Here comes a supercomputing app store
Supercomputer-based visualization and simulation tools could allow a company to create, test and prototype products in virtual environments. Couple this virtualization capability with a 3-D printer, and a company would revolutionize its manufacturing. But licensing fees for the software needed to simulate wind tunnels, ovens, welds and other processes are expensive, and the tools require large multicore systems and skilled engineers to use them.
Getting cloud capacity planning right in the face of oncoming growth
The tremendous revenue potential is driving virtually every hosting company and communications and IT solutions provider to invest in building out a cloud portfolio. The catch for providers is how and when to scale cloud infrastructure to meet increasing demand without overbuilding. Part art, part science, cloud capacity planning presents challenges to providers that need to figure in their own and their customers' needs.
Managing People on a Sinking Ship
When your business is facing declining sales, a potential buy-out, or even certain closure, how do you manage people who are likely panicking about their future? Can you keep your team’s motivation and productivity up? The short answer is yes: Even when it’s clear that a company’s in trouble, there are ways to help team members stay focused, deliver results, and weather the storm.
Benefits of a Windows Server 2012 R2 Core installation
"Common answers I get from folks when I ask why they haven’t adopted use of Server Core are: 1. I don’t have time to learn a new product/feature; 2. I don’t know how to use the CLI/Powershell; and 3. I’m not confident I could troubleshoot a Server Core box in an emergency type situation. While these are all valid concerns, they don’t merit the outright boycott of this new server deployment methodology."
BYOD's Achilles heel: Billing and losing group buying power
Employees get to use the device they want and the enterprise doesn't have to hand out smartphones anymore. But the returns on these plans have been sketchy. Why? No one has figured out proper billing arrangements. ... With BYOD plans what used to be a corporate expense winds up in an expense report or a stipend. What would be a large contract is splintered into many little consumer deals. More money could be spent on BYOD plans and tracked less than the good ol' days of corporate issued smartphones.
Why COOs are growing in importance
These objectives are, of course, integrated into the responsibilities of all board members and managers within their own areas, but a COO is able to put a specific emphasis and focus on quality and efficiency. At PGGM, we do that through a “lean” program that has the objective of, step by step, improving the processes within the company; I’m at the center of that. In my case, my targets are set very specifically according to these responsibilities – my most important goals are related to the lean program, and I also have targets relating to service levels, cost control and cost reduction.
High-Performance Transact-SQL with Window Functions
These functions are based on an amazingly profound concept in standard SQL (which is both an ISO and ANSI standard)—the concept of windowing. The idea behind this concept is to allow you to apply various calculations to a set, or window, of rows and return a single value. Window functions can help to solve a wide variety of querying tasks by helping you express set calculations more easily, intuitively, and efficiently than ever before.
Selling SaaS: Operational requirements for consumers vs. businesses
The key to successfully selling Software as a Service (SaaS) across all market segments is recognizing and addressing the different operational requirements among different buyer groups, which often stem from the value propositions that drive SaaS in the consumer, SMB and enterprise market segments. ... The bottom line is that the operations of all cloud services depend on effective management tools and good management visibility.
Google Nexus phones are vulnerable to attack via Flash SMS messages
On Google Nexus phones, when such a message is received, it gets displayed on top of all active windows and is surrounded by a semi-transparent black overlay that has a dimming effect on the rest of the screen. If the message is not saved or dismissed and a second message is received it gets placed on top of the first one and the dimming effect increases. When such messages are received, there is no audio notification, even if one is configured for regular incoming SMS messages.
The Subject and Discipline of Business Architecture
This article discusses the phenomena of Business Architecture considering both its subject and discipline. Without knowing the subject of Business Architecture, it is very difficult to justify the scope and extension of the role of a Business Architect, i.e. the discipline. Many Managers and Architects can say – “What’s the problem? By identifying stakeholders and collecting their viewpoints, one could essentially define a Business Architecture”. Unfortunately, this approach is the major fault that leads to many contradicting opinions about this subject.
