quickly enough to address changing business needs
- ensuring the skills needed to make critical changes to systems
New Year's Resolution 2: Better sales compensation management
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 Figuring a good sales compensation plan is like making oil and water blend smoothly. Sales people always think management is cheating them out of commissions. Management always thinks sales people are stealing them blind. Owners of smaller companies who manage the sales people themselves often focus on the dollar paid in commission rather than thinking of the associated $20 of company revenue. Security Necessities - IT Managers Should Think Holistically To Protect The Company's Nerve Center
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 Your Data Center is the core of your company's IT environment. If it's compromised in any way, the risk to your business could be incalculable. But as companies actively look for any opportunity to save money, they may want to think twice about cutting indiscriminately within the data center. One size definitely doesn't fit all, and that last cut may be fatal. Open Outsourcing
By David Abrahams
Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 Open Outsourcing is a development model that focuses your programmers' proprietary domain expertise on the core concerns of your application, lowers development costs, and increases the sustainability of your codebase. Making Staff Cuts - Have A Selection and Communication Strategy and A Plan For Surviving Staff
By Kurt Marko
Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 The protracted recession and concomitant financial crisis is decimating the bottom line at most businesses and leading them to seek any means to cut expenses. Unfortunately, this often means reducing staff, and IT personnel aren't immune to the sacrifice. Because staffing amounts to about 70% of the typical IT department's budget, according to Jennifer Perrier-Knox, senior research analyst at Info-Tech, significantly reducing IT costs is impossible without some layoffs. In the Spotlight: Upcoming Content Management Webinar
By TJ O'Connor
Posted on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 Business Strategies for Content Management Part 2 of 4: Syndicating and Repurposing content with RSS Feeds February 4, 2009 2:00 PM EDT Register Now! Many users now prefer to subscribe to content via feeds, instead of traditional email newsletters. RSS is a technology that allows organizations to deliver regularly updated content to users. This relevant, personal content is then aggregated into a single, easily accessible location. - Do you want to reduce information overload to your audience by moving information away from the e-mail inbox?
- Do you want to increase portal and intranet usage by incorporating updated, personalized information?
- Would you like to improve employee collaboration and knowledge sharing
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, this is a must attend webinar for marketers, business leaders, content editors, and developers. Join TJ O'Connor, Principal Consultant, CrossTech Partners, along with Mark Boisvert Account Executive, CrossTech Partners, in part two of a four part series on Business Strategies for Content Management, and learn how create syndicated content, allow users to subscribe, and reuse content across multiple areas of your website. New Year's Resolution: Collaborate or else
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 It's a new year, so let's make some resolutions. Sure, you do it every January and little happens, but this year will be different. This year, the tightening economy will force people to pay more attention, watch what their customers and competitors are doing and look for an edge. Collaboration will give you that edge. Surges, outages and blackouts - oh my!
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 Ever been relaxing at home, in front of the television or working on your computer when suddenly the power went out? It's annoying to miss a favorite show or lose a project, but what is merely an annoyance in our personal lives can be costly and even fatal to the livelihood of small and midsize businesses (SMB). Prepare Your Enterprise For Social Engineering Attacks
By David Geer
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 Most SMEs have priceless customer data, intellectual property, or both. In the wrong hands, they are wares for the black market, selling at a premium to the highest bidder. How do information thieves purloin the precious electronic cargo? They use social engineering attacks, manipulating human behavior until company employees unwittingly hand over everything they need. BladeSystems Insight 2009 to Feature "Next Data Center" as Part of April Event in Phoenix
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 IT executives have a challenging mission in 2009 when it comes to the data center. Cut energy and operating costs, go green, make architectures more flexible, evaluate blade and other server platforms, and stay on top of the ever-evolving world of virtualization and cloud computing - just to name a few key concerns. CrossTech Forums can help with two major IT executive summits. BladeSystems Insight, taking place April 19-21, 2009 at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, is focused on blade servers, virtualization, power and cooling and other core data center technologies. It is an annual national event that provides a travel participation package for IT decision-makers. The Next Data Center is a series of regional one-day summits that will host an audience of IT executives starting in June 2009 in Dallas, October 2009 in Chicago, and March 2010 in Atlanta. To launch the "Next Data Center," there will be a special program at BladeSystems Insight in Phoenix this April. It's a great way to kick off a year of data center education, networking and business for IT executives everywhere. Solution providers interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact Paul Samargedlis at 781-821-6740 or psamargedlis@crosstechforums.com. For information on applying for an executive invitation to attend any of the summits, visit http://www.bladesystemsinsight.com/ or http://www.gondc.com/. Information Nirvana or Information Overload? Information and Content Management Revisited
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 I thought about some of the interesting work we are doing with Second Circle innovators and decided to dust off and update this article that I originally wrote in 2003. Not surprisingly, basic opportunities and concepts have not changed too much so I decided to re-publish it with a few updates. What HAS changed? Certainly the jargon has. I am sure you have heard these: "Inboxing" is now when a relationship of Facebook has progressed from the Wall to 1:1 communications to direct "inbox communications"! .... "We're inboxing" - cool.. "Friending" and "Unfriending" even "Facebook Stalking" ouch ... The Year In IT - A Look At The Highs & Lows Of 2008
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 Looking back at the year as it draws to a close isn't just an annual tradition in IT. It's an important part of the planning cycle that prepares the organization for next year's challenges. As worries about the economy deepen, these reflections become even more critical to the organization's future. In that context, 2008 was a monumental year for IT. In the Spotlight: Upcoming Content Managment Webinar
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 Business Strategies for Content Management Part 1 of 4: Evaluating Web Content Management Solutions January 21, 2009 2:00 PM EDT Register Now! Web Content Management (Web CMS) means many things to many people. This begs the question of how/where to maximize efforts when building a content management strategy. • Do you need an easier way to manage your web sites? • Would you like to manage all web content from a single online platform? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, this is a must attend webinar targeted at marketers, business leaders, content editors, and developers. Join TJ O'Connor, Principal Consultant, CrossTech Partners, along with Mark Boisvert Account Executive, CrossTech Partners, in part one of a four part series on Business Strategies for Content Management, and learn how to successfully evaluate and deploy a Web CMS platform. Driving Down Costs with Strategic Outsourcing and Technology Rationalization
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 With this economic turmoil in the last month, I am seeing a dramitic shift in focus from building and growth to efficiency and cost reduction. These times are similar to periods in each of the last three decades when we faced similar challenges. I thought about which strategies to dust off and use now to help deal with these economic realities. Two winning strategies are outsourcing and technology rationalization. When approached the right way, these strategies rapidly deliver cost reduction, but also improve service delivery and differentiation. Me4Sure, Inc. Introduces 2 Portable Biometric Security Solutions
By Jim D'Espinosa
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 Me4Sure, Inc. Introduces 2 Portable Biometric Security Solutions that Protect, Store & Encrypt Critical Data for Individuals & CorporationsIdentity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the United States, affecting 10+ million Americans and costing over $55 billion last year. Me4Sure, Inc (www.me4sure.com) introduces 2 biometric security solutions that provide absolute protection for identity & data at a price everyone can afford. Increased Storage Demands - A Multistep Approach Can Help Enterprises Meet Needs
By George Crump
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 The demand for storage in today's data center continues to grow at a rapid pace, and IT professionals are expected to deliver the storage their users need even as budgets are tightening. Taking a multistep approach can help IT departments meet storage demands without breaking the bank. Tighten up your customer focus - when times get tough, smart technologists tune in to their customers.
