Latest News from SYS-CON MEDIA

SYS-CON Webcast - The Art & Science of SOA: How Governance Enables Adoption

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Melding a stable enterprise architecture with the right level of technical and organization transparency involves two different perspectives. An architect can lay a SOA foundation that enables development teams to build new functionality leveraging Web Services. However, without a librarian’s perspective, the interaction between service providers and consumers sharing SOA assets can lead to your SOA projects stagnating. In this session, you’ll learn how Volvofinans brought together these two perspectives to accelerate SOA adoption.

SYS-CON Webcast - Introducing Automated Business Process Discovery: Step #1 To Process Improvement

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:45:00 EDT

In a recent study, CIOs ranked "improving business processes" as their #1 priority for 2008. But the big question has always been - How does one get started with a BPM initiative? The traditional approach has been to engage external consultants and to dedicate significant time and resources to map out how a company does business. Very often, the outcome is delayed and riddled with inaccuracies.

Cisco Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire PostPath

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:38:00 EDT

Building upon its commitment to provide a comprehensive collaboration portfolio, Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held PostPath. Based in Mountain View, Calif. with additional development operations in Sofia, Bulgaria, PostPath will enhance the existing email and calendaring capabilities of Cisco's WebEx Connect collaboration platform.

SYS-CON Webcast - The "Practical SOA" Approach

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:20:00 EDT

In this webcast you will see some examples of leveraging JBoss product suite in Enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture implementations. You will examine real-life case studies to clearly understand the full lifecycle of an Enterprise SOA, as well as what it takes to have the “Practical SOA” approach.

SYS-CON Webcast - Workspace Virtualization: A low-cost, High-performance Approach to Deploying Enterprise Computing

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Desktop and application virtualization technologies are increasingly being used throughout the enterprise to improve manageability and ease deployment of corporate environments on PCs. While application virtualization solutions are typically limited to a single application, desktop virtualization solutions enable deployment of a full desktop environment. The inclusion of a full operating system in the virtualized desktop image creates solutions with high licensing costs, large footprint and deteriorated performance on end users’ PCs.

SYS-CON Webcast - Effective Planning for Virtual Infrastructure Growth

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:11:00 EDT

As the adoption of virtualization technology in the data center increases, organizations are encountering new challenges associated with planning and managing rapid growth in virtual infrastructure. Without effective planning and forecasting, organizations often fail to realize the full benefits of virtualization and achieve a sub par return on investment. After investing in virtualization, some organizations learn the hard way that they have merely replaced their physical server sprawl with a virtual sprawl. This session will discuss the important role of ongoing capacity and workload planning, forecasting and reporting in helping organizations successfully manage future growth.

President & CTO of 3Tera to Speak at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:05:00 EDT

Achieving an effective disaster recovery solution has always been difficult and expensive. Often companies backup and/or mirror their data and software only to find that when forced to run them on hardware and network configurations altered by disaster, they don't always work. "Moving applications, data and infrastructure in the cloud can actually make disaster recovery easier and much more affordable," contends Peter Nickolov, President & CTO of 3Tera. He will be giving a session on 'Solutions for Instant Disaster Recovery in the Cloud' at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo (November 19-21, 2008) - a pathbreaking adjunct to the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo being held at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA.

On-Demand Resource Provisioning - The Fundamental Principle that Defines Cloud Computing

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:55:00 EDT

I’ve noticed people lately have been saying things like "I am cloud computing because my mail is now on gmail ZOMG" - but storing your mails on the internets is not cloud computing, it’s just online storage. Uploading pics from your phone directly to the web is not cloud computing. Google Docs is not cloud computing. Just storing something on the Intraweb does not mean you’re "using cloud computing."

Converting a PowerBuilder 10.5 Client/Server Application to PB 11 Web Forms

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:36:00 EDT

As a long-time PB developer, I have successfully created or maintained many PB applications for clients and for myself. Since day one, I was impressed with the ease with which applications can be created using PowerBuilder. Although I had been exposed to Visual Studio and other client/server tools, I have always felt PB was the better product.

SYS-CON Webcast - IT Security in a Hostile World

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:32:00 EDT

Computer systems manage and protect increasingly high value information and assets across the enterprise. Meanwhile, hackers grow in number and resourcefulness. Commercial virtualization solutions add to the already fertile attack surface of enterprise operating systems. Green Hills discusses the state of enterprise security threats and presents a secure operating environment that can guarantee the security of the world’s critical infrastructure, financial systems, medical records, and corporate intellectual property. This solution uses technology adopted in the military and intelligence community to protect sensitive national secrets.

