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Ann All Ann All

Business of Tech

Alignment, staffing and culture are often more critical than software and apps

02.08.10

Obama's 2011 Budget Suggests Agencies Use Cloud to Cut Costs

I'll be honest. When I wrote about last month's summit conference that and executives from technology-savvy firms like Southwest Airlines, I wondered if anything would come of it. The idea was for the private companies to impart some of their hard-won technology wisdom in hopes of making... More >

2/8/2010 1:08:00 PM

SaaS Is Outsourcing Alternative for Some Companies

It's been about two years since I wrote about Gartner's prediction that software-as-a-service could be for at least some companies. Last week I spoke to Carl Gammon, the director of information systems for a company for which this is true, Minneapolis-based medical device manufacturer Minntech... More >

1 Comment

Arthur Cole Arthur Cole

Infrastructure

Data center and networking architecture to keep your data safe and moving

02.04.10

Still Room for Copper in High-Speed Networks

Upgrading to high-speed Ethernet is an expensive proposition, but it has to be done if you hope to leverage the virtual and cloud infrastructures that are coming your way. Fortunately, bumping up throughput from current 1 GbE or less to the preferred 10 GbE for advanced networking can be done... More >

2/3/2010 3:38:00 PM

Shrinking the Data-Center-in-a-Box

The uptake may be slow, but the steady stream of containerized data centers hitting the channel indicates that someone somewhere thinks there is a value proposition in portable, instantly accessible IT infrastructure. Perhaps it's still a question of size, perhaps one of simple timing -- but the... More >

3 Comments

Rob Enderle Rob Enderle

Unfiltered Opinion

The real truth about technology and IT

02.08.10

IBM Power7 and Apple's ARM A4: The Advantages of Having Your Own Processor

A lot of things change in a decade. At the end of the '90s, it seemed clear that Intel's Itanium was going to dominate the UNIX world and that the proprietary processors would give way to the inevitable. Itanium slipped badly and, while most of the other custom processors went by the wayside,... More >

1 Comment

2/4/2010 9:24:00 PM

How iPad Potentially Drives Employee PC Ownership Trend

The iPad, as with all Apple products, isn’t really focused on business use yet. Much like the iPhone, it will find its way into corporations through employees who buy them, though. Over at our CTO Edge site, writer Wayne Rash thinks you should be ready for these things.  Given that it will... More >

Loraine Lawson Loraine Lawson

Integration

Begin with business processes and then progress into leading-edge technologies

02.07.10

Is Integration Becoming an Asset for the Cloud?

Integration may be shifting from a liability to a non-issue and possibly even an asset for SaaS and cloud computing. Two things make me think this. First, it seems some companies are moving their EDI (electronic data interchange) services to the cloud, which means they can finally eliminate... More >

1 Comment

2/5/2010 4:37:00 PM

Oracle's Plans for Java

Monday, I posted an overview of what analysts were saying about Oracle's plans for integrating Sun. Somehow, I missed one important aspect of that plan: Oracle's intentions for Java. Oracle's executive VP of product development, Thomas Kurian, apparently had high praise and promises for Java. ... More >

Carl Weinschenk Carl Weinschenk

Data and Telecom

Companies’ communications strategies must be agile in a rapidly evolving market

02.08.10

Underlying Network Is out of Sight, but Shouldn't Be out of Mind

Technology rolls out in two interrelated ways: The bits and bytes and the marketing. In the best rollouts, these happen in synch, or close to it. The lead always is the marketing side. Whether it's convincing consumers to subscribe to VoIP or getting buy-in from workers, the push to convince... More >

2/4/2010 5:47:00 PM

The Smart Grid Is Heavy -- Very Heavy -- On Potential

The mutually beneficial relationship among the telecommunications, IT and power industries surrounding smart grid got a boost today as Current Group and Verizon agreed to work together to provide electric utilities with real-time power consumption and analysis. The platform will use Current’s... More >

Ken Hardin Ken Hardin

Editor’s Notes

Managing a business in a technology-driven world

01.29.10

Getting Touchy-Feely About the iPad

A quick hallway discussion yesterday with our Ann All and Ainsley Jones led me to confirm my initial suspicion about the iPad – it’s a big iPod Touch. This conclusion was further confirmed this morning over at our CTO Edge site by Wayne Rash , who still maintains that the Apple’s presumed... More >

1/4/2010 10:21:00 AM

Where Does the Project Team End and IT Begin?

