Migration Without Mishap

Server migrations come in just about every size, shape and variety — you can change operating systems, hardware platforms, vendors or do any combination of the three. But whether you seek to increase capacity, upgrade to the latest technology or standardize on a particular hardware or software platform, the ability

Managing Mobile Devices

They are the best of tools and the worst of tools. Mobile computing devices can support the workforce out in the field or make your most sensitive company secrets public knowledge. The only way to simultaneously unleash your workforce and rein in company threats is to control the risks. Many

IT Survival Skills

For IT professionals, certifications in technical areas serve as standard career currency. But even the most gilt-edged diplomas may no longer guarantee advancement. To reach the upper levels of the IT organization, training time is better spent sharpening interpersonal and project management skills. According to an IT skills research survey

Is the Internet the New WAN?

After close to two decades — a lifetime in information technology — the traditional corporate wide-area network (WAN) may be headed for the endangered-species list. The usurper: Internet-based virtual private networks (VPNs). Instead of depending on dedicated leased or owned lines, VPNs use a variety of technologies to carry data

Is Real ILM Possible?

Managing data effectively has always been a major challenge for businesses. How do you capture it? Store it? Process it? Access it? What do you do with it once its immediate usefulness to your organization is gone? And, naturally, how do you accomplish all this at the lowest possible cost?

Is It Time for Diskless PCs?

Although Oracle, NEC, Wyse and other major vendors have long promoted diskless PCs, the technology has failed to establish a beachhead within enterprise IT shops. This appears to be changing with the release of Microsoft’s Vista operating system. Vista offers virtualization features specifically designed to make diskless PCs — also

Expansion Planning For Systems Growth

Something scary is happening in the world of computing. Even though everything is getting smaller and more powerful, we’re faced with increasing demand for power to run systems, keep them cool and house them. Although disk drive capacity requirements double every year, if companies require more drives, the issues become

Revive That Derailed Development Project

When IT consultant Mike Benz’s phone rings, it’s often a client struggling with a software development project gone bad. Recently, for example, a retailer called the certified project management professional (PMP) in Minneapolis, Minn., in a panic: They needed to change their computer software, hardware and their business practices in

Decision Support Systems for Executives

Keeping a business on course and profitable requires a corporate leader to make judicious decisions at every step. It’s no surprise, then, that decision support systems (DSS), long used at the operational levels of enterprises, have matured enough to become part of executives’ everyday tools. “Although some people think the

IT Budget Priorities in Perspective

At one time, the IT staff’s mission was to stay out on the bleeding edge — first adopter, first adapter, first developer, first to market. But now the frontlines have changed, withdrawing to more cautious ground where bottom-line hemorrhaging can be stemmed and new strategies drawn. “Without IT and business