Successful Open Source Security Is Knowing What to Secure

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:23:00 EDT

Imagine the CIO of a consumer bank who thinks he is running 50 Oracle databases, but now finds out that in fact he has 100 databases installed behind his firewall. He doesn't have any idea where the other 50 came from. He doesn’t know the name of the vendor(s) supporting them. And he doesn’t have anyone on his IT team assigned to managing them. This scenario would be totally unacceptable to anyone.

SYS-CON Webcast: Virtualization - Path to Predictive Enterprise

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:18:00 EDT

Success in business increasingly relies on proactively harnessing the power of advanced technologies to manage processes, information, and relationships. Today’s IT intensive enterprise must always be on the lookout for the latest in innovation that allow businesses to run with fewer resources while providing the infrastructure to meet today and future customer needs. Virtualization technologies are driving a top to bottom overhaul of the computing industry. The growing awareness of the advantages provided by agile virtualized environments is brought about by economic factors of scarce resources, government regulation, and more competition. Many leading corporations are embarking on virtualization initiatives on their path to predictive enterprise.

A State of Xen: Virtualization from PDAs to Super Computers

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:55:00 EDT

Xen.org, the home of the open source Xen project, has announced the release of Xen 3.3 engine, the latest version of the open source hypervisor. The release is now available for download from the Xen.org community site and is the product of a distributed development effort by senior engineers from more than 50 leading hardware, software, and security vendors. Xen 3.3 includes enhancements that further advance its position as a fast, scalable, secure virtualization engine for the industry’s broadest range of server and PC chipsets - from super computers to PDAs.

Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse Now Available

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Furthering its dedication to providing Java developers productivity with choice, Oracle announced the Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, a new component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. This release marks the first free Eclipse 3.4 environment to support Oracle WebLogic Server 10g Release 3.

SYS-CON Webcast - The Opening of Virtualization

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:13:00 EDT

Open Source. Open Standards. Open Collaboration. For the past 15 years, Linux has served as the benchmark of a successful global open source project. The impact has been far reaching: today it powers the Internet, a significant portion of the datacenter, is the emerging market choice for the desktop, and soon will likely be on your phone. Over the last 5 years, this open community has turned its attention to virtualization.

Nokia N85 and Nokia N79 Mobile Phones Based On Symbian OS

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Symbian welcomed the announcement of the Nokia N85 and Nokia N79 multimedia computers. These latest mobile phones are based on S60 and Symbian OS v9.3, the latest shipped version of Symbian OS. Symbian OS v9.3 is optimized for convergence with performance and feature enhancements which bring the highest level of power efficiency and platform security to a mobile phone.

SYS-CON Webcast - Data Direct The Coming Wave in Data Services

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EDT

"Data services apply the same philosophy of reuse and flexibility that SOA offers, but to the data tier," explains John Goodson, executive leader of DataDirect Technologies, in this Exclusive Q&A in the run-up to the inuaugural DataServices World on June 24th in New York City, of which Data Direct is the Diamond Sponsor. "Data services," Goodson continues, "provide a level of abstraction that frees developers from concerning themselves with the physical location or format of the underlying data."

Exploring Governance in the World of Open Source

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:10:00 EDT

I was shocked. We were in the brainstorming phase of developing a new collaboration portal and the possibilities were flying. It was exciting to see people from many disciplines enthusiastic about working together more effectively through improved communication, document management, and tools for capturing business processes.

TFS Timesheet Application for Microsoft's Visual Studio Foundation Server

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:25:00 EDT

TeamExpand, a developer of products complimentary to Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (VSTS), announced the commercial version of its TX Chrono, a timesheet tracking application targeted at software development organizations standardizing on the Visual Studio .NET environment. Besides a number of bug fixes, the commercial version of TX Chrono features new workflow functionality and complete TSF compatibility to make software development activities more visible and predictable. A trial version of the product will also be available for free download.

Symantec Virtualization Survey

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:52:00 EDT

Symantec announced the global results of its fourth annual IT Disaster Recovery survey, which demonstrates a decline in executive involvement in disaster recovery planning and an increase in the number of organizations reevaluating their disaster recovery (DR) plans due to virtualization. As more applications and data are managed in a virtual environment, organizations are evaluating the most efficient ways to manage applications and data in both physical and virtual environments.

