Stories by Sandra Gittlen

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 is re-signed annually, you can reduce a lot of organizational risk.

The industrial robot revolution

One small step for man, a giant leap for robot-kind.

Bandwidth bottlenecks loom large in the cloud

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) CIO Tom Conophy has no reservations when it comes to the cloud.

Extending the life of your data center

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 1,200-square-foot data center at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering -- that means the facility has been operating three years longer than CIO and vice president of operations Joanne Kossuth had originally planned. Now, even though the school needs a facility with more capacity and better connectivity, Kossuth has been forced to back-burner the issue because of the iffy economic times.

Cloud computing: SaaS ERP revs up auto parts supplier

When auto parts supplier Inteva Products LLC spun out from its parent company Delphi in 2008, CIO Dennis Hodges was left standing in a heap of legacy ERP equipment.

Start-ups offer cool tools to ease IT's pain

If you want to know what IT tools and technologies you'll be using in a few years, it pays to keep an eye on enterprise technology start-ups.

Four questions for Dan Bricklin, VisiCalc inventor

Dan Bricklin first came up with the idea of an electronic spreadsheet while he was at Harvard Business School in 1978. He later joined forces with Bob Frankston and Dan Fylstra to publish the now-legendary VisiCalc in 1979. Bricklin, currently president of software developer Software Garden Inc., recently spoke with Computerworld about the intent of VisiCalc and how the spreadsheet has evolved.

Why some companies are ditching their spreadsheets

Until a few years ago, Thule Group's North American division would have been considered a "classic spreadsheet-driven" company, according to Vice President of Finance Mark Cohen.

Moving to the cloud: Big savings, but plan ahead

Some might say that San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals was pushed into the cloud. The 23-year-old company's data center had been running at 100% capacity and IT executives feared inevitable performance problems, but the company was reluctant to build another site due to the poor economic climate.

Planning for virtualization? Beware of server overload

As virtualization stretches deeper into the enterprise to include mission-critical and resource-intensive applications, IT executives are learning that double-digit physical-to-virtual server ratios are things of the past.

Virtualization: Tips for avoiding server overload

As virtualization stretches deeper into the enterprise to include mission-critical and resource-intensive applications, IT executives are learning that double-digit physical-to-virtual server ratios are things of the past.

Want a four-day workweek? IT is key

As oil prices continue to fluctuate, the economy flounders and the pressure is on to slow global warming, both public- and private-sector organizations are turning to alternative work schedules such as telecommuting, flex time and four-day workweeks to ease the pain to their bottom lines, their employees' wallets and the environment.

Five steps to successful and cost-effective penetration testing

Whether you hire outside consultants or do the testing yourself, here are some tips for making sure your time and money are well spent.

Six hours to hack the FBI (and other pen-testing adventures)

It takes a lot to shock Chris Goggans; he's been a pen (penetration) tester since 1991, getting paid to break into a wide variety of networks. But he says nothing was as egregious as security lapses in both infrastructure design and patch management at a civilian government agency -- holes that let him hack his way through to a major FBI crime database within a mere six hours.

Utility storage: Ready for a long haul?

First will come virtualization, then utility storage. That's long been the vision of how enterprise storage will evolve as IT grows increasingly dynamic and on-demand becomes business as usual.