deployed

Symantec hunts for takeover firms

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

Symantec is looking for new companies to buy in order to keep pace with the online security market. CEO John Thompson said that Symantec sees a future in that line of technology business. No surprises there. It's one of the biggest areas in the technology arena, and the issue keeps growing all the time. "If I were to think about broad categories of technology where we have an interest they might include three or four important areas: data loss prevention, transaction-based security, server management, and then complementary services across those three software domains," Thompson said. Thompson said a number of trends are likely to dominate the tech market. That includes the realization by companies that anti-virus technology alone may not protect a company's database. He said security would need to be deployed at several layers of the information infrastructure. And he said it is likely that policy-based security will overtake the rule-based policies. With these ever-moving targets, what do you think? Are you ready for these changes?

For more on Symantec:
- See this PCWorld article

SOA: flexibility at the expense of control?

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

SOA may be offering CIOs new levels of flexibility, but many are also expressing worries about a loss of control over applications that are managed and perhaps even deployed outside of the IT environment. According to Paul Patrick, chief architect at BEA Systems, one of the big challenges with SOA is losing control over the company's applications and IT processes while determining how much leeway to give business groups. The key is to absorb the capabilities of SOA while maintaining strong IT governance.

For more advice on starting an SOA implementation:
- see the article in Baseline

CIOs in Major Cities Forge Ahead with MuniWiFi

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Many CIOs from various large cities are moving ahead with their citywide WiFi plans, despite criticisms of high cost and unreliable service. Cities can justify their investment by attracting new business, through support of public safety radio traffic, and by abolishing the digital divide. Bill Oates, chief information officer for Boston, had been running his city's new WiFi network for a month in the blocks surrounding City Hall when citizens began to complain that the Internet service provider used a content filter that blocked certain websites. The number of municipalities with planned or deployed public broadband networks has risen from 122 in July 2005 to 385 in May 2007, according to MuniWireless.

Read more about what other cities are doing:
- See this article from CIO Magazine

BI: What does it mean for your inventory?

Wed, 23 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Ventana Research reports that companies with real-time visibility into projects and performance metrics have IT spending effectiveness levels that are 64 percent higher than those that do not. Executives at Dick's Sporting Goods sports stores recently overhauled how the company analyzes its product lines, building and tracking reports for sales. The company has used merchandise management software that tracked inventory for its stores and distribution points for years, but had no single repository where reports and figures were kept, Baseline reports. The chain recently deployed business intelligence software from MicroStrategy to mine the warehouse and create standard reports displaying, among other things, how apparel and equipment were selling from store to store and in different regions across the country.

To learn more about how Dick's Sporting Goods is utilizing business intelligence:
- read the full article in Baseline

Satisfying network demands

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

As companies grow, their networks become more complicated, thanks to additional sites, users and applications. As a result, performance can slow, which often leads to adding extra bandwidth. But before going this expensive route, analyze how your current bandwidth is being used and whether the infrastructure is properly designed for its purpose. Once you have an accurate picture of your network architecture, understand the applications and platforms deployed on the network. Then it's time to consider more effective network management and traffic monitoring tools, which can help manage heavy volumes of web-based traffic and latency-sensitive applications such as VoIP. In some cases, IT departments can improve things by using already-existing network monitoring and analysis features to learn more about traffic at the application level. Many networking vendors, like Cisco, Juniper Networks and router vendor Huawei, have analysis and monitoring tools, which can offer a significant return on investment.

Learn more about harnessing the power of networks:
- read the article at Computing

ALSO:
- read this on soft issues gaining importance in network decisions
- and this on network downtime draining productivity

Study: Poor governance = project failure

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:39 -0400

IT governance initiatives are generally deployed only within the IT department, leading to a lack of coordination between the IT part of the project and the overall management of business transformation initiatives. This type of poor IT governance leads to project failure, increased costs, data security risks, problems with regulatory compliance and inefficiency, according to a report from consultancy Butler Group. Much of this, the report says, is due to a lack of awareness of IT in boardrooms, although it is generally believed to be the board's responsibility to ensure that large capital expenditures are managed properly. The solution is creating a separate IT governance committee with non-IT executives to oversee and scrutinize large IT projects. This committee can also ensure that risks are identified and mitigated and that transparency exists.

Learn more about the effects of poor IT governance:
- read the article at Silicon

ALSO: read this on the importance of IT governance

Measuring a city's performance

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:01:38 -0500

The city of Atlanta is embarking on an ambitious $2 million business intelligence software deployment, which officials say will provide metrics on department performance and help the city become more efficient in all areas. The application, Cognos 8 BI software, will be deployed to 1,000 users over the next 12 to 18 months and will assess performance metrics on everything from pothole repair time to more complicated reporting needs. The new system replaces other tools such as Excel spreadsheets and performance management software from CorVu, which are currently in use.

For more on the city's performance assessment project:
- read the article at Computerworld

SPOTLIGHT: The risk of today's wireless explosion

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:01:34 -0400

Today's road warriors love the fact that there's wireless Internet access pretty much everywhere--it has even been deployed in a remote Amazon city. What they might not love as much, though, is the fact that their laptop or handheld can be easily hacked via many of these cutting-edge networks. While it's the IT team's responsibility to do as much as possible to protect the data and communications housed and transmitted via these devices, it's also very important that users realize that free access comes with a very big risk. Article

SPOTLIGHT: How New Orleans prepares for future disasters

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:01:34 -0400

Rescue operations are the main focus when a storm like Hurricane Katrina hits but as New Orleans IT leaders prove, the secondary focus is putting planning and technology in place to ensure that communications and services aren't knocked out the next time a natural disaster occurs. Find out what they've deployed on the telecom front and learn about the various technologies that keep systems and communication lines open and running in the event of a disaster. Article

Fed deadline to protect data comes and goes

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:01:35 -0400

Given the laptop thefts and other security incidents hitting the news on the federal government level, it's safe to say that a mandate for good security checklists and proper remote data protection hasn't been deployed too well. The Office of Management and Budget had declared agencies, by this past August 7th, develop a security checklist, work on encrypting mobile data, provide remote access through two-factor authentications and verification on database extraction activity.

For more insight on the federal security mandate status:
- read more at InformationWeek