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How to get a job in manufacturing IT

To excel in manufacturing, tech workers need to be one part tinkerer and one part visionary, with a bit of analytical acumen thrown in as well.

Secure browsers offer alternatives to Chrome, IE and Firefox

The Web browser has been a major infection vector for years, allowing malware to be transported to millions of computers through phishing, man-in-the-middle, SQL injection and countless other attacks. But what if there were a way to stop this...

Collaboration 2.0: Old meets new

Today's tools are a lot like yesterday's in some respects, except they add features for cloud, social, Web and mobile. They're also a whole lot easier to use.

7 reasons to deploy Wi-Fi security in Enterprise mode

Although it's tempting to use the Personal mode of Wi-Fi security, which is easy to setup and use, businesses and organizations really need to use the Enterprise mode of WPA2—also known as 802.11i. Although it requires a RADIUS server to do the...

Top perks that IT professionals should ask for

You've been slaving away at your job since the economic downturn, taking on more work with no raise in pay and believing a light would one day appear at the end of the tunnel. According to both DICE and Robert Half Technology, that day is here.

Resume Makeover: How to Highlight Your Personal Brand

Career consultant Donald Burns takes an IT auditor's resume from bland to brand in this month's IT resume makeover.

CIOs Predict IT Spending to Increase

Mobile apps and tablets are the areas identified most frequently for investment, according to CIO Research's poll of IT executives. However, analytics, cloud and enterprise security spending aren't far behind.

The Grill: Rep. William Keating wants cross-sector data sharing

Rep. William Keating (D-Mass.), who sits on the House Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies Subcommittee, is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to be more involved in tackling the cybersecurity problem....

Encrypting sensitive data is a must; new key management tools make it easy

Encryption is one of the best ways to prevent the type of terrible headaches that many high-profile companies have experienced with stolen data. Even if experienced hackers are able to penetrate a system, having the data encrypted can mean that...

Integrated Sales and CRM System Lets DirecTV Captures More Couch Potatoes

DirecTV's new enterprise system offers sales agents a whole view of the customer -- and real-time guidance to close deals.

Survey: State of the enterprise 2014

Cloud, mobile and other tech investments are expected to yield benefits to both the top and bottom lines. But communication, integration and shadow IT challenges lurk.

Consumerization of IT in the Enterprise Starting to Pay Off

Businesses are beginning to reap ROI and productivity benefits from consumer technologies such as smartphones and tablets, according to a survey of 1,155 IT decision-makers conducted by IDG Enterprise.

Quitting time: How to make a graceful exit

One in four U.S. tech workers is in job-hunting mode, according to IT employment research.

Review: Riverbed brings branch office storage back to the data center

Riverbed Granite 2.5 eliminates remote office server administration and backup pains by delivering iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage over the WAN

How to Bridge the Gap Between HR and IT

A poor IT-HR relationship can lead to bad IT hires. IT managers need to provide HR with sharp questions about applicants' technical skills. And HR pros need to do their homework about IT.

IT raises an eyebrow as pundits push 'digital transformation'

The major consulting firms are all advising IT pros to remake their businesses into fully digital organizations. But as IT has known for years, transformation -- especially digital transformation -- is hard.

Red Hat CEO: PaaS is the new application server

In an interview with InfoWorld, CEO Jim Whitehurst discusses Red Hat's ambitions with the cloud and OpenShift

Top 5 skills needed for a SOC analyst

Building a Security Operations Center (SOC) from scratch or revamping an underperforming one is a daunting leadership challenge. Of all the tasks you have to think about, finding and hiring a set of SOC analysts with the right skill set has to be a...

Virtual machine (VM) security still a work in progress

Trying to protect your expanding virtual machine (VM) empire will require a security product that can enforce policies, prevent VMs from being terminated or infected, and deliver the virtual equivalents of firewalls, IPS and anti-virus solutions.

IPv6 could open networks up to zero-day attacks

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) warns that moving from IPv4 to IPv6 is a process fraught with peril, which may explain why government agencies are so far behind their own deadlines for implementation.

Why you need to segment your network for security

Pen tester Mark Wolfgang argues segmenting for security is a key piece of an overall defense-in-depth strategy. Here he explains why and how to accomplish it in your organization (registration required)

At DirecTV, the CEO and CIO Are on the Same Wavelength

Michael White, CEO of DirecTV, describes the company's innovation culture and what he expects from his CIOa(c).

Is Your IT Shop a Scrambler or a Leader?

An IT veteran describes the four stages of the technology organization -- and what it takes to move up a notch

Windows 8: Learn to love it

If you're having a rough time with your Windows 8 computer, several options are available to smooth out the bumps

10 cities that provide 1-Gig internet services

Municipal broadband is becoming a contentious issue in the race to establish ubiquitous high-speed Internet throughout the United States.

How CIOs Unravel IT Systems After a Business Divestiture

With divestitures on the rise, CIOs at Hess, DuPont and other companies that are selling off pieces of the business must rip apart deeply integrated systems.

IT Resume Makeover: How to Write to Your Audience

Even professional writers can have problems with their resume. In this month's Resume Makeover, we help a senior technical writer hone his message and appeal to the right audience.

Storage on a budget: GlusterFS shines in open source storage test

One alternative to buying expensive storage-area networks or other hardware-based dedicated storage is to deploy open source storage software on existing server hardware. For this test, we evaluated three such open source storage products, GlusterFS...

Review: PathSolutions solves the network monitoring maze

PathSolutions' TotalView provides a path-oriented view into network problems and acts as a superb companion to your traditional network monitoring system

How to rethink security for the new world of IT

Not all the proven practices of the past work in today's interconnected, heterogeneous world. Here's what you need to do differently

How to get a job in energy IT

The energy industry is complex and growing, but also needs to be more modern and efficient. From analytics to networking to mobility, the IT opportunities abound.

Quick guide: Which freaking database should I use?

The big data era calls for NoSQL databases. Explore the new alternatives to old RDBMS and find out which one is best for you

Ransomware like Cryptolocker uses Bitcoin, other virtual currencies for payment

Attackers use malware to hold personal data hostage until victims shell out money to get it back. Here's how to prevent it from happening to you

Gigabit Wi-Fi Case Study: Erickson Living upgrades to 802.11ac

Erickson Living, a company that manages 16 Continuing Care Retirement Communities in nine states, faces a unique challenge when it comes to installing a wireless network – each retirement community has common areas where residents share available...

5 biggest mistakes of IT hiring managers

As IT hiring ramps up in 2014, many job market experts are predicting a tech talent shortage. And certainly among the hot skill sets – security, Big Data, .NET and Java developers, project managers, business analysts and anyone with cloud or mobile...

How today's enterprises use Big Data

Big data tactics and budgets vary, but IT pros agree data analytics will play an increasingly vital role in business operations.

Westmont College jumps to Gigabit Wi-Fi for three reasons: "Speed, speed and speed"

Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., was the first school in the country to deploy an all-802.11n network when, four years ago, it rolled out 290 Meraki access points to bring nearly complete coverage to dorms, classrooms and campus buildings.

Top tools for solving app performance woes

When users complain that an application is slow or when customers abandon online sessions without buying anything, the cause of the problem is often elusive and mysterious. You know that the network connections are tight and the servers are humming,...

Case Study: Santa Clara U. graduates to Gigabit Wi-Fi

In 2006, Santa Clara University began rolling out a Wi-Fi network as a way to supplement the school's existing production network. The initial deployment consisted of about 800 Cisco Aironet 1131 a/b/g/ access points and Cisco WiSM controllers. As...

IT Resume Makeover: How to Clear Out the Career Clutter

In CIO.com's latest resume makeover, our expert and career coach transforms a CIO's resume from one that was cluttered and text-heavy to one that's clear and concise -- and highlights her accomplishments.

Big Data Helps Walgreens Treat Walk-in Patients

Cloud-based electronic medical records and analytics systems give Walgreens health data to diagnose and treat patients at in-store clinics.

Special report: The triumph of JavaScript

JavaScript is the reigning programming language across platforms and devices. Harness that power with the right frameworks and tools

The processes and tools behind a true APT campaign: Command & Control

In part four of a series on understanding the processes and tools behind an APT-based incident, CSO examines the Command & Control phase, often referred to as C2. During this phase, the attacker(s) are on the network, and depending on their...

10 big myths about Big Data

Big Data has dominated tech news of late. It has been touted as a possible solution for everything from intrusion detection to fraud prevention to curing cancer and setting optimal product prices.

Macbook Pro delivers blazing speed in Gigabit Wi-Fi test

Gigabit Wi-Fi is starting to appear in mobile devices, so we got our hands on three smartphones and two laptops running the 802.11ac standard and put them to the test. Though you won't see anywhere near Gigabit speeds in real-world environments, our...

Customer Experience Means Never Having to Repeat Yourself

Bank of America experiments with real-time video and chat in online, in-person and mobile channels to improve customer service

Salt keeps server automation simple

Salt brings simplicity, flexibility, and high scalability to Linux and Unix server infrastructure management -- it does Windows too

How to securely get started using SDN

Though some might argue that it's inherently insecure, SDN has changed for the better in recent years, allowing it to be implemented securely

How to keep your Millennials happy

The much-anticipated wave of Millennials is upon us, with their addiction to social media, their attachment to consumer devices and their merging of work and personal lives.

7 Reasons IT Organizations Should Adopt Six Sigma

Deploying a process-improvement strategy can help your IT department be more productive and reduce errors. We talked to Six Sigma (and other) experts about why the move makes good business sense.

Ansible orchestration is a veteran Unix admin's dream

Ansible and AnsibleWorks AWX bring simplicity and power to Linux and Unix server automation

How to safely mingle personal and business data in a Windows world

Work Folders, new to Windows Server 2012 R2, helps administrators manage user-created data in a BYOD environment.

CIOs and CMOs: Power couple or strange bedfellows?

Marketing departments are shifting significant amounts of their own budgets toward IT-related products and services, independent of what the IT department spends, to the extent that Gartner predicts that by 2017 chief marketing officers (CMO) will...

Android invades the enterprise

How three companies are coping -- even thriving -- amid the Android explosion. Insider (registration required)

IT pro's revitalization guide 2014

Take a moment to retool your personal and professional priorities with some of our most insightful tech management and careers articles. Insider (registration required)

Mobile management: InfoWorld's expert guide

iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys, Androids -- learn how to secure whatever smartphones and tablets your employees have

How to Keep Cloud-Based Data Safe

A real-estate brokerage opts to back up critical documents stored in Google Drive.

CIOs Should Learn the Two Metrics That Matter

CIOs need to be prepared to explain how their expensive IT project will improve the numbers every CEO cares most about.

Why 'Innovation Management' Isn't an Oxymoron

To foster innovation, IT leaders must balance blue-sky thinking and practical goals. However, balancing structure and creativity, often means designing new processes.

The help desk is hot again

If you thought the traditional help desk would be outsourced, automated or altogether shut down, think again. Hiring for the help desk is hot. Insider (registration required)

First Look: Gigabit Wi-Fi adapters

At some point, desktops and laptops will come with the new Gigabit Wi-Fi standard 802.11ac built in. But if you can't wait and want to speed up the wireless links on your existing devices, you can buy an 802.11ac adapter today.

Manage app logons and authorizations via the cloud

Single sign-on for all apps -- both cloud and on-premises -- is a big reason to go this route. But cost and customization, especially for very large organizations, can be sticking points.

Review: Best tools for mobile device management

Mobile device management tools make sense when you are trying to control who can access your enterprise network and applications from particular phones and tablets. But to effectively evaluate these products, you should first identify what you're...

GE Healthcare CTO Says IT Needs to Embrace Mobile, Cloud to Remain Relevant

GE Healthcare CTO Nevin Zimmermann talks with IDG Enterprise Chief Content Officer John Gallant about mobile, cloud, big data and more. Zimmermann also discusses how his team is evolving and why CIOs must embrace technology changes.

How to stay one step ahead of phishing attacks

Protecting yourself against phishing attacks used to be relatively easy. Don't download unexpected attachments. Visit banking websites directly instead of clicking on links in an email. And look for bad grammar.

iOS 7 for developers: The InfoWorld special report

Apple's mobile OS offers all kinds of bells and whistles -- here's how to take advantage of them, courtesy of InfoWorld's experts

How Lenovo Plans to Crack the Server Market

Known for its ThinkPad laptops, Lenovo is trying to find its way into the data center, despite the dominance of the Big 3: IBM, HP and Dell

Integrating CRM and Analytics Key to Next-Gen Customer Loyalty Programs

Rather than giving away free stuff, The North Face and Red Robin create customized "experience" rewards for faithful customers

Review: Software-based NAS offers free/low-cost storage

Earlier this year we tested Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances. Now we're reviewing software-based NAS that you can load onto your own equipment — whether it's a PC, server, virtual machine, or in the cloud.

Is open source encryption the answer to NSA snooping?

When Unisys CISO John Frymier came in to work on Friday, Sept. 6, the phones were ringing, and continued to ring all day. Customers were panicking over the news headlines of the day before.

CIOs Must Learn the Politics of No

CIOs may have good reason to reject a proposal or nix a technology request, but an inept or frequent 'no' will get you sidelined.

How to get a job in financial IT

IT pros may have shied away from financial services during the industry's recent upheavals, but it now represents a vibrant employment segment for those who understand its adherence to security, compliance and reliability. Insider (registration...

Resume Makeover: How to Keep it Short, Sweet and to the Point

After 12 years in IT, this month's Resume Makeover candidate has accumulated a wealth of experience, but his highlights and successes were hidden in a dense six-page resume. But our resume writer and career consultant cleared a new path to...

Big data's biggest challenges

IT pros from social media, healthcare and insurance industries share their big-data success stories and lessons learned.

How IT found savings by tackling (instead of cringing at) photocopiers

Say the word 'photocopier,' and most IT leaders have visions of skilled workers wasting time undoing paper jams. But for Karl Collins, vice president of technical services and infrastructure at SavaSeniorCare, IT's newfound ownership of...

Dell PowerEdge VRTX hits the high notes

Dell's four-blade, 32-drive, 'cluster in a box' packs high performance, high availability, and high-end management in a tidy package

Which C-Level Executive Will Be the Big Data Champion?

So far, it isn't clear which C-level exec will lead the big-data charge. CIOs, if they want a shot at this job, will need to focus on business innovation, not technology.

The best data security offense is a good defense

After several missed security audits, the IT team at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare jumped into action, building an ambitious security risk framework so audit reports could be prepared in a timely fashion.

Strategic guide to backup and recovery

Your company is increasingly reliant on IT to drive business, so the need for a sound backup and disaster recovery plan has taken on increased significance. At the same time, technologies such as the cloud are giving IT new options for how to deal...

IT experience leads to entrepreneurship for Aussie duo

The startup culture largely rejects the traditional career path, particularly in the tech world. Many entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley launched their startups while still in college, or worked for a startup immediately after college, adopting an...

Customer-facing kiosks: Successes and pitfalls

Though not every experiment has yielded pay dirt, many organizations giving kiosks a go report minimal IT investment and improvement in customer satisfaction or employee self-service.

Review: Chef cooks up configuration management

Opscode's Chef packs the power of Ruby and plentiful Cookbooks, but lacks features and polish found in other solutions

5 ways that BYOD is shaking up tech support

Amid the clamor of "bring your own device" (BYOD), a question lurks in the background: "What happens to technical service and support?" Concerns for the tech support function encompass the extremes, from agents being overwhelmed with calls, to their...

Five ways IT can prepare for wearable devices at work

Just when IT execs are getting a handle on how to accommodate employees' personal smartphones and tablets in the workplace, the technology industry has thrown up a new challenge -- wearable computers.

How to roll your own VPN

With free open source OpenVPN and a low-cost VPS, you can have a secure connection from any location

CIO at Waste Management Wears Many Hats

Puneet Bhasin is CIO and senior vice president of technology, logistics, customer service and strategic accounts -- a portfolio that keeps him focused on business matters.

How the C-Suite Can Close the Gender Gap

CIOs and other top execs should identify women for the executive talent pipeline, then provide coaching and workplace flexibility, says Elaine Miller, a managing director with PricewaterhouseCoopers

How to Find IT Talent Capable of Being Customer-Focused

CIOs need to find the IT workers who are comfortable focusing on customers, market forces and revenue.

Tablet App Lets Subway Find the Best Sandwich Artists

Subway's tablet apps attract more job candidates and help franchisees streamline the hiring process.

Masters of disasters: IT survivors of Katrina, Sandy and other natural disasters share their DR tips and tricks

Natural and manmade disasters are facts of life. Smart IT managers prepare for the worst before trouble hits, so that the businesses and government institutions that rely on IT can resume normal operations as soon as possible.

Computer Criminals Continue to Vex IT Groups

As security breaches rise, CIOs and CISOs aren't as good as they think they are at protecting corporate assets.

Do's and don'ts for tech startups

Last week, DEMO Fall 2013 provided more than 40 startups the opportunity to launch. For some, it may have been the first step toward massive success. Some major names in the tech industry, such as VMware, E-Trade, and Salesforce.com, began their...

Collisions likely over PCI 3.0

New standards are meant to 'help' merchants, but experts say they are more about protecting credit card companies

10 reasons to take a Chromebook on the road

If you're trying to decide which device to buy for your next trip because your current laptop is too old, too slow, too heavy and just plain too embarrassing; or, conversely, too new and too expensive to risk a mishap on the road, consider a...

