News

• Oracle expands systems management suite

  By Joab Jackson | 10 November, 2010 07:21

  In an effort to ease the complexity of system administration, Oracle has expanded its Enterprise Manager software to include servers, operating systems, networking gear and virtual environments, the company announced Tuesday.

• Complexity of IT systems will be our undoing

  By John Dix | 04 November, 2010 03:24

  Roger Sessions, CTO of ObjectWatch and an expert in software architecture, argues that the increasing complexity of our IT systems will be our undoing.  In fact, he just recently got a patent for a methodology that helps deal with complex IT systems. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Sessions to get his take on the extent of the problem and possible solutions.

• Why does IT have little influence in a company

  By Paul Glen | 26 October, 2010 14:27

  A while back, I read a survey that showed that, other than directors of human resources, CIOs were considered the least influential senior executives in most organisations.

• Gartner sees 'context-based computing' on the horizon

  By Ellen Messmer | 22 October, 2010 08:12

  Being a CIO -- or working for one -- no longer means just keeping a data center and network running. Now the CIO and the IT division must become "entrepreneurial" to drum up new customers for the business and learn how to deploy cutting-edge technologies such as "context-based computing" -- or risk becoming irrelevant.

• HP opens attack on Cisco certifications

  By Jim Duffy | 21 October, 2010 00:19

  HP this week unveiled a training and certification program for IT personnel converging enterprise infrastructure and rearchitecting data centers.

• Trellia to manage mobile access for Apple, BlackBerry, Android smartphones

  By John Cox | 21 October, 2010 02:19

  Updated software from Trellia Networks will now let enterprise IT groups set policies for automating and managing mobile access for devices running Android, BlackBerry OS and Apple iOS operating systems, in addition to laptops.

• Gartner: Enterprise IT spending to hit $2.5 trillion in 2011

  By Jon Brodkin | 19 October, 2010 05:39

  Worldwide enterprise IT spending will rise from $2.38 trillion this year to $2.46 trillion in 2011, a 3.1 per cent increase, the research firm Gartner said Monday.

• Tech hiring up almost 50 per cent since 2009, Dice says

  By Jon Brodkin | 15 October, 2010 04:06

  The number of available full-time tech jobs has increased 46 per cent in the past year, and contractors' hourly rates are rising as companies seek ways to overcome the ongoing IT skills shortage, according to a monthly report from Dice.

• BlueCat beefs up IPv6 support

  By Carolyn Duffy Marsan | 15 October, 2010 07:02

  BlueCat Networks has enhanced its IP address management software to aid network operators in the transition to IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol.

• New Dell initiative focuses on successful SMBs

  By Matthew Sainsbury | 13 October, 2010 10:30

  A new Dell program is highlighting the conditions many entrepreneurial SMBs face in the market and some of the opportunities for IT organisations to engage with those customers.

• Oracle database admins acknowledge security gaps

  By Ellen Messmer | 12 October, 2010 03:08

  Database security is rife with pitfalls, according to 430 Oracle database administrators surveyed by the Independent Oracle Users Group.

• Finding lost IT with RFID

  By Patrick Thibodeau | 06 October, 2010 22:26

  LAS VEGAS -- Vendors are increasingly trying to sell users on the idea that they need to stick RFID tags on IT equipment to keep track of it. Users are interested in this technology because they would much rather automate inventory tracking then go server-to-server with a bar code scanner and clipboard.

• Symantec now manages Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones

  By John Cox | 06 October, 2010 07:06

  Symantec today announced that its mobile device management software now supports Apple iOS and Google Android, via Microsoft's Enterprise ActiveSync protocol, which both platforms support. The release is part of an expanded push by the security vendor to eventually deal with the wide range of mobility threats.

• Facebook outage caused by database glitch

  By Tony Bradley | 24 September, 2010 23:38

  Facebook went offline for the second time in two days yesterday. The Thursday outage -- which lasted more than two hours for some users -- is a tale of a database control gone awry and illustrates the need for effective testing and change control procedures.

• Iran confirms massive Stuxnet infection of industrial systems

  By Gregg Keizer | 26 September, 2010 07:30

  Officials in Iran have confirmed that the Stuxnet worm infected at least 30,000 Windows PCs in the country, multiple Iranian news services reported on Saturday.