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Strategies for Dealing With IT Complexity 24/12/2007 10:30:47
Every innovation, every business process improvement, comes with an IT complexity tax that must be paid by CIOs in time, money and sweat. Here are strategies to mitigate the increasing complexity of IT as it enables new business.Every innovation, every business process improvement, comes with an IT complexity tax that must be paid by CIOs in time, money and sweat. Here are strategies to mitigate the increasing complexity of IT as it enables new business. - +
How to Get Real About Strategic Planning 04/02/2008 12:50:59
Everyone agrees that having a strategic plan for IT is a good thing but most CIOs approach the process with fear and loathing. In fact, the majority of CIOs (and the enterprises they work for) are faking it when it comes to strategic planning. Isn't it time we all got real?Oh, it must be nice to be the CIO of a FedEx or a GE or a Credit Suisse. Places where IT and the business are so tightly aligned you can barely tell the two apart. Where corporate leaders understand that IT is a strategic asset and support it as such - +
Ticked Off at Tick the Box Mentality 04/02/2008 13:01:15
Does your executive search firm know the difference between an MIS manager and a CIO, and if it does, can it explain that difference to its corporate clients?Does your executive search firm know its MIS managers from its elbow? Does it even know the difference between an MIS manager and a CIO, and if it does, can it explain that difference to its corporate clients? - +
Doing Your Sums on . . . Build, Buy or Rent 05/11/2007 13:32:30
You’re trying to build a world-class IT team, but everyone’s going after the same talent pool. What mix works best? Should you grow your own, draft your players or barter your way to the line-up you want to field?CIOs should never forget that while new technologies have a maturity cycle, the maturity cycle for human beings in IT is even longer - +
9 Paths to Higher Performance 10/12/2007 14:09:23
When an organization brings together talented people in a creative, collaborative environment it fosters a culture of high performance, which in turn leads to superior business resultsLike high-achieving individuals, some organizations seem to have the Midas touch. Virtually every initiative they touch earns them gold and even those that fail never seem to cost them much of anything at all
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.Newsletter Subscription
Early reaction to < Oracle's proposal to buy BEA Systems has observers acknowledging Oracle would have to deal with product overlap in the application server and middleware spaces.
The two companies have been fierce competitors particularly in the application server arena. A merger would give Oracle two application server lines as well as BEA's customer base.
"I would imagine Oracle buying [BEA] for the customers and the engineers and not just for the product," said Ashish Jain, president of the Denver BEA User's Group and a former BEA official.
He expressed disappointment and doubts about the proposal.
"When I was at BEA, we were told very specifically that we would never let this happen," Jain said.
"I think it's a sad thing to happen because BEA used to be the company that would invent and drive the way," Jain said. "By Oracle acquiring, that would be the end of that."
Burc Oral, a BEA user and president of the New England BEA Users Group, asked how Oracle would integrate the BEA product stack. "Oracle has a very similar product stack," he said. "I'm not so sure how BEA's going to fit into Oracle's stack."
Oral uses the BEA WebLogic Server application server for developing Java-based ecommerce applications.
BEA still has a lead over Oracle in application servers, said Oral. "The product roadmap is going to be quite murky," he said. HP or CA might be better fits as suitors for BEA, Oral said.
"I always considered Oracle as a very good database company," said Oral. It would be great if Oracle replaces its other products with BEA's software, he said.
Products overlapping for the two companies include such offerings as the BEA WebLogic Server, matched by the Oracle Application Server; BEA WebLogic Portal, and Oracle Portal, for portals, and the BEA AquaLogic Service Bus and Oracle Enterprise Service Bus in the ESB space. Both companies also offer Java development platforms with BEA's WebLogic Workshop countered by Oracle JDeveloper.
The two vendors participate in the Eclipse Foundation for open-source tooling, which would be more of a match than an overlap.
While recognizing overlap, analyst Laurent Lachal of Ovum did not think this would be a big problem. Both companies use J2EE, he noted.
"The overlap is a problem but I don't think that it's that big of a problem," he said.
"The key thing is to get business people and technology people together to come up with a set of messages that clarify how the integration is going to be handled," Lachal said. Like what has happened with its PeopleSoft acquisition, Oracle would move customers over at their own pace, said Lachal.
While Oracle has offered US$17 per share, a price called too low by BEA, Lachal suggested a price tag of US$20 per share.
BEA, Jain said, has never been able to transition from a mid-size vendor to a large company. In the fiscal year that ended January 31, revenues were US$1.4 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the previous year.
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Prioritizing Services with IT Service Management (ITSM)
Computerworld Live Webinar
Wednesday 20th, August 2008
11:00am EST (Sydney, Australia)
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Thursday 4th, September 2008
11:00am EST (Sydney Australia)
Sign up and receive a free copy of The Forrester WaveTM Service Desk Management Tools, Q2 2008 at the conclusion of the Webinar.
Attend and discover:
- How to deliver value to your business through ITSM
- Best practice ITSM implementation
- Why emphasis is changing from optimizing IT management processes to better servicing customers and demonstrating real dollar value
- If service-oriented ITSM is best for your business
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Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
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Why Security SaaS Makes Sense Today
Corporate IT teams are waging a significant security battle on two fronts these days: stopping attacks via the Web and through email. Security SaaS can solves these problems and more. Read on to discover 7 reasons why security SaaS makes sense for your business.