Salt keeps server automation simple

Salt brings simplicity, flexibility, and high scalability to Linux and Unix server infrastructure management -- it does Windows too

The tricky balancing act of mobile security

First came desktop security, then laptop security. But the next wave -- mobile -- throws new wrenches into the works, as IT is now supporting multiple types of devices and warding off sophisticated threats. Here's how IT leaders are coping.

Review: Puppet 3.0 pulls more strings

Version 3.0 of Puppet Labs' configuration automation tool shines with speed boosts, orchestration improvements, and deeper support for Windows servers

6 ways social media can boost your business

If your company isn't fully taking advantage of social media, it might be missing out on opportunities to connect with customers, gain market share and bring needed talent into the organization.

How to get a job in healthcare IT

With demand increasing for IT practitioners in healthcare, can tech pros in other industries switch niches? Healthcare IT practitioners offer advice on what you need to make a move. (Registration required.)

Review: Ansible orchestration is a veteran Unix admin's dream

Ansible and AnsibleWorks AWX bring simplicity and power to Linux and Unix server automation

SDN: The security pros and cons of using it in your organization

SDN benefits include automating and easing network administration duties and improving application performance. But it also introduces a number of potential threat vectors into your environment. What should you know before you invest in SDN?

IT grapples with personal cloud storage use

The BYOD trend is driving increased use of personal cloud-based storage services such as Box, Copy, Dropbox, Evernote, Mozy and SugarSync. But are enterprises ready for the results? Insider (registration required)

Northeast Utilities confirms IT outsourcing plan

After keeping its IT employees in the dark for weeks, Northeast Utilities last week confirmed that it plans to cut half of its tech jobs and turn over some IT operations to a pair of India-based IT service providers. Insider (registration required)

SDN pioneers share their secrets

With the ability to create virtual networks quickly and efficiently – rather than programming network-connected hardware on an individual basis – software defined networks (SDN) appear to be the time-and-resource saving solution that overwhelmed IT...

IT Resume Makeover: Corporate IT to IT Consulting and Back

In our ongoing series, career coach and strategist Donald Burns shows technology executives how to better transition from IT consulting back to corporate IT as he works with a client who's feet are planted firmly in both worlds.

10 encryption tips for the enterprise

Whether you're protecting corporate data from internal leakers, hackers looking to steal money from you and your customers, foreign spies, your own government, or employees accidentally leaving their laptops in a taxi, encryption is today's hot...

How to Overcome Resistance to Global IT Standardization

There's inevitable tension between enforcing global IT standardization and allowing flexibility at the local level. Here's how to find the right balance.

The New Role for IT: Generator of Innovative Ideas

At Yum Restaurants International, the value of IT is business innovation.

How CIOs can catch the board's ear

Telling IT's story to the board of directors requires a business focus, a strong narrative and even a little humor.

Measuring Social Media ROI Takes Off for Virgin America

The airline, using Sprinklr and other tools, is seeking hard-dollar returns from conversations on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, among other social networks.

Is mobile anti-virus even necessary?

Experts disagree over whether or not there are any immediate threats to mobile devices that can be addressed with anti-virus software. Should you invest in AV for your smartphone or tablet?

Forecast 2014: How to master disruptive technologies

These three organizations are taking steps into the unknown, changing business processes, even strategies, with social networking, cloud and more. Insider (registration required)

How to protect corporate data from angry ex-employees

The vast majority of employees who leave a company are honest, upstanding corporate citizens. But you never know when someone might leave on bad terms and then attempt to hack back into your corporate systems.

9 free personal clouds offer something for everyone  

A personal cloud service lets you share photos, music and documents among all your devices easily and quickly, but the way that sharing happens depends on which cloud service you choose.

5 ways devops can benefit IT

Devops is about getting the people responsible for creating applications to work more closely with the people who maintain apps in production. The goal? Faster delivery, better quality apps.

The best laptops, convertibles, and Ultrabooks for Windows 8

From classic clamshell notebooks to next-gen touch hybrids, see how HP, Dell, Samsung, Lenovo, and Acer stack up in InfoWorld's reviews

Image is everything: A buyer's guide to business projectors

It's crucial to get the right projector for your company's sales presentations, training sessions and more. We help you sort through the bewildering array of projector styles and provide tips on what to look for.

5 bad signs for Apple's iPhone 5s fingerprint scanner

When Apple announced its new iPhone 5s last week, the fingerprint scanning technology, called Touch ID, stood out as one of the most notable additions. The benefits are easy enough to identify – iPhone users will no longer need to repeatedly type in...

Mobility in the enterprise: Who should hold the hot potato?

Bringing mobility to the enterprise is like wrestling with an octopus. Here's how Electronic Arts, Case Western University and Needham Bank are taming the beast.

IT Resume Makeover: How to Showcase Your Strengths

Your resume needs to be more than a description of the roles you previously held. It needs to tell the story of you. Learn what it takes to showcase the skills that will get you hired.

Ubuntu impresses in Linux enterprise server test

Introduced in 1991, Linux boasts an estimated 67 million users worldwide according to linuxcounter.net. Free versions abound, but companies adopting Linux as part of critical infrastructure typically require more support than a community of unpaid,...

Using private clouds for all the right reasons

Here's why some customers are adopting the technology and which vendors they turned to for help.

6 tips for finding mobile app talent

To understand what’s hot in the IT job market today, just ask yourself a simple question: When is the last time you checked your mobile device or used the mobile Web?

Cloud Helps Financial Company Spin Up a New IT Operation

Another company acquired about 75 percent of Lincoln Trust, along with its technology, which left the CTO with a pressing need for a new technology platforma(c).

Unisys going on offense in server and security markets

CEO Ed Coleman says a new software-focused data center strategy and powerful new security technology will enable Unisys to take up the attack in vital market segments and shake up customer views about the usually quiet company.

How Analytics Tools Measure a Corporate Turnaround

SAP's HANA database and other tools power an executive dashboard at struggling medical device maker Boston Scientific

4G: The new enterprise network

Adding 4G infrastructure has its own pain points, including getting coverage everywhere you need it. Three early adopters share their experiences and lessons learned.

Speech recognition: Gimmick or good enough?

When Motorola released its Moto X smartphone earlier this month, the voice recognition feature was considered one of the most noteworthy. The first device Motorola conceived and built since Google acquired the company, the Moto X used...

VMware CEO talks software-defined data centers, OpenStack and dueling Amazon

As a top executive at Intel and EMC, Pat Gelsinger helped build the data centers of today. Now, as CEO of VMware, he’s promising to deliver the data centers of tomorrow. In this installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, Gelsinger spoke...

Working vacations are an IT mainstay

That IT professionals work on vacation is as obvious as sand on the beach. Some see that as an inescapable aspect of their chosen careers, and they just might relish the idea of being indispensable. Insider (registration required)

Inside the Greek yogurt wars: Dannon taps predictive analytics

To forecast sales and manage inventory of its yogurt products, Dannon switched from a manual, spreadsheet-driven process to a more scientific, computer-based approach using a suite of predictive analytics tools. Among other things, the new systems...

Zero-day attacks: How to fight back

With cybercrime hitting more than 500 million victims globally and costing $100 billion annually, it’s clear that security breaches are a problem very far from being solved. One particularly dangerous threat that doesn’t seem to be getting its fair...

How Delphi's CIO Drives Innovation, Change and Revenue With IT

Delphi CIO Tim McCabe discusses how he navigated the auto-parts maker through times of major financial struggle and how, as a result, IT has become a driver of revenue. McCabe also explores why CIOs and IT leaders need to be more knowledgeable about...

Chef cooks up configuration management

Opscode's Chef packs the power of Ruby and plentiful Cookbooks, but lacks features and polish found in other solutions

Meet Windows Server's BYOD features

Workplace join, work folders and other new Windows Server 2012 R2 features help beleaguered IT staffers manage the jungle of end user devices.

How to roll your own VPN

With free open source OpenVPN and a low-cost VPS, you can have a secure connection from any location

IT Resume Makeover: How to Tell Your Career Story

Not getting the responses you expected from your online resume? Learn what common pitfalls IT pros experience in their journey to find a better job.

5 free Linux text editors for programming and word processing

When you're a programmer who also needs word processing abilities, nothing beats a solid text editor. We look at the current versions of five of the best known. Insider (registration required)

How Progressive Uses Telematics and Analytics to Price Car Insurance

Progressive's Snapshot device monitors customer driving habits, lets insurer fine-tune policy pricing.

Enterprise Social Network Moves Ad Agency Into the Future

Olgivy and Mather builds its own social collaboration system with open-source tools and many, many user interviews.

Chambers: Cisco will become the number 1 IT company

Think software-defined networking will change the industry? You're thinking way too small, according to Cisco CEO John Chambers. In Cisco's strategy, SDN is just a single element in a holistic architecture that brings intelligence,...

Chambers: Cisco will become the number 1 IT company

Think software-defined networking will change the industry? You’re thinking way too small, according to Cisco CEO John Chambers. In Cisco’s strategy, SDN is just a single element in a holistic architecture that brings intelligence, programmability...

Seven things you need to know about hardware disposal

From the first day that you plug in a new piece of IT hardware, the clock starts ticking toward the day when it will be pulled out of service.

Do’s and don’ts of summer resume writing

The summer months can take on different meanings for job seekers. Some people may put their career aspirations on hold as they try to enjoy the longer daylight hours and (hopefully) vacation time. Others might take advantage of the emptier offices...

IT Resume Makeover: Making the Military-to-Civilian Transition

Making the move from the military to a corporate IT leadership role can be difficult. Don't make it harder on yourself by showcasing the wrong skills.

5 security best practices for SMBs

If your small-to-midsized business is like most, you're playing a game of chicken with cyber-criminals. You probably know that your defenses probably aren’t able to repel today's sophisticated, persistent attacks, yet you hope that you'll be...

An IT bucket brigade relives Hurricane Sandy

The improbable tale of a diesel-fuel bucket brigade that kept a flooded Manhattan data center running in the wake of Hurricane Sandy is not retold with fondness by those who were involved, even if they do share a sense of pride in their...

Bit9 CEO: Trust-based model the new weapon in war against malware

Bit9 chief executive Patrick Morley talks mobile security, company partnerships with FireEye and Palo Alto Networks, and the evolving role of today's CISO

Platform as a service heats up

The platform-as-a-service market is still tiny, but it's growing as vendors consolidate and more users decide give PaaS a try. Insider (registration required)

Big changes in store for the PaaS market

The platform-as-a-service market is likely to undergo a period of consolidation and change as big enterprise IT vendors and infrastructure-as-a-service vendors vie for a piece of the action. Insider (registration required)

Top open source network management tools

As networking continues to expand and diversify, encompassing a growing number of wired and wireless devices, the demand for network monitoring tools remains high. While feature-packed commercial products abound, the growing market for monitoring...

Six things you need to know about WebRTC

WebRTC (Real-Time Communication) a series of designs and guidelines promoted by Google and others through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and MPEG groups to provide a common stack for audio and video communications directly between two browsers....

Walgreens Opens Up to External Mobile Apps

The drugstore chain builds an open API layer that lets mobile app developers connect to its corporate systems.

How to use Azure's new connectivity features

Here's what you need to know about the recent point-to-site and site-to-site VPN upgrades to Windows Azure.

Ultimate guide to Windows 8 ultrabooks

While finding a touchscreen for a desktop computer is nearly impossible, and finding a touchscreen notebook computer takes some searching, touchscreen ultrabooks are readily available. These thin, light and relatively compact computers are intended...

How to keep your new IT hires from jumping ship

With IT talent hard to find and expensive to replace, savvy companies use tech-specific onboarding programs to win the hearts and minds of IT employees. Insider (registration required)

AirWatch CEO: We'll be the "breakout market leader" in mobile management

AirWatch has emerged as one of the clear leaders in mobile device management (MDM), but the company faces numerous challenges, including a rapidly evolving market that's moving away from simply managing devices and toward more complicated control of...

How to become an IT Innovator

Innovation has become a top concern for companies seeking a competitive edge in today's business world, especially as more organizations face new competitors that are using technology as a business disruptor.

Shootout results: Best security tools for small business

If you run a small business, you have a lot of choices to protect your network. You can buy a consumer-grade router for less than $50, you can spend more than $4,000 for an enterprise firewall, or you can select something in between.

BYOD decision points: Who pays?

As enterprises implement BYOD initiatives, IT managers have some key decisions to make: who purchases the devices, who pays for data plans and carrier contracts, and how does the company manage a mix of corporate and personal access to data on the...

Ten best practices for the cloud

According to the IT industry trade association CompTIA, "over 80% of companies now claim to use some form of cloud solution, whether that be virtual machines that can be spun up on demand or applications that can be easily procured and put into...

IT on the edge: CIOs who (literally) keep the lights on

CIOs in emerging economies have to be creative to keep IT up and running -- addressing redundancy, navigating a thicket of sometimes onerous regulations, and in general doing more with less. Insider (registration required)

Why password-only authentication is passe

The rapid growth of mobile devices that can access corporate networks and data, the expanding use of cloud-based IT services, and the increasing popularity of apps such as online banking mean that IT needs to pay closer attention to authentication.

Hot cloud products IT pros swear by

Spending on cloud services is so far just a fraction of total IT spending -- roughly 3% -- but the market is growing. IT pros explain what they like about their favorite cloud-based security, storage and management services.

$99 Android PC maker hopes to set off industry change

At US$99, the mini PC developed by thin-client expert Young Song is meant to be affordable. In fact, the price is so low, most consumers won't hesitate to buy one, he said Wednesday.

IT Resume Makeover: Make Your Messaging Clear

Whether you work in IT or any competitive field, a resume that doesn't quickly illustrate who you are, what you do and why an employer needs you will be summarily dismissed.

How Fortune 500 companies are managing BYOD

Like it or not, IT departments are accepting the fact that employees are bringing smartphones, tablets, and personal laptops to work – and that they will use these devices while on the job.

What Do CMOs and CIOs Really Think of Each Other?

It's widely predicted that more technology-related budget will move to the marketing department, which leads to a natural question: Will CMOs and CIOs become business partners or merely grit their teeth and co-exist?

Test of NAS boxes shows ioSafe as disaster proof

We tested five Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances, ranging from 4T to 18TB in capacity and targeted for small offices and businesses with up to 20 to 25 users. All are more-or-less in the same price range: about $700 to $2,000 with drives.

IT on the fly: The art of quickly building, then dismantling

The CIOs for the London Olympics, President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and other short-lived but intense operations know how to run successful IT shops in extraordinary situations -- and their insights can be applied in even the most...

Smartphones take center stage in two-factor authentication schemes

We all know that relying on a simple user ID and password combination is fraught with peril. One alternative is to use one of the single sign-on solutions we reviewed last year, but there are less expensive options that could also be easier to...

eBay's CIO Succeeds by Innovating and 'Connecting the Dots'

eBay CIO Scott Seese says he and his team are using technology and innovation to drive the company's mission of connected commerce. He explains how the e-commerce giant taps into the power of social and mobile to help customers find and purchase...

7 steps to securing Java

Java, the popular OS-independent platform and programming language, runs on just about every kind of electronic device imaginable, including computers, cell phones, printers, TVs, DVDs, home security systems, automated teller machines, navigation...

Block rogue apps with Windows Server -- for free

It is a lot of work to set up policies; it takes trial and some error, too. But the payoffs are huge.

Security tools can't keep hackers at bay

Credit card data of customers of Schnucks supermarkets was exposed for months in a breach that was not closed until weeks after a card processing company issued an alert about fraudulent activity. Insider (registration required)

How to keep your network in tip-top health

If your network has between 1,000 and10,000 devices and computers, you have a midsized network. Your servers, connections and other resources suffer the same problems as larger networks, but your budget for keeping the network healthy is less than...

Mobile devices: Too much of a good thing?

Most of us have apparently decided we can't live without our favorite mobile device. Whether on public transportation, shopping or just walking down the street, you're more likely than not to be surrounded by people swiping screens, adjusting their...

IT Resume Makeover: No Time for Complacency

Just because you're not actively looking for a job is no reason to neglect your resume. In a fluctuating market the rug can be pulled out from under even the most skilled IT pros, so it's always good to be prepared.

How IT Innovation Helps International Speedway Engage Racing Fans

The chief marketing officer at International Speedway offers insights into how innovative technology can improve the guest experience.

Microsoft faces a loss of relevance

Microsoft took another hard knock this month when top tech researchers laid much of the blame for dwindling first-quarter PC sales at the feet of the beleaguered Windows 8 operating system. Insider (registration required)

Cisco edges F5 in VPN shootout

Connecting remotely to network servers is a fact of life for millions of end users. Whether working from a PC or a mobile device, users rely on secure, reliable remote connections to maintain their productivity.

Emergency! EN systems alert employees when disaster strikes

Today's emergency notification technology allows enterprises to send out, and employees to receive, real-time situational advisories.

IT Spending on (Slight) Rise, Mobile Tops the List

Forty-eight percent of the CIOs surveyed expect to increase spending this year, up slightly from this time last year. Mobile, business intelligence, and cloud infrastructure and services are the most cited categories.

So you want to be a data scientist?

After months of high unemployment and a still-wobbly economy, any good news from the jobs market is going to get some traction. But even that doesn't seem to fully explain the attention surrounding a suddenly very "in" job title: data scientist.

Three biggest misconceptions about 3D printing

If your business isn't already investing in 3D printing, it should be. And if you have a 3D printer, you should buy another one, recommends Gartner research director Pete Basiliere.

