Outsourcing
Giga, 11/21/02: Adjust Your Expectations: EDS’ Problems May Reflect Need for Change in Outsourcing Financial Models
Mike Dodd
London (UK) law firm Tarlo Lyons (www.tarlo-lyons.com) has issued a briefing document suggesting that EDS’ problems are symptomatic of a wider malaise afflicting outsourcers that have taken on too much risk in big deals. The woes of major EDS clients such as US Airways and WorldCom are well known, and it is widely believed that the US Navy contract is not meeting revenue expectations. These factors have resulted in considerable pain for EDS and no doubt contributed to its recent disappointing financials and subsequent stock value slide. These types of problems (where assumptions on which financial models have been based have not been borne out) are by no means limited to EDS and can apply to many outsourcing deals. Add in changing views on revenue recognition rules and possible changes in accounting standards (mainly UK and EC driven) following the Enron debacle and it is likely, suggests Tarlo Lyons, that the net result may be to preclude some of the financial engineering used to build business cases for outsourcing and to change basic outsourcing economics.
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IT Management
Giga, 11/19/02: Enabling Business Value Via IT — Integrating Strategic Planning and IT Value Management
Marc Cecere and Dan Merriman
In their drive to increase the business value of IT, CIOs are faced with the challenge of improving the capability of their organizations in three key interdependent areas: developing strategic plans, delivering quantifiable value through major technology investments and implementing the processes needed to link planning with delivery. Given the relatively immature state of these capabilities, addressing each alone is a significant challenge. Addressing all three simultaneously will be a key test for the CIO. Those IT organizations that effectively handle this challenge will be the leaders in providing business value in the next two years.
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Desktop Management
Giga, 11/22/02: Longer Desktop Refresh Cycles Require Review of Desktop Management Processes
David Friedlander
A number of companies are attempting to extend their desktop refresh cycle to four or even five years. One European government organization has considered freezing on NT 4.0 until at least mid-2003 in an effort to drive costs out and extend the desktop life cycle. While the market trend is toward longer PC refresh cycles (see Planning Assumption, IT Trends 2003: Desktop Technology, Rob Enderle), companies that move to a longer refresh cycle will face additional desktop management issues. User turnover, aging hardware and moves, adds and changes (MAC) will create additional complexities with longer refresh cycles. IT departments will need to re-evaluate their desktop management processes to effectively reduce costs. Giga clients moving to a longer PC refresh cycle should review their asset tracking and desktop management process and consider moving applications to a server-centric infrastructure when feasible.
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Security
Giga, 11/20/02: IT Trends 2003: Intrusion Management
Michael Rasmussen
Recovering from the hype in intrusion detection technologies, organizations are now looking to intrusion management. Questions being asked by organizations include: How do I effectively prevent, detect and respond to security incidents in my organization?
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Microsoft
Computerworld, 11/25/02: Microsoft Says Windows .Net Server 2003 Set to Ship in April
Long-awaited OS availability announced amid other Comdex product releases
By CAROL SLIWA
LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft Corp. last week used the spotlight of Comdex/Fall 2002 to unveil note-taking software, a Web service being developed with Kinko's Inc. and smart personal object technology, all expected to launch next year.
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Security
The New York Times, 11/26/02: 100 Computers of U.S. Midshipmen Seized
By AMY HARMON
In the most severe crackdown yet on online piracy at a college campus, the United States Naval Academy has seized 100 computers from students who are suspected of having downloaded unauthorized copies of music files over the Internet.
School officials confiscated the computers when students were in class on Thursday, an academy spokesman said yesterday. Students found to have downloaded copyrighted material could face penalties ranging from loss of leave time to court-martial and expulsion.
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