An Aberdeen study from 2010 revealed that respondents were still in the early stages of mobile business intelligence (BI) adoption. But now, many companies are gearing up to deploy mobile BI throughout the organization to empower their front-line workers. This Aberdeen report highlights the challenges ahead, and brings focus to issues that organizations need to consider to successfully deploy mobile analytics to their front line.
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Midsize companies in most global markets are currently in a major cycle of enterprise resource planning (ERP) replacement driven by economic conditions and operating requirements. Despite the buzz about the cloud, companies are cautious in adopting cloud ERP. This briefing focuses on the current ERP cloud computing landscape from the perspective of midsize customers who have deployed cloud-based ERP when replacing legacy solutions.
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Most organisations are sitting on IT equipment that is not supporting the business optimally, yet the received wisdom is to sweat the assets to gain as much perceived lifetime value from them as possible. However, IT assets have inherent value which can change significantly through each asset’s lifecycle—whether this is through its hard resale value or just through its scrap value. By applying a full IT lifecycle management (ITLM) approach to the complete IT platform, a business-optimised platform can be created—one where business value overrides the embedded concept of sweating assets.
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This paper highlights the environmental impact of printing and discusses how a managed print service can support an organization's sustainability goals, while also lowering costs and driving business efficiency.
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The "model and execute" approach to app development means that IT efforts are focused on meeting business needs instead of infrastructure issues. IT can work directly with users on designing the data structure, customizing the interface, and defining process tasks, ultimately ensuring rapid implementation, alignment with business needs, lower maintenance costs, increased adoption, and scalability. Download this white paper to learn how.
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CRM solutions can help small and midsize companies manage the myriad ways they interact with customers—from marketing to new and potential customers to improving their customer support. These solutions integrate new social and collaboration tools, making it easier to connect with customers, and are available via the cloud, making CRM more affordable for smaller companies. Know all the reasons you need a CRM solution.
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The wide variety of Android devices in the marketplace makes it extremely difficult to write apps that scale smoothly on many screen sizes. This white paper examines the tools provided by the Android software development kit (SDK), and presents a simple solution to allow a single layout to automatically scale to any screen size without distortion.
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Last fall, when Visa announced plans to drive chip card and mobile payment adoption, the question of whether the US will adopt EMV chip technology was made redundant, with two questions remaining in its place: when and how? By December 31, 2011, more than one million EMV chip-enabled cards had been issued by US financial institutions. MasterCard and Discover have since published their recommendations of how to roll out EMV in the US. With deadlines of between 2013 and 2015, financial institutions need to start planning how to protect their current infrastructure investments while meeting these new requirements cost-effectively. Compass Plus looks at the advantages of making the switch to the EMV standard and offers guidelines for successful implementation.
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While large enterprises have the resources to manage an overly complex series of inline devices and the requisite staff to perform all manner of security functions, small to medium businesses (SMBs) cannot afford to deploy them all, even though they are subject to the same level of attacks. Unified threat management (UTM) is the gateway security solution that has evolved along with the rise of enterprise security threats.
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The causes of a cloud outage can differ—software updates, networking interruptions, a bolt of lightning. But one thing is for certain: a cloud computing outage can significantly impact revenue generation, business continuity, and customer satisfaction. That’s all the more reason for companies to stay on top of their cloud computing environment. This white paper offers five ways to better manage a cloud-based IT infrastructure.
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In the coming years, a new Internet protocol, IPv6, will gradually succeed IPv4. The two Internet protocols aren’t interchangeable or compatible, so organizations will have to run them both in parallel on their networks for some time. This checklist offers five steps as a phased, cost-effective approach to move to the next-generation Internet protocol.
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Now that phone systems can be delivered over a network, even smaller companies can have access to enterprise-grade calling features. Like any business-critical system, a telephony system is a major deployment that should be undertaken only after a thorough discovery of both your existing infrastructure and users’ needs. This checklist offers 10 rules to help you choose a new telephony system for your organization.
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When it’s time to expand your business network, you must consider the current and future needs of your organization and assess the technologies that will provide the best performance for mission-critical applications. This checklist offers 10 rules for building a network that will reliably support your business as it grows.
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Most businesses can't simply replace all their existing telephony in one fell swoop. Decision makers like you must look carefully at what's available and what you need. Once you've surveyed the market and prioritized your specific business needs, you're challenged to craft the best possible shortlist of candidates. And this comparison guide, designed for midsize and large enterprises, is here to help. Download the guide now.
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Right now, there are two clear trends that will continue to shape business telephony into the next two years: Internet protocol (IP)-based communications and mobility. Download this concise executive brief to get an expert's take on voice over IP (VoIP), IPv6, converged networks, and more.
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Selecting the right backup and recovery solution can be complicated. Pricing and feature sets are "all over the map," making evaluations and comparisons difficult. Download this document for guidance that will lead you to the best shortlist of candidate solutions for your business, based on requirements including budget, backup and recovery time frames, platform support, key applications, and service level agreement (SLA) terms.
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As private equity investors acquire manufacturing enterprises, it becomes increasingly important to centralize the growing mass of performance data. A new breed of ERP provides the oversight and control necessary for private equity managers to ensure resources are working toward the same goals. Download this paper for key considerations private equity-backed manufacturers need to look for when evaluating technology enablers.
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To meet their recordkeeping and lot-tracking requirements, food and beverage processors must be able to rapidly identify and track every single ingredient in their products, from receipt through processing, packaging, and shipping, to the exact customer location. For this, such companies are turning to innovative software solutions. Read about the eight features a food or beverage processor must have in its ERP software.
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This white paper discusses why pure TCP-based file transfer protocols are unable to fully utilize network throughput due to high latency or packet loss, and how to accelerate file transfers up to 100x utilizing a combination of UDP and TCP.
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Information technology (IT) departments are under increased pressure to improve productivity across a broadening mobile workforce and to support the proliferation of smartphones and tablets in the workplace. The process for IT to manage mobility within the enterprise is not a single, all-encompassing capability but a series of successive competencies that define the full mobility life cycle. This paper discusses what’s important when evaluating mobility solutions.
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As personal mobile device ownership grows, organizations need to enhance their mobile device management (MDM) capabilities to be on par with desktop management and security, including establishing provisioning, configuration, management, and security operations that ensure user productivity while preserving compliance with information technology (IT) policies. This document serves as a glossary for common terms used in MDM.
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The task of managing iPhones or iPads in the enterprise is only going to continue to grow for most organizations. At a minimum you need to enforce device passwords and encryption policy, and have the ability to wipe corporate data in the event the device is lost or the employee leaves. This white paper introduces you to four simple steps for onboarding your iPhones to the corporate exchange server.
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Lawmakers and auditors have begun to require extensive safeguards for personal data residing on laptops, distributed personal computers, and handheld devices. They are also mandating protections for data being transferred to and from mobile employees over wireless connections and public networks. This white paper discusses the ensuing challenges faced by financial institutions and describes some of the tools that exist to prove compliance.
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Healthcare organizations are confronting how to fully embrace mobile devices beyond the administrative team. Personal device ownership is growing rapidly, and businesses face the challenge of how to fully provision, manage, and secure mobile devices. Healthcare needs a single platform to manage every device, while complying with security requirements. This document describes 11 best practices for mobile device management (MDM) in the healthcare industry.
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Personal device ownership and usage in the enterprise is growing rapidly, and businesses face the challenge of how to fully provision, manage, and secure mobile devices in their corporate environments. Businesses need a single platform to manage every device—desktop, laptop, smartphone, and tablet—both personal and corporate owned. This document describes 11 best practices for mobile device management (MDM).
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If your organization is like many others, it’s got a good handle on how to manage mobile devices throughout the environment. With that foundation firmly in place, it’s now time to devise a viable strategy for managing the applications that your employees will use on those devices. This white paper outlines the driving forces behind businesses establishing corporate application stores, the benefits of such an approach, and what to seek in a solution that supports this strategy.
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Corporate purchasing is no longer the primary way devices come into your organization; employees will bring their favorite devices and you have to make them work with your infrastructure and corporate policies. There are practices and tools available that can help you do this, but you need to have an enterprise mobility management (EMM) strategy that suits your users and your organization.
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To achieve true enterprise mobility, mobile device management (MDM) is only half the battle. On its own, MDM only controls the shell of a device, and not its applications. Organizations need to enable and simplify distribution, management, security, compliance, and updating for these apps. In this white paper, learn about mobile application management (MAM), which provides the ability to distribute and update mobile applications, supporting scale, simplicity, and security
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The Federal Information Security Amendments Act of 2010 (FISMA 2.0) contains several major new provisions, the most significant of which may be a requirement that every agency’s security program include “continuous automated monitoring of information systems used or operated by an agency or by a contractor of an agency or other organization on behalf of an agency.” This paper examines the implications of this requirement and looks at a set of host-based services that can be used to monitor and manage mobile and remote endpoints.
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While companies seemed willing enough to let the applications that surround and extend their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system reside in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment, they were less willing to place their systems of record in a cloud they did not specifically own or control. But that is changing. This white paper discusses the advantages of a SaaS environment for ERP and argues that the cost savings can be substantial.
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Manufacturers have legitimate questions and concerns when contemplating a transition from a legacy, on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to a cloud ERP system. Download this white paper to find out just how cloud ERP solutions have proven their viability and superiority when compared to on-premise competitors when it comes to security, business continuity, cost and other factors.
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This IDC white paper looks at the growing applicability of software as a service (SaaS) for enterprise-level business applications, and analyzes the adoption rate and total cost of ownership (TCO) of this technological approach. Download this white paper to find out how a hosted option can drive significant cost savings, reduce initial implementation times, and bring new functionality with relative ease and convenience.
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High-tech and electronics manufacturers are challenged to handle compressed product lifecycles, supply-chain agility, global visibility, and constantly changing regulatory compliance. But a new breed of ERP helps companies meet these specific challenges. Download this white paper to find out about must-have ERP features such as automated flow of documents, traceability, supply chain management, integrated lean tools, and more.
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For food processing companies, a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution offers a clear view of what is happening on the plant floor so they can track complete genealogies. Real-time data and flexible barcode functions enable efficiencies and productivity improvements. Download this white paper to learn more about the value of using a cloud/software-as-a-service (SaaS) ERP system on the food processing plant floor.
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In many business areas, including sales, marketing, and finance, traditional business intelligence tools are providing executives with real-time visibility and analytics. Not so for manufacturing. Download this report to find out how best-in-class manufacturers can unlock the value of real-time manufacturing data by bringing together corporate and plant IT environments with new technology enablers and system architectures.
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As processors develop and enhance their food safety management systems (FSMSs), four key components enable them to meet demands with minimal business disruption, for a manageable cost. Processors can use the information in this paper to identify, develop, or jump-start an FSMS that includes these four components plus the critical dimension of complete integration.
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Sage 100 Standard ERP (formerly Sage ERP MAS 90), v. 4.5, is TEC Certified for online evaluation of mixed-mode manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in the ERP Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Organizations today face fierce competition. One strategy for gaining a competitive edge is to look to advanced technological options focused on the core business. With the rapid adoption of cloud computing, organizations can take help from technology partners to cope with their technology requirements. Know the key points and get guidance for selecting a technology partner for Windows Azure cloud computing platform.
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The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets, the growth of cloud computing, and the increased need for convenience printing means that organizations must provide employees with a secure and simple managed approach to mobile printing. Read this report and learn about the market drivers for mobile printing in the business environment and some of the best practices for building a mobile print strategy.
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Social networks offer many opportunities for businesses to gain a closer engagement with their customers. This appears to be an unstoppable bandwagon that all organizations must leap on before they are left behind, but is it that simple? The social network landscape is packed with choices and pitfalls for the unwary, so a careful and appropriately nuanced response is required. Read more on how to best use social media.
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This white paper examines the current mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) landscape, the MVNO operational and customer segmentation models, and key challenges that MVNOs should address upfront and after launch in order to enhance their success.
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Sage 100 Standard ERP (formerly Sage ERP MAS 90), v. 4.5, is TEC Certified for online evaluation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for services in the ERP Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Download this checklist of items to consider before you purchase a new phone system for your business. Ideally, you should answer yes to each of these questions before you buy!
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Is your company paying too much for its phone service? If you’re using one of the big service providers and still making calls over a traditional land line system, you probably are. Did you know you could slash up to 50 percent off your company’s phone bill by switching to voice over IP (VoIP)? Download this white paper to learn what VoIP is, and how it can save money for your business.
