Stories by Bob Violino

UPS leverages real-time data

For a company that delivers more than 13 million parcels and documents each day within a service area that includes some 200 countries and territories, any technology that improves package flow is bound to have a major impact.

Suite dilemmas

Messaging software has become so critical that it's hard to imagine businesses functioning without it. Online collaboration products have also become vital. The question is, should you buy a messaging/collaboration suite from one vendor or purchase individual products for e-mail and collaboration from several?

Protecting the data jewels

In the casino industry, one of the most valuable assets is the dossier that casinos keep on their affluent customers, the high rollers. But last year, casino operator Harrah's Entertainment filed a lawsuit charging that a former employee had copied the records of up to 450 wealthy customers before leaving the company to work at competitor Thunder Valley Casino.

BI for the masses

Business intelligence was once the domain of statisticians and corporate analysts. Not anymore. BI capabilities are spreading to virtually all parts of the organization, as companies strive to put critical data into the hands of business users who need it to do their jobs.

Cutting 10G costs with copper

The idea of lower costs for short-distance applications is driving two IEEE efforts to standardize 10G Ethernet over copper.

Waves of change

Web services could have that touch of magic that puts something where you want it, when you want it and make its presence felt in a host of programming tools. Bob Violino looks at the market.

Analysis: Painless provisioning

Storage is not to be left out of the automation wave sweeping through corporate networks. One of the hottest developments in storage resource management is automated provisioning - software for easing the resource allocation process.