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 In sports, successful athletes narrow their focus during crunch time. They may concentrate on footwork, technique or increase their margin for error. Technology providers must do the same thing during tough economic times. You must focus on your customer and nothing but your customer, whether the customer is a consumer, another business, or internal departments needing technology and support. Buy smart today to save in 2009 - leverage retailer offers and tax programs for extra savings.
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 If you want to save money this year and save taxes the next, you have three weeks left in 2008. To make them count, accelerate some purchases to take advantage of year-end deals from retailers and vendors. Add on the tax savings you can get by expensing more items this year (review Economic Stimulus for Small Businesses) and you can start saving some serious coinage. Mass. 201 CMR 17 for SMBs: the technology is the easy part
By Jack Daniel
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 There has been much speculation as to whether the recently-instated Mass. 201 CMR 17.00, as well as the other 40-plus state breach laws, will actually be effective in getting businesses up to speed, security-wise, or if the laws are too onerous and confusing for small to medium-sized businesses. The new Massachusetts data protection law applies to all persons that own, license, store or maintain personal information about a resident of Massachusetts and requires that businesses encrypt any documents sent over the Internet or saved on laptops or flash drives, encrypt data transmitted wirelessly and deploy up-to-date firewalls. Windows 7 Updated - the skinny on Microsoft's Forthcoming OS
By John Brandon
Posted on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 About a year from now, Microsoft will release a brand new operating system that addresses many of the concerns that arose from Windows Vista. Windows 7 is said to have more in common with Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and its emphasis will be on stability, driver support, security, and meeting the needs of both consumers and the business market rather than on radical interface changes and extensive support for emerging technologies. CrossTech In The News - Helping businesses enter the second circle of technology
By Julie Onufrak
Posted on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 Many people know that their teenagers use Twitter, a real-time messaging service that allows users to constantly update their friends on what they're up to via the Internet or their cell phones. What many people don't know is that businesses can use Twitter to form better relationships with customers and get feedback on products and services. Web2.0 Inside and Outside the Firewall
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 I enjoyed a trip to Philadelphia last week to attend the ITEC Conference . I spoke at two sessions on Thursday, here is a summary.Session 1 Second Circle Web 2.0 and New MarketingMetcalf's Law - The value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected usersWe are in a new digital ecosystem and the search box is the new window to our intentions:112M million blogsBloggers are mainstream2,700 Social networks1.5 million photos added to Flickr daily4 million daily Twitter messagesAverage age of evening news viewer: 60 New version of office-in-a-box - EdgeBOX lets phones lead the feature parade in new OIAB system.
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 If you ever needed confirmation that phones are now auditory computer devices, take a look at a modern "office-in-a-box" or "all-in-one" system for small businesses and remote offices. Phones are front and center, e-mail and Web servers come next, and, oh yes, file and print services are there, too. Such is the pattern for the EdgeBOX from Critical Links. The appliances powering typical file and print services now power the phones, Internet access, and security. Protecting Your Data
By Carmi Levy
Posted on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 As companies of all sizes become increasingly aware of just how much their data is worth, they're getting smarter about backing it up and ensuring their operations aren't compromised in case of hard drive failure. Less SPAM this Holiday Season?
By Jan Hichert
Posted on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 Most of us have seen a reduction in the spam crowding our inboxes lately, thanks to recent the takedown of McColo Corp., a San Jose, CA based Web hosting service that supposedly hosted some of the biggest cyber criminal organizations in business. According to Commtouch Software, throughout the year spam rates averaged around 4 million recurrent spam patterns per day. The week of November 12, immediately after McColo was shut down, there was an average of 2.5 million spam patterns identified-a 38% drop. However, we can't become complacent in our mail security. The respite is only temporary, and spam levels are already starting to creep back upward. The Financial Market's Impact On Technology
By Sixto Ortiz Jr.
Posted on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 Do Cooling Markets Mean Cooling Technology Spending? The recent woes throttling the worldwide financial markets have unleashed a tsunami of bad news that has quickly spilled from the confines of Wall Street's banking industry and into Main Street. Even though most industry watchers expect IT spending to increase, there is little doubt that the current financial turmoil will have a significant impact on the technology sector and enterprise spending. Storing your data in their cloud - Online file storage can help many small businesses.
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 Although it may seem like your computing life is all e-mail and browsing, computer users still create files, documents, spreadsheets, boring presentations and all manner of other stored information. Which brings me to the question: Where do you store your data? And are you ready to store your data online in a service hosted by a third party provider? Using Technology to Keep Out the Old Cold War
By Robert McMillen
Posted on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 There is an unexpected link that's been discovered between your computer's ability to ward off viruses, spyware and malware (VSM) and the reemergence of the cold war between Russia and the West. There was a time that lasted from the 1980's to the mid 1990's where having a virus was little more than an annoyance, but with the tidal wave of VSM since then it has become a crusade to keep the bad guys away from our businesses and our nation's defenses. New Media Strategies to increase B2B Page Views
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 Recently, Mark Boisvert - an account executive that works with me at CrossTech - and I were in a working session with the online marketing team from a big brand in the network and telephony space. Currently, they operate a major web site with a rich aray of content and are undergoing a site redesign that is about to launch. They are asking how they use new media strategies to accelerate the velocity and visibility of the site and move their page views from 6.6 million to 8.8 million in a year. Economic stimulus for small businesses - Little known Economic Stimulus Act 2008 can save you bundles.
