Latest News from SYS-CON MEDIA

RASS, 6fusion Partner to Deliver Apps in the Cloud

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:45:00 EST

RASS and 6fusion USA, Inc. announced a partnership to co-deliver cloud hosted desktop and server applications on demand. The joint offering promises to improve existing performance and cost limitations for customers moving away from a traditional on-site application delivery model. RASS features state-of-the-art technology to allow companies of all sizes to serve business applications to remote users. RASS is delivered from the 6fusion platform, which provides scalable, pay-per-use utility computing resources for customers around the world as a form of cloud computing.

Great Social Media & Content Marketing Quotes in 2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:15:55 EST

Official German capital web portal Berlin.de now mobile – with Netbiscuits

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:53:46 EST

BerlinOnline and Netbiscuits, a leading B2B software service for the creation and operation of mobile websites, announce the launch of the redesigned mobile version of Berlin.de available in your mobile phone browser at mobil.berlin.de. Berlin.de mobile lets you access current information on Germany's most widely used city portal on your mobile phone wherever you are.

Netbiscuits awarded one of the fastest growing technology companies in Germany

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:52:46 EST

Netbiscuits, leading software platform for the creation, operation and monetization of mobile websites, found its way into the German „Technology Fast 50“, an overview of the fastest growing technology companies that is created annually on a regional basis by the audit and consulting company Deloitte.

Survey: Virtualization and physical infrastructures need to be managed in tandem

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:52:31 EST

Virtualization is seen as a key enabling technology. But on its own it does not address the most important operational and management challenges in a shared infrastructure.

Aster Data architects application logic with data for speeded-up analytics processing en masse

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:52:23 EST

When both data and applications reside in the same system, they are independent of one another, but both execute as "first-class citizens" with their respective data and application management services.

HP tackles application transformation pay-offs in series of free virtual conferences

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:52:15 EST

Many IT architects are discovering that technical and economic incentives are mounting for exploiting alternatives to mainframe computing applications and systems. As enterprises seek to cut their total IT costs, they examine alternatives to hard-to-change and -manage legacy systems.

Comodo System-Cleaner Inventories PC Registries to Help Delete Unused Files

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:48:31 EST

Uninstalled software may leave bits and pieces of itself behind, cluttering the PC registry where software files are stored. Comodo System-Cleaner identifies infrequently-used or uninstalled software in order to clean registries thoroughly.

MS Hosted Exchange price cut cranks up the thumbscrews on partners, providers and competitors

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:48:04 EST

Microsoft drops the price of its online versions of Exchange and SharePoint. Now, what does that mean to channel partners, service providers and all the other players in this market?

Ardath Albee's new book eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:47:09 EST

Ground reality - 1. B2B sales cycles are long and complex. 2. Marketers today are under high pressure to close sales and show results quickly. 3. Buyers don’t want to be pitched to. How do B2B marketers successfully navigate the challenges along the B2B sales course map? Ardath Albee shares her expert insights on B2B Marketing and discusses her new book eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale.

New England Biolabs Improves Quality of Life with Xsigo

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:28:00 EST

Xsigo Systems today announced that New England Biolabs (NEB) has successfully deployed Xsigo virtual I/O as part of an ongoing VMware integration project. By optimizing NEB's back-office computing needs with virtual servers managed with virtual I/O from Xsigo, NEB has been able to reduce operating expenses and deliver new levels of efficiency.

Google Wave Präsentation

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Stock Photographers Power Up Their Social Media Activity

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:19:00 EST

iSyndica’s latest update gives stock photographers the ability to distribute their images with custom watermarks to popular social media sites such as Facebook and Flickr. The custom watermarks can be applied to portfolios automatically, saving users hours of processing and uploading duplicate images for public use. The service also lets photographers resize their images to guarantee that the images they publicly share can’t be reused for unauthorized commercial purposes.

L’industrie du logiciel face aux défis du Cloud

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:39:00 EST

Fin octobre et début novembre 2009, la Silicon Valley accueillait de nombreuses conférences qui faisaient la part belle au Cloud Computing. L’avantage concurrentiel de la Silicon Valley reste donc fort, même si le Web nous permet de partager plus facilement...

