Stories about: Sigma

I've had the opportunity to visit several infrastructure and operations industry events already this year. Each targeted the same basic message: a return to innovation. But I have to wonder, are we really ready for innovation? The last 18 months have been marked by a consistent and constant effort to demonstrate return on investment (ROI). Why, as we now enter 2010, is there a sudden emphasis on innovation? The answer is what I refer to as "new shiny object syndrome."

A storage startup called Nasuni is unveiling a virtual NAS file server that runs on VMware and connects customers to cloud platforms such as Amazon's Simple Storage Service, adding encryption to enhance security and several features to improve performance.

Yahoo has signed up new partners for its Connected TV effort but also faces new competition from other companies looking to bring movies and applications from the Internet to the TV.

MIPS Technologies continues its push to use Google's Android mobile OS in a range of products with plans to show off the first Android-based set-top boxes and netbooks at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

Only a few wisps of storage news this week from EMC, Virtual Instruments and start-ups Gridstore and Nasuni.

John Sall doesn't have to work. As one of SAS Institute's four co-founders, the 60-year old has a net worth of $US3.1 billion, according to Forbes' estimate, ranking him the 196th richest person in the world (just ahead of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Ralph Lauren).

Adobe Systems on Monday unveiled a version of its Flash multimedia streaming technology that would allow people to run entertainment programming directly to television sets from the Internet, a new option for the rapidly changing digital-home market.

My uncle gave me my first real camera, an old 35mm Leica with a collapsible lens. It was lightweight, compact enough to fit into a pants pocket, and took great pictures. That camera, along with many other 35mm and medium-format film cameras, is now gathering dust in a drawer, pushed aside for a larger and heavier digital SLR.

Not many people-including business analysts themselves-are able to agree upon a standard job description, typical skill sets, proper training methods or a well-defined career path for the business analyst position.

In many ways, managing a developer is just like managing any other employee. Developers want managers who'll help them solve business and technical problems, who'll protect them from unnecessary office politics and who will help them meet their personal career goals. But programmers are...different. Like musicians, these creative folks can alternate between big-picture thinking and persnickety detail in a heartbeat. They can be sidetracked by silly toys, and convinced to work overtime by the promise of pizza and a T-shirt. Trying to understand and motivate these people can drive managers-particularly nontechnical managers-to distraction.