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 Remember back in 2005 when the government provided tax incentives for businesses, known as the "write off your SUV" act? The deal applied to the purchase of all business equipment, but the special SUV writeoffs got the headlines. Many jumped into that, although record oil prices must have made some SUV buyers wish the incentives were for a Prius. Now the deal is back, but few people have noticed. Get more work done with less e-mail
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 Here's a statistical downer: there will be around 40 trillion inbox-clogging spam e-mail messages delivered this year. Experts know this because there were 30 trillion spam messages last year. With this much hay in the stack, it's hard to find those message needles, and that's why some smart companies are looking beyond public e-mail. (Compare antispam products) Organized customer and employee support
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 Computers and applications stubbornly remain hard to use. Developers, from solo code jockeys to huge corporations, promise us things will be better "real soon." But if operating systems and applications aren't easier today than yesterday, at least we're seeing advances in how to support them. Take NTRSupport's new FirstHelp tool, a support portal. It combines information, drivers, tips, training, techniques, instant messaging, e-mail and even remote control software in a one-stop support shop. Upcoming Webinar: A Single View of the Audience with Master Data Management
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 How well do you know your audience? Do you have a place where you can report on ALL pertinent information, including: contact information, email preferences, event registration, magazine subscriptions, product registration? If not, then you should attend tomorrow's webinar to learn how CrossTech Partners™ Master Data Management (MDM) solution can help you integrate these disparate data sources into a centralized database, and gain valuable insight into your audience. How small businesses can win in the tight economy
By James Gaskin
Posted on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 Those of you running hedge funds and getting bonus checks north of $20 million should be nervous about your jobs if you still have them. Those of us in the small business world never had the burden of huge bonuses so we're not panicking as much. On the smaller end of the business scale, money can still be borrowed, and bargains on business essentials can be found everywhere. Should people have a separate Facebook for Personal & Business?
By John Stone
Posted on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 I was asked this question from Christine Bonner Sierra ... I met Christine in a business context. She said ..."So this brings up an interesting question in the world of social media - my facebook account is full of working moms who are complaining about ear infections, class field trips and little time to themselves.Do you recommend two accounts for most colleagues? One for the LinkedIn type connections and one to address the non-work life? I'll be curious your thoughts before I confirm you into the world of strep throat and Grey's Anatomy critiques. I hadn't given it much thought until I got your request. Thanks for making me think today." Astaro Brings Enterprise Protection to The SMB
By Palen Schwab
Posted on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 Clark and Daughtrey's IT department was apprehensive about their network security. The SonicWall firewalls at this multispecialty medical group--the oldest and largest in central Florida --"just did a very poor job of keeping out the spyware and the viruses," explains David Stephenson, Information Systems Manager at Clark and Daughtrey. In addition, managing multiple point solutions proved too much work for their small IT team and prevented them from properly addressing other important IT issues. ODBMS Industry Watch News: 10+ Questions On Innovation to Dennis Tsichritzis
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 I am interested to learn how innovation can be supported and if possible created. Large research centers do (sometimes) innovate and/or facilitate individual innovation. Read what Dennis Tsichritzis has to say on this. Dennis was previously President of GMD and later senior vice president at Fraunhofer, after Fraunhofer and GMD merged to form one of the largest research centers in Germany. Word of mouth sales goes electronic
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 Word of mouth makes the best salesperson, according to all the sales manuals. Are you ready to take advantage of electronic word of mouth? That's what I believe social media has become, at least for smart businesses. True, most of the "blogosphere" and Twitter-verse may be electronic gossip, but some companies have made huge advances taking word of mouth to the Web. The ROI of influence
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 Chris Brogan explains how smart companies include social media in their marketing:How does one become a leading social media expert? "I decided to leave the real IT world to run off and join the circus," said Chris Brogan. Attack of the POD People
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 IT guys have a passion for the idea of data centers in a box. In the telco days, we'd work on developing COWs, or "Central Office on Wheels" implementations. I read a great article about HP's POD data centers that shows their vision of a containerized data center. Nick Carr Makes More Cloud Animals
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 At some point, I'm going to stop citing every article that Nicholas Carr writes. But I can't help it. He comes up with more thoughts about cloud computing than anyone in the space, it seems. In his recent article, Nick covers the concerns raised by Richard Stallman (the free software advocate), where Stallman has been calling for us to do our computing on our own desks with our own boxes with our own software. High Density Means High Cooling - Avoid Overloading Your Cooling System
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 The latest hardware has certainly made it much easier to pack a lot more horsepower in a smaller package. Blades, of course, have shrunk the form factor of the average server, and quad-core chips make it possible to quadruple the amount of juice in the same footprint. "Blades are the fastest-growing segment in the server market," says John Enck, an analyst at Gartner. Now factor in virtualization. By setting up 10 virtual machines in a single blade, you are going to be taking up every possible unit of processing power-the only problem is that you are going to be generating a whole lot more heat. Two new support options for SMBs
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 When the IT business gets slow at huge companies, vendors "discover" the small business market. Whether that's the reason in full or part, now seems to be a golden time for small businesses that need IT support, because the line of vendors ready to help keeps getting longer. VirtualBox 2.0 Gives You Options
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 Want to take a walk on the virtual side? Sun's made it even easier to dip your toe in. With the announcement of VirtualBox 2.0, you can run one OS inside another with ease. A Different Type of Security Key
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 Yubikey is an interesting premise: mix a smart card security dongle with OpenID and solve your web security access problems (at least for sites that support OpenID). It looks like Yubikey also supports RADIUS and PAM support. It's open source, so technically, you can pair pretty much any security protocol with it. Edgy Database Technologies to Look Into
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 I found this article from Don MacAskill, the CEO of SmugMug, where he ends up pointing out all kinds of really interesting newer database and server technologies. It reads as an interesting set of alternatives for newer companies or budget-minded startups to think about. Is the Fringe Our New Front Line for 2009?
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 In planning for 2009, I'm looking at where we've been so far in 2008. Most of the trends I thought would happen in bigger ways in 2008 have gone pretty much according to the industry's plans. There's more virtualization. People are taking cloud computing and web applications out of the labs and into the office. We're seeing more mobile computing and projects like co-working spaces, and the like. QuickBooks Enterprise adds Web hooks
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 Have you ever had a service or delivery person come to your home or business carrying a smart phone in place of a clipboard with pre-printed forms? You know, the ones you have to mash down hard when you write so all three copies will be completed? Outside of UPS or FedEx, I never have. But users of QuickBooks Enterprise can zoom their techs from the 1950s to 2009 with one of the add-on modules demonstrated at the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions User conference last week. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Cloud
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 In this article by the founder of GNU, Richard Stallman, he warns us that trusting our data to Google and the other cloud software companies is folly, and that we're setting ourselves up for a horrible fall. He sites privacy and lock-in as two main points to consider. Optimize Print Workflow with XML
By TJ O'Connor
Posted on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 There are hundreds (if not thousands) of companies still creating print documents from scratch: copy/pasting text from the original source, and laying out each page manually. Recent updates to the major print applications (InDesign and Quark) allow content to be imported via XML, opening up a world of possibilities. Slim Down Your Gear Bag
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 Tech types travel with lots of gear. We might be guilty of having a laptop, a pda, a phone, a digital camera, and no doubt several peripherals to go with them. In this article by Chanpory Rith, we are taken task for it. The advice is simple, but worth checking out, especially with the fall conference season coming into full effect and several ITEC events mixed in there, too. Can your business run completely online?