The Countdown Roundup

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:47:00 EST

I've been counting down the days to see Rachel on Facebook. For those that don't have me in their Facebook feed, here is how the last 84 days went:

84 days to go
83 days to go
82 days to go
81 days
80 daysread more

Steve Riley from Amazon speaking at VordelWorld next week

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:28:00 EDT

Moving to the cloud raises lots of questions, mostly about security. Providers worthy of your business should answer them clearly and honestly. Amazon Web Services has built an infrastructure and established processes to mitigate common vulnerabilities and offer a safe compute and storage environment. Steve Riley will discuss common cloud security concerns, show how AWS protects its infrastructure from internal and external attack, and explain how you can take advantage of the security features of AWS in your own applications as you extend your enterprise into the cloud.

Managing and Securing Enterprise Mobility?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:47:21 EDT

Following on from my articles on thoughts and findings of Enterprise Mobility, I have decided to delve again into the challenging areas of Management & Security.

First Solar, Inc. Announces 2009 Third Quarter Financial Results

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:17:00 EDT

First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) today announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 26, 2009. Quarterly revenues were $480.9 million and excluded the Sarnia project, which was over 65% completed at quarter end. Revenues were $525.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009 and $348.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008.

Fotolia’s Top-Selling Contributors

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EDT

What are the most popular microstock clichés? Let’s discover them through Fotolia.

Social Media – Friend or Foe

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:02:37 EDT

Social Networks are now part of our society for better or worse. It has allowed us to both connect with current friends and find pals from the past; it offers businesses another outlet for marketing and sales; it allows us to collaborate, discuss and converse on any topic imaginable. And due to it’s popularity, it [...]

It's a Lovely Evening Here in Pampanga, Philippines

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:15:00 EDT

Random thoughts on a lovely evening.

Index for Business Apps Example for Silverlight 3 RTM and .NET RIA Services

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:46:00 EDT

Thanks to all of you who asked… I had to take a sick day today, so this was nice mindless work to get done. Hope you enjoy it!

Comodo TrustConnect Free VPN Secures Even Public Wireless Connections

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:23:51 EDT

Comodo TrustConnect creates a secure tunnel to the Internet, even on notoriously insecure public wi-fi networks. Now available free.

eCompetitors Gives Sales Folks What They Need. Exactly.

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:06:00 EDT

When you prepare to meet a prospect, how do you know who or what your competition is? How do you know how to position yourself strategically against them? Do you ‘wing it?’ Do you do research? Where do you get your research from? How do you know your research is adequate or accurate? I’ve got the [...]

Linthicum's latest book: How SOA and cloud intersect for enterprise productivity benefits

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:17:42 EDT

SOA is the way to do cloud. It's really about breaking down your architecture into a primitive state of several components. Then, it's figuring out how to assemble those in such a way that you can use those components to resolve problems as your business changes over time. Cloud computing is a nice enhancement to that. Cloud doesn't replace SOA, but is basically an architectural option in how you can host your services.

Sometimes the Best Man for the Job is a Woman!

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:44:00 EDT

Women in Services began with a special panel session that was held at Technology Services World 2009 Santa Clara. The session was so successful that the Women in Services forum was developed, with the following women services leaders as members of the steering committee: Krista Anderson, Senior Vice President of Global [...]

DoD, DHS and FBI Highlight Identity Management Interoperability

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EDT

During this week's Federal Executive Forum, key decision makers from DoD, DHS and FBI highlighted identity management interoperability as their key priority for 2010. Panelist included:

Robert Mocny, Acting Director, US-VISIT Program Department of Homeland Security;
Stephen Morris, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, FBI; and
Thomas Dee, Director, Defense Biometrics, Office of the Secretary of Defense

In fulfilling his responsibility for provide policy and programmatic oversight on DoD biometric programs, Mr. Dee indicated that his priority was to institutionalize proven identity management capabilities honed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Morris' top priority is to establish interoperability among DoD, FBI and DHS biometric databases even though information is already shared daily during millions of transactions.

Citing the 10-finger print match capability with the FBI as a major improvement, Mr. Mocny echoed the other panelist adding that the next priority is to get a hardwire between the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), the DHS Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and the DoD Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS).

The complete show, "Identity Management-Progress & Best Practices", will be webcast on October 27, 2009 at 2:00 pm.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS - KLJ )

Data Center Automation Reaches New Levels with Racemi DynaCenter 3.0

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:16:15 EDT

New data center automation software from Racemi has a “scale-to-fit” option that automatically sizes a captured image to the disk of another physical or virtual server, allowing quicker, easier system migrations.

Global study: Hybrid model rules as cloud heats up, SaaS adoption blazing

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:14:35 EDT

Nine months ago, 61 percent of respondents indicated that they were using only internal IT systems and today, that number has dropped to 41 percent.

