News

Rate the SAP Consultant: SAP User Group Launches Database to Help Companies Find Help They Need

In an interview, Steve Strout, the CEO of the American SAP Users' Group, talks about its new Edge tool, how it offers service-provider and consultant transparency, and what SAP thinks of it.

RIM to BlackBerry Administrators: Beware Critical BES Security Flaw (UPDATED)

A vulnerability in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) PDF rendering component could enable hackers to hijack associated infrastructure, RIM says.

Everyone Works at Home at Chorus, Part Two

In this story, the second of three parts, a small software company establishes work-at-home policies and figures out how to provide remote tech support. Part one focused on the IT infrastructure needed to support telecommuters.

Microsoft Embracing On-Demand Software Model with Hosted SharePoint and Exchange

Microsoft has begun offering SaaS versions of its products. That's good news for CIOs who want predictable costs for maintenance and support, a Gartner analyst says.

Everyone Works at Home at Chorus, Part One

How a small software company is saving money, reducing employee stress and improving productivity and customer satisfaction by closing its offices and going virtual. The first of three parts.

Converged Networks: Enterprises Are No Longer Saying If, but When

VoIP, instant messaging, streaming video and other multimedia data running on converged networks offer businesses numerous benefits, including lower costs and more efficient management.

RIM BlackBerry How To: Back Up and Restore Handheld Data

Backing up the information on your BlackBerry regularly can be the difference between a minor headache–temporarily missing contacts–and a full-blown catastrophe–permanently deleted personal data. Follow these four simple steps and avoid the later

Next Target for Microsoft Virtualization Campaign: Microsoft products

Microsoft rushed to put out Hyper-V to compete with VMware; now it's up to the rest of Microsoft to support Hyper-V with all the other Microsoft products customers need. When will Exchange run well on a VM?

Tools for Leading Business Change

As developments such as Web 2.0 change business models, enterprise architecture and IT portfolio management provide strategic tools that CIOs can use to innovate and efficiently execute change. Just remember that these tools are not about IT, but abo

Five Things Kevin Mitnick Has Learned About Computer Security

Legendary former hacker on hacking, being hacked, and companies that turn a blind eye to security

How Did Apple’s Supply Chain Fare During the iPhone 3G Rollout?

Everyone has got an opinion on the new iPhone's functionalities, but how did Apple's physical and digital supply chain perform on Friday? The physical side held up well, but the digital side did not.

Federal Security Guide for VMware ESX: Helpful But Has Holes

We grade the guide that federal agencies will use to secure their VMware ESX servers. The problems? It treats VMware servers as Unix, eliminates antivirus for the wrong reasons, and leaves gaps that are just peculiar.

The $16 Billion Software Company That No One Seems to Care About

Open Source and the War for Talent

IT Embracing, Maybe Even Leading Web 2.0 Movement in Enterprise, Forrester says

A new report shows that IT professionals, once viewed as a hindrance to adopting Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis and social networks within the enterprise, have begun leading the charge.

Five Ways to Put Your Value in the Spotlight

A key to getting ahead in your career is to generate buzz. Getting out of the office and into the social arena, blogging and participating in Web 2.0 venues are just a few ways you can make sure your praises get sung.

How Smartphones Help CPS Energy Innovate and Boost the Bottom Line

CPS Energy is using smartphones to bridge the divide between its field and office workers, and in the process creating a robust network of formerly divided staffers. They've already reduced headcount, improved customer satisfaction and made the

Marriott Goes Underground With Disaster Recovery, Virtualization Effort

In a highly secure, naturally cooled former limestone mine located 220 feet underground, virtualization fuels Marriott's new disaster recovery strategy. With help from Iron Mountain, the hotel giant is cutting energy costs and recovery time whil

Bitten by a Microsoft Patch

Telecommuting, Indian Outsourcers, Portable Karaoke and More

This issue of Trendlines from the 7/15/08 issue of CIO magazine covers recent news impacting the IT community including Wi-Fi issue in Philadelphia, IT costs at Dow Chemical and Online fraud tools

Innovation Inc.

Does your company welcome new ideas?

A Defining Moment

nHow would you define the CIO role?n

How To Make a PMO Work for You

Midmarket CIOs share tips for setting up an effective PMO

Falling Dollar Leads to Oracle Enterprise Software Price Increases

Oracle recently announced a 15 percent hike in prices for some enterprise applications, and Forrester Research predicts there's more price increases from other U.S. vendors on the way.

How a Nuclear Waste Company Cleaned Up Its Enterprise Search Problem

How do you fix the document mess that happens when nine highly-technical companies combine in just two years? For EnergySolutions, the answer was enterprise search software from Autonomy.