Hot hotspot gateways

Offering Wi-Fi can be a good way to increase return customers and boost revenue in retail stores, hotels, cafes, etc. And it provides convenience for contractors and associates working in corporate offices and conference rooms. Though visitors might...

Why Diversity Matters in IT Hiring

Building a network of diverse IT talent--people who will be ready for your next job opening--is a year-round task with a big payoff, says a former divisional CIO at GE

Mobile and Personalization Technologies Drive Fast Food Chains to the Future

The future of burger joints and smoothie bars involves customer-friendly technologies that will make fast food more of a service and less of a destination.

Storage administrators demand simplicity

IT staffers at all levels are now tasked with managing data storage. They demand simplicity (but want power, too). Insider (registration required)

How to tell if your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn efforts are paying off

As businesses make more use of social networks, the number of engagement, analysis and monitoring tools has exploded. Enterprises are trying to understand their return on social media investments, to find out if their Twitter and Facebook marketing...

Google Apps broker exploits enterprise concerns about Microsoft's Office changes

A cloud service broker is pitching Google Apps to enterprises by playing on their fears about recent changes Microsoft's made to Office. Insider (registration required)

Xerox CEO to CIOs: We'll take your mess and make it beautiful

Top exec Ursula Burns outlines Xerox's widening portfolio of IT, business process and document outsourcing services. Insider (registration required)

How Social CRM Customizes Marketing, Brings New Revenue

Segmenting customers and watching their habits on Facebook and other social networks shows the music company how to customize its marketing.

10 trends shaping IT hiring in 2013

Concerns about the economy and budget battles on Capitol Hill have put a damper on the IT job scene, but not enough to thwart expansion.

How to Avoid 15 Common IT Resume Mistakes

You have great IT skills and impressive technology experience, but if you don't present your background effectively in your resume, you career may be going nowhere. To help position yourself for success, we talk to career experts to identify the 15...

Companies take bold steps into desktop virtualization

Five organizations that have experienced the benefits, challenges and ROI of desktop virtualization offer tips for successful implementations. Insider (registration required)

Building the perfect Franken-tablet

Finding the right business tablet can be a daunting task. Do you want a 7-inch display or a 10 inch? Built-in keyboard? Snap-on keyboard? Which operating system? What apps? How about ruggedness, style, battery life, price?

Fave-Reads: 6 must-read books to ignite your IT career

With companies running lean and mean, professional development has increasingly become an individual sport. IT workers have learned to fend for themselves to develop needed skills and gain new mindsets for managing more effectively and adding more...

How to blunt spear phishing attacks

According to Allen Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, 95% of all attacks on enterprise networks are the result of successful spear phishing. In other words, somebody received an email and either clicked on a link or opened a file...

Feds take (baby) steps to fight fraud with analytics

ID'ing fraud is a good first step, but the power of analytics won't be tapped until agencies can share data more freely. Insider (registration required)

Four enterprise software products you might not need anymore

No two businesses are exactly alike. Therefore, not all companies will be equally effective with the same software products.

IT Resume Makeover: How to Create an Effective Executive Resume

In CIO.com's most recent edition of the IT Resume Makeover Series, certified career coach and resume writer Cheryl Simpson demonstrates the elements necessary to get qualified IT pros into C-level interviews.

Cloud Computing Leads to Competitive Advantage for Healthcare Firm

A healthcare CIO moves aggressively to cloud computing so the IT staff is freed up to focus on IT innovations that advance the company's core mission.

3 Ways to Give Your IT Organization a Skills Tune-Up

Three CIOs describe how they define and develop IT staff capabilities that keep pace with business needs

5 Things IT Pros Need to Know About SaaS Governance

Software as a service is here to stay. So CIOs need the tools to manage their sprawling portfolios of SaaS applications with the same rigor they use for on-premise software.

NBA Team Rebounds From IT Disaster

After Katrina, the New Orleans Hornets built a stronger disaster-recovery operation: a hot site with a diesel engine big enough to 'power a locomotive.'

Gigabit Wi-Fi? Not so fast.

The newest Wi-Fi technology -- 802.11ac -- promises blazing speeds of up to 1.3Gbps, according to claims made by the leading vendors.

HP brings sizzle to Windows Storage Server

The HP StoreEasy 5530 puts serious muscle behind Windows file serving, Hyper-V virtualization, and SQL Server workloads

How Arista Networks got out in front of the SDN craze

n this installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, Arista Networks CEO Jayshree Ullal spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant about the reality and hype around SDN, and why the data center requires a different network than your...

Translating enterprise apps to mobile: Three companies' journeys

Some companies are going whole-hog with mobile apps, including for some core line-of-business functions.

How to get started with MySQL

An easy step-by-step guide to setting up a MySQL database server, along with phpMyAdmin, on Fedora, CentOS, or Ubuntu

Career advice that will change your life

These days, free advice can be found everywhere, from your various social networks to your favorite advice column. But truly valuable advice typically comes from your peers or people who've made it to a career or life position that you'd like to get...

ROI calculations done right can help IT projects

Building a solid business case for your IT projects means nailing the financial calculations and language. CIOs say making accurate ROI predictions can pay off. Insider (registration required)

Smartphone tools to keep your Wi-Fi network humming

In the early days of Wi-Fi, site surveys were fairly basic and involved running around with a laptop looking at simple signal levels. The next step was mapped-based tools that provided a good visual of Wi-Fi coverage, but still involved carrying a...

Survey: State of the enterprise, 2013

Investments in new technology areas such as collaboration and mobility are important to companies' long-term competitiveness -- and the pressure is on IT to deliver.

Security-as-a-service gaining popularity

Security delivered as a cloud service has several benefits, including costs and flexibility, but there are some cautions, too, adopters say.

BaaS: It's a crowded (and young) market

Back-end as a service offers standard features to drop into your apps, so your developers can spend their time on the most strategic pieces.

Mobile, Analytics Help Sports Industry Score More Sales

Organizations such as the Green Bay Packers football team and the owner of the Daytona 500 race track are using IT to produce happier fans and more revenue.

How to install Apache on Linux

An easy step-by-step guide to setting up an Apache Web server on Fedora, CentOS, or Ubuntu

Microsoft waived hearing in EU browser ballot antitrust case

Microsoft waived its right to a hearing before European antitrust regulators to further answer charges that it failed to offer customers a browser choice screen, according to documents filed with the SEC. Insider (registration required)

How to manage big data overload

The nuts and bolts of systems designed for storing petabytes (and more) of data that can be easily accessed and analyzed are more complex than the inner workings of your average storage platform. Here's how to handle the data deluge.

What IT needs to know about near-field communications

The rise of near-field communications (NFC) has been part of the discussion in the mobile industry for years. Unfortunately, the technology hasn't generated much more than discussion to this point.

Most CIOs Planning to Boost IT Investments for 2013

Fifty-one percent of IT leaders plan to increase their IT budgets in the coming year, according to a recent survey of 188 top IT executives conducted recently by CIO magazine.

IT Resume Makeover: Advice for the Tech Pro Who's Done It All

In CIO.com's latest Resume Makeover, executive career coach Donald Burns works with an IT professional who's won awards, worked for Fortune 500 companies, pharmaceutical businesses and in the government sector. The challenge: His resume was...

New task for CIOs: Make money

As tech infiltrates every corner of the business, it's only natural that some IT departments are producing revenue-generating products and services. Insider (registration required)

What to expect in the world of IT in 2013

The economic recovery is moving at an unsteady pace, but the emphasis on cost-cutting that dominated IT agendas in recent years is sharing the spotlight with a more interesting imperative: innovation.

Disaster recovery: Don't forget mobile

As the mobile workforce continues to grow, IT execs must remember the importance of including mobile technology in their disaster recovery plans. Insider (registration required)

IT pros reveal the best career advice they ever received

In today's culture, advice on nearly any topic - relationships, health, career - is just a mouse click, touchscreen tap or Siri query away. There's even a Web site called shouldidoit.com that promises to help you make decisions in your daily life....

Lenovo ThinkServer: Fast, versatile, energy efficient

We tested the Lenovo ThinkServer RD630 in our network operations center cabinet at nFrame in Carmel, Ind., and found that it fits the bill if you're looking for a powerful, versatile 1/2U server.

Bank of America CIO Says Simplification and Risk Reduction Are Keys to IT Success

Catherine Bessant's journey to the CIO role at Bank of America wasn't your standard ascent through the ranks of IT. Bessant, now Global Technology and Operations Executive, leads a team of more than 100,000 employees and contractors who...

77 MORE great ideas for running a security program

Last year's collection of great ideas was so well received that we decided to do an encore. We've scoured our archives for ideas from CSOs, academics, consultants and philosophers, for concepts big and small. What these ideas have in common is the...

8 classic IT hiring mistakes and how to avoid them

From writing dated, irrelevant job descriptions to accepting a less-than-ideal candidate because the work is piling up, classic hiring mistakes are just waiting to trip up managers.

The year in tech: It's all about the cloud and SDNs

2012 has been a year of re-invention among the tech industry’s biggest players, with Microsoft overhauling many of its key product lines, most notably Windows, while also boldly entering the hardware market with Surface tablets. HP slashed its...

For IT Job-Hunters, Relocation Is a Family Affair

The big decision about whether to relocate for a new IT leadership job often depends on decisions made at home.

How a Homegrown Mobile System Helps Police Bust Gang Members

A local police force built a mobile-data system to quickly access the records officers need to make arrests.

IT Resume Makeover: Moving Your Job Search to the Senior Level

Your resume is your most powerful tool when trying to market yourself to IT employers. Are you doing everything you can to effectively communicate your message to them?

IT Resume Makeover: Moving Your Job Search to the Senior Level

Your resume is your most powerful tool when trying to market yourself to IT employers. Are you doing everything you can to effectively communicate your message to them?

Citrix: What kind of company is it anyway?

Citrix is many different things to many people. It's a cloud company, it's a virtualization player, it's a mobile technologies vendor and it's a collaboration products provider. But according to Mark Templeton, Citrix CEO since 2001, all of that...

Juniper CEO Johnson talks software, the company's recent challenges and key future directions

Juniper Networks had a challenging 2012 as new product cycles were slow to take hold and global economic conditions took a toll on sales. The company also undertook a restructuring that saw 500 positions cut and the departure of four executive vice...

Land an IT job: Tips from recent hires

Four IT workers who recently found new jobs describe their hard-won success and offer a view from the street. Insider (registration required)

Single sign-on moves to the cloud

We are awash in passwords, and as the number of Web services increases, things are only going to get worse. Trying to manage all these individual passwords is a major problem for enterprise security. Many end users cope by re-using their passwords,...

Cloudera CEO: We're taking Hadoop beyond MapReduce

In an exclusive interview, the voluble CEO of Cloudera, Mike Olson, holds forth on the company's new Impala project and the boundless potential of Hadoop

Making HTML5 work now for mobile app development

HTML5 has been dissed, dismissed and disrespected of late, but defenders say the evolving standard is still the best choice for platform-independent mobile app development. Insider (registration required)

Fave-reads: 5 must-read books for IT career growth

Let's face it -- when it comes to IT professional development, books might be the last place people turn. With webinars, online forums, blogs, Web sites, bootcamps and social media, books would seem like a last resort.

How IT can become a driver of business growth

IT departments don't live up to business-driving potential.

Get ahead of the BYOD wave

Why fight employees' constant barrage of bringing in their own devices. We are far past that point, it is time to accept it and find a way to make it BYOD work within the confines of your network.

Game on: Enterprise apps gain gaming features to boost usage

Adding a competitive component to enterprise software improves adoption and real-time decision-making, gamification advocates say.

Six free databases with commercial-quality features

Free or open source databases run hundreds of millions of public-facing and private applications worldwide, but how effective is this technology and how do these products compare? For answers, we reviewed six popular free or open source database...

Tech job market on the upswing

To see the state of the job market for tech workers, just look at the headlines over the past few months:

Creating a view to the cloud

How well can you see into the cloud? For many IT professionals, the view into the cloud isn't very clear, but new techniques and tools make visibility across multiple cloud systems clearer.

Statistical modeling yields accurate election forecasts

Statistical modeling techniques that businesses use to find customers helped quantitative analysts predict the results of this month's U.S. elections with stunning accuracy. Insider (registration required)

Review: Best tools to set up secure Wi-Fi for BYOD

Deploying the enterprise mode of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) with 802.1X authentication provides great Wi-Fi security, but complicates the client configuration and connection process. In bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments, this can cause...

Fatal half-measures in incident response

It's not a matter of if, but when, you are breached. So what's your plan?

BYOD: Where the costs are

Few technology trends have inspired as many misgivings -- and as much misinformation - as BYOD, or "bring your own device." Is the idea of allowing employees to purchase and use their own laptops and mobile devices a security nightmare? A...

Inside the DreamWorks data center

The data center infrastructure at DreamWorks Imagination Studios is certainly state of the art, but it doesn't make as much use of cloud, virtualization solid-state storage technologies as one might expect. Insider (registration required)

Top tools for BYOD management

When we tested mobile device management (MDM) last year, the products were largely focused on asset management - provisioning, protecting and containing mobile devices.

Q&A: David Schmoock says Lenovo is doing the right thing

Lenovo is gobbling up market share and is now neck-and-neck with Hewlett Packard for leadership in overall PC sales. For our CEO Interview Series, Chief Content Officer John Gallant talked recently with David Schmoock, President of Lenovo in North...

Virtual Instruments CEO: We're the bridge between physical and virtual

John Thompson, former Symantec CEO, explains why the company he now heads offers a better way to manage the performance of cloud infrastructure

Do you have a disaster-preparedness plan?

What Sept. 11, 2001 taught network administrators is that having your backup server on site was not much of a backup if the entire grid went down. So in the past decade big strides have been made to create duplication offsite. With the latest...

The race toward compliance is 'not optimal'

More security managers find themselves running compliance programs rather than performing security and risk management.

Web-based conferencing comes of age

As more people telecommute, having a reliable way to connect via desktop video conferencing takes on greater importance. And for employees working in the office, Web-based meetings are a cheaper and less time consuming alternative to business travel.

How to find (and hire) big data pros

Staffing shortages are holding back companies ready to dive into big data. Here are three ways they're coping with the talent gap. Insider (registration required)

Free technology for the taking

It's like the store doors just opened on Black Friday and you have your pick of free stuff.

IT Resume Makeover: How to Create a Resume That Gets Noticed

In the latest installment of CIO.com's resume makeover series, resume expert and career strategist Stephen Van Vreede shows how to produce a clear and simple message that will get IT executives to notice.

Why Some CIOs Have More Staying Power Than Others

Some CIOs outlast the typical five-year tenure by avoiding classic blunders, winning the CEO's confidence and enjoying a dash of good luck.

Hertz Improves Customer Experience With Friendlier Kiosks

Weary travelers hate waiting in line, so Hertz adopted new kiosk technology that allows customers to interact with a live, remote agent to complete their transactions

Social media gains in regulated industries

Even if you're knee-deep in regulations, it is possible to get the benefits other kinds of companies do from being active in social media. Here's how some approach it.

Storage systems get supersized

Old storage architectures with general-purpose controllers that service all the new functions along with the normal I/O workload won't be able to scale. Here's why storage systems will need to become full-scale storage computers. Insider...

NAS appliances: Not just raw storage anymore

When we did a roundup of Network Attached Storage devices seven years ago, the products boasted an amazing (for the time) 1TB of disk space. This time around, we're testing six units that sport 8TB or larger storage capacities. While the disk space...

How to get your IT team ready for the cloud

So you received word that cloud is now a priority for your organization. The challenge is how do you get your team cloud-ready? "The cloud is changing so rapidly there's no book you can buy to get up to speed," says Ross Lambert, software architect...

Complete guide to the iPhone 5

With more than 5 million already sold, the iPhone 5 is certainly a hit. But if you want to get optimum use of your iPhone 5, this PDF will lead you down the primrose path of smartphone success.

Social media e-discovery: Crucial, even in its infancy

Tools are the least of your worries. Federal and other regulations, and internal policies, must be addressed before you buy anything to help automate the situation.

Seven BYOD policy essentials

Like it or not, the "bring your own device" (BYOD) trend is in full swing. According to Juniper Research, the number of employee-owned smartphones and tablets used in businesses will more than double by 2014, reaching 350 million compared with...

6 IT Hiring Tips to Weed Out the Duds

One bad apple can ruin a good team, which is why Nathan Brown sometimes prioritizes personality over skill set when making a hire. Here are six other rules he follows when filling an open position.

How UC Drove Sales, Rescued Customers From Voicemail Hell

EMSL discovered how un-unified it seemed to its customers when a UC project that forwarded calls to employees' mobile devices proved the secret to winning back business.

Campbell's IT Team's Secret Mission to Sell More Soup

Sure, soup is good food, but sales ain't what they used to be. To freshen up its product line and serve up innovative new products ASAP, Campbell's IT is building new systems for improved collaboration.

Complete guide to network virtualization

There are a number of emerging and proposed standard protocols focused on optimizing the support that data center Ethernet LANs provide for server virtualization. Several of these protocols are aimed at network virtualization via the creation of...

Microsoft delivers powerful tools for multi-platform virtualization management

The System Center 2012 modules that we previously tested -- Orchestrator and Configuration Manager -- require forklift upgrades. But the modules we tested this time around - App Controller, Virtual Machine Manager and Data Protection Manager -- are...

