Outsourcing
ZDNet, 5/5/04: Outsourcing: Where to draw the line
By Mike Ricciuti and Mike Yamamoto
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Like many technology executives, Rhonda Hocker saw offshore outsourcing as an ideal way to stretch her budget and speed the development of new systems.
The chief information officer at San Jose-based software maker BEA Systems contracted with an Indian outsource company six months ago to handle maintenance and support of internal enterprise software from PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems and Clarify. She then outsourced help-desk work and made plans to do the same for the development of Web services components.
But even Hocker, a fan of outsourcing by any measure, has her limits.
"We'll never outsource any of our IT architects," she said of her "rocket scientists," BEA's top information technology developers. "I would never envision putting them over there or outsourcing that to anyone."
Therein lies the dilemma for many technology executives confronting the issue of offshore outsourcing: U.S. companies are increasingly turning to other countries to reduce labor costs, but they must decide how far they can go without risking security breaches, communication lapses or operational breakdowns, when moving work thousands of miles away overseas.
[more]
Utility Computing
Computerworld, 5/4/04: HP, BT to offer integrated IT and telecom services
HP will manage BT's midrange and desktop IT infrastructure services
News Story by Patrick Thibodeau
MAY 04, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - NEW YORK -- As part of a $1.5 billion outsourcing agreement announced today, Hewlett-Packard Co. and British telecommunications provider BT Group PLC said they plan to offer customers integrated IT and telecommunications services.
"We see the IT and communications industry coming together," said Carly Fiorina, HP's chairman and CEO, at a news conference in New York. She added that the agreement will allow the two companies to combine offerings and service-level agreements.
[more]
C|net, 5/5/04: HP's 'adaptive enterprise' still murky for some
By Matt Loney
MUNICH, Germany--HP's introduction of the Darwin Reference Architecture at a customer event here this week did little to help customers grapple with the elusive concept of the "adaptive enterprise."
As HP celebrated the first birthday of its vision of the adaptive enterprise concept, the company and its customers still seemed a little unsure of just what it is.
HP executives at the ENSA@Work event, which attracted 5,400 attendees, devoted a great deal of keynote time to further explanations of the concept. The general idea is one of helping customers respond more quickly to changes in their operations by linking business processes more tightly with IT products.
[more]
Security
Computerworld, 5/4/04: Sasser infections hit Amex, others
A number of U.S. universities also report being hit by the worm
News Story by Paul Roberts
MAY 04, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Security experts continue to issue warnings about the Sasser Internet worm as organizations struggled to clean up the damage caused by infected hosts.
American Express Co. joined a number of U.S. universities in reporting infections from the Sasser worm yesterday, and the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) maintained a "yellow" warning level today despite earlier expectations that the Sasser outbreak would wind down yesterday.
[more]
eWeek, 5/5/04: Patches Could Have Lessened Sasser Worm Spread
By Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer
NEW YORK (AP)—Far fewer computers would have been disabled by the latest Internet worm had their owners configured them to automatically get the latest security fixes.
Sasser's spread began to stabilize Tuesday, but not after infecting hundreds of thousands of computers since Friday by exploiting a known Windows flaw for which Microsoft Corp. issued a software patch three weeks ago.
[more]
Silicon.com, 5/4/04: Sasser 'not our fault' says Microsoft
by Will Sturgeon
As virus takes down UK coastguard...
The UK coastguard service lost the use of its computers and database-driven services for several hours after being hit by the Sasser virus - despite the fact a patch has been available for two weeks and further warnings from Microsoft were sent out last week.
As such the software giant says it is not to blame for this latest exploit of a vulnerability in its operating systems.
Coastguards were forced to revert to paper filing systems, telephones and other low-tech methods to keep the service going through the outage, though a statement from the Marine and Coastguard Agency said the virus wouldn't hinder the service's effectiveness as coastguards train for all eventualities, including loss of critical systems.
[more]
Infoworld, 5/5/04: Microsoft choses IronPort for anti-spam
IronPort to provide anti-spam protections for MSN and Hotmail
IronPort will provide Microsoft with its "bonded sender" e-mail certification program, which aims to create a list of certified senders of bulk e-mail, the San Bruno, California, company said. Microsoft has been testing the IronPort program for the past five months, according to IronPort.
[more]
Otherwise
Fast Company, 5/04: From Subject to Citizen
Getting the feudalism out of capitalism.
From: Issue 82 | May 2004, Page 104 By: Shoshana Zuboff Photographs by: John Abbott Illustrations by: Michael Meister
A couple of centuries ago, we were "subjects." New ideas, revolutions, and the spread of democracy transformed us into "citizens" with personal choice and freedom -- except at work. Our industrial-age organizations are the last redoubts of feudalism. CEOs can still be like monarchs surrounded by courtiers. Behind the progressive window-dressing, a one-way chain of command remains in force. As employees and as consumers, most people follow orders with little voice or influence.
…
It's time for a new bargain. Let's drop the myth of consumers and employees. Let's recognize that we are each an individual economic citizen at work or at home. Some of us sell; all of us buy. The cash we spend sustains more than two-thirds of all jobs--so we're actually paying one another. Instead of cash for compliance, we need a new deal in which authenticity, knowledge, and empowerment on the job produces more shared life satisfaction, releasing more cash that in turn supports more jobs. Instead of the old zero-sum roles, let's acknowledge that we are interdependent and assert our rights of citizenship in commerce as well as in politics. If we reconceive the enterprise as being of, by, and for individual economic citizens, what will the monarchs do?
[more]
9:05:20 AM 
|