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Maintaining a phone system requires investment in both personnel and costly equipment. If you’re looking for ways to trim costs, you might want to consider a hosted VoIP phone system. In a hosted VoIP setup, a telephony system is provided and managed by an outside service. Download this guide to arm yourself with the information you need to decide which VoIP service provider would best suit your business.
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The process of determining which phone system is best for your organization’s needs can be a time-consuming process. Yet, it demands your due diligence because if you choose the wrong system, it can be not only a costly mistake, but also one with long term consequences if your team is stuck with a system that doesn’t fulfill your business needs. Here are eight questions to ask phone system vendors before you agree to purchase.
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S-Drive has been built on Salesforce.com as a managed application and is delivered exclusively via the AppExchange marketplace. It is a native AppExchange application, meaning that it is built to run in the cloud with multi-tenancy and scalability in mind. S-Drive uses Amazon Simple Storage
Service as its file storage platform, whereas the Salesforce.com is used as the application platform as well as the file information database. Besides Salesforce.com and Amazon Web Services, SDrive does not use any other servers or infrastructure that may introduce security vulnerabilities.
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A properly conducted code review can do more for the security of your application than nearly any other step. A large numbers of bugs can be found and fixed before the code makes it into an official build or into the hands of the test team. Additionally, the code review process lends itself very well to sharing security best practices amongst a development team and it produces "lessons learned" toward preventing future bugs. This guide focuses on identifying the types of issues that you should look for in the code being reviewed, and then on finding these bugs as quickly and effectively as possible. It also describes how you can use threat models, architecture diagrams, and other inputs to help guide your review.
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An ERP system is a major investment for any business, particularly a smaller one. A well-planned and implemented ERP system can change the way you do business and significantly improve profitability. But there are pitfalls if you have not prepared properly. In this white paper, Pronto Software outlines critical questions you need to consider in the search, evaluation, and implementation of an ERP solution for your business.
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Embedding governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) management into all business process has become imperative. Companies need to adopt a holistic view when it comes to reducing and managing risks, and ensure better access risk management. This paper discusses the need for companies to take a proactive approach towards access risk management.
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Managing end-user access to critical enterprise resources as part of an organization's IT governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) initiative helps companies to control access risk, provide real-time visibility for multiple stakeholders, and streamline regulatory compliance. This research shows that the leading performers in controlling access risk also realize tangible financial benefits.
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The increased deployment of mobile solutions in the workplace can make navigating the corporate landscape challenging and risky. While organizations are rightly deploying mobile device management (MDM) solutions as means to secure their mobile devices, there is more to be done. This executive insight examines the need for organizations to deploy a holistic enterprise mobility management solution that goes well beyond MDM.
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In the unwired enterprise, mobile devices connect the boardroom to the shop floor to the consumer across the supply chain. They empower people and companies that employ them. This friendly guide looks at how your enterprise can manage and leverage this technology to ensure your organization is productive and secure. Understand the key aspects of enterprise mobility and know how you can boost your bottom line through mobility.
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An increasing number of organizations are permitting employees to bring their own mobile devices into the workplace to be used for work purposes. While this practice may first appear to reduce enterprise mobility costs while increasing employee productivity, it also poses new risks and may actually increase costs if not properly managed. Know how to cost-effectively manage this Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) phenomenon.
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Today, more and more companies are launching mobile applications, creating a mobile professional workforce across job roles and categories. This white paper provides a framework for CIOs on how to create a mobile application strategy for their business. It gives a step-by-step guide to the different stages involved, from choosing a focus, to building and deploying, to the ongoing support of enterprise mobile applications. Read more.
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This white paper describes the need for IPv6, the benefits it can provide, and how important it is to take a holistic view of IPv6 migration from a business perspective.
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In order to meet data center challenges, organizations must take measures to consolidate data centers and look at outsourcing arrangements and alternate models of data center management. However, because carrying out a data center strategy typically requires a large investment in time and costs, organizations today are making tactical decisions that have minimal impact. While some organizations are contemplating alternate models for data center management, others seem to be dragging their feet in making any meaningful changes to their strategy. Find out more in this report on results from a survey that included 75 CIOs and heads of IT from Fortune 1000 companies across US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
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As the marketplace moves towards a less opaque and more defined cloud computing model, UK-based businesses will increasingly expect reliable, secure and cost-effective on-demand services that free employees to be more productive and more profitable, wherever they are located. These organizations have heard about the benefits but remain unsure about the “types of cloud” available to them, and about the precise timing and extent to which they should embrace opportunities presented by the cloud. Beyond convergence, the situation has become even more complicated with trends such as consumerization and the proliferation of handheld devices, plus the security threats (and remarkable new business opportunities) posed by an increasingly mobile world. Learn more.
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When Fox’s Confectionery was bought out from Northern Foods, it needed to rescale its information technology (IT) system. It selected Solarsoft to provide equivalent functionality, but without massive support infrastructure. See how Solarsoft’s Tropos ERP solution helped the company to rationalize its business processes, improve information access, reduce cost of ownership, and support an independent growing business.
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Mobile device interfaces can enhance customer engagement by providing services such as pricing information and user review facilities. The upward trend in the sale of smartphones further validates the importance of creating retail mobile solutions. By leveraging the potential of mobile commerce, retailers can unify the customer experience across channels and better understand customer behavior through analytics. In this context, retailers have started to develop sophisticated mobile platforms that capture shopping preferences and customer location, create shopping wish lists, provide rich product information, integrate social media, and so on. Download this white paper to learn more.
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Sage 300 ERP (formerly Sage ERP Accpac) 6.0 is TEC Certified for online evaluation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for services in the ERP Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Due to the growth in mobile lifestyle among customers, the adoption of mobile devices and applications in manufacturing plants and facilities is on the rise. This trend has led to more efficient collaboration and innovation in manufacturing. Indeed, the convergence of mobile devices and networks has enabled an in-depth observation of customer behavior at levels that were not accessible prior to mobility. For mobile success, manufacturers will benefit immensely by partnering with experienced mobility technology and service providers. Download this white paper to learn more.
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Bizagi BPM Suite 9.1.6 is now TEC Certified for online evaluation of business process management (BPM) solutions in the Project Portfolio Management Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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The emerging class of digitally savvy bank customers, including small and midsized businesses, increasingly wants to use bank branches for sophisticated financial advice, support, and products--as opposed to conventional transactions such as cashing pay checks. This white paper, produced jointly by Knowledge@Wharton and Wipro Technologies, captures the emerging business models for bank branches. It is based on comprehensive, globally conducted customer surveys, as well as interviews with Wharton faculty and Wipro executives.
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In the current regulatory environment, banks are facing two levels of challenges. While they are under pressure to expand beyond home territories, they also face stifling regulatory constraints. These restrictions are forcing banks to maximize on every capital expenditure they make. Such financial and regulatory reforms, in the face of the economic slowdown, have positive effects on quality assurance, governance and data management. But it also forces banks to hold capital that they would otherwise invest. This environment has made it vital for banks to sharpen their analytical and forecasting capabilities. Find out how the burden of regulation, expansion, cost optimization, and business transformation can be shared by an expert partner to foster an environment for growth.
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The oil and gas industry is faced with not only the challenges of volatile prices but also the various risks from owning and operating critical infrastructures and assets. In order to overcome these issues without compromising cost efficiency, IT services within the process control domain (PCD) need to be transformed. This encompasses the outsourcing of IT services within the business-critical PCD so that the organization benefits from the best practices of wider enterprise IT. Transforming IT services within the PCD not only helps reduce costs but also helps meet the common business challenges faced by the oil and gas industry. Download this white paper to learn more now.
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New technologies and changing economic conditions have triggered a number of changes in the pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and biotech sectors. Increased global sales of life sciences products and growing demand for drugs present drug industry companies with a host of opportunities. However, the mandate for clinical trials has led to considerable inflation in their research and development (R&D) expenditure. The resolution lies in using emerging markets as an alternative to conduct these trials. Thanks to new technologies, the cloud, and social media/online portals, the pharmaceuticals, life sciences and biotech sectors can make the most of the emerging opportunities. Learn how.
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Maintenance Connection Onsite/Online (v. 5.0) is TEC Certified for online evaluation of computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)–enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions in the Asset Management Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Enterprise configuration management (ECM) is a process to capture data and dependencies about an information technology (IT) infrastructure and to create an audit trail of changes against that infrastructure. The ECM process manages the revision and status of all the digital assets in an IT infrastructure. This white paper by Chris Kincaid from Configuration Management, Inc. discusses the benefits of ECM for risk mitigation.
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When Forrester Consulting examined the total economic impact of Conformiq Tool Suite (CTS) for one large-scale user, the results were clear: a risk-adjusted 396% return on investment and 3.5-month payback period. With a new single framework for software testing, the user also improved test suite maintenance efficiency and gained agility in test model creation and modification. Learn more about the benefits CTS could bring to your company.
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Open source vendor MODX provides a modern, highly flexible, Web standards–compliant Web content management (WCM) framework. TEC’s Director of Knowledge Services Josh Chalifour profiles MODX—its background, business practices, revenue streams, and community. MODX’s WCM systems, Evolution and Revolution, are being used for a significant quantity of sites around the world. Find out more in this report.
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Computer storage holds the lifeblood of today's economy. From movies, music, books, and classroom materials, to corporate, personal, and financial data of all sorts, everything is being stored digitally. For this reason, the information and the knowledge derived from today's Internet-reliant world have become the core elements by which our society increases its productivity. Find out more in this white paper from Stonefly.
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For more than a decade, offshoring and outsourcing enjoyed an unchallenged monopoly in terms of adding value to global organizations. Since the economic downturn of 2008, however, there has been a shift in the perspective of IT expenditure. An increased demand for direct linking of IT to business outcomes and variablization of IT cost has made IT services in the cloud an attractive business idea. Find out why.
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This paper highlights potential approaches for bringing together mobility technologies, and examines how these approaches contribute to resolving operator concerns about deploying services and combating congestion.
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Increase your Web site's potential with a trust mark. Learn how to increase transactions on your site and decrease shopping cart abandonment when you read this white paper. Download this paper and you will learn just how beneficial trust marks are to online businesses.
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This white paper provides insights into how Extended Validation (EV) SSL can help increase online transactions and sales by alleviating consumer concerns about identity theft and fraud.
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IT pros managing hospital data centers with mixed network environments, long lists of remote access protocols and applications, multiple user interfaces, and what often feels like way too many tools, are searching for remote access management solutions that are efficient, secure, and cost-effective to deploy. Learn which criteria to use as a benchmark when choosing a remote access solution for a health care environment.
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The recent release of the Firesheep Wi-Fi attack tool has increased awareness among both users and attackers of the inherent insecurity of unprotected HTTP connections. Firesheep allows an attacker connected to the local network to monitor the Web sessions of other users on that network. According to experts, the best solution is to use TLS/SSL for all connections to Web sites. Download this white paper to learn how to avoid these attacks.
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Today, wi-fi is embedded in virtually every mobile Internet device and common hotspot services have formed to fill the gap in ensuring effective coverage for today’s service providers worldwide that offer smartphones. Download this white paper for a deep dive into the impact of wi-fi deployment, wi-fi’s role in data offloading, and best practices for wi-fi and adoption in business models.
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As a company in the financial sector, you place extremely high demands on your call center. The complicated and sensitive nature of the calls requires an agent who is highly trained and experienced. This leads to a high cost per call. At the same time, sacrificing caller satisfaction is not an option. This creates a tough challenge: How do you decrease the cost per call, while improving the customer experience? Download this white paper to find out.
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IFS Applications (v. 7.5) is TEC Certified for online evaluation of enterprise asset management (EAM)–computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) solutions in the Asset Management Evaluation Center. The certification seal is a valuable indicator for organizations relying on the integrity of TEC research for assistance with their software selection projects. Download this report for product highlights, competitive analysis, product analysis, and in-depth analyst commentary.
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Power over ethernet (PoE) allows network administrators to deploy VoIP phones, WLAN access points, IP security cameras, and other powered devices without having to install AC outlets, pull cables, or modify building plans. By eliminating the need for separate electrical wiring and power outlets, PoE technology can deliver savings of up to 50 percent compared to traditional network powering infrastructures. Learn more now.