The cloud is at your service

If you follow cloud computing, you're no doubt familiar with software as a service, typically associated with Salesforce.com, or infrastructure as a service, which was pioneered by Amazon.com. But how about CaaS, SECaaS, DaaS, MaaS and BaaS?

Review: 6 free email servers for small business

Even as social networking continues to gain in popularity, email remains the undisputed workhorse of messaging, far eclipsing all other forms of electronic communication. Email administration can be a costly function, especially for small to...

6 secrets to a successful BYOD rollout

The very notion of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) makes many CIOs and IT managers nervous. BYOD represents a loss of control, additional security risks, and, of course, the unknown. Here are six things to prepare for:

5 career-boosting soft skills

Soft skills are not a new concept for IT. But time has run out for IT professionals who have been avoiding developing them. Now that technology is an integral part of business strategy, very few employers would settle for a candidate who could not...

Nontechie CIOs: translators or meddlers?

As IT becomes inexorably woven into everything a business does, it's crucial to have a CIO who act as a translator between the two worlds. A nontechie just might be the right person for the job. Insider (registration required)

SDN bandwagon rolls ahead

Cisco, Brocade, Dell among others have jumped on board and look to ride the wave that is software defined networking. This despite experts' assertions that SDNs threaten Cisco's dominance in the tech industry.

PowerPoint 2010 cheat sheet

Whether you're upgrading from PowerPoint 2007 or an earlier version, we've got the goods on how to find your way around Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and make the most of its features. Insider (registration required)

CDW CEO: On growing services, cloud applications and reshaping IT

In this installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, CDW CEO Thomas Richards spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant about how CDW is expanding its strategic services offering, and how mobility and consumerization are expanding...

IT and Marketing: 4 tips for getting along

More and more IT execs find themselves having to add "Play nice with the CMO" to their to-do lists these days. The reason? Technology is rapidly remaking marketing departments, to the point where previously siloed corporate marketing...

Desktop Virtualization Cuts Costs and Improves Social Services

Gary Bateman, CIO of Iowa Workforce Development, was able to turn a budget desktop virtualization project into a hugely successful expansion of state services for the unemployed--and he lowered operating costs to boot.

Measuring CIO Performance: The Rise and Fall of Compensation

CIO compensation may be based on whether the company hits its goals for return on assets or other financial metrics. Here's a look at what goes into the equation.

How IT Outsourcing May Unearth the Mine of the Future

A team of IT service providers helped mining company Rio Tinto push new ideas into adoption and improve the mine of the future.

12 career tips from tech CEOs

It's a long way from mowing lawns and washing windows to the CEO's office, but today's tech chiefs haven't forgotten where they started in the working world. Here's their advice for young employees just getting started in the working world.

Developing apps for the mobile cloud: What you need to know

From choosing a mobile app platform to deciding if your back-end cloud is up to the task, here are some factors to consider.

Red Hat CEO: We're the cloud leader -- with Linux

Jim Whitehurst says it's not just Red Hat's products, but its philosophy that place it at the forefront of cloud computing

How IT Innovation and Mobility Empower Unilever

Rod Hefford, CIO for Global Customer Development and Supply Chain at Unilever, discusses they key goals of their Compass strategy, how IT is organized to drive innovation globally. Hefford also explains how mobility is empowering Unilever to respond...

Office 2013: Everything IT needs to know

With Office 2013, Microsoft sets the bar high. The reworked suite of applications runs on a range of devices, including new Windows tablets; it has a new look, which is fast and fluid, yet has familiar commands; it responds to touch and stylus, as...

How to avoid BYOD bandwidth woes

While nobody is predicting that the proliferation of mobile devices in the enterprise will create a full-blown bandwidth catastrophe, IT managers will have to move quickly to ensure satisfactory performance for employees accessing company data over...

Why passwords are failing us -- still!

Three decades into the digital revolution, passwords are still complicated, ineffective and a drain on IT's resources. What gives? Insider (registration required)

HBO's CIO Airs Strategies for IT Success and Developing Next-Gen IT Leaders

HBO CIO Michael Gabriel explains why it's imperative for CIOs to understand how their businesses and customers are changing. He also explains why professional development is critical to IT success and shares his views on how business, academia...

U.S. infrastructure vulnerable to attack

If it is left to the politicians, the door to the nation's utilities might be left open. Almost telling terrorists, like in those motel commercials, "We'll leave the light on for you."

6 hottest IT certifications

IT professionals have always sought out certifications to give them a leg-up in their career advancement efforts. But anecdotal evidence suggests that in today's job market, having a broad array of certifications is even more important for giving...

6 hottest IT certifications

IT professionals have always sought out certifications to give them a leg up in their career advancement efforts. But anecdotal evidence suggests that in today's job market, having a broad array of certifications is even more important for giving...

CEOs talk about outsourcing, customers, mobility, big data and so much more

In a recent series of interviews, IDG Enterprises's chief content officer, John Gallant, spoke with several CEOs about a wide range of current challenges facing top tech executives. Some put the customer first, and some decidedly do not....

Three tools to pinpoint rogue access points

Locating and tracking an object via radio waves has been in everyday use since the WWII invention of RADAR (Radio Detection And Ranging). Today, everybody from automobile drivers to airline pilots to mapmakers to construction professionals rely on...

Review: VDI tailored to BYOD

MokaFive Suite brings polish and control to virtual desktops on Windows, OS X, or bare metal, with a nod to the iPhone and iPad

Webroot's big cloud gamble

Anti-malware vendor Webroot has bet the company on cloud.

Cloud security: Four customers' approaches

From implementing single sign-on to including social media in the lineup, shops are doing what they need to make the cloud work for them.

The state of network security

Network security is still as necessary as it was 15 years ago when the Black Hat Conference was first beginning. Sure the players have changed and the sophistication, but it is a classic good vs. evil scenario still.

Finding the Talent Your Business Needs

How CIOs are meeting the challenge of a small high-tech pool by making the most of the teams they have

Deep dive into Office 2013

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made an off-handed remark in calling Office 2013 "magical," a comment often cited of Apple products. But this time around it seems Microsoft got some stuff right, according to testers.

Getting the most out of IPS

Intrusion prevention systems — security tools designed to stop problems even before they crop up — have emerged as indispensable components of defense-in-depth security strategies.

Free and cheap ways to study for IT certifications

Studying for and taking IT certification exams can be costly. These tips can help you find inexpensive study resources and ways to get hands-on experience with the technologies you're studying.

Tech execs earn how much?

Be honest, you salivate when you see those stories about mega rich people. You are a bit envious, definitely jealous but then say to yourself that you must have a better quality of life than that millionaire. Anything to rationalize the situation. 

How to manage IT contractors

Contract IT workers may walk, talk and code like staff, but in fact they're not company employees -- something managers should keep in mind. Insider (registration required)

How to become a BYOD guru

Becoming a BYOD guru isn't an overnight proposition -- it's something that takes initiative, persistence and time. We've identified five key resource areas that can help you master the technical, legal and security ramifications of BYOD and maintain...

Securing the new data center

It’s hard enough to secure resources when they are bound to a physical box, but the game changes when servers are virtualized and start to move around, not only to other servers in the data center, but also to off-premise cloud facilities.

Review: Microsoft System Center targets cloud, virtualization

With the revamped System Center 2012 suite of management tools, Microsoft has launched a powerful new weapon in the battle to control the virtualized data center and the cloud, both private and public.

What's wrong with SaaS?

The software as a service market is still in a state of flux and before SaaS can reach its full potential, service providers must overcome integration, customization and brokerage issues.

BYOD: Big security, small devices

Enterprises may be ready for BYOD, but most consumer devices aren't, so vendors are adding high-level security features to their new and upcoming products.

Are You Keeping Ahead of IT Industry Trends?

Social, mobile and other consumer technologies are inspiring venture capitalists to invest and changing the landscape of IT. Are you paying attention?

Microsoft scratches the tablet Surface

Somehow in this day of insider rumors being leaked out, Microsoft kept its latest creation under wraps until just before its Surface tablet was announced. Remarkable in this day.

Could cloud computing change how we communicate?

At least one CIO has already done away with email and Office. Insider (registration required)

If you are going to build a private cloud, Eucalyptus is the tool you're looking for, says CEO Mårten Mickos

There are a growing number of open source cloud infrastructure players in the market, but Eucalyptus says it is the best bet for private enterprise clouds. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with CEO Mårten Mickos, who, as the former...

Is Cisco getting squeezed by SDNs?

The latest buzzword in the tech industry is undoubtedly software-defined networking. SDNs are touted as being able to extend virtual LANs, create security zones as well as establish Bring Your Own Device policies.

Global economic woes slow IT spending

IT budgets are expected to increase an average of only 3 percent this year, down from 6 percent reported last year, according to CIOmagazine’s latest Tech Poll of 200 IT leaders. The survey, conducted in April, showed that budget increases are in...

Extinguishing Flame malware

Flame malware is considered ingenious by network security researchers. They say the botnet has the most complex command and control structures ever seen.

Securing mixed cloud environments

Securing cloud computing environments is challenging enough, but is made all the more complicated when a mix of cloud options are employed, an approach that will become increasingly common.

6 secrets to a successful 802.1X rollout

Implementing and supporting 802.1X authentication on your network can be a challenge, but here are some tips that can help save you some time, money, and frustration.

The Cisco security directive

Chris Young just celebrated his six-month anniversary as senior vice president of the recently formed Cisco Security Group reporting to Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior. He brings an interesting perspective to the position, hailing as he does from VMware...

Next-gen firewalls can handle the heat

In Network World's two-part test, reviewers David Newman and Joel Snyder put  next-generation firewalls through the ringer. They found that products could forward packets at an impressive clip but throughput dropped with advanced security features...

Egenera CEO stresses openness in competing with 'Cisco, Cisco, Cisco'

Egenera CEO Pete Manca says the company was 10 years ahead of its time in targeting the converged data center infrastructure, but its smooth transition from a hardware-focused company to a software-oriented one in recent years has enabled it to stay...

Why can't Linux crack the desktop?

Linux has so many positive attributes, there is a wonder why it is not on more desktops. You can't beat the price and it has fewer viruses than Windows. But why hasn't it taken off?

IaaS: Renting on-demand technology

Putting your faith in the cloud  can be a risky endeavor. A survey from earlier this year showed that of 600 large companies, only 27% were using public cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

Managing Mobile Mania

Unified communications isn't easy or cheap, but for companies that want to differentiate their customer service, it's becoming a must-have. Insider (registration required)

Privacy advocates fear CISPA

Privacy advocates are riled up after the recent passing of the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act by the House, which occurred despite opposition from privacy advocates, lawmakers and the White House.

Survey: BYOD sparks enterprise investment in Unified Communication and Collaboration

The 2012 IDG Enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) survey was completed with the goal of gaining a better understanding of current and future UC&C investments. The survey highlights the uptick in UC&C adoption and investments in...

Inside the Google v. Oracle courtroom drama

The trial pitting Google vs. Oracle on the claim of intellectual property infringement by Google in Android has reached almost a tabloid like feel. Outside the courtroom feels like the red carpet as tech giant after tech giant emerge from limos and...

Kaiser Permanente's CIO Aims to Make Healthcare More Delightful

Kaiser Permanente CIO Philip Fasano discusses how the electronic records 'bet' has paid off and how social and mobile technologies will advance the effort. He also offers advice on making big tech projects successful, how to encourage...

Is Google Drive ready for prime time?

In summing up the experts' thoughts, Network World's Brad Reed put it rather succinctly about the emergence of Google Drive: “We like it, but couldn’t it have been released two years ago?”

CIO's Digital Spotlight on BYOD

Learn how to take control of and benefit from the bring-your-own-devices (BYOD) phenomenon--without losing corporate data. This free, downloadable special edition describes what your BYOD policy should cover and outlines the risks you need to manage.

HCL CEO Vineet Nayar: Outsourcing is dead, and there's nothing innovative in cloud technology

The customer always comes first. Except when it comes to HCL, the $6 billion Indian outsourcing make that co-sourcing giant led by CEO Vineet Nayar, who literally wrote the book on a philosophy known as 'employees first, customer second.' In...

Strategic Guide to IT Talent Management

Download our ebook for advice from peers about how to recruit and nurture the types of IT professionals you'll need to gain a competitive advantage.

How Android stacks up

Android device activations have skyrocketed lately, and now average around 850,000 a day. That's quite a leap from the first quarter of 2010, when Android activations were averaging a mere 65,000 per day. Android is currently the most popular mobile...

Learn the Secret to Kaiser Permanente's Sustainable Mobile Strategy

Healthcare CIOs know mobile is important to their customers. Phil Fasano, CIO of Kaiser Permanente, took a slow-but-steady mobile approach and is seeing big results since its new site and apps launched.

Fast-forwarding firewall faceoff

Next-generation firewalls claim to identify application-layer attacks and enforce application-specific policies while delivering top-notch performance, even with advanced security features turned on.

Should the CIO know how to code?

With IT integral to the business, an increasing number of companies are hiring CIOs who didn't rise through the ranks. Is that a good thing? Insider (registration required)

Macs under attack, who is safe?

It was always thought that as Apple products increased in popularity, so would the target on its back placed by cybercriminals. Always looking to take down the king of the hill, cybercriminals finally got to Apple's Macs last week with a botnet that...

Big Data in the Real World Isn't So Easy

The pundits make it sound so simple. But CIOs wrestling with overwhelming amounts of unwieldy data know that 'big data' is a big challenge that requires high-quality data, new approaches to data management and more processing power. But the...

Guide to Windows 8

It seems every day there is something new to report on Windows 8 and so far the reviews have been positive. But the Microsoft operating system is far from ready to be put out in the wild.

Chevron's CIO Talks Transformation and Why IT Leaders Should Smile

In the latest installment of the CIO Interview Series, Louie Ehrlich, CIO and president of Chevron Information Technology Company, talks about the most important things he's learned leading a giant, global IT team through massive change. His...

Life after IT: When CIOs leave at the top of their game

You work, you strive, you reach the top of your profession -- and then you leave? Sure, say these ex-CIOs. Read their take on life after IT. Insider (registration required)

A sampling of BYOD user policies

Just say the words "bring your own device" and IT staffers start to rub their foreheads. Allowing users to attach their consumer devices, including smartphones and tablets, to the network might seem like a bad idea, but with a clear user policy that...

A sampling of BYOD user policies

Just say the words "bring your own device" and IT staffers start to rub their foreheads. Allowing users to attach their consumer devices, including smartphones and tablets, to the network might seem like a bad idea, but with a clear user policy that...

Ethernet Alliance chair talks about key trends, what’s next

John D'Ambrosia, Chief Ethernet Evangelist in the CTO Office at Dell (he came onboard when Dell bought Force10), is a founder of the Ethernet Alliance and currently serving as its chairman. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up...

Getting New Value Out of Social Media

Beachbody CIO Steve Winshel wants more out of his company's social media offerings. How can he prove their worth?

Can you handle Big Data?

Big Data is the latest industry buzzword. It's just another way of saying you as a network manager are being inundated with data and you better figure out a way to manage, secure and analyze it.

The week in news 3.27.12

Want to catch up on the latest news? Here's a compilation of the hottest tech news fro the past week. Here are just a few of the stories we are highlighting:

White House CIO Endures After Tough Start

In Brook Colangelo's first 40 days as CIO of the Executive Office of the President, the White House email system was down 23% of the time while he and his staff put in 80-hour weeks. Insider (registration required

Three-stream Wi-Fi hits the mark

The rapid adoption of 802.11n has become a significant milestone in the history of wireless LANs. The MIMO-based technologies used in most 802.11n systems provide enough throughput, reliability, and rate vs. range performance to effectively remove...

Genealogists excited for release of 1940 census, family history sites prepare

In less than two weeks, genealogists and historians will get their first chance to begin combing the 1940 U.S. census for more clues about what life was like in the early part of the past century.

Cisco's big comeback

Just a year ago, Cisco's stock was taking a beating after the sales failed to meet Wall Street expectations.The company wasn't exactly reeling, but CEO John Chambers knew something had to be done to right the ship.  

Review: Android-based Wi-Fi stumblers

Wi-Fi stumblers are handy when checking for channel usage, signal strength, security status, and detecting rogue access points, in situations where enterprise-level tools aren't necessary. We recently reviewed stumblers for your PC or laptop. Here's...

Don't be just a PaaS-erby

The PaaS-abilities are endless. Industry analysts are saying that now is the right time for developers to look to Platform-as-a-service as a viable option.

How CIOs Can Learn to Catch Insider Crime

Research shows that CIOs rarely discover the internal security threats that can ruin companies, even though it frequently involves IT systems. Here's what needs to change.

Review: VDI without the server connection

Virtual Computer NxTop Enterprise 4.0 conquers desktop virtualization with intuitive central management, Xen-based client hypervisor, and strong policy-based controls

Piston Cloud has made the tough private cloud decisions for you

Joshua McKenty, co-founder and chief executive officer of Piston Cloud, what he calls The Enterprise OpenStack Company, was in on the ground floor of OpenStack's creation, working as he was on the Anso Labs team at NASA to build a compute cloud on...

In depth: What does APT really mean?

And what should companies do about truly persistent threats?

Who's to Blame When IT Breaks?

There's always a reason why things break in IT, and the powers that be can usually find someone to blame -- whether that someone is a data center operations staff member, an OEM, a systems integrator or a third-party service provider. (Insider,...

