Canadian IT Managers

New math for Windows 7 deployments using automation and self service

Ruth Morton — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:51:00 GMT

This is a guest blog post written by Dave Kawula, a Senior Consultant with 1E. Dave was the guest on our January episode of the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk where we talked about how IT managers can take the risk out of their Windows 7 deployment projects. Below Dave details cost savings that can be claimed by implementing automation and self service as part of your deployment project.

Read Dave’s other guest post on rationalizing your apps prior to a Windows 7 deployment >>

Imagine that you have finally completed the following phases of your project:

Core Architecture, Gold Image Build and Test, Application Rationalization, Testing, Testing, and more Testing

Now you need to get your images deployed to end users…well this is a problem because most organizations lack the forethought to automate this process.

So when it comes to deploying Microsoft’s operating systems there are really two choices that we are normally presented with: Lite Touch and Zero Touch. Let’s take a moment and define both of these:

Lite Touch = Some manual intervention from a desktop analyst or from user driven menus.
Zero Touch = Fully automated builds when an administrator can choose to deploy operating system upgrades on demand.

Now do either of the above work… the answer is yes absolutely. The issue is that all of this requires Careful coordination and communication to end users. This process normally involves hiring project managers, business analysts, corporation communication specialists, and costly IT Engineering time.

My question is this: We are in a world where we can get applications delivered to all of our phones by simply clicking in a portal and having them magically installed. We can change devices and simply re-deploy these applications from the same portal.

WHAT IF… you could do the same thing for your Windows 7 deployment. Just treat the Windows 7 deployment as nothing more than a complex application. Allowing end users to click on a Windows 7 upgrade icon in a portal. Then have them them schedule their own upgrade for a time that works for them.

Check out this product from 1E Software called yes you guessed it, 1E Shopping:

Does this mean death to the manual spreadsheets… well probably not – we always seem to return to what we know and love. I have personally deployed this product and have seen the impact it has on the classical approach to operating system and software delivery. The only requirement for Shopping is that a customer must already own and have configured System Center Configuration Manager.

The best part of this application is that it can be easily be installed and configured in less than five consulting days.

So I want to wrap up this post with a little bit of simple math for everyone:

Assume each Windows 7 Upgrade costs an organization $3000 per desktop.
Assume that approximately 50 % of deployed software is not used.
Assume that each request for Software costs an organization $200 (BTW This is a really safe number) I haven’t seen it much lower than this.
Assume it takes over 5 business days to receive the software after a request.

Now…here is a look at the old way!

Deploy 1000 Desktops x $3,000 each = $300,000 in resource costs

Assume 25 applications averaging 100 each with 50 % unused and deployed to all workstations. 25 Apps x 1000 Desktops x $100 Average License Cost = 2.5 /mil investment in software. This would work out to having approximately $2500 in software on each desktop – You all know this number is really low!
Assume that the organization receives 20 software deployment requests per week for 52 weeks per year. 20 Request x 52 Weeks x $200 average cost = $208,000 in resource costs to deploy software.
Assume that it takes 5 business days to receive your software once requested. Well you do the math on this one – quantify the cost of lost productivity for your employees!!!

How about the new way!!! Take the opportunity to incorporate this organizational change into your Windows 7 projects.

From my previous post on application rationalization:

Deployment costs reduced by 30 % simply by “Rationalizing” the number of applications that need to be ported to Windows 7 and automating the delivery mechanisms for the images. You could easily save over $90,000 in soft costs out of the gate.
Reduce the amount of Software Renewals, Support, Deployment, and licensing costs. Once again we “Rationalize” all of our apps. Assume a 50% savings for your organization what does that return? How about an estimated 1 /mil + savings in hard and soft costs. By the way – now that you have a tool that helps rationalize this – think of the savings the next time the licensing police come visit you.

Add in savings from using automation and self service:

Reduce the amount of annual software deployment costs by over 50%. Savings of over $104,000 in soft costs.

Assume your budget for this Windows 7 project was around $500,000. I will leave you pondering those numbers. Now of course remember there is an acquisition cost of new software that would save money. The nice thing about 1E is that all of their software pretty much pays for itself very quickly.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and I welcome any feedback or if you want to share your experiences with your Windows 7 projects thus far.

About Dave Kawula

Dave Kawula is an MCSE and CNE with over fifteen years of experience in the IT industry and a senior consultant with IE. His background includes data communications networks within multi-server LAN/WAN environments. He has experience with project management, network strategic planning, network design and integration. He has led the architecture for NT, SMS/SCCM, Exchange and Internet Gateways, including managing migration paths and issues as well as implementation. He has supported a variety of network infrastructures as well as architecting and defining technical standards.

Email | Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Considering a Windows 7 deployment? Get the right tools to rationalize your applications before you start.

Ruth Morton — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:21:00 GMT

This is a guest blog post written by Dave Kawula, a Senior Consultant with 1E. Dave was the guest on our January episode of the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk where we talked about how IT managers can take the risk out of their Windows 7 deployment projects. Here Dave outlines a key strategy to employ at the very beginning of your project and some of the tools that you can use.

As the clock keeps ticking towards end of support for Windows XP we need to find ways to accelerate our Windows 7 Migrations. Just because you accelerate your Windows 7 Migration you don’t have to increase your budget. In fact what if you could do the opposite…accelerate the project and reduce cost.

Wait a minute – this is an IT Project. The words “reduce costs” don’t really exist in a typical IT Project. Well maybe they can…

Most Windows 7 Projects I have seen project over 80% of the costs for that project on Application Packaging and Remediation. What if there was a way to have an organization quickly rationalize their deployed applications. What if there was a way to remove unused software from a desktop prior to the migration.

I can sum it up in one word: “Rationalization”.

Well there are a couple of tools out there that can help us out with this. One is the Application Compatibility Toolkit “ACT” from Microsoft. It is a great tool that allows us to gain insight into our organization. This unfortunately requires an agent to be deployed on the workstations and requires us to scan them to see what is installed. Then pull the information back to a central database and try to analyze what is deployed.

The second tool is one that many of you will already own and have probably deployed. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager has a software metering component that will allow us to use simply scan the machines using the Configuration Manager agent. One problem this requires a lot of configuration and won’t automatically pull back unused software to keep licensing in check.

The third tool is one from 1E Software call AppClarity. You can checkout a link to this product here: 1E AppClarity I have personally seen AppClarity give money back to an organization in less than 60 Days after the acquisition of their software. Think about it…why waste money getting shelfware or unused software ready for your brand new Windows 7 Desktops. Once again “Rationalize” not only the amount of software that needs to be migrated to the new platform but also the amount of work.

Checkout the screenshot below of this software package. It has revolutionized the way I approach Windows Migrations.

So in my perfect world that I live in I need a tool that will do the following for my Windows 7 Project:

Product	Rationalize Applications	Provide Detailed License Utilization Information	Provide an intelligent Reclamation Engine	Quantify the amount of Wasted Software for Management
System Center Configuration Manager	Yes — but requires customization through rules	Yes – there are good built-in reports for Microsoft Products // Need to build reports for third party software	No – It can be done but needs to be manually configured or customized with Scripts	No – It can be done but reports would need to be manually configured
Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit	Yes – Built in Database and Rules from Microsoft are extensive and give a good snapshot of an organization – Requires anNo agent to be deployed on end workstations	No	No	No
1E AppClarity	Yes – Connects to existing SCCM database information and almost instantly provides a snapshot in a readable format	Yes – Extends on existing Configuration Manager information and has an intelligent import wizard to allocate licenses an organization owns.	Yes – Extends the functionality of SCCM by providing uninstallers for software that has been identified as unused or prohibited.	YES – Built-in Reports quantify the amount of software waste organizations have. Most organizations can fund a large portion of their Windows 7 Project by simply reducing Software Waste.

If you can drive cost savings at the start of this project you will be well on your way. Gartner has estimated that it costs on average between $1000.00 to 3000.00 + per desktop to migrate to Windows 7. Most of this cost comes from the work required to migrate unused applications. What if you could get back all that time and save hard dollars by removing shelfware before your projects starts. This makes your project sponsors very happy and allows you to accelerate this project.

Deployment costs reduced by 30 % simply by “Rationalizing” the number of applications that need to be ported to Windows 7 and automating the delivery mechanisms for the images. You could easily save over $90,000 in soft costs out of the gate.

Reduce the amount of Software Renewals, Support, Deployment, and licensing costs. Once again we “Rationalize” all of our apps. Assume a 50% savings for your organization what does that return? How about an estimated 1 /mil + savings in hard and soft costs. By the way – now that you have a tool that helps rationalize this – think of the savings the next time the licensing police come visit you.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and I welcome any feedback or if you want to share your experiences with your Windows 7 projects thus far.

About Dave Kawula

Email | Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog

Jo Stewart-Rattray: Preventing Governance and Security Failures

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:58:00 GMT

Interview: Jo Stewart-Rattray, Award Winning Top Executive, International Security and Risk Management Authority and Vice President ISACA

QUALIFICATIONS

Masters of Education Studies – Psychology
Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT)
Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC)
Certified Social Engineering Prevention Specialist (CSEPS)
Registered 27001 Lead Auditor
Certified Professional (Australian Computer Society)

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Member, Australian Computer Society, Certified Professional
Co-opted member, ACS SA Branch Executive Council
International Vice President, ISACA International
Chair, Leadership Development Committee, ISACA International
Past President, ISACA, Adelaide Chapter
Ambassador, Women in Innovation & Technology
Professional Member, Australian Information Security Association
Member of the Australian Institute of Management

AWARDS

National ICT Professional of the Year (iAwards 2011-2012)

EXPERIENCE

See RSM Bird Cameron

Jo has 24 years experience in the IT field, some of which were spent as CIO in the Utilities space, and 16 in the Information Security arena. She underpins her information technology and security background with her qualifications in education and management.

She specializes in consulting in information security issues with a particular emphasis on governance in both the commercial and operational areas of businesses. Jo provides strategic advice to organizations across a number of industry sectors including banking and finance, utilities, automotive manufacturing, tertiary education, retail and government.

Jo is the Chair of both ISACA's International Leadership Development Committee and its Security Culture Taskforce. She is past president of ISACA's Adelaide Chapter, and she was sworn in as International Vice President of ISACA in June of this year at the Association’s Annual General Meeting in Washington, DC.

ISACA is a professional body with some 95,000 members in 180 countries around the world, and represents professionals from the assurance, governance and security disciplines.

She was appointed to CIGRE's international working group B5.38 and worked with the group to assess information security risks in power system operations within SCADA systems and the implementation of appropriate security controls.

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:25:
Jo, you have a strong history of significant global impact in security, risk management, governance, and senior executive leadership. Thank you for sharing your considerable expertise, deep accumulated insights, and wisdom with our audience.

:00:45:
Congratulations on your recent significant award. Can you tell us more about it?
"....In August of this year I was named the Australian ICT Professional of the Year....When I was asked by a colleague if I minded if they nominated me, I agreed and quite frankly I didn't think I would hear any more....You can imagine my absolute surprise when I received a call from the committee saying that I had won the award. I was really blown away by it...."

:01:42:
What was the reaction from your family from receiving this award?
"....I have been fortunate over the years — my husband has been exceptionally supportive of my efforts....Also close colleagues were also blown away...."

:02:27:
What valuable lessons can you share from ISACA's research initiative on 'Creating a Culture of Security'?
"....One of the most valuable lessons for me was about not judging a book by its cover. You can find the champions of a culture of security in all sorts of places, not just at the top of an organization...."

:04:35:
What are the main thrusts around your work on COBIT 5.0 that will be of value to the audience?
"....It's looking at COBIT as not just the framework itself which of course is the platform, it will be a strong framework on which a series of lenses can be applied depending on what you do in the IT or Information Security space...."

:06:07:
What are important takeaways on your work on ISACA's Business Model for Information Security (BMIS)?
"....BMIS gets rid of the silos in organizations because it takes a cross-functional approach to information security....My important take-away from this is that there is something in BMIS for everyone and it's absolutely worth a look at...."

:07:42:
Please share your goals as the Chair of both ISACA's International Leadership Development Committee and its Security Culture Taskforce.
"....The Security Culture Taskforce was formed to specifically develop and publish the research on creating a culture of security....The completed goal was to publish that document and also to get this piece of work out into the world....The Leadership Development Committee was formed last year in 2010 and it's in place to encourage ISACA members to volunteer at the international level....It's about making the experience worthwhile from both sides of the fence. We are also looking to identify high potential future leaders of the Association....It's always a work in progress...."

:12:44:
I guess there would be a lot of crossovers with other Societies. I'm sure there are lots of members of both Societies. Do members of ISACA collaborate with the Australian Computer Society?
"....Absolutely. That's one of the things in my role as International Vice-president I have ensured....It's fair to say that we do have a fairly strong relationship with the Australian Computer Society...."

:14:51:
What do you hope to contribute as International Vice President of ISACA?
"....One of the important things for me is furthering the connections that I've already fostered within the Australian and Oceania regions....One of my roles is to work closely with our President's Council....I'm also very active in promoting ISACA and forming those relationships with other professional bodies...."

:17:22:
Can you briefly describe your work and outcomes with international working group B5.38?
"....CIGRE is an organization with its focus on large utilities....What we produced was what CIGRE calls a technical brochure which is actually a very large guide with many pages on the security on electricity substations. Very rewarding piece of work which allowed me to work with a multi-disciplinary, multi-national group of professionals...."

:18:51:
Can you outline important lessons from your work in the Utilities space?
"....I learned so much from my engineering and telecommunications colleagues during that time that I'm still grateful for today. It actually piqued my interest in securing that kind of environment so it's a little bit of a passion. It's not something I work in all the time, but it is something I really enjoy..."

:20:26:
When you did your work with the Utilities space were you working with government agencies as well?
"....In Australia, until about 6 – 10 years ago they were always government owned. Now we have a combination — some are privately owned and some are still government owned, so that creates a whole raft of issues when it comes to crisis or emergency management. The Australian government has recognized that and have put in place some safeguards around critical infrastructure....There is understanding of critical infrastructure protection and I was involved in part of those programs which was about information sharing in those environments...."

:22:42:
What are your top five governance tips?
"....Never under-estimate the human factor when you are putting governance posture in place....Ensure that there are good policies in place that are as unambiguous as possible. Ensure that the policies that have been developed are disseminated to the appropriate staff, contractors and temporary staff — whatever is appropriate to your organization....Information security or IT must be aligned with the overall corporate strategy....Information security awareness has to be an ongoing program and not a one-off event....If we are talking about information security governance, it’s got to be a commitment from the top...."

:26:55:
Please overview your certifications and the value they bring to your work and your clients?
"....The certifications that I have show my clients that I have a strong understanding of the core body of knowledge that relates to each of those credentials. Holding the certifications also shows that I have an on-going professional development program in place...."