New Details on Apple iPhone 3G Activation for Business Customers

50 Mobile Finance Apps for BlackBerry and iPhone

Gartner: IT Too Slow to Change and Adapt to New Technologies

Report says IT is hung-up on buying software suites, stifling the introduction of newer Web-based technology. Also, younger workers taking enterprise jobs will become less patient with a slow rate of technological change.

Social Networks for Business: Let the Community Lead You to Success

Web 2.0 really is going behind the corporate firewall, where companies like Sabre Holdings, Hilton Hotels and IBM are building social networks for their employees and customers. The key to their early successes is to focus on how people want to conne

Cost Savings Found When Microsoft Outlook Ousted for Gmail at British Construction Firm

Taylor Woodrow, a construction firm in the U.K., implemented the enterprise version of Gmail (e-mail by Google). The company's IT director has already seen a cost savings of nearly $2 million by ditching on premise e-mail.

Developing Open-Source Business Policies That Work: Everyone Is Making It Up As They Go Along

While others' guidelines can help an IT manager create corporate open-source policies, there's no authoritative list of how to do it right.

Using Virtual Worlds to Run Your Network Operations and Data Centers

Second Life and other virtual worlds provide a user interface for data, network operations centers and collaboration.

How Schwan Food Cashed In on Server and Desktop Virtualization

This frozen food company has warmed up to hardware, energy and staff savings related to server and desktop virtualization. Here's a look at what they've reaped from virtualizing more than 50 percent of servers and desktops since 2002.

How to Get Started in Virtual-World Operations

A service provider can help you build a virtual-world environment for your network operations or data center. However, there's a lot you can do on your own that's comparatively easy and affordableu2014some even free.

High-Tech Workers Earned Much More in Recent Years, Study Shows

American Electronics Association study found technology workers earned 87 percent more than average U.S. employees. New York City and Silicon Valley are top regions for high-tech jobs.

IT Executives to Vendors: Deliver on Promises, Support Us

CIO's 2008 Vendor Scorecard Survey finds IT leaders want technology vendors to keep their word, both during and after the sale.

How Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday Affects Business Processes and Security

An entire industry has grown up around Microsoft Patch Tuesday: The five-year push for predictable, scheduled security fixes has spawned both Microsoft and third-party vendor tools specifically to deal with the complexity of installing Microsoft secu

Tomatoes, Oil, Internet Addiction: How Tech is Cramping My Lifestyle

Why EMC Showed VMware’s Greene the Door, Hired Microsoft-Savvy Scrapper

With the release of Hyper-V, the contest between Microsoft and VMware stopped being a footrace and started being a hockey game. And Paul Maritz looks more like the kind of guy who can scrap it out in a corner than Diane Greene, no matter how well she

Open Source: Are Macs the Red-Headed Stepchild?

One benefit to open-source applications is they can run on any operating system you want. But getting open-source software developed for the Mac is — depending on whom you ask — slow as molasses or quick as lightning.

RIM BlackBerry How To: Insert, Format and Use microSD Memory Cards

Your RIM BlackBerry may not have as much built-in memory as that fancy new iPhone, but it has something Apple's smartphone doesn't: A microSD card slot for external flash memory. Here's how to set up and use a BlackBerry memory card,

Five Ways IT Can Avoid a Privacy Lawsuit

Violating an informal privacy policy is a no-no, a recent court ruling found. CIOs can take some important lessons about text messaging and privacy away from the case of Quon v. Arch Wireless.

VMware’s ESX Hardening Guideline Falls Far Short of ‘Secure’

VMware offers several guides to how to harden virtual servers, but the primary ones say little about how to deal with some of the most critical issues.

Lax Laptop Security at the Airport: How Not to Become a Statistic

An Earthshaking Use of Open Source

A German scientific institute migrated to Linux and open-source software to monitor global seismic activity data for compliance with the nuclear test ban treaty.

The Future State of the CRM Market

Tough economic times for North American enterprises will create uncertain, challenging environments for corporate CRM systems, according to an AMR Research report. Here's what you need to know about the CRM market and the vendors who will be lef

Need a Web Hosting Provider? Try the 3 a.m. Test

Tips on critical criteria to consider when selecting a new Web hosting provider, include availability of tech support, bandwidth and scalable hosting solutions.

Users Should Be Cautious About Cost of ‘Free’ with Hyper-V

Companies most likely to decide on Hyper-V for cost reasons are those most likely to be unprepared for the longer-term costs of virtualization.

Week 41: Tracking Your Job Search Efforts Critical to Your Success

Drivin’ and Dialin’: New Laws to Contribute to Massive Bluetooth Market Growth