architecture

Embedded chips to fuel Internet's growth

Judi Hasson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:48:14 -0400

Intel believes the growth of the Internet will be fueled in the next few years by low-power embedded chips. Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president at Intel, said during a speech at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco that systems connected to the Internet will include infotainment systems in cars, navigation devices, and hardware associated with public places like health networks and traffic controls.

He said Intel is now developing embedded chips based on the Atom architecture for devices like mobile phones, set-top boxes and ATMs. Gelsinger, however, also said the company faces some challenges, including reliability, power consumption and life of those chips.

For more on insight into the future:
- see this PCWorld.com article

Via Technologies shows off 64-bit Nano CPU

Paul Mah — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:20:49 -0400

Via is set to plunge into the microprocessor market with the unveiling of the Nano CPU. Designed as an upgrade from its C7 processor, the Nano processor is based on the 64-bit Isaiah architecture and comes with a 1-MB L2 cache with a front-side bus of 800 MHz. It is also pin-compatible and can fit into the same socket used by a C7 processor. Switching the manufacturing process from 90 nm for the C7 to 65 nm allowed the Nano to offer up to four times the performance within the same power envelop. Via Nano systems are expected to arrive on the market by the third quarter.

For more on the new Nano processor:
- check out this article

eBay's secret to innovation

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Just how do you maintain a competitive edge, stimulate innovation and align IT with key business objectives? James Barrese, VP of systems and architecture at eBay tackles some of these issues in a think piece for InformationWeek. His credentials for offering some prescriptions are impressive. eBay serves 233 million users and is growing at a rate of 130,000 users per day. It hosts 100 million concurrent listings, which are updated at a rate of 500 times per second and are searched 3,800 times per second.

So, how do they do it? The key is to establish global, automated and interdisciplinary solution development teams. The company has moved away from the more traditional "waterfall" solution development cycle in which you start with a business concept, create a list of requirements, and hand them off to engineers for implementation.

The technology group at eBay has been restructured into global, cross-functional teams, which include business-unit representatives, a product management group, technology staff, and customer service representatives. In addition, these teams are physically integrated. Barrese writes that the company rolled out the new process and organizations in the first quarter of this year with positive feedback from both the technical and business teams.

For all the details on eBay and innovation:
- learn more in the InformationWeek article

Taking the pain out of BI

Thu, 03 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

To create the discipline required to collect, manage and ensure the completeness and accuracy of the information required to make BI effective, have a cadre of good business analysts at the ready. These analysts tend to have a very good understanding of the business, as well as what the information in the business means from the front end and how that feeds into the back end. It's also important to sell key members of the senior team on a long-term vision of an architecture that will support opportunities in the future. That means using an approach that's both strategic and structured, and doing a good selling job on rising costs. Have a realistic view of where your data is at the start, and what it will take to improve its quality. Invest in a good data architect and ensure that your BI architecture is integrated to the rest of your architecture and not just a bolt-on to the rest of your systems. Understand the breadth and cost of your existing BI systems, including the hidden systems in end-user computing, and understand how they integrate with your solution. Finally, make sure you have executive alignment and real BI demand from the business.

Learn more about taking the pain out of business intelligence:
- read the article at CIO Canada

ALSO:
- read this about making the most of business intelligence
- this on Business Intelligence 101
- this on how collaboration increases business intelligence
- and this on intelligent business intelligence

Success with SOA means showing stakeholders the benefits

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:01:36 -0400

The major hurdle for SOA deployments is getting the organization to understand the architecture and the business benefits that it will bring. To overcome these barriers, make sure to keep stakeholders informed and implement the technology in a real way with real business benefits. Also, get to know your partners' processes at a high level before developing the detail of how the infrastructure will work.

Learn more about successful SOA projects:
- read the article at Silicon.com

ALSO:
- read this on whether SOA will work in your environment
- this on the basics of SOA
- this on the four stages of successful SOA
- this on whether SOA will help or hinder the alignment of business and IT
- and this on taking it slow with SOA deployments

The top security mistakes enterprises make

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:01:35 -0400

If you're looking to shore up security then it's definitely worthwhile to check out an in-depth guide to the six worst security mistakes an enterprise can make. The list includes; not building a secure architecture, ignoring the needed training, avoiding using identity management tools, not recognizing the internal security risks, forgetting about securing Web appliances and going for products with more fluff than substance. Each topic is covered in-depth with good tips and suggestions for making sure each area gets needed attention by the IT organization.

For more on avoiding top security mistakes:
- get the lowdown at NetworkWorld

PLUS: Why security accountability is long overdue. Article

New way for stopping denial-of-service attacks

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:01:38 -0400

A multi-million dollar security research effort in the works for the past two years is producing some new tech strategies for fighting sophisticated denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that are gaining in popularity with hackers. Partly funded by Information Society Technologies, a European Union group, the research effort is developing an architecture featuring a new type of firewall that deploys both software and hardware at the edge of a provider's network, rather than inside the network environment. The solution detects anomalies and unusual network activity, such as unexpected bandwidth draw, and prevents access to computers so they can't be used as part of a bot army.

For more on the new tool for fighting DDoS:
- check out this article at CIO Today