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Test language is a dictionary of keywords that helps testers communicate with one another and with other subject-matter experts. The keywords replace common English as the testing basis and create an approach called keyword-driven testing (KDT). KDT can be used to improve communication between testers, avoid inconsistency in test documents, and serve as the infrastructure for test automation. Download this white paper to learn more.
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Many innovative enterprises are turning to cloud storage to meet their data protection demands. This white paper by Taneja Group explores the factors that are driving the move to cloud storage and then introduces a solution from Riverbed and EMC that enables organizations to perform cloud backup and replication at LAN-like performance that is as reliable and secure as local disk or tape at a lower cost. Read further.
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Riverbed Whitewater leverages WAN optimization technology to provide a complete data protection service to the cloud. The appliance-based solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing backup technologies and cloud storage provider APIs. Read this ESG Lab report on hands-on testing of the Riverbed Whitewater appliance for ease of use, cost-effective recoverability, data assurance, and performance and scalability.
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Companies looking to drive greater IT performance will do well to begin their search with Wide Area Network (WAN) optimization, which has evolved into a complete system that provides deep, actionable visibility. Read on to learn how WAN optimization works across the broad range of applications that enterprises use the most, and get pointers for what to look for in a measurement tool in a WAN optimized environment. Read more.
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This IDC Buyer Case Study examines BT's successful project to reduce costs and raise efficiency and quality in its release-service introduction, testing, and deployment activities, using offshore-based partner Wipro. It looks at the challenges, risks, and outcomes of the project, and draws some lessons for organizations considering similar challenges.
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Analytics has moved from the specialty of a dedicated few to a necessity for groups of business professionals to do their job. This white paper considers the use of analytics and business intelligence (BI) for improving decision making in the telecommunications industry. It also examines the benefits of prebuilt analytic applications for achieving this objective across functions in a telecommunications organization.
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Communications service providers (CSPs) face a changing business environment, with consumers and businesses rapidly adopting the latest mobile devices for their computing and communications needs. This Vendor Spotlight examines the issues facing the communications industry and discusses the role that SAP plays in offering a new generation of billing software and services designed to address the needs of this important market.
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Based on a survey of finance executives from across Canada, this white paper offers perspectives of senior financial managers on the widespread use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets in the workforce. It also determines what finance executives see as the drivers and benefits of the use of mobile business applications, as well as the most critical challenges and consequences, including cost and risk.
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This white paper reveals the results of a survey that examined how companies can intelligently manage devices to create value, and to look at implications for improving energy efficiency. While recognizing there are challenges facing smart management of devices, one third of those who responded to a related survey also acknowledged that such efforts could help cut costs or increase profits significantly across many areas of the business. Learn more. Download this white paper now.
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Cloud and virtualization both help deliver optimal resources, on-demand utilization, flexibility, and scalability. However, business owners often have to address issues that are common with computer networks such as unauthorized use, outside intrusion, data loss and technical support. A managed services solution that is well-planned, efficient, and cost-effective is crucial to maintaining a functioning network. By outsourcing service management, organizations can devote time and resources to more important aspects of the business, while critical systems and data are hosted in a secure environment. Learn more. Download now.
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Security Information and Event Manager (SIEM) users face the pressure of high costs related to the selection of a SIEM product, its deployment, integration and day-to-day use. Such cost pressure stems from substantial initial cost of the product, additional expenses for specific hardware and third-party product licenses, etc. In the end, what was initially considered as an affordable price for the chosen SIEM solution may turn out to be a large hole in the budget with an enormous total cost of ownership. Download this white paper to learn different approaches for resolving them successfully.
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Server virtualization is a top priority for midsize businesses in 2011. It offers immediate benefits to organizations of all sizes, although the benefits may differ between large and small. This guide will help you to understand what server virtualization is, where it fits in the overall virtualization landscape, how to determine if and how it can help your business, and how to choose the best solution for your specific needs.
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As smartphones and tablet computing devices get their foot in the enterprise door, companies are finding themselves at a much higher risk of data breach and loss. In order to mitigate this risk, Focus Experts Amy Babinchak, Martyn Davies, Bob Egan, Rasib Hassan Khan, Josh Lipton, and Ken Wineberg offer their top 6 best practices for managing security on mobile devices.
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While technology has made it possible to transmit power across geographies and time zones, power companies remain unable to fully leverage these developments. This is a result of the challenges posed by power theft from transmission and distribution lines spread across very large geographies. These leakages are the result of tampered meters and sloppy revenue protection strategies. One solution is to deploy smart grids that provide a high degree of real-time visibility, control, and responsiveness to activity on the grid. Learn more. Download this white paper now.
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The SaaS delivery model promises the consumer a pay-per-use model for consuming software without any up-front capital expenditure in terms of buying the license and infrastructure, and without the overhead of maintaining the infrastructure necessary to run the software. That said, there are three levels of SaaS maturity among ISVs. Download this white paper to learn about the shortcomings and merits of each SaaS maturity level.
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As a set of products that provides a consistent, unified user interface and experience across multiple devices, unified communications (UC) is poised to become more widespread in the enterprise. How will IM, video, telephony, and other elements of UC change in the coming year? In this guide, experts Jon Arnold, Mike Barnes, Nicole Hayward, Dave Michels, and Blair Pleasant share their predictions for unified communications.
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While technology has improved quality of life, it has also contributed to global environmental imbalance, particularly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. However, technology, combined with smart policy, can significantly reduce the emissions responsible for climate change. Learn where IT has high-impact potential to reduce carbon emissions while boosting profitability—and how you can use IT to “green” your practices for larger-scale benefits.
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Security breaches are perpetrated by a wide variety of external and internal sources, including hacktivists, targeted attackers, and profit-motivated
cybercriminals, as well as through mundane everyday occurrences, such as missing laptops and thumb drives. To address these compliance and privacy issues, organizations have responded by adding layers of controls and integrating them with varied results. Now, those organizations realize that making security simpler is the ultimate strategy for ensuring end user adoption of new security measures and meeting multiple, overlapping regulatory requirements. This paper is a review of DigitalPersona Pro, its integrated approach, and its features and efficiencies in these areas.
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With the growth of cloud computing, businesses must understand their application footprint, how applications and business processes cross departments and lines of business, and how to optimize their applications architecture around collaboration and process. This white paper shows how businesses can position themselves for cost-effective growth and improved competitiveness by combining an integration applications strategy with cloud delivery.
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The growing adoption of laptops and other portable devices is changing the foundation of traveling and telecommuting. Laptops have overtaken desktops as the computer of choice for business users. While endpoint protection has been traditionally associated with solutions like antivirus and firewalls, these technologies don’t adequately protect data against theft, loss or unauthorized access. Learn more. Download this white paper now.
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Telephony is changing as internet protocol (IP)-based phone systems take hold. An IP phone system can deliver calls over the network as clearly and reliably as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and more and more companies are even choosing a hosted or cloud-based voice over IP (VOIP) solution over an installed system. Discover three key VoIP features that can help you take advantage of IP telephony.
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An Internet protocol (IP) phone system transforms your phone system into a next-generation communications hub, complete with technologies that let your organization improve customer service and cut costs. An IP-based phone system piggybacks on your IP-network, connecting to the public-switched telephone network (PSTN) via your Internet connection. Use this checklist to sell management on a new IP-based phone system.
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The enterprise resource planning (ERP) market has grown to include new solutions and delivery models, adding software-a-a-service (SaaS) offerings to on-premise ERP solutions. This has prompted some companies to switch to more suitable solutions. But jumping into a “rip and replace” scenario can be trickier than installing ERP for the first time. These five steps for switching ERP vendors help ease the transition.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is notoriously complex. Horror stories abound about failed installations, unresponsive vendors, and wasted investments. But as daunting as ERP can be, many organizations can’t operate without it. Working closely with your vendor to configure a solution, choosing the right delivery model, and following this list of 10 tips can help you optimize your ERP initiative. Find out more.
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This white paper describes PacketController’s net neutrality methodology. Through PacketController's automatic TCP rate-limiting technology, it does not matter what the traffic is, or if it's encrypted, as the algorithms at this level fundamentally work per subscriber. Should there be any unidentified traffic (and there will always be unidentified trafic), PacketController's unique fair allocation of bandwidth automatically ensures fairness across the network and ensures no one subscriber gets an unfair share of bandwidth.The paper also describes the typical process to implement PacketController in ISP environment to manage bandwidth investment and increase network performance. Download now.
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This report discusses the policy and business drivers of "clean tech," and the development of the clean tech sector in terms of business models, globalization, technological diffusion, and growth. The emphasis on clean tech has increased in recent years due to international concerns about the economic impact of climate change caused by GHG (largely CO2) emissions from energy production and consumption. This report examines government policies in different economies, and focuses on clean tech opportunities for software services such as measurement and monitoring, platform efficiency software, mitigation software, system integration, and managed services consulting.
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There is an increasing trend among employees toward using their personal mobile device for fulfilment of their work commitments. While this appears to bring many benefits for the employee while, on the face of it, reducing upfront costs for employers, it does introduce significant on-going costs and risks for the organisation. However, with many appealing mobile consumer devices being offered, the trend is likely to increase. Organizations need to work out suitable strategies and policies to manage this complex and hybrid situation in the best interests of both themselves and their employees.
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Today's organizations, faced with stricter internal security policies and multiple regulatory compliance requirements, continue to struggle in their efforts to make Active Directory auditing simpler and more adept at fulfilling their needs. Native Windows auditing mechanisms don't meet the demands of modern businesses, and administrators are often left in the dark about significant and potentially harmful Active Directory changes. Learn how to easily improve native Active Directory auditing without making dramatic changes to your IT infrastructure in this eye-opening white paper written by renowned industry expert Don Jones.
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Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets may be putting your corporate information at risk. Lost or stolen smartphones that are not password-protected, or information in corporate e-mail or business applications transmitted wirelessly but not encrypted, can all too easily expose confidential corporate data. Download this white paper to learn about key strategies for protecting your enterprise mobile devices and the sensitive data they contain.
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Businesses need to be highly flexible, scalable, and able to adapt quickly to market conditions and customer demands. However, this is easier said than done; building and maintaining such capabilities the traditional way is laborious and challenging. Download this white paper to learn about the various capability acquisition and IT solution deployment options—and how to evaluate them.
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These days, the IT department can’t just focus on keeping servers up and running, getting users the access they need, and bringing new services online to benefit the business. IT is, unfortunately, also the last line of defense in the organization’s security and compliance efforts. Microsoft MVP Don Jones recounts the top 5 horror stories associated with poor auditing. Read this white paper and prevent these nightmares from happening to you.
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Wipro completed a research project to understand how application and desktop virtualization technology can be best harnessed for the needs of higher education and compare traditional systems integration implementation approach with a cloud computing model. The team conducted in-depth interviews with a set of colleges and universities that have considered, piloted, or already deployed such solutions. This document is a summary of the research findings and conclusions.
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Before adopting any applications for key business functions, executives should perform a thorough total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis. Unfortunately, apples-to-apples comparisons can prove challenging. While it may be tempting to compare the initial license price of on-premises software to the annual subscription fees for cloud computing, this methodology fails to account for the ongoing internal operating costs for the on-premises software. Beyond direct software and hardware purchase and implementation costs, it’s also important for organizations to consider additional business drivers, including infrastructure and resource overhead, maintenance costs, ongoing operations, flexibility, and risk. Download this paper to learn more about how you can estimate the true TCO of cloud applications versus traditional on-premise software.
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The result of implementing middleware products such as WebSphere MQ (WMQ) “out-of-the-box” without security measures has led to increased risk of failed audits on various regulatory measures. The need for auditing, penetration testing, and remediation of critical middleware structures to assure regulatory compliance and provide internal security methods beyond traditional perimeter security methodologies is paramount.
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The world is out of IPv4 addresses and the time of IPv6 is at hand. This paper explores existing file transfer technology used for bulk data exchange under the lens of IPv6 and highlights issues to consider during strategic or tactical planning. Summary results from a series of IPv6 interoperability tests involving 5 clients, 3 browsers, and 6 servers illuminate the findings and recommendations.
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For the second year, Symantec’s SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey revealed that small to medium businesses (SMBs) are not taking disaster preparedness for their computer and networking systems as seriously as they should. Most SMBs don’t take action to prepare for disasters until after they have experienced loss from downtime, and this lack of preparation has a significant impact on their customers and their business.
