Sunday | 7 September, 2008
Opinions
- +
IT's Thinking but Not Yet Acting Green 06 June, 2007 15:25:03
A number of companies considering changing their purchasing or operations practices will be driven solely by a desire for greater efficiencies and the resulting cost reduction. Green benefits like reductions in corporate carbon dioxide emissions may result, but these are seen as byproducts of hard-headed, ROI-driven business practicesInformation technology is going green. At least IT systems vendors are, with announcements of new energy-efficient servers, data centre power and cooling products, and device recycling initiatives coming thick and fast these days - +
Simple Steps to Greening Your Data Centre 06 June, 2007 15:12:33
IT companies need to tread carefully if they want to compete in the new carbon economyAs heavy power users, IT departments have a key part to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And apart from the environmental impact, they need to make sure they don't exhaust their capacity. A recent Gartner report notes that 50 percent of data centres will have insufficient power and cooling capacity by 2008 - +
The Fragility of Road-Warrior Security 21 May, 2007 10:37:46
Over the past few months, I have heard one horror story after another about the most obvious and blatant form of security issue — reading a neighbor's laptop screenIt is often said that the weakest link in the IT security chain is the human being. In our technological age it is inconceivable to travel without network tethers such as a laptop PC, mobile telephone or e-mail PDA. The road warrior is connected 24/7 to his home, corporate office/clients/partners and the Internet. What has occurred in the 21st century is that all of this technology is taken for granted, and security is never a primary issue or concern. - +
To Be Proactive or Not to Bee? 14 May, 2007 11:27:50
If it is shown that mobile telephony is to blame for Colony Collapse Disorder do you think we should force the mobile carriers to shut down? Would you stop using your mobile phone?Being "green" has become very fashionable. Along with that there's a lot more talk about behaving in ways that support our environment rather than our business-as-usual habits. But the problem with being green in practice is how much of our business as usual will we sacrifice to save ourselves? - +
Addressing the Challenges in a Virtual Workplace 01 May, 2007 14:48:47
The move to a virtual workplace can increase agility and productivity and reduce facilities and personnel costs — but supporting one creates challenges that are both technical and organizational.We've talked quite a bit recently about the inexorable shift toward the virtual workplace and reviewed the technical requirements for supporting one. Now it's time to look at the challenges. - +
It's Not Easy Being Green 23 April, 2007 14:35:36
Green isn't just about building disk arrays out of reusable tin foil or switches that contain 30 percent animal waste. Green is about how efficiently IT gear uses space, directs air flow, is managed, etc. It's a measure of "usability" if nothing else.Here are some frightening realities: You can't buy any more power in the cities of Boston or Houston, and other cities are either on the tapped-out list or about to be. It doesn't matter if you are Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, you can't buy any more. That, my friends, is a pretty harsh reality. - +
Work/Life Imbalance 17 April, 2007 11:52:30
Just as climate change is no longer simply a conversation to be had around the barbecue, work/life balance is moving toward its own tipping pointSeals don't balance balls on their noses for fun; they do it for fish. People don't try to achieve work/life balance for fun; they do it to survive. - +
Where's the Off Switch? 12 April, 2007 12:38:50
Flexible work arrangements underpinned by technology can do much to improve the work/life balance — but it can also destroy itSlack-jawed I watched the mother of the groom, seated on the top table, whip out her mobile phone to call a relative at the back of the function centre and chat during the festivities. Admittedly it was a big wedding with guests numbering in the hundreds, but this was a new paradigm at work. - +
The Carbon-Adjusted Supply Chain 05 April, 2007 10:58:26
Global warming and the supply chain.At the Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT in September, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos gave a keynote talk on the slew of new and innovative Web services his company has recently launched. His discussion of MTurk, S3, and EC2 held no surprises for me, or for readers of this column and of my blog. But one of the questions posed by an attendee, in the Q&A period following Bezos' talk, was a stunner. - +
How Green Was My Silicon Valley? 03 April, 2007 13:10:46
Seeing the forest and the treesI'm seeing an increased emphasis on environmental greening of the IT industry. It may be due to the reduced levels of green on the actual environment due to ongoing drought, or to Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth. Gore recently addressed a group of 1500 Silicon Valley business leaders, imploring them to promote green technology that causes less pollution. Companies seem to be heeding his request in one of two ways: Green by Proxy or Do as I Say - +
Zapped! 03 April, 2007 12:33:13
Rising energy costs are short-circuiting performance gains from faster, cheaper servers. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to keep your costs in lineServer prices are dropping, performance is increasing, and IT is consuming less space. So why is total cost of ownership headed through the roof?
Additional Resources
Executive Guides
Whitepapers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Extending Business Solutions across the Organisation
Revolutionising Back-up and Recovery
Optimized Back-up and Recovery for VMWare for VMWare Infrastructure with EMC Avamar
Still Sneaking In: The Threats Your Security Tools Aren't Telling You About
Enterprise Wireless WLAN Security
Best Practice in Building an Integrated Information Management Strategy
The CIO Executive Council Guide to Success
A Guide to Next-Generation Backup, Recovery and Archive
Videos
CIO Connections
Gates says goodbye to MicrosoftAs Bill Gates steps down from the day to day operations at Microsoft he'll be dedicating most of his time to philanthropic efforts at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
WebCasts
Microsoft Round Table demoMicrosoft RoundTable is an advanced collaboration and conferencing device that delivers an engaging, immersive meeting experience with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 or Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007. Learn more from the demo
Newsletter Subscription
RSS Feeds
Market Place
2008 CIO Summit
19th August, 2008 Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney Developed in partnership with CIO Magazine, IDC, INTEP and the CIO Executive Council.
