ITEC Connect Newsletter

Casino Giant Doubles Down on Data Center Automation

Robert Lemos — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Editor's Note: The Las Vegas Sands company is getting aggressive in a down economy, and it's using data center automation software to underwrite the effort. As the company expands into Pennsylvania and Singapore, it's deploying software BMC's BladeLogic software to efficiently manage a farm of more than 200 servers. Automation tools are helping to reduce the grueling time demands on IT staff and also to meet rigorous regulatory requirements.

Developer of popular BlackBerry app shares his experience

Paul Mah — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Marcus Watkins, who wrote the PodTrapper software for the BlackBerry, has chronicled the journey that led him to develop for the RIM smartphone. PodTrapper is a BlackBerry podcast manager and, apparently, the only one around.

Smaller, Smarter, Synced

James Gaskin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

I'm on several media lists as an expert source for technology quotes, especially for small business technology. One came through today that caught my eye as an interesting topic, but one that small and medium businesses should ignore. The question was about great new innovations in the pipeline. I suggest small businesses not look over the horizon but focus on what they're trying to accomplish this month. But when you do buy new software and hardware tools, focus one these innovations: Smaller, Smarter, and Synced.

Social Networking: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

David Potterton — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Increasingly, Financial Insights is having conversations with banks and other financial institutions around social networking; the good, the bad, and the ugly. The "good" is focused on the engagement and collaboration which financial institutions can achieve with social networking - both internally with their workers and externally with their clients. The "bad" is the potential for risk, specifically reputation risk, which can occur in the blogosphere. The "ugly" focuses on the fraudsters and the potential harm they might cause to institutions and their customers. While we continually write about the "good" and future research in our Security Practice will focus on the "ugly" issues of malware, trojans, etc., for this blog, I wanted to focus on the "bad". That is the reputation risk which is often top of mind for senior financial executives and what they can do about it.

Intel and Nokia join forces on mobile front

Paul Mah — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Intel and Nokia announced on Tuesday a wide-ranging partnership spanning several fronts: From chips to mobile hardware and software for mobile devices. Intel and Nokia will collaborate on several open-source mobile Linux software projects.

Netbooks Are Not Notebooks

James Gaskin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

ComputerWorld just ran a story about how "netbooks disappoint consumers" according to a recent survey. You know why, don't you? People bought netbooks when they really wanted notebooks, and were disappointed when they didn't get the power and performance of a real notebook while spending hundreds of dollars less. Guess what, folks, a chopped steak is not the same as a t-bone steak, and a used Mazda is not the same as a new Mercedes.

Next-Generation Data Protection

NetMass — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

ServerSafe Uses Advanced Backup Technologies to Protect Critical Data

NO MATTER WHAT business you are in, your company and your customers are going to be greatly impacted by tectonic shifts in data protection.

Consider a few key trends: the quantity of data businesses are generating is growing exponentially; the importance of that continuously generated data is also growing exponentially; and the near-constant threat to that data from multiple areas.

Have Something to Say, and Say it Well

John Stone — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Use the principles of Persuasive Communication to enhance your selling and marketing communications, online content and blog posts.

Persuasive Communication is a powerful approach. The method helps you deliver a key argument or message and deliver it in a logical way. You can capture the essence of the situation or problem, ask the key question your audience has on their mind, and deliver the single-minded message and evidence that you want to deliver.

Too much risk in Indian Outsourcing?

Dana Wiklund — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

A number of companies are closing software development and customer call centers in India by selling the local resources - systems and human infrastructure to offshore consulting companies and then signing multi year contracts for services. Is this the end of an era in off-shoring of programming and customer service work to India as we have known it?

Dan Woods discusses social media for grownups

Ron Miller — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Dan Woods, CTO and editor of Evolved Media, gave a presentation on Friday at the ECM Writer's Summit called "Social Media for Grownups." His idea is that the open web is different than inside the firewall and companies have to learn to treat it differently or face unreasonable expectations about results.

Use of private IPs could leave enterprises vulnerable

Paul Mah — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Network administrators are using "private" nonroutable IP addresses as specified in the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) RFC 1918 standard, with the mistaken belief that these IP addresses afford them with an additional layer of security.

Micropayments and Microcredits - Start of a new era?

Trevor LaFleche — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Alternative payment mechanisms and credit systems might finally be coming of age as a way of monitizing software and services value on the internet. In the era of Internet 1.0 there was significant hype surrounding micropayments and the ability to charge users a small fee for accessing content. This subsided as it was much easier and cheaper for purveyors of content to secure ad revenues. With the recent economic shift there are new business and technical capabilities that mean the era of micropayments and microcredit systems will find favour with internet users.

Security Will Always Be a Headache

James Gaskin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

I wrote last month about Security Risks on Your Macintosh. I'm going to reference another report that explains how Apple's approach to security leaves quite a bit to be desired. Before that, however, I want to say this isn't potshots at Apple or Microsoft or anyone. Well, maybe we should take shots at the criminals creating malware and stealing information. But until computers and their users are 100 percent secure, there will be ways for criminals to make money. That's why security will always be a headache.

Finding New Efficiencies In Today's Data Center - Technologies To Watch

Paul Gillin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

With budgets squeezed in the current economic climate, data center investments are being scrutinized more closely than ever. The cost of adding capacity precludes new capital investments for many companies. Instead, they are looking to do more with what they have.

New technologies can help wring unprecedented efficiencies out of existing assets. Consolidation, virtualization and intelligent management can more than double data center efficiency, optimize floor space, reduce environmental costs and enable companies to defer new investments for years.

To Inform, Perchance to Act

Janice Young — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Historical efforts focused on just releasing available information locked in legacy environments. As information is released, particularly to external environments and stakeholders, new hurdles emerge which will be focus of future innovation and investment: data quality standards and tools, new delivery technologies (cell phone, texting, iPhone applications, etc.) and "actionable analytics." Among these, the most interesting emerging business intelligence and transparency trend is the long awaited arrival of "actionable analytics."

Changing the Education and Information Delivery Paradigm

John Stone — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Use new technologies to enhance your education and information delivery strategy!

I think we all agree that education and learning is critical - for students, educational institutions, corporations, and governments. An educated workforce delivers competitive advantage of nations, and our educational institutions and information resources must deliver the best possible learning experience.

Can't Blame This One On The Small Banks

Marc DeCastro — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

As I continue to see the big banks and the small banks go after each other about who should pay a larger premium to the FDIC, I thought of a poll question. Feel free to take the LinkedIn poll, and leave your comments here, but so far there are some pretty interesting trends.

A major cybersecurity step

Judi Hasson — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

President Obama declared last week that cybersecurity was a top government priority, calling it "one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation."

Beware of Getting Woozy About Wave

James Gaskin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

News sites are all atwitter (sorry) about Google's announced, by not yet available, Wave. What is Wave? Evidently it's hard to describe, as the Google announcement took about 90 minutes and spawned widely varying descriptions. But I know what this product is: another in a long line of "stuck to the screen" apps that try to turn knowledge workers into mouse potatoes. If you can't leave your screen, can you still do your job?

Searching for new models to make content pay online

Ron Miller — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Companies that sell content are finding themselves under tremendous pressure. Old revenue models are crumbling before our eyes, their demise seems to be accelerated by the recession and we are grasping for new ways to monetize content. This is especially true for newspapers, which have been failing at an alarming rate this year.