:28:59:
Jo, can you profile your extensive history and valuable lessons you wish to share from each of your top three leadership areas?
"....Don't expect everyone to have the same standards and concepts of time and urgency as yourself....Let people do their jobs without breathing down their necks....Never underestimate the human factor....Never judge a book by its cover....Look for the champions...."

:39:46:
Have you encountered what I would call unconscious bias in your career and how did you overcome it?
"....This is not always the case and it is not the case in all organizations or all walks of life but I have certainly found it over the years....Oftentimes it's unconscious, but it can be ingrained and it can be systemic in organizations where they don't recognize that what they are doing is actually a form of discrimination so it is a problem....There are lots of questions you have to ask yourself: "Am I prepared to continue to fight for it? How far would I go with this? What is the impact going to be? Is it worth the impact or the consequences of the impact?"....For early career professionals, women do have to be prepared that it's not the equal playing field that we would like to think it is, in some cases – in other cases, yes it is...."

:43:42:
Do you think it will happen in our lifetime that we're going to see this or do you think it's going to 50 years before we see a flat playing field?
"....It has been enshrined in legislation so we have won part of the battle....Now it's getting it accepted in the corporate sense which has got nothing to do with the legislation. This is about developing new social norms and we're talking about creating that kind of culture....It is longitudinal — it's not going to be something that is going to happen overnight and women have to continue to want to fight...."

:44:49:
Jo, tell us about your most difficult challenges and the valuable lessons you wish to share?
"....One of the greatest challenges that I've had is actually getting people to understand what information security really is about. Lessons to be learned — I need to collect stories and anonymize those stories in order to help educate markets...."

:48:49:
How will you accomplish your three top goals in your current position and how will you measure success for each of these goals?
"....Goals: To build a highly successful practice....To people it with the very best that I can....To exceed my clients’ expectations....Measurements: profitability....staff retention and cohesiveness of staff....customer satisfaction...."

:51:11:
Describe some areas of controversy or much discussion in the areas that you research and work.
"....There is a great deal of controversy about what is culture and how do we build a culture that is appropriate to our organization....How much is technology and how much is culture in the IT and IS type businesses — that's another area of controversy. I have a theory that in information security it's 80% about the people and 20% about the technology....One of the areas of much discussion currently is cloud....The other area of controversy or much discussion I think is the use of social media in the corporate environment...."

:57:14:
Why should IT professionals and executives join non-profit associations?
"....I believe it's a way of enriching your understanding of the industry sector in which you work. It's a sensational way of networking with people....You generally have access to a core body of knowledge as well....There's also the credentialing and that sort of stuff....Quite frankly it's about giving back to the community that has given you so much...."

:58:30:
What specific challenges and opportunities should IT practitioners and businesses embrace today and in five years?
"....Consumerization of IT....The issue of BYOD (bring your own device)....Security on the inside, not just the perimeter....We live in a outsourced, offshore, cloud-provided world and we need to make sure we know who has access to our data legally through those means...."

:01:02:15:
Do you think the concept of singularity will happen in the next 50 years?
"....We see it with the younger career aspirants in the workplace. They are sitting right next door to their colleague but send them an email or they text them. What concerns me is that we are losing the art of one-on-one interplay; the human to human interplay disappears and more and more is done through a different interface....There's always that issue when we talk about downloading the conscious into a computer system....but where does the moral or ethical stuff come into it....I certainly see that more and more we are relying on an interface and it’s becoming just part of the way people do stuff...."

:01:06:06:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized credentials?
[See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
"....I really think we are seeing it more with a lot of organizations....I think that regardless what you do and how you do it, professionalism is about the people themselves and the values that they hold as professionals...."

:01:09:01:
From your extensive travels and work, please share one or more stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
"....Sometimes out of the worst experiences the best things come...."

:01:14:36:
If you were conducting this interview, what 3 questions would you ask and then what would be your answers?
"....If you had to pick out one event what was the turning point for you in your career?....Can you take out your crystal ball and predict what will happen in the IT world in the next 5 to 10 years?...."

Psst…wanna know some product vision and roadmap secrets?

Ruth Morton — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:04:00 GMT

It often helps when planning to have a roadmap and when planning your IT infrastructure it helps to know the Microsoft product roadmap. If you want to know what our vision and roadmap is over the next while, then block off the morning of February 22 in your calendar and register using the links below. Please note that you will need to sign an non-disclosure agreement before attending or you won’t be allowed to sit in. We’d like to share some of our secrets with you!

The morning will start with a keynote of the all-up Microsoft vision and a showcase of some of the coolest Windows devices available. Then we’ll split into separate tracks:

REGISTER NOW for the Infrastructure Manager Track | REGISTER NOW for the Software Architect/Development Manager Track

There’s also a 3rd track, for the technical decision maker in your company. This would usually be a Senior VP or Executive. Pass along this registration link for the Technical Decision Maker Track.

Hope to see you there!

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #8: De-risking Your Windows Deployment

Jonathan Rozenblit — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:46:03 GMT

With any big change to your IT infrastructure comes risk, but of course you're hoping that the rewards will out weigh those risks. In fact, you're doing more than just hoping – you're planning, strategizing, and putting your organization in a good position to mitigate those risks.

Deploying a new operating system throughout a company can be disruptive and complex because so much is dependant on that OS – the applications running on top of the OS, the drivers that allow peripherals like printers to work, to name but a few. If all goes well, the operating system should be invisible to the end user but if all doesn't go well...well, we've all been there. It sucks.

A good plan that's well executed can result in an organization having use of technology that can help achieve higher productivity, better collaboration and more opportunities for innovative ideas. This episode of Manager Tech Talk is all about putting together a good plan for Windows deployment success.

On this episode of AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, Ruth, myself, and guest Dave Kawula, Senior Consultant with 1E, talk about the benefits and challenges of deploying Windows 7. We explore what tools are available and what "gotcha's" to watch out for. Plus: Dave shares tales from deployments past.

Watch Online

Resources

Springboard - for all your deployment needs
App Compat Toolkit
Managing Shims
Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
All about licensing

Featured Guest: Dave Kawula

Dave Kawula is an MCSE and CNE with over fifteen years of experience in the IT industry. His background includes data communications networks within multi-server LAN/WAN environments. He has experience with project management, network strategic planning, network design and integration. He has led the architecture for NT, SMS/SCCM, Exchange and Internet Gateways, including managing migration paths and issues as well as implementation. He has supported a variety of network infrastructures as well as architecting and defining technical standards.

Podcast

This episode is also available as a podcast.

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About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk

The AlignIT Manager Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm EST. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air.

About AlignIT

The AlignIT program is dedicated to keeping IT leaders informed about what really matters in business and technology. We do that through in-person events, web casts, our blog and of course, this podcast series. You can find more information about the Align IT program at www.alignit.ca. If you have comments, suggestions, and ideas for future topics please let us know by connecting with us via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

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Enterprise On the “Glance and Go”

Jonathan Rozenblit — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:01:00 GMT

Guest post by Paul Laberge, Developer Advisor, Microsoft Canada

There is a sea change happening in the enterprise today – employees are deciding to bring the technology they are comfortable using at home to work and using it to be productive. Many people call this the Consumerization of IT, and in essence, it means that IT departments everywhere are scrambling to support devices and form factors they never had to before. IT policy is adapting to the employees, rather than the other way around which is a 180º turn from the way it’s been for years. Microsoft understands this sea change and is itself adapting to it. With Windows Phone 7.5, there are a number of ways the enterprise can support employees using Windows Phone devices, allowing employees to have a truly immersive consumer experience while at the same time allowing those same employees a number of tools to make them more productive than ever before.

As a consumer, your employees and co-workers have made choices to bring devices they traditionally would have used and left at home and have consciously decided that these technologies and platforms will be there preference for being productive in the workplace as well. This is very different than what we have seen in the past and has caused IT departments everywhere to change their own support and management strategies. This change is known as the Consumerization of IT.

The answer for IT and the enterprise itself is not to fight this trend but to embrace it. The flexibility for employees to use the types of form factors and platforms they feel will make them more productive is empowering, making them happier and making better decisions for the business.

Microsoft sees this revolution and has embraced it. Probably the best example of this is the new Windows Phone platform. Windows Phone presents a change in Microsoft’s mobile strategy. The consumer experience it provides is clearly front and center, being a smartphone platform that is fun to use and geared towards helping its users get the tasks they need to get done more quickly and with less indecision. In essence, Windows Phone is a “Glance and Go” platform – the user can see information quickly without even having to get into an app or service in order to make a decision on what to do.

So how does Windows Phone make employees more productive?

It enables mobile access to business applications like Outlook and Microsoft Office
It enables both IT and developers the ability to use and manage the platform using skills and tools they already have
It provides a platform to which line of business applications can be extended (thereby enabling those applications across the phone, web, and PC)

But in order to understand the business case for extending your line of business applications to the phone, the business case for having Windows Phone as your mobile solution must be made. To do so, consider the following:

Scenario: Employee Productivity

Consider the example scenario below. Michelle is a sales executive for a large company and needs access to email, calendaring and server-based resources on the go to do her job effectively. Everything in the story can be accomplished easily using Windows Phone.

This morning Michelle has arrived early at an offsite location for a meeting with a potential customer. Her timing is on purpose. She wants to check her email and be sure she can address anything urgent before the meeting.

With a moment or two to spare, she opens her email. She looks for any new, urgent, or flagged messages. She sees a new meeting request. With Windows Phone, she can view and accept this request, which she does after looking at her calendar’s day view for tomorrow.

When this meeting ends, Michelle hopes to have time to quickly look at a customer proposal that she’s working on with someone back in the office. It’s due by noon. She clicks on her calendar to see the location of her next appointment. She clicks on the address. Windows Phone shows her a map of the location and since it is location aware, it provides her with directions on how to get there. Michelle thinks she will have a few minutes, traffic permitting, to work on the document then. She downloads the customer proposal from the company’s SharePoint site. She can then approve the edits and make a few minor adjustments later. The edits will then be synced to SharePoint so that there’s no question about the latest version. She then jumps on a Lync-based conference call with her account team to review the results of the meeting through the Lync app for Windows Phone, all virtually hands-free with no concall codes to enter or phone numbers to call.

Access to Outlook (email and calendaring) is an easy concept to understand. With Windows Phone, you have more access to the features of Exchange than any other mobile platform, including features like conversation view, rights-protected email and others. Windows Phone also supports multiple calendars, including multiple Exchange calendars as well as third party calendaring systems such as Google calendar.

Office 2010 and Lync for Windows Phone are also incredibly powerful tools as you saw in the example above. Every Windows Phone includes Office 2010 (Excel, PowerPoint, Word and OneNote) that allows you to view and edit documents on the fly and synchronize those changes with central repositories such as the corporate SharePoint system, Office 365 (Microsoft’s cloud-based Office solution) and even SkyDrive, Microsoft’s consumer-based Office-in-the-cloud solution.

Scenario: IT Operations

Armando is someone who works in your IT Operations department. The Consumerization of IT just made his job and the jobs of his department a whole lot more complex with the introduction of new devices that his team was not originally prepared to support. Windows Phone allows employees of the company the freedom of a great consumer experience while allowing Armando and his team flexibility in how to support these devices.

Supporting multiple types of phones requires more time and is also a greater security risk. Armando will have to figure out how to give users access to company files and email, and how to keep some control over what’s going on.

Fortunately, Windows Phone provides a solution to address his concerns, including how to reduce costs.

With Windows Phone, he can use Exchange Server, which he already relies on for corporate email, and SharePoint Server, which everyone uses for collaboration. Exchange Server gives him best-in-class email and calendar experiences—and it works on premises and within the cloud (for example, the Office 365). He can use Exchange ActiveSync to directly push email to Windows Phone. Mobile users can reach their documents on SharePoint and work with teammates to complete the work seamlessly. His existing resources can also support these new mobile users. There’s no middleware either.

Exchange ActiveSync also provides him with the tools for managing policy, ensuring consistent compliance across PCs and phones. Armando can use the built-in security features as well as Remote Lock and Remote Wipe to protect the company and allay executive concerns. This way, even if a phone is lost or stolen, the information on it will not be compromised.

Armando can take advantage of his existing IT knowledge to manage mobile devices and services. In addition, Armando can get more value out of existing software the company already uses. For example, he can extend SharePoint Server to mobile users. This will help improve collaboration and communication between team members in the office. And because he can sync with SharePoint Server, he won’t have to worry about people complaining to him about document versions or general productivity concerns.

And, since he’s working with his existing infrastructure, Armando isn’t spending anything additional on licensing, hardware, or support.

Without the need for extra licensing, knowledge of new mobile devices or new management tools, your IT department can effectively manage Windows Phone devices within the enterprise. Your employees get the best of both worlds as a result – a world class smartphone experience and productivity, and the ease of manageability for the IT department.

Scenario: Corporate Developer

One of the main concerns of development departments in large organizations is maximizing the quality of custom-built systems and minimizing the time-to-market for those systems. Consider the scenario of Joe, the corporate developer:

Joe wants the application to be available on PCs, the web, and phones. This will take time if he has to use different development frameworks. It will also be time-consuming if he has to use developer tools he’s not familiar with.

With the Windows Phone application platform, Joe can take advantage of Microsoft Silverlight for the mobile version of this application. Best of all, he can use tools he’s familiar with such as the Visual Studio development system and XNA. This will help him do better work.

And thanks to the availability of best-of-breed development tools, Joe’s job is faster and simpler.

The results of Joe’s work (the app he built) can be delivered to employees securely through the Windows Phone Private Marketplace, a way to centrally deliver apps that should not be publicly available. Joe can also acquire business-to-customer (B2C) applications from a single marketplace through the public Windows Phone Marketplace.

The platforms and skills that your development teams in the enterprise use and know are transferrable to the development of apps on the Windows Phone platform.

On the Next AlignIT Manager Tech Talk

As you can see from the above, Windows Phone goes beyond email and calendaring to deliver productivity to the enterprise. Mobile access to corporate applications like Office and SharePoint come out of the box, but line of business can be extended to the phone using skills and tools your infrastructure and developer teams already have.

Join Ruth, Jonathan, and myself, Paul Laberge, for a discussion around how you can leverage Windows Phone to extend your line of business applications to the phone and enable a productive mobile workforce.

Thursday, February 9, 2012
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM ET

Watch LIVE >> | Add to Calendar >>

About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk

Pioneer Tadao Saito, CTO Toyota Shares Leadership and Innovation Lessons

Stephen.Ibaraki — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:03:21 GMT

Professor Tadao Saito, CTO Toyota, is a global top pioneering leader, inventor, researcher and innovator shaping business, industry, research, education, government policies, international standards and society. This is the first extensive interview with Tadao and the first with the CTO of a global Fortune 8 company with revenues of 221.7 Billion. To put this in perspective, Microsoft ranks 120th, Apple 111th and Dell 124th in the global Fortune 500. Prior to joining Toyota, Tadao invented digital switching that laid the foundation for “all” digital communications including voice communications and the internet. You will read more about this in the interview plus valuable insights into leadership, technology trends and more. I first met Tadao at the G7 Summit of IT Societies in Vancouver August 2006 where I represented CIPS as president-elect. I had a chance to talk with Tadao at the World CIO Forum (WCF) in November 2011 where I participated as vice-chair international advisory board and chair of the EA panel session. After the WCF Tadao agreed to this exclusive interview to further explore his unique insights. Excerpts from this interview are appearing today with itWorld and CIO Canada plus in print later.

