http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/kearns.html The complete Network World opus of Dave Kearns. Network World, Inc. Copyright(C) 1994 - 2009 Network World, Inc. http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/113009id1.html Everyone eyeing Microsoft's Azure, their candidate for cloud-based computing, can at least agree on one thing: Redmond is late to the party that's dominated by Salesforce.com, Google, Amazon and a host of others. How can they hope to differentiate themselves? Dave Kearns 2009-11-25T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/112309id1.html Whenever I go through the archives from the early days of this newsletter (as I did for the last issue) I'm reminded of the day back in the fall of 1999 when I came across a small booth in the "start-ups alley" area of a trade show, which featured the new eProvisionware from Business Layers. In my mind that was the beginning of the identity management era. Dave Kearns 2009-11-20T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/111609id2.html Ten years ago this month directories were all the rage in this newsletter. Well, it was called the Directory Services newsletter. Dave Kearns 2009-11-17T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/111609id1.html I never did make it to Gartner's Identity and Access Management Summit in San Diego last week. I had the misfortune to throw my back out over the weekend, and couldn't face the plane and airport. So I'd like to publicly thank Quest's Jackson Shaw for ably filling in for me on Ray Wagner's Pundits' Panel. But even though I wasn't there, I did find out about all of the announcements that were made and I'd like to share a few more with you. Dave Kearns 2009-11-13T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/110909id2.html Last week I put in a brief appearance at the Gartner Group's Identity and Access Management Summit in San Diego. This is a conference I've had few good things to say about in the past (and which Gartner Vice President Ray Wagner reminded me about this time) but it does serve a useful purpose. The conference content is geared towards its attendees who aren't necessarily IdM geeks or even security wonks. It attracts a more business-side oriented clientele and these are people who need to learn about IdM/IAM even if they have to be spoon-fed. Dave Kearns 2009-11-10T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/110909id1.html Context is important. I know I say that a lot, but I'll keep saying it until you all agree. That is to say, you're entitled to your own opinion but if your opinion is that context isn't important then your opinion is just wrong. To clarify for those of you new to this argument, context refers to the who, what, when, where, why and how of a transaction, in particular an identity-based transaction. Knowing those things greatly reduces the chances of fraud, mitigating the risk involved in the transaction. Dave Kearns 2009-11-06T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/110209id2.html Centrify announced last week that it has added Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition to the long list of non-Windows operating systems whose authentication it has integrated with Active Directory. It has supported Ubuntu for quite some time, but what really exited the Centrify folk was the fact that this version of Ubuntu includes an open source cloud computing environment that can be easily integrated with Active Directory through the Centrify Suite for identity, access and privilege management. Dave Kearns 2009-11-03T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/110209id1.html Over the years -- even going back to the Wired Windows column, the Windows Networking newsletter and the Novell newsletter -- a constant recurring theme has been justification of the costs of IT and IdM projects. No matter if it was a NOS upgrade, desktop management applications, directory services or the latest entitlement management service -- it's been a constant fight for scarce dollars with little in the way of bean counter-approved justification (i.e., profit-making ROI). Dave Kearns 2009-10-29T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/102609id2.html A couple of notes I read last week seemed to go together so nicely that I thought I'd share hem with you in hopes of stimulating your own thought processes. One came from a discussion of the LinkedIn cloud computing group while the other was a blog post by old friend Martin Kuppinger. Dave Kearns 2009-10-27T12:00:00-04:00 http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/dir/2009/102609id1.html Chris Sullivan, Courion's vice president of customer solutions, recently posted a blog entry about risk management. In it he quotes Warren Buffett, the world's richest man and undisputed king of practical risk management who once said, "Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing." Dave Kearns 2009-10-23T12:00:00-04:00