Review: HP, IBM, CA deliver highly scalable network management suites

A network that measures downtime in millions of dollars per minute (or per second!) needs a serious, enterprise-level network management tool. Nothing less will do.

Two Windows 7 tablets: HP Slate 2 vs. Samsung Series 7 Slate

Two very different Windows-7-based tablets from HP and Samsung offer a variety of features for business and personal use. Insider (registration required)

The essential strategy guide on the consumerization of IT

Consumer tech is now part of most companies' technology portfolios, raising questions for both IT and management. Here's InfoWorld's guide for making it all work

iPad 3 could blow away competitors

There has been wide speculation on what Apple's next iteration of its tablet will look like, feature and be named. Network World editor John Cox even is able to write a weekly story on the wild rumors surrounding the next iPad.

BYOD: There is no stopping employees' devices on your network

It used to be the IT department's answer was always no when an employee asked to use a personal device for work. IT often felt the risk was far too great to the company's network security to allow this.

Making sense of mobile device, app, and information management

As BYOD moves out of basic email access, IT seeks control over apps and data on users' devices. What can IT actually get?

CIO Ensures Western Union Is Wired for the Future

At 160 years old, the Western Union brand is firmly embedded in the collective psyche. Need to get cash to someone far away in a hurry? To paraphrase the 'Ghostbusters' theme, you know who to call. But the 2012 version of Western Union is...

How to protect your privacy on Google

Under new privacy rules that Google is implementing on March 1, all of the data that Google collects based on your usage of YouTube, Gmail, Google+ and Google search will be aggregated into one user profile.

How to Make Time for Continuing Education and Career Development

Demanding full-time jobs, often coupled with hectic family responsibilities, prevent many IT professionals from pursuing the continuing education and professional development programs they need to remain relevant in the mercurial IT industry and...

Cloud computing in 2012: An InfoWorld special report

InfoWorld's experts keep you up to date on the realities of deploying the cloud in the enterprise

The ultimate tips box

Got problems with insider threats? Need help securing your wireless LAN because of employees bringing their own devices on to your network? Know how to protect your Android device?

Pepsi Reveals Secret to Selling More Corn Chips

There's nothing coincidental about the way grocery stores display and price their merchandise. Focus groups used to be the go-to resource for such market research, but today manufacturers like beverage behemoth PepsiCo find virtual simulation...

How to Find Weak Links in Your Supply Chain

Just as all politics is local, so are supply chains local. If one of your key manufacturers in Asia or a big IT service provider in South America goes down after a disaster, you might, too.

5 Ways CIOs Benefit From Facetime with Customers

The customer is always right, but how would you know? Few CIOs truly understand what external customers want and why they act the way they do. Running IT can all too easily keep CIOs internally focused, making sure fellow employees have the...

Juniper exec gives inside look at QFabric

R.K. Anand, executive vice president and general manager of Juniper Networks' Data Center Business Unit, was employee No. 12 of the network startup back in 1996, leaving a job as a microprocessor designer at Sun Microsystems. Years later he left...

Download InfoWorld's Malware Deep Dive report

New malware needs new defenses, and InfoWorld's special report tells you how to identify -- and stop -- these online threats

Windows 8: What you need to know

Just when you got used to Windows 7, Microsoft is threatening to ship Windows 8. The first public beta is slated to be released at the end of this month, with a final ship date rumored to be in October.  So, what does Windows 8 mean for you?

IBM's top network exec rips Cisco's rip and replace

IBM reversed course on networking in 2010 when it acquired Blade Network Technologies, one of its key network suppliers. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix and Managing Editor Jim Duffy recently caught up with Vikram Mehta, founder of BNT and...

TD Bank Unites 85,000-plus Workers

TD Bank Group deployed IBM collaboration software to help its 85,000 employees collaborate more efficiently. (Insider, registration required.)

The Grill: Catherine P. Bessant

The Bank of America tech leader's mandate is to streamline and modernize back-office operations. Insider (registration required)

Cisco's John Stewart on the latest security threats … and what enterprises can do to fight back

Freelance writer Susan Perschke recently sat down with Cisco Vice President and Chief Security Officer John N. Stewart for an in-depth discussion of the state of enterprise security.

IPv6 deployment starts at the network edge

IT execs know they will have to deploy IPv6 at some point, but where to begin? One approach that establishes some  IPv6 capability without spending a lot of time or money is to start at the perimeter.

IPv6: Dual-stack strategy starts at the perimeter

We are in an awkward point in the history of the Internet. IPv4 address depletion has occurred yet we expect to use IPv4 for the next 15 to 20 years. Organizations see two paths before them. One alternative is to use continue to use IPv4 and expect...

Hands on: HP's Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance

If you're like most enterprises, you have data everywhere. It's in line-of-business applications. It's in directories. It's in various departmental servers. It's in your e-commerce platform. To manage all this, most shops use...

Macs take on the enterprise

Change can often be slow. It took many years for the Mac to begin to even threaten the PC in the enterprise. It is still a slow process, but Apple is making up ground on Microsoft.

The future of hypervisors

The world of hypervisors is complicated by the fact that there are proprietary and open source tools, each with different strengths and weaknesses.

In Search of an Energy Yardstick

We take a comprehensive look at the new green-IT metrics for measuring data center efficiency and productivity from The Green Grid and other industry groups. Insider, registration required.

Resume Makeover: How an Information Security Professional Can Target CSO Jobs

Cole Hanson's career goal is to become an information security executive. Currently, he serves as a high-level information security professional with the U.S. Army. In February, Hanson, who is also a reservist with a rank of Lieutenant, will...

How IT Helped Shape UL's New Business Strategy

Underwriters Laboratories' CIO Christian Anschuetz discusses UL's recent transformation from a non-profit to a for-profit organization and how IT shaped and supported that change. He weighs in on the consumerization of IT, offers advice for...

Will RIM survive?

As Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie step down as co-CEOs at Research in Motion, the company is at a cross roads. Thorsten Heins steps into the CEO chair with many daunting obstacles ahead of him and RIM.

TD Bank gets social for better business

When TD Bank Group made a lot of acquisitions a few years ago, executives knew they needed to find a way to help employees span international borders and work together.

Intel Launches New Push Into Mobile

Intel moved to defend its turf -- and possibly its future stability -- by inking deals to supply next-generation Atom chips to smartphone makers Motorola and Lenovo. (Insider, registration required.)

The Grill: John A. Benanti and Donald Stanton

Deputy Commissioner of Technology and Support Services John A. Benanti and Assistant Commissioner Donald Stanton talk about how technology fits into the operations at the New York City Fire Department, one of the largest fire departments in the...

Review: Encrypted solid state drives protect laptop data

Vendors are touting solid state replacement drives as a way to protect corporate data in the event of a laptop being lost or stolen, and to boost performance at the same time.

NetApp's Tom Georgens: How we got big, stayed nimble, and view storage today

In an exclusive interview, NetApp CEO Tom Georgens talks about virtualization, the private cloud, and how his company defines big data

How the Red Cross found its ID management groove

Red Cross CISO Suzanne Hall on the organization's monster effort to overhaul security and identity management.

CES 2012 in a nutshell

As technology conferences go, CES this year reached new heights of stardom, with its own television show on Spike TV and big entertainment names like Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson and Ryan Seacrest.

The Agile Infrastructure

To keep pace with a fast-changing business environment, these companies are ditching inflexible legacy systems in favor of software as a service and cloud computing. Are they getting the speed, flexibility and cost savings they thought they would?...

Tech roadmap for 2012

Despite economic uncertainty at home and abroad, enterprises IT budgets grew in 2011, although not by very much. So, what’s on tap for 2012? In this package of stories, Network World and IDG News Service reporters provide a roadmap for the new year.

What does 2012 have in store for Anonymous?

Anonymous had a busy year in 2011 pushing its hacker-activist agenda on companies around the Web, to the point where just the sound of the hacker group's name can send shivers down the spine of many a CIO.

LAPD Drops Google Apps Plan

After more than two years of work, the city of Los Angeles has abandoned its effort to migrate its police operations to Google's hosted email and office application platform because it says the service cannot meet FBI security requirements. Insider...

Mobile Tactics Could Be Key to 2012 Election

The explosive growth in smartphone usage and the growing adoption of tablets means that a mobile communication strategy -- or the lack of one -- could make or break a candidate in this year's presidential election. (Insider, registration required.)

The Grill: Indranil Ganguly

Indranil 'Neal' Ganguly, vice president and CIO at CentraState Healthcare System, is helping to communicate the benefits that technology can bring to healthcare and shape public policy on the issue. Insider (registration required)

Three HTML5 animation tools: Adobe Edge, Sencha Animator, Tumult Hype

HTML5 developers might want some help in dealing with a steep learning curve. We review three applications that can help. Insider (registration required)

Mozilla to launch enterprise Firefox this month with 7X slower pace

Mozilla on Thursday said it will kick off a slower-paced Firefox release schedule for enterprises at the end of this month. Insider (registration required)

Two new security books ponder: Just how vulnerable are we?

Two recently-published books, "America the Vulnerable" by Joel Brenner, a former official at the National Security Agency (NSA) and "When Gadgets Betray Us," by writer and security analyst Robert Vamosi, have one theme in common: We've come to...

CIOs Disconnected From Business Execs

CIOs and their fellow executives have conflicting priorities on cost and competitors, says our 2012 State of the CIO survey

How Waste Management's CIO Turned Trash Into Treasure

Waste Management's new e-commerce site creates additional revenue streams for the company and gives its IT team sales quotas to fill

Who's Above Average?

The most business-savvy CIOs tend to report to the CEO, lead a non-IT area, and make more money than average CIOs

Cloud SWAT teams

Cloud computing poses unique security challenges. Here's how cloud-specific 'security incident-response teams' could help governments and large enterprises respond to malicious activity and make the cloud more trustworthy. Insider (registration...

A glance back at 2011

2011 could be described as “The Year of …” many things. The tablet market heated up beyond the Apple iPad. 4G wireless took off with the emergence of big-time LTE networks. Governments and hackers screamed for attention by taking down networks,...

Cloud computing changes everything

The sheer number of cloud players - or companies that claim to be cloud players -- is staggering. By some estimates there are more than 2,000 software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies alone. At this early point in the cloud revolution, there are...

Andrew Miller: Polycom will drive the next era of collaboration

In an exclusive interview, Polycom CEO Andrew Miller talks about the impact of mobility on the visual communications market and about Polycom's move to the cloud

Resume Makeover: How an Enterprise Architect Can Become a CIO

Carlton Lassiter began looking for a new job five months ago, after being passed over for a director of strategic planning position with his current employer. Lassiter, who asked CIO.com to use a pseudonym to keep his job search a secret from his...

How Intuit Liberated IT to Embrace Mobile, Social and the Cloud

Intuit CEO Brad Smith has deftly steered what was once only a shrink-wrap software company into the cloud and mobile worlds and has led a re-engineering of Intuit's IT organization into a customer-focused, driver of innovation and value.

CIOs describe their ideal job candidates

IT professionals have been through the wringer when it comes to managing their careers. They've had to keep up with ever-changing technology, endure the often painful aftermath of offshoring and outsourcing decisions, and learn new skills --...

'Server huggers' impede cloud migrations

Chipita America has become almost serverless over the past six years by moving its ERP, EDI and BI systems, Office and Exchange applications and file servers to the cloud. (Insider, registration required.)

Online retailers turn to social networks for holiday profits

Retailers are going out of their way this year to integrate holiday season sales efforts with social networking sites to boost bottom line profits. Insider (registration required)

Securing the daisy chain

Some cloud computing vendors outsource parts of their services to subcontractors, who may in turn outsource to others. Here's how to know who has your company's data and how secure it really is. Insider (registration required)

3 tips for avoiding tablet management headaches

Tablets are a tricky proposition for many IT departments since they have many of the content creation capabilities of laptops but lack mature security software.

The best of Network World's Gift Guide 2011

Network World's own Indiana Shaw goes through more than just the temple of doom to find gifts suitable for you or other techies on your list. Just like his more famous archeologist cousin who digs up ancient artifacts and treasures from around the...

Hands-on: The ReadyNAS NV+ provides serious storage for prosumers

Netgear's ReadyNAS NV+ device includes storage for up to four 1TB hard drives along with three levels of RAID synchronization. Insider (registration required)

VDI shoot-out: Citrix XenDesktop 5.5

Citrix XenDesktop shines with unmatched flexibility and all the desktop virtualization bells and whistles

VDI shoot-out: VMware View 5

VMware View taps the world's best virtualization platform and PCoIP improvements for highly scalable desktop virtualization

Introducing Windows Server 8: The InfoWorld special report

Microsoft rolls out one of its most significant updates with the next version of Windows Server 8; find out what it means for your company

Killer resumes for techies

If you have tech skills and experience, odds are you're going to get a call from an IT recruiter in 2012. That's because IT departments are ramping up hiring at the same time that more IT professionals are ready to leave behind employers offering...

CA Technologies CEO: Doing what the customer needs

As part of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, William McCracken, chief executive officer of CA Technologies, spoke at the recent CA World conference to IDGE Chief Content Officer John Gallant about how the concept of 'business service...

Q&A: Nimsoft CEO Chris O'Malley touts new 'supply chain of IT'

Systems monitoring and management may be headed to the cloud as management-as-a-service. Nimsoft CEO Chris O'Malley explains what that means and how it will affect IT in this Q&A -- part of the ongoing IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series.

5 IT Security Breakthroughs Promise to Thwart Threats

For the past 25 years, a war has waged between malicious programmers and the researchers trying to make computing safe for the enterprise. The battle has shown no signs of subsiding — once a new countermeasure is deployed, the hackers find new ways...

Small company, big security challenges

Small company, big ambitions. Sounds like the classic entrepreneurial dream--but what if it means you bear the burden of big-company regulatory or standards compliance?

Migrating from T1 to fiber WAN

Migrating from multisite MPLS to 100Mbps Ethernet can save you a bundle; here's how

What to do in the event of a data breach?

Even though it now appears there was no terrorist attack on a pump at an Illinois water utility, the SCADA infiltration scare was a reminder that data breaches can come from any number of angles.

Make BI business as usual

To get the most out of business intelligence projects, companies need a top-down commitment that permeates the entire organizational culture. At 1-800-Flowers.com, for example, achieving pervasive BI has been a 10-year commitment. (Insider,...

What are your risk managers thinking about?

Security looks at operational risk, but most big companies have officers called risk managers who actually buy insurance policies for the company. What's on their minds? If you run a security operation, you should know, because your work and...

InfoWorld review: Heroku cloud application platform

Heroku pairs rapid application deployment with a wealth of developer tools, but is light on manageability

InfoWorld review: Engine Yard Cloud

Engine Yard offers fine-grained control over all aspects of the environment, at the cost of speed and ease

CIOs Forge Vendor Collectives to Extract Business Benefits

Shell and other big businesses use their clout to get normally hyper-competitive vendors to work together on IT projects and reveal their R&D plans

The Inside Story of Why Puma Dumped Four Cloud Vendors for One

Puma simplified its cloud strategy and saved money by consolidating from using four cloud vendors down to just one. Here's what they did and why they did it.

Mobile mania spurs demand for unified communications

Unified communications isn't easy or cheap, but for companies that want to differentiate their customer service, it's becoming a must-have. Insider (registration required)

The cloud security checklist

Whether you're a small business relying on Google Docs for document sharing or an enterprise moving your global ERP system to the cloud, you should demand that some common security and compliance requirements are met by vendors providing...

Macs in your business: InfoWorld's expert management guide

As the Macintosh becomes a common tool in today's enterprise, IT has much to learn about effectively working with the Apple platform

Tech arguments: then and now

While standing around the water cooler in the IT department, perhaps you debate with a coworker about whether LinkedIn is better than Facebook. Or you argue with an end user about whether they can use their own device on the corporate network or can...

InfoWorld's guide to a successful BYOD and mobile IT strategy

The consumerization of IT trend's leading wave is the use of personal mobile technology, so a smart BYOD strategy lays the groundwork for a complete consumerization approach

Off to a Fast Start

There's heightened interest in agile BI, a rapid development methodology for creating BI systems that involves the end user as early and as often as possible -- and thus saves time and effort. Insider (registration required)

Exclusive Research Shows CIOs Embrace Consumerization of IT

With BlackBerry and Apple still leading the pack, and tablets and Android rising in the ranks, CIOs surveyed by CIO magazine are widely supporting employee-owned devices

Resume Makeover: How to Write an IT Executive Resume

Henry Cole has held his position as an IT manager with a global life sciences company for nearly eight years. Like all ambitious IT managers, he wants to move up to the executive level. Cole believes he's ready to step into an executive-level IT...

Enterprises slow to join voice-recognition surge

Questions remain about whether or when enterprises will start widely deploying voice-recognition technology on mobile devices, partly because internally developed, specialized apps would have to be built to overcome issues like background noise that...

Cisco how-to guides for firewalls, IPv6, contact centers and taking that security exam

If you're ready for a technical deep dive in a book, the Cisco Networking Technology Series provides that in its collection of volumes on topics that include Cisco firewalls, Cisco Unity Connection voice-messaging platform, Cisco Contact Center,...

How to get IPv6 addresses from ARIN

Now that IPv6 is imminent, you’ll need some IPv6 address space. Working with ARIN to request IPv6 differs from IPv4 procedures

Linux loses its luster as a darling among developers

The simplicity of Apple's OS X development tools, if not their price, is enticing enough to cause some developers to leave Linux behind. Insider (registration required)

Should social networks be blocked at work?