Tadao, you have a strong history of significant global impact in leadership, research and innovation. Your work has shaped world history. Thank you for sharing your considerable expertise, deep accumulated insights and wisdom with our audience.
Information technology is changing rapidly. Moore's law started when I was a student. Computer technology is changing the fastest. Now computers are the most important component of many equipment including home appliances and automobiles. In these systems surrounding us, all will further change continuously. In infrastructure which is traditionally expected to be stable for a long time, change has sometimes encountered difficulty. Function and services of infrastructure are also subject to change. To have coordinated architecture to accept change is the most important property of technology for the future of our society. It is requested for experts of information technology to share the vision with the society of the future world based on information technology.

Tadao, you are a pioneering legend who has shaped our present world and you have laid the foundation for global communications and networks. For my first question, I will go back to your early days. Can you share your experiences and insights from the University of Tokyo?
In my early days computers were still low in performance and expensive. Electronics were used broadly in telecommunication signal transmission. I graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1963. At that time computers were mainly used for research but not in social services. Only in communication business electronics are used as the base of socially active service. So I selected my study subject in use of electronics for communication business. But at the same time I am very much interested in a variety of possibilities to use electronics in socially useful applications. Starting from telecommunication systems I worked in a variety of subjects on social application of information technology.

As Chief Scientist and CTO for Toyota, one of the most important positions in the world as Toyota is a global Fortune 8 company, what is the future of ubiquitous information services?
Automobiles are one of most important and useful fields to use electronics. The success started from air prolusion control of engine to have smog less air in big cities. Stand alone use of electronics improved the automobile in broad applications and what is now required is to connect automobile in automobile to automobile communication and in automobile to infrastructure communication. What I am interested in is the creation of attractive and useful automobiles using network technology.

What are your top 5 goals as CTO and how will you measure success in achieving your goals?
Soon after human beings appeared on the earth, our ancestors started to move on the earth and penetrated globally starting from Africa to South America. Mobility is the most important nature of human being. In history, human beings started to construct cities and roads, interconnecting cities. Realization of efficient and safe mobility is the essential way to improve human society.

We are now surrounded by many information equipment in home and office. In automobile, information environment comparable to home environment is not realized. First wish is to realize information environment equivalent to home in automobile.
The network is to be connected to a variety of information sources. Information source is provided by auto manufacturer and also by independent sources. Avoidance of malware in such open environment is an important subject to be resolved.
From the viewpoint of the auto manufacturer, continuous monitoring of the operation of the automobile used by the end user is near future requirement. Confirmation of operation of equipment and advising to driver on safer and energy efficient use of automobiles is the initial application of monitoring.
Important goal is to realize accident free automobile, by means of automobile to automobile and automobile to infrastructure communication. Variety of advices to be used by driver are possible to reduce accident. Ultimately goal is automated driving free from human intervention in freeway and finally in city road.
Another important objective is CO2 free mobility. Effective use of electrical automobile is difficult without use of communication support. In long future, in-city and intercity movement should be based on automated mobility system composed of new mobility and communication.

What are your 5 lessons in leadership from your role as CTO?

Information technologies are used in a variety of fields, and branching into so many specialties to realize all the aspect of technology by a small company is impossible. Most important matter is to share our needs and information specialist's interests.
To have common interests, sharing of vision among automobile specialists and information specialist is important. Leadership to create common interests in broad range of technical group is important. Technical talk in a variety of occasions is useful for this purpose. One of my activities including international trip is to share the vision based on presentations in a variety of meetings.
Communication system is originally for human to human communication. In recent tendency of global saturation of communication demand, communication specialists are now seeking for a new market for non human communication. This tendency is called in variety of ways like ubiquitous communication, machine to machine communication and other terminologies. Recently many of government lead research subjects are in this field. To have leadership in new generation network study is important to create common interests for automobile communication.
For members of my company, I encourage them to have leadership in a variety of interdisciplinary academic activities.
From the view point of time needed for development, development cycle of automobile is much longer than information industry. In many cases, it takes at least 3 years and sometimes 5 years to realize product based on new technology. The long period is needed to confirm safety and a long test period is required for this purpose. It is also needed to have common understanding among different specialties in differences of engineering consideration.

Tadao, can you profile your current research and what you hope to achieve and the value to the broader audience?
My current research is on automobile to automobile communication without infrastructure. This is a kind of mobile ad hoc network studied broadly in communication specialists. From the viewpoint of the automobile it is needed to know the performance requested for automobile application. If the performance parameters are accepted among network specialists and if the view of the market is clarified, collaboration must be much easier. Of course the performance figures depend on application. Easiest application to help human drivers will be realized in near future, and in a long future this technology can be used for automatic driving to realize accident free highway.

Describe three areas of controversy or much discussion in the areas that you research.

Drivers driving automobiles are supposed to concentrate on driving. In many network applications, how driver can be involved in information exchange is always a problem. Establishment of safe driving environment in which driver can use information is essential.
Automobile safety is traditionally the responsibility of driver. At the same time effort of driver is not enough to realize accident free traffic. Information technology will realize much safer environment, but will not be perfect for some initial period. How we can have understanding of society in the period is a difficult issue.
The understanding of social problem can be different country by country and manufacturer by manufacturer. This difference will further complicate the situation. As information technology changed our everyday life, by ubiquitous network technology, many aspects of society will be changed. Change in mobility is typical social change, and understanding of society is the key for success for change which will eventually enrich human life in the future. This social aspect will more generally appear in future society.

In your research, what are your top five ways of measuring success?
Automobile design needs a long period. Of course market acceptance and common global use is final success. Before that, we must set a variety of intermediate success.

interest of information specialists
interest of automobile specialists
understanding of society on the function
standardization of the key components
market success to realize attractive products

In your current research, what are your top 3 challenges and top 3 opportunities? How will the challenges be solved and the opportunities be actioned?
Challenges

We have many Tablets and PND (personal navigation device), already penetrated randomly to be carried into automobile. In some operation, these equipment have risk to cause distraction of drivers. In some countries these equipment are regulated by government, and some no regulation.
To avoid risk, provision of less expensive and more attractive equipment which avoid distraction is needed. This is an important challenge for all automobile related manufacturers.
For more long term challenge, replacement human driver by automatic driving is to be realized. Step by step introduction of partial automatic driving has already started and gradually come into real automatic.

Opportunities

A variety of information environment has already accepted by the market. This is the base of new functions to be used by people inside automobile.
An example of automatic driving which is not noticed by driver is cruise control (CC) to keep the speed of automobile without human intervention. In some automobile, CC is adaptive to adjust the speed to the speed of the automobile you are following. This is called adaptive cruise control (ACC).
In ACC, control is based on the measurement of distance using radar. If the operation of the automobile ahead can be noticed to following car by wireless communication, the following car can adjust the speed before distance between car changes. This is called cooperative ACC ( CACC ). This can be start of automatic driving in near future.

Can you profile your research in communication networks and its social applications such as ITS (Intelligent Transport System)?
ITS is the technology based on a variety of communication between automobile and infrastructure and between automobile and automobile. The communication between automobile and infrastructure has already broadly used in a variety of applications including fee collection. Next step is to realize communication between automobile and automobile for application like safety assist and sharing of information among automobiles running nearby. This kind of communication is M2M communication for which many researches are ongoing.

What are the outcomes you are driving as chairman of the New Generation IP Network Forum of Japan?
New generation IP network research is called in different way in variety of countries. Some times the research is called post IP network. In the US, a variety of subjects to improve the network wide operation are studied. It includes open flow network and mobility first network studies. In our New Generation IP Network Forum of Japan, we are discussing a variety of social applications M2M IP network to know the performance parameters of the network, including communication setup time, communication speed, and busy time traffic. This study assumes a variety of applications including health care, energy saving, home network, automobile safety, etc. To share the information among broad range of specialists is an important framework for open innovation.

You made what is widely considered to be the most important contributions to digital communications and computer networks. Can you share your work on switching networks and its global impact?
My study which led to global change of communication network is the invention of time division switching network of time-space-time type. The switch was applied for patent in 1964 and the patent was assigned to ATT Bell Lab., because the study was done under the sponsorship of Bell Lab. The principle was used as the core switch of the world's first digital switch put in the field in 1975 as No4ESS. Before that all telephone switches were based on mechanical switch element using metal contact. After the No4ESS toll switch, Bell lab developed No5ESS local switch, again based on my time-space-time switching network. After that, a variety of TDM switches were developed by a variety of communication system manufactures in the world around 1980's, and in all switches the core component of the switch is based on my patent. Production of TDM switches continued for 20 years and still used as the main component for telephone service in the world. Before TDM switch, telephone switching system was bulky, heavy equipment. TDM switch made it possible to realize compact switch taking advantage of improvement of electronics. Using the technology, competition of traditional carriers and new carriers became possible and drastic price reduction of telephone charge became possible. During the period of TDM switch, in almost all countries regulation of telecom carrier was changed and competition of infrastructure was started. This deregulation is essential to start internet services globally.
It means that the global telecommunication network formulation including internet started from TDM switch technology using the core component of my invention. This is the global impact of my study which changed the world.

How is voice switching shifting from TDM to IP?
Internet is the next global network after telephone network, which has been the only global telecommunication infrastructure for 100 years. Global service of internet started from 1992 by the deregulation of ITU. After that, use mode of internet changed rapidly to make broadband contents possible. Now much more information is handled by the internet compared to telephone network. Mass production and improvement of optical transmission, justified by the high traffic of internet made the cost of internet much low compared with telephone service. Using the condition, cost of voice services using IP is lower than TDM switch. Because of this reason, the majority of telecomm manufacturers who used to produce TDM switch stopped production. In addition, many people who used telephone for everyday life replaced the communication to mail. Total telephone traffic is also reduced sharply. Still penetration of broadband service is not enough in many countries. Quality of voice by IP telephony using narrow band internet is still lower than TDM telephony. This is caused by change of basic technology and total replacement of telephone to IP will take further 10 years.

Describe your work as a member of the designing group for the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Traffic Signal Control System?
The study is sponsored by Tokyo Metropolitan Police Authority which controls all traffic signals of the city. Signal is to be controlled to maximize the traffic capacity of the road. Controlled parameters are the signal period, split, and phase of signal between neighboring intersections. These parameters are controlled based on measurement of traffic in each link of the road. For this purpose, traffic of each link must be measured and all signals are to be controlled. For this purpose, a large scale network is requested. In early 1970's, computers are still low in capability and construction of big system need a lot of effort. My function is to design total architecture of the system using a one mainframe computer to calculate the signal parameter and a number of mini-computers for communication to distributed signals and traffic sensors. It took nearly 10 years for construction to control all signals in Tokyo, and capacity of city traffic was estimated to be increased by 20% by the effect of computer control. At the period, communication to automobile from infrastructure was difficult because of premature wireless technology. Terminology of ITS had not been used at the time, but this was the first large scale information system support for traffic improvement. This system was penetrated into many cities in Japan. In parallel with the effort of Tokyo, similar system also constructed in US cities. Traffic situation of big US city is different from that of Japan, therefore US cities having comparable scale to that of Tokyo is still rare.

Tell us more about your books?

My first book is "Introduction of Electronic Circuit" published in 1977. This book covers basic digital and analogue circuits for students who studied the subject first time.
My second book is "Programming by FORTRAN" (1980). This book is for students who studies programming first time. At that time I was the director of computer center of the University of Tokyo for student training.
My third book is "Good Programs of FORTRAN" (1981). This book includes examples of easy to read FORTRAN programs. And describes importance of readability of program for collaborative development of software.
The other books include "Digital Circuitry" (1982), "Programming by Assembly language Z80" (1983), "Programming by PASCAL" (1984), "Computer Architecture" (1985), and "Digital Communication Network" (1989).

In addition to these books I have more than 20 books co-authored by several people including me. Some of these books were translated into Korean but majority are Japanese only.

What is the impact of your work on the “deregulation of communication services”?
I worked on the "deregulation of communication network" in collaboration with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of Japanese Government starting from 1978. My initial interest is on digital computer network. I felt many of digital network applications were restricted by the monopoly of network services by the telecommunication carrier NTT. We worked on University Computer Networks like ARPANET 1973-1976 but because of monopoly, although the system was completed by 1976, we must wait the inauguration of operation for 5 years waiting for service of data packet network operated by NTT. I proposed a competitive environment for communication services, and helped the government working in the direction. NTT monopoly was ended in 1985, and competition started.
From this time, I worked with government in all aspect of communication deregulation.

First effect is sharp drop price of traditional long distance telephone services. Charge of Tokyo-Osaka telephone connection dropped by 80% in 15 years.
New digital services became common and a variety application services started.
New communication network represented by Metro-Ether service appeared around 2000, and sharp drop of ISP cost became reality.
In cell phone services, because of competition, price is also reduced sharply, and a variety of computer communication became reality around 2000.
After 2000, competition of ADSL and optical fiber made price competition effective, and cost of broadband access is lowest in Japan in global comparison now.

What lessons can you share as chairman of the Telecommunication Business Committee of the Telecommunication Council of the Japanese government?
On regulation of communication network, government must consult the Telecommunication Business Committee of the Telecommunication Council.
In the sense, the council has a big power on communication policy. Communication law in Japan experienced major change in 1985 and 1998, and I became the chairman of Telecommunication Business Committee in 1998 and keep the position for nearly 4 years, helping the government on execution of 1998 law. Major change in 1998 law is asymmetric regulation on incumbent service provider to enhance competition. Use of equipment of incumbent carrier by new carriers is called unbundling. This is a good rule to enhance competition but at the same time if unbundling is improper, the rule can cause difficulty in future development of telecommunication network. In this sense, regulator must have a vision of long future of global network. I helped the government from the technical viewpoint. But this function is a difficult function which needs leadership on a broad aspect of services and technologies. So far, my leadership resulted in successful improvement of network services in Japan, but we must be careful as such success is only possible by deep understanding of technology.