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File-level recovery on its own is an incomplete strategy when it comes to meeting stringent recovery time objectives (RTOs) for complete system recovery. This paper investigates what’s at risk, where system-level recovery fits relative to current data protection approaches, the impact of system-level recovery on your IT department’s ability to meet RTOs, and the potential of system-level recovery to reduce costs.
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Objective performance testing was performed on four publicly available small business endpoint protection products and a pre-beta version of another endpoint protection product, on Windows 7. The products were benchmarked using thirteen performance metrics to assess product performance and system impact on the endpoint or client machine. This report presents the results from these performance tests.
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Small and medium enterprises often find that their “short list” of storage solutions includes products from EMC and IBM. Both companies offer solid products. Hardware/software costs are, for the most part, similar. And both companies offer solid service and support. So, when choosing between these two vendors, what criteria should you use to determine which product best suits your storage needs? Download this advisory now to find out.
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With increasing adoption of smart phones and availability of services, consumers are looking at new ways of leveraging smart phone capabilities. SmartAssist is an end-to-end solution for Airlines that can efficiently manage mobile coupons and redemptions on a customer’s smart phone. The solution leverages the power of location-based services and Near Field Communication (NFC), all packaged together on a sleek user interface.
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Most business collaboration continues to be conducted via e-mail and shared folders, but forward-looking organizations are increasingly considering socially oriented and real-time collaboration solutions to instantly and seamlessly increase productivity between employees, suppliers, customers, and stakeholders. This white paper discusses new products, services, and technologies entering the enterprise collaboration space.
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Do you need a better backup solution or a better recovery solution? Many businesses are struggling with both an ever-increasing amount of data and a decreasing tolerance to system downtime. You need to reduce the amount of data at risk of loss and eliminates error-prone manual operations from the data protection process. And you need to get your operations back up within minutes of any type of data loss.
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Many innovative enterprises are turning to cloud storage to meet their data protection demands. This paper by Taneja Group explores the factors that are driving the move to cloud storage and then introduces a solution from Riverbed and EMC that enables organizations to perform cloud backup and replication at LAN-like performance that is as reliable and secure as local disk or tape at a lower cost. See how this solution can help you.
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Riverbed Whitewater leverages WAN optimization technology to provide a complete data protection service to the cloud. The appliance-based solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing backup technologies and cloud storage provider APIs to provide rapid data retrieval, and replicate data to the cloud to provide an off-site storage location for disaster recovery. Read the ESG Lab report of the appliance's features.
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The explosive growth of enterprise data poses new storage and data management challenges for enterprises. This white paper details how organizations can leverage cloud-based storage offerings as part of their data protection plans. The paper also takes a closer look at solutions offered by Riverbed that allow organizations to integrate cloud-based storage within solutions that address a growing set of data protection demands.
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This primer is designed to provide business decision makers and other potential buyers with basic knowledge about the exploding market of the virtualization industry—its evolution and the current landscape, along with a glossary of terms. It also includes a checklist of signs that your data center needs virtualization.
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The network, once only a component of the business, is now the fundamental backbone by which business is conducted. Most organizations cannot maintain productivity if their network is unstable. But cost-effective network management is an elusive goal. This paper defines network automation, outlines how to select a network automation solution, and identifies the benefits of good network automation
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This guide to networking for small to medium businesses (SMBs) is designed to help decision makers quickly identify their specific needs and includes a discussion of buyer types, product requirements, cost considerations, and vendor relationship needs for several areas of networking technology, including server hardware and operating systems, routers, backup, network management, and client security.
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Freight costs can represent a significant component of your supply chain—often around 5-7 percent of sales for manufacturing, retail, and wholesale/distribution companies. For many firms, this responsibility is not managed as well as it could be. This white paper shares 10 best practices in transportation management, with valuable insights from industry professionals.
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Engineer-to-order (ETO) companies can use enterprise software to implement eCommerce strategies in order to improve customer service, reduce waste, and increase profits. This white paper outlines the ways that enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can facilitate ETO eCommerce by opening portals to suppliers, project collaborators, and customers. Realize the benefits of eCommerce in the ETO setting with ERP software.
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Just to survive, let alone thrive, smaller businesses need a complete Web infrastructure that is stable, scalable, and secure. And it begins at the very first point of contact between vendor and customer: DNS, or Domain Name System. This white paper examines how managed solutions for external DNS can combat Web site crashes, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and plain old downtime.
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This white paper examines the use cases of database migration and challenges that accompany it. The main attention is devoted to solutions used to remove the complexity and bottlenecks of database migration. This white paper introduces Devart's Schema and Data Compare tools tailored to facilitate any database migration tasks and reduce time and effort.
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AireSpring offers managed Internet protocol (IP) communications services to small and medium-sized businesses via its own core-to-premises network. Many of its business customers operate high-volume call centers or multi-location enterprises. This case study reviews how customer issues were quickly diagnosed and resolved in a high speed, high-volume voice network environment to meet the quality of service guarantee.
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Illumiti helps its clients achieve optimized operations in key areas at the core of their business, by implementing custom-fit SAP® systems and other solutions faster, at a lower cost, and at a lower risk than other alternatives. Illumiti leverages proven and highly-effective methodologies to maximize business results. This data sheet shows how Illumiti’s products and services can support your critical functionality needs.
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Businesses today demand that their information technology (IT) functions deliver certainty, confidence, and agility while improving efficiency. This white paper explains how Attenda provides a way for businesses to achieve their IT goals while avoiding the pitfalls of wholesale outsourcing or uncontrolled consumption of public cloud services.
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Are you getting all the information you need to really understand how well your company is performing right now? How quickly do you get the information you need? Having timely and complete information allows people with good judgment to make better decisions more consistently. Know the options that can help executives in mid-size companies get the information about their businesses faster and more reliably than they can today.
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Planning, forecasting, and reporting are among the business processes that, if strengthened with analytic software, can help companies improve their performance. Due to time and expense of implementation, many mid-sized have been slow to aggressively adopt business performance management (BPM) solutions. See how on-demand BPM software is a low-cost, low-risk BPM solution that is likely to lead to an “early payback.”
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Corporate budgeting, forecasting, and reporting presents a formidable challenge to most companies, regardless of size or industry. Companies that are able to address budgeting obstacles and improve their process will not only be rewarded with more accurate budgets, more timely re-forecasts, and improved decision-making, but also foster a disciplined financial management culture that will deliver a true competitive advantage
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Most companies are not operating at a high-quality financial management. Budgeting is slow, re-forecasting is infrequent, monthly reports lack key information, and what-if analyses are incomplete or impossible. With Adaptive Planning, companies can elevate their financial management by creating better connections—within financial plans and reports, between organizations and teams, and among professionals across the globe.
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A volatile economy demands superior financial planning and management. Adaptive Planning’s Recession Survival Kit is designed for planning during difficult times. It allows companies to quickly and successfully gain control of their financial outlook, evaluate the potential business and cash impacts of strategic and tactical actions, and reset financial plans to deal with a global downturn. And it goes live in under a week.
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Why aren’t most companies able to achieve exceptional performance given that they have standard budgeting, analysis, and forecasting processes in place? It is because they don’t have a unified, integrated financial management process. Discover the benefits of a unified approach and the technologies that enable companies to adopt business performance management (BPM) best practices in just days or weeks, at an affordable price.
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This white paper describes some of the common challenges associated with protecting data on laptops and at home and remote offices and portrays proven solutions to the challenges of protecting distributed business data by establishing a private cloud/enterprise cloud. Learn which best practices can ensure business continuity throughout an organization with a distributed information technology (IT) infrastructure.
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Mid-size organizations have been conducting their budgeting and forecasting through a readily-available, inexpensive, and easy-to-use application—the spreadsheet. But spreadsheets fail to support complex planning processes, which involve multiple people, require real-time access to data, and demand comprehensive security. Discover how the Adaptive Planning budgeting and planning application can help you meet these needs.
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This whitepaper delves into the common problem of shifting from one mobile platform to another, in particular, Apple’s iOS to Google’s Android or vice versa. Each platform’s background and features are discussed, along with development considerations, monetization, and deployment. Other aspects included are the differences in hardware and programming languages, multi-platform options, and testing applications.
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The customer’s challenge was to design a new automated smart card registration process to improve the way new staff receives electronic access to records and to implement a system that gives senior managers access to strategic information. This case study reveals a new workflow process that was designed, tested, and implemented in less than a month with excellent stakeholder satisfaction.
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Are you looking to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, but are afraid of time and IT resources needed—not mention the loss of employees during the training and implementation? Plex Online can help. Discover how Plex Online’s four-phase training process—piloting, testing, systems enhancements, and go-live—drives 98% customer satisfaction in Plex Online implementations—32% higher than the industry average.
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Software as a service (SaaS) is becoming an increasingly attractive choice for manufacturers that would rather not continue to divert resources into purchases of sophisticated software systems that do not represent their core business, while adding costly IT resources. SaaS provider’s IT experts handle it, while your company gets back to doing what it does best. See the infrastructure needed to sustain SaaS in manufacturing.
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In this tough economic climate, manufacturers worldwide are reevaluating their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and looking to implement ERP systems that cut costs, streamline operations, and improve performance. This paper highlights the five advantages of on-demand ERP systems, commonly referred to as software as a service (SaaS). Find out how manufacturers can benefit from the leading SaaS-based ERP system.
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Today’s manufacturer is challenged by static enterprise resource planning (ERP) with annual complex upgrades. See how powerful change-on-demand capabilities allow companies to instantly align their ERP and business processes without a time-consuming IT effort. With a community-driven development approach, enhancements are driven by a community of users, and the system constantly improves in the exact way a user requires.
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Fast becoming the preferred delivery model for companies in other manufacturing industries, software as a service (SaaS) is being adopted by food and beverage processing companies using inadequate management systems. See how a SaaS-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system helps processors operate more efficiently and profitably, and enables world-class security, disaster recovery, and an expandable storage capacity.
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Today’s ever-increasing frequency and cost of food and beverage recalls harm not only the companies directly affected, but all processors in the industry. See how leading food processors are turning to innovative software solutions, like Plex Online, to develop a complete food safety management system that enables them to achieve best practices in food and beverage processing quality and a high level of traceability.
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Today’s manufacturing supply chain is challenged with quality mandates, cost reductions, and delivery improvements. Technology plays a key role in a company’s ability to build and manage an effective supply chain. Read this paper to learn about the next wave of supply chain solutions and how effective supply chain management of an enterprise reduces costs, lead times, and inventories throughout the entire supply chain.
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Most software systems have limited capability to customize screens, integrate local business terms, build specific data fields, or create unique reports. Not so with VisionPlex. Plex Online uses innovative VisionPlex technology to bring users the ability to customize screens and functions, design new ones, link screens together and create their own toolbars—all with no programming. See how this technology empowers users.
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Today’s manufacturing enterprises gain a key competitive advantage by implementing an extremely strong shop floor control system. See how a comprehensive ERP solution offers manufacturers a clear view of what is happening on their shop floor, and how truly integrated information lets manufacturers increase productivity, reduce scrap and total work-in-process inventory, and gain dramatic increases in production throughput.
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Food manufacturers are launching sophisticated tracking systems that can identify and isolate quality issues across their supply chains before problems escalate. Implementing barcoding as part of an integrated SaaS ERP solution enables food processors to optimize solution benefits. Find out what food and beverage processors need to know to take advantage of barcoding to improve business performance and meet regulatory requirements.
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Traceability and visibility in the global food supply chain is crucial to farmers and food processors, in light of recent major food recalls. Manufacturers need to tightly manage their production quality, even into the suppliers’ operations, to comply with FDA requirements. ERP solutions, like Plex Online, enable food manufacturers to track every ingredient in every product at least one-up and one-back in their supply chains.
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For manufacturers that lack a well-structured product lifecycle management (PLM) program, the instantaneous flow of information only speeds up confusion, duplication of effort, and poor decision making. Find out how a SaaS-based ERP solution is essential for creating an effective, comprehensive integrated PLM program that improves productivity, accuracy, and decision making—and ultimately increases company profitability.
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Near-field communications (NFC) is the hovering trend in the “mobile tech” world, not only adding convenience to the daily lives of consumers, but opening doors for enterprises to increase revenue, collect useful consumer data, and use that data in targeted marketing efforts. This whitepaper examines the background of NFC and explores the integration of NFC and its various uses. NFC security concerns are also discussed.