One of the biggest trends in IT is how consumer products have crept into the enterprise, and the trend extends to Internet services. The ingenious thing about social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn is that these consumer-oriented sites have...

Understand mobile security in seven stories or less (a survival guide)

A collection of articles to help you understand the mobile threat and plan your security program accordingly.

Alfresco: An open-source ECM alternative for SharePoint

In any business organization, the need to effectively communicate and collaborate in a timely manner is very important. Contending with mobile workers and shifting schedules, many businesses look toward enterprise content management (ECM) systems...

Hadoop creator expects surge in interest to continue

Doug Cutting, the creator of the open-source Hadoop framework that allows enterprises to store and analyze petabytes of unstructured data, is bullish on the future. Insider (registration required)

HP Concludes That Bigger Is Better

In opting not to get rid of its PC division, HP -- and new CEO Meg Whitman -- offered some insight about what type of company they think HP should be. Insider (registration required)

IBM Quietly Names a New CEO

IBM doesn't like drama -- and it proved that with its recent appointment of Virginia Rometty as its new CEO. Insider (registration required)

Big data goes mainstream

Like the cloud, the concept of 'big data' is the subject of a lot of hype and means different things to different people. Here's what it really means, who's really doing it, and what it could mean for the future of data mining. Insider (registration...

Linksys prevails in dual-band duel

Wireless routers are always something of a mystery. They combine a number of features into a single box and are usually complex to set up, but require little attention after that. 

Oracle's best-of-breed strategy, as described by president Mark Hurd

It used to be easy journalistic shorthand to write 'database-giant Oracle Corp.', but that labeling no longer fits a company that's now a key player in applications, appliances, servers, development tools, operating systems and, yes,...

Holiday shopping with personal devices at work could pose security risk

Workers plan to do more online holiday shopping this year while on the job, with many using their own smartphones and tablets. That's got IT managers worried, a survey shows. Insider (registration required)

How CIOs Build Bridges With Other C-Level Execs

Top-notch CIOs are boosting IT's reputation and forming stronger relationships with other business leaders

Smartphones, social media tied into ELERTS emergency system

Chris Russo, deputy fire chief in the Massachusetts coastal town of Hull, launches ELERTS, an emergency communication system that uses smartphones and social media to communicate with first responders and other emergency personnel.

3D chips: The next electronics revolution

Stacked silicon is being hailed as the wave of the future. Experts expect volume production in two years. Insider (registration required)

7 ways to do big data right using the cloud

There's a wealth of data out there companies can use to better understand customers and identify emerging business opportunities and threats. But how to access and work with all that data? An emerging type of service called data as a service, or...

How IT Helps Nissan Beat Chevy in the Electric Car Game

By overhauling its customer experience, Nissan was able to drive sales of its electric hatchback, the Leaf.

Prevent your systems from being hijacked: A quick guide

It's time to rethink some old, and now outdated, security truisms that enable a very scary kind of attack.

Windows 8: The InfoWorld Deep Dive report

Find out what Microsoft's forthcoming OS means for developers, admins, network security, mobile usage, and more in InfoWorld's comprehensive guide

68 great ideas for running a security department

Looking for inspiration? Want to learn a few new ways to elevate your security game? Can you spare five minutes to think strategically and long-term instead of just putting out another fire?

IT Consultant Resume Makeover: How to Land IT Management Jobs

There comes a time in many IT consultants' careers when they decide to exchange the trappings of their jet-set professional lives for a corporate IT job with more stability. For Sevin Straus, an IT consultant based in Chicago, that moment came...

Cloud security: Mission impossible

The term "cloud" connotes things floating around freely – which is not something you necessarily want your data doing. That is the common perception of cloud computing today, leaving many leery about trusting that their business-critical information...

Software Development Still a Risky Business

The path to better projects may be for software developers to become better people. An organizational psychologist contends that the source of project dysfunction is generally a project manager. Insider (registration required)

Test Aims to Disprove Data Center Dogma

In an experiment that began in January, decommissioned Trinity Health servers, networking gear and storage systems have been running outdoors in a simple shed without failure. Takeaway: IT equipment appears to be a lot tougher than conventional...

iPad 2 vs. business class tablets

Tech lovers have been flocking to the iPad 2 and other tablets in order to watch movies, read books, surf the Web and make video calls on the latest, greatest, thinnest, lightest, coolest devices. But where do tablets fit within the enterprise?

Forrester: Tech Changes to Expect in Next 3 Years

Business Intelligence tools, mobile apps and cloud application platforms are areas that will evolve and create significantly more business value between today and 2014, according to a new Forrester report on enterprise technology trends.

Steve Jobs' memory lives on

Apple founder Steve Jobs' death earlier this month brought forth an outpouring of remembrances from fanboys, industry leaders – even people who didn’t seem to realize they were fans of Steve Jobs.

NAS shoot-out: Iomega StorCenter px6-300d

Iomega's free and easy replication and remote access services put a shine on the StorCenter

NAS shoot-out: Thecus N5200XXX

The Thecus NAS is fast and flexible, but lacks the simplicity and ease that business users need

NAS shoot-out: Synology DiskStation DS1511+

The Synology hardware is solid and fast, but the software and cloud services lag leading competitors

How CIOs Can Benefit from Apple iOS 5, iCloud

Apple enterprise expert Aaron Freimark discusses email and iCloud sandboxing for iPhone and iPads running iOS 5.

Weaving BI into the corporate fabric

To get the most out of business intelligence projects, companies need a top-down commitment that permeates the entire organizational culture. At 1-800-Flowers.com, for example, achieving pervasive BI has been a 10-year commitment. Insider...

Dos and don'ts for next-gen firewalls

Plug it in and turn it on? Next-generation firewalls just aren't that simple. Here's advice from the experts on choosing the right device and getting the most it.

Excel 2010 cheat sheet

Have you come to Microsoft Excel 2010 by way of Excel 2007, or did you skip directly from Excel 2003 or an earlier version? Those in the former group are likely to have a very different upgrade experience from those in the latter group.

iPad vs. everyone

Apple's iPad 2 continues to dominate the tablet market, a market it essentially created on its own, though many competitors have arisen to try to knock off the king of the hill.

7 'MBA preferred' IT jobs

Among the 84,000 open tech positions currently listed on Dice.com, there are roughly 1,400 job listings that say an MBA is preferred, and they come from a variety of industries

SUSE Linux top exec: Interoperability is key

In this latest installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, SUSE president and GM Nils Brauckmann shared with IDGE Chief Content Officer John Gallant his views on the future of open source, his strategy for competing against Red Hat, and...

The Apple security survival guide

Attacks against the Mac are on the rise, and users need to know what they're up against to mount an effective defense. Here's a survival guide that will help.

4 valuable additions to your cloud security toolkit

If you ask IT execs why they're hesitant about moving to the public cloud, security comes up at the top of the list. But security vendors are responding to these concerns with a raft of new products. Here are four interesting cloud security tools...

Enterasys CEO: Total cost of ownership sets us apart

How's this for a challenge? The CEO dies suddenly and you're tabbed to take his place -- on the heels of your network infrastructure company entering into a major new strategic partnership and in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the...

Who's who in IPv6: the companies and people leading the way

IPv6 is on the minds of every network professional these days, and rightly so. While some vendors and service providers are woefully behind, others are leading the charge. We asked well-known IPv6 expert Ed Horley to name these leaders. Horley is...

Making iPads Enterprise Ready

Apple has unwittingly become an enterprise player, says Edward ­Marczak, author and executive editor of MacTech magazine. The company is leading the trend toward IT consumerization as users become attached to their iPads and iPhones and IT...

EGuide: Financial services, an industry on the vanguard

Companies throughout the financial services industry are engaged in massive changes on the technology front -- they're embracing mobile systems, social media, real-time processing and more. The smart ones see the shifts as ripe opportunities for...

The new Novell

Novell, which was acquired by The Attachmate Group in April, wants to regain its status as an IT icon and will try to do so by focusing its efforts on its core assets and rebuilding relationships with its huge installed base. Network World Editor in...

Build BI tools fast with agile approach

There's heightened interest in agile BI, a rapid development methodology for creating BI systems that involves the end user as early and as often as possible -- and thus saves time and effort. Insider (registration required)

IT job search: An expert guide

In this PDF guide, we’ve collected the most insightful IT job search information from across our sister publications. It examines what skills are in demand and looks at where tomorrow’s IT jobs may be.

TIBCO CEO: How Real-Time Computing Will Change the Landscape

Vivek Ranadive is not only the chief executive officer of TIBCO Software, Inc., he's a New York Times bestselling author (of works like The Power of Now, The Power to Predict and the recently released The Two-Second Advantage: How We Succeed by...

Stock awards, bonuses add up to big pay packages for CIOs

Not all IT pros are feeling a compensation crunch. In the highest echelons at some of the largest public companies in the U.S., CIOs and senior IT leader are making millions. Just how much? Enough to rank among a company's most highly paid...

Android: An expert guide

Google’s Android platform in a short time has become a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone world, and its success raises all sorts of questions for IT professionals.

How the iPad is changing work, and working together

In the enterprise, the iPad seems to have a liberating effect on the way people work, and how they engage with each other. It has less to do with CPU cycles and RAM and more with the touch UI, dimensions and weight, and battery life. Here's why.

Recoup with data dedupe

Backing up servers and workstations to tape can be a cumbersome process, and restoring data from tape even more so. While backing up to disk-based storage is faster and easier, and probably more reliable, it can also be more expensive.

Linux Foundation chief talks about Torvalds' leadership, HTML5 and mobile's future

As the executive director of the Linux Foundation, Jim Zemlin is frequently asked to forecast the future of the IT industry. While he's happy to do so, he's the first to admit that he could be wrong. He joked in his opening remarks at LinuxCon 2011...

Acme Packet: 'We're building a signaling system for the Internet'

Not familiar with the terms "session border controller" or "session delivery network"? Don't worry. Andy Ory, CEO of fast-growing Bedford, Mass.-based Acme Packet, is more than happy to share his passionate vision of how SBCs and SDNs -- and the...

Windows 7 rollouts without the pain

Migrating to the next version of Windows can be a painful exercise for enterprise IT departments. That said, with support for Windows XP ending and with hardware refresh cycles kicking in, the move to Win 7 is unavoidable for most enterprises.

Pillars of Python: Django Web Framework

Django combines excellent backward compatibility, good admin tools, and a focus on developer ease

Pillars of Python: Pyramid Web Framework

Built on the foundation of repoze.bfg, Pyramid is powerfully flexible but takes time to figure out

Pillars of Python: Web2py Web Framework

Web2py combines abundant features and powerful tools, backed by excellent documentation

Pillars of Python: Zope 2 Web Framework

Zope 2 provides everything you need in one package, including the database and development environment

Pillars of Python: Web.Py Web Framework

Web.py is a well-balanced, minimalist framework that's easy to install and easy to learn

Pillars of Python: CubicWeb Web Framework

CubicWeb tackles rapid Web app development with modular components and object reuse

Drug Maker Fixes Supply Chain With Social Tools

Generic drug maker Ratiopharm, now part of Teva Canada, turned to social networking tools to solve communication problems that choked its supply chain and made it difficult to respond to fluctuations in customer demand.

Cloud Fears Are Overblown, Says U.S. CIO

Outgoing federal CIO Vivek Kundra believes that concerns about cloud security have been exaggerated in part to discourage cloud migrations that would take business away from traditional IT vendors. Such fears haven't stopped the Department of...

Chapter 1: Introducing Opalis Integration Server 6.3

Excerpt from System Center Opalis Integration Server 6.3 Unleashed

Michael Dell: We're a 'solutions' company

In an exclusive interview, CEO Michael Dell talks about his company's new direction and its plans to serve a diverse midmarket

How to implement IPv6 in a Windows environment: an expert guide

Microsoft guru Rand Morimoto has come to the rescue with a comprehensive series of technical articles covering everything on setting up an IPv6 network with Windows and other Microsoft products, from the basics to the details.

Microsoft patching: Still painful after all these years

The spring of 2011 has seen some of the largest Microsoft Patch Tuesdays ever.  In April, Microsoft tied its all-time record with 17 updates that fixed 64 vulnerabilities.  In June, the company issued another biggie, with 16 updates that fixed 34...

Cloud Cures Hospital's Ailing Email System

Grady Health Systems recently installed a cloud-based version of Microsoft Exchange to update an email service that had become a huge headache for the company's medical staff and IT team.

YouTube for the Enterprise

Streaming video has emerged as yet another form of enterprise content that has to be managed.

WLAN management takes to the cloud

The cloud is everywhere today, offering the possibility of all manner of IT functions on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. In this test, we looked at three companies that provide WLAN management services in the cloud, and we came away impressed.

Riverbed Whitewater: Data deduplication for cloud storage

Strong data deduplication and built-in support for key cloud storage providers reduce online storage needs while maximizing data protection

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 vs. Motion CL900

New tablets from Fujitsu and Motion Computing provide companies with Windows 7 systems in ruggedized, enterprise-level devices.

Cloud computing presents new challenges for management software

The cloud is revolutionizing networking, and this overhaul presents enormous challenges for IT managers who are used to being able to see, monitor and control their networks and systems.

Guide to cloud management software

When it comes to cloud computing, management software can no longer be an afterthought – it has to be a part of the implementation, part of the very decision on how best to integrate cloud capabilities into your IT architecture. This guide...

WiMax: It's good for a lot more than consumer handsets

While WiMax has lost the battle to be the 4G technology of choice for most U.S. consumer handsets, it's still alive and kicking in the enterprise market.

Time to Put Your Money on Mobile

If you're not shifting your IT budget into the mobile Web, you're at a competitive disadvantage

How to Be a Better Leader in a Disaster

From Japan's triple disaster to tornadoes in the United States, catastrophe can strike anywhere. And when it does, your leadership will matter more than the specifics of your business-continuity plan. CIOs who have been through earthquakes and more...

SaaS and IaaS: Expert guide

Two types of cloud computing - software as a service (SaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) – promise to bring great changes to the role of IT in the enterprise. IT professionals really need to learn how to talk the talk when it comes to SaaS...

Tips for navigating the evolving wireless LAN landscape

The influx of mobile clients is accelerating an IT rethink of wireless LAN design and operations.

Do you know where your security holes are?

We all worry that there's some lurking security problem in our servers. We do what we can, patching, following best practices, keeping up-to-date with training and news. But wouldn't it be great to have an automated tool to check our work? That's...

Vulnerability management tools in a nutshell

We tested FusionVM in its software-as-a-service configuration, giving us a portal-based vulnerability analyzer with off-site and on-site scanner capability. (Critical Watch offers other packagings which are entirely on-site if needed.)

Windows 7 migration: Tips and tricks

Guide covers all the bases of migrating to Windows 7, from expert tips to vendor tools to make it easier.

Verizon's latest LTE expansion: 5 things you should know

Now that Verizon has fired up its LTE network in the major U.S. cities, the carrier can now concentrate on the midsize metropolitan areas.

Why CIOs Should Care About Privacy

Customers will judge your company's competence according to how well you protect their data, says Don Peppers, co-founder of customer relationship advisory firm Peppers & Rogers Group. CIOs are on the front line.

What CFOs Need to Hear about Cloud Computing, Consumer IT

Cloud computing and consumerization of IT change how you buy and budget for technology. Here's how to talk about it with the CFO.

Securing Volly: A Pitney Bowes challenge

Ensuring the strongest possible security is one of Pitney Bowes main priorities -- and challenges -- in implementing Volly and planning the infrastructure that will support it.

VMware CEO: What we plan for the post-PC era

Paul Maritz, CEO of VMware, sees virtualization as one piece of the platform VMware intends to offer a mobile, cloud-enabled world

VW's 'Rolling Computers' Need Fresh IT Insight

Volkswagen is realigning its IT operation so it can play a bigger role in the automaker's effort to build a new generation of cars that are infused with intelligence, connectivity and many other new capabilities.

MS Web Application Configuration Analyzer

Defeat hackers by running the Microsoft Web Application Configuration Analyzer with the same security checks that Microsoft uses on its own servers

How ALPS Advisors founds its log management groove

Case study: Log management is a vital piece of compliance. Here's how one mutual fund administration company figured out the best approach.

How to Turn a Great IT Idea Into a Commercial Success

Entrepreneurial CIOs at Union Pacific, FedEx and other companies tell how they're transforming internal IT into revenue-generating products

CIO of 2014: Venture Capitalist, Orchestra Conductor & More

Managing technology is becoming less important to the CIO role than managing change. You can already see it happening.

Instant Expert: All you need to know about OpenFlow

You've heard of OpenFlow. You may have heard it's going to revolutionize routing. But do you know anything about it, really? Get the scoop in this Insider report.

Protocol analyzers: Dos and don'ts

As with any tool, protocol analyzers need skilled implementation. Here is advice from the front lines.

Google Adds Netbook to IT Toolbox

Google took another step toward the enterprise with the unveiling of the Chrome OS-based Chromebook netbook PC.

Get Into the M&A Game

Don't get left out of corporate merger-and-acquisition discussions. CIOs can play a big role in making sure the deals produce the intended benefits.

How to protect smartphones and tablets

Managing mobile devices entails a level of complexity unheard of in the traditional enterprise world of Windows desktops. MDM software needs to control devices from multiple manufacturers, running different versions of as many as five operating...

How to transform your data center for cloud computing: an expert guide

Learn how to prepare your data center for the transformation to cloud computing.