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 The world's richest and most powerful 10-year-old says it can handle far more of your technology needs than you think. Google started almost exactly 10 years ago, and it is making big noise about invigorated Apps and some Googlers called to tell me about the improvements. Software Price Savings In a Collapsing Economy
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 I'm a big fan of software served up via the Internet. Call it cloud computing. Call it SaaS. I'm not fighting on the name. I'm just excited that we can find useful, first rate software at prices that impact our IT budgets. More power yet more green
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 Modern digital technology is catching up with the telephone system from the 1950s. How? Ma Bell used to send voltage down the phone wires to ring the bell on your phone. Today, PoE (Power over Ethernet) sends voltage down the network wires to power a variety of digital devices. That's helpful, but a coming upgrade may really make some powerful, or rather less power-hungry, news. Building Remote Work Forces- A Few Approaches
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 A few years back, while working on the project to design a new corporate headquarters for my wireless telecommunications organization, we came down to the actual dollar cost of a cubicle, from hardware to office furniture, to utilities. Not counting the computer and phone, the cost ran at the time (this was 2005) to be about $9700 per cube, all-in. We immediately realized that there was significant cost savings to be considered for reconfiguring some level of our staff to work remotely. But, and there are many buts, would the culture support it? Could we track productivity? What came next? Virtualizing Isn't A Walk in the Park
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 By moving further into a virtual-heavy computing environment, companies have to realize the added complexity that will come to their networks to support it. One part of this comes from maintaining adequate SAN environments. So, are there alternatives and ways around the problem? LeftHand Networks says yes. Need Faster Disks - IBM is Looking Solid
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 Moving from Chrome to Quicksilver, IBM reports that they are working on a new solid state storage platform that will be more than 250% faster than a standard disk-drive storage platform. Measurements clock such platforms as being able to handle more than 1 million transactions in and out per second, and response times at less than 1 millisecond, according to an article by Antone Gonsalves. Greening Your Data Center
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 One of the trends that starts of sounding like "right thing to do" and ends up being a cost savings you can show your CFO is the whole green data center movement. In my regular reading this week, I came across an interesting piece of information tucked into an article by Liam Eagle reporting on a specific data center company's press release, but within it, something you might find useful. Cisco Wants Nexus 7000 to be Your Data Center Switch
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 With their new switch platform, Cisco intends to cover all your needs in one robust switch architecture. The Nexus 7000 is built to be bigger, stronger, and more flexible than everything that comes before. Given that we're very interested in the future of the Next Data Center, reading this article by David Newman at NetworkWorld (including a big review) gave us lots to think about. Google Puts Chrome on Its Browser
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 According to an article by Philipp Lenssen, Google has announced the release of an open source web browser project that should greatly benefit the way we surf the web. The announcement came complete with a comic illustrated by Scott McCloud himself, which tells the origin story of why Google's jumping into the ring with Firefox and Microsoft to start what might be the next browser war. Tech Support Issues Challenge Companies of All Sizes
By James Gaskin
Posted on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 As companies grow, problems never disappear but they do change. Very small companies need help in many areas during a time they can least afford regular onsite help. Larger companies have onsite help, but also have users in multiple locations, adding a new class of problems. PlumChoice wants to help the first group, and WorldExtend wants to help the second group. Jive Software Gets Closer to the Enterprise With Clearspace 2.5
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 It's rare that I get to write a post for this newsletter that might appeal to both the ITEC community as well as the people interested in New Marketing Summit, but this story has both. Oregon-based Jive Software has announced Clearspace 2.5, and CMO Sam Lawrence spoke with me on Monday to give me the scoop. Ideas on the Desktop of the Future
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 Nova Spivack has a bold vision of where he sees desktop computing going. He says that desktops will become a hosted web service. Given our own Nick Saber's recent issues with cloud computing, maybe you'll be skeptical. And yet, there's something to Spivack's assertions. IBM Launches Green Data Center in Second Life
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 On the heels of its announcement to build a $360 Million USD data center, IBM has built a virtual version for Second Life. In an article by Paul McDougall at Information Week, Big Blue plans to unveil the data center on a webinar later this week. Beyond this, IBM is working to create standards for creation of objects and avatars in virtual worlds. How is Email Overload Affecting Your Company?
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 Ross Mayfield from SocialText recently blogged about how broken business practices are the cause of email overload. Ross says: "Most people don't dispute that they suffer from email overload. A recent report from Basex in the NYTimes revealed that people spend 28% of their day interrupted by things like unnecessary email. However, what we do about our overload is a source of much debate." Project Dogfood Launches
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 The term "eating your own dog food" means using your company's own products and services. At CrossTech Media, we just took that to heart by launching Project Dogfood, a conversation with our community about what you want from our online presence. So far, it's been interesting. Fall ITEC Is about Change
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 This fall, our ITEC shows will focus on the changes impacting the IT space. We've done a lot of changing, ourselves, on the way to these events. Highlights of these changes include a focus on meeting your local technology leaders, education about emerging technologies, and a vision of what you can do next to implement. The Technology of Online Marketing
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 In preparation for the New Marketing Summit, I've been looking at the technology companies are using to build new digital relationships and translate these into sales. Certainly, social media takes a strong headline in all this, but there are all kinds of interesting technologies being used to deliver business value to organizations. Here are a few I've come across (note: most of these are also sponsors of the New Marketing Summit. I'll also cover some non-NMS companies, too). Is Cloud Computing Really Ready for the Enterprise?
