Real IT Guys; All-in-one security devices face challenges; What’s to become of the Internet?
Real IT Guys
Regarding Mark Gibbs’ column, “Real IT guys” – Here I am. The real deal, not the CIO, CTO, CSO, or any senior position, but the intern. The one that puts in the most work for the least pay. The grunt worker. However, I ‘m not complaining, though I’m no novice to IT. Chris Dadario
New York
In the spirit of fun, perhaps there should be a couple of categories for Real IT Guys:
* T-shirt, pony tail and sandals: Tinkers with Linux, Microsoft hater, gadget lover, coffee swilling, odd hours working, Red-Bull-drinking loner with no life outside, who would never install or support a Microsoft OS and would spend many days convincing his boss that freeware is where it’s at, who doesn’t like to be out of his “lair” and cannot speak to end users without a translator.
* Button-down, goatee and shoes: Works with Microsoft, doesn’t understand why an OS with commands such as grep and case-sensitive switches is any use (other than to the nerds above), but will get it installed and hire one of the above if it makes business sense, drinks coffee (but not as an aid to staying awake after being up all night tinkering), has responsibilities, has a life outside of work that is more important than the latest iPod (although he sure has one), speaks clearly and confidently to users and business colleagues alike.
Which one will be CIO? Which one hires female IT professionals? Well, of course, it’s Mr. Button-down.
Kean Millward
Naperville, Ill.
Mark Gibbs’ column, “Real IT Guys” is a perfect stereotypical example of what’s wrong with IT today. For example, I have a company-standard PC sitting on my desktop. Although it might have extra RAM to accommodate a programming environment, it is the same model my users work with. Why? Because I want to convey subconsciously that IT is no different than my customers on the business side — we “eat our own dog food.”
Secondly, although we do not allow administrator access, we often install software for end users. Moreover, we might occasionally allow software that has little business value if it presents little risk to the organization. We have both Linux and Microsoft applications that run side by side without attacking one another.
I fail to see how IT will ever overcome the stereotypes that exist in the business world if we cannot vanquish them from our own community first.
Thomas Staight
Information systems administrator
Nemcomed
Hicksville, Ohio
Here are a few more Real IT Guy no-no statements:
* I bought this PC because it matches the décor of my living room.
* Let’s call tech support (the equivalent of a guy asking for directions).
* DOS is absolutely useless.
* I bought this PC at WalMart. (Sam’s Club is all right, though.)
* Really, who needs high-speed Internet access?
Daniel Schoedel
Corporate systems analyst
Fundamental Healthcare
Sparks, Md.
One phrase I have never heard from a Real IT Guy: “Hang on, I just need to check the documentation before I start.”
Peter Shires
Melbourne, Australia
Maybe it’s a difference of definition of a Real IT Guy that causes me to disagree with a couple of Mark Gibbs’ statements. He writes, “Ask [Real IT Guys] how to configure Linux or what exactly is the spanning tree algorithm and if you don’t have serious operating system experience or have no clue about protocols, forget it.”
I say a Real IT Guy will explain it to you until you either understand, pretend to understand, or invent an excuse to get out of there, including gnawing off your own arm. Explanations could be anything from drawing on a whiteboard (because a Real IT Guy is never more than 4 inches away from a whiteboard at any time), to re-enactment with whatever objects are close by.
I’m also not so sure about Gibbs “latest and greatest” point. I consider myself pretty “Real” — when my calculator was running short on memory I didn’t buy the next model, I cracked that puppy open and added more flash. My AMD 800s (one workstation and one mail/web/file/database/firewall server) are tuned perfectly. You know you’re looking at a Real IT Guy’s computer because it’s got the cover cut to accommodate his homebrew RAID array, not because you hear the sizzle of his gigahertz CPUs.
Around here we talk about “the bit” — the thing in someone’s head that either makes them care about getting things right or not because it’s a matter of personal pride. It’s the bit that makes you eat the questionable pizza and ignore personal hygiene. The Real IT Guy has that bit. The Real IT Guy never says, “But I’m not a network/server/database guy”; if he’s the only guy there, he figures it out. I’ve seen a serious decline in people with the bit, and therefore, Real IT Guys.
Sean Walberg
Winnipeg, Canada
More on UTM
“All-in-one security devices face challenges”, on the topic of multi-function or Unified Threat Management (UTM) security devices, raises important issues, such as how to implement multiple security applications in a single device without compromising performance. While this is a legitimate concern, it does not always have to be the case. More importantly, the discussion to date has treated UTM as an undifferentiated offering that is the same for small businesses or enterprise customers. In fact, there are two distinct architectural approaches to UTM that make all the difference to performance and scalability concerns:
* SMB-class UTM: These UTM offerings, described in the aforementioned article, are devices that offer some combination of proprietary VPN and firewall capabilities, and perhaps content/URL filtering, etc., to provide a basic low-end UTM box. These UTM boxes are usually deployed at the perimeter and are suitable for certain small and midsized enterprises. At WAN speeds of 1.5-10Mbps, most UTM devices will be able to keep up even with multiple functions turned on.
However, the game changes radically at the enterprise level and requires a different architecture altogether in order to meet the stringent requirements of core network or high-speed data center ingress/egress. Without the right UTM equipment, turning on new security functions can absolutely bring a network to its knees.
* Enterprise-class/service-provider class UTM: This is about providing best-of-breed applications on a multi-function device that delivers high performance, high availability and intelligent provisioning of security. UTM at this level is a security services layer within the greater network architecture. It is not embedded in the transport equipment and is not based on closed, proprietary systems. Instead, it is a highly consolidated, flexible service layer that includes both the edge and the network core, and allows service providers and enterprises to deploy the most appropriate security measures precisely where they are needed most. This UTM is not tied to any one vendor’s view of the universe. Rather, it gives enterprises the choice of best-of-breed security applications based on their needs, rather than what the vendor determines.
UTM is an incredibly powerful concept. It represents the ability of a security architecture to continually adapt to the dynamic threat landscape facing organizations of all sizes. With enterprise and service provider-class UTM, the full power of this flexibility is realized in such a way that new security challenges, whether SOA, VoIP or others, are easily met. Further discussions of UTM need to take this vital segmentation into account.
Throop Wilder
Co-founder
Crossbeam Systems
Boxborough, Mass.
Doom prophecy
In “What’s to become of the Internet?”, Scott Bradner reports that Dave Clark’s proposal for a new Internet includes a “basic security architecture that includes authentication of Internet users.” To this I say doom, doom, doom. Any authentication requirement eventually will be abused by either government or big business — and, by the way, won’t actually work because the spammers and criminals will work their way around it.
Robert Jones
Fremont, Calif.