What lessons can you share as Japanese representative for the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) General Assembly and Technical Committee 6 (Communication Systems)?
I have been the Japanese representative of IFIP TC6 since 1994 and GA representative since 2006. Since I have a longer history in TC6, let me start from TC6 first.
TC6 have 2 committee meetings a year. It is interesting to find that more than 30 members got together globally and frequently. The oldest member continued to be the national representative since the first year of TC6 (1972). All members are so familiar and exchange information twice every year. It is a special community in the center of study on telecommunication. Such relationship is possible because the majority of members are from European countries. If some member visited other countries, often the visitor contacts the representative of the visited country to renew acquaintances. To continue this kind of relationship is sometimes difficult to continue for a long time; many of Asian and American countries tend to have less frequent attendance. I attended 22 meetings out of 36 since 1994, and enjoyed the close relationship with representatives from other countries. Lessons I learned are the situation of telecommunication research of each country and found that subjects interested in are same in some cases and in some cases different country by country. Examples of lessons is in many European countries, more practical research are selected even in universities but in North America, university studies are generally more theoretical. I understood the background of the differences by free talking.
In general assembly, in recent 5 years I was so much impressed by the difficulty of management of academic societies in the world. Although information technology became the most important social technology which grows global economy, the number of members of each academic society is decreasing rapidly. In some countries payment of annual fee to IFIP is difficult and retired from IFIP membership. IFIP did not find the way to resolve the issue. WCF held in Shenzhen is one of a trial to move IFIP to more social interest not only in academic interest.

Please share what you learned from your roles with the IEEE and IEICE?
In IEEE I was a communication switching committee member of communication society for a long time. I studied a lot on future of communication switching technology.
In IEICE, I got lessons on management of an academic society. One of the difficulties of many academic societies, when researchers lose interest to submit papers to the society, number of young members tends to decrease. A kind of monopoly on paper publication by US societies including IEEE and ACM caused the difficulty of many other academic societies outside the US. When I was the president of IEICE, the effort is concentrated on collection of papers from Asian countries. When I was the president of IEICE, the number of papers from China and Korea exceeded the number of papers from Japan in English journal of IEICE. Continuous effort is important to keep stable operation of academic societies.

Tadao, can you profile additional areas of your extensive research history and three valuable lessons you wish to share from each of your top four research areas?
A: Additional area 1. Mutual synchronization:
Mutual synchronization that I studied is the most basic framework for digital communication network. In digital communication clock all switches must be synchronized. If difference of clock exists data transmitted is lost in the same rate of difference of clock frequency. It can be avoided if buffer is inserted and signal transmission stops for a duration during which buffer transmit all stored data. For this purpose, data transmission by users must be controlled because of imperfect nature of the network. When I studied mutual synchronization in mid 1960's, the cost of atomic clock was so expensive that it is difficult to have an atomic clock in each switching point. In mutual synchronization each switching point have a simple clock source and the clock sources control each other and adjust the frequency by themselves to have identical frequency. This is based on automatic control of frequency. Actually a network include so many number of independent clock sources and one stable common frequency is to be composed by mutual interaction.
I proved that the system have complete stability even when the links have any delay, and established a beautiful theory.
But actual selection of clock infrastructure used by industry is simple and expensive atomic frequency generator. They do not need any control theory and simple. Now every country has one common master clock and all other switching stations are controlled by forced control from the central clock. Network of each country thus have a common frequency by a stable atomic oscillator. But still in international frequency adjustment, the principle of mutual synchronization is used.
It is somewhat common to my principle but different my original idea of clock harmonization of autonomic oscillators.
Lessons

In real system, simple principle is selected even though the system is more expensive. Considering training cost to operate a theoretically beautiful system, simple system can be more economical. Although I wrote a many papers using beautiful control theory, these resulted in theory for theory.
Communication engineers have beautiful network theory and noise theory. But it is difficult to educate them on another theory, i.e. control theory.
Still, in cases autonomic management is important, simplified system based on a strange theory can be used.

Additional area 2. Multi-Star Ether switch
Around 1975, I am interested in ALOHA system proposed for satellite access. At that time a lot of improvement was possible to improve performance of ALOHA, and I wrote several papers to improve ALOHA. Almost at same time Ethernet was invented and 10 years later, started to be broadly used as a simple method for network access. In Ethernet only one terminal can access the network at a time. It started by coaxial line for transmission and some proposal was found to use optical fiber in star type configuration. Even in star configuration, in Ethernet principle, only one terminal can access the network at one time. I proposed a Ether switch called Multi Star and wrote several papers for the Multi Star, but I did not applied patents of Multi Star. My papers are at around 1987, and I found many of similar products in the market after 2000. Current Ether switch seems to be depending on my initial study, but no one remembers of my early study. Now by further improvement to technology, high capacity buffer storage is possible, my idea of bufferless star network lost interests.
Lessons:

In the process of technical development, many ideas can appear independently in many studies. If some priority is needed, just to write a paper is not enough.
Basic use of an idea may be to write a paper for university professors. I may satisfied by writing a paper.
In a case new system started to be used, we may have many possibility of invention. It is also important to put many ideas to the new system. The life of the idea is not very long, and it will be more important to create another possibility based on the experience.

Additional area 3: University computer network
Around 1973, I worked for a computer center of the University of Tokyo. At that time computer is a very expensive resource and sharing of the resource was requested. With the collaboration of manufacturers, I developed a computer network connecting universities. But in Japanese law at that time we cannot construct our own network but must depend on carriers network, and because of the delay of inauguration of carrier packet data network we must wait 5 years after development of the successful computer network. During that time cost of computer dropped sharply and effects of sharing was not appreciated. Similar result can be observed in the US DARPA network, but DARPA network created internet as the independent communication network which resulted in replacement of traditional carrier network. But because of legal regulation we failed to create a new network.
Lessons:

The experience caused my activity as the telecommunication regulator. As my activity I took maximum lessons from the experience.
Cost of computer constantly drops. Study to reduce the cost must be done in short time.
In infrastructure related activity, depending on cases close collaboration with carriers can be requested. But even in the case, inauguration of the infrastructure service is not easy. We must be very careful on the decision of a big organization like a traditional carrier.

Additional area 4: Conformance test of network standard
Before 1985 deregulation of Japanese telecom network, all telecomm equipment must be purchased from the monopoly carrier. The carrier guaranteed the performance and connectivity of the equipment. As a part of my contribution to government, I proposed to organize a group of equipment manufactures called HATS (Harmonization of Advanced Telecommunication System) and started a series of conformance tests for the new equipment. The activity was successful, and in 15 years HATS tested more than 1000 types of communication equipment. I am still the chairman of HATS. Recently, connectivity test of ITU standard based equipment is requested by many developing countries, and ITU secretariat want to have similar test internationally and HATS have some activity to help ITU. It is also noticed that this kind of guarantee is only possible when interests of all related members are common.
Lessons

The background of success of HATS is that the majority of manufacturers joined to test were former suppliers to NTT. They understood the common standard, and importance of connectivity.
If manufacturer want to be a monopoly supplier of the country and want to exclude each other, they tend to use different subset of the standard and easy to produce non-connectable equipment. If ITU want to have connectable set of equipment the way to prepare ITU recommendation must be changed.
In this sense, the Japanese government has enough wisdom to understand the difficulty. HATS member want to transfer the experience to ITU; however, it is not successful for the time being.

You were a key participant at the November 2011, first World CIO Forum (WCF). What 5 key lessons can you share from the WCF?

By WCF I was very much impressed by rapid advances of Chinese computer technology, I enjoyed very much to know the advances. As the trial to impress visitors on improvement of Chinese technology, WCF was successful.
It seems that IFIP wanted to make WCF as another academic meeting of IFIP which is comparable to WCC or WITFOR. Viewing WCF from that interest, CIO forum has different nature.
In academic meetings university professors and students are willing to write papers and attend to talk in the meeting free of charge. This is because speakers are evaluated by the quality of presentation. In the case of CIO, they are top managers of organization, and evaluated by the profit of the organization created by the computer system. They are never evaluated by the presentation. How IFIP can promote that kind of incentive to potential speakers is the key to success of WCF.
In the meeting, we found many young practitioners attending WCF. They must learn much.
To attract real CIO, high level talk of newer technology which is the key for success of future system can be useful. Considering the situation that CIO is always facing -- visits from many vendors to sell equipment -- these talks must be higher level talk which usual vendor cannot provide. Talk on future technology in early stage of use can be attractive for CIOs.

More generally, what specific technologies should IT practitioners be embracing today and in two years, five years?
Complexity of software will be more and more serious in future IT. Automatic software generation from specification is now more practical and will be more important. Also, quality assurance of software will attract more interest.

More generally, what specific technologies should businesses be embracing today and in two years, five years?
Analysis of big data and software for that have already started and will be more important technology for all organization in the future. Size of data which can be analyzed practically will increase rapidly and idea to use big data will expand as the competition edge of many organizations.

Please make predictions for the future, their implications, and how we can best prepare?
Also in coming future, cost of energy will be higher and cost reduction of electricity and energy in general will be more important. In current discussion, energy issue is discussed on global warming and CO2 reduction. But in near future energy issue will be discussed on real economy base.

What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized credentials?
[See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
As for professionals, medical and law professional have a long history, sometimes several thousand years. In every use of professional capability, activity of medical and law professional is related directly to lives and destiny of individual people. So problem of ethics is easier to understand from the viewpoint of the general public. On the other hand, in the case of information technology, many of issues of activity of professionals are related to organizations which use information technology. Problem of ethics will appear indirectly, and sometimes difficult to be realized by individuals. At the same time, class of IT professionals is distributed to many levels, and scope of responsibility is different class by class. In this sense, creation of commonly recognized credential is more difficult compared to medical and law professionals. Considering that medical and law credential ware established in long history, further continuous effort is requested globally. IP3 is the start of the important global activity.

From your extensive travels and work, please share 3 stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).

Amazing: The most beautiful natural view I experienced is Canadian Rockies. I first visited the area in 1975, and revisited twice there and drove through Banff to Edmonton in 1990 and 1999. Each time I took all my family of 5 members: myself my wife and three daughters. The beauty is combination of lakes, mountains and ice. I am very much afraid that area of ice is shrinking constantly.
Unexpected: City traffic situation is different country by country, and changes rapidly. When I visited China first time in 1980, the city was fully occupied by bicycles. When I visited in 1990, bicycles are partly replaced by motorcycles. I visited Ho Chi Minh in 2006; the city was occupied by motorcycles. From the airport to the hotel I went by a taxi, the taxi was surrounded by motorcycles in distance of a foot on both sides, ahead and rear. Driving seems be very difficult and dangerous. In the visit to Shenzhen this time, I found that there is no motorcycle in the city, and bicycle is rare. I heard that in major cities in China, motorcycle is prohibited. Then in the next week I was in Amsterdam for 3 days and I walked to watch the city. I found so many bicycles there. Manner of riding of bicycle in the city looked to be so bad and pedestrian must be careful not to be hit by bicycles. Traffic situation of many cities so different and prediction of mobility in future seems to be difficult. Understanding of cities is very much depends on such situation of mobility. Design of city is such a complex issue, and careful understanding of life of people of the city is important.
Surprising: My biggest surprise in my life is on unbelievable intelligence of babies just born. I have two grandsons living in Bordeaux, France. The elder boy was born in December. In next April the family of my daughter visited my home in Yokohama. It was a beautiful day with cherry blossoms in full bloom, and I took the baby of 4 months and my son-in-law to a garden where we enjoyed the flowers. 2 years later, my daughter and the boy visited us in April again. At that time I took the boy to the same garden with cherry blossoms. Suddenly my grandson recalled the day when he visited the garden with his father and said he have visited there with his father and talked on the situation of that time saying he was on a stroller. I realized that young baby remembers on variety of situations he experienced. We do not understand such intelligence of a young baby, because he cannot talk. When baby started to talk we can confirm the memory. I heard that that kind of memory is erased in age of 3 years. My grandson does not remember any more. But at that time I was so much surprised on intelligence of young baby.

Tadao, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your substantial wisdom with our audience.
Stephen, although your questions are so many, and I spend many time after dinner to fill up the sheets, I enjoyed to answer. It is a good chance for me to recall my past work. I am sorry to write too much. You may have difficulty to understand in some answer but I hope you find my answer is useful.
I also realized that the time I started study on communication is very lucky timing. Technology was still young and I had so many opportunities to study new ideas to contribute to the world. So far I believe that I was able to contribute for current society and human being. In that sense I am a lucky person.

Tadao Saito’s Profile:

CTO Toyota-InfoTechnology Center
Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo
Former president of IEICE (Institute of Information, Electronics and Communication Engineers)
Life fellow of the IEEE
Honorary member and life fellow of the IEICE
Official Japan Delegate to IFIP GA and Technical Committee 6 (Communication Systems)

Prof. Tadao Saito received his PhD. in electronics from the University of Tokyo in 1968. Subsequently he served as lecturer, associate professor and professor of the University of Tokyo, where he is now a Professor Emeritus.

Since April 2001, Saito is the Chief Scientist and CTO of Toyota InfoTechnology Center, where he studies future ubiquitous information services around automobiles.

Professor Saito has worked in a variety of subjects related to digital communication and computer networks. His first patent from 1964 is on digital time division switching networks and he invented both Time-Space-Time and Space-Time-Space time division switches which are the core technology for time division (TDM) telephone switching systems globally used since 1975. Although voice switching is now shifting from TDM to IP, Tadao's switching principle is still the core technology in traditional voice switching systems generally used in the world. His research includes a variety of communication networks and its social applications such as ITS (Intelligent Transport System). Saito is also the chairman of New Generation IP Network Forum of Japan.

Included in his past research from the 1970's, Saito was a member of the designing group for the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Traffic Signal Control System. This system was designed to control 7000 intersections under the Tokyo Police Authority.

Tadao authored two books on electronic circuitry, four books on computers and two books on digital communication and multimedia. He also worked on a variety of "deregulation of communication services" to form a legal framework suited for advanced network technology in Japan. From 1998 to 2002 he was the chairman of the Telecommunication Business Committee of the Telecommunication Council of the Japanese government and contributed to regulatory policy of telecommunication business for broadband networks. Based on the new regulations, Japan now has a penetration of optical fiber involving 40% of total households, which is No.1 in the world.

Tadao is also the Japanese representative for the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) General Assembly and Technical Committee 6 (Communication Systems). He is a life fellow of the IEEE and honorary member and life fellow of the IEICE.

A FEW SAMPLES OF: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES, PATENTS, TRANSLATED PAPERS, REVIEW PAPERS IN JOURNALS, TRANSACTION PAPERS, SHORT PAPERS

Taking action with 8 Lessons from Global CIOs

Stephen.Ibaraki — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:11:19 GMT

I am sharing 8 CIO lessons from the World CIO Forum published by CIO Canada and itWorldCanada. Compare them with your action plans.

Eileen Chen, Leading and Shaping the Future of ICT and Society

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:41:00 GMT

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION: Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

Eileen, you have a promising history of significant impact and contribution to society, the community, education, research and the ICT industry as an undergraduate. Thank you for sharing your experiences and insights with our audience.

