Stories about: Leader Computers

In the coming weeks the feds and the surviving financial services institutions will have the daunting task of unraveling all the securitized loans and other instruments that are hiding the toxic investments. But does the technology exist to do that? And if so, could it have been used to prevent the bad debt from hitting the fan in the first place?

Even before Red Hat bought the virtualization company Qumranet, with its Linux KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) platform, Red Hat had made it clear that it was moving into virtualization in a big way. At its annual Red Hat Summit in June, the Linux powerhouse announced that it would be deploying its Embedded Linux Hypervisor, oVirt, which is based on KVM in its server line. This lightweight, embeddable hypervisor currently enables users to run run Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Windows VMs on Linux.

Google, which celebrates 10 years of its incorporation this month, remains strongly committed to its Enterprise unit and to the customers it serves, including IT and business managers and CIOs, although most of the company's revenue comes from online advertising.

Why do organizations fail? That is a question that business school professors use to provoke students to investigate reasons why companies did not fulfil expectations. One reason that noted author and global consultant Ram Charan gives, and has written extensively about, is a failure of execution. Companies dream big, but the rest of the organization never embraces that dream and it fails

Matt Eventoff, a US-based messaging and communications strategist, spends much of his time working with lamenting CIOs, CTOs and other IT executives labouring to hammer that final nail into the coffin of failed IT projects

When Apple launched its new App Store earlier this year, the assumption was that scads of businesses would develop applications for their iPhone-toting customers. Although there are more than 60 apps in the App Store's Business category, virtually no big-name companies have bothered to cough up one of their own. Since Apple plans to make at least 40 million iPhones in the next year, many of which will no doubt end up being used in the workplace, what's the holdup?

Software enables us to use computer hardware as well as connect and communicate in ways that drastically change the way we work and play. For users of software in developing countries, the adoption of software solutions and Information and Communications Technologies as an enabler for social and economic development, is severely limited by financial constraints. CIOs today are divided in to two groups: the first one being the one that has the budget and capability to test and implement a new technology infrastructure; and the other being the group that is bound by financial constraints. There is, however plenty of software choice that brings good value for money for both these groups.

VMware is approaching the kind of turning point that defines a company as either a brilliant success or a flash in the pan, and it's not entirely clear which way it's going to turn.

If your company is considering SOA, there are many issues and challenges that need to be addressed in order to improve the chances for a successful implementation. One issue that is often overlooked early on is an assessment of the company's existing skill sets and the application development culture.

Bruce Marcus, the executive vice president and CIO of The McGraw-Hill Companies, answers questions about moving into leadership positions, dealing with a difficult boss and the impact of the economy on IT.

The SVP of Technology and Operations is emerging as a cool new role -- and career path -- for CIOs