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 Network World has a report about online storage site, The Linkup, losing customer data and then the company shut down in the aftermath. A wave of finger pointing follows, but if you're thinking about moving your data to the cloud (offsite platforms hosted and managed by a third party), this should make you think. Upgrading to Exchange 2007? Consider This Guide
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 ZDNet posted a white paper that should help you understand what happens when you're ready to move to Microsoft Exchange 2007. It's estimated that 50% of companies using Exchange will be at 2007 by the end of the year. Will yours be one? Open Web Foundation Announced at OSCON
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 Open source types take heed: The Open Web Foundation has been announced at OSCON, reports Brady Forrest from O'Reilly. The goal is to extend out the work being done in groups like OpenID, OAuth, and several emerging opportunities. Pushing the Envelope - a 15 Petabyte Network
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 Let's admit it to our geekier selves: hearing about really cool big monster computing platforms is fun. It's like hearing about Big Blue beating Kasparov. You suddenly start wondering when all that power will trickle down to YOUR enterprise platform. A great article over at CNET by Nick Heath reports on the world's largest particle accelerator. Capturing Customer Intent - A New Marketing Strategy
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 Recently, John Stone, president of CrossTech Partners and I conducted a webinar about marketing technology and strategy. You can view the archive for free here (after registering). During the creation of the presentation, I found myself realizing the gap between where traditional marketing has taken online digital marketing efforts, and where the potential to build stronger relationships for business could truly take one's business. A Definition of Cloud Computing
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 We talk from time to time here about cloud computing, but I don't know that I've ever stopped to define it. Now, thanks to Irving Wladawsky-Berger, I won't have to do so. He covers it quite soundly in his post, "What is Cloud Computing, Anyway?" Mobile Three Screen Strategies Take on Ads and Marketing
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 The Wall Street Journal reports that cable and telephone providers who want to sell you Internet, phone, and TV service in one bundled package are also looking to sell ads and air content that will span all three surfaces as well. It appears that early results are positive, but there are some potential challenges, too. Thoughts on SEO Consultants
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 Aaron Wall from SEOBook doesn't mince words in his recent post about selling SEO (Search Engine Optimization) consulting services. In fact, he launches the post by telling you that most traditional SEO consulting sucks. There's lots more contained in this post than a rant against consultants, especially because Aaron still takes the occasional SEO project himself. So, what is there to learn? How Google Will Pick Up Where Microsoft Has Left Off
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 Interesting news analysis from Steve Lohr at the New York Times gives us something to think about differently when it comes to technology. When you and I are in the trenches, worrying about server patches, zero day vulnerabilities, and whether or not we should buy two big servers, pizza boxes, or blades, there's an entire economic story playing out on a larger landscape that influences our decisions. It's worth considering Lohr's points. What it Takes to Digg 26 Million Monthly Viewers
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 Systems Management News has an interesting article about how the popular social news site, Digg, was able to manage 26 million (!) users a month. What's notable is that a site receiving more traffic than BestBuy, LinkedIn, or Ask.com is built on a lot of fast-implemented ideas without a lot of architectural and operational red tape. Is Your Business Considering Social Software?
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 Social media tools like blogging, podcasting, and the use of social networks is often talked about from the consumer side, but businesses are deep into this game as well. From Intel to Zappos shoes to JetBlue Airlines and Comcast, there are new tools and new strategies that you can use today to build your business. Network and Infrastructure Considerations for the Next Data Center
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 Today's data center network environment and infrastructure require your consideration. Shifting data back and forth is easy compared to adding virtualization, storage virtualization, rich media like video and VoIP, and also software-as-a-service applications into the mix. From the infrastructure and power side, you're being pressured to do more with less energy to meet corporate responsibility goals for green IT initiatives, while lowering operations costs. Not only does your network require a more robust routing and class of service environment, your security and monitoring considerations must be refreshed to match this new world, too. New Marketing Summit Announces David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin to Keynote Event in October
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology
Posted on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 CrossTech Media produces more face to face business opportunities than our flagship regional ITEC trade events. This year marks the second year of our New Marketing Summit event, produced with the Business Marketing Association (BMA), Boston chapter. And now, with bestselling authors David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin on board, this will be quite the event for both technologists interested in the marketing space, as well as marketers interested in how technology is changing the rules of the game. Mobile Marketing Proves Effective for Hispanic Mobile Markets
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 Jake Swearingen has an interesting article showing the results and speculating on a Pew/Internet study from March 2008. While mobile marketing is still a very new segment of online marketing, and hasn't yet been proven to be effective, these numbers give digital marketers more reason to at least try. How Data Centers are Evolving
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 I recently hosted a webinar titled "Building The Next Data Center" and featuring Hewlett Packard's Enterprise Architect, Randi Baklini, Sybase's Architect Peter Thawley, and F5's Technical Marketing Manager, Alan Murphy, where we talked about considerations for building and augmenting data centers. This was in anticipation of our Next Data Center executive briefing event in October in Atlanta, Georgia, and the conversation was every bit as fascinating as I'd hoped. New Marketing Summit Announces David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin to Keynote Event in October
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 CrossTech Media produces more face to face business opportunities than our flagship regional ITEC trade events. This year marks the second year of our New Marketing Summit event, produced with the Business Marketing Association (BMA), Boston chapter. And now, with bestselling authors David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin on board, this will be quite the event for both technologists interested in the marketing space, as well as marketers interested in how technology is changing the rules of the game. Editorial - Where Will Blogging Go in Coming Years
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 I was reading a great post by interactive marketing and media strategist Adam Broitman about his perspective on the future of the "blogosphere," as some call it. His perspectives, as always are a mix of unpredicted, but also challenging in the good sense of the word. Upcoming CrossTech Media Webinar: Building the Next Data Center
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology
Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 Blades or big servers? Virtual storage or no? Let someone else manage the hosting or not? The game has changed. In just a few short years, everything that would have been a given in the "rules" for a best-of-class data center environment have changed. You have to be green, and yet show the ROI. You have to be secure, and yet flexible. Move from the theoretical into the concrete world of the here and now by learning from professionals with worlds of experience dealing with the challenges you're facing now. Don't be surprised by what comes next. Learn about it today. Be Careful How You Mix and Match Your Green Initiatives
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology
Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 Going green might not be as simple as consolidating your data center onto a few mid-sized servers and going virtual, according to an article on Network World by Tom Henderson. At odds in the lab work reported by Tom are the server side interest in dropping CPU usage to a low hum when not in use, versus the virtualization model of powering the CPU up to full throttle, and letting the virtual platform's hypervisor technology allocate the resources. Editorial - Designing My Next Workplace
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology
Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 Technology has increasingly shifted how some of us are able to perform our work at hand. Mobile device costs and service plans have settled into a measurable range, so that we can use these tools more flexibly in business. The voicemail systems of the past have given way to sophisticated virtual assistants, translation programs, and follow-me applications. Access to our files and important information has shifted into the cloud, such that we can do work wherever we can find the Internet (which itself is easier thanks in part to extended wifi deployment, and thanks also to EVDO and other wireless technologies). This all goes a long way towards empowering the workplaces that you and I will inhabit in the coming months. Is Integrated Marketing Right for Your Business
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology
Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 Recently, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) conducted a survey of 200 marketers with regards to their integrated marketing strategy. Comparing their findings to earlier studies show all kinds of improvements, both in how marketers are approaching the use of integrated marketing channels and technologies to deliver their message effectively. B2B Magazine has a good summary of the results here. What Will Cloud Computing Change?
