executive director

Disaster plans must vary

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

IT executives often focus on data center replication, building design and backups when doing disaster planning. Yet experts say that recovery plans should be customized for whichever type of major disaster is most likely to occur in any given area. Ken Brill, founder and executive director of The Uptime Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, believes that regional considerations such as city location, proximity to the ocean, whether the data center will be near a flood plain and even variables such as whether the data center is near an exterior wall, should all be considered carefully, not on broad computing guidelines.

For more on how to craft a disaster plan:
- Check out this CIO Magazine article

Protect data at all costs

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

It's so important to protect your data that you cannot skimp on making your storage systems as airtight as you can, according to users at ComputerWorld's Storage Networking World conference last week. Attendees at the event said that they continue spending money on storage despite growing economic pressure to cut back on IT expenses. A survey at the conference found that one-third of attendees listed IT budget constraints as their top challenge in storage management. But John Striber, executive director of IT at George P. Johnson Co., an Auburn Hills, Mich.-based events marketing firm, said that his company plans to buy an email archiving tool because it will help save on long-term retention costs. "If I found a good e-mail archiving solution here, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it," said Striber. "The economy doesn't really influence me. Taking care of our immediate needs and planning for the future--that's what's expected of me."

For more on data protection costs:
- See this ComputerWorld article

A seat at the table

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 07:59:56 -0400

Until recently, the CIO was considered an afterthought at many companies. But a new study at MIT and Harvard shows that 80 percent of the 175 CIOs polled now consider themselves a valuable member of the executive leadership team. How things have changed! The study was released by IBM in conjunction with the launch of its Center for CIO Leadership. Harvey Koeppel, the center's executive director, says that the study shows an increased awareness by other members of the c-suite with regard to how important CIOs are. "Senior management increasingly recognizes technology as central to innovation and competitive advantage. As a result, more and more CIOs are gaining a prominent seat at the table in their executive teams and are playing an active role in strategic business decisions."

To read more about the growing importance of CIOs:
- see the CIO Update article

Judge slams SCO in Novell Unix case

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

In what is being seen as a huge victory for users of open-source in the enterprise, a judge in Utah has ruled that Novell is the owner of the Unix and Unixware copyrights. The news comes in response to SCO's charges of slander and breach of contract. SCO must now pay Novell for licensing revenue from Sun Microsystems and Microsoft. On top of that ruling, the judge ruled that because Novell owns the Unix copyright, the company can require that SCO end its suits against IBM and Sequant. Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, told Computerworld that the decision is "abysmal" news for SCO. "Their future is looking bleak," he added.

For more on Novell and Unix:
- read the article in Computerworld

Don't jump ship without answering some questions

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:01:35 -0500

A recent report indicated that the end of the year seems to be a prime time for employees to make a job switch. And given the robust salaries for IT professionals thanks to the talent crunch, there's likely more than a few folks giving notice and taking on new challenges these days. But as one hiring expert notes, there are likely quite a few tech leaders turning down offers as well and that's not necessarily a bad trend. Before signing on to that new role, Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, recommends that you find out some important things about the new opportunity before jumping into a new role. For example, make sure there is a clear advancement path. Additionally, make sure that it's a challenging role and that the company culture is a good fit for your personality.

For more on what to know before changing jobs:
- read the column at Computerworld

Related Article: Compensation increasing for techies. Article

Planning for Vista deployment

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 19:01:39 -0500

The anticipation for Windows Vista is reaching a fever pitch, but before you pull Vista into the enterprise and start upgrading and revamping, there's a bit of planning that you must do, to account for how deployment is going to impact IT resources. According to Katherine Spence Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, the issues of having the right personnel, having enough personnel and having good personnel training must be addressed long before you sign the license agreement.

For more on good Vista deployment planning:
- read the column at Optimize

Better cyber security law needed

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:01:35 -0400

A former presidential assistant and Homeland Security Council director is pushing for Congress to take action in thwarting IT-related security breaches, saying that it's not only a serious threat to individuals' confidential data but could also impact the country's economic growth. Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, says that a comprehensive law is needed to make a difference.

For more on the push for a better federal security law:
- read the column at BusinessWeek

The value of a wisdom network

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:01:36 -0400

Wisdom is a term that typically brings connotations of years of experience, old age and grandfatherly advice to mind. But as one IT executive defines it, wisdom is a "differentiating and sustainable commodity" of knowledge combined with intelligence and good judgment. The result of good wisdom, says Steve Benton, an executive director of IT at UBS Investment Bank, is innovation. Learn about the "wisdom network" strategy that Benton believes in and find out why tech leaders can harness this network to leverage both visible, and invisible, knowledge.

For more on growing a wisdom strategy:
- read the feature at Optimize