Infrastructure

Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager to be ready by end of year

Paul Mah — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:07:59 -0400

Microsoft announced earlier this week that its System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) will be ready by end of the year. This will bring Microsoft in line to ship within the last three months of this year, as promised many times previously. The SCVMM is Microsoft's first tool created to manage its new Hyper-V virtualization platform. Analysts agree that it is one of the key pieces missing from Microsoft's virtualization game plan. Indeed, the absence of an advanced management is certainly hampering the take-up in its Hyper-V product. This is because it is extremely difficult to manage any large-sized infrastructure without proper virtualization management tools.

To find out more about Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager:
- check out this Network World article

Home Depot snags eBay's CTO

Judi Hasson — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:05:50 -0400

Home improvement retailer Home Depot has gone outside its ranks to hire a new CIO, Matt Carey, to replace Bob DeRodes. Carey will will join the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer on Sept. 8, following a stint as eBay's chief technology officer. He's moving from one giant to the other, and although the title is slightly different, the mission is the same: Keep technology moving.

Prior to his time at eBay, Carey spent more than 20 years with Wal-Mart, where he managed the rollout of their wireless RF infrastructure, was responsible for the company's mainframe large systems and data warehouse, and led the implementation and integration of wal-mart.com and samsclub.com.

For more on this surprise move:
- see this Atlanta Business Chronicle article

Huge IT networks ready for Democratic convention

Judi Hasson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:53:24 -0400

The Democratic National Convention, set for next week in Denver, will be a high-tech affair. Qwest has laid down 3,400 standard voice lines and 2,600 new data lines, and has upgraded its infrastructure with 3,344 miles of fiber and 140 miles of copper and coaxial cable. The company also has deployed video equipment that can handle 130 simultaneous video feeds, and is providing convention goers with a 40Gbps Ethernet pipe.

"It will be 10 times the size of the Super Bowl," said Rick Mabry, Qwest's director of network operations. "The scale of this network is so large that instead of laying stuff down on the ground, we put it underground and are bringing it up to where it's needed." Besides landline web and voice connectivity, delegates, the press and others will have high-quality wireless voice and data services, and much more.

For details on the Denver convention:
- see this Network World.com article

U.S. faces bigger threat from cyber attacks

Judi Hasson — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:21:41 -0400

Don't duck yet, but experts are predicting the next large-scale military or terrorist attack on the United States may be a cyber attack. Experts say last week's attack on the former Soviet republic of Georgia was preceded by an Internet assault that overwhelmed the Georgian government. And these security experts say a cyber attack could be just as devastating to the U.S. economy and infrastructure as a deadly bomb.

"Nobody's come up with a way to prevent this from happening, even here in the U.S.," said Tom Burling, acting chief executive of Tulip Systems, an Atlanta web-hosting firm that volunteered its Internet servers to protect the nation of Georgia's websites from malicious traffic.

"The U.S. is probably more Internet-dependent than any place in the world," Burling continued. "So to that extent, we're more vulnerable than any place in the world to this kind of attack. So much of what we're doing [in the United States] is out there on the Internet, and all of that can be taken down at once."

For more on this possible threat:
- check out this cnn.com article

How to avoid server remorse

Judi Hasson — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:15:26 -0400

Purchasing a new server or servers is a key business decision for IT professionals. You need to know how much processing power and storage capacity is required, and must be able to provide the right infrastructure for your company. But it is easy to slip up, spending huge sums on technology that either doesn't work the way you anticipated or is quickly outmoded. Inc.com has some basic tips to avoid server purchasing mistakes, and to help you prepare to make that big purchase pay off.

One key piece of advice: Don't think short-term by underestimating capacity and buying too small. Another suggestion: Be aware, in advance, of what people, tools and processes will be key to keeping the server running. The experts also suggest not loading up essential data on one server in the event of a breakdown, knowing your server's power needs and planning for environmental requirements, including temperature controls.

For details on purchasing pitfalls:
- Check out this Inc.com article

Energy costs force workplace changes

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

The high and ever-increasing cost of gasoline and airline tickets will mean less travel for corporate employees, changes in work patterns and greater reliance on IT departments.

In interviews at Forrester Research Inc.'s IT Forum 2008 conference in Las Vegas, about a dozen IT managers and senior staff told Computerworld that their companies either are exploring or implementing telecommuting options to assist employees, as well as turning to virtual-meeting technologies, like video conferencing, to save money.

To read more about impact of energy on your budget:
- see this Computerworld.com article

HP upgrades archiving software

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Hewlett-Packard Co. has rolled out an improved version of its HP Database Archiving software that could be good news for IT pros. The new software comes equipped with a visual design tool that HP says will allow IT departments to quickly model their core business applications and maintain data for regulatory compliance and e-discovery needs.

Kevin O'Malley, product marketing manager for database archiving at HP, said the new software "marries the infrastructure and business."

"We think this will change the game, he said. "Customers can do archived deployment far more readily and align the business and the IT objectives of managing the data."

To read more about the new HP software:
- check out this searchcio.com article

Olympics IT in final stages

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

The Beijing Olympics are a massive undertaking, and IT services to support the event are a big part of the effort. Atos Origin is the worldwide IT partner for the Olympic Games, overseeing the infrastructure that features 10,000 PCs, 1,000 servers and 5,000 results systems terminals. The system includes a suite of applications for managing the games and publishing the results of events, and is protected by state-of-the-art security.

The IT experts and their teams now are moving from the development of the technology to the testing and operational phases with the games less than 100 days away.

To read more about tech and the China games:
- see this silicon.com article

Relieving overloaded email systems

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Sharing large documents, media files or data files is critical in the workplace and many CIOs rely on email systems because they are easy to use and familiar to most people. But as many IT executives know, making the email system the de facto content management system for communications has its drawbacks including bandwidth and storage constraints and increasing storage costs. Pepperdine University CIO Timothy Chester tells of his trials and tribulations dealing with this issue. At first, he instituted file size limits for the attachments passing through the university's email system but were unable to accommodate users' needs and folks turned to free email services from Microsoft, Yahoo and Google as well as social networks like Facebook and MySpace. That, in turn, created security problems for the IT department.

The solution? Turning to a secure file transfer solution that would be easy to use and cost-effective while at the same time providing relief for the over-burdened email system. In his case, it was Accellion, a product he says allowed students, faculty and staff at the university to use the email technology they already know yet still collaborate on sending large files quickly and easily without an exposure to security risks.

To read more about the Pepperdine IT experience:
- See this CIO Magazine article

For more stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Hard Drive Crusher is serious about security.
> Parallels adds Leopard Server support.
> First Atom devices coming in June.

Cloud computing is here to stay

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

You may shrug off cloud computing as the latest fad and nothing more. But you better listen up because it is here to stay. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and a few other big vendors are investing $5 billion to build the infrastructure and sell IT through the cloud, according to Gartner. It will make it easier and cheaper to get the IT services you need. And if you have had a desire to dismiss what you think is just another label, think about it again.

For more on the next IT trend:
- See this SearchCIO article