Outsourcing
CIO, 10/15/03: Betting on BTO
Business Transformation Outsourcing promises technical innovation—if you set expectations properly and can stomach the risk
BY DAVID L. MARGULIUS
OUTSOURCING | Ask most CIOs about the biggest benefits of outsourcing relationships, and "innovation" is unlikely to top their lists. Conventional wisdom holds that outsourcers can do only what they're told—they can help reduce costs and manage technology efficiently, but they can't innovate or help a company use IT to transform the way it does business.
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Utility Computing
Network Computing, 11/25/03: Utility Computing: Have You Got Religion?
By Art Wittman
At its most hyped, utility computing is a simple idea: enterprise IT services as reliable as electricity. Just plug in, use what you need, then pay the bill at the end of the month. It's an especially welcome notion to corporations that have spent mercilessly on IT only to find themselves wondering what, exactly, they got for their money. After years of a flat economy, fragile security and questions about whether IT ever really delivers the benefits it promises, many executives are ready for an IT epiphany. But is utility computing the way? That's hard to say when the industry cannot even agree on the term's definition.
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Desktop Management
Network Computing, 11/11/03: How Suite it Is
By Mike DeMaria
For the past six months our Real-World Labs® at Syracuse University has tested a pack of industrial-strength desktop-management suites--complex systems with hundreds of features designed to take the stress out of that monumental job.
Altiris Client Management Suite 5.6
LANDesk Software LANDesk Management Suite 7
Marimba Desktop/Mobile Management 5.0
Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003
Computer Associates International Suite
Novell ZENworks 6
Mobile Lifecycle Management Suite 5.2
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Network Computing, 11/11/03: Desktop Management Suites
By Mike DeMaria
We will consider products offering desktop management capabilities. Testing will be based on the premise that the products will be servicing a site containing 10,000 desktops. Although we'll evaluate management capabilities across multiple devices and operating systems, including laptops, remote users on slow connections, handheld devices and servers, our chief focus is on desktops.
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Network Computing, 11/13/03: Angst-Ridden?
By Mike DeMaria
You know the feeling. You're being pulled in a million directions. Everyone wants a piece of you: Sue in HR, whose PC is crashing every 10 minutes; Bob in accounting, who needed a detailed inventory of all your systems yesterday; a lawyer from the home office, who wants you to sign an affidavit that every piece of software on every PC is properly licensed.
No wonder you dread the task of desktop management--between patches, licenses and users, the stress is considerable. But you also know it's a necessary evil. Most organizations have codified some sort of desktop-management strategy; only 30 percent of readers polled for this article do not use dedicated DM software and have no plans to use it in the future. Some of these holdouts use login scripts; a few use Windows policy files; while others depend on legacy or cobbled-together management suites, or homegrown apps. Sometimes, local or departmental admins support their own smaller groups of workstations, while central IT handles production equipment and interconnecting systems.
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Microsoft
Robert Cringely Blog, 11/13/03: The First Time is Free
By Robert X. Cringely
I have written a few Microsoft conspiracy theory columns in my day, but a great one came in this week from reader Andy Hopper who seems to think that Microsoft is lately trying to emulate Apple Computer and might actually build its own PCs. I hardly think so, but Andy gives us something to chew on, and the ideas that spill from what Andy ISN'T saying tell us a lot about where Microsoft is really heading.
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Businessweek, 11/19/03: Why Linux Is Wealthier Than Microsoft
Linus Torvalds can muster more creativity from his far-flung rank and file than Bill Gates can from his corporate monolith
Sometimes I suspect Bill Gates doesn't sleep so well at night. Not out of any guilt over his billions or the alleged mediocrity of his product. No, I wonder whether he might actually worry about the competition. Not Apple (though that iPod MP3 player is a killer toy, and I'm cheerfully typing these words on an Apple (AAPL ) PowerBook G4). No, I'll bet Linux and its creator, Linus Torvalds, cross Gates's mind when he's looking up at the ceiling late at night.
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Security
Computerworld, 11/20/03: Sybari blocks IM viruses
Story by Eric Butterfield
LAS VEGAS - Addressing the inevitable threat of viruses that piggyback on instant messages, Sybari Software Inc. has announced Antigen 7.5 for IM at Comdex in Las Vegas.
A two-license version of the program will cost about $28 per user, with no limitation on server installations. Antigen 7.5 for IM works with Microsoft Corp.'s Office Live Communications Server 2003, released this fall.
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Infoworld, 11/20/03: HP eyes security, SMB spaces
Security projects currently in the hopper include moving VPN technology to 802.11 wireless networks
By Paul Krill
While Hewlett-Packard has lofty plans to conquer markets such as security and SMB (small and midsize business), the company does not give rival Sun Microsystems much credence in efforts such as Linux and servers.
HP has security projects in development such as moving its SSL-based VPN technology to 802.11 wireless networks, said Shane Robison, HP executive vice president and chief technology and strategy officer. Additionally, automatic virus detection and incident response is in development in HP's labs, Robison said in interview on Thursday.
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The View From Saint John
Saint John Telegraph Journal, 11/20/03: Airbrush artist puts his creations on ice
Who is that mask man?
BY JENNIFER MALO
SAINT JOHN - Ever since Montreal goalie Jacques Plante first strapped on a primitive covering to protect his face from flying pucks in 1959, goalie masks and helmets have become not only protective devices but tools of intimidation.
The designs airbrushed onto goalie masks are fierce and, in some cases, incorporate wild animals or devilish monsters.
Heath Morrell is an airbrush painter based in Quispamsis who specializes in airbrushing goalie masks and helmets.
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