Outsourcing
Gartner, 3/26/03: Unisys Commits to Services-Led 'Relentless Execution'
Abstract: The focus at Unisys is on profitability and investing for growth. A theme of "relentless execution" and an aggressive campaign of corporate communications have made services the primary source of earnings.
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Government IT Outsourcing
Giga, 4/7/03: IT Service Vendor ScoreCard™: CSC Builds Its Federal
Robert McNeill
Contributing Analyst: Pascal Matzke
Increased emphasis on sourcing for enhanced homeland security initiatives, particularly with US government agencies, and improved customer service prompted CSC to ramp up its federal services business with the intention to acquire IT services company DynCorp. DynCorp will bring new client relationships and increased upsell possibilities for CSC. Through this year CSC will continue to focus on opportunities for its outsourcing business as companies seek to cut costs and squeeze more return from existing technology and for systems integration and security business resulting from proposed homeland security enhancements to government budgets.
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Offshore Outsourcing
Gartner, 4/3/03: Backlash Will Not Stop Offshore BPO Trend
The small but growing backlash against job losses in the United States because of using offshore providers is more pronounced due to the economy, but it will not affect the trend toward offshore business process outsourcing.
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IT Management
Gartner, 4/3/03: Application Packaging Do's and Don't's
Application packaging is a critical task in Windows migration projects. Although Microsoft's Windows Installer is the de facto standard, its immaturity and complexity mandate a stronger focus on this often-overlooked task. One of the most commonly underestimated tasks in any effort to deploy or update an application — whether during a Windows migration or during the day-to-day update process — is application packaging.
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Security
News.Com, 4/10/03: Flaw leaves Windows open to Java attack
By Matthew Broersma
Microsoft has warned of three flaws affecting its software, the most serious of which would allow an attacker to gain full control of a PC using Java applets.
The warnings, issued Wednesday, are related to the Microsoft Virtual Machine for running Java applets on Windows; a cross-site scripting bug in a component of Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0; and a denial-of-service bug affecting Proxy Server 2.0 and ISA Server.
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Mobile
Gartner, 4/3/03: Favor Large Services Vendors for Real-Time Mobility Needs
No IT vendor comes close to meeting all the mobility needs of real-time enterprises. Until complete solutions emerge, large services vendors with broad expertise and many partners are the least risky option.
The twin principles of mobility and the real-time enterprise (RTE) complement each other: RTE imperatives, such as "anytime/anywhere" connectivity, demand mobile wireless technology. IT product and service vendors are aware of the new opportunities that real-time mobility implies and are moving to exploit them. How effective will IT vendors be at addressing this market?
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The New York Times, 4/10/03: Forsaking the Laptop for a Can-Do Palmtop
By IAN AUSTEN
ANY glamour associated with toting around laptop computers has long since vanished. With their bulk, their attractiveness to thieves and the complications they bring to airport security checks, many travelers would just as soon leave them at home.
The rise of e-mail accounts that can be checked through any Web browser has liberated some people, too. Even when on the road for work, they use Internet cafes, copy shops with rental computers or even clients' computers to check their e-mail.
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The New York Times, 4/10/03: No Holds Barred for a Roving Office
By ROB FIXMER
FOR the frequent business traveler, the need to stay connected to the office and home is often paramount, and the cost of technology may be no object if it can provide a competitive edge.
"My laptop bag is my office," said Richard Ginsburg, chief executive officer of Protection One, a security monitoring company that operates nationally. Mr. Ginsburg, who travels about 300,000 miles a year from his home in Miami Beach, spends a minimum of $608 a month for a collection of communications services. "It's a lot of money," he said, "but I have to live on the road. I can't be in a city and not have the proper tools."
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Office Applications
Giga, 4/3/03: Office 97 Laggards Should Choose Office 2003
Ken Smiley
We are currently on Office 97 but are going to migrate, should we migrate to Office XP or Office 2003?
Organizations that remain on Office 97 should be well into their migration planning at the present time. Support for Office 97 ends in January 2004 (see IdeaByte, Microsoft Office 97 Enters Final Support Phase, Ken Smiley). Many organizations have already begun migrations to Microsoft’s latest Office suite, Office XP. However, for those that have yet to make a commitment to a new office productivity suite, Office 2003 now appears to be the more attractive choice.
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IBM
Internet News, 4/10/03: IBM Prep Linux Package for SMBs
By Clint Boulton
Seeking to fill what it perceives as a gap in the marketplace, IBM (Quote, Company Info) Thursday rolled out a new Linux package for developers of the open-source operating system at its DeveloperWorks Live! 2003 show in New Orleans.
IBM Integrated Platform Express (code-named "Blue Ice"), a combination of the Armonk, N.Y. firm's hardware servers and application server and database software, is intended to lure Big Blue's resellers and independent software vendors (ISVs) to use it to write Linux applications that they may sell to their own customers in the mid-sized market. They may also simply test new applications with it.
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Microsoft
Giga, 4/3/03: Microsoft SMS 2003 Will Shake Up Desktop Management Tools Market
David Friedlander
What impact will Microsoft SMS 2003 have on users and the market when it is released? Should we be evaluating it if we are current SMS 2.0 users?
Microsoft is making a major investment in its management tools, including Systems Management Server (SMS). Early reports from beta users indicate that the SMS 2003 will offer tangible enhancements for Windows desktop, mobile and server management. There are significant improvements in manageability, performance and mobile device support. Although SMS only provides native support for the Windows platform, the improvements will put significant pressure on other inventory and configuration management tool vendors and drive vendor consolidation in 2004.
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Giga, 3/18/03: Microsoft's Security Journey: A Good Start, but a Long Road Ahead
“While Microsoft is showing sincere effort, organizations are advised to keep information security a priority when dealing with Microsoft.”
Lead Analyst: Michael Rasmussen
Contributing Analysts: Rob Enderle, Randy Heffner, Thomas Mendel, Jonathan Penn, Stacey Quandt and
Jan Sundgren
With a call to action from Bill Gates a year a go to move Microsoft to a vision of Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft has made progress at improving the security of its products — both released and in development. However, the real gauge of the overall level of progress cannot be truly measured until 2004 or 2005, when the fruits of what is currently in development are in production. Microsoft’s communication effort to get on the soapbox of security has been met with mixed results. While Microsoft is showing sincere effort, organizations are advised to keep information security a priority when dealing with Microsoft.
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IDG, 4/9/03: Microsoft reveals new 'Greenwich' name, details
Scarlet Pruitt
Microsoft Corp. further hoisted the curtain surrounding its real time collaboration and enterprise instant messaging (IM) platform Thursday, revealing the product's official name and saying that it would deliver developer tools in conjunction with the server software.
The previously dubbed "Greenwich" technologies, currently in beta, are now the Microsoft Real-Time Communications Server (MS RTC Server).
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