IT Services
Giga, 4/28/03: Creating RFPs for Services Engagements
William Martorelli
Outsourcing some or all of an organization’s IT or business process functions is often high on the agenda of CIOs and CFOs as a way to combat high IT expenditures in an era of continuing financial pressures. In order to achieve satisfactory results, however, it is vital that organizations clearly articulate their objectives and requirements to potential suppliers in a manner that enables them to elicit appropriate proposals, which will form the basis of the evaluation and selection procedure. The request for proposal (RFP) has historically served as among the most common devices used for these crucial functions. However, the RFP has become the subject of increasing criticism as being too labor-intensive, slow and bureaucratic for today’s fast-paced business environment, to the point where many customers avoid its use entirely.
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Giga, 5/6/03: Outsourcing Contracts Must Include Flexibility Management
Richard Peynot
Since outsourcing contracts require being complete, precise and strict, how is evolution managed and flexibility attained?
Outsourcing operation and maintenance of all or a part of IT is difficult to manage. The difficulties usually evolve around interpretation, coverage, perimeter, means, control, etc., so our recommendations focus on contract locking or contract exhaustiveness. After the era of flexible, incomplete contracts and litigations, the movement is now toward solid and hermetic contracts; however, things have progressed to the point that any modification becomes a difficult hurdle — even the contract itself. Some outsourcers have begun to offer clauses of flexibility, such as a predetermined amount of evolutions or prepaid modifications. It is also possible to write precise clauses and measurement rules into a contract for future evolutions. Future winners will be outsourcers that are able to include and manage such flexibility — customers will not accept rigidity any longer.
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Security
ZDet, 5/8/03: Serious Passport flaw uncovered
By Robert Lemos
A serious security flaw in Microsoft's Passport service put customers' accounts, including their personal information and credit card numbers, at risk of being hijacked.
The flaw, in Passport's password recovery mechanism, allowed an attacker to change the password on any account to which the user name is known. The flaw was disclosed late Wednesday night on the security mailing list Full Disclosure.
The simplicity of the attack and the high value of the data frequently stored in Passport accounts combined to make the vulnerability critical.
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Computerworld, 5/8/03: Companies still fighting rogue WLANs
By BOB BREWIN
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Enterprises continue to battle the installation of unauthorized, or rogue, wireless LAN access points (AP) on corporate networks by employees who install the increasingly cheap devices unmindful of the security risks, according to speakers here today at Computerworld's Mobile and Wireless Conference.
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IBM
Giga, 5/5/03: From Silicon to Services: Understanding IBM’s On Demand Agenda
William Martorelli
What began humbly in the context of IBM’s e-Business Hosting Services group two years ago has evolved into a companywide program and the hallmark of the Sam Palmisano era as CEO of IBM. Indeed, IBM’s On Demand agenda has emerged as a unifying strategy across the entire spectrum of IBM products and services, manifestations of which will range from storage and servers through high-end business process and consulting services.
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Microsoft
Giga, 4/29/03: Out of the Lab: A View of the Desktop Future From Microsoft
Rob Enderle
Microsoft’s increased integration of research into the product development cycle is resulting in major changes to upcoming products like Exchange, Office and Windows. These changes are focused on using the power of the computer as it was intended: to anticipate the needs of the user and better display information, to enhance communication and, at times, to stand in for the user. If successful, this should not only improve productivity dramatically but reduce job-related stress. Strangely enough, the product side of this transformation will be relatively easy, while the trust required so that the personal information needed can be captured to make much of this work will very difficult to develop.
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Computerworld, 5/7/03: Longing for Longhorn? You'll have to wait till '05
By Joris Evers, IDG News Service
Microsoft Corp. today for the first time publicly confirmed 2005 as the release year for Longhorn, the successor to Windows XP.
The operating system release, which analysts have said will be one of the most important Windows launches for Microsoft, will follow a prebeta release in October, a first beta in early 2004 and a second beta in mid-2004, said Will Poole, senior vice president for Microsoft's Windows Client division, in a presentation at the company's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in New Orleans.
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Did you see the lobby?
8:32:24 AM 
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