Twenty-One Experts Define Cloud Computing

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:30:00 EDT

It is the infrastructural paradigm shift that is sweeping across the Enterprise IT world, but how is it best defined? I refer of course to 'Cloud Computing' - the phenomenon that has as many definitions as there are squares on a chess-board. To try and narrow it down we bring here a round-up of some recent attempts to bring welcome precision where there risks being unnecessary vagueness.

VDIworks Desktop Virtualization to Provide Management and Connection Brokering for HP RGS

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:27:00 EDT

VDIworks announced that the latest release of VDIworks' Virtual Desktop Platform (VDP), version 1.2, will provide connection brokering and management for the HP Remote Graphics Software (RGS) protocol to deliver a high performance virtualized desktop solution to the industry. This integrated offering will allow customers to leverage VDIworks' sophisticated virtual desktop management capabilities and HP's RGS protocol to enable a high grade visual experience in a virtualized environment.

Asite and OpSource Announce Partnership to Deliver SaaS Platform

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:16:00 EDT

OpSource announced a strategic partnership with Asite Solutions. Asite will use OpSource On-Demand to support the delivery of their SaaS platform to an increasingly global audience. Asite joins a growing list of international companies selecting OpSource as their Web operations provider.

Persystent Technologies Introduces Desktop Virtualization Solution

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:06:00 EDT

Persystent Technologies introduced Persystent Virtualization. Persystent Virtualization is a powerful new solution that eases deployment, maintenance and control over virtual desktop environments, while providing end users with greater personalization of their virtual desktops.

Aternity Announces Virtualization Partnership with Ness Technologies

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:58:00 EDT

Aternity announced an exclusive partnership agreement in Israel with Ness Technologies, a global provider of information technology services and solutions and Israel's leading IT services company. The agreement signals the rising global demand for real end user experience and Aternity's Frontline Performance Intelligence solutions. Ness Technologies will sell, implement, train and support the Aternity Frontline Performance Intelligence (FPI) Platform in Israel, enabling enterprises to dramatically reduce business disruption, increase user productivity, and optimize hardware and software expenses.

Cloud Computing Journal: An A to Z of Cloud Computing

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:55:00 EDT

From Amazon EC2 and App Engine from Google to Utility Computing, Virtualization, and Walled Gardens - there's no aspect of Cloud Computing that hasn't already been addressed at some level of detail in SYS-CON Media's Cloud Computing Journal (http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com). Here's a round-up of the world of Delivering Scalable IT as a Service, seen through the lens of the many contributors whose thoughts and ideas have already appeared there since it first appeared in June 2008 as the world's first journal devoted exclusively to the delivery of massively scalable IT resources as a service using Internet technologies.

Ingram Micro Named VMware Authorized Training Center

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:45:00 EDT

Ingram Micro announced it has been named a VMware Authorized Training Center (VATC). The distributor also announced it is increasing its VMware-certified technical, sales and marketing support and introducing a new partner program called Smart Enablement for VMware Partners, which helps solution providers offset the costs of training and education, further strengthening its role as a value-added partner for mid-market IT Solutions.

Cloud Computing Terminology

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:40:00 EDT

While the debate on the actual definition of cloud computing rages on, it seems that a whole new cloud computing vocabulary is rapidly emerging. I thought I'd list some of the new terms I'm seeing with brief definitions, examples of usage and references to discussions related to these terms. Hope this is useful.

Terremark Selects Cisco's Virtualization Technology

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:34:00 EDT

Cisco announced that Terremark has launched its Infinistructure utility-computing platform in Europe with Cisco virtualization technology deployed on a Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network architecture. Terremark has just completed the deployment of the new platform in its facilities in Madrid and Amsterdam, which follows the recent launch of the Infinistructure platform based on Cisco solutions in the United States.

TBD Networks Extends Proven Network Virtualization Solution to Physical and Virtual Firewalls

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:27:00 EDT

TBDVirtualFabric-VMware Edition (VME) provides the missing pieces for companies to realize the full benefits of Datacenter Virtualization by unifying physical and virtual firewalls and network infrastructure. Based on the proven Network Virtualization solution scaleable to over 30,000 Virtual Network endpoints, TBDVirtualFabric-VME was specifically designed to provide a virtual fabric of networking, security, and firewall capabilities to scale VMware environments beyond current limitations.

CDW Moves to the Cloud

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:07:00 EDT

Asigra announced that CDW has selected Asigra Televaulting as its online backup platform. Chosen for its unmatched service-oriented architecture, powerful data de-duplication and broad interoperability, Asigra Televaulting will be the technology platform behind CDW’s Remote Backup Service.

