Stories about: Duke Energy

Unix continues to power the world's high-end business machines, and to power it well. But with many shops keen to standardise on Windows and others captivated by the Linux juggernaut, could Unix end up tossed on IT's legacy scrap heap? Patrick Thibodeau examines the future of Unix to address how - or whether - IT managers should factor the venerable OS into their long-term infrastructure strategies. The chief technology officers from HP, Sun, and SuSE Linux have their say in this story.

The SCO Group Inc.'s claim that the Linux kernel contains large blocks of illegal code isn't stalling corporate adoption of the open-source operating system. But the case is clearly getting the attention of many IT managers, and some said the uncertainty it's creating could have an impact on future Linux implementation plans.

Among the 5,000 attendees from around the world at this week's IBM Lotusphere 2003 conference were IT leaders from six different user companies on separate but similar missions: to turn up answers to questions about improving their Lotus Notes and Domino operations.

Commodities trading giant Enron Corp., one of the 20 largest companies on the planet, last week came perilously close to becoming a business-to-business burnout.

Commodities trading giant Enron Corp., one of the 20 largest companies on the planet, last week came perilously close to becoming a business-to-business burnout.

On the first business day of the new millennium, Duke Energy initiated a guerrilla approach to e-business. A small band of advocates began to roam the utility, living in the business units, seeding pilot projects, assisting with implementations, coordinating resources and spreading success stories. Eighteen months later, having launched more than a dozen successful Internet initiatives that saved the company US$52 million last year alone, the "e-team" is now handing off the projects to the businesses.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) used its annual customer conference last week to announce about a dozen OpenView products - mostly incremental upgrades - but attendees said they found the company less forthcoming than usual about its long-range technology plans.

Six of the country's largest wholesale energy trading companies Monday said they plan next Monday to launch a new electronic business-to-business marketplace that will go head-to-head with several other online exchanges in the energy industry, adding to an increasingly crowded market for Internet-based trading of energy supplies.

After a 1994 merger of two Midwest utilities created Cinergy Corp. in Cincinnati, the mad pace toward gas and power deregulation in Ohio began in earnest.

In the electric-utility world, deregulation has forced business and technology managers to innovate and find ways to compete as they never have before, observers say. In this environment, information technology managers such as Brad Black at Duke Energy North America in Charlotte, North Carolina, are like kids with new toys in a sandbox.

A year into their struggle to start an online business-to-business exchange with suppliers, the Big Three automakers came up with a name for the venture last week - Covisint - and also spoke about the obstacles it faces. The Covisint marketplace won't be able to start processing transactions until Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler put to rest antitrust concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission.