roadmap

AMD announces 6 and 12-core CPUs

Mehan Jayasuriya — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:32:41 -0400

The quad-core race might only be heating up now, but that isn't stopping AMD from stepping its game up in the war for more core. We've reported before that 6 and 12-core chips from AMD were a distinct possibility and it looks like we were right on the money: AMD has officially added 6 and 12-core parts to their roadmap. Both the 6-core "Sao Paulo" and the 12-core "Magny-Cours" will be based on an all-new platform called "Maranello," not Barcelona. According to AMD, 12-core CPUs will be easier to manufacture, so they've decided to cancel the 8-core Barcelona and skip over that generation all together. According to the roadmap, 6-core AMD chips should be available next year, with 12-core models following in 2010.

For more on the forthcoming CPUs:
- see this New York Times article

Storage virtualization going mainstream

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:59:57 -0500

This time last year, desktop virtualization was the talk of the town in IT circles. If analysts are to be believed, however, 2008 could be the year that storage virtualization takes off in the enterprise--and starts showing a little return on investment (ROI) to boot. According to a new study by IT analysis firm TheInfoPro, roughly half of the Fortune 1000 companies that are currently testing storage virtualization will start using the technology for full production use during the next two years. "There is still a lot to go. This trend is expected to continue up in 2008 and 2009," TheInfoPro's Managing Director of Storage Research, Robert Stevenson said. "The number of storage organizations that are users of block virtualization has almost doubled since 2006, to 21 percent in 2007 from 13 percent." As storage virtualization can make use of physical storage that would otherwise go to waste, the technology can hook enterprises up with significant storage savings in the long run. If you haven't yet looked into the tech, you might want to book up some testing time in your 2008 roadmap.

For more on the latest virtualization trends:
- see this eWeek article

Minimizing SOA issues

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

SOA has lots of benefits, but it isn't without its challenges. The task of identifying universal processes and tools that are used by the entire organization and by separate departments can be extremely complex. Governance also is difficult, and the right management tools are vital. One way to minimize those challenges is to implement IT Service Management (ITSM) using the widely accepted approach of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ITSM and ITIL facilitate the roadmap so that IT is treated more like a business. When a company links SOA, ITSM, and ITIL together in its approach to IT alignment, business becomes more agile, efficient, and cost-effective. Developing an integrated approach to SOA with ITSM usually requires a phased roadmap, which takes time. The vital starting point is not technology, but identifying the business-specific services in an organization.

Learn more about combining ITSM with SOA:
- read the article at CIO Update

ALSO:
- read this on SOA governance
- this on taking it slow with SOA deployments
- this on getting started with SOA
- this on whether SOA will work in your environment
- this on the basics of SOA
- and this on the four stages of successful SOA

Making open source attractive to businesses

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

The Open Solutions Alliance (OSA), a non-profit consortium dedicated to increasing businesses' use of open-source software, has developed an interoperability roadmap and announced its first major project. The interoperability roadmap outlines the specific interoperability problems the consortium expects to address and provides a timeline. The end result for each issue will be a document describing standards and best practices that the open-source community can use as a guide for building and deploying interoperable software. A companion project has the OSA creating prototypes of working code to show that the interoperability principles work in practice. The first prototype is the Common Customer View, which will bring together information held in different members' applications including CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning) and business intelligence software and legacy point-of-sale applications. Once complete, when a user updates information about a customer in an ERP application, they will be able to see that new information as they access the same customer's record held in their CRM software.

For more on the Open Solutions Alliance:
- read the article at LinuxWorld

Survey: IT staff aren't happy

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

According to a new survey conducted on behalf of online learning vendor SkillSoft, 75 percent of technical personnel are unhappy enough to consider quitting. However, another survey, by the Chartered Management Institute, noted that IT managers don't feel they are getting enough opportunities to develop their careers while on the job. In general, IT staff are turned off by jobs that are not fulfilling, challenging or interesting. Turning the situation around means first seeing technical staff as more than just programmers or systems analysts. Instead, expose them to the business and provide adequate motivation by providing training and developing employees so that they can move into different roles in the organization. Also, make sure that IT workers know they are respected and recognized. Training, career development and guidance are ways of demonstrating this.