Quote for the day:
"Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment." -- Thomas Carlyle
Supercomputer-based visualization and simulation tools could allow a company to create, test and prototype products in virtual environments. Couple this virtualization capability with a 3-D printer, and a company would revolutionize its manufacturing. But licensing fees for the software needed to simulate wind tunnels, ovens, welds and other processes are expensive, and the tools require large multicore systems and skilled engineers to use them.
The tremendous revenue potential is driving virtually every hosting company and communications and IT solutions provider to invest in building out a cloud portfolio. The catch for providers is how and when to scale cloud infrastructure to meet increasing demand without overbuilding. Part art, part science, cloud capacity planning presents challenges to providers that need to figure in their own and their customers' needs.
Managing People on a Sinking Ship
When your business is facing declining sales, a potential buy-out, or even certain closure, how do you manage people who are likely panicking about their future? Can you keep your team’s motivation and productivity up? The short answer is yes: Even when it’s clear that a company’s in trouble, there are ways to help team members stay focused, deliver results, and weather the storm.
Benefits of a Windows Server 2012 R2 Core installation
"Common answers I get from folks when I ask why they haven’t adopted use of Server Core are: 1. I don’t have time to learn a new product/feature; 2. I don’t know how to use the CLI/Powershell; and 3. I’m not confident I could troubleshoot a Server Core box in an emergency type situation. While these are all valid concerns, they don’t merit the outright boycott of this new server deployment methodology."
BYOD's Achilles heel: Billing and losing group buying power
Employees get to use the device they want and the enterprise doesn't have to hand out smartphones anymore. But the returns on these plans have been sketchy. Why? No one has figured out proper billing arrangements. ... With BYOD plans what used to be a corporate expense winds up in an expense report or a stipend. What would be a large contract is splintered into many little consumer deals. More money could be spent on BYOD plans and tracked less than the good ol' days of corporate issued smartphones.
Why COOs are growing in importance
These objectives are, of course, integrated into the responsibilities of all board members and managers within their own areas, but a COO is able to put a specific emphasis and focus on quality and efficiency. At PGGM, we do that through a “lean” program that has the objective of, step by step, improving the processes within the company; I’m at the center of that. In my case, my targets are set very specifically according to these responsibilities – my most important goals are related to the lean program, and I also have targets relating to service levels, cost control and cost reduction.
High-Performance Transact-SQL with Window Functions
These functions are based on an amazingly profound concept in standard SQL (which is both an ISO and ANSI standard)—the concept of windowing. The idea behind this concept is to allow you to apply various calculations to a set, or window, of rows and return a single value. Window functions can help to solve a wide variety of querying tasks by helping you express set calculations more easily, intuitively, and efficiently than ever before.
Selling SaaS: Operational requirements for consumers vs. businesses
The key to successfully selling Software as a Service (SaaS) across all market segments is recognizing and addressing the different operational requirements among different buyer groups, which often stem from the value propositions that drive SaaS in the consumer, SMB and enterprise market segments. ... The bottom line is that the operations of all cloud services depend on effective management tools and good management visibility.
Google Nexus phones are vulnerable to attack via Flash SMS messages
On Google Nexus phones, when such a message is received, it gets displayed on top of all active windows and is surrounded by a semi-transparent black overlay that has a dimming effect on the rest of the screen. If the message is not saved or dismissed and a second message is received it gets placed on top of the first one and the dimming effect increases. When such messages are received, there is no audio notification, even if one is configured for regular incoming SMS messages.
The Subject and Discipline of Business Architecture
This article discusses the phenomena of Business Architecture considering both its subject and discipline. Without knowing the subject of Business Architecture, it is very difficult to justify the scope and extension of the role of a Business Architect, i.e. the discipline. Many Managers and Architects can say – “What’s the problem? By identifying stakeholders and collecting their viewpoints, one could essentially define a Business Architecture”. Unfortunately, this approach is the major fault that leads to many contradicting opinions about this subject.
Quote for the day:
"Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment." -- Thomas Carlyle