SYS-CON's Virtualization Expo Was Larger Than Any Gartner Event in Two Years

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:00:00 EDT

Virtualization has quickly become a staple new concept for enterprise IT. At SYS-CON's 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo, held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, June 23-24, we had exceptional speakers with high-quality use cases not only of how virtualization maximizes the use of resources and thus saves companies money, but also of how it is fundamentally altering the way that businesses run IT. The two content-packed days emphasized value with a rich array of sessions about the business and technical value of virtualization.

Chief Software Architect for Elastra to Present at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:45:00 EDT

The Infrastructure-as-a-Service model of early Cloud Computing providers has focused on making the hardware layer consumable as on-demand compute and storage capacity. Stuart Charlton, Chief Software Architect for Elastra, will be giving a session on 'Cloud Computing and the Next-Generation of Enterprise Architecture' at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo (November 19-21, 2008) - a pathbreaking adjunct to the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo being held at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA.

Enomaly Founder & Chief Technologist to Present at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:30:00 EDT

As cloud computing becomes more commonplace, creating a secure method to bridge the gap between existing data centers and remote sources of compute capacity is becoming more and more important. Reuven Cohen, Founder & Chief Technologist of Enomaly, will be giving a session on Bridging the Data Center and The Cloud at SYS-CON's 'Cloud Computing Expo' (November 19-21, 2008) - a pathbreaking adjunct to the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo being held at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA.

Cloud Computing & Virtualization: Perfect Together

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:55:00 EDT

Recently I've been asked about the benefits of cloud computing in comparison to that of virtualization. Generally my answer has been they are an ideal match. For the most part virtualization has been about doing more with less (consolidation). VMware in particular positioned their products and pricing in a way that encourages you to use the least amount of servers possible. The interesting thing about cloud computing is it's about doing more with more. Or if you're Intel, doing more with Moore.

ILOG To Exhibit At SYS-CON's AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:00:00 EDT

ILOG delivers software that empowers their customers to make better decisions, faster. Over 2,000 global corporations and more than 400 leading software vendors rely on ILOG's visualization, business rule management system and optimization software components to achieve dramatic returns on investment, and create market-defining products and services. Visit us to learn about ILOG JViews, our customizable Java and AJAX display components for building diagrams, dashboards, maps, schedules and charts. ILOG was founded in 1987 and employs more than 730 people worldwide.

Application Virtualization: Citrix XenApp 5 Released

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:30:00 EDT

“XenApp is a cornerstone of our Citrix Delivery Center product family and allows our customers to move beyond merely deploying applications to delivering them to users in a flexible, cost-effective, scalable manner," said Gordon Payne, SVP and GM of the Delivery Systems Division at Citrix Systems, as Citrix announced Citrix XenApp 5, the next generation of what Payne described as "the world’s most widely-deployed application virtualization solution."

Amazon VP & CTO Dr Werner Vogels to Keynote at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:00:00 EDT

Building the right infrastructure that can scale up or down at a moment's notice, notes Amazon.com's VP & CTO Dr Werner Vogels, can be a complicated and expensive task. "But it's essential in today's business landscape," adds Vogels, who is the distinguished Keynote Speaker at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo in November, a groundbreaking adjunct to the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo in San Jose, CA (19-21 November). "This applies to an enterprise trying to cut-costs, a young business unexpectedly saturated with customer demand, or a start-up looking to launch," Vogels stresses.

Cloud Computing: 12 Signs that Your Company is Already in the Cloud

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:45:00 EDT

What are the telltale signs that your company is already Computing in the Cloud? Is it when the CIO makes a big announcement at the monthly IT meeting? Is it when the IT newsletter drops a reference to pilot testing of some ‘web based’ software? Or, is it when the secretary whips out the boss’s Corporate Credit Card and signs up to a Cloud Service? Here are 12 indicators that your company is *already* part of the Cloud...

Virtualization Expo - IT Spending Will Be Up 8% This Year!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:45:00 EDT

Gartner now says worldwide IT spending should be up 8% this year to $3.4 trillion. But if you factor out the vagaries in the US dollar the number is closer to 4.5%. Gartner figures software should be up 10% and service up 9.4%. It reckons that “Software-as-a-service/cloud computing, Service Oriented Architecture/Web 2.0 and open source software are causing huge changes to the software market. Many of these factors are impacting market growth as enterprises replace assets with per-use services.”

