blueprint

VMware talks virtual desktop

Paul Mah — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:11:58 -0400

VMware is going for a bigger slice of the virtualized desktop pie by offering a hands-on training service that is done onsite. Named the VMware Desktop Infrastructure Jumpstart service, the idea is to lower the barriers for companies who are amenable to the idea of virtual desktops, yet are stumped or intimidated by complexities relating to OS licensing and implementations etcetera. What happens is that certified VMware personnel will train existing staff in setting up the said environment for between 10 and 25 desktops over two days.

Bigger setups can go for the Plan and Design for VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Application Virtualization, which is more of a consultation service in which a blueprint is drawn up for initial implementation and maintenance. In addition, VMware also has teamed up with Sun to make VMware's own VDI work with Sun's Sun Ray solution.

For more on VMware's push for the virtual desktop:
- check out this article at The Register

How a strategic plan can sink

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Alex Cullen, of Forrester Research, has some tips--a kind of top 10 list--for CIOs who want develop an affective strategic plan. One key point, he says, is to create a blueprint for action, not just a stale document. If the strategic plan is about making new technology investments, it must detail the right staffing for that technology decision, the right processes for the technology and other factors crucial to carrying out the plan.

When the plan is presented to the company executives, it must show the business as well as the technology value of the IT changes, and not be overly long or unreadable. In addition, it must be focused, not just a mindless list of initiatives.

To learn more about strategic planning:
- see this searchcio.com article

What a CIO needs for a blueprint

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Whoever thought that a CIO would need a map to do his job? Well, that certainly seems to be the way it's going these days. The CIO needs a clear blueprint for his organization and for its goals. It's no longer enough to have a "To Do" list or "Goals" for the year. With the constant change facing a CIO, it's important to have a map with every issue planned out so that focusing on a particular problem is no longer by the "seat of your pants."

Now, you can go to a library or order a book from Amazon.com that can help you. One is called the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, a set of 10 books of best practices for IT service management. Two others are COBIT, or Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology, and ISO 17799. Taken together, these texts make it possible to develop a blueprint that is more than writing a few ideas down on a paper napkin. These three books make it possible for you to go from "Start" to "Finish" without a detour.

For more on developing your own roadmap:
- See this InformationWeek Article

New spec could help networks communicate better

Tue, 22 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

If the Service Modeling Language (SML) specification, which was submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in March, becomes a standard, it could make disparate network components communicate better with each other. SML, which is based on XML, provides a common language for communication between systems management software by using a standard vocabulary and common programming language, which could help vendors create ideal configurations and provide ongoing recommendations for maintaining systems in heterogeneous environments. All of this would allow any component on the network to have an ideal configuration model or blueprint as a guide for IT managers to follow. Although SML is not yet a standard, several vendors, including Microsoft and IBM, have already embedded tools based on similar specifications into their products. For example, Microsoft's prequel to SML, the System Definition Model (SDM), is already used in Windows Server 2008, code-named Windows Longhorn. The next version of Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager, as well as Windows Server 2008, will have the SML standard embedded.

Read more about the forthcoming SML standard:
- read the article at TechTarget

ALSO: read this for more information about SML

Implementing an organizational information strategy

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:01:39 -0400

If you want to be able to find any piece of information at any time--a critical requirement in these days of e-discovery and e-litigation--you had better consider implementing an organizational information strategy: an organization's unified blueprint for the capture, integration, processing, delivery and presentation of information in a clean, consistent and timely manner. It should be delivered consistently across the organization and users and applications shouldn't have to wait long to get their requested information. The new reality of Web 2.0 also requires this approach; these technologies demand both internal and external information.

Read more about the value of implementing an organizational information strategy:
- read the article at CIO Update

Transit agency does Duet to make ERP work

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 20:01:38 -0400

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is in the blueprint phase of using a collaborative technology from SAP and Microsoft to reduce ERP complexity and boost enterprise resource planning (ERP) integration capabilities. The transportation agency has bought a thousand licenses for Duet, formerly called Mendocino, which allows interoperability between SAP's ERP applications and Microsoft desktop products and grants users access through an Outlook interface and Exchange email. According to agency tech leaders, Duet technology is critical to its $36.5 million SAP AG effort that is underway.

For more on the agency's ERP effort:
- check out the story at BPM Today