AKIBIA'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
Entries with Label: Practical Use
“Practical Use” Fills the Gap Between Idea and Implementation
Monday, February 02, 2009
It’s no longer a question of if you will deploy virtualized environments but when you will deploy them. In fact there are many technologies at this same point somewhere between idea and implementation, including WAN optimization, security consolidation technologies, Microsoft initiatives and contract administration consolidation. These solutions will cross the chasm into main stream deployment mainly because they reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
Practical Green IT
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
As many companies have pushed its benefits, and positioned their solutions as helping to achieve "Green IT", the topic has come to represent many things to many different people. It is certainly one of the most hyped IT terms of the past two years. It offers important environmental benefits such as reduced footprint and carbon emissions, and it saps less of the energy supply. Green IT initiatives can help improve an organization's relationship with its community. While many would argue these reasons are important enough to address on their own, there is another reason that has made Green IT so attractive to the public and private sector alike: It reduces costs, and it can increase efficiencies.
DNS Audits: A Practical Guide
Friday, February 13, 2009
DNS is gaining more attention as companies add VOIP and wireless networking to their enterprise. These advancements have put greater strain on DNS and in turn require more sophisticated solutions. As a result, we've been doing a lot more DNS audits for customers. Here are a few things that are critical to a good DNS strategy that most companies do not think about.
The Training You Need Vs. The Training You Receive
Monday, February 23, 2009
Being certified on a technology may be a nice to have, but if your are certified on a technology but cant support it in the unique setting which is your specific IT infrastructure, then the certification does not really amount to much.
Consolidate Support Vendors?
Monday, April 06, 2009
The inability to predict a specific end date for the recession puts major stress on already strapped IT budgets. In past downturns many companies hunkered down and just held back on purchases until the economy started moving again. That strategy will not work this time. This recession will require IT to tighten the belt and really do more with less.
CIOs Need to Manage Up, Broadcast Successes
Thursday, April 09, 2009
This post in InformationWeek by Bob Evans struck a chord, "Global CIO: What CIOs Must Do To Survive The Recession." The article focuses on the downturn and anecdotal, but still scary, evidence that some companies are choosing not to hire CIOs during the recession—taking cost savings (salary) from an organization they view as a cost center.
On the Path to the Cloud… Walk Before You Run
Monday, April 13, 2009
Every now and then a new technology concept really takes off as marketing gurus at some of the largest companies put their collective mindshare and budget behind the next big idea. Web 2.0 was one such term, social media is another. Cloud Computing is the next big idea.
The Near-Term Impact of Oracle Buying Sun
Friday, April 24, 2009
Oracle's acquisition of Sun is a big deal in the IT industry as two big players come together. What is Oracle's intent? How will they leverage MySql? What will happen to Sun's hardware and storage device groups? There is speculation and chatter from the acquired company's employees, the competitors, pundits and of course from the customers.
Financial Strength of Your Vendors…Show Me the Money!
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Regardless of the specific market conditions, it is always important to conduct adequate due diligence on the financial strength and performance of vendors you plan to rely on for core services. While Dunn & Bradstreet might be your first starting point for a financial review, it's best to go much deeper and get information direct from the vendor to ensure the thoroughness and accuracy you need to make effective decisions.
A Letter to Ralph Szygenda, the CIO of General Motors
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Dear Mr. Szygenda, I just finished reading the Q&A Mary Hayes Weir of Informationweek conducted with you regarding your responsibilities in leading GM's IT department through the bankruptcy and restructuring.
Death by A Thousand Processes: Getting Compliance Right Requires a Change in Thinking
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
It seems like every day we wake up to find a new compliance mandate staring us in the face. These mandates put pressure on our infrastructure, mind share and our budgets. Industry estimates show the cost for compliance can be anywhere from 8-12% of the IT budget of a Fortune 500 company to as much as 25% of the overall IT budget for a mid market company.
Preparing for a Return to Growth? It’s Not Too Soon to Make Process Improvements
Monday, August 03, 2009
Recently my Gartner sales rep forwarded me a research note regarding steps to take to “Prepare for a Return to Business Growth.” Now, Gartner’s note (subscription required) falls short of Newsweek’s prediction that the recession is over, but they do make the good point that we must prepare for the time when delayed projects come off the shelf and back into our IT plans.
Take Full Advantage of System Monitoring
Thursday, August 20, 2009
According to analyst research the average hourly cost of downtime ranges from $28,000 in manufacturing to $2.5 million in banking and finance to $6.5 million in the brokerage industry. With uptime and data center performance of critical importance proactive systems monitoring needs to be a de facto element in any data center strategy. Yet, still companies are risking performance levels and business efficiency by not fully leveraging monitoring to improve their data centers.
IT Needs Turbo Compliance
Thursday, September 03, 2009
IT executives are exhausted by the compliance challenge. Managing so many complex rules and requirements takes time, budget and resources, and even still executives can’t be sure they have done everything necessary to ensure compliance.
Sky High Cloud Chatter
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Cloud Computing continues to be one of the top trends in terms of discussion and chatter in 2009. Many analyst firms are predicting that spending on cloud computing will far out pace spending in other IT sectors as the economy continues to recover. Forrester Research states that cloud computing should be on every enterprise’s three year roadmap. Not surprisingly, many IT vendors are announcing their own Cloud Computing solutions.