Viewpoint: Seven Technical Security Benefits of Cloud Computing

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:55:00 EDT

In my view, there are some strong technical security arguments in favour of Cloud Computing - assuming we can find ways to manage the risks. With this new paradigm come challenges and opportunities. The challenges are getting plenty of attention - I'm regularly afforded the opportunity to comment on them. However, let's not lose sight of the potential upside.

Virtualization, SOA, and the Rise of Social Media

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:45:00 EDT

At Hummer Winblad we often joke that we focus on the "boring side of software." By this we mean that many of our companies tend to be described with words like core, infrastructure, B2B, backend, etc. We believe that these companies provide the infrastructure under which the next generations of software are built. They will be interesting and successful companies but it is unlikely your mom will ever know their names.

Cloud Computing and Reliability

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:40:00 EDT

IT managers and pundits speak of the reliability of a system in "nines." Two nines is the same as 99%, which comes to (100%-99%)*365 or 3.65 days of downtime per year, which is typical for non-redundant hardware if you include the time to reload the operating system and restore backups (if you have them) after a failure. Three nines is about 8 hours of downtime, four nines is about 52 minutes and the holy grail of 5 nines is 7 minutes.

Opinion: Cloud Computing in 2008 - Not For the Faint-Hearted

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:35:00 EDT

I think that cloud computing is going to be 'the way ahead' for most businesses and individuals in the coming year or two. It makes a lot of sense. However, right now, in 2008, I think it's a very brave person who would entrust their business data to one of the thousands of micro-businesses offering 'cloud computing' services.

Neotys Named "Bronze Sponsor" of SYS-CON's AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:45:00 EDT

Neotys is a leader in easy-to-use, cost effective stress and load testing tools for Web 2.0 Applications. Since 2005, Neotys has been helping its clients in more than 40 countries to ensure their applications' reliability, performance and quality. NeoLoad, load testing solution for RIAs, ensures better efficiency to perform your tests faster, while providing pertinent analyses and full support for all new technologies. NeoLoad is one of the first web application testing tools to fully support Adobe Flex 3 and the AMF protocol. NeoLoad also perfectly handles other RIA applications that exchange data in text or XML formats over HTTP/S like AJAX, GWT or Silverlight applications.

SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Expo Will Be Larger Than Any Recent Gartner Event

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:00:00 EDT

The future model for providing IT infrastructure and services in large organizations is what many today are calling "Cloud Computing" - a concept popularized by Amazon through its web services efforts. Merrill Lynch analysts for example reckon that by 2011 the volume of Cloud Computing market opportunity will amount to $160BN, including $95N in business and productivity apps (e-mail, office, CRM, etc.) and $65BN in online advertising. Cloud Computing has many interpreters just now - and many interpretations. One thing is certain: it is the most dynamic new metaphor to hit enterprise computing since the creation of the "Web" by Tim Berners-Lee.

AJAX World RIA Conference Early Bird Savings to Expire This Friday

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:45:00 EDT

Rich Internet Applications offer the potential to fundamentally change the user experience and in doing so, yield significant business benefits. The theme of this October's AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2008 West is 'Beyond AJAX to the RIA Era' and the Call for Papers, which is still open, specifically encourages submissions from exceptional speakers with high-quality use cases of the fast-emerging RIA alternatives.

The Hana Financial Group Selects ActivIdentity Mini-tokens to Meet New FSA Mandatory Requirements for Two-factor Strong Authentication

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

“A major requirement of the Hana Financial Group was to select a standards-based authentication solution. The ActivIdentity Mini-token was selected as it complies with the OATH open standard, providing compatibility with 3rd party software, and assurance of future proofing as industry requirements move over time.” A Hana Bank spokesperson said.

Using Modeling to Improve the Management of SOA Initiatives

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:45:00 EDT

Without architecture, SOA is just a bunch of mashups that may or may not really solve an organization's issues. SOA is capturing attention around the world, but the task of creating and managing a truly service-oriented architecture can be elusive. Here we'll explore the creation and management of an enterprise-wide architecture that implements a company’s business plans through a comprehensive set of interconnected services.

Optimizing Virtualization Success in a Time of Virtual Sprawl

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:00:00 EDT

"Go forth and multiply" has a new interpretation in the IT world: "Go forth and virtualize." It is no surprise that enterprises today are adopting virtualization technologies in droves, not only because of the cost reduction and efficiency it delivers, but for the flexibility the technology delivers as well.