The world of the CIO is extremely complex and diverse. Multiple priorities demand attention and decisions are needed instantly. Individual teams need to be driven towards common goals, and businesses strive to become more mobile, agile and responsive. For CIOs, the challenge never ends.
Every year the CIO Summit identifies what is top of mind for CIOs across Australia and New Zealand, and offers insight for CIO benchmarking and vendor strategic planning alike.
Recent IDC research shows that over 59% of CIO's believe that 'to achieve their business strategies, technology should be used more aggressively than today.'
Join us on August 19th to discover how this is possible with the latest technologies including Virtualisation, Web 2.0, IP Surveillance and Software as a Service (Saas).
Click here for more information.
Please email Denyse_Robertson@idg.com.au for further information.
- +
CIO Live Podcast #79: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires Part II 05 October, 2007 06:00:00
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #78: Brent D Taylor, author of The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires 28 September, 2007 17:34:25
For his new book, The Outsider's Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires, social researcher Brent D Taylor spent four years of intensive research investigating the psychological make-up and backgrounds of some of the world's richest men and women, including IT luminaries Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Taylor discovered that, despite working in different industries and coming from different upbringings, they all have one thing in common -- they are all outsiders. - +
CIO Live Podcast #77: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part III 21 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part three in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #76: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part II 14 September, 2007 07:00:00
Part two in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance. - +
CIO Live Podcast #75: Panasonic Speeds Up Trans-Pacific File Transfers, Part I 07 September, 2007 07:00:05
Part one in our three-part special report from CIO's sister publication Network World in the US, as Paul Desmond reports from the Network World IT Roadmap Conference in Santa Clara, California. With development teams in the US and Japan, Panasonic needed a more efficient way to move very large files between the two locations. Iben Rodriguez, IT consultant for Panasonic Research and Development, explains how a storage-area network and virtual server technology helped speed up WAN performance.
- +
Information security governance: Centralized vs. distributed 05 September, 2008 10:15:00
Should security policies, procedures and processes be managed within a central body, or distributed at an individual level? You need to find the middle ground.The management of information risk has become a significant topic for all organizations, small and large alike. But for the large, multi-divisional organization, it poses the additional challenge of determining how to deploy an information security governance program among what are often disparate business units. Should the policies, procedures, and processes that define the program be developed and managed within a central, corporate body? Or perhaps responsibility would be better placed at the individual unit level? Is there a workable middle-ground? - +
DNS error brings Sophos antivirus updates to a halt 05 September, 2008 13:40:00
Optus, Internode and Equinix affected among others.A sporadic Domain Name Server (DNS) error has blocked Sophos anti-virus updates around the world. - +
Ouch! Security pros' worst mistakes 04 September, 2008 08:05:00
We've all done regrettable things on the job, but does any valuable wisdom come of it? Four security pros candidly explain their biggest blunders and what they learned in the processIt was a mistake so bad the person who made it asked that his name and company not be mentioned here. Let's call him Frank. - +
Security ROI: Fact or Fiction? 03 September, 2008 08:32:00
Bruce Schneier says ROI is a big deal in business, but it's a misnomer in security. Make sure your financial calculations are based on good data and sound methodologies.Return on investment, or ROI, is a big deal in business. Any business venture needs to demonstrate a positive return on investment, and a good one at that, in order to be viable. - +
Information Security and the Importance of Context 01 September, 2008 10:00:00
Those entrusted with information security must raise their contextual awarenessWhen the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was first created, it created a sudden need for tens of thousands of screeners. Getting a job as an airport screener was a pretty easy process. It seemed as though if you had a pulse, you were in. Jump forward to 2008 and becoming a screener is a bit harder as the TSA has instituted background checks, has upped the educational requirement to include a high school diploma or GED, and added other significant requirements.
Viva la Verticals! Key to Vendor Growth is Through Vertical Market Opportunities, Says IDC 05 September, 2008 11:05:00
F-Secure delivers fastest protection in the online world 04 September, 2008 16:50:00
Rogue security apps dominate Fortinet's Aug 2008 IT threat report 04 September, 2008 16:00:00
IntraPower Signs Deal with Australia’s Largest Service Station and Convenience Store Network 04 September, 2008 10:07:00
TANDBERG Begins Desktop Videoconferencing Roll-Out at New England Credit Union 03 September, 2008 16:01:00
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
|
Whitepaper
The Secrets of C-Suite Success
With help from the CIO Executive Council, we tap into research about successful executives. Read on to learn more about the competencies CIOs need to develop to take the corner office, where CIOs fall short and what CEOs expect from CIOs.
Sponsored Links
Subscribe to CIO
Critical. Authoritative. Strategic. CIO magazine addresses the issues vital to the success of IT and business executives. Solutions-oriented editorial provides a greater understanding of the role IT plays in achieving corporate goals. Subscribe to the print edition today.