SOA Survey Compares OSS, Commerical Brands

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:58:50 EDT

Forgive my harping on this, but I keep hearing about how powerful social media is for gathering insights from the IT communities and users. Yet I rarely see actual market research conducted via the social media milieu. So now's the time to fully test the process. I'm hoping that you users and specifiers of enterprise software middleware, SOA infrastructure, integration middleware, and enterprise service buses (ESBs) will take 5 minutes and fill out my BriefingsDirect survey. We'll share the results via this blog in a few weeks.

Day-Timer Improves Its System and Personnel Productivity

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:15:00 EDT

Savings Achieved by Minimizing MIPS Usage, Faster Batch Processing and More Responsive Development Resources

BEND, Oregon, 21st October, 2009 – Alchemy Solutions, Inc. (www.alchemysolutions.com), provider of legacy modernization solutions, today announced that Day-Timer, Inc. has turned to Alchemy (www.AlchemySolutions.com) to drive down mainframe costs and make its business more productive. Using Alchemy's legacy migration and modernization tools, Day-Timer (www.DayTimer.com), the leader in personal productivity improvement, has migrated its ERP software to Windows Server and the Microsoft .NET Framework, saving $725,000 in the process.

In addition to dramatic mainframe savings, Day-Timer has improved its own business productivity, and reports that batch processing is 10 percent faster and developers 25 percent more responsive to business needs. Besides minimizing mainframe MIPS, eliminating the printing of mainframe green-screen reports saved the company an additional $22,000 in paper costs alone.

As the world-renowned maker of personal productivity tools, Day-Timer anticipated the economic slowdown that began in 2008, and embarked on an enterprise-wide cost-saving effort. With annual costs running $725,000, the mainframe system was an obvious target. Day-Timer was running its applications on an IBM 2086-130 with CICS and batch COBOL applications, and VSAM data.

The mainframe was once essential to the company, operating a highly customized enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that covered everything from order entry and shipping to inventory management and accounts receivable. While the system had been state of the art 15 years before, when it had been commissioned, Day-Timer now wanted to modernize its system by taking advantage of capabilities that hadn’t been considered, let alone implemented, in the early 1990s, such as integration with third-party systems and connection to the Internet.

“There were some workarounds for communicating with other systems, such as dropping FTP files somewhere and hoping they worked, but it was manual, very awkward, and not very effective,” said Dennis Dorney, System Manager, Day-Timer.

Dorney and his colleagues considered their options. They wanted to migrate to a more cost-effective platform, such as the Windows Server operating system and Microsoft .NET Framework, without incurring costs that might be high enough to wipe out the benefit. Rewriting would have been prohibitively expensive, and commercial applications wouldn’t meet the company’s specialized needs. Some tools existed for migrating CICS/COBOL code, but would require continuing licensing payments.

Then they found NeoKicks, NeoBatch and Fujitsu NetCOBOL, all distributed by Alchemy Solutions. These tools would enable Day-Timer to migrate its applications to native Microsoft ASP.NET code to run as Web applications over the company’s intranet. Day-Timer could preserve its original business logic and its investment in that logic.

The migration included 1,600 applications and 1,300 batch jobs, and was completed over 15 months by a team of six developers. Instead of the IBM 2086-130, the Day-Timer ERP suite now runs on IBM X3755 dual-processor server hardware, an IBM DS4700 SAN, and Windows Server 2003.

"Day-Timer moved from the IBM mainframe to Windows Server primarily to reduce cost. It has done a remarkable job at that," said Dorney, "virtually eliminating the amount we previously spent on the mainframe." Instead of $725,000 per year, the Windows Server deployment costs Day-Timer just $48,000 per year, a reduction of 93 percent. In addition, Day-Timer eliminated the $22,000 cost of printing reports as employees now use reports online.

The move to Windows Server has also reduced maintenance requirements, enabling Day-Timer to redeploy the resources formerly devoted to a 12-person operations staff. Software development is easier too, enabling the company to redeploy the resources formerly devoted to three programmers.

Day-Timer kept the original look and feel of its user interface screens—although those screens are now accessed through an Internet Explorer Web browser—to avoid having to retrain workers. “90 percent didn’t even notice the difference,” said Dorney.

