Outsourcing
Giga, 3/7/03: Mexican Nearshore Outsourcing: A Promising Global Sourcing Alternative
Stephanie Moore
Every company with a formal offshore program management office is considering diversification. As successful as offshore/Indian relationships typically are, it is imperative to find locations outside India for low-cost remote IT resources to mitigate risk associated with having all offshore resources in one country. Mexico represents an excellent nearshore alternative for US companies looking for diversification or that can’t or don’t want to use an offshore vendor. While the Mexican software and services export market is not as mature or as large as the Indian market, this industry is maturing, and there are significant benefits that can be gained by using an IT services firm in Mexico.
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Mobile
Business Week, 3/24/03: Intel's Laptop Chip Is Going Places
The Pentium M will lead to smaller, speedy notebooks that boast longer battery life
Stephen H. Wildstrom
Although Intel (INTC ) chips have been running portable PCs for nearly 20 years, the company has never designed a processor specifically for mobile use. Every laptop chip, from the 8088 of the mid-1980s to today's Pentium 4-M, has been a modified version of a processor originally developed for desktop use. On Mar. 12, Intel finally introduced a processor designed from the get-go for mobile use. It turns out this makes a big difference.
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Microsoft
Giga, 3/7/03: Microsoft Refocuses on the Customer — Changes in Software Licensing
Julie Giera
Microsoft recently stunned the investment community with its September 2002 earnings and profits release — revenues of $7.75 billion (up 26 percent from last year) and operating income $1.1 billion higher than the company’s estimates for a total of $4.05 billion, up 40 percent from a year ago. Although the new licensing program did generate record revenues, the way this program was handled sdid significant damage to client and channel relationships, and opened the door for competing products like Linux and Star Office. Microsoft has had to move quickly to repair those relationships or run the risk that revenues like those posted in the company’s fiscal first quarter will not be sustainable in the future. The good news is that all indications are that Microsoft has realized many of its mistakes and is moving aggressively to address those issues. The recent time, effort and money the company has been spending on its licensing and support policies is, in our opinion, unprecedented. All indications are that Microsoft is moving to place customer service and satisfaction at the top of its priority list. This change in direction bodes well for Microsoft customers.
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Security
Infoworld, 3/14/03: Panel: Terrorists won't hit Internet
NATO, vendors say threat overstated
The cyberterrorism threat is overstated -- terrorists won't strike the Internet because bombs are more effective, an expert panel agreed Friday.
"Cyberterrorism is largely overblown," Bruce Schneier, founder and chief technical officer of Counterpane Internet Security in Cupertino, California , said speaking in a panel on cyberterrorism at the CeBIT technology trade show in Hanover, Germany .
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Computerworld, 3/14/03:
How a managed security provider helps protect the enterprise
By Paul Castellano and John McGillick
Having followed the history of intrusion-detection systems (IDS) during the past few years and understanding the different deployment methodologies, we believe IDS has finally come of age.
In the infancy of IDS, you would hear of large, self-managed deployments of sensors (both network and hosts) throughout the enterprise without much thought given to policies or to the protection of critical functions, such as the infrastructure, servers and networks. This gave rise to a false sense of security and the belief that the enterprise was immune to attacks because IDSs were installed in critical areas.
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