:00:43:
Tell us more about yourself?
"....I am a junior from New York City in the Schreyer Honors College majoring in information sciences and technology and minoring in Supply Chain and IST at Penn State....I am currently a research assistant for the College of IST (specifically working with the Center for Enterprise Architecture)....The research I am doing is helping me develop my honors thesis about applying EA (Enterprise Architecture) to supply chain planning and design...."

:01:40:
Which honors are you particularly proud of and why?
"....I am really proud to have received the David Suarez Memorial Scholarship for my last two years of college....He is the kind of person I aspire to be...."

:02:20:
One of the big challenges in the industry right now in ICT is getting diversity, especially a higher penetration of women into the field. What prompted you to get into computing?
"....I think my love for technology stems from my amazement of how it is always changing and growing and it could be used to benefit so many aspects of life...."

:04:02:
Can you share your experiences with THON and what is it?
"....THON is short for the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance MaraTHON, a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. It is also the largest student run philanthropy in the world and we’ve currently raised more than $78 million for The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. I am currently a technology captain as a developer for THON.org....I am also an administrator for an organization called Bee House - an organization that my friends and I started in our freshman year and we solely fundraise for THON...."

:05:27:
How are you passionate about community service?
"....I just love giving back. I was fortunate to have had a happy childhood and blessed with great family, friends, and education....I see social inequality in the world and I think everyone deserves a better quality of life, especially children...."

:06:08:
Tell us more about your current studies and how you will apply this knowledge into industry?
"....Our IST courses are very group based and I think that's a really great way to learn not only the material but to learn how to act on teams. What I probably learned the most was how to learn, communicate, work with different people and how to analyze problems creatively...."

:07:34:
What value will you deliver through your honors thesis?
"....I am doing my honors thesis on applying enterprise architecture with supply chain planning and design. I hope to eventually map the SCOR model with the TOGAF model....EA can be used for anything and my job is to see how that idea would fit with supply chain...."

:08:27:
Who are the originators of the 2 models that you talked about?
"....SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) was developed by the Supply Chain Council and TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Forum) is produced by the Open Group...."

:09:09:
What value are you providing to FEAPO (Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organization)?
"....I am currently working with FEAPO's communications committee....I hope to help support FEAPO's goals by promoting FEAPO...."

:09:41:
You are an honors student and you have a lot of additional activities and responsibilities you've taken on, how do you find the time?
"....I think that's my biggest challenge. I think it's very important to time manage everything....and knowing what you can and cannot do....Everything that I am doing right now are things that I am extremely passionate about...."

:10:54:
What are your top challenges and opportunities?
"....My top challenges are all about time....Greatest opportunities: Getting involved with so many wonderful things that has helped me grow professionally and personally....Meeting so many great people....Being able to just enjoy life...."

:11:45:
How will you accomplish your top goals and how will you measure success for each of these goals?
"....I measure success by how happy I am with each goal. If I feel like I'm doing the right things and I like what I'm doing and where I am going I think I'm pretty successful at those things...."

:12:11:
In your current research and studies, what are your top 3 challenges and top 3 opportunities? How will the challenges be solved and the opportunities be actioned?
"....Top 3 challenges: Learning both enterprise architecture and supply chain in deep levels with such a short amount of time....Finding the information I'm exactly looking for....Putting it all together....The opportunities: Become really knowledgeable about EA and supply chain....Find out new things while doing my research....Learning how to organize and communicate a lot of information in one document..."

:14:12:
Describe three areas of controversy or much discussion in the areas that you research and in your studies.
"....First and second, many people don't think TOGAF or SCOR is very useful....Third, EA cannot be specifically defined...."

:14:45:
You are still in your undergraduate years but you are starting to get a sense of what's happening through social media and all the innovation that's occurring worldwide. If I were to ask you to make some predictions what would they be? For example for IT practitioners what specific technologies should they embrace today and into the future?
"....I think IT practitioners should embrace enterprise architecture....I think EA has so much to offer to the whole of the organization and more people should get involved with it....Also Cloud computing...."

:15:38:
What specific technologies should businesses embrace today and into the future?
"....Embracing EA and cloud computing...."

:16:12:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like accounting, medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized credentials?
[See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council ]
"....We already have knowledgeable students with great potential to change the IT world. It could really help them go farther knowing that they are in a valued and respected field that has the structure for them to implement their ideas...."

:17:07:
Eileen shares three stories from her research, studies and societal contributions.
"....It's amazing to see the amount of potential in younger people because they are going to be our future and they are starting to be charitable at such a young age...."

:20:21:
What do you do for fun?
"....Traveling and learning new things….Eating all different kinds of food and cooking....Playing sports....Dancing....Friends and family..."

:20:53:
If you were conducting this interview, what 3 questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....Who are your role models?....What would you like to be doing with IT when you graduate?....What are your goals in life?...."

Eileen’s Profile:

Eileen Chen is a junior studying within the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University at University Park Main Campus. She is also in the Schreyer Honors College. She expects to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in May of 2013 with a major in the option of Integration and Application in Information Sciences and Technology and a minor in Supply Chain and Information Sciences and Technology. She received the David Suarez Memorial Scholarship (a remembrance from his colleagues at Deloitte Consulting/Deloitte & Touche), the Dipple Trustee Scholarship, the Raytheon IST Scholarship, and the Delta Gamma Lamp of Knowledge as well as achieved Deans List all semesters.

Eileen worked as a teaching intern for an introductory Java course during the Fall 2011 semester and a computer lab consultant for Penn State ITS Lab Consulting. She recently joined Dr. Brian H. Cameron, the Executive Director for the Center of Enterprise Architecture in the College of Information Sciences and Technology and the founding president of the Federation for Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations (FEAPO), as a research assistant. She is currently working with FEAPO and the Communications Committee. She also assisted Dr. Cameron in preparing for the Center for EA at Penn State Meeting, which she attended in October 2011. While learning about the innovative subject of enterprise architecture, she is also gathering research for her honors thesis.

Learning in the classroom and work environment is important to Eileen, but she also values the knowledge she gains outside her coursework. She is passionate about giving back to the community, and her main focus is bettering the quality of life for children. She currently serves as a Technology Captain for the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, affectionately referred to as THON. As the largest student-run philanthropy, THON raised $9.56 million in 2011 benefitting the fight against pediatric cancer. Eileen also serves as Administrator and Website Chair for Bee House, a special interest organization with the sole purpose of fundraising for THON. Her sorority, Delta Gamma, in which she serves as the Director for Electronic Communications, also fundraises for THON and other philanthropies. In addition to THON, she has participated in the LeaderShape Institute, the General Electric Student Leadership Conference, Role of a Resident Assistant Course, the National Collegiate Honor Society, Be Engaged House (a leadership and service special living option), and intramural volleyball.

Licensing software in the cloud

Ruth Morton — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:26:00 GMT

A girlfriend of mine called me up this weekend looking for a DVD copy of an older piece of software. She was rebuilding a computer for a family member who had the product key but no installation media. I’m sure many of you have similar stories trying to fix or repair computers for your family and friends.

One of the nice things about using software online or “in the cloud” so to speak is that if your computer goes belly up and you need to rebuild it, the software will be there waiting for you, as soon as you can get computer back online.

For businesses, using online services can give you greater flexibility to pursue projects or try out ideas without having large upfront costs as well as providing foundational IT infrastructure without investing in your own data center.

While a post I wrote a little while ago outlined the basics of traditional software licensing, I figured I should follow up with how to license software in the cloud since online software subscriptions are becoming more prevalent. This short video does a good job at laying things out – like why you’d want to consider using online services and some of the advantages and cost-savings of licensing software this way:

Microsoft has several online services: Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Windows Azure Platform, Windows Intune and others. Each service can be purchased through a volume licensing agreement or the Microsoft Online Subscription Program and then activated and managed managed through web portals:

Online Services Customer Portal (Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Intune)
Dynamics CRM Online Customer Portal (Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online)
Windows Azure Customer Portal (Windows Azure Platform)
Volume Licensing Service Center (other services)

One day I’d love there to just be one portal to manage all your online subscriptions (kind of like one ring to rule them all but much less evil) but consolidation takes time and so I make no promises but I trust this is the direction our Online Services folk are heading.

How to Integrate the Cloud with Smart Phones

Stephen.Ibaraki — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:28:02 GMT

This webinar will provide an introduction to the exciting new world of cloud-enabled mobile computing. A few complex user scenarios possible with this new paradigm will be discussed, along with a hands-on tutorial for developing such mobile applications on Microsoft’s Windows Phone Platform. The presenters and moderator are tops in their field.

To found out more and register for this Webinar January 26th 2012 at 2pm EST, go to:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/cdnitmanagers/archive/2011/12/07/the-cloud-in-your-hands-marriage-of-cloud-computing-with-smart-devices-acm-free-webinar.aspx

Sustainable IT: Tips for Fostering a Green IT Environment

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:54:21 GMT

Sustainability is the hottest topic and it’s a pleasure to publish this blog from guest writer, Mark McCullough, marketing manager at Lexmark Canada.

Sustainability is a big buzz-word in today’s business world but what does it mean from an IT perspective? It goes without saying that engineering a “green” corporate environment must involve the entire organization, however, there are numerous ways the IT team can implement sustainable practices.

Monitor your Output

Establishing a responsible approach to printing is one of the easiest ways to make a significant reduction to your office’s carbon footprint. Think about how often a user prints a multi-page article when he only needs the information contained on a single page, or the amount of documents printed in error, or how many printed pages are often abandoned at a workstation. Most enterprise printing devices today contain several easy to use solutions that help foster a more intelligent approach to printing. For example, features like “Proof then Print” require users to preview the document prior to initiating the print feature, reducing waste resulting from unwanted pages. In addition to the obvious sustainability benefit of examining your printing processes, there is also a significant financial advantage realized when you encourage more responsible printing.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

It’s relatively easy to recycle the paper waste your office generates. The same principles should be applied to other functions in the office. For example, what do you do with old computers, faxes and printers once they’ve been replaced with newer models? Many manufacturers offer free “end-of-life” recycling solutions where your old equipment will be collected, brought to a dedicated recycling facility and, in most cases, turned into a new product in some capacity. This is also true of the materials in your office technology—for example, toner, ink, fax ribbons, computer chips. The more you can incorporate recycling throughout your technology environment, the more you will do your part to lower your organization’s carbon footprint.

Consider the Cloud

One way to reduce the amount of electricity your company consumes is to move some of your data off-premise and to the cloud. With fewer servers on-site, you can cut down on your electricity bill—in some cases, significantly. According to a recent study conducted by Pike Research (Link to: http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/cloud-computing-could-cut-data-center-energy-consumption-by-nearly-one-third-by-2020?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PikeResearchNewsroom+%28Pike+Research+%C2%BB+Newsroom%29), data center power consumption will decrease 31 percent between 2010 and 2020 as a result of the cloud computing model.

More Mobility

It’s an investment up front, but arming employees with technology to make them more mobile can also reduce your consumption overhead. For example, giving employees laptops to replace their desktops enables them to be just as productive from home as they would be at the office. With more mobile technology, when workers need to work late to complete a project they tend to leave the office at a normal time and pick the job back up at home. This allows companies to cut costs associated with keeping electricity and heat/AC running late, which is an unexpected green benefit.

Police your Policies

A lot of organizations have set policies governing technology use but IT managers aren’t always good about enforcing them. To foster sustainability within your organization, make sure employees are adhering to these by sending frequent reminders asking them to turn their computers off at night, make sure printers, faxes and other devices are set to power-saving mode and that desk lamps and all other technologies at individual workstations are turned off at the end of the day.

Sustainability is increasingly becoming an area of focus across the organization. By taking steps to ensure your IT practices include as many “green” components as possible, you can help your company achieve its larger corporate sustainability goals.

Learning from Dr. Gabriel Silberman, International Top Researcher and Innovating Senior Executive

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:44:00 GMT

This is the next interview in the continuing series with world-renowned professionals. Gabriel shares his remarkable insights from one of the best in the world.

Dr. Gabriel Silberman is Senior Vice President and Director of CA Labs. He is responsible for building CA Technologies research and innovation capacity across the business.

Leveraging the talents of the company's researchers and technical experts worldwide, CA Labs engages with leading-edge researchers in academia, professional associations, industry standards bodies, customers and partners to explore novel products and emerging technologies in support of CA Technologies key growth areas. The results of these collaborations vary from research publications, to best practices, to new directions for products. Research topics cover insider threat detection, identity management, root-cause analysis, software development architecture, cloud computing methodology and strategy, and the human factor in technology.

Gabby joined CA Technologies and established CA Labs in 2005. His experience in academic and industrial research has contributed to the success of the collaborative model of exploration into emerging and disruptive technologies.

Prior to joining CA Technologies, Gabby was program director for the IBM Centers for Advanced Studies (CAS), where he was responsible for developing and adapting the collaborative research model for IBM worldwide. Previously, Gabby was a manager and researcher at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center where he led exploratory and development efforts, including work in the Deep Blue chess project.

Gabby began his career in academia as a faculty member in computer science at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology. He was a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and serves on academic advisory boards at several universities and research institutes around the world. Gabby was a Council Member-at-Large of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and serves on editorial boards as well as conference organizing and technical program committees. He is also a member of the International Federation of Information Processing Working Group 10.3 and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society.

Gabby earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Publications and Conferences

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:21:
Gabriel, you have a strong history of significant global impact in research, innovation, and senior executive leadership. Thank you for sharing your considerable expertise, deep accumulated insights and wisdom with our audience.
"....Thank you Stephen. I look forward to your questions...."

:00:34:
Define the ACM DSP and your role?
"....The Distinguished Speaker Program (DSP) and its predecessor the Distinguished Lectureship Program (DLP) were created primarily to serve ACM student chapters by bringing outstanding professionals to their schools and giving talks on topics of interest in the computing profession. A couple of years ago we noticed that the DLP were underutilized. A committee was formed by ACM to look into ways to revitalize the program and thus the birth of the DSP. I was part of the committee that looked at ways of actualizing the program and I am currently chairing that committee which is composed of colleagues from academia and industry as well as government....Our aim is to have ACM in general and DSP in particular as a resource to serve the broader public...."

:03:19:
What is the value of the DSP and which audiences can benefit from the DSP? Can you expand on this?
"....The main purpose of the DSP is to bring together speakers and topics that are current, but also people who can give their perspectives on (for example, computing careers) to help students decide which way to take their career....The advantage of going through the DSP is not just the quality of the speakers that you can tap into, but also the funding model that ACM uses for the DSP...."

:05:31:
What is your vision for the DSP and how will you close the gaps in your DSP roadmap from current status to future vision?
"....One of my main objectives as Chair of the DSP committee is to make it more international, both in terms of recruiting top-flight professionals as speakers in other geographies and also by creating demand for those programs in other geographies. Some of the approaches that we've taken are to reach out to national computing societies, as well as working with several of ACM's other organizations and bodies that have a presence in other geographies like Europe, China and India to recruit more speakers and to promote the program to local hosts....Another option that we're looking at is to link the DSP to other ACM services...."