Although Day-Timer didn’t migrate to increase performance, it gained that benefit as well. Batch processes run 10 to 15 percent faster. The system now integrates more easily with third party systems and data, such as the company’s electronic data interchange system, which “wasn’t possible in the mainframe world,” said Dorney. And Day-Timer is easily integrating the Internet into its applications, such as a FedEx Web service for calculating shipping rates that’s integrated into Day-Timer’s shipping application.

About Alchemy
Alchemy Solutions (www.alchemysolutions.com) is a leading provider of technology solutions that help organizations integrate legacy applications with the latest Microsoft Windows technologies, including Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. The company’s technology enables significant cost savings by moving applications and data from expensive mainframe platforms to cost-effective Windows environments. The Alchemy Solutions suite includes NeoKicks™, NeoBatch®, NeoSort™ and NeoData™ enabling the modernization of mission critical CICS and batch applications within the Microsoft .NET environment. The newest member of the Alchemy Solutions family is NeoServices, a high-performance, Windows-based tool that enables enterprises to service-enable existing mainframe and NeoKicks-based business logic with no code changes. Additionally, Alchemy Solutions, and its worldwide network of partners, distribute the Fujitsu NetCOBOL family of runtime-free COBOL compilers outside of Japan. Alchemy Solutions, Inc. is a privately held corporation with headquarters in Bend, Oregon. The company resulted from the 2008 acquisition of the Legacy Modernization Group of Fujitsu Computer Systems.

Fujitsu and NetCOBOL are registered trademarks of Fujitsu Ltd. in the United States and other countries. Alchemy Solutions, NeoKicks, NeoBatch, NeoSort and NeoData are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alchemy Solutions, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

# # #

Media Contact: Jenny Swift, Rivercalm, +44 20 7152 6118 [swift@rivercalm.com]

Cloud and BPOS sessions at Virtual Tradeshow

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Quest Connect is a big online conference put together by Quest, Microsoft, , Dell, NetApp, Vizioncore, Scriptlogic, Techrepublic, Oracle Magazine, Redmond Magazine, and The Code Project. The agenda is packed with a lot of useful material on Windows Server 2008 R2, AD, Identity Management, Exchange 2010, Virtualization, Cloud Computing, SharePoint, SQL, Oracle – see full agenda here – and they include some sessions specifically on cloud computing and Microsoft Online Services.

ClickLaunch: Connect Direct's High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:00:00 EDT

ClickLaunch is ClickDocument's platform for launching new and exciting eBooks, books and white papers. We feature top notch industry experts and thought leaders and get an exclusive insider view into their latest creation.

The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook is packed with 65 tips and techniques on demand generation strategy. We have invited Howard J. Sewell, the author of The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook to get an insider look into the making of this Handbook.

Howard J. Sewell is president and founder of Connect Direct Inc. (CDI), a full-service agency with offices in Seattle and Silicon Valley specializing in demand generation and lead management for high-technology companies. Prior to founding CDI in 1990, Howard was a marketing manager for software giant Oracle Corporation. When not running his company and working with clients, he is a frequent contributor to online publications on demand generation, lead nurturing, social media, and other topics, and also writes his agency’s blog, Direct Connections.

Howard J. Sewell

Blog Direct Connections Twitter HJSewell

Ambal Balakrishnan: Howard, it is a great pleasure to discuss your 'High-Tech Direct Marketing HandBook'. Thanks for finding time out of your very busy schedule to provide your valuable insights to our readers. Tell us about what Connect Direct does?
Howard J. Sewell: Connect Direct Inc. (CDI) is a full-service marketing agency specializing in demand generation and lead management. In layman’s terms, we help technology companies generate and manage sales leads.

Recommended Resources

Mashable’s daily newsletter
Steve Farnsworth's twitter feed: @Steveology
Michael Damphousse’s blog, B2B Demand Generation
How to Choose Your Carrot: Effective Lead Generation Offers for High-Technology Marketers (White Paper)

Ambal Balakrishnan: Give us the background of how you gained an interest in B2B Marketing and more specifically in High-Tech Direct Marketing?
Howard J. Sewell: I worked in high-tech sales for a few years after college but always knew I wanted to move into marketing. I was fortunate enough to land the perfect transitional role – marketing manager for a sales organization – at Oracle, and found my way into their in-house direct marketing agency. I’ve been a direct marketer ever since, and eventually left Oracle to start my own firm. That was 19 years ago and we’re still going strong.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What prompted you to embark on creating an ebook for High-Tech Direct Marketing?
Howard J. Sewell: The ebook’s origins lie in an monthly email newsletter I wrote for 10 years on high-tech direct marketing, a newsletter that eventually became our blog, Direct Connections. 10 years in I was sitting on more than 100 tips on high-tech direct marketing, and our creative director at the time had the idea of turning them into a handbook. We shipped hundreds of copies in hard copy form before converting it to an ebook this year.