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology
Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 When thinking about your enterprise software environment, how much of what you use is in support of your business versus that which is core to your business? If you think about it, a lot of what your IT department spends its time with in a given day are merely tools to complete the job, and not exactly core to the practice. Yes, you need some kind of external mail system. Yes, you need to serve files. Yes, you need a website (or several). But do you have to OWN them? Online Marketing Doesn't Stop at a Fancy Website
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 27 May 2008 In analyzing several corporate websites over the last two weeks, I've come to notice a pattern that several companies seem to fall into: when it comes to their online presence, companies and associations are stopping somewhere after a decent website design. From what I've observed, there are several next steps after getting your site pretty What Will Enterprise Mashups Look Like?
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 27 May 2008 Once we make our data line up nicely with other data, all kinds of cool things can happen. This is the promise of mashups, but it's only recently that these applications have started to seem a little less R&D and a little more interesting for enterprises to consider. We're not all the way there yet, but there have been changes. Are Social Media Tools for You? H&R Block Says Yes.
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 27 May 2008 Rodney Rumford of FaceReviews.com caught up to H&R Block's Amy Worley at a recent conference and shot this YouTube video about the various tools the company is using to reach their customer base. In this interview, and in others that I've seen with Worley at other sites, she points out that her customer base are using the Web more and more in their day to day lives, and that her effectiveness with reaching prospects on one hand, and servicing customer needs on the other, are right in line with H&R Block's digital initiatives. EMC Helps Take Duplicate Duplicate Data Out of the Picture
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Tue, 27 May 2008 At their EMC World event in Las Vegas, EMC announced a new tool for midsized businesses: the ability to deduplicate date before it finds its way into storage. This came as part of a larger strategy to entice businesses to shift to backing up to disk instead of tape, and was bundled with several other features, including power saving technologies, and a new Virtual Tape Library feature that helps improve performance as well. Why Systems Solutions and Clouds are the New Servers
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Mon, 12 May 2008 HP has issued a statement confirming its intent to purchase services giant EDS. On one hand, this makes great sense, as Hewlett Packard has been building towards this vision of developing a fully integrated business solution over the last several years, instead of a vendor of boxes, storage, switches, and peripherals. In a world where the mid-market is the new competitive battleground, a move to build a very strong business solution practice, complete with a strong services offering puts HP in a very strong competitive position. Seven Ways to Use Digital Video for Your Business
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Mon, 12 May 2008 I'm a bit obsessed with my Flip video camera, and it turns out, I'm not the only one. After my talk at ITEC Houston, I had no fewer than five people approach and ask me more about the camera than many of the other points I made. Why? Because they saw right away how simple it was to operate, and they understood my points to how their businesses might use video. Here are seven ways you might incorporate digital video into your business Who Put Their Microsoft on my Blackberry?
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Mon, 12 May 2008 Microsoft announced on May 12th that they have partnered with Research in Motion (RIM) to deliver two of their Windows Live services to users of the Blackberry smartphone line. The two services, Windows Live Hotmail, and Windows Live Messenger, represent over 430 million users, so it's not an insignificant release, and it certainly raises some interesting possibilities. Will Social Networks Be Part of Everyone's Next Website Design?
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Mon, 12 May 2008 Our recent webinar on Business Strategies for Social Media was well-attended, and the questions we received were excellent examples of what's facing businesses when considering how these tools and strategies might impact their business in coming months. One point that people asked about frequently was the benefits of building a social network to embrace their customer base and transform them into a community. Planning for Cloud Computing
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 With companies like IBM and Dell and Sun offering cloud computing solutions to compete with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud in different flavors, the question can be asked: is it time to move your IT infrastructure out of your building and into the hands of a managed hosting environment? And if so, what goes and what stays? Social Media for Business
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 For our Webinar on May 1st, 2008 at 2PM ET, I plan to discuss business strategies and tactics around using social media, both as an internal collaboration tool, and as an addition to a company's external networking, lead generation, marketing, and community management strategies. It's a space and a topic that has interested me for years, and has been one of the primary focuses of my research over the past several years. Why? Because I believe this upcoming generation of collaboration tools empowers people to perform business tasks and communication in a far more human way, and that businesses can benefit from it. Phoning it In
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 I was speaking with some product developers at Garmin the other day, and they mentioned the next quarter release of their nuviphone, a handset that looks a bit like Apple's popular iPhone, but with a mix of features that might appeal to business users as well. Later in the week, I was looking at the Packet8 website and reading about their VoIP services and how they integrate with Salesforce.com. Business leaders take note: as new communications applications add features, your team needs to re-assess which technologies are in place at your organization for communications. A phone is no longer just a phone. Building Community Through Participation and Dialogue
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 Our ITEC events are known by you to be your regional IT event. Instead of the old fashioned huge trade show experience, these events are smaller, and as such, give you the opportunity to see everything, meet people that you might want to meet, and learn about new products and services without a lot of travel and frustration. But ITEC only comes to your neighborhood once a year, and yet, we here at CrossTech Media are thinking about the business of technology all year round. After a talk with CEO Stephen Saber today, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be part of the larger ITEC or CrossTech Community, and what I hope it might mean to you. When Corporate Blogging Isn't About YOUR Company
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 The best of corporate blogging comes when the post isn't directly related to you. One such master of this style is BT's own J.P. Raganswami, who writes posts like this thought-provoking piece at Confused of Calcutta. The post has nothing to do with telecom, nothing to do with new BT products and services, and yet, when you read it, you think positively about JP and his ability to provide useful information. Still Think Amazon Sells Books?
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 Amazon's cloud computing business is on track to make more money than its retail business, according to a blog post by Between the Lines, by ZDNet's Larry Dignan. As their web services business offers more and more features, including static IP addresses, user-determined kernels, and now persistent storage space, reasons why NOT to consider a cloud alternative to racking your own servers are dwindling. Salesforce Teams Up with Google Apps - Microsoft Has to Wonder
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 Google and Salesforce.com have announced an integration, where a company can use Google's mail, calendar, and instant messaging platform together in an integrated fashion with Salesforce.com's other offerings. Now chat and email conversations with customers will thread into the rest of the Salesforce data. Though this is already available for Microsoft Outlook, putting out a web-based offering means that the underlying OS and other desktop applications don't matter as much. Rethinking Data Centers
By Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 I've been working on a new Executive Briefing called The Next Data Center, targeted to C-level and decision makers, and covering topics such as virtualization, cloud computing, security, green initiatives, cooling, and more. It's fun for me, because I worked on several data center projects in a past life, including rolling in big Sun and EMC platforms, moving data centers in a hurry (when Exodus shut down their center during the merge into C&W), and revitalizing a failed dot-bomb ISP data center that we bought shortly afterwards. Things have changed since those days, and that's the very point of the event: to learn what's coming next. Is Your Enterprise at Risk from Internet Applications?