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In a well integrated identity environment, SiteMinder handles web access management, authentication, single sign-on (SSO), secure session management, and flexible policy definition. SiteMinder functions well when data exists in a relatively homogeneous state; this blueprint shows users how to extend an existing SiteMinder infrastructure across additional heterogeneous applications, identity sources, and constituents.
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Enterprises are looking for incremental change to their infrastructure. The value of your portal lies in delivering a rich and secure experience across multiple applications. The more information you provide, the more valuable your portal is to stakeholders across your organization. Developed by the inventors of the virtual directory, identity and context virtualization is the next generation integration solution.
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No portal is an island—or at least, it shouldn’t be. While SharePoint is great for sharing documents, it doesn’t integrate easily with the rest of your enterprise. To be truly useful, your portal needs to bring together all your users and connect to all your applications. Read about identity and context virtualization—a next-generation integration solution.
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Overlooking how an application fits into your overall IT landscape can lead to costly implementations. But addressing data management with middleware solutions that work seamlessly with existing applications in your company’s IT environment can lead to significant benefits. Explore the value of technology decisions that support and maintain infrastructure-wide interoperability with regard to your data management solutions.
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For web single sign-on (SSO), and consistent enforcement of authorization across all applications, many web access management (WAM) packages offer an excellent and proven approach. However, they assume a relatively homogeneous identity environment. This white paper describes how virtualization solves the issue of directory integration with an approach that is cost effective, nonintrusive, and easy to deploy.
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This report reviews how one company made the strategic decision to replace the legacy systems built to support the old organizational structure with a new system that revolves around customers, not vehicles. The new system consists of fully integrated components, with a customer relationship management (CRM)-based frontend. The technology infrastructure was crucial to the overall success of the restructuring effort.
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For public-facing Web sites or those with a large consumer audience, finding a way to implement strong security that is easy to use is a great challenge. This paper examines the security threats associated with weak authentication practices on the Web, why businesses need to strengthen online authentication, and new approaches for delivering one-time passwords and two-factor authentication. Increase your Web site security now.
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One of the biggest challenges of business software implementations is their unpredictability. Total costs and deployment time can vary wildly. Read about a new category of solutions that combines preconfigured software, predefined services, and other user-focused enablement content to provide predictable solution deployments in less than 12 weeks and at a fixed price.
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In this paper it’s argued that over the next three to five years, the winners in sales will be the ones who figure out how to smoothly and productively manage a mobile sales team. Selling will be a mobile discipline. It’s imperative to craft a plan for making mobility standard and keeping information secure.
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It’s clear that no single software vendor can fully support the range of requirements encompassing a complete mobile business strategy. This white paper addressed how business software vendors can best support their customers by leveraging a robust mobile ecosystem built on solutions from a variety of vendors.
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Until recently, application platforms dominated the enterprise mobility story. Vendors like Sybase sold them and corporations bought them—to build mobile apps in-house. SAP’s acquisition of Sybase, however, foreshadows a change. Packaged mobile apps will soon replace custom-built ones as the predominant deployment model inside the enterprise.
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Contact center solutions are often rigid and hardware based, making it difficult and expensive to respond effectively to customer needs. An effective response leverages all of your organization’s expertise to deliver an effective customer experience. This paper discusses a comprehensive solution that provides an advanced, all-IP contact center communications solution.
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Enduradata's Content Distribution Software is a cost effective and secure solution that allows businesses and governments to distribute data and applications files from one computer to one or more computers. The file size can vary and no additional hardware or software is required. EDWADDS combines the solution with work flow automation to achieve significant operational efficiencies and low total cost of ownership.
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This Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) paper explores the benefits of transitioning from an on-premise financials system to the cloud. The paper reviews research conducted among 800 IMA members regarding their perceived benefits and risks related to moving financials to the cloud, including drivers around total cost of ownership (TCO); anytime, anywhere access; easy upgrades; and business process improvement.
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Your company’s focus has been on streamlining operations, acquiring customers, increasing revenues and profitability, and outpacing the competition, instead of analyzing what’s going on and planning for the future. Further, you need to know where to concentrate your efforts. This white paper offers guidance on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your company with business intelligence.
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This paper from independent analyst SMB Group considers the financial and operational challenges that global medium-sized businesses face, examines the value of achieving real-time financial consolidation, discusses the criteria they can use to evaluate solutions, and provides real-world case studies and research showing how cloud-based systems can provide global visibility and streamline consolidation and reporting needs.
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If you have acquired businesses, added subsidiaries, and entered international markets, you probably have error-prone and time-consuming consolidation processes and poor visibility into performance at the corporate or divisional level. This kit offers strategies for multi-subsidiary and global businesses to run their organizations more efficiently, including case studies, analyst research, and best-practice insights.
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Due to the wide range of size, scope, and complexity within the extended enterprise, different units often have different functional requirements for the business management software they use. The different demands can become a barrier to future growth, profitability, and agility. So how do you coordinate resources and activities to get everybody on the same page within an extended enterprise?
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SAP's acquisition of Sybase foreshadows a revolutionary change in the enterprise mobility space. John Chen, CEO of Sybase, discusses what the company has to offer as a new member of the SAP family, including exciting technology developments that position Sybase and SAP to lead this mobile revolution.
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By developing, communicating, and implementing an actionable yet flexible enterprise mobility strategy, an organization can unlock new business value from its investments. Having a mobility strategy enables the organization to quickly adopt state-of-the-art, innovative mobile technologies and transform itself into a “mobile enterprise” in a sustainable and secure manner—now and in the increasingly mobile future.
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Increased regulatory requirements, the need for transparency, and the desire to better manage and mitigate risks together make governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) top of mind for both business and information technology (IT) executives. Business managers and IT security managers must work collaboratively to control access and authorization to guard against fraud and mistakes, while ensuring profitability and compliance.
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Too many organizations are still thinking small about mobility, just extending a few processes to their road warriors. But all the pieces needed to turn an enterprise into a mobile force are now available, including powerful mobile operating systems, flexible mobile solutions, and end-user demand. Find out how customers can take advantage of this mobile inflection point and truly transform their enterprises.
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Managing access to protected resources can be risky business as new applications and services are deployed, as new users join the extended enterprise, or as existing users change roles. Strategy and technology choices—along with the policy, planning, process, and organizational elements of implementation—are critical factors in the overall success of an organization’s access management initiative.
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If you are a multi-company enterprise, then this Two-tier ERP Strategy Kit will show you how to grow your satellite divisions while cutting costs. Including analyst research, whitepapers, and real-world case studies, this Kit shows how you can equip your subsidiaries with a more agile, flexible cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) system while maintaining your headquarters on-premise ERP instance of SAP or Oracle.
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When buying a new business phone system you are faced with a wide variety of phone features to choose from. Before you buy, make sure you don’t overlook these commonly forgotten features. This guide details such features as conferencing, auto attendant, mobile extensions, and many other valuable features.
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Various scenarios can impact the resources for a rollout delivery team when utilized for large technology infrastructure rollouts at multiple locations. Shifting processes, methodologies, and resources can streamline the technology rollout at each site. This paper explains how alterations to the rollout delivery team configuration, as determined by project variables, can impact site delivery and your business. Read more.
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With recession looming and profit margins under siege, the last thing any company needs is a capital-draining business phone system. Fortunately, today’s voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) providers offer plenty of cost-trimming features to keep business phone costs in check or dramatically lower communications overhead. Read here to know the five ways businesses are taking advantage of new VoIP technology to save money.
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For many businesses, focus on cost reduction often begins with the internal communication platform—the phone service. Businesses that have large sales forces, customer service teams, and help desks must continually scrutinize their skyrocketing annual phone costs. Find out how deploying a company-wide voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution is one of the best ways to realize cost reduction across the organization.
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Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) has emerged as the industry standard for business telecommunication. VoIP integrates voice communications into the existing data network, eliminating the need for separate public switched telephone network (PSTN) hardware and wiring, and resulting in both lower overhead costs and enhanced productivity features. Read this paper to know the 10 ways that businesses can save money with VoIP.
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Purchasing new business phones often coincides with a major change of direction at most companies. Choosing between a business Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) system and other types of business phone systems often requires analysis of users’ needs and understanding of a company’s goals. Read here to know why expert business phone system buyers recommend focusing on four major areas of the decision-making process.
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When Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) first emerged on the market a few years ago, buyers were concerned about maintaining the quality of phone connections. Now that VoIP has proven itself as reliable, choosing the right business phone system comes down to understanding how specific features can make your company more profitable. Read this white paper to recognize the most vital features of any business phone system.
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The administration and management of printing can be time-consuming, often relying on manual processes. Many businesses are rethinking their approach to managing the print environment, by either adopting a managed service or implementing centralized print management tools. This can ensure the high availability, reliability and manageability of printing resources, while leaving IT staff free to focus on core activities.
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Computing infrastructure today though versatile must be used wisely. Intelligent workload management (IWM) allows for efficient consumption of computing resources while ensuring business tasks are supported by all needed resources—and that this is all done securely. IWM tools support the building, management, monitoring, and securing of workloads. See how to run your cloud computing system with leading-edge technology.
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Whether starting a business, setting up new office locations, or supporting employees while on the road, hosted voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) can help each situation by setting up “virtual offices.” This white paper will show examples of how a business can lower costs and increase flexibility with a new hosted VoIP solution by creating a virtual office environment.
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KernSafe iStorage Server is an IP SAN solution that allows for quick exporting of existing storages, such as disk images, physical disks, partitions, etc., to a client’s machines. The software thus delivers immediate benefits, allowing storage to be consolidated, virtualized, and centrally managed. This document gives you detailed step-by-step instructions on KernSafe iStorage Server configuring for Windows Server 2008.
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This report focuses on how cloud infrastructures are being used by sales and marketing, finance, and operations in professional service organizations (PSOs). It outlines the benefits of using a cloud infrastructure to manage enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other enterprise systems. With the right solutions in place, globally dispersed project teams have unlimited accessibility to secure and reliable information.
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Successful enterprise resource planning (ERP) deployment demands a focused examination of the professional services provided by your organization, and the most efficient infrastructure required to support them. You must provide your most important asset—your people—with effective tools that can be accessed remotely, securely, and immediately. Professional service organizations that understand this will be in a strong position to determine the best cloud-based solution for their needs.
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Manufacturers have been slow to embrace the cloud. But the proven success of cloud-based solutions, along with the promise of a less expensive and more responsive business solution infrastructure, is prompting many manufacturers to take a closer look. This report explores how manufacturers can use cloud-based solutions to transform how they manage their supply chain and internally improve operations, leveraging the cloud to gain real-time visibility into all information across their company.
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With acceptance of cloud-based strategies growing among manufacturers of all types and sizes, it’s easier than ever to make the business case for transitioning to the cloud. But beyond the cost savings and responsiveness of cloud solutions, this transition also provides new opportunities for the IT department to grow into a key role as strategic business advisor. This report includes advice on how IT can help manufacturers realize the full benefits of cloud-based solutions.
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The model of software delivery is in the midst of transition from traditional on-premise server−based software to software deployed over the Internet. This is in interplay with the emergence of new mobile technologies; a business environment where companies have to work in a distributed network of teams, partners, and clients; and changed end user needs and expectations. Read here to see how these changes can impact you.
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Universities and other higher education establishments have to address the need for savings across the board. One area is expenses from faculty members and other associated with faculty. The complex mix of expense types needs a flexible yet solid means of managing spend as close as possible to the point of expense that encourages the individual to participate in the process without it being seen as an imposition. Know how.
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Balancing employee requests for keeping mobile channels open, while getting the right level of work and commitment from them, should not be left to chance. All organizations need to fully understand their employees’ mobile usage and behaviors to be able to put appropriate policies in place to ensure business requirements are met while acceptable personal use is still enabled. Read this white paper to know how to do this.
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Managing mobile costs is a challenge for all organizations and becomes more complex and problematic for those organizations spanning across countries or using multiple suppliers within one country. Getting to grips with these costs in a way that does not undermine the value of mobile flexibility is paramount, and organizations need to gather sufficient detail to effectively manage and analyze their mobile costs. See how.
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Electronically stored information is a key asset to any organization, but it is often insufficiently cared for. Failure to protect data can result not only in steep fines, but also in loss of competitive advantage of the company. To ensure the safety and integrity of information, read this report on data governance examining how well European businesses understand the risks and what steps they have taken to address them.