In all candor, the handbook has always been intended to be an offer. It’s a way to introduce people to our company and our way of thinking in the hope that somewhere along the line the reader will have a need for our services. In the process, hopefully we help educate people a little by sharing some of what we’ve learned in 19 years. I think people appreciate the fact that the handbook isn’t a brochure – I often hear from people who have a dog-eared copy by their desk at all times!

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is ‘The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook’ addressed towards?
Howard J. Sewell: For the most part, the tips contained in the book are practical techniques rather than high-level strategy. Because of that, the person who will gain the most from the book is the person “in the trenches,” someone chartered with developing, designing, and executing lead generation programs for their company.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How is the High-Tech Marketing landscape different than what it was a decade back?
Howard J. Sewell: By far the biggest shift has been the shift from outbound to inbound marketing. Ten years ago most of CDI’s business was comprised of email and direct mail campaigns based on list rentals. We defined an audience, found a list that met that profile, and blasted our message to that list. Now it’s all about leveraging vehicles like social media to drive inbound leads, and then nurturing those leads over time until they have a need for what you do. Lead management will probably be half our business this year.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What is one change you recommend for businesses to do better in their High-Tech Direct Marketing initiatives?
Howard J. Sewell: It still amazes me how many high-tech marketing plans, even in Silicon Valley, revolve around campaigns and programs. I call it “Program-Centric Planning.” It’s as if pushing campaigns out the door is more important than the results those campaigns generate. It makes far more sense to quantify the results you need and then plan programs accordingly, rather than plan campaigns and hope they get you where you need to be.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from 'The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook'?
Howard J. Sewell:

Sell the offer, not the product.
Don’t focus all your energy on generating hot leads. Cast a wide net, build a lead nurturing strategy, and the hot leads will happen.
Plan. Don’t just execute.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please recommend 3-5 resources (books, blogs).
Howard J. Sewell:

I read Mashable’s daily newsletter every morning. It’s a great way to keep abreast of the changing social media landscape.
Steve Farnsworth is a former client, a good friend, and an expert in high-tech marketing and social media. One of the best Twitter feeds out there: @Steveology. (26,000 followers can’t be wrong.)
Check out Michael Damphousse’s blog, B2B Demand Generation. Mike is someone whose opinion I really respect. (It helps that I agree with him 90% of the time.)

Ambal Balakrishnan: Howard, thanks for taking the time to discuss your eBook and sharing your B2B Marketing insights with us.
Howard J. Sewell: Thanks Ambal.

You can download Connect Direct Inc. (CDI)'s 'High-Tech Direct Marketing HandBook' here.

PC Professionals Can Add Remote Service for Round-the-Clock Customer Satisfaction

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:55:04 EDT

PC professionals can add Comodo Internet Security Pro to their service contracts to enable 24/7 online support. Customers benefit from round-the-clock service and award-winning PC security.

The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:53:26 EDT

What is the #1 secret for improving lead quality? How to get resellers to respond to your campaign? What are 5 ways to getting started in lead nurturing? Connect Direct Inc. (CDI)'s The High-Tech Direct Marketing Handbook covers these and more demand generation questions. Howard J. Sewell shares his expert insights about High-Tech Direct Marketing.

Cloud Will Become Pervasive: 3Tera CEO

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:07:00 EDT

"Virtualization requires massive volume to be profitable. Cloud computing will enable that massive volume." With succinct sound bites like that, it is not surprising that Barry X Lynn, CEO of 3Tera, is much in demand as a speaker at conferences devoted to Cloud & Virtualization. In this brief interview with SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Journal, Lynn discusses the current buoyant state of cloud computing, including the whys and the wherefores of its growing success and pervasiveness.

Unisys To Unveil Secure Cloud Computing Solutions at 4th Cloud Expo

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:30:00 EDT

To address their unique business challenges, today’s enterprises - in the view of Unisys - need tailored, hybrid cloud technologies that deliver the best of managed and dedicated services by combining public and private cloud services. Unisys VP Sam Gross will be presenting at the 4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo a General Session in the keynote room on November 3rd, 2009, that will unveil "A New Generation of Secure Cloud Computing Solutions" - and show how Unisys cloud computing strategy and solutions enable the enterprise to choose the services that best meet its objectives – from self-managed, automated IT infrastructures to Unisys-managed cloud services.

