News

• Enterprise: Closing the Loop on SLA Shortcomings
  Service level agreements (SLA) are nothing new. IT has worked with them for several decades in one form or another, so you'd think IT and its line-of-business customers would have perfected the art of service level management by now.   (7/1/2008)
• Security: Securing Your Applications
  Application developers increasingly need to protect their code because firewalls and other older technologies are no longer adequate.   (7/1/2008)
• Storage: Vendors Respond to De-Duplication Concerns (Part 3 of 3)
  Can de-duplication get you in trouble with regulators or auditors? Where else can de-duplication technology be used? What about other de-dupe benefits (like green IT)?   (7/1/2008)
• Enterprise: Global CEOs Endorse Green IT
  To be sure, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), IBM Corp., and Sun Microsystems Inc. aren't merely paying lip service to Green IT, since all three vendors have announced ambitious new offerings (or in IBM's case, initiatives) that purport to be green -- or green-er -- than conventional products.   (7/1/2008)
• Security: 8 Best Practices for Encryption Key Management and Data Security
  Data encryption is an important element of an organization’s response to security threats and regulatory mandates. What many organizations are finding is that while encryption is not difficult to achieve, managing the associated encryption keys across their lifecycle quickly becomes a problem that creates a new set of security vulnerabilities and risks making important data inaccessible to authorize users those who need it.   (7/1/2008)
• Enterprise: HP Touts NonStop Perfection
  For those in the market for a non-mainframe mainframe replacement, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) might have just what you’re looking for. The company’s new Integrity NonStop NB50000c BladeSystem is billed as HP’s fastest, densest, most reliable blade offering to date, with a can't-miss combination of its Integrity NonStop products and its highly-scalable (and highly affordable, according to officials) BladeSystem offerings.   (6/24/2008)
• Security: Attacks Target Firefox 3.0 Web Browser
  It’s ironic that just hours after Firefox 3.0 -- with its much-hyped security enhancements -- went live, a trio of researchers claimed to have found flaws in the next-gen browser.   (6/24/2008)
• Storage: A Sanity Check on De-Duplication (Part 2 of 3)
  De-duplication, a process simply and generically explained by the analyst community as describing data with fewer bits, is on everyone's mind. At the Storage Decisions conference a few weeks ago in Toronto, no less than a third of the sponsoring vendors were selling de-dupe solutions. Recent polls by analysts place the technology as number one or number two on the consumer's wish list, hoping it will save money by squeezing more data onto the same size spindles, thereby helping defer spending on new storage gear, providing a cost-effective way to store all the data that must be retained for regulatory and legal reasons, and reverse global warming trends by making IT operations greener.   (6/24/2008)
• Enterprise: Careers: IT Hiring Limited to Replacing Employees
  No one seems to know whether we’re in the midst of a minor economic bump in the road, an economic downturn, or an all out recession. However, if IT salaries are any indication, employers seem to be hedging their bets.   (6/24/2008)
• Security: Training IT to Secure Applications
  Software developers are increasingly under pressure to deliver secure applications quickly. By mixing open-source and homegrown code, programmers can speed development, but the combination may not address security issues.   (6/24/2008)
• Enterprise: Outsourcers Turn to Multisourcing to Reduce Risk
  Outsourcing "megadeals" appear to be on the wane: according to market watcher Gartner Inc., the number of reported megadeals -- contracts of $1 billion or more awarded to a single vendor -- actually declined last year. Does this mean that outsourcing itself is on the way out?   (6/17/2008)
• Security: MX Logic Introduces Security Crystal Ball
  Internet security firms are much better at telling you what's happening, but -- as a general rule -- aren't quite as good when it comes to telling you what's going to happen. This month, Internet security specialist MX Logic Inc. donned its wizard's hat, announcing a new Threat Forecast service that aims to keep security chiefs at least a step ahead of the bad guys.   (6/17/2008)
• Enterprise: Analysis: A Closer Look at IBM's Green Software Push
  For over a year, IBM Corp. has made “greening” a centerpiece of its marketing efforts, kicking off a $1 billion Green IT investment last spring ("Project Big Green"), touting mainframe-centric Greening initiatives, and -- just recently -- trumpeting a new "Green" approach to software!   (6/17/2008)
• BI: Expressor Touts Smarter, Leaner Data Integration
  Just when you thought it was safe to close the book on your enterprise ETL options, along comes data integration upstart Expressor Software   (7/2/2008)
• BI: BI Industry Shines Despite Vendor Consolidation, Economic Woes
  In spite of consolidation and a weaker U.S. economy, the BI industry increased at near-breakneck speed, growing 13 percent in the last year.   (7/2/2008)
• BI: Q&A: BI and the Data Dilemma
  Growing data volumes are challenging BI practitioners and IT staff alike. We explore new approaches to dealing with the problem.   (7/2/2008)
• BI: SAS Helps Organizations Sustain Their Green Initiatives
  Data warehouse practitioners, IT users, and employees in general may find that being "green" is much easier than ever before.   (7/2/2008)
• BI: HP, Oracle Announce Blade-based DW Appliance Killer
  The HP/Oracle appliance is optimized for what officials call the sweet spot of the DW appliance market -- the 1-4 TB range   (6/25/2008)
• BI: QL2 Tackles Complex, Unstructured Data
  QL2 specializes in indexing and querying the most complex unstructured data   (6/25/2008)
• BI: Ten Tips for Master Data Management Success
  We explore ten things you can do now to prepare your organization for your MDM initiative.   (6/25/2008)
• BI: TDWI Audio Report: Mitigating Risks in Data Integration
  Leaving sensitive data unprotected isn’t just bad business, it can be costly, and it can leave companies at risk of compliance violations with a variety of government and industry regulations.   (6/25/2008)
• BI: ChartSearch: Information Is Out There
  Even though BI search is an established technology, information retrieval problems still plague many organizations. ChartSearch says it can help.   (6/18/2008)
• BI: Non-traditional Users Hold Key to BI ROI
  Organizations should be feeding actionable insights to decision-makers further on down the line. That's where the ROI lies, according to Information Builders.   (6/18/2008)
• BI: BI: Green Data and Marketing Spin
  The parade of "green" data has arrived -- though most of it is one marketing pitch after another. Meanwhile, real problems and likely solutions stay on the sidelines.   (6/18/2008)
• BI: TDWI Audio Report: How New Technologies Affect ETL
  ETL technology has certainly not been stagnant, and neither have the many technologies surrounding it. Sweeping changes in users, technology, and culture have affected how this tool is used and by whom. We talk with Arman Eshraghi, CEO of LogiXML, about what ETL users need to know about how changes to technology have affected ETL.   (6/18/2008)