CIOs can start by creating a competency framework based on their requirements and can then use it to assess their team's expertise. They can then develop a roadmap to build up the skills required to undertake certain roles, broken down by broad IT knowledge, specializations and softer skills.

Learn more about keeping IT staff happy:
- read the article at Computing

ALSO: read this on why IT staff hate their bosses

BPM: A step toward innovation

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Business Process Management (BPM) has enough to recommend it on its own, but it can also play an important role in ensuring that the organization is on the cutting edge. Because it forces executives to be more aware of the processes within the company, it drives discipline, a necessary precursor to innovation. In fact, many BPM projects are undertaken to make businesses more innovative and agile, a change from just a few years ago when they were cost-motivated. BPM can also help SOA gain traction, because BPM builds services-oriented business applications that bind together many services into a process. But BPM is only as good as the people running it. With intelligent and insightful people at the helm, you'll get more intelligence and process out of your systems.

For more about BPM:
- read this Optimize article

Related Articles:
BPM can drive innovation. Report
Use BPM to address neglected areas. Report
BPM is a window into business performance. Report
Why IT must lead the BPM charge. Report
A roadmap for putting BPM to work. Report

ALSO NOTED: CIOs worry about soft issues; IT advancement for women;

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

> Two groups join forces to deliver IT career training and advancement programs for women. Press release

> Survey: CIOs consider "softer" issues like flexibility a high priority. Article

> Major tech vendors team to advance the concept of service innovation. Article

> Microsoft releases System Center Operations Manager 2007 and roadmap. Article

> Monitoring and Securing Enterprise Data. Article

> What characterizes a good service? Blog

> The angels and demons of business security. Press release

And Finally... Best practices for managing unstructured storage. Article

Doing BPM right

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Effectively measuring business performance isn't easy, but business performance management (BPM) technology can help. Good BPM tools and methodologies can help organizations measure their progress and improve performance. That means getting an executive sponsor, setting goals, determining key performance indicators, defining technology requirements, choosing a technology only after assessing what you need from it and how you want it integrated, avoiding vendor hype, gaining user buy-in, finding an engagement manager to manage the project to completion, educating your users, and analyzing your results.

To learn more about doing BPM right:
- read the report at BitPipe

Related Articles:
How BPM can drive innovation. Report
BPM as a window to business performance. Report
IT must lead the BPM charge. Report
A roadmap to putting BPM to work. Report

Analysis: Taking control of process management

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:01:39 -0400

IT managers can solidify their positions and establish a leading role for IT by embracing business process management (BPM), according to the recent Gartner BPM summit. But that can only happen by resolving the friction between management and IT. For IT leaders looking to progress in their careers, this is the time to act, but doing so means being prepared to move quickly. Be aware that whatever your company produces, you now work in a global economy and change can span continents. Businesses of all sizes also must adapt to the climate of regulation. But BPM has come into its own and is worth the fight. It offers standardized and flexible IT systems, innovation, differentiation, global consistency, transparency and portability.

Read more about taking control of BPM:
- read the article at ZDNet UK

ALSO:
- read this about focusing on neglected areas using BPM
- this on how BPM can drive innovation
- this on the basics of BPM
- this on why IT must lead the BPM charge
- and this on a roadmap to putting BPM to work

Why IT must lead the BPM charge

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:01:36 -0500

You likely know it by another name but business process management (known formerly as business process re-engineering) is gaining traction once again in the enterprise, as companies take a long hard look at processes to increase efficiency and save money. One possible option is using automation wherever possible or even outsourcing the non-critical tech work. It's an IT project that has to be continually energized with modeling, analysis and monitoring--not a one time act. As one CIO explains, the IT team is the best choice for leading the BPM charge.

For more on making BPM happen:
- read the article at CIO

Related Articles:
A roadmap to putting BPM to work. Report
Automation helping monitoring effort. Report