Enterprise architects: Please leave your framework at the door
There are a lot of valuable ideas in standard EA frameworks, but they need to be customised to be practical. Enterprise architects should use frameworks for inspiration on how to achieve specific outcomes, instead of trying to apply the entire structure to their organisation. What is needed is a "skinny" EA. Leading EA practitioners have refocused on a narrow set of business outcomes to slim down the work effort and maximize the impact of EA.
IT's new concern: 'Bring your own cloud'
"IT has to deal not only with bring-your-own devices but bring-your-own services," Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg says. People will bypass even viable alternatives if they feel that the officially sanctioned professional cloud offering isn't equal to the task -- or if they have a personal cloud app they like better. "If it's digital and it's consumer, it's going to find its way into the office. People will come up with reasons for using it," he says.
4 VDI Success Tips from an Insider
Citrix is most definitely a front-runner, but that doesn't mean you should immediately disqualify solutions from VMware, Microsoft or Dell. Time has taught us that VDI is not an all-or-nothing proposition, it's not for everyone, nor is it right for all of your workloads. Even then, here are some guidelines you can follow when implementing a VDI project.
Five ways financial services firms can fight the biggest IT security threats
Financial institutions are in a race against cybercrime, and today’s cybercriminals are doing all it takes to come in first. For hackers, the ultimate prize is gaining access to data that can be sold to global criminal organizations. ... To get an idea of the scale of this problem, the 2012 Norton Cybercrime Report revealed that cybercrime cost Canadians $1.4 billion within a recent 12-month period, with the average victim losing $169.
JSON Spirit: A C++ JSON Parser/Generator Implemented with Boost Spirit
JSON is a text file format similar to XML, but less verbose. It has been called "XML lite". This article describes JSON Spirit, a C++ library that reads and writes JSON files or streams. It is written using the Boost Spirit parser generator. If you are already using Boost, you can use JSON Spirit without any additional dependencies.
Social Intelligence: The New Frontier for Business Intelligence
The ever expanding use of social media and mobile technologies has dramatically changed how we communicate and how we interact with the companies that sell to us. As channels of communication expand to include social media networks, blogs, forums and chat rooms, digital and physical lives are intersecting more than ever. What people do online provides an increasingly accurate picture of their customer profile, including lifestyle choices, buying preferences and brand perception.
40 years ago, Ethernet's fathers were the startup kids
"Our spec was, we wanted to connect 255 personal computers at a distance of a mile, at some number of hundreds of kilobits per second ... and we wanted to do it with a minimum of cabling, because the predecessor networks all had these rooms full of cables that we called 'rat's nests,'" Metcalfe said.
In Memory: Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should
A few pioneer database vendors realized that using memory as the prime storage resource was a good, albeit costly, idea. As the price of RAM has fallen (on average it seems to fall at about 30% per annum) more database vendors have begun to offer in-memory options and capabilities. Indeed it seems that the in-memory database might even become fashionable.
Q&A: Why WLAN test tools should evolve quickly -- but likely won't
As more enterprises shift their wireless LAN infrastructure from being a side feature to their primary access network, testing these environments is becoming increasingly crucial. Network design expert Peter Welcher of Chesapeake NetCraftsmen spoke to SearchNetworking about the impact of wireless LAN growth in the enterprise and what it means for network management tools and troubleshooting tactics.
CIO interview: Colin Rees, IT director, Domino's Pizza
Rees is also not fazed by cloud computing fears and security risks. “Part of the challenge is to separate reality and rumour,” he says. “The reality is that the security risks are high even in an internal data centre if managed poorly. In fact, we have seen a big improvement in reliability and a reduction in downtime with cloud systems. Over time, the distinction between cloud and non-cloud will thin out,” he adds.
Quote for the day:
"Truly strong leaders find a way to be kind even when others aren't." -- Mary Jo Asmus
There are a lot of valuable ideas in standard EA frameworks, but they need to be customised to be practical. Enterprise architects should use frameworks for inspiration on how to achieve specific outcomes, instead of trying to apply the entire structure to their organisation. What is needed is a "skinny" EA. Leading EA practitioners have refocused on a narrow set of business outcomes to slim down the work effort and maximize the impact of EA.
IT's new concern: 'Bring your own cloud'
"IT has to deal not only with bring-your-own devices but bring-your-own services," Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg says. People will bypass even viable alternatives if they feel that the officially sanctioned professional cloud offering isn't equal to the task -- or if they have a personal cloud app they like better. "If it's digital and it's consumer, it's going to find its way into the office. People will come up with reasons for using it," he says.
4 VDI Success Tips from an Insider
Citrix is most definitely a front-runner, but that doesn't mean you should immediately disqualify solutions from VMware, Microsoft or Dell. Time has taught us that VDI is not an all-or-nothing proposition, it's not for everyone, nor is it right for all of your workloads. Even then, here are some guidelines you can follow when implementing a VDI project.
Five ways financial services firms can fight the biggest IT security threats
Financial institutions are in a race against cybercrime, and today’s cybercriminals are doing all it takes to come in first. For hackers, the ultimate prize is gaining access to data that can be sold to global criminal organizations. ... To get an idea of the scale of this problem, the 2012 Norton Cybercrime Report revealed that cybercrime cost Canadians $1.4 billion within a recent 12-month period, with the average victim losing $169.
JSON Spirit: A C++ JSON Parser/Generator Implemented with Boost Spirit
JSON is a text file format similar to XML, but less verbose. It has been called "XML lite". This article describes JSON Spirit, a C++ library that reads and writes JSON files or streams. It is written using the Boost Spirit parser generator. If you are already using Boost, you can use JSON Spirit without any additional dependencies.
Social Intelligence: The New Frontier for Business Intelligence
The ever expanding use of social media and mobile technologies has dramatically changed how we communicate and how we interact with the companies that sell to us. As channels of communication expand to include social media networks, blogs, forums and chat rooms, digital and physical lives are intersecting more than ever. What people do online provides an increasingly accurate picture of their customer profile, including lifestyle choices, buying preferences and brand perception.
40 years ago, Ethernet's fathers were the startup kids
"Our spec was, we wanted to connect 255 personal computers at a distance of a mile, at some number of hundreds of kilobits per second ... and we wanted to do it with a minimum of cabling, because the predecessor networks all had these rooms full of cables that we called 'rat's nests,'" Metcalfe said.
In Memory: Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should
A few pioneer database vendors realized that using memory as the prime storage resource was a good, albeit costly, idea. As the price of RAM has fallen (on average it seems to fall at about 30% per annum) more database vendors have begun to offer in-memory options and capabilities. Indeed it seems that the in-memory database might even become fashionable.
Q&A: Why WLAN test tools should evolve quickly -- but likely won't
As more enterprises shift their wireless LAN infrastructure from being a side feature to their primary access network, testing these environments is becoming increasingly crucial. Network design expert Peter Welcher of Chesapeake NetCraftsmen spoke to SearchNetworking about the impact of wireless LAN growth in the enterprise and what it means for network management tools and troubleshooting tactics.
CIO interview: Colin Rees, IT director, Domino's Pizza
Rees is also not fazed by cloud computing fears and security risks. “Part of the challenge is to separate reality and rumour,” he says. “The reality is that the security risks are high even in an internal data centre if managed poorly. In fact, we have seen a big improvement in reliability and a reduction in downtime with cloud systems. Over time, the distinction between cloud and non-cloud will thin out,” he adds.
Quote for the day:
"Truly strong leaders find a way to be kind even when others aren't." -- Mary Jo Asmus