I’ve been collecting anecdotes from a variety of sources on big failures in IT they have been involved in or witnessed. Not everyday, e-mail went down for 30 minutes failures – the big stuff. One tale of self-inflicted woe that really caught my eye came from Craig McLellan, the CTO of ... More >

Paul Mah Paul Mah

SMB Tech

Expert tech insight and advice for small businesses with big goals

02.08.10

The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack, Part 2

In my earlier blog, I elaborated on the My hope is that a better understanding of the actual process will enable small and medium businesses to better visualize their vulnerabilities, and hence make better decisions when it comes to investing to enhance their security. Today, I will talk... More >

1 Comment

2/7/2010 12:30:00 AM

Prepare for a Bumper Patch Tuesday for February

Administrators hoping for a light month for patching in February are going to be left feeling disappointed. Microsoft is due to release 13 bulletins for February's Patch Tuesday that address 26 different vulnerabilities in its software products.  In fact, five of them carry the maximum... More >

Mike Vizard Mike Vizard

IT Unmasked

Revealing the Business Value of Innovation

02.08.10

Financial Planning for the New Normal

As the current economic crisis begins to let up, now might be a good time for companies to revisit how well their financial controls were able to respond to dramatically changing business conditions. According to Doug Barton, IBM worldwide product marketing for financial planning management and... More >

2/8/2010 9:01:00 AM

Providing Differentiated Services in the Cloud

In the land grab that has pretty much been the hallmark of most vendor approaches to cloud computing, there’s been very little appreciation for the nuanced needs of specific types of customers. But as cloud computing services mature, it’s pretty clear that the providers of these services are soon... More >

1 Comment

Securing your data and network, inside and outside the perimeter

02.08.10

First Point of Security: Apply Those Patches!

Earlier I pointed out the importance of making sure you remain , as recommended by Kevin Prince at our Network Security Edge site. My colleague here at IT Business Edge, Paul Mah, put out a reminder that Tuesday is for Microsoft: a bumper crop of patches in fact, as Mah wrote: ... More >

1 Comment

2/5/2010 5:17:00 PM

Social Media and Security: 2010 and Beyond

Love it or hate it, one thing is true: Social media applications are here to stay, at least through the foreseeable future. Gartner recently announced its five social media software predictions for 2010 and the future : So what does this have to do with security? A lot. On Network... More >

3 Comments

Don Tennant Don Tennant

From Under the Rug

The more sensitive it is, the more it warrants discussion

02.09.10

Centralized Training May Be Answer to Replace-or Retrain Dilemma

One of the toughest challenges facing public companies in this country is figuring out how to satisfy Wall Street without decimating their loyal but costly workforces. I’ve met no one who has defined this problem more strikingly than Ron Hovsepian, the CEO of Novell. In an interview a couple... More >

2/7/2010 6:28:00 PM

Haiti Quake a Reminder of Need for National IT Corps/Reserve

As we approach the four-week mark since Haiti was devastated by the massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, we can begin to reflect on the relief effort and what entities have truly made a difference. At the top of my list are the active-duty U.S. military and the U.S. Army and Air... More >

5 Comments

02.08.10

IBM Power7 and Apple's ARM A4: The Advantages of Having Your Own Processor

A lot of things change in a decade. At the end of the '90s, it seemed clear that Intel's Itanium was going to dominate the UNIX world and that the proprietary processors would give way to the inevitable. Itanium slipped badly and, while most of the other custom processors went by the wayside,... More >