:07:18:
How can audiences further engage with the DSP?
"....We have two audiences for the DSP. One is distinguished speakers and we invite them to apply or self-nominate, or they can be nominated by another professional to become speakers in the DSP program. The other audience are the hosts that will invite the speakers....To date we have about 100 speakers, many of them with multiple lectures so we have quite a good selection available....For more information for speakers and hosts: dsp.acm.org...."

:10:23:
What do you want to do with MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) research network and can you get into more detail about what that means?
"....MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) is a network that was created in Canada several years ago to promote just that — Information Technology and Mathematics and Complex Systems....It has possibly the largest reach of any non-governmental organization that I can think of in Canada into the universities and can open up a lot of possibilities in terms of awareness and news of the DSP. We reached out to MITACS to partner as a vehicle for delivering the DSP talks to the Canadian audience and in particular the university audiences, but also conferences and possibly industry opportunities...."

:12:36:
Gabriel profiles his extensive research history and shares valuable lessons from each of his top research areas.
"....I tend to switch gears every three to five years at the most, not necessarily switch jobs, but move from one area to another. To me it's very satisfying and exciting to learn new things and apply some of the knowledge that I've acquired through working in one area and possibly others....If I were to summarize the experiences that I've gathered along the way: first of all this possible translation of knowledge from one area to another and its use in it....From the Deep Blue matches — the most important lesson I learned were in human nature and the nature of competitiveness in a very intense field such as chess. More generally in terms of my acquisition of knowledge the keys to it were to ask the right questions, put together a self-motivated team that had diverse perspectives and enable them. Getting the team the resources that it needs to deliver on its mission is probably the key factor to success...."

:21:39:
Gabriel, you talked about your work at IBM; are there any additional insights you want to talk about in terms of your most difficult challenges, and the valuable lessons you wish to share from those challenges?
"....When you do research in an industrial environment the Holy Grail is to transfer technology from the work that you do in the research context and to find use in products or services or to contribute to improve some other processes that are used — whether it's to design hardware or develop software. As a researcher you have to have partners within those other parts of the enterprise that are your natural research recipients (who will eventually benefit from the work you do as a researcher). What I found over time is that you cannot do the research in isolation and then expect the recipient to trust what you’ve done is what they need....When you are doing this in collaboration and constant communication there's a much better chance of technology finding its way into a product...."

:25:56:
How did your time in Academia shape your current perspective?
"....I think it gave me a better understanding for the motivation and reward system that exists in academia and therefore it shaped the kind of agreements that I try to work on vis-a-vis universities. The biggest motivation for faculty is to find interesting problems to work on because that could open new areas for them for research giving ideas on thesis topics for the students and otherwise open opportunities for publication....The one thing that being in academia sort of highlighted for me is the role that students play in this equation both in terms of probably being the highest motivated individuals that you can run into....and they get a lot of value from working with industry at that stage of their careers...."

:29:21:
Prior to your time at CA, what were your most significant contributions in research management and what leadership insights can you share?
"....Deep Blue, the chess project….I was not part of the team that developed the actual chess machine; we helped in many of the surrounding issues. That probably gave me the best perspective on systems research....The second significant contribution had to do with this high bandwidth architecture that I mentioned earlier....Although it yielded some interesting insights its biggest value in my mind was as a thought leadership feat....My greatest satisfaction is the refinement of the collaborative research model that was started up in Toronto by the Centers of Advanced Studies at the IBM lab there several years prior to me joining the organization, I realize was such a compelling value proposition that upon finishing my assignment in Toronto after 3 years of leading the Centers of Advanced Studies there, I proposed to IBM to expand the Centers to other IBM locations...."

:34:47:
Can you get into more detail about the hurdles that you needed to overcome when setting up CA Labs?
"....When you come into a company that doesn't have a tradition of research you have to change the perspective. You have to develop the kind of trust that I was alluding to earlier in terms of bringing people on board early in the process, asking for their input and feedback on what you are trying to do explaining what is possible....The biggest challenge is to fight the quarter-by-quarter pressures of the business, and that is common not just in CA but in other companies that have a culture of research. Overcoming that kind of pressure by showing long-term possible benefits is always a challenge...."

:36:59:
How will you accomplish your top goals in your current position and how will you measure success for each of these goals?
"....First and foremost you need an outstanding team....The members of CA Labs are actually distributed around the world and in closest proximity to some of our large development teams....Another feature that we've developed within CA Labs over the last couple of years is tapping external funding for research in several countries....We also put in place a number of innovation programs to encourage more people to come up with good ideas....Another objective is to transfer technology both internally and externally....The work we have done with customers has been extremely enlightening. It gives you another perspective on what can be achieved from research...."

:41:21:
In your current managed research, what are your top challenges and top opportunities? How will the challenges be solved and the opportunities be actioned?
"....There is one challenge that divides into three for me and it's how dynamic our field is....Challenge 1 would be the continuous shift of the market. The second challenge is not unrelated to the shift of the market. It is CA's interests. CA is an extremely dynamic company. We adjust to the market by grouping products in a different way, by organizing ourselves and our go-to-market strategy a little bit different, basically on an on-going basis....The third which again is not unrelated to the other two is personnel moves....As far as the opportunities....Our participation in the definition of our corporate strategy process....We've created this process that uses the social media to gather that information from hundreds of contributors internally and synthesizing that into what we call the "world view". which includes everything from economic considerations and demographics, healthcare issues, the emerging markets and credit crisis, etc...."

:47:41:
Describe a few areas of controversy or much discussion in the areas that you research.
"....There's a lot of research being done on social networks both in terms of their impact, but also in the way that they can be manipulated....Cloud is another because it offers extreme benefits, especially lowering the threshold for smaller companies to access high quality and large capacity computing resources. There's lots of issues that come with the Cloud computing model, not the least of them have to do with legal issues....The third topic may surprise you but it's mainframes....Mainframes are not going away. The generation of programmers and administrators that were familiar with the mainframe are quickly approaching retirement age. So the question is, how do you staff all these installations that use the mainframes with highly skilled people?...."

:52:05:
"International Case Competition on the Strategic Value of IT Management" Can you describe what that is? Why this matters? How does the ACM fit in?
"....There are many that are international in flavor and are sponsored either by universities or companies but none of these really look specifically at the juncture of business and IT....So we decided to create a competition....This competition is all about giving Masters students (whether it's Information Systems, Business Administration or Computer Science) an opportunity to look at what they could be facing when they join workforce. IT in general is seen as the cost of doing business. We want to shift the conversation from cost to value....How does ACM fit in?....They really don't have the equivalent kind of opportunity for students who are focused more on the business side of IT. My hope would be that the ACM would consider participating in some way in this Case competition...."

:56:17:
How would you quantify the value of serving on academic advisory boards at several universities and research institutes around the world?
"....In general, industry is focused on shorter term issues and on specific skills of the technology of the day, whereas universities are more focused on a foundation of education and the ability of students to adapt over time and learn as technologies evolve....These two things are sometimes in tension, but through this dialogue I have found that it is profitable for both sides to see a shift in the education model or in the way education is delivered, but also the kind of topics that are being taught to better match the expectations of an employer when the student graduates and goes into the workforce...."

:58:41:
Can you share some of your top useful experiences as a Council Member-at-Large of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and also serving on editorial boards, as well as conference organizing and technical program committees?
"....A lot of what gets done in terms of conferences and publications and other events that further the profession and gives us a "seat at the table" when important things are being discussed is leveraging a professional association by its members. There's no other way to do the work....All these roles that you mentioned, being part of Council, serving on editorial board, helping organize conferences and serving on technical program committees they all fit under this broad category of service to the profession and giving back. Whenever I go and talk to students I stress the importance of being part of a profession and contributing...."

:01:02:03:
What are the key outcomes from being a member of the International Federation of Information Processing Working Group 10.3, and as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society?
"....I would equate IEEE Computer Society to the experience with ACM. It's a professional association, most of its members are still US-based although things are changing particularly with ACM....IFIP is a little bit different. It is more international in flavor, has membership from many countries....That again is a more diverse group of people that bring different perspectives to the table...."

:01:03:41:
Why should practitioners, researchers, academics, executives, people from government and various domains join non-profit associations?
"....In general, there is the professional side and there's the human side of things. On the professional side I think it is your duty as a professional to enable others to have access to the benefits of the profession....On the human side of the equation there are things that happen in our society that should not. But we cannot expect our government to take care and fix everything that is wrong with the world. A lot of it depends on individuals identifying issues that they care about and when they do it's really to participate in their solution...."

:01:05:21:
What specific technologies should IT practitioners embrace today and into the future?
"....It's hard to predict the future, it's much easier to make it....One of the strong trends that we see today is what we refer to as the "consumerization of IT"....Not too different from that is the issue of "mobility"....I think that's a very strong trend that we're going to see developing over the next couple of years....I think that from a technology point of view both in terms of hardware and software solutions, focusing on Green IT will be important over the next few years...."

:01:10:07:
What specific technologies should businesses embrace today and in the future? Is it the same as in the previous question where I asked how it pertained to IT practioners?
"....I think there is a large overlap between the two questions. But if I were starting a business today I would really focus on using the Cloud as a platform to deliver whatever products and services I was developing. If I was an existing business with lots of legacy I would look at ways to adapt the products and services to the Cloud...."

:01:11:50:
Earlier I mentioned predicting the future. If you had no boundaries in terms of that question what would be your predictions and also their implications, and how we can best prepare?
"....Almost every business today is now about information and you have to understand how that information affects your business....What I think is the Holy Grail in the software side but also in the hardware side is reuse. The reuse of your efforts, planning, designing, and executing for reuse is extremely important....Sharing of knowledge, sharing of insight and sharing the product of your effort — when you do that you create a better more nimble organization that is able to deliver better and faster. That to me is the way to best prepare for the future...."

:01:13:50:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized credentials?
[See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
"....I think we are still a bit away from reaching the status of medicine and law....Almost every other profession has an information or computing component that requires professionals to take part in and therefore the demand for people in the computing profession is still strong. Employers will just take what's available and if necessary train to give them the skills that are necessary to perform within their environment. As long as we don't see the employers really get behind this initiative I think it will be very hard to get to the point where each computing professional has to be part of an association or some other body that gives them credentials...."

:01:15:42:
Gabriel shares three stories from his extensive travels and work. (something surprising, humorous, amazing).

:01:22:02:
If you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....People ask me....Why should someone get a PhD?....Assuming one has their PhD, should one take a career in industry or academia?....How do you pick your next job?...."

Top Staff Training Pointers You Should Know (Part 2 of 2)

Jonathan Rozenblit — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:01:00 GMT

Guest post written by Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions, VERAX

Having worked in software development in the engineering and financial sectors through several technology eras, one thing strikes me the most is how often top notch IT professionals just get burned out by the fast pace of technology advances. As an educator, development manager, and technology driver for many years, it has been my passion to help our IT staff to keep up in light of global competition. On the previous episode of the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, I shared with the audience my advice on how IT managers can play an important role in their team’s training. I would like to summarize a few important aspects to keep in mind when it comes to planning and managing training for your staff.

Continued from last Monday. Read Part 1 >>

Enforce a checkpoint schedule

Now that you’ve worked out a set of goals with your staff. Who’s responsible to make sure things are on track? My experience tells me that it’s both of you: your staff needs to take ownership to keep up with skills and you, as their manager, need to be the measuring stick. And if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. So it needs to be instilled as a routine in order to keep the momentum going. By measuring training progress on a periodic basis like once every 3 to 4 months , you’ll know whether your staff is progressing as expected or perhaps he or she is being overloaded. With such a feedback loop, you’ll be able to fine tune the training plan and keep things in focus.

Not one size fits all

Everyone’s different. Some of your IT staff might be more comfortable with structured classroom learning while others prefer to be given time and web resources so they can learn at their own pace. And one of the techniques we have done successfully at VERAX is to provide some of the technology savvy staff with resources and allocated time so that they can put together lunch and learn seminars for their peers. And there are many benefits for that: opportunity to showcase what they’ve learned, efficiency in cross training each other, a chance for the team to gel and discuss innovative ideas for your workplace, and virtually no loss of productivity at a minimal cost to the company. It’s been a win-win training mechanism that has been working well for us. So be creative in your approach to training.

Make use of web resources

With advances in webcasting and e-learning tools, many companies are no longer constrained to sending their staff on expensive offsite training. Virtual training along with virtual machine images would be a great way to learn. And there are tons of resources on the web for that purpose that you should look into (some free resources - Developer Connection, Channel 9)

Make it fun

Be aware of e-learning trends and listen to your staff for innovative and fun ideas to learn. As an example, one thing we have done is to provide tablets to loan to our staff along with e-book subscriptions so that they can read at their own pace anywhere anytime. Our staff love such innovative approaches to learning and they appreciate our willingness to invest in them. So not only did we generated excitement and high level of staff engagement, we know our staff will be able to learn throughout the year on their own pace instead of the standard one to two weeks training for most companies. So make it fun and engaging. After all, it’s a small investment that pays back many folds.

To finish off - You are not alone

Just remember that you are not an island on your own. The best way to avoid missteps is to learn from the lessons and best practices of other managers. And guess what? There are already great resources freely available for you, such as the AlignIT portal and LinkedIn group. They are great places where you can read and interact with other IT practitioners for advice.

Stuart Ngai

Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions at VERAX, is an IT professional with over 25 years of experience. As a development manager, lead enterprise architect, and a Senior Leadership Member, Stuart has led the delivery of many leading edge systems through several technology eras and guided many IT professionals in enriching and re-energizing their careers. With 7 years teaching software courses at Seneca College of Applied Sciences followed by another 7 years teaching software engineering courses for the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto, personal development through perpetual training has been a theme in which Stuart helped many IT professionals to achieve and sustain their career growth. Stuart is a certified P. Eng. and PMP with a Masters degree in Engineering from McGill University and a management degree from McGill's School of Management. He has been with the software consulting firm VERAX Solutions Corporation in Toronto since 1993 focusing on building strong delivery teams and delivering results to their customers in the financial sector.

Back to the basics with Microsoft software licensing options

Ruth Morton — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:34:00 GMT

My colleagues and I get asked a lot about licensing. Frankly, Microsoft doesn’t have a great reputation for keeping it simple. And to be totally transparent – I, like many of my colleagues, would usually rather stick a fork in my eye that talk about it because it can get complicated. And confusing. And just…ugh.

So you can imagine my joy when I was asked to write a newsletter editorial about simplifying licensing. Exactly.

