AKIBIA'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
Entries with Label: Robert Klotz
“Practical Use” Fills the Gap Between Idea and Implementation
Monday, February 02, 2009
It’s no longer a question of if you will deploy virtualized environments but when you will deploy them. In fact there are many technologies at this same point somewhere between idea and implementation, including WAN optimization, security consolidation technologies, Microsoft initiatives and contract administration consolidation. These solutions will cross the chasm into main stream deployment mainly because they reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
Practical Green IT
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
As many companies have pushed its benefits, and positioned their solutions as helping to achieve "Green IT", the topic has come to represent many things to many different people. It is certainly one of the most hyped IT terms of the past two years. It offers important environmental benefits such as reduced footprint and carbon emissions, and it saps less of the energy supply. Green IT initiatives can help improve an organization's relationship with its community. While many would argue these reasons are important enough to address on their own, there is another reason that has made Green IT so attractive to the public and private sector alike: It reduces costs, and it can increase efficiencies.
The Training You Need Vs. The Training You Receive
Monday, February 23, 2009
Being certified on a technology may be a nice to have, but if your are certified on a technology but cant support it in the unique setting which is your specific IT infrastructure, then the certification does not really amount to much.
Consolidate Support Vendors?
Monday, April 06, 2009
The inability to predict a specific end date for the recession puts major stress on already strapped IT budgets. In past downturns many companies hunkered down and just held back on purchases until the economy started moving again. That strategy will not work this time. This recession will require IT to tighten the belt and really do more with less.
On the Path to the Cloud… Walk Before You Run
Monday, April 13, 2009
Every now and then a new technology concept really takes off as marketing gurus at some of the largest companies put their collective mindshare and budget behind the next big idea. Web 2.0 was one such term, social media is another. Cloud Computing is the next big idea.
A Letter to Ralph Szygenda, the CIO of General Motors
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Dear Mr. Szygenda, I just finished reading the Q&A Mary Hayes Weir of Informationweek conducted with you regarding your responsibilities in leading GM's IT department through the bankruptcy and restructuring.
Getting Ready for Cloud Computing
Thursday, June 18, 2009
IBM's new announcement around its Blue Cloud offerings is an example of a vendor who is struggling to re-work its existing products into the cloud and provide new services on top of them, to capitalize on the market buzz.
Death by A Thousand Processes: Getting Compliance Right Requires a Change in Thinking
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
It seems like every day we wake up to find a new compliance mandate staring us in the face. These mandates put pressure on our infrastructure, mind share and our budgets. Industry estimates show the cost for compliance can be anywhere from 8-12% of the IT budget of a Fortune 500 company to as much as 25% of the overall IT budget for a mid market company.
Take Full Advantage of System Monitoring
Thursday, August 20, 2009
According to analyst research the average hourly cost of downtime ranges from $28,000 in manufacturing to $2.5 million in banking and finance to $6.5 million in the brokerage industry. With uptime and data center performance of critical importance proactive systems monitoring needs to be a de facto element in any data center strategy. Yet, still companies are risking performance levels and business efficiency by not fully leveraging monitoring to improve their data centers.
Don’t Put off Until Tomorrow…
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The third extension for MA CMR 17 has me thinking of one of my grandmother’s favorite sayings “don’t put off until tomorrow, what you can do today.” As we all know, Massachusetts again extended the deadline for CMR 17 compliance to March 1, 2010 from January. While it’s human nature to see the extension as an opportunity to table compliance projects until the New Year, I caution against that.
A Couple Quick and Easy Green IT Steps
Monday, October 12, 2009
Last week Akibia’s team was busy attending some of the premier industry events, including AFCOM’s Data Center World down in Orlando and an ASCDI event in New York City. Both were great events and featured a number of compelling topics for the data center – from cloud computing, to virtualization to strategies for green IT.
Sky High Cloud Chatter
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Cloud Computing continues to be one of the top trends in terms of discussion and chatter in 2009. Many analyst firms are predicting that spending on cloud computing will far out pace spending in other IT sectors as the economy continues to recover. Forrester Research states that cloud computing should be on every enterprise’s three year roadmap. Not surprisingly, many IT vendors are announcing their own Cloud Computing solutions.
Monitoring Via the Cloud
Monday, December 07, 2009
Akibia has suggested before on this blog that many of the solutions that vendors bill as Cloud Computing offerings, fall short of the cloud in some way. There are three basic tenets to a cloud solution – infrastructure, application and access. Few cloud computing solutions on the market today actually achieve all three. Some that do are email and calendaring, CRM software as a service, and remote monitoring.
Ensuring Security in the Virtualized Environment
Friday, January 08, 2010
With virtualization more and more prevalent in your IT infrastructure, this is a good time to ensure your virtualized environment is meeting the same high standards for security that you have set for your non-virtual infrastructure.
New Requirement - New Fire Drill?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Gartner research suggests that companies that select individual solutions for each regulatory challenge spend 10 times more on the IT portion of compliance projects than companies that take a proactive and more integrated approach. One grocery chain in New England is doing just that.
The Missing Link
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Bill Brown has taken a bold step in the IT management world. Bill, who is the current CIO at Iron Mountain has carved out a newly created position as the SVP Global Compliance Process. While the traditional approach is to put someone in charge of overall audit and legal compliance, Bill has smartly created a bridge position between the business need for compliance and the IT operational delivery of the same.
midTECH IT Summit
Monday, June 27, 2011
Why is it that everyone speaks about the end game of the cloud?
More from midTECH
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Ever wonder why vendors try to twist IT problems to their gain?
The Double Dip Recession is Coming!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Some would argue that it never left. The good news is that we in the technology business should be ready for it.
VRM (Vendor Relationship Management)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
VRM (Vendor relationship management) - it has become clear that this skill is necessary in the changing landscape of IT.
Modernization is The Key
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
I had the chance to listen to the Chief Strategist of State Street Bank at the CIO 100 event...