1 Comment

02.07.10

Prepare for a Bumper Patch Tuesday for February

Administrators hoping for a light month for patching in February are going to be left feeling disappointed. Microsoft is due to release 13 bulletins for February's Patch Tuesday that address 26 different vulnerabilities in its software products.  In fact, five of them carry the maximum... More >

02.08.10

SaaS Is Outsourcing Alternative for Some Companies

It's been about two years since I wrote about Gartner's prediction that software-as-a-service could be for at least some companies. Last week I spoke to Carl Gammon, the director of information systems for a company for which this is true, Minneapolis-based medical device manufacturer Minntech... More >

1 Comment

02.07.10

Is Integration Becoming an Asset for the Cloud?

Integration may be shifting from a liability to a non-issue and possibly even an asset for SaaS and cloud computing. Two things make me think this. First, it seems some companies are moving their EDI (electronic data interchange) services to the cloud, which means they can finally eliminate... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

Obama's 2011 Budget Suggests Agencies Use Cloud to Cut Costs

I'll be honest. When I wrote about last month's summit conference that and executives from technology-savvy firms like Southwest Airlines, I wondered if anything would come of it. The idea was for the private companies to impart some of their hard-won technology wisdom in hopes of making... More >

02.08.10

Underlying Network Is out of Sight, but Shouldn't Be out of Mind

Technology rolls out in two interrelated ways: The bits and bytes and the marketing. In the best rollouts, these happen in synch, or close to it. The lead always is the marketing side. Whether it's convincing consumers to subscribe to VoIP or getting buy-in from workers, the push to convince... More >

02.07.10

Haiti Quake a Reminder of Need for National IT Corps/Reserve

As we approach the four-week mark since Haiti was devastated by the massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, we can begin to reflect on the relief effort and what entities have truly made a difference. At the top of my list are the active-duty U.S. military and the U.S. Army and Air... More >

5 Comments

01.29.10

Did Lean Manufacturing Contribute to Toyota Recall?

A column by the Toronto Star 's David Olive makes an interesting point about Toyota , the automaker which recently suspended production at five of its North American factories due to problems with sticking accelerator pedals in several of its most popular vehicles. While Japanese competitor... More >

15 Comments

02.01.10

Is Enhanced Collaboration, or Something Else, Behind Boeing's Relocation of Engineers?

Even in an age where it's possible to collaborate with people across the world, some business processes work best when coworkers are in relatively close proximity to each other. E-mail, instant messaging, internal social networks and videoconferencing, solo or in combination, just can't convey all... More >

2 Comments

02.08.10

Providing Differentiated Services in the Cloud

In the land grab that has pretty much been the hallmark of most vendor approaches to cloud computing, there’s been very little appreciation for the nuanced needs of specific types of customers. But as cloud computing services mature, it’s pretty clear that the providers of these services are soon... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

First Point of Security: Apply Those Patches!

Earlier I pointed out the importance of making sure you remain , as recommended by Kevin Prince at our Network Security Edge site. My colleague here at IT Business Edge, Paul Mah, put out a reminder that Tuesday is for Microsoft: a bumper crop of patches in fact, as Mah wrote: ... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

Obama Affirms Commitment to Net Neutrality

As if we hadn't heard already, a pretty big name in U.S. politics is weighing in on the net neutrality debate: President Obama. In a followup to his State of the Union address , the president said: I’m a big believer in net neutrality. I campaigned on this. I continue to be a strong... More >

02.08.10

Google's Privacy Principles Still in Question?