Agile Australia – 2009

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:15:43 EDT

There are two things about Agile Australia that surprised me. The level of participation: There were around 350 participants – in this period of economic slowdown it is a huge number Missing Indian IT companies: None of the “tier one” Indian IT companies were around – neither as sponsors nor as speakers – why? As per Gartner’s hype [...]

What's on your watch list? Forrester identifies 15 key technologies for enterprise architects

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:06:38 EDT

Forrester Research has tried to sort things out with a new report, “The Top 15 Technology Trends EA Should Watch.” And, if even limiting the selection to 15 sounds like a lot to keep your eye on.

Comodo Humorous Video Is Serious about Cybersecurity

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:23:38 EDT

Fans of the popular AETV series "Intervention" stage their own confrontation with a malware-ridden PC in a parody video from Comodo.

Oracle's Fusion Apps shows up ... finally

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:22:00 EDT

While ERP emerged with and was designed for client/server architectures, Fusion has emerged with a full Java EE and SOA architecture; it is built around Oracle Fusion middleware 11g and uses Oracle BPEL Process Manager to run processes as orchestrations of processes exposed from the Fusion Apps or other legacy applications. That makes the architecture of Fusion Apps clean and flexible.

Zombies on Home, Office PCs Menace Cybersecurity

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:31:00 EDT

There may be a simple explanation when a PC slows down. It may just have too many files in storage. The explanation is often more sinister. The PC may have gone over to the dark side. PCs today can acquire infections that turn them into zombies. Infected PCs' owners may only notice that the PCs respond a little slower than usual. The reason infected PCs run slowly is that they are stealthily multi-tasking, staggering under orders from their new masters. These orders may include sending thousands or millions of spam emails, or copying every keystroke the owner types in (including bank passwords).

Disk May Be Cheap but Storage is Not

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:44:00 EDT

Remember at trade shows oh, a few years back now, the “hot” vendor swag was 256MB USB keys. I’m sure many of you spent time trying to collect them as fervently as kids collect Pokeman cards (or whatever the CCG du jour may be). Just a few years later you’d have laughed if someone offered such a small key up as swag because disk had become so cheap they were probably dumping what was left in stock in those “claw-grab” games that promise big prizes for only 50 cents a try that are the bane of every parent I know.

Successful data center transformation usually requires overdue rethinking of the network

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:37:40 EDT

Nowadays, we see that network requirements have, and are, shifting as IT departments adopt improvements such as virtualization, software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing, and service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Survey Says Slow, Kludgy Business Processes Hamper Competitiveness

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:33:00 EDT

The bottom line: An overwhelming majority of businesses still feel they have a ways to go before they are equipped to respond to market or customer changes quickly enough to compete well in a global marketplace.

Windows Phone from Microsoft

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:42:17 EDT

Yesterday Microsoft announced Windows Phones which use Windows Mobile 6.5. As well as the new version of software it also provides access to the new MyPhone service and the Windows Mobile Marketplace with 246 applications available.

HP roadmap dramatically reduces energy consumption across data centers

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:46:20 EDT

We're talking about collapsing infrastructure requirements by factors of 5, 6, or 10. You're going from 10 or 20 old servers to perhaps a couple of servers running much more efficiently. And, with modernization at play, you can actually increase that multiplication.

Lower Cost Alternative to Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint Aimed at Education, Public Sector, SMBs

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:43:05 EDT

Open source groupware provider, Open-Xchange, has teamed with Univention to create a turnkey alternative to Microsoft Exchange – that can be maintained in an open source server infrastructure, while keeping technologies like Microsoft Active Directory. Its function goes beyond the Microsoft Server and Microsoft Exchange stacks at lower cost.

Comodo Enhances EasyVPN with Two-Factor Authentication

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:30:30 EDT

Comodo EasyVPN now offers the same Two-factor Authentication used by banks and the military, enhancing network security yet freeing information workers to access their computers anywhere via the Internet.

Racemi Announces $2.5 Million Financing, New CEO

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:22:17 EDT

Racemi opens a new chapter in the company’s history with the announcement of $2.5 million financing and a new CEO. This is all linked to the company’s strategic decision to focus completely on serving partners that tap into Racemi’s technology to enhance their own offerings.