Enterprise IT

Transforming an Enterprise From Sluggish to Sleek
April 22, 2013

When it comes to the enterprise, thin is in -- as in slimming down business processes and reducing the level of complexity that comes with running organizations in the 21st century. That goal would be challenging enough without the arrival of trends like Big Data and mobility. There are also the continuing struggles to secure company data, manage risk and meet compliance deadlines.

Google Grooms Chrome for the Office
April 19, 2013

Google this week introduced two new features for its Chrome browser in a move to bolster demand in the corporate sector. "There is a massive concern surrounding Google and privacy that generally has corporations avoiding this browser officially in favor of Firefox or Internet Explorer," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

CISPA on Collision Course With Obama Veto
April 18, 2013

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which faces a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, may end up vetoed by President Obama. CISPA encourages private companies to share security information among themselves and with the government. The House Rules Committee on Tuesday rejected a bipartisan amendment that would have addressed user privacy.

Microsoft Invites Amazon to IaaS Brawl
April 18, 2013

Microsoft this week announced general availability of Windows Azure Infrastructure Services. The Infrastructure as a Service offering previously had been in limited release. The cloud service lets users deploy full virtual machines created from a gallery of pre-populated templates built into its management portal. Users also have the option of uploading and running their own custom images.

DDoS Attacks Hammering Targets Harder
April 17, 2013

The number, size and impact of distributed denial of service attacks increased sharply in the first quarter of this year, according to a new report from Prolexic. The average attack bandwidth in this period was 48.25 Gbps, 718 percent more than the 5.9 Gbps chalked up by attacks in the previous quarter. The average packet-per-second rate hit 32.4 million, and the average duration of an attack increased 7.14 percent.

Immigration Bill Would Open the Gates to More Tech Talent
April 17, 2013

A group of senators known as the "Gang of Eight" on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan immigration bill that could permit an increase in H-1B visas for high-tech workers. The group is led by Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz. Another notable member is Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the GOP's latest rising star. Of particular interest to the tech industry, the new bill would raise the current caps on H-1B visas.

Mystery Computer Problem Grounds All AA Flights
April 17, 2013

American Airlines created a nightmare for its customers for at least two hours Tuesday. Its electronic reservation system went down in the middle of the afternoon, forcing the carrier to hold all flights until after 4:30 p.m. ET. The incident may have exposed a rift between AA and Sabre, the company managing its computerized reservations system, which used to be part of the airline.

CenturyLink Hauls DoI to Court
April 17, 2013

The U.S. Department of the Interior has big plans to implement a major cloud-based information technology program, with a potential investment of $1 billion over 10 years. However, those plans will have to be put on hold a little longer. One of the potential contractors for the project, CenturyLink, is taking the department to federal court in a challenge to the contracting terms for the project.

Kana Adds Context, Subtracts Search
April 16, 2013

Kana Software on Tuesday debuted its next generation of Kana Enterprise, a multichannel customer service application with functionality for both the agent-based desktop and self-service. Its features include case management; Web self-service; mobile chat; co-browsing; social listening, analytics and community engagement; email, campaign and white mail management; and advanced knowledge management.

Report: Big Biz Shakes Off Hack Attacks
April 15, 2013

A lot of noise has been made about the consequences of data breaches for companies, but a recent survey of some of the largest U.S. businesses may have wrapped those noisemakers in a muffler. Of the 27 largest companies reporting cyberattacks in their most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, none said they sustained any major financial losses from those net assaults.

The 6 Secrets of Highly Successful M-Commerce
April 15, 2013

If we take a page out of our not-so-distant past, we can see that on the web, both commerce applications and functionality have contributed to the demise or success of mobile apps. The success of business models, return on investment and viability of mobile initiatives all depend on how well m-commerce is managed and handled.

Blackbaud Gives Fundraisers New Tools, Then Gets Out of the Way
April 15, 2013

Blackbaud, a CRM vendor that specializes in the nonprofit sector, has rolled out a new release offering additional social and mobile functionality. The end goal of the various upgrades -- which range from social scoring to the ability to run on a number of different tablets -- is to allow users to be able to spend more time with donors, said Eric de Jaeger, VP of product management, enterprise CRM solutions.

Civilian Oversight Overlooked as CISPA Clears House Committee
April 12, 2013

A revived version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- with provisions for civilian oversight absent -- passed by a vote of 18-2 Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee adopted six amendments, but removed others aimed at privacy protection. Three of those were proposed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., with one offered by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Using Cloud Analytics to Corral Big Data
April 12, 2013

Strategic Big Data and Actionable Analytics are two of the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013, according to Gartner. Yet only 12 percent have a big data strategy that governs their daily operations, a recent survey of 339 data management professionals by SAS and SourceMedia found. In my view, this gap is the result of years of unfulfilled promises from a previous generation of business intelligence and data integration vendors.

IRS May Be Sifting Through Email in Defiance of Court Order
April 11, 2013

The ACLU has raised a disturbing possibility after reading 247 pages of records it obtained from the Internal Revenue Service via a Freedom of Information Act request: The agency may be reading taxpayers' emails without a warrant. The IRS was told not to do this after a 2010 appellate court ruling in United States v. Warshak. However, the ACLU now seems to think the IRS has reverted to its previous behavior -- or perhaps never stopped.

US Biz Groups Rail Against China-Focused 'Cybersecurity' Law
April 09, 2013

The head of the U.S.-China Business Council has criticized a new law aimed at stopping cyberattacks. John Frisbie, the group's president, objected to the law in a letter sent Monday to the leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The provision requires multiple government agencies to get approval from law enforcement officials before purchasing IT systems sourced from companies having connections with China.

US Navy Will Soon Pack Laser Heat in Persian Gulf
April 09, 2013

For the first time, the U.S. Navy plans to deploy a solid-state laser weapon on board one of its vessels, with the laser's debut scheduled for the Persian Gulf during fiscal year 2014. In a press release, the Navy said development and testing have resulted in a weapon that can "perform actions ranging from non-lethal disabling and deterrence all the way up to destruction."

OpenStack Gives the Open Source Cloud a Lift
April 09, 2013

Since its start in the summer of 2010, the OpenStack open source cloud computing project has been the subject of a lot of hype. Today, the technology, backers and users of OpenStack are giving substance to all of that sizzle, and skepticism is giving way to service provider and enterprise use cases across the globe. OpenStack is relatively immature and still requires a high degree of technical aptitude to deploy, but its community continues to grow.

Fed IT Contract Window Still Open - but Budget Is Pinching
April 09, 2013

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking a broad range of information technology products and services with a potential contract value of $80 million over 10 years. That's a nice chunk of business, and it's just one of many potential federal IT contracts now available. In addition to providing these opportunities, federal agencies have remained active in awarding major IT contracts.

HP Targets a Cloud-Friendly Future With Moonshot Servers
April 08, 2013

HP on Monday announced the availability of a new platform of microservers in its Project Moonshot program as it tries to carve out a new energy efficient, lower-cost niche in the server market. The company says the new servers are designed to help companies and organizations deal with the challenges of current computing trends such as cloud computing, Big Data, and mobile and social usage.