Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
Delivering IT as a service is perhaps the most important function of the cloud today. For companies that prefer to keep IT inside the security of their own data centers, a private cloud strategy offers the elasticity they need to respond to changing business needs quickly, cost effectively and in a way that can simplify…
There has been much speculation over the years as to whether IPv6 will be a benefit or burden to businesses and Internet users. When I am asked this question, my answer is usually “both.” First and foremost, it is important to remember that the transition to IPv6 is inevitable. The last few IPv4 addresses are…
Do you intend to make your current desktop environment public, or will you retain a NAT gateway to obscure your machines? Will your current applications support IPv6? Public-facing servers should likely run a dual stack for IPv4 and IPv6 resolution to provide the best chance of making sure that services are available to the broadest…
Do you want to know what your boss thinks when you plug in and begin to show a PowerPoint to persuade him to up your budget, approve your initiatives, and in general give you what you need? “Oh no, not another stinking PowerPoint!” “PowerPoint creates presentations that just are no longer appropriate,” said Diane Gayeski,…
Ideally, by the time you have a truly converged IT infrastructure running in your data center, many of the people you work with will have begun to see you in a different light: The CEO should begin to see you as the provider of IT as service and a source of efficiency, productivity, and innovation…
A successfully implemented converged infrastructure in your data center is not a destination. It is a process: More accurately, it is a set of processes, procedures, guidelines and configurations that allow your IT environment to respond more effectively to change. Change is not going to stop. Your technology will change. You’ll probably want to buy…
The CIO needs to get ahead of the business users and offer an equivalent or better solution that not only meets people’s needs but also forms part of the corporate strategy. It is all about minimizing risks. The first and greatest risk is that your business’ hard won ISO-27001 security accreditation will be flushed away…
First it was cloud-based apps that were causing CIOs sleepless nights. Business users are wooed by the ease of use, sexy look and feel and the speed of implementation. Sadly, business users are oblivious to the security hazards, the lack of integration into core systems, the scalability and longevity risks to the cloud vendor. This…
“Currently, the two protocols have equivalent security,” said Curran. “As a basis of comparison, IPv6’s best improvement is adding more bits for addressing (128 bits) over IPv4 (32 bits).” There is a fly in the transition lube that is worrying security experts, however: large scale NAT (LSN), also called carrier-grade NAT (CGN). “For the security…
The alarm sounded: IPv4 was running out of IP addresses. To fix the problem, IPv6, the next generation of routing, came to be with plenty of fanfare about its nearly unlimited number of addresses and additional security. There is even an official day for fanfare, “World IPv6 Day” tomorrow on June 8 (hence the timing…