The day before I wrote about Google's new , GoogleMonitor.com publisher Scott Cleland wrote on the same topic, except his post was far more detailed and pointed. He raised several questions that I hadn't considered until that point, and reinforced others that had been floating around in... More >

02.09.10

Centralized Training May Be Answer to Replace-or Retrain Dilemma

One of the toughest challenges facing public companies in this country is figuring out how to satisfy Wall Street without decimating their loyal but costly workforces. I’ve met no one who has defined this problem more strikingly than Ron Hovsepian, the CEO of Novell. In an interview a couple... More >

02.08.10

Financial Planning for the New Normal

As the current economic crisis begins to let up, now might be a good time for companies to revisit how well their financial controls were able to respond to dramatically changing business conditions. According to Doug Barton, IBM worldwide product marketing for financial planning management and... More >

02.08.10

Underlying Network Is out of Sight, but Shouldn't Be out of Mind

Technology rolls out in two interrelated ways: The bits and bytes and the marketing. In the best rollouts, these happen in synch, or close to it. The lead always is the marketing side. Whether it's convincing consumers to subscribe to VoIP or getting buy-in from workers, the push to convince... More >

02.08.10

First Point of Security: Apply Those Patches!

Earlier I pointed out the importance of making sure you remain , as recommended by Kevin Prince at our Network Security Edge site. My colleague here at IT Business Edge, Paul Mah, put out a reminder that Tuesday is for Microsoft: a bumper crop of patches in fact, as Mah wrote: ... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

Obama Affirms Commitment to Net Neutrality

As if we hadn't heard already, a pretty big name in U.S. politics is weighing in on the net neutrality debate: President Obama. In a followup to his State of the Union address , the president said: I’m a big believer in net neutrality. I campaigned on this. I continue to be a strong... More >

02.08.10

Obama's 2011 Budget Suggests Agencies Use Cloud to Cut Costs

I'll be honest. When I wrote about last month's summit conference that and executives from technology-savvy firms like Southwest Airlines, I wondered if anything would come of it. The idea was for the private companies to impart some of their hard-won technology wisdom in hopes of making... More >

02.08.10

Google's Privacy Principles Still in Question?

The day before I wrote about Google's new , GoogleMonitor.com publisher Scott Cleland wrote on the same topic, except his post was far more detailed and pointed. He raised several questions that I hadn't considered until that point, and reinforced others that had been floating around in... More >

02.08.10

IBM Power7 and Apple's ARM A4: The Advantages of Having Your Own Processor

A lot of things change in a decade. At the end of the '90s, it seemed clear that Intel's Itanium was going to dominate the UNIX world and that the proprietary processors would give way to the inevitable. Itanium slipped badly and, while most of the other custom processors went by the wayside,... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

SaaS Is Outsourcing Alternative for Some Companies

It's been about two years since I wrote about Gartner's prediction that software-as-a-service could be for at least some companies. Last week I spoke to Carl Gammon, the director of information systems for a company for which this is true, Minneapolis-based medical device manufacturer Minntech... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

Providing Differentiated Services in the Cloud

In the land grab that has pretty much been the hallmark of most vendor approaches to cloud computing, there’s been very little appreciation for the nuanced needs of specific types of customers. But as cloud computing services mature, it’s pretty clear that the providers of these services are soon... More >

1 Comment

02.08.10

The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack, Part 2

In my earlier blog, I elaborated on the My hope is that a better understanding of the actual process will enable small and medium businesses to better visualize their vulnerabilities, and hence make better decisions when it comes to investing to enhance their security. Today, I will talk... More >

1 Comment

02.07.10

Haiti Quake a Reminder of Need for National IT Corps/Reserve

As we approach the four-week mark since Haiti was devastated by the massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, we can begin to reflect on the relief effort and what entities have truly made a difference. At the top of my list are the active-duty U.S. military and the U.S. Army and Air... More >

5 Comments

02.07.10

Is Integration Becoming an Asset for the Cloud?

Integration may be shifting from a liability to a non-issue and possibly even an asset for SaaS and cloud computing. Two things make me think this. First, it seems some companies are moving their EDI (electronic data interchange) services to the cloud, which means they can finally eliminate... More >

1 Comment

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