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Old-style, one application per physical server data centers are not only nearing the end of their useful lives, but are also becoming barriers to a business’ future success. Virtualization has come to the foreground, yet it also creates headaches for data center and facilities managers. Read about aspects of creating a strategy for a flexible and effective data center aimed to carry your business forward.
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This white paper analyzes the return on investment (ROI) that customers can expect from their enterprise network solution, based on interviews with customers. Additionally, you will read about the business case for proactively managing network and application performance. Get the visibility you need to achieve your IT objectives. Download this white paper today.
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The case company is rolling out new professional service concepts, addressing the customer need for services fitting the information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) framework. A centrally located team needed ITIL service knowledge and certification before training service development, consulting, and sales. Implement applied the Foundation Fasttrack concept—fast-paced, flexible learning in a familiar environment.
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To establish optimal service and support conditions, the case company, Naviair, chose to adapt and implement information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) service support processes. During the process, Implement Consulting Group assisted with facilitation, ITIL input, and lean competences and tools. The existing procedures and instructions were combined with ITIL’s different service support areas.
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The case company decided to carry out an information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) implementation, and in so doing hoped to make production in IT more visible, increase customer satisfaction, and maintain or increase employee satisfaction in IT. Implement Consulting Group facilitated the process selection and design and managed the requirement collection, selection, and implementation phases of the project.
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The case company implemented an information technology services management (ITSM) system to support information technology infrastructure library (ITIL)–inspired processes. Implement Consulting Group had the project management responsibility during the entire process—from the preliminary requirement collection to selection and implementation to testing and go-live.
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This article focuses on the development of strategic agility as a capability that is built into the design of an architecture. The capabilities, the article argues, are matured through six stages that offer different levels of strategic agility. Strategic agility, once capitalized through modular architectures, enables a company to achieve greater speed and flexibility in information technology (IT) deliveries.
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Companies must meet GRC criteria defined by internal and external policies, as failing to do so can have business and legal consequences. Although management of travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses is often seen as being of low importance for overall GRC, poorly managed T&E can lead to unforeseen issues with long-term business impact. See why using an external T&E management provider is the best way to adhere to GRC.
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The managed print services (MPS) market continues to evolve as vendors expand their service offerings beyond the office print environment. Today the business agenda is broader, and MPS must provide a route to business transformation as well as cost efficiency. Businesses thus must place their transformational goals on the agenda at the start of an MPS engagement. See what major MPS providers have to offer to your business.
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Comprehensive management and protection of information can be achieved only when both data centers and end points are controlled by managed service providers (MSPs). MSPs must change their thinking and embrace end point management, ensuring IT availability, data security, and business continuity. See how MSPs with the right tools and services are well positioned to strengthen customer relationships and grow market share.
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Phone system buying disasters can prove costly for any business. This whitepaper presents advice from phone system managers who have been at the forefront in remedying phone system disasters. Topics covered include buying incompatible hardware, brands with bad customer service, and companies with bad SIP service. Phone system buying disasters can be averted with proper preparation and foresight.
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Learn about the most important factors that go into buying the right phone system, such as scalability, compatibilities, how to negotiate pricing, and more. This white paper and demo are designed to help you be an informed buyer. Whether yours is a small, medium, or large-sized business, you’ll want to know the nine key questions to ask sales reps to get the best deal on the right phone system for your needs.
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Companies have invested heavily in their IT infrastructure, but they still face challenges with their existing business operations. To help create a cost-effective, high-performance system, SAP has developed a program to help companies proactively analyze and improve business performance in four key areas. Take a look at SAP Safeguarding services options and how they are designed to serve business users and IT staff.
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Are you in the market for a business phone system? With the broad array of features available in phone systems today and the full spectrum of providers who sell them, purchasing a new phone system for your business can be a daunting task. Read these condensed best practices to get the right information and ask phone system vendors specific, detailed questions to make the optimal decision to meet your communication needs.
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Chatsworth Products, Inc. (CPI), a leading provider of structural support systems used to optimize, store, and secure valuable computer, data, and communications equipment, needed to establish a new, fully-integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to replace its customized 10+ year-old legacy system. See how TEC helped CPI define its requirements, develop a short list of vendors, and select the right solution.
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Small Business or enterprise, some phone system features are must-haves. Not all phone systems are made equal. Some phone system features improve efficiency significantly and help prevent losing business due to business inaccessibility. Investing in these phone system features will ensure a competitive edge for any business. Our guide details top 10 phone system features, and explains why they are indispensible.
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Different buyers pay different prices for the same business phone system. While some buyers hesitate to negotiate the “special price” quoted to them, others leverage insider knowledge about the buying process to get a significantly better price for the same system. Our expert shares valuable phone system price negotiation techniques to empower you to get the best price on your business phone system equipment and service.
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Vendors offer a variety of ways to overcome many inconveniences by integrating mobile phones with office systems. Mobile integration isn’t as much product or technology of its own, however, as a range of capabilities built into phone systems and services themselves. Small to midsized businesses (SMBs) looking for mobile integration should focus on understanding what features are available and what they can do.
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The move to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is fraught with technical and other considerations, but the gains in productivity and efficiency and long-term manageability, application integration, and multimodal communications options outweigh the problems if the map forward is well thought out. Read about the 5 features that your VoIP system should have for it to be considered the right solution for your enterprise.
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This whitepaper provides an overview of challenges associated with monitoring and management of heterogeneous database environments. Relational database systems (RDBMS) are at the very heart of virtually every enterprise: they power CRM, ERP, e-commerce, billing and other systems. Efficient monitoring, troubleshooting and database performance analysis are essential for the business to stay up 24/7. On the other hand, automated DB diagnostics and management tasks can keep the IT costs under control.
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Software as a service (SaaS) is a highly-touted model for acquiring, using, and paying for business functionality and is widely adopted for a variety of business and information technology (IT) functions. This paper looks at advantages and business benefits—financial value, new technology, and improved operations—that SaaS provides to small and midsized businesses and shows research with small and midsized business users.
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Spurred on by the increased availability of high-speed data services and wide array of smartphones, many organizations see mobile applications as a way to improve organizational efficiency, increase collaboration, and raise the speed at which business gets done. To get the most out of mobility, organizations need to rethink the technologies, the people, and the processes involved in creating a truly mobile enterprise.
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IT is feeling the pressure to allow users to access sensitive corporate data via their personal mobile phones. Employees want the flexibility to use applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), e-mail and instant messaging not only from within the workplace, but at any time from any device. Yet, with network security and customer privacy at stake, IT has been slow to bow.
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According to The Nielsen Company, some 150 million people in the US will be using smartphones by mid-2011 to view twitter feeds, conduct searches, consult maps and more. People are increasingly using smartphones to get work done too. As long as it’s governed appropriately, workplace use of consumer-oriented smartphones can lower spending, heighten morale and help employees get more done.
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Not too long ago, business support of mobile workers centered on managing the use of a limited number of Windows-based laptops and BlackBerry smartphones. Today mobile phones are ubiquitous for most employees, and IT departments are being asked to provide broad access to networks, databases and critical enterprise applications while they manage, support and figure out how to protect data from theft and security breaches.
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Portfolio management provides insight into what is the best way to distribute resources among the various innovative options/projects to ensure that a maximum yield is realized against acceptable risks; there is a good fit between the projects and the various strategic themes; and there is a good mix between the various types of projects. Read this paper to learn about the different approaches used n portfolio management.
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Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions and cloud computing systems are relatively new, and can interact in many ways. Here is an overview of key concepts involved, assumptions that clarify their network topology and functionality, and a comprehensive list of architectural scenarios, with an analysis of costs, risks, and benefits for each scenario, to help architects evaluate the suitability of various solutions.
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With one IT department in five spending more than half its time and resources on routine maintenance and administration of existing systems, top business objectives end up sitting on the back burner. Learn how early investments in change and improvement—hosted services or software-as-a-service (SaaS) security services, for example—can turn into big savings by reducing the long-term burden of routine maintenance.
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This three-part report describes how all businesses can benefit from software-as-a-service (SaaS) services and, in particular, a variety of hosted services. It also provides advice, best practices, and insight on how to create security and management policies for a distributed workforce.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) are becoming increasingly mobile organizations. This paper discusses the growing concerns these organizations face with an increasingly distributed and mobile workforce, their specific information security needs, and protective measures they can take to meet these needs. It also reveals how software-as-a-service (SaaS) security services can help SMBs deliver protective measures.
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Mobile data security is most effective when implemented in layers: installing smart firewalls, deploying antivirus software, and using encrypted connections. True mobile security relies just as much on the actions of end users. This means companies must instill a culture of security within their organizations. Learn how well–considered policies and procedures encourage and enforce smart and safe business practices.
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E-mail and the Internet are critical resources for most organizations, but the attributes that make them so essential can generate significant legal risks for employers. E-mail and Internet misuse continues unabated. This paper considers some of the risks of employee use of e-mail and the Internet and suggests solutions such as setting up effective usage policies to help reduce risk.
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Security technology has evolved from static firewalls and antivirus products to suites of tools that are effective in protecting against modern threats. But without a solid process backing up the technology, organizations will still be susceptible to emerging threats. Learn more about aligning security processes with the latest security technologies to create a barrier against today’s most insidious threats.
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Migrating large amounts of data over distance can be costly and time consuming. It's also necessary for IT tasks such as remote office backup, data center moves, and cloud computing models. The good news is that wide-area network (WAN) optimization gets the job done effectively, efficiently, and affordably. Read this technology brief to learn how.
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Today’s smart chief information officers (CIOs) are assessing their workloads against business needs and analyzing where each should run—locally or in the public cloud. Read on to learn about the benefits of cloud computing, and why its success or failure is often dependent on wide-area network (WAN) optimization.
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Over the past seven years, wide-area network (WAN) optimization has transformed from an interesting point product that solved isolated problems into a strategic cornerstone of enterprise application delivery strategy. Not surprisingly, during this time, WAN optimization evolved to meet a growing set of customer needs. Learn how WAN optimization has evolved into a complete model of enterprise IT performance.
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Technology is at a point where organizations must make decisions about where the IT platform future lies. Will existing architectures be sufficient to see a business through the next few years, or will cloud computing—built on the proven approaches of Web services and service-oriented architecture—be a better way forward? By modeling and predicting future states, organizations can make the right decisions. Find out how.
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This paper reviews features of solenoid lenses, which are used to focus high-current electron beams. It also discusses how to characterize spherical aberration with a numerical orbit code, and how to employ scaling methods to organize simulations for maximum generality.
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Low margins, a boom in the managed services sector, and a decreasing reliance on client–server-based infrastructures are drastically changing the business landscape for many traditional IT channel players. This paper assesses the challenges facing the IT channel and describes how IT resellers can transform the growing demand for managed services from a threat into a key opportunity for future business success.
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One area of cloud computing that presents significant opportunity is data protection as a service. However, not every business model for data protection services has an equal potential for success. This paper is intended for managed service providers (MSPs), value-added resellers (VARs), IT solution providers, and system integrators who are offering, or are interested in offering backup and recovery as a service.
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The days of deploying new equipment for the sake of having the latest and greatest ended when the Internet bubble burst. Nevertheless, there are many legitimate reasons for upgrading your company’s enterprise network. The trick is selling those reasons to the executives holding your company’s purse strings. Discover 10 ways to sell the members of your upper-management team on a network upgrade.
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It’s a wireless world outside, with cell phones, BlackBerries, netbooks, and more relying on various wireless data networks to connect and communicate. Adding or upgrading your wireless local area network (WLAN) inside the business adds flexibility, convenience, and keeps data available everywhere inside your company. This paper presents seven things to consider when adding or upgrading a WLAN for your business.
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Data center network design architecture is changing to reflect growing IT trends in distributed applications and virtual computing. New computing models require a flatter network that is flexible enough to handle unpredictable traffic patterns. Find out what that means for your company in this interview with Cindy Borovick, Vice President of IDC’s Enterprise Communications and Datacenter Networks programs.
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Service-oriented organizations often find it difficult to balance infrastructure costs with software systems that enable frequent modifications. TEC examines UNIT4’s Vita Cloud Angel approach to this challenge—and lets you know whether it’s a viable option for you. Get the TEC analyst perspective in this special report on Vita Cloud Angel.
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This paper presents a more holistic approach to software quality management. It advocates systematic monitoring and ongoing analysis with an efficient business intelligence (BI) tool instead of occasional audits, which are time-consuming and selective by nature.