Global telecom gets a lesson in business continuity

Orange Business Services, a unit of France Telecom that provides communications services for multinational customers around the world, recently found out just how vital business continuity is.

Ireland hopes security measures attract big cloud providers

IDA Ireland, the state agency that is soliciting cloud providers, touts the country's youthful, well-educated and skilled labor force, attractive tax policy, business-friendly climate, access to markets throughout the European Union -- and its...

Microsoft's cloud licensing changes: what you need to know

Microsoft will soon let customers use their current licenses to move workloads to the cloud. Here's how it works.

IT Value Is Dead. Long Live Business Value.

Business outcomes from technology investments are all that really matter. The CIO's challenge is finding new ways to prove IT's worth.

How to End an IT Turf War

Sports Authority's CIO put a stop to finger-pointing and backbiting

Microsoft Exchange-to-Google Apps migration survival guide

Switching from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps may have many benefits, but the journey is definitely not the reward

Google Apps Tops Exchange at Cinram

When manufacturing firm Cinram International migrated from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps, the company saw 'a night-and-day difference' in the cost of the systems and the vendors' customer service.

Amazon Service Outage Reinforces Cloud Doubts

The days-long partial outage of Amazon.com's EC2 cloud service has heightened fears that the technology doesn't meet the security and performance needs of large businesses.

Open Source's People Problem

More companies are turning to open source, but they're also struggling to develop in-house open-source skills while keeping training costs down.

Open Source Unchecked

More than two-thirds of respondents to Computerworld's recent open-source survey reported that they don't have a written open-source governance plan. Yet experts say that, without one, hidden costs can multiply.

Book excerpt from IPv6 for Enterprise Networks

Chapter 3: Common IPv6 Coexistence Mechanisms

New ways of sharing your company's story and products

A new crop of software tools lets Volkswagen and other companies show their wares to customers in 3D and more effectively train service techs.

Book excerpt from IPv6 for Enterprise Networks

This chapter discusses the following: Internet evolution and the need for IPv6, IPv6 in the IETF, Enterprise IPv6 deployment status, and IPv4 Address Exhaustion and the Workaround Options.

Why You Should Stop Worrying and Let End Users Have iPads

When employees have technology they like, they'll make themselves productive in ways you never dreamed. So let them have their iPads and Android tablets.

Virtualization leaps to apps, mobile devices and databases

How virtualization technology is making the jump from the server realm into the application, mobile and database worlds.

Top Tech Vendors Renew Cloud Push

As the market for cloud services grows, big enterprise IT vendors are moving swiftly to develop cloud offerings that can attract the attention of large enterprises that have so far been slow to embrace the technology.

5 legal gotchas in the cloud

Don't sign a cloud computing contract until you consider five areas that are fraught with risk in the cloud. The red flags include not only data security and privacy, but also e-discovery, search warrants and jurisdictional issues.

Facebook Reveals Its Data Center Secrets

Facebook is sharing some of the secrets that help make the custom-built servers and power systems in its Prineville, Ore., data center among the most efficient in the world.

CloudShare ProPlus makes app testing a snap

CloudShare ProPlus allows businesses to try out applications safely and easily using their own private cloud.

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization

Red Hat's server virtualization solution mixes ease and scalability with a few odd limitations

Virtualization shoot-out: VMware vSphere

The world's leading server virtualization platform is still tops in performance, scalability, and advanced features

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V

Microsoft's server virtualization platform pairs good performance with extensive management, at the cost of significant added complexity

Virtualization shoot-out: Citrix XenServer

Citrix tackles server virtualization with a fast hypervisor and enterprise features, but leaves a few rough edges

WhitePages goes to the cloud, security issues linger

To feel comfortable using cloud-based offerings such as software-as-a-service, WhitePages needed to address its concerns about security.

How the Cloud Can Turn Toxic

Technology attorney Matthew Karlyn tells CIOs how to avoid poisonous cloud contracts

Internet2 milestones

Internet2 has been around for 15 years, but it’s roots go back to NFSnet, which was officially turned on in 1986. Here are some other key moments in the history of Internet2.

LANDesk CEO talks up 'end user in' strategy

LANDesk Software CEO Steve Daly says success in managing and securing your IT environment means managing from the 'end user in,' not from the data center out.

Meru Networks: Closing in on the all-wireless enterprise network

In this installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, Meru President and Ihab Abu-Hakima speaks with IDGE Chief Content Officer John Gallant about what sets Meru apart from bigger competitors with broader networking product lines such as...

Oracle's Itanium Move Shakes Up IT Agendas

Oracle's decision to stop developing software for Itanium-based machines could force IT managers to launch expensive hardware and/or software upgrades.

IT Looks for New Tools to Exploit 'Big Data'

Some companies are starting use new tools to analyze so-called big data to find ways to better keep track of the activities, habits and whereabouts of their online customers.

Vyatta readies for virtual machine explosion

Vyatta wants to turn the network hardware world on its head by delivering Layer-3-and-up network functions on standard Intel x86 hardware, achieving breathtaking cost savings.

QlikTech CEO's Weapon: Frustration With Big BI

Business users often watch as IT deploys costly, complex BI programs that take months to arrive -- then fail to deliver the needed insights. QlikTech CEO Lars Bjork says you don't have to take it anymore. In this Q&A, he explains how his company's...

How to Move E-mail to the Cloud: 7 Planning Tips

Cloud computing providers can take enterprise e-mail off your to-do list, but how can you ensure a smooth transition? Forrester Research shares seven best practices.

Hosting firm taps software-based net tool to add granular cloud controls

Carpathia Hosting Inc., a provider of managed hosting services, recently added support for Vyatta software network appliances in its cloud service. The Vyatta net tools introduce an interesting new dimension to cloud computing because they can be...

You Can't Use a Smartphone for Everything

The types of devices you give your colleagues and the way you deliver data have an impact on how they understand information. Business-focused CIOs learn how people in their organizations think, so they can apply the right technology to spark better...

How Kelly Services manages risk in the cloud

CSO contributor Bob Violino recently interviewed Rosie Rivel, senior manager of IT global risk and compliance at Kelly, regarding risk and the cloud.

iPad 2 Provokes Anxiety in IT

IT executives expect their support requirements to increase significantly once workers begin using the iPad 2 on the job.

NetSuite's CEO cashes in on cloud mania

An exclusive interview with Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, reveals the challenges and rewards of being the leading ERP-as-a-service provider

12 tutorials for making the most of iPhones at work

Many businesses have begun embracing the Apple iPhone and other smartphones, either supplying workers with the devices or enabling employees to hook up their personal phones to the corporate network. With the iPhone 4 now available from Verizon and...

HP's Leo Apotheker: We're heading to the cloud

In an exclusive interview, HP's new CEO expands on his strategy and offers frank assessments of his competition

Superior storage for small networks

A small-business NAS with Big Iron roots, Netgear's ReadyNAS is full-featured and flexible, with options for SOHO users up through enterprise workgroups

Symantec's Salem: Cloud was game-changer for us

Symantec Corp. CEO Enrique Salem outlines why 03 is such a critical initiative for the company, and how cloud and virtualization changed the security threat landscape and the business opportunities for Symantec.

LinkedIn Search: Ways to Maximize Social Networking Success

For everything from finding connections at specific companies to applying for a job that meets all your criteria, here's how you can get the most form LinkedIn's people, company and job search capabilities.

Cross-Ocean Clouds Are Gaining IT Favor

Concerns about latency and questions about legal and regulatory issues aren't stopping CIOs from moving key systems to the cloud, even if it means using applications that are hosted in data centers located overseas.

SSD Security Issues Surprise Experts

Many storage and security experts were surprised by a UC San Diego study that found that solid-state drives are harder to erase than hard disk drives.

Sweet-Spot Pricing

Price optimization software, which helps calculate demand for products or services at different price points, is maturing, with off-the-shelf options and easy-to-understand dashboards.

New security tools protect virtual machines

As enterprises move towards virtualizing more of their servers and data center infrastructure, the security technologies that are plentiful and commonplace in the physical world become few and far between.

SonicWall CEO: Application awareness crucial for IT security

SonicWall once focused on small and midsize businesses, but its introduction earlier this year of a next-generation firewall line dubbed SuperMassive leaves no doubt that the company is now taking aim at larger enterprises. In fact, the...

Dell Opteron server packs plenty of punch

Dual-processor Dell PowerEdge R715 scores big on performance, features, and bang for the buck

Book excerpt from VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise

Excerpt from VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise: Planning Deployment of Virtualization Servers, 2nd Edition, by Edward Haletky.

Four Kinds of IT Professionals CIOs Need to Hire Now

Developers of mobile, social media and collaboration apps. Business experts. Cloud-vendor managers. Masters of unstructured data. Why these IT professionals are essential to maintaining your company's competitive edge.

Four Ways to Mitigate Mobile and Cloud Data Leaks

Your CEO may be paranoid about WikiLeaks, but his mobile device and cloud computing are the real threats to corporate security

Chevron, TD Bank Hope to Tap Tablets' Potential

IT executives at Chevron and TD Bank are testing whether tablets like Apple's iPad and the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook can be used to improve decision-making processes in their companies.

Windows Small Business Server 2011 shines

Microsoft's affordable bundle of Exchange, SharePoint, easy remote access, and integrated management continues to be a great platform on which to build a small business

Rack-mount QNAP storage server packs a wallop

With redundant power supplies, extensive backup options, and a wealth of handy features, the low-cost, multilingual QNAP TS-859U-RP offers flexible network storage to smaller shops

Will cloud backup services finally put tape backups in trash can?

While technologies exist to vastly improve backup and recovery processes, many enterprises have delayed modernizing their backup infrastructure. Now a confluence of factors - greater storage demands, the need for faster disaster recovery, and the...

Iron Mountain wins email archiving test

In the opening round of this two-part series, we tested seven leading e-mail archiving products. This time, we're applying the same test methodology to four additional products.

Angry employees tattling on companies that violate software licenses

Software piracy by IT professionals is rampant, according to a survey of 200 IT professionals on IT Ethics conducted by Network World. While 89% of respondents said it was unethical for an IT employee to make the company fall out of compliance with...

Cheating rampant on cert tests, software compliance

Do most IT workers think it's unethical to study for a certification exam with stolen exam questions (so-called brain dumps)? Is it OK to buy used gear from an unauthorized dealer? How about new gear? What about gear falsely sporting a brand name...

As IT consumes more power, new tools emerge to control it

An emerging class of so-called Data Center Infrastructure Management tools are emerging from a variety of vendors as CIOs increasingly seek technology that provides a complete view of their data center infrastructure.

F5 Networks gunning for even more data center control

Interview with John McAdam, CEO of F5 Networks, which has managed to garner nearly half of the Layer 4-7 switching market.

Security startup hopes it holds key for cloud encryption

James Williamson, IT coordinator at the New Canadian Democratic Party (NPD), on the ups and downs of storage, data protection and regulatory compliance in the cloud.

Cloud Computing in 2011: 3 Trends Changing Business Adoption

The various cloud markets and services will start making more sense to business buyers in 2011, according to a new Forrester report, with the midmarket embracing public clouds and enterprises sticking with virtualization as a prelude to private...

EMC's strategy goes deep in the cloud, sees IT as a service

At its 2011 Strategic Forum in Boston today, EMC laid out its vision for virtualizing its customers' underlying infrastructure to give them a flexible and automated way to serve up applications and data.

CIO Watch: New CIOs at Boeing, Heinz, JCPenney and Lowe's

The CIOs at Boeing and JCPenney moved up the corporate ladder last month, opening spots for new CIOs. Meanwhile, financially troubled Borders lost its CIO after just 21 months.

Survey says: Bad alignments hamper app management

A recently completed NetForecast/Network World survey of application performance management (APM) practices has uncovered serious gaps between the performance attributes IT managers cite as important to measure, and those they actually do measure.

Calculated Risk

CIOs can't count on a well-timed act of nature to convince executives to invest more in business continuity and disaster recovery. But they're getting better at quantifying the risk and impact of a business disruption.

Chorus makes mainframes manageable

CA's Chorus allows companies that use 3270 terminals to access data in a more useable browser-based interface.

Hands on: eCopy ShareScan Suite

Nuance's eCopy ShareScan Suite offers a number of powerful tools to help companies track and store scanned documents.

Book excerpt from AAA Identity Management Security

Chapter 4: Getting Familiar with ACS 5.1

FBI CIO's Mission: Modernize

When he joined the FBI from Lehman Brothers, Chad Fulgham inherited an obsolete IT infrastructure and major project on the brink of failure. Two years later, agents have BlackBerrys and SharePoint, but the work isn't finished.

Fabulous PHP frameworks: Zend Framework

The Zend Framework offers a comprehensive feature set and popular components in return for a significant time investment

Deep dive: Flat networks are the future

A large flat layer 2 network is the key to a new unified fabric data center. The idea is that everything in the data center - servers, appliances and storage - should be part of one big flat layer 2 structure.

Fabulous PHP frameworks: Symfony

Symfony offers extensive features such as excellent debugging and logging, but the learning curve is steeper than most

Exec Exits Bad News for Microsoft Techies

The departure of longtime Microsoft executive Bob Muglia could prove troubling because the head of the Server and Tools Business was held in high esteem by the company's technical talent, industry watchers say.

Social Media Careers: 3 Hot Jobs and Resume Tips

Social media career job opportunities tripled in 2010, as compared to 2009. Here's what you need to know about 3 hot positions, plus expert do's and don'ts when you're applying for social media jobs.

New CIO cleans up outsourced IT at Clorox

The Clorox company brought in a new CIO to re-establish control of the company’s tech direction, bring IT up to date and generate business value.

LTE in 2011: Curb your enthusiasm

So now that both Verizon and AT&T are launching LTE services this year, you should rush out to invest in 4G data plans and devices for your employees, right? Well, not so fast.

Microsoft beefs up System Center with new module

Service Manager 2010 is the new workflow and incident response module that's been added to the Microsoft System Center suite of management applications. Conceptually, it's a process control application with two faces: a management console for...

Microsoft delivers powerful enterprise backup tool

Microsoft's flagship backup and archiving software, Data Protection Manager, has come a long way since we first tested it in 2005.

Decoy networks, separation tactics part of AT&T security chief's infrastructure protection plans

As chief security officer at AT&T, Edward Amoroso has long observed how cyberattacks impact customer and service-provider networks. In his newly published book, Amoroso says it's time to unite to create the equivalent of a national cyber-protection...

Microsoft Office 2010 Upgrades: Four Pitfalls to Avoid

From training worries to compatibility woes, fears of business disruption can spread when IT announces a Microsoft Office 2010 upgrade. Here's how IT can steer clear of four big upgrade mistakes.

IBM doubles down on business analytics

Billions of dollars, millions of man-hours, and thousands of projects at IBM are all focused on the same thing: turning scads of enterprise data into useful information.

Business Apps Target Consumer Devices

Traditional enterprise software vendors are building tools that let people use consumer-oriented devices on the job.

IT Help Desk Calls Up Again in 2010

Despite claims that IT systems are getting easier to use and manage, more people are calling help desks than ever before -- and companies are cutting back on support personnel, according to recent surveys.

Social engineering attacks: Highlights from 2010

There were some disturbing results from a capture-the-flag-style contest held at this summer's DefCon security conference. The CTF exercise--called "How Strong Is Your Schmooze?"--was an attempt to raise awareness about social engineering, or human...

State of the CIO: IT Departments Are Fueling Company Growth

CIOs are investing in projects to improve staff productivity, make business processes more efficient and promote innovation. These activities signal the retrenchment that ruled during the Great Recession is, thankfully, over.

Theft conviction sends star CIO back to prison

Former Auto Warehousing Co. CIO Dale Frantz was a rising star at the company and in the IT industry, but he was also a thief. He was sentenced this month to serve nearly six years in prison for embezzling more than $500,000 from the company.

Job Prospects Improve for Some Tech Workers

Job prospects appear to be looking up for IT professionals, as multiple surveys suggest that large companies expect to slowly add staff next year.

Private clouds: Not for the faint of heart

If you're thinking about operating a private cloud, you'll need management software to help create a virtualized pool of compute resources, provide access to end users, and handle security, resource allocation, tracking and billing.

How does IT measure up in your organization?

Are you content with the way IT is viewed in your organization? If not, you need to study the work of Dr. George Westerman, a Research Scientist in MIT Sloan's Center for Digital Business (CDB), who suggests you rethink the metrics you measure and...

How Botox Battles Compliance Wrinkles

A BPM overhaul saved the day after legal issues complicated compliance at Botox-maker Allergan.

What's beyond 10G Ethernet?

So 10G Ethernet is now taking off - 10G accounts for roughly 25% of the overall $18 billion Ethernet switching market and the growth trajectory is only up from there.

5 Things You Need to Know about BYO Tech

The "Bring Your Own PC" trend has expanded to become Bring Your Own Device as end users walk smartphones, tablets and some IT management headaches into the enterprise. Here's a guide to five key BYOD issues, to help you plan wisely and head off...

How to reduce WAN costs

There are basically two ways to cut WAN costs: reduce the amount of bandwidth used or find somebody who sells cheaper bandwidth.

Verdict in Oracle-SAP suit poses threat to IT

Users and analysts say Oracle's $1.3 billion victory in its lawsuit charging SAP with intellectual property theft could cause problems for enterprise users and for the third-party support industry.

Novell users seek answers following $2.2B sale to Attachmate

Novell users have questions following the company's $2.2 billion sale to Attachmate, in addition to concerns about Microsoft's true role in the deal.