Then I had a very enlightening conversation with Terry Choquette, Licensing Marketing Manager at Microsoft and she pointed me to a few resources that got back to the basics and laid it all out very simply. I like simple. And I decided that this simple information was as blog worthy as it was newsletter worthy. While details about software licensing is not everybody’s favourite reading material, stick with me on this.

Ways to buy a license

First of all, there are 3 ways to buy a license as illustrated in the slide below: a full packaged product from a retail store, an OEM product on a new computer or a volume agreement from a reseller.

Volume licensing agreements

While you could simply walk into the nearest Best Buy or Future Shop and make your purchase, most organizations that need 5 or more licenses can benefit best from volume licensing agreements. Why? Well, there are some pricing advantages, there are more flexible options based on size and type of business, payment structure, ownership of software, etc., there are additional use rights for cross-language and reimaging machines, and there are use rights to new product versions, support, training, tools, etc., with Software Assurance (more about this below).

For this post, I’m going to limit my discourse to those organizations who want to license less than 250 devices or users, which I would hazard a guess applies to most of you reading this blog. If you need help with licensing options for 250 devices/users or more, lemme know and I’ll put you in touch with people who can help you or you can check out these online resources.

Below is a great 3.5 minute video that lays out the volume licensing options that are part of the Microsoft Open License program for small and medium sized businesses:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Basically, there are 3 volume licensing agreement options: Open License, Open Value and Open Value Subscription. Now if you want more detail than the video gives (you did watch it right? C’mon it’s only 3.5 minutes long and it’s pretty entertaining!), you’ll want to take a look at the Open License Program Guide. It has a very useful chart on page 8 which compares what you get with an Open License agreement compared to an Open Value agreement.

Software Assurance

Software Assurance is something that can be added to your volume license agreement which provides 24x7 support, deployment planning services, training, and the latest software releases. Although once viewed as simply an insurance policy for free software upgrades, Software Assurance has now been recognized by analysts as an essential tool for getting the most out of your licensing purchase.

Below is a screen shot from an interactive PDF listing the benefits of Software Assurance with each type of licensing agreement.

For more information about Software Assurance and what it can do for your organization, check out the Software Assurance site.

Let me know if this was helpful!

Dr. Roy Want, International Much Awarded Top Researcher in Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing, Chair ACM SIGMOBILE and Chair [ACM] Mobility Tech Pack Committee

Stephen.Ibaraki — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:38:00 GMT

I very much enjoyed my discussion with Roy and I know you will too. For some background: the ACM, which is the world’s largest educational, scientific and professional non-profit association recently released their ACM Tech Pack on Mobility, edited and annotated by Roy Want, Chair of ACM SIGMOBILE, and his Mobility Tech Pack Committee. “The Tech Pack includes original work, must-read texts, and the latest research from the ACM Digital Library and beyond. Mobile Computing is the fastest growing area in computer science, fuelled by the explosive growth of the smart phone and cell phone market, expected to reach 1.7 billion units shipped this year. [2011] The Mobility Tech Pack looks at Visions and Challenges, Mobile Applications and Middleware, and Wireless and Mobile Technologies. The resource taxonomy includes Survey/Overview, System, Experience, Theory, and General topics. Additional materials include valuable community resources and events, as well as supplementary videos, tutorials, podcasts, websites, newsletters and blogs.”

Roy Want is a highly respected research scientist at Google. Prior roles include Senior Principal Engineer at Intel, EIC at IEEE Pervasive Computing, and Principal Scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

For Want's significant contributions to Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing he was awarded the status of IEEE and ACM Fellow in 2005. Some of his best known projects are: Active Badge, an in-building location system; ParcTab, the world's first context aware computer system; Personal Server, wireless mobile computer interaction through larger nearby infrastructure and computers; and Dynamic Composable Computing (DCC), sharing resources wirelessly to build a logical computer on the fly. With over 65 issued patents, Roy is a recognized top international authority with research interests in: mobile computing, ubiquitous & pervasive computing, hardware design, electronic commerce, smart cards, distributed systems, multimedia systems, location-based services, mobile user-interfaces, MEMS and electronic tagging (RFID).

Roy is the ACM SIGMOBILE Chair and Chair [ACM] Mobility Tech Pack Committee. (http://www.roywant.com/cs and http://techpack.acm.org/)

Roy received his Ph.D from Cambridge University in 1988.

For a complete profile, go to http://www.roywant.com/cs/. You can find out more about Roy's research interests, professional awards, education, experience, skill set, projects, publications (conferences, journals, periodicals, books, book chapters, published reports, articles, editorials, workshop papers, and EIC introductions), professional activities (professional memberships, committees, conference program chairs, conference technical program committee service, selected invited presentations, editorial posts, PhD thesis committees, industry technical awards, and grants), patents, and media coverage.

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:44:
Roy, can you profile your extensive research history and valuable lessons you wish to share from each of your top research areas?
"....Active Badge System: (a telephone system built on top of a local area network)....Lessons learned: You have to treat privacy very seriously....You can build excitement very easily, but for a lasting effect you really do need value....ParcTab: (this is the very first context-aware computer)....Lessons learned: Although for the majority of a day you might find there is no problem with the bandwidth, you've really got to design the whole system for the worst case of use....Only when you build something can you really explore its full potential....In order to explore its full potential you really need a set of tools which will allow developers to go in there and build things for themselves....Personal Server project at Intel: (a recognition of trends in technology)....Lessons learned: It's hard to get this concept into people's heads for them to understand the advantages until you marry it with a concept like the cell phone....If you have anything that is at all controversial be prepared for long debates and learn from those debates....Dynamic Composable Computing: (the notion that the design of any particular mobile device or a static device is limited in some way)....Lessons learned: In today's environment which is very creative and innovative you have to be prepared to defend any issues....Respect existing standards....If you are building a demonstration system to show the value of an idea like this you have to deploy it and create a certain amount of infrastructure...."

:18:41:
What would you say is the ratio between an innovative idea where you get some funding and budget to take it forward but it really doesn't realize itself in a broader scale out in the community and society in some way and those that do?
"....There are few projects in a research environment which take off and change the world, but it doesn't mean that you can't have point effect with something. There are lots of ideas which have come out of research which eventually through some route made it into products and incorporated into big systems...."

:21:00:
Can you profile your current research, and what you hope to achieve, and the value to the broader audience?
"....Dynamic Composable Computing project. The value to the larger audience is that you have devices which tend, as products, to be islands of innovation....The value to the consumer is basically that the sum of the parts is greater than the value of the individual components put together....More recent work, I've become interested in the potential for Near Field Communication (NFC) on telephones (the ability for phones to communicate with other phones through near field proximity)....Like a lot of new ideas it opens up another set of ideas and we'll see a lot of innovation around that in the near future...."

:26:18:
What are your goals as Chair of SIGMOBILE and what specific events and areas do you wish to spotlight?
"....One of the key aspects of SIGMOBILE, (which is basically representing the mobile research community), is that we create a set of top-tier conferences and workshops which supports the community. We have five sponsored conferences which are MobiCom, MobiSys, MobiHoc, Ubicomp and SenSys and one annual sponsored workshop which is ACM HotMobile....We also want to encourage the next generation of mobile researchers....The final thing on our agenda right now is to complete the Mobility Tech Pack which will go out in the next couple of months into the community. The Tech Pack is basically an annotated reading list which covers all of the major areas (and sub-areas) in mobile computing and to provide extended abstracts for particular papers...."

:29:46:
What do you see as the value to the non-researcher (that is the practitioner), in the ACM Mobility Tech Pack?
"....The practitioner is probably not aware of some of the newest ideas. We try to make sure that the Tech Pack has a spectrum of papers from perhaps an original publication in a particular sub-area which everybody should know about, but also some of the latest, breaking results...."

:32:30:
What is the total penetration of mobile: total mobile, shipped this year, predicted shipped next year, smartphone growth, regional differences?
"....Approximately 1.4 billion phones had been shipped in the last year (2010). I recently checked some of those numbers and now the prediction for 2011 is 1.7 billion to be shipped in the year (not all of them are smartphones)....In 2010 about 360 million were smartphones. Going forward we are seeing something like a 70% growth year to year...."

:34:34:
I guess there is even a relationship (especially in developing countries) between mobile use and an increase in GDP?
"....It seems that countries that don't have great infrastructure (the developing countries), are really making use of smartphones in ways that we don't need to in the West....We are seeing people who are building their entire business around their cell phone and that is how they stay in touch with their clients and how they interact with the rest of the world....It's very clear that this a "game-changer" for lots of those regions...."

:38:12:
Can you profile the visions of Mobile Computing?
"....Let me pick a couple of visions which have been very powerful. One of them was Mark Weiser's (Xerox PARC) vision. He wrote a famous article in September, 1991 for Scientific American, "The Computer for the 21st Century". In that he described what has become known as the vision of Ubiquitous Computing....Another area which has a lot of press and something that has not seen its day yet is the Vision of the Internet of Things...."

:45:48:
What are the current challenges for mobile and for 2012?
"....One of the things with mobile phones and mobile apps is that you've opened up the security hole....Another of the big challenges is power consumption...."

:49:51:
Please overview your views on mobile applications and middleware?
"....We're in an interesting time in the development of mobile applications. We're seeing a large number of apps … that are being created using toolkits for a particular operating system....The other alternative to mobile apps is the whole notion of web apps, web services....It's going to be an interesting battle over the next few years as to which one wins out and whether in fact there's been this huge push into design of mobile applications right now. You might see that pendulum swing back to web applications as the tools get better and people enjoy the flexibility of it...."

:52:56:
What is the status of wireless and mobile technologies?
"....All wireless technologies are improving....There's a lot of growth to go and as we're experienced in this kind of growth, applications adapt to take advantage of the additional bandwidth....In terms of mobile technologies, almost all technologies have opportunities for improvement. The processor technologies are becoming multi-processor systems, storage we are seeing more and more exponentially growing flash memory incorporated into the devices....The local wireless technologies on these devices are also increasing in speed...."

:57:01:
Where specifically can one find the best resources for mobility?
"....As an academic the best resources are the premiere conferences and the proceedings for those conferences (Mobicom, MobiSys, MobiHoc, SenSys, Ubicomp)....ACM and IEEE digital libraries...."

:58:49:
When is the ACM Mobility TechPack going to be released? [Editor’s note: Q4 2011]
"....We expect by the end of Q4 that it should be online...."

:01:00:32:
What are the top best practices in mobility that you wish to share?
"....In terms of best practices here I think the key thing is you've got to really respect the privacy of the people using it....It's very key that you let anyone who is using it know what you're logging and how you are going to use that data, and if possible design in a way which it's anonymized...."

:01:03:27:
You touched on some of this earlier but do you have some additional comments you want to make about the security challenges in mobility?
"....Security, as in all computer systems, is a moving target and there are well known techniques for looking for signatures of viruses etc. and these techniques are being applied to mobile phones, but as soon as we find solutions for some of these problems we will find new attacks. We have to accept that this is an on-going challenge. Going forward we'll get smarter at building detection mechanisms...."

:01:05:33:
Describe some areas of controversy or much discussion in the areas that you research.
"....How technologies will be used and whether they will be used for good or evil purposes...."

:01:07:21:
In your research, what are the top ways of measuring success?
"....The gold standard for success is that you somehow get your application or technology out into the hands of users and if the user community explodes then you have a success. There's no doubt that it's purely determined by adoption...."

:01:08:55:
In your current research, what are your top challenges and top opportunities? How will the challenges be solved and the opportunities be actioned?
"....Top challenges with security and power etc....There's motivation to solve these problems and it's going to be a long road, but we're going to make continuous progress because there's so much feedback that's happening, and there are so many things that are being tried on a weekly basis to solve these problems...."

:01:10:21:
What specific technologies should IT practitioners be embracing today and in two years, five years?
"....My first advice to any practitioner is if you don't have a mobile strategy yet you should certainly think about how you are going to create one. Secondly, if you have a mobile strategy for today's phones, that may not be appropriate strategy for tomorrow's phones....The important thing for the IT professional is to realize that it's a continuous process of innovation in the smartphone and mobile arena and you've got to track the technologies that are feeding into the phones and the capabilities...."

:01:12:40:
What specific technologies should businesses be embracing today and into the future? I guess the answer to the previous question applies also to the businesses. Or do you have any additional comments to make?
"....I think it's the same areas. No matter where you stand, technology innovation is very rapid....I think if you want to be educated about where things are going you have to take the broader picture and try and track not just the developer conferences, but some of the academic areas as well...."

:01:13:43:
Can you make predictions for the future in a more general sense, their implications, and how we can best prepare?
"....There's one area of technology I think is going to be very important and that's the ability to move computation around as a single unit. This is something that we really haven't seen yet...."

:01:18:30:
What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and recognized credentials? [See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
"....We are now at a point and have been for many years where computer science has the chops to be one of these highly respected disciplines. One of the problems that we see is that it's not treated very well in schools. There aren't many Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school that have any real value that students would want to sign on to....We need to address that. It's really a question of improving the quality of those courses, getting the universities on board and making sure that they know what the expectations are if people take those exams...."

:01:20:43:
From your extensive travels and work, please share a story (something amusing, surprising, unexpected or amazing).
"....I have one from a period of my life when I worked on the Active Badge Allocation technology....The lesson here is always be very careful about talking to the press when technology is involved...."

:01:23:41:
If you were conducting this interview, are there any questions you would ask, and then what would be your answers?
"....Might we move away from credit cards completely and just use our mobile phones for payment?...."

Top Staff Training Pointers You Should Know (Part 1 of 2)

Jonathan Rozenblit — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:01:00 GMT

Guest post written by Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions, VERAX

It’s an investment that pays off

Sure, everyone is very busy these days. And most IT managers have long days in addition to the constant bombardment of mobile messages. However, if you neglect to put a good effort to nurture your IT staff, it will come back to bite you in the form of low employee morale, low productivity, high turnover, and lack of innovation to name a few. Thus, preventive steps on a consistent basis is essential to keep a healthy workforce working for you. So take the time to nurture your valuable IT staff.

Upper management buy-in is a must

Now that you’ve been reminded of the importance of nurturing your staff, is that enough? My experience tells me that unless you also get your boss to recognize and help drive this important aspect of being a manager, it might be an uphill battle you’ll be taking all on your own shoulders. So do spend time to keep the benefits of training front and center with your boss amongst many “must do’s”. Having well trained IT staff will not only benefit both you and your boss in achieving and exceeding your deliverable objectives while creating a great work environment for all.

The 10% allocation rule

So you and your boss are persuaded. But how much should be set aside for investing in people without affecting your capacity to deliver? Well, many IT businesses tend to be cyclical and you should definitely take advantage of the downtime for training. But by default, use the 10% time allocation rule over the course of the year to ensure reasonable time is dedicated for your IT staff to up keep their skills. Now, that doesn’t directly translate to a 10% reduction in productivity. There are a number of ways you can afford to keep with the 10% rule without breaking your bank. So read on.

