IT Management
Computerworld, 9/27/04: IDC Forum: Is IT creativity dead?
Author Nicholas Carr and consultant Don Tapscott weigh in
News Story by Marc Ferranti
SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Pouring fuel on the debate over whether IT provides a competitive advantage to corporations, a pair of prominent industry observers today offered starkly different views of the role computer technology can play in transforming business strategy.
IT has become such a commodity that any strategic advantage from being on the cutting edge of technology is likely to be short-lived and costly, argued Nicholas G. Carr, a former editor of the Harvard Business Review who garnered widespread notoriety last year for an article titled "IT Doesn't Matter" in that magazine and for a related book published this year (see stories and reaction).
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C|net, 9/28/04: Reseller CDW upgrades abilities, ambitions
By Stephen Shankland
CDW is kicking its high-end lineup up a notch.
The Vernon Hills, Ill.-based computer retailer, with modest roots in catalog sales, has been expanding in the last four years to sell more sophisticated computing equipment, such as servers, networking hardware and storage systems. While CDW isn't changing its emphasis on small- and midsize customers, it announced on Monday new expertise for selling complicated or customized combinations of high-end products.
Now specialists in areas such as telephony or security can advise customers on products and configurations, and about two dozen people in a new 8,000-square-foot facility can assemble and test the resulting combinations of hardware and software, CDW said.
"This facility allows us to do rack-mounted servers, high-end routers, and putting complete networks together," said Doug Eckrote, senior vice president of purchasing and operations at the company.
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IT Security
Computerworld, 9/27/04: IronPort updates e-mail security appliance
The company's C-Series appliances now feature virus outbreak filters
News Story by Paul Roberts
SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - E-mail security systems vendor IronPort Systems Inc. is releasing new versions of its C-Series line of e-mail security appliances, with features that make it easier for administrators to predict new virus outbreaks and manage e-mail security across corporate networks, the company said today.
IronPort's C-Series appliances now feature virus outbreak filters, which use data from IronPort's SenderBase global e-mail monitoring network to predict and defend against virus outbreaks. IronPort has also added Email Security Manager, a new administrative graphical user interface that centralizes management of antispam and antivirus services on an e-mail infrastructure, and Enterprise Management Tools that make it easier to monitor and configure multiple IronPort devices on a network, the company said.
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Business Week, 10/4/04: What's Lurking In Your PC?
How to keep spyware from tracking your habits -- or hijacking your computer
At first I was just mildly irritated when my Internet browser opened up to a strange Web site rather than to my regular home page. I figured I must have inadvertently hit a wrong key. When I tried to reset it, nothing happened. Again, I thought I must be doing something wrong. But since the problem didn't prevent me from using my computer, I decided to deal with it later. Big mistake. Just weeks after my home page was hijacked, I got hit with an onslaught of pop-up ads. Then I was unable to complete a Web search. Despite typing an address dozens of times, I always ended up somewhere else. Time to call a computer expert. His diagnosis? Spyware. As it turns out, one-third of Internet users have been similarly afflicted, according to a recent survey by Consumer Reports. "Spyware, without question, is on an exponential rise over the last six months," says Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering with Symantec Security Response (SYMC ), the maker of Norton security software. Microsoft (MSFT ) reports that spyware was the cause of one-third of all computer crashes in the past year.
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Outlook
C|net, 9/27/04: IDC raises estimate for PC sales
By Dinesh C. Sharma
Researcher IDC has raised its estimate for the number of PCs that will be sold in 2004, saying it now expects sales of 176.5 million units, the company said Monday.
The year is expected to end with 14.2 percent growth, the company said, an increase from its earlier estimate of 13.5 percent.
IDC said the higher estimate reflects 17.2 percent growth in commercial PC shipments in the second quarter, the highest growth in that segment since mid-1999.
The consumer segment is projected to grow by just 9 percent in the second half of 2004, compared with 20 percent in the same period last year.
IDC warned that better performance in 2004 is no guarantee of the same trend in the future. In fact, the company reduced its growth projection for 2005, by 0.2 percent to 10.5 percent. In the years after that, IDC sees growth in the single digits.
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