Favorite cheap network tools

We asked our bloggers to give us a list of the free or nearly free network tools they love. They had tons of them, ranging from ways to track network device configurations to ways to keep data synched between multiple devices.

Windows 7 Upgrades: Six Steps to Getting Your Apps Ready

When migrating to Windows 7, IT pros need to understand what business applications are truly being used, which need fixing and which are compatible with Windows 7. Here are six steps every IT organization should take when preparing apps for Windows...

Managing smartphones calls for new realism and flexibility

Enterprises are rapidly adopting modern smartphone platforms. But these operating systems vary widely in how manageable they are. IT groups need a new realism and a new flexibility to proactively support what's becoming a critical business resource.

Best NAS boxes for less than $1,000

Buffalo shattered the $1,000 barrier for a terabyte of shared storage back in 2005. With storage prices continuing to drop, that same $1,000 today can buy a four or even five terabyte network attached storage (NAS) device with RAID 5 disk...

Westmere-based Dell Precision workstation wows

Intel's new six-core chip delivers even more processing power to midrange workstations

What you should know about Next Generation Firewalls

So what is the so-called Next Generation Firewall?

Best BlackBerry Battery-Saving Tips: Master Class

The longer your smartphone lasts on a single charge, the better, right? CIO.com's mobile expert Al Sacco details the techniques power users swear by to boost BlackBerry longevity.

11 Hot ERP Topics for 2011: Analysis and Predictions

From courtroom trials to executive shake-ups, 2010 was quite a year for the ERP marketplace. But 2011 has even more drama in store: Here's our analysis of the key problems, players and products.

Microsoft Lync 2010 puts the "U" in UC

Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 R2, which was released in early 2009, does a credible job of providing presence awareness, instant messaging, conferencing and voice capabilities. Still, these services aren't always integrated, and...

Data breaches: 4 fundamental ways to shore up your defenses

If you're like most IT professionals, you constantly feel as if you should be paying more attention to security. But it's tough to find the time, budget and staff to do the best job possible.

Inside 4 Companies Facebook and Twitter Strategies

Capturing customer data and building communities on Facebook and Twitter isn't easy. Learn how four CIOs are integrating social media with business data to draw more attention to their companies' products and deliver better service.

Obama softens his stance on offshoring

During a trip to India, President Barack Obama acknowledged that offshoring is part of international trade, and instead of complaining about jobs moving to Bangalore, he offered an optimistic message to India's leaders, emphasizing how trade...

Ultimate endpoint management tools

Desktop virtualization, Web apps, software as a service, and an increasingly mobile user base have created new challenges when it comes to endpoint management. Nonetheless, there are still some constants – endpoints need to be deployed, configured,...

Alternatives to Apple App Store, For Enterprises

Apple's App Store and iTunes are great for consumers but kludgy for companies. Yet only recently have enterprises been able to find an enterprise app store of their own -- for better mobile app deployment and management.

Smartphone and iPad-crazy enterprises playing right into Aruba Networks' hands

The influx of smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices into businesses is making many employees more productive, but Aruba Networks is seeing firsthand how much strain all of this newfound mobility is putting on the enterprise IT and security...

How to Use Twitter to Network at Conferences: 5 Tips

Even if you're shy, you can use Twitter to maximize networking opportunities at your next conference. Check out our tips on how to build buzz, be remembered and be valued.

Stratus CEO looks to offer high availability to the masses

Stratus Technologies has earned high marks for delivering fault-tolerant computing, but with the rollout of Stratus Avance CEO David Laurello is pouncing on an opportunity to expand beyond the company's existing market niche.

Microsoft Lync: Take to the cloud or keep it in-house?

Cloud-based Lync won't be immediately available, but could eventually be a viable alternative to in-house software.

HoneyPoint: Honeypot for Windows, Linux or Mac

HoneyPoint Security Server combines multiplatform support, unique features, and limitations

ERP gone bad: Lessons from real-world failures

Spectacular flameouts have much to teach managers about the right way to run projects

39 free security software tools

Security software is a real free-for-all these days.

Brocade CEO says Ethernet fabrics will undermine Cisco's dominance

Brocade swallowed Foundry Networks a few years ago and has been hard at work ever since marrying the best of Brocade's storage network assets with Foundry's high-end Ethernet network tech. The result, says CEO Michael Klayko, is an emerging product...

Data analytics requirements push database tech to limits

Emerging business analytics needs are exposing limitations in traditional database management technologies and fueling the growth of highly specialized analytics platforms, according to a report by two leading industry analysts.

Windows 7 Migrations: Tips for Getting the Timing Right

When is the best time to roll out Windows 7 to your enterprise? Consider this expert advice.

Ozzie urges Microsoft to simplify, move to cloud

Departing Microsoft exec Ray Ozzie is leaving behind a communique expanding on his 2005 call for Microsoft to further eschew the PC-centric world and push further into cloud computing or slowly wither away.

Cisco VP talks of data center strategy

Cisco Vice President of IT John Manville discusses the company's data center makeover strategy, the migration to the company's own Unified Computing System, the benefits of cloud and the new IT organizational structure with Network World Editor in...

30 Must-Have iPad Apps for New Owners

So, you’ve received an iPad for the holidays, or are planning to get one or buy one. Now that you have the device, the next big decision you need to make is, “What do I put on this thing?” With thousands of apps to choose from, figuring out which...

CEO Interview: Blue Coat Systems Mike Borman

In a candid discussion, brand-new CEO Mike Borman lays out his plans for WAN and network security vendor Blue Coat

Latest Azure enhancements may tempt more developers

Last week's Professional Development Conference brought new Azure features that might garner critical mass for Microsoft's still-fledgling cloud service.

Using BI to Predict Harry Potter DVD Sales

It's not magic. Business intelligence is helping Warner Bros. make more accurate sales forecasts for the upcoming Harry Potter DVD.

What’s Next for the CIO Role

Lori Beer can talk technology as well as any IT staffer. While rising through the ranks to executive vice president and CIO at insurance giant WellPoint, she could dive into any discussion about software development or hardware standards. But her...

Republican CIO wins U.S. House seat in Ohio

Check out the debut of our exclusive column about the comings, goings, ups and downs of CIOs.

How to improve WAN performance

The performance of applications across the WAN are beset by a range of problems – latency, congestion, chatty applications, contention with other apps, low bandwidth – that can be addressed in a variety of ways.

Emerging Tech: Disaster-Proof Your Mobile App Before Rollout

Will your new mobile enterprise app crumble under the weight of poor design and performance when you roll it out? Automated testing solutions for mobile apps are coming to market.

Computerworld's Salary Survey and Best Places to Work

We asked, and you answered. As our thank-you, here are two of our signature research pieces for you to download and share among friends and colleagues.

BlackBerry How-To: Downgrade the OS on Your RIM Smartphone

CIO.com's Al Sacco offers up this step-by-step tutorial on how to "downgrade" or return to an older version of the OS software on a BlackBerry smartphone.

InfoWorld review: Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 gains ground

Microsoft's new productivity suite for the Mac doesn't match Office 2010 for Windows, but a new ribbon interface, Outlook client, and SharePoint integration help close the gap

Are Apple's iPhone and iPad relevant to enterprises?

The conventional wisdom is that enterprises aren't impressed by Apple's shiny iDevices, perceiving them as a consumer play. Is that a fair assessment? And if so, could it change in the foreseeable future?

Selecting the right cloud: A step-by-step guide

An architectural approach for savvy enterprise adoption of public cloud computing

IT Seeks a Safe Road to the Cloud

A panoply of emerging cloud services is offering IT executives alternatives to things like in-house ERP deployments and the need to hire consultants to solve data integration problems. But CIOs say they are moving slowly to avoid potential security...

IT Seeks a Safe Road to the Cloud

A panoply of emerging cloud services is offering IT executives alternatives to things like in-house ERP deployments and the need to hire consultants to solve data integration problems. But CIOs say they are moving slowly to avoid potential security...

Computerworld Salary Survey and Best Places to Work reports

We asked, and you answered. As our thank-you, here are two of our signature research pieces for you to download and share among friends and colleagues.

The best new features in Office 2010

InfoWorld's expert reveals the top 25 new features and provides free QuickStart PDF guides for each major Microsoft Office application

Macbook Air could foretell death of hard drives

Apple's decision to use SSD technology rather than a hard drive in the new Macbook Air -- and Steve Jobs' pronouncement that it represents the future of notebooks -- could hasten the replacement of traditional drives with NAND flash technology.

EPIC gives Obama administration mediocre privacy grades

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has given the Obama Administration mediocre grades in its second annual privacy report card released this week.

Google fixes 11 Chrome flaws, debuts stable version 7

Google patched 11 vulnerabilities in Chrome on Thursday as it updated the browser to version 7.

Book excerpt from NX-OS and Cisco Nexus Switching

Chapter 1: Introduction to Cisco NX-OS

Putting cloud services to the test

Cloud computing is the hottest topic in networking today so we conducted a series of groundbreaking tests to see just how real this stuff is.

Putting 802.11n wireless network products to the test

Wireless networks are invading the enterprise, so in this series of tests we look at the hardware and software required for a full-blown enterprise WLAN. Tests in this handy PDF reference include: the largest 802.11n test ever conducted; a test of...

Putting Microsoft's top tools to the test

Microsoft is essentially refreshing its entire line of desktop and server operating systems, productivity apps and security tools. We've tested a number of the new products, including SharePoint Server 2010, Office 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2, Windows...

Putting virtualization products to the test

When it comes to virtualization the benefits are huge, the options plentiful and the issues – particularly when it comes to security and management – profound. In an effort to bring some clarity to the virtualization landscape, Network World has...

Avaya CEO: How video will change business world

Last Wednesday, Avaya, Inc. made a splash in New York City with a portfolio of new collaboration products, including the Flare Experience multimedia conferencing system, a new tablet designed to support the Flare software and the web.alive (stet)...

Cloud Disrupts Delivery Models: Change or Perish

I've written extensively on the disruption that cloud computing presents to IT organizations; I've focused much less on the disruption it poses for the entire IT supply chain--from vendors through to system integrators and on to outsourcing...

BMC CEO Bob Beauchamp: 'Waiting 90 days for a server to get provisioned isn't going to work'

As if managing your current IT operations wasn't challenging enough, along comes cloud computing to plaster on another layer of complexity. How does your current management strategy need to evolve to support private cloud? How do you seamlessly...

Why IT planning is broken, and what to do about it

IT planning is broken. From the research I have participated in and the conversations I've had with people in the field, I can say that this is unambiguously true. The question is, should we care? Or is IT planning a quaint relic of a bygone era?

BlackBerry HS-700 Bluetooth Headset Hands-On

Research In Motion (RIM) is known first and foremost for its BlackBerry smartphones, but the Canadian company also manufactures and markets a wide-variety of related software and accessories, including its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BES...

Fending off the digital dark ages

Ready for a digital dark age?

Security chiefs at home: No such thing as 'off duty'

It's a good idea to think twice before pursuing certain professions -- they could change your daily habits, if not your entire outlook on life. A chief financial officer might choose a house project based on its impact on home value. An emergency...

Riverbed CEO: Cisco can have Layer 2 and 3 networking, we'll take 4 through 7

If you think WAN optimization is a niche market, don't bring it up around Jerry Kennelly. Co-founder, chairman and CEO of Riverbed Technology, Kennelly is a fervent believer that WAN optimization is the foundation for the next generation of IT...

Supersize your WAN

Six years ago, we tested dual-WAN routers as a way to pump more bandwidth into small businesses that couldn't afford a T1 and were stuck with relatively slow DSL and cable connections.

Women in IT: The long climb to the top

Meg McCarthy remembers there being a quiet unease about women taking on high-level positions at the former Andersen Consulting when she began her IT career in 1980. "There was always a concern -- though it was never formally expressed -- could women...

Prepare your network storage for desktop virtualization

The popularity of VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) is growing as enterprises both large and small start to realize the operational and environmental benefits it can offer. Centralizing the desktop operating environment in the data center,...

Excerpt from Network Security Auditing

Excerpt from Network Security Auditing. Auditing is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a secure IT system.

Best desktop search tools

Looking for a relatively simple and inexpensive way to improve end user productivity? Desktop search tools can help end users swiftly locate critical nuggets of data, freeing up time for more important tasks.

Bringing IT and the Business Together

Funny thing about the word “and.” You would think it would function as a connector, a word that implies the togetherness of two entities, like “stars and stripes” or “franks and beans.” Yet the phrase “IT and the business” does not work that way....

Top Cloud Computing Security Risk: One Company Gets Burned

Virtualization and cloud computing haven't eroded the online security of most companies, analysts say. But they may be contributing to situations in which IT-service customers leave themselves vulnerable to attack because they assume their cloud...

10 Communication Mistakes CIOs Still Make

CIOs' communication skills have come a long way since the days of data processing. But they continue to make many communication mistakes that hamper their effectiveness on the job or hinder their relationships with staff and other executives.

Review: Firewall operations management

Anyone running multiple firewalls in a complex, enterprise environment knows how difficult it can be to catch misconfigurations, avoid conflicting rules, identify vulnerabilities and meet auditing and compliance mandates.

The rise of consumer tech

How is your company handling the rising tide of consumer smartphones, like the iPhone?

InfoWorld review: Microsoft ADFS 2.0 and Forefront Identity Manager 2010

Extensible cross-domain user authentication and automated user rights management highlight these powerful tools

Chapter 1: What Is Unified Communications?

Excerpt from Cisco Unified Presence Fundamentals

IT innovation: How to avoid being a one-hit wonder

There were no big brainstorming sessions, rah-rah team meetings or executive committees convened to devise a plan to drive FiOS TV customers away from using call centers in favor of self-service ordering, the more cost-effective option.

CIOs who took an alternative route to the top

A high school physics teacher. A hockey coach and referee. An intern at the National Science Foundation.

An SSD crash course: What you need to know

Solid-state disks (SSDs) are hardly new, but their growing usage represents a significant shift in the primary storage landscape. SSDs have been increasing in capacity and decreasing in cost at an accelerating rate, so the chances that you're going...

Q&A: Sybase CEO John Chen touts a turnaround

Sybase CEO John Chen sat down for a wide-ranging discussion about his company's return from near-irrelevance in the late '90s, where the database software vendor is now, and what Chen sees for the future of the enterprise application market. The...

Users find the secrets of WAN optimization

WAN optimization offers better application performance, cost savings and reduced bandwidth needs, but the business reasons to buy may vary.

Virtualization Planning: Systems Management Keys to Success

The explosive growth of today's virtualization management market is good news for organizations looking to manage and optimize their virtual environments. Like every technology that has come before it, the route to success with virtualization lies...

How to Gain Stakeholder Engagement

While one might hope that business leaders, who have everything to gain from process improvement, would recognize the importance of their own leadership role in driving change, we all know that is not always the case.

InfoWorld review: Tools for rapid Web development

With WYSIWYG prototyping environments and preconfigured graphical components, rapid Web development tools can help you build applications faster -- but with less flexibility

Buyer's (and non-buyer's) guide to secure remote access

From free tools for individual users to scalable services and network solutions, businesses large and small have innumerable options for keeping mobile and remote workers connected

Skip the classroom and build your own lab

The technology that underpins our infrastructures changes at a dizzying rate. What was bleeding edge a year ago is old hat today. This churn leads to an endless cycle of learning just enough about new tech to jam it into production, then moving onto...

Desktop Virtualization: Comparing Options Frustrates IT

Desktop virtualization has a comparison problem. Faced with too many product choices, and little concrete data comparing costs and benefits, many IT departments are delaying decisions -- or simply going with products from vendors they already use.

The real cost of lying about IT infrastructure costs

It's hard enough to build a solid primary storage strategy for a complex server environment, but that's nothing compared to the effort required to get your proposal through your organization's budgeting process. A refreshed storage architecture or a...

Endpoint security gets complicated

Users say protecting network endpoints is becoming more difficult as the type of endpoint devices -- desktops, laptops, smartphones -- grows, making security a complex moving target.

Chapter 1: Hardware

Blade shoot-out: Dell, HP, IBM battle for the virtual data center

InfoWorld tests the Intel Westmere-packing Dell PowerEdge M1000e, HP BladeSystem c7000, and IBM BladeCenter H blade server systems

InfoWorld review: Eight PHP power tools

Eclipse PDT, NetBeans, NuSphere PhpED, and Zend Studio lead a capable field of IDEs for Web developers

Chapter 1: Planning for Complex Networks

Chapter 1: Campus Network Design

Chapter 3: The Maintenance and Troubleshooting Toolbox

Excerpt from CCNP TSHOOT 642-832

Emerging IEEE Ethernet standards could soothe data center headaches

Cisco, HP and others are waging an epic battle to gain control of the data center, but at the same time they are joining forces to push through new IEEE Ethernet standards that could greatly ease management of those increasingly virtualized IT nerve...

Chapter 1: Introduction to Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS)

 Excerpt from Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services, 2nd Edition.

SAS chief: Hot on fraud detection, cool on cloud computing

At a recent media event, SAS CEO Dr. Jim Goodnight spoke with IDG Enterprise Chief Content Officer John Gallant about how businesses did -- and didn't -- take advantage of BI during the downturn and how the economy has changed the playing field in...

Sample Internet Usage Policy - Manufacturing Company

COMPANY may provide you with Internet access to help you do your job. This policy explains our guidelines for using the Internet.