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Rich internet application (RIA) technologies in general and Adobe Flex in particular promise richness, usability and productivity exceeding those of today’s Web applications. However, little public information is available on measured results and savings achieved. This paper fills this much needed gap by providing results achieved by Verax Systems in real-life projects and is intended to provide real data.
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Riverbed offers the Cascade solution for application-aware network performance management (ANPM) in both enterprise and communications services settings. The Cascade product technology was obtained by Riverbed when they acquired Mazu Networks in early 2009. Until that time, Riverbed was focused on wide area network (WAN) optimization controllers. This report compares Cascade to 10 other ANPM solutions.
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Today’s uncertain economic climate, rapidly changing customer preferences, intensifying competition, and increasingly dispersed workforce are driving organizations to rethink how they collect and disseminate information in order to make better business decisions. This profile examines solutions that are helping independent software vendors (ISVs) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors overcome this challenge.
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ATEN developed patented technology to correct a particular cable-induced distortion, described as skew, in order to cut video distortion automatically with one-way signal detection. Find out more.
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Massive consolidation and data mobility, enabled by virtualization, have radically altered how companies build servers, design applications, and deploy storage for the emerging cloud decade, when IT performance will be constrained more than ever by network performance. This report takes a look at cloud computing architectures that deliver the rich WAN optimization solutions required to eliminate network constraints.
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Research shows widespread IT spending on data center transformation, IT consolidation, and server virtualization. This reduces costs and streamlines operations, right? In theory, yes. But many consolidation projects suffer planning and implementation issues that ultimately impact application performance and user productivity—especially for remote and mobile users. Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of IT consolidation.
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On-premise internet protocol (IP) private branch exchange (PBX) systems can provide a relatively easy way for businesses to move to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and get a range of new features and capabilities for their phone systems. In this buyer’s guide from Focus Research, you will find details on what to look for, how to buy, what you can expect to pay and how to go about maximizing your investment in VoIP.
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Using this worksheet from Focus Research, you can evaluate your business phone system feature requirements in relation to how well vendors meet them. Score how well vendors perform the categories you’ve identified by filling in your ratings in the columns to the right, using a scale of one to five, with five being best. If the feature isn’t important to your particular needs, simply leave the field blank.
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Despite a voice communication system’s critical role in an enterprise, many people aren’t aware of the myriad available options and recent developments in the voice communication market. This primer provides insight into this market for potential buyers, decision makers and other stakeholders. It covers key aspects of business phone systems that you should understand before you decide to purchase.
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This comparison guide looks at 11 hosted voice over internet protocol (VoIP) private branch exchange (PBX) vendors and solutions developed specifically for small to midsize companies. You’ll learn about basic functions and features, pricing per user, features by vendor, phone and technical support options for AccessLine, Aptela, Bandwidth, Covad Global Phone, 8x8, Speakeasy, Smoothstone, Vocalocity, plus many more.
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To survive in today’s business environment, it is imperative for a business to adopt the latest innovations in communication technology. Is the time ripe for replacing/upgrading your existing phone system? Which solution will best suit your business? The six questions listed in this white paper can help you assess your business phone system needs, and give you some tips for choosing between hosted and on-premise systems.
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Private branch exchange (PBX) is a business telephone exchange for a specific business or office, rather than a system operated by an external carrier or telephone company. If you are interested in purchasing a PBX phone system, this guide will help you understand the features of a PBX system, give you an idea of the different kinds of PBX systems there are, and how to find the best one for your business.
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If you’re looking for ways to trim costs at your business, you might want to consider opting for a hosted voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), or virtual private branch exchange (PBX) phone system. In a hosted setup, the system is provided and managed by an outside service. Learn how hosted services can give your small business the veneer of a big company with a sophisticated and comprehensive telephony system.
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Communication in any business is key. Cisco, as one of the leaders in business voice over internet protocol (VoIP), offers a range of unified IP phone solutions and software applications for businesses. This white paper looks at a few of the universal characteristics of Cisco’s unified IP phone solutions, and provides a brief description of what features and services a variety of Cisco phone systems offer.
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Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is a business phone system that allows you to make phone calls using a broadband Internet connection. Once you install VoIP, your employees can call anywhere, whether the receiver has VoIP or not. VoIP can be a cheaper alternative to a traditional phone system, as well as offering additional features. Discover the features of VoIP, and learn how to go about purchasing a VoIP system.
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As the mechanism through which you communicate with customers, fellow employees, and prospective partners, phones are integral to any business. You need them and they need to work. This guide offers information to equip small business owners with the tools to make the right business phone decisions for their businesses. It covers basic selection considerations and describes the four most common business phone systems.
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Why learn things the hard way? Thousands of business buyers have sad tales about expensive mistakes they’ve made when making large purchases for their organizations without adequate information about the best vendors and best products for their needs. To help you avoid a regretful choice when purchasing your next phone system, this white paper offers a list of 10 common mistakes that are easy to avoid.
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The process of selecting the best phone system for your organization’s needs can be time consuming. Yet, it demands your due diligence because if you choose the wrong system, it can be not only a costly mistake, but one with long-term consequences if your team is stuck with a system that doesn’t fulfill your business needs. Here are eight questions to ask phone system vendors before you agree to purchase.
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For your site and the business it represents, the stakes are simply too high to ignore. This white paper explores the key factors behind presentation (what your end-users see) and performance (how well your site functions). It also shows you what you need to succeed. By embracing an “outside-in” perspective and testing best practices, you can simplify the complex and achieve the performance your customers expect. Find out how.
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The combination of more sophisticated devices, more powerful browsers, and superior connectivity have elevated end-user expectations for the mobile Web. This white paper examines performance statistics and research gleaned from four key verticals: search, retail, banking, and airline. These high-impact, high-traffic areas expose crucial insights on the relationship between mobile Web performance and market leadership.
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Your company has decided to upgrade its phone systems to voice over internet protocol (VoIP), but do you know which VoIP system will serve your company best? Identifying the right VoIP technology will ensure that all your growing needs are meet at the optimal price. This guide illustrates the differences between two VoIP technologies and can help you identify the best phone system technology for your business needs.
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The phone system in your call center should help you achieve some very specific objectives, such as: increasing revenue opportunities, reducing costs, maximizing productivity, and improving customer satisfaction. This paper reviews seven leading call center phone systems in order to help phone system buyers make the right purchasing decisions on phone system features, reliability, scalability, and cost effectiveness.
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Prompted by volatile markets and a troubled economy, the need to reduce costs is a top business driver impacting enterprise resource planning (ERP) strategies. Combine this need with the need for transparency, and the marriage of ERP with business intelligence (BI) becomes the perfect storm, igniting improved performance and visibility. This report from the Aberdeen Group is a benchmark to companies seeking these results.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) is a customer-centric business strategy—not a technology. However, IT is a critical element of this strategy, not just to understand customer needs but to reshape business processes to meet customer expectations and empower employees to best serve the customer. Learn how CRM can help your business drive growth, maintain operational excellence, and enhance competitive agility.
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Ultimate Software is in a very competitive market. Its continued success is fueled by relentlessly delivering new products and incremental innovation. A few years ago, the company’s strategic initiatives were to evolve of their software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model and launch new features targeted to medium sized enterprises. Learn how a new product portfolio management (PPM) solution helped Ultimate Software reach its goals.
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If product ideas in the past emerged from the mind of a single inventor, they are now harvested everywhere—from customers, prospects, engineers, support staff, business analysts, bloggers, executives and marketing professionals. Succeeding with good ideas in that environment, and abandoning unworkable ones early on, requires a complete end-to-end product innovation management platform. Find out more.
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Product managers have seen their workloads rise exponentially. Their core assignment—setting out clear specifications for product revisions and innovations—has grown chaotic. What’s missing is a comprehensive repository of requirements, assignments, analyses, and project status that enables coordinated execution by all of the players involved. Find out how to bring that kind of transparency to your development processes.
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Agile software development is swiftly gaining acceptance. But, for the process to succeed, it must be driven by business value at the core. If not, the speed and fluidity agile introduces can actually increase the risk of creating products that miss customer needs and threaten revenue goals. Discover the five high-impact failure areas that emerge as companies implement agile in complex, distributed team environments.
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This paper compares on-premise versus SaaS, hosted solutions for email security. You can see that there is research that proves hosted services is a better choice for compliance, security, and costs, especially when it comes to email. If you’re an IT managers who is undecided about the SaaS model, this is a must-read.
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This paper compares on-premise versus software-as-a-service (SaaS) hosted solutions for Web security. Through the comparison, you can see that there is research that suggests that hosted services are a better choice for compliance, security, and costs. If you’re an IT manager who is undecided about the SaaS model, this is a must-read.
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Computing is entering its fifth generation with desktop Internet applications giving way to a new generation of mobile Internet applications. As consumers capitalize on the power of mobile devices, the same transformation is occurring in business. Learn how the convergence of business information and analytics with mobile technology is empowering business people in a way that was never possible—until now.
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As you evaluate conferencing solutions for your organization, an important selection consideration should be the overall cost of the solution; both initial and on-going. It is necessary to evaluate the cost of your current conferencing solution as well as whether an on-premise alternative will pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. Find out how.
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This white paper discusses explanation of benefits (EOB) and electronic remittance advice (ERA – ANSI 835). It also highlights iTech’s automated ERA processing solutions.
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As software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments have moved from relatively small implementations to more complex enterprise environments, it has become clear that SaaS has spawned more than an architectural debate around on-premise software deployment versus a multi-tenant provider-hosted environment. This paper discusses the business model required for SaaS providers, and the key benefits for customers and providers.
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This paper examines how a talent management system (TMS) that integrates learning, performance management (PM), compensation, development, and succession planning can make a bottom-line difference in a retailer’s ability to reduce turnover, manage change, and achieve strategic goals. It also examines how retailers are using software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to make optimum use of budgetary and staff resources.
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Real-time IT infrastructure promises to deliver services to businesses with the same availability as utilities. Cost reductions will be achieved through virtualization and consolidation. This white paper looks at the business drivers and technology advances that will provide the foundation for manageability of infrastructures across enterprise applications.
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Java is well suited to internationalization because of its native Unicode character support and robust locale-specific functionality. But there are steps that need to be taken to enable Unicode support in a Java Web application, and these steps are dependent on the components being used (database, application server, etc.). This document describes the steps to be taken to set up a Java Web application to use Unicode.
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There are many ways to calculate return on investment (ROI) for globalization projects. It’s important to include variables that relate to your company’s products, services, market position, and relationships outside your home market. Though language is an obvious component, there is more involved to making a product tailored for locale-specific opportunities. Learn how to calculate ROI for your globalization initiatives.
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If your firm is anticipating a steady stream of localization (“l10n”) projects in the near future, you’ve inevitably confronted the question of how to streamline and reduce the cost of such efforts. For technology firms with significant software components, the answer is often internationalization. Learn how to decide whether to farm out internationalization tasks to expert service providers or to keep the job in-house.
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Technology companies with global objectives understand the importance of software internationalization (“i18n”) as they juggle localization requirements. But they struggle with the complexity and other challenges of code that’s typically not designed for every overseas market. This document discusses how software productivity tools designed to support i18n project teams can yield better global business results.
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IT managers have to protect the business against malware, keep Internet bandwidth available for legitimate business needs, and enforce acceptable use policies for the human resource department. Managers must also find a balance between allowing reasonable personal Internet use at work and maintaining productivity and concentration in the office. Learn how to deal with the top 10 threats facing these managers.
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IT managers face heavy demands, limited resources, and a highly mobile workforce. These challenges make it difficult to keep employees secure. This paper discusses the modern Trojan attack. It explores the methodology hackers use to select a target and develop an attack, and cites examples of successful Trojans. Learn more about security solutions that can help protect your organization from targeted Trojans.
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IT managers need to establish policies for Web use in the workplace. This paper discusses how Internet bandwidth is a finite and expensive resource that needs protection from spammers, criminals, hackers, time-wasters, and employee misuse. Not only is it expensive and limited but it is a vital business tool. Discover the true cost of Web use and misuse, and learn the steps you can take to reclaim your company’s Internet.
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When considering adopting cloud computing or software-as-a-service (SaaS), a question most potential customers ask vendors is “How secure will our data be in your hands?” Customers are right to ask this question and should closely examine any vendor’s security credentials as part of their cloud/SaaS evaluations. This document is intended to give a broad overview of one vendor’s security policies, processes, and practices.