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 A study conducted by Palo Alto Networks and reported in the New York Times Bits blog says that problems ranging from unauthorized proxy redirects, masked applications, and the consequences of moving corporate data out to the Internet and back are some of the challenges facing organizations seeking to use these forward-thinking technologies today. EMC Moves Into Consumer/Small Business Space By Buying Iomega
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 Storage experts EMC have signaled their interest in expanding their market to reach midsized and small business customers, as well as consumers by purchasing Zip Drive manufacturer Iomega for $213 million dollars, according to a post on Engadget. The Malware War -When A Solid Plan is Not Enough
By Bruce Cain
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 Anti-Malware Checklist It is extremely important that the enterprise's anti-malware strategy covers every single workstation and server, with no exceptions. Brian Grayek, vice president of product management for the Internet security business unit of CA (www.ca.com), offers a checklist to help make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. 1. Does every end point (desktop, laptop, server, etc.) have the approved anti-malware product installed and running? 2. Is every end point running the latest anti-malware client? 3. Does every end point have the latest, daily anti-malware update? 4. Is every end point up-to-date with the latest Microsoft operating system patches? 5. Can all of the above be verified? Is Social Media Right for Your Business
By Chris Brogan, Vice President, Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 Rattling the IT department's cage is old hat by now. Nicholas Carr did it first with DOES IT MATTER, and more recently with THE BIG SWITCH. It's also not new to compare incumbent technologies to new, flashier, lightweight applications. And yet, the conversation persists as to whether social media tools are useful to your organization, internally or otherwise. For this brief, let's talk internally. Up Front With Debbie Hughes
By Debbie Hughes
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 In a world sadly bereft of heroes, we might have some possible candidates. On March 20, 2008, Lawrence Lessig announced the launch of Change Congress, a national movement to end corruption in congress. In partnership with political consultant Joe Trippi, Lessig is "retiring" from the copyright debates that shaped his image for over 10 years and taking on politics. Is it just me, or does anyone else smell a big juicy book contract and an increase in speaking fees? The Future of Dell in Social Media
By Lionel Menchaca
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 Dell takes collaboration seriously. About two years ago, Michael Dell directed his team to find Dell customers in the blogosphere in need of support so the company could provide it to them. They've identified four main areas of focus (more conversations in more languages, ease of use, collaboration beyond just blogging and community meets e-commerce) and are beginning to lay the groundwork for supporting their customers. Vertica and LogiXML Partner to Deliver Blazingly Fast, Web-based Business Intelligence
By Ed Marshall
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 Technology integration as well as emerging products will enable small and large companies to capitalize on key business opportunities. Web-based BI reporting tools and near-real-time data analysis is something any size business needs and LogiXML and Vertica Systems have teamed up to make it a reality. This partnership will focus on two key objectives: new product development by LogiXML based on the Vertica(R) Analytic Database to extend fast Web-based analytics to small companies as well as enterprises; and integration between Vertica and the Logi 9 BI platform to enable customers to give more people the ability to analyze more data faster so they can seize business opportunities as they occur. Overland Storage Joins The Green Grid
By Sue Hetzel of HetzelMeade
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 The Green Grid, a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems, today welcomed Overland Storage as a new member. Committed to helping customers take advantage of the latest in energy-efficient technologies and power-management strategies to drive down energy costs and conserve data storage usage, Overland's goal is to improve storage efficiency while optimizing power consumption. Overland has developed four steps for building eco-efficient, greener data centers with tiered data protection solutions that leverage compact form factors, cutting-edge data deduplication and compression capabilities as well as other sustainable data storage advantages. 2,433 Unread Emails Is An Opportunity For An Entrepeneur
By Michael Arrington
Posted on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 An out of control email In box is a problem shared by many people. The wonderful thing about email is that it's asynchronous, meaning you don't need to deal with it when it is first received. But on the flip side, ignore it for a few hours and it multiplies until you feel defeated by the sheer volume of messages you are supposed to read and reply to. The long term solution is that someone needs to create a new technology that allows us to enjoy our life but not miss important messages. The iPhone SDK: An Enterprise Strategy
By John Mahoney
Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 Last week, Apple demonstrated support for Microsoft's ActiveSync, which will give iPhones a dynamic, remote synchronization with the enterprise standard Exchange server.The integration of ActiveSync allows calendar events and contacts to be sync'ed directly over the air without the need to dock. Apple is also delivering remote management of iPhones, allowing a corporate administrator to lock or erase the contents of an iPhone if it should be lost or stolen, or configure groups of iPhones centrally. Most importantly, Apple maintains that these capabilities are real, and that they would be shipping soon. Get The Most From Your Events
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 As a busy professional, taking time out of your work schedule to attend a conference is a decision not to be made lightly. To that end, understanding how to get more from the conferences you attend might be in order. Take our ITEC events. For example, here's what I think you can get done at an ITEC show. Cloud Computing and SaaS
By Jimmy Pike
Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 Cloud computing is a subset of grid computing (can include utility computing) and as I mentioned in my opening post, is the idea that computing (or storage) is done elsewhere or in the clouds. Now let's add to this discussion the idea of Software as a Service (SaaS). Usually this means a model where diverse applications are hosted by a provider and users pay to use them. So I would say the key distinction of SaaS and cloud computing is the service and business model provided as opposed to the architectural mechanism used to deliver it. Cisco Invests in Hybrid Content Delivery Network, Grid Networks
By Mark Hendrickson
Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 When GridNetworks announced last October that it had $9.5 million in Series A funding, no one knew Cisco had invested in a very big way. Their support should give GridNetworks the opportunity to integrate its so-called "connector" software into non-computer devices like Linksys entertainment centers. Yahoo Embraces the Semantic Web - Expect The Internet to Organize Itself in a Hurry
By Michael Arrington
Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 With Yahoo's announcement of their support for semantic web standards like RDF and microformats you can expect this will be a great incentive for websites to take the plunge. Now that Yahoo will be pulling all the semantic information together when available, as a search engine should, there will be sufficient reason for websites to fall in line. Previously, there were few applications that demanded properly structured data from third parties. Yahoo changed all that with their announcement. Oracle Ventures Into Web 2.0 Universe With On-Demand v15
By Erika Morphy
Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 With Oracle On Demand version 15, users can take objects -- top accounts or contacts or sales leads, for example -- and embed them as gadgets on iGoogle or MyYahoo or on their BlackBerry devices. They can also add relevant content from other applications such as MySpace and RSS feeds. VMWare Opens API to Security Companies
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 Protection for virtual systems is on the front burner, after a small issue was discovered in VMWare for Windows recently. Instead of simply patching the hole, VMWare took this opportunity to roll out a new product with API called VMSafe. More than 20 firms took them up on the offer and are expected to build products to mitigate these and other exposures quickly. Upfront With Debbie Hughes