Know strategic directions for your company and industry

Great, your boss is on board and you’ve set a budget aside. What’s next? Well, just like you don’t get on a highway before deciding where you are going, you need to know the strategic focus of your company and trends in your industry before you start planning with your staff. As an example, I recently purchased a state of the art, air-thin laptop for my son for his university study away from home even though I know it doesn’t run all the fancy shooting games that he loves on his desktop at home. As a result, he now has a sleek laptop that’s the envy of his friends while he’s getting top marks because he doesn’t waste hours shooting at colourful pixels. Mean dad you say; may be. But he ends up ahead with his leading edge gadget while happy getting top marks in university – just have to borrow his friends’ clunky desktops for the occasional thrills. Likewise, as an IT manager, you need to know what’s good for your company and where the industry is heading before entertaining any training requests.

Listen to your staff

Now you are aware of the direction of your company and industry. Time to sit down with your staff to listen. Knowing everyone’s different, you definitely need to spend time listening carefully to the areas that they feel they need to beef up while you let them know the direction that’s important for your company and what you see as the important trends in your industry. Help them focus on some concrete and measureable goals so as to keep a focus on the objectives. Do encourage creativity from your staff in terms of learning style so to maximize the benefits based on your budget.

To be continued next Monday.

Share Your Thoughts

How do you go about planning and managing training for your staff? Do you have any pointers or advice for others? Join the conversation in the AlignIT for Infrastructure and Development Managers group on LinkedIn.

Stuart Ngai

On the next Manager Tech Talk: De-Risking Your Windows Deployment

Ruth Morton — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:32:23 GMT

With any big change to your IT infrastructure comes risk, but of course you’re hoping that the rewards will out weigh those risks. In fact, you’re doing more than just hoping – you’re planning, strategizing, and putting your organization in a good position to mitigate those risks.

A good plan that’s well executed can result in an organization having use of technology that can help achieve higher productivity, better collaboration and more opportunities for innovative ideas. That’s what this month’s Manager Tech Talk is all about – putting together a good plan for Windows deployment success.

Join Jonathan and I as we talk with Dave Kawula, Senior Consultant with 1E, about the benefits and challenges of deploying Windows 7. We’ll cover what tools are available to you, what “gotcha’s” to watch out for and hear tales from deployments past. Join us live to ask your questions and have them answered during the broadcast.

Thursday, January 12, 2012
12:00 PM – 12:30 PM ET

Watch LIVE >> | Add to Calendar >>

Featured Guest: Dave Kawula

More About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk

The AlignIT Manager Tech Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm EST. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air.

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #7–Empowering Your Team with Knowledge

Jonathan Rozenblit — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:01:00 GMT

It is that time of the year. You are most likely sitting down with each of your team members and are helping them with their personal development plans. On this episode of AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, Ruth and I talk with Stuart Ngai about the importance of training as part of personal development, as well as when and how training can and should be weaved into employees’ busy schedules.

Watch Online

This episode is also available as a podcast.

Listen Now >>
Download MP3

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Resources

Training Is About Doing, Not Just Planning To
Free online training at the Microsoft Virtual Academy
Get Microsoft virtualization certified
Download the Own Your Own Future eBook
Download trial software at the Microsoft Evaluation Center

Featured Guest: Stuart Ngai

About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk

The AlignIT Manager Tech Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm ET. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air.

About AlignIT

The AlignIT program is dedicated to keeping IT leaders informed about what matters in business and technology. We do that through in-person events, web casts, our blog and, of course, this audio and video series. You can find more information about the Align IT program at www.alignit.ca. If you have comments, suggestions, and ideas for future topics please let us know by connecting with us via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Wishing You Good Will and Joy

Ruth Morton — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 13:48:00 GMT

Wilfred A. Peterson, author of The Art of Living, once said:

Christmas is not the tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It’s lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It’s higher thought and a greater plan. It’s glorious dream in the soul of man.

Perhaps he never met the owner of the Christmas Truck.

All the best to you and yours this holiday season!

Pekka A. Viljakainen NO FEAR Lessons

Stephen.Ibaraki — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:27:00 GMT

I did an interview with Pekka and recently got an update from him that I wanted to share with you:
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“We have got hundreds of feedback from CEOs, Chairmans, middle management, politicians, researchers as well as digital cowboys. Based on all that we have tried to condense the most important findings to following document. My own background is from technology industry, but it seems that our storyline is fitting nicely to leadership / growth challenges in all industries and regions. So feel free to download, comment and challenge us, your team and yourself: How to get business growing in 2012, 2013...

You can also share it with #NoFearBook http://bit.ly/uQB4M4

P.S. NO FEAR community has 163 524 friends from 194 countries.”
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In closing, it has been a real pleasure sharing a broader industry perspective with you. I wish all a happy holiday season and rewarding 2012!
Cheers,
Stephen Ibaraki

10 questions to help you plan your Windows deployment

Ruth Morton — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:30:00 GMT

The final support date for Windows XP is just 840 days away and while that might seem like a long time, you and I both know that April 8, 2014 will come all too soon for some companies who are still reluctant to make the move.

If you’re still on Windows XP and are planning to rollout Windows 7, here are 10 questions you’ll want to ask yourself while planning out your deployment:

Do we need to invest in test hardware, personnel and infrastructure? Notice it doesn’t say IF testing should be done. That’s a given. But can you set up a lab – either physical or virtual – where the deployment process and end configuration can be tried out? Who will do the testing? How will it be done?
What hardware do we need to replace? Make sure you know the minimum requirements are for Windows 7 and which of your computers will need to be upgraded or replaced. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit is a free tool that can help you collect detailed information on your current infrastructure for an analysis of your hardware and device compatibility and give recommendations.
Do we need to build and maintain a desktop image? If your organization tends to get a lot of new machines coming in or computers that get handed from one person to another and this is taking up a lot of IT cycles, you probably want to look at building a desktop image if you don’t already. A well built image can reduce your deployment time substantially and advancements in imaging technology mean that it’s no longer necessary to spend hours saving user data off an old computer, cloning the hard drive of a reference computer and then restoring the data you saved. Having only one image to maintain even if your organization uses diverse hardware is more of a reality than ever.
Are our corporate applications going to work? The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) is a free download that can help you evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues. Applications that can’t be upgraded may be able to be shimmed or run in Windows XP mode.
How will employees’ files be moved? Knowing where employees are storing their files is critically important. How many times have you heard: “I didn’t put that file in the System32 directory – the computer did it!”. Once you know where files actually are, a plan is needed to ensure that user files and user settings are migrated. Bob won’t care if the rollout is a complete resounding success if his desktop wallpaper isn’t as he left it!
Will Office 2010 or IE 9 be rolled out at the same time? Often this is the perfect time to make other adjustments and upgrades to the desktop infrastructure along with Windows 7. There is all sorts of information on deploying Microsoft Office 2010 and Internet Explorer 9 that can be used in the planning. If the Microsoft Desktop Toolkit (MDT) is being used for the deployment, Office 2010 can be added to the MDT environment.
Is this a good time to assess and update policies and security? As in #6, deployment projects present good opportunities to revisit and revise other areas of the desktop infrastructure. What policies are in place and what can be improved? Are there group policies that we could benefit from to better manage and streamline our desktop environment? Are there security enhancements that we can take advantage of?
How will remote users get updated? Instead of remote employees like the sales teams shipping their notebooks in to get upgraded and incurring downtime, consider swapping out old hardware for newly configured machines or sending them a bootable USB with the Windows 7 image on it to do the upgrade themselves.
What’s the impact going to be to users and the helpdesk? Will there be any planned downtime and how will this be communicated to users? As with any change, there will likely be a short term increase in calls to the helpdesk. Is the helpdesk appropriately staffed and equipped to handle questions? Using tools such as the Windows Troubleshooting Platform and the Problem Steps Recorder can help resolve issues quickly and diminish ongoing helpdesk calls.
What’s the ongoing maintenance of the desktop infrastructure going to look like? Taking control of the desktop environment is a huge step in streamlining staff productivity, improving processes and freeing up IT time to devote to developing new ways to use technology and IT know-how to business needs. Tools like those found in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) and practical guidance found in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) can help.

I’ve included a lot of information in the above 10 questions and each one could be a separate article on it’s own. That’s why the conversation doesn’t end here.

On the next AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, Jonathan and I will be discussing how to de-risk your Windows 7 deployment with Dave Kawula, a Senior Consultant with 1E and a guy who has more knowledge of desktop deployments in his pinkie finger than most people have in their whole heads. Join us LIVE on Thursday, January 12 from 12-12:30pm ET for De-Risking Your Windows 7 Deployment.
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Care for a coffee with your System Center 2012 download?

Ruth Morton — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:27:00 GMT

The upcoming System Center 2012 product line is arguably one of the most anticipated releases of the coming year for many IT professionals and a slow month like December is the perfect time for you and your team to download the free pre-release products and start playing around with the latest features and updates.

However, in case that’s not incentive enough, we’re handing out a limited number of coffee shop gift cards from now until the end of December (or whenever they run out) to anyone that downloads the pre-release products. My colleague Rick Claus has written a detailed post but here’s the summary:

Click on this link to get started. You’ll be asked to sign in with your Windows Live ID (if you don’t have one, it only takes a minute to create).
Verify your SHIPPING details and other pertinent data. We can’t send you a gift card if we don’t know where you are.
Once you click FINISH, the download manager will start the download.

Here’s what you’ll get:

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager RC provides comprehensive configuration management for the Microsoft platform that can help you empower users with the devices and applications they need to be productive while maintaining corporate compliance and control.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection RC, built on System Center Configuration Manager, provides industry-leading threat detection of malware and exploits as part of a unified infrastructure for managing client security and compliance that can help you simplify and improve endpoint protection.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center Operations Manager 2012 RC provides deep application diagnostics and infrastructure monitoring that can help you ensure the predictable performance and availability of vital applications and offers a comprehensive view of your datacenter, private, and public clouds.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 Beta provides unified data protection for Windows servers and clients that can help you deliver scalable, manageable, and cost-effective protection and restore scenarios from disk, tape, and off premise.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center Orchestrator 2012 RC provides orchestration, integration, and automation of IT processes through the creation of runbooks that can help you to define and standardize best practices and improve operational efficiency.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 RC provides virtual machine management and services deployment with support for multi-hypervisor environments that can help you deliver a flexible and cost effective private cloud environment.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center App Controller 2012 Beta provides a common self-service experience across private and public clouds that can help you empower application owners to easily build, configure, deploy, and manage new services.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: English
System Center Service Manager 2012 Beta provides flexible self-service experiences and standardized datacenter processes that can help you integrate people, workflows, and knowledge across enterprise infrastructure and applications.
System Requirements >>
Available in these languages: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish

AlignIT Manager Tech Talk #6 (Special Edition) – Mary Jo Foley on the Future of IT

Ruth Morton — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:30:00 GMT

Jonathan and I had a great time doing this episode with Mary Jo Foley. We did the broadcast live from TechDays Vancouver in front of a live audience as well as our usual online audience. Mary Jo was a great guest and even wrote a follow up blog post based on her experiences with us up here in the Great White North with tips for how IT mangers can keep up to date on the latest happenings in technology and at Microsoft.

In this episode, we talk with Mary Jo about her views on what’s new at Microsoft and what’s important for technology managers, strategists, leaders and architects to keep their eyes on when planning for the future.

This episode is also available as a audio podcast (download as MP3):

Subscribe to the audio podcast series (so you don't miss an episode) :

Featured Guest: Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has been a tech journalist for more than 25 years. She has worked for a variety of tech publications and Web sites, including PCWeek/eWeek, CRN and ZDNet. She is the editor of the "All About Microsoft" blog on ZDNet, and the author of the book "Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era" (John Wiley & Sons). She also is the co-host of the Windows Weekly show on the TWiT network and a frequent commentator and speaker on all things Microsoft-related on TV, radio, podcasts and at industry events.

About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk

The AlignIT Manager Tech Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm ET. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air.

About AlignIT

What IT Managers Need to Know - and How They Can Know It

Ruth Morton — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:41:36 GMT

I recently had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with Mary Jo Foley in Vancouver during TechDays as she was our guest on a special edition of the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk series. She’s put together this guest post for the blog on what you need to know as an IT manager and shared her tips on how best to keep up to date. Enjoy!

After having the opportunity to talk with a number of IT managers in Vancouver during Tech Days in November, I came to a few realizations.

What Canadian techies want to know is not so very different from what U.S. techies do. And like their U.S. counterparts, Canadian IT professionals want to know how they can find reliable, timely information that will help them do their jobs better.

Ruth Morton, a Microsoft Tech Evangelist and host of the AlignIT IT Manager Podcast Series, is the one who got me thinking about the "how" question last week, when she asked me to give IT managers some ideas for staying abreast about what's going on at Microsoft.

The way I -- a full-time Microsoft watcher -- stay up-to-date about IT matters is a multi-pronged process:

Make sure to watch and listen closely for information about new products and directional shifts. Remember when former Server and Tools Chief Bob Muglia said over a year ago that Microsoft's strategy with Silverlight had "shifted"? That was key for IT managers who were thinking about the extent to which to bet on Silverlight, Microsoft's rich-media plug-in and development tool. Some may have opted to consider other options, including HTML5, JavaScript and CSS, for certain new dev projects.
Be on the look out for roadmaps. This is where Microsoft conferences and blog posts can be handy. At certain shows, Microsoft execs may be more willing to flash a roadmap slide during an in-depth talk. And every once in a while, teams decide they can share more information via blog posts. (Subscribing to favorite blogs via RSS, while no longer, "trendy," can help you make sure not to miss the occasional roadmap post.)
Filter, filter, filter. There are more technology blogs cropping up every day. But not all blogs (or bloggers) are created equal. Look for blogs and authors who seem to be clued in and who have a good accuracy track record. While it's easy to be caught up in the latest hot rumor on TechMeme, remember that there's pressure like never before on journalists and bloggers to get clicks. Volume doesn't equal quality; rumors aren't the same as well-sourced reports.
Don't be afraid to use social media to ask questions. It's next-to-impossible to be an expert on every new technology. But the Web is full of experts in particular domains. Ask questions using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social-media channels and you'll quickly find a number of subject-matter experts willing to share what they know. I've had good success gathering timely information via Twitter on everything from System Center, to Windows 8. A quick Twitter exchange often leads to email address sharing, allowing more in-depth, private conversations.

Next year, 2012, is going to be one of Microsoft's biggest launch years in the company's history. If the tipsters and roadmaps are right, Microsoft will be delivering SQL Server 2012, System Center 2012, Windows 8, Office "15," Visual Studio 2012, new versions of Dynamics CRM and ERP -- and cloud complements to all of these products -- before the year is over. Keeping up with all the coming changes can be a full-time job (and is, for me). Being smart about staying current with the latest tech trends is more important than ever.

Bonus Links

About Mary Jo