By Debbie Hughes
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 It's full speed ahead with the first American Idol-style presidential primary election and all that's missing is text message voting. As I write this column, Obama's ahead of Hillary and unless McCain pulls a Wilbur Mills or a Gary Hart, he's the Republican nominee set to fail miserably in the general election. Dig Deep Into the Semantic Web
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 Looking to better understand how data will work in the coming years? Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who you might remember as the inventor of the World Wide Web, was recently interviewed in a podcast with a leading semantic web company, Talis, in a podcast. In it, Berners-Lee, points out that the value of data is in its freedom to be moved and ported between platforms (in this case, he was talking about social networking information, but we could apply some of this to your enterprise data as well, insofar as it can be used behind the firewall in more than one way). ITEC Spring Melts Your Winter Blues
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 The ITEC events are heating up. We've had lots of great conversations with business technology experts, and we're excited to be offering Second Circle content about virtualization, business intelligence, security, enterprise mashups, unified communication, and more. The amount of FREE education we're providing at the upcoming ITEC shows should give you one more reason to come out to your local ITEC and see what's going on with the Second Circle technologies we've identified as important for 2008. I hope to see you at the upcoming ITEC shows. --Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media, producers of ITEC. Sprint Goes All In for $99
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 IT managers seeking ways to tame the mobile budget just got a reason to raise their eyebrows. Both of them. Sprint has announced a new plan called Simply Everything that throws in voice, data, text, web, gps, direct connect, group connect, TV, and music all into one plan. There are three things to consider with this announcement. If you're a Sprint customer already, does your corporate plan match this, or should you shift? If you're NOT a Sprint customer, is this a reason to move? If you're not a Sprint customer, how long before your carrier has to play catch up and match this? How to be Microsoft in a World of Web Applications
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 Microsoft has just announced a reduction in the price of Windows Vista ( Ultimate from $400 to $320 USD, upgrade of Home Premium from $160 to $130). In an article on Nicholas Carr's Rough Type blog, he points out that these price points are usually signs of a weakening of the market overall. If Carr is right, it makes you wonder where the next play is, especially where Microsoft is also signaling its intention to purchase Yahoo. Big Blue Goes Green: IBM Shows Off High Speed Low Power Optical Chipsets
By Chris Brogan
Posted on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 Building on last year's release of optical transceivers, IBM has released an optical network prototype that transfers 8 terabits of data (read: huge) for the electricity output of only a single hundred watt lightbulb. Not only is this a power savings for people who seek to "green" up their data centers and spend less on power output, but it's also a potential opening to deliver much more data faster to different end points. BlackBerry Professional Software Offers Verizon Wireless Customers a Cost- Effective Mobile Solution
By Verizon Wireless and Research in Motion
Posted on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and WATERLOO, Ontario, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, today announced the availability of BlackBerry(R) Professional Software, a wireless e-mail and data solution specifically designed for small- and medium-sized businesses. Featured Case Study: Multiquip needed a Web Content Management (WCM) solution
By RedDot, The OpenText Web Solutions Group
Posted on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 As leaders in their industry, Multiquip wanted to provide customers with a convenient way to access product information on the Web. To supply dealers with the most current data on construction equipment, Multiquip product managers needed an easy and reliable system for updating the Web site as new products were released throughout the year. Featured White Paper: Unified Threat Management
By WatchGuard Technologies
Posted on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 Keeping corporate networks safe is more challenging every year, and network security has become one of the most critical issues facing businesses today. New and ever-changing threats appear with alarming regularity, and no organization is immune from risk. Blogging for Business: Part II
By Mike Mitchell
Posted on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 In Blogging for Business: Part I, I explored the benefits of an internal company blog. In Blogging for Business: Part II I'll examine the benefits of having an external company blog. Vista Voyage
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 Not only are wide-scale data center changes not accommodating for the faint of heart, but they're not exactly friendly even to managers of steel resolve. As such, in the year since Microsoft's Windows Vista hit the market, uptake into enterprises has been merely a gradual process. Brogan to Answer the Question: Can Web 2.0 Really Drive More Customers to My Website?
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 CrossTechMedia, a provider of IT-centric education, today announced that Chris Brogan, CrossTechMedia's new Vice President of Strategy and Technology will present a comprehensive plan for building an online strategy that creates value, during a January 17, 2008 webinar. Today's internet is a powerful tool that can be used to augment traditional marketing by building new business around an enabled community. Questions from Conferences
By By James E. Gaskin
Posted on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 The best thing for me about speaking at the ITEC conferences is getting to meet and talk with small and medium business people all around the country. Much of what I hear makes sense, but some things surprise me. I pass out a survey before my talks and one topic that always ranks at the top is "How to stay up with technology?" The Problem With Time Machine
By James Gaskin
Posted on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 I?m sorry but I have to interject a bit of negative feedback into the parade of praise about Apple's new operating system, Leopard (aka Mac OS X 10.5). I'm impressed with many of the improvements, but recent reports about the built-in backup utility, Time Machine, overlook a critical flaw: Trust Time Machine and you run the risk of losing all your data, period, if bad luck targets you and your Macintosh. iPhones Have Higher Text Entry Error Rate Compared to Hard-Key QWERTY Phones
By Speakeasy
Posted on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 User Centric, Inc., a Chicago-based usability consultancy, finished a final study examining the user experience of Apple's iPhone. Previously, test participants found the iPhone's touch keyboard overly sensitive despite the iPhone's overall high usability. In this usability study, User Centric compared texting experiences of iPhone owners and non-owners across devices. Email Privacy to Disappear?
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 On October 8, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati granted the government's request for a full-panel hearing in United States v. Warshak case centering on the right of privacy for stored electronic communications. At issue is whether the procedure whereby the government can subpoena stored copies of your e-mail -- similar to the way they could simply subpoena any physical mail sitting on your desk -- is unconstitutionally broad. Introducing 'DIR-ECT-IONS' - The First Nationwide Free Service for Directions by Phone Call
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 DIR-ECT-IONS, the popular free service for 'directions by phone call,' is now available nationwide to all cities in the continental U.S. Anyone can get driving directions by calling from their cell phone -- just dial the word D-I-R-E-C-T-I-O-N-S (347-328-4667); tell the voice-activated service a starting address and destination address; and instantly receive a text message with Mapquest driving directions. Featured White Paper: Tunneling VNC
By CrossTech Media
Posted on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 This document has been created to describe the steps to be taken to configure Virtual NetworkComputing (VNC) such that it can be tunneled over the Secure SHell (SSH) protocol. Thereason for tunneling VNC over SSH is that VNC has traditionally been a clear text protocol,allowing anyone with access to the network to sniff traffic and discover one's username andpassword. By tunneling over SSH, the encrypted tunnel contains the VNC tr |