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This Gartner Magic Quadrant industry report covers the market for secure e-mail gateways, including anti-spam, anti-virus, outbound content filtering, e-mail encryption, and intrusion prevention. In this report, Gartner analysts note that "the e-mail security market is very mature; targeted phishing detection, outbound e-mail inspection, encryption, and delivery form factor are the major differentiators." Find out more.
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Gaining the trust of online customers is vital for the success of any company with an online presence, particularly those that require sensitive data to be transmitted. This VeriSign white paper explores the latest developments in website security that online businesses should consider to build consumer confidence, protect their valuable brand, safeguard sensitive information, and increase transactions.
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Online consumers need greater assurance that Web sites are legitimate and that their confidential information will be protected from malicious activity. Download this VeriSign white paper to learn more about new approaches to online security that can lead to increased online transactions, reduced shopping cart abandonment, and an improved bottom line.
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Be sure to protect your Web site by understanding techniques that can be used to detect when and how attackers compromise Web servers. Also, understand the business models behind malware attacks to better anticipate, and prevent, attacks on your business by reading this white paper.
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Whether you are an individual or a company, you should approach online security in the same way that you would approach physical security for your home or business. This guide will demystify the technology involved and give you the information you need to make the best decision when considering your online security options.
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Phishing continues to grow and effect both consumers and businesses. Read this guide so that you are able to help protect yourself and your customers from these harmful attacks.
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Choosing the right security solution is critical to the success of an online business. Look for trust-based security solutions from established vendors, like VeriSign, that deliver protection and consumer peace-of-mind through the use of cutting edge technology to meet emerging threats.
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This document provides a blueprint for how to evaluate virtual directories—from use cases and technical parameters to the five questions you should ask yourself before choosing a virtualization solution.
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This white paper focuses on a side of screen-scraping that vendors won't talk about. It details four drawbacks to screen-scraping that you won't discover until it's too late.
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Telecommunications providers are currently stuck with cumbersome, slow-moving, and costly charging/billing solutions. These solutions often suffer from revenue leakage, insufficiently protect against credit exposure risk, and hinder business model innovation. Learn how to implement convergent charging services that can help reduce operating costs while improving customer intimacy and limiting revenue leakage.
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Hosted voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services are proliferating, and small to medium businesses (SMBs) now have a better range of choices for IP telephony. But making decisions around hosted services is different than for premise-based systems. This SMB Phone Systems Comparison Guide has been developed to help you survey the field and narrow down the best choices for the specific needs of your business.
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Outsourcing of software development work requires careful considerations and practices to alleviate the potential challenges involved. This white paper summarizes the challenges and describes Code Rocket: a software visualization and documentation system that offers assistance for supporting recommended best practices for outsourcing.
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Unlike many over-hyped technology trends of the past, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is producing real business benefits for organizations of all sizes across nearly every industry. This primer outlines how independent software vendors (ISVs) must respond to these realities in order to meet the changing needs of their customers, employees, and business partners; and ensure their long-term viability and competitiveness.
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This white paper examines how a new generation of software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based business intelligence (BI) solutions is responding to the escalating challenges facing companies of all sizes today. It also examines various SaaS-based BI solutions that can help organizations satisfy the rapidly changing needs of corporate executives and end users as they work to achieve their business objectives.
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Business intelligence (BI) is no longer just for back-office analysts. More people are using BI in their daily tasks than ever before. This white paper explains how job scheduling makes data warehousing—the key component in modern BI—more efficient, relevant, and accurate. It also outlines how one company used job scheduling to unify its data warehousing chores, free up IT resources, and increase its BI effectiveness.
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For IT and business managers, the question is not whether to use the cloud, but how. Fortunately, the virtualization and consolidation projects that ignited this renewed interest in centralized computing also provide a guide for realizing the full potential of the cloud. Learn how to understand, optimize, and consolidate resources to deliver the highest use and highest return on investment (ROI) for your business.
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As the economy turns sour, and IT budgets remain flat or get reduced, doing more with the infrastructure you have has never been more important. But investing in the same old networking infrastructure, storage, servers, and bandwidth is not going to help you reach your strategic goals. Get a return on investment (ROI) analysis for one brand of network appliances that can help you reach your IT objectives.
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Application delivery has become a priority for virtually all IT organizations. Unfortunately, the majority still struggle with this highly complex task. This handbook can help you to help become better at application delivery by creating and analyzing a framework that you can customize for use in your environment. It also identifies key criteria that IT organizations can use to evaluate alternative solutions.
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Technology has enabled businesses to become highly distributed—whether across a region or around the globe. This paper explores the business imperatives that are driving enterprise IT design today, and presents five key principles chief information officers (CIOs) are using to redesign business infrastructures. It also explains how wide-area network (WAN) solutions can help hold distributed organizations together.
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The amount of data and IT assets stored outside corporate data centers has risen significantly, and IT managers are now looking to consolidate their IT infrastructure. This paper examines the trends toward server consolidation and virtualization, and how wide area network (WAN) optimization can help IT organizations address the challenges of application performance and information availability within these environments.
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The need to be close to customers, manufacturing facilities, and specialized labor requires organizations to extend the concept of headquarters to many locations. But managing a global workforce means dealing with data sprawl, and having data recovery and security plans for every part of the organization. Learn how wide-area network (WAN) technology can help you develop a scalable and secure data protection model.
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As more companies switch to business voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) for their telecommunications, many have learned the hard lessons of working with the wrong technology or vendor. A good business VoIP deployment will ensure no dropped calls, excellent sound quality, no latency, and perfect uptime. Learn the top 10 concerns that should drive your business VoIP vendor selection process.
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If you are thinking of investing in a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) business phone system, you can avoid most of the pitfalls by choosing both your system and your provider wisely. This guide provides reviews on the leading five phone system brands in each category. You’ll be able to see the differences between on-premise and hosted solutions, and get some help choosing the best phone system for your company.
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This Phone System Comparison Chart compares over 74 phone systems by 34 brands for small to big businesses. This chart also compares private branch exchange (PBX) and business voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems to help you make an educated comparison of your options. This analysis is presented in an Excel spreadsheet so you can add information to suit your analysis and presentation needs.
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This white paper illustrates how to use finite-element codes to calculate inductance. The calculations address transmission lines in the limit that the radiation wavelength is long compared to the transverse dimensions of the structure. The paper also shows how to set up solutions with two-dimensional PerMag code (for static magnetic fields) to get useful information for both the low and high-frequency limits.
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If your company has expanded, or gone through site consolidation, your IT infrastructure may have become a hodgepodge of outdated equipment and inefficient workflows. Employee productivity suffers, risks of disruption and data loss increase, and IT administrative overhead outstrips budget and staff resources. Discover an approach for harmonizing systems, management, and best practices across all your locations.
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Conventional business intelligence (BI) tools are often not available to decision makers and are typically designed for use by trained business analysts. Learn about software-as-a-service (SaaS) BI tools designed to help non-IT people who struggle with the task of mining Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and other unstructured data sources to make sales forecasts, plan for resource utilization, or service customer accounts.
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Traditional business intelligence (BI) systems generally require dedicated staff to generate meaningful analysis, but the analysis is still difficult to share. As a result, many managers and end users rely on simple spreadsheets, which require significant manual effort and provide limited insight. This white paper examines how today’s on-demand BI alternatives are addressing organizations’ rapidly evolving business needs.
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In the ever-changing economy, organizations looking to cut costs and drive innovation are turning to co-sourcing as a cost-effective and less risky alternative to outsourcing or offshoring. This white paper explores the primary business benefits of the co-sourcing model and provides key information for evaluation.
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The Linux operating system is free and stable, delivers solid performance, and often has good vendor support. These advantages have allowed it to garner 60 percent of the Web server market, making it popular among Web hosts as well. Yet despite the obvious advantages, Linux is not fully optimized for Web hosts because it was never designed specifically to address the unique requirements for this market. Find out more.
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Do executives prefer to deploy business applications on premise? Hosted? In a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model? Do deployment preferences vary by software category, region, or company size? How have these preferences changed over time? What are the implications for buyers, users, and providers of business applications? Get the answers to these and other questions in this Strategic Perspective from Saugatuck Technology.
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Do executives prefer to purchase business applications as part of an integrated suite or as part of a best-of-breed approach? Are there differences by software category? By region? By company size? How have these preferences changed over time? What are the implications for users and vendors of business applications? Get the answers to these and other questions in this Strategic Perspective from Saugatuck Technology.
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This guide explores what a whitelist is, the distinction between sender source whitelists and sender address whitelists, the characteristics of a good whitelist, the role of the user in managing a whitelist, and finally the role of the IT administrator in the whitelist management process.
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Companies have had the capability to design and develop mobile Web sites for quite some time. But until recently they've struggled to convince clients and prospects that there’s a market out there. Now that mobile has made its way onto the mainstream, many companies are still asking themselves whether it’s right for them. This white paper aims to help Web site owners make that decision.
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On January 5, 2009, the American Design Communities presented a document to the US Congress called “Redesigning America’s Future: 10 Design Policy Proposals for the United States of America’s Economic Competitiveness & Democratic Governance.” Indeed, design is gaining importance in every area. This discussion with technologist Elif Tutuk explores how design thinking could be applied to business intelligence (BI).
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Business intelligence (BI) software as a service (SaaS) has gained traction in recent years. The reduced cost and feature-rich nature of the offerings make SaaS BI appealing to large and small businesses alike. Now, independent software vendors (ISVs) are also finding significant advantages to on-demand BI. Learn how SaaS BI solutions are helping ISVs reduce time to market, and accelerate the software development process.
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Virtualization is a key element of the IT strategy for businesses of all sizes, with a variety of benefits for small and midsized businesses. It helps them to build an IT infrastructure with enterprise-class capabilities and it does so with a form factor—and a return on investment (ROI)—that fits any business. Discover how your business can use virtualization to reduce costs, improve services, and simplify management.
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With Intel, Oracle, and IBM recently announcing next-generation UNIX architectures, Charles King of Pund-IT, Inc. analyzed the announcements. As this report explains, all three vendors have faced competition from “below” in x86 servers and have responded in similar ways—improving reliability, availability, and scalability features, improving performance, and introducing workload optimization. Find out more.
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Virtualization is central to twenty-first-century IT systems, yet many chief information officers fail to understand the benefits it can deliver to the data center. Storage controllers have always offered the ability to carve out pieces of real storage from a large pool and deliver them to a number of hosts, but it is storage virtualization itself that offers improvements that drive operational efficiency. Find out more.
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This report was drawn from a series of six webinars that Comview commissioned from the fall of 2009 to spring 2010. The material presented here is like a “greatest hits.” It includes some of the most popular best practices for managing mobile telecom services. It also includes significant new additions. The new material comes from updated survey data on enterprise mobility practices and recent industry developments.
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This white paper explains the importance of an independent, enterprise-wide job scheduling solution for your IT infrastructure. It discusses why you need a single job scheduling tool, the market drivers leading IT professionals to an independent job scheduling solution, the benefits of an independent job scheduling solution, and how it can save your business valuable time, money, and resources while avoiding risk.
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Many companies have invested a lot in their job scheduling environments, but are bogged down by inefficient processes, incompatible systems, and a lack of visibility. Through technology reuse and consolidation, you can reduce the time, money, and resources expended, while scaling to support enterprise-wide capacity. This white paper focuses on job scheduling challenges and presents a solution to upgrade your environment.
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Availability and performance of mission-critical applications is no longer a luxury. If applications fail, or suffer from low performance levels, revenues and customers are lost. IT operations managers and administrators need to adopt both server monitoring and capacity planning solutions that can be quickly deployed, automate processes, and adapt to changing enterprise situations—without breaking IT budgets.
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Over the past five years, virtual environments have moved from “interesting” to an essential part of the IT management job description. There are as many challenges as there are benefits, and it’s important to have a plan for managing and monitoring this new environment. Learn the pitfalls of virtual monitoring and management, and how to navigate the maze of competing virtual monitoring and management vendors.
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Today’s customers want to enjoy a consistent user experience as they switch between different devices. Given the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, netbooks, social networks, and Web sites, it is not surprising that many companies are extending their business beyond the corporate Web site. Learn the top 10 considerations that companies should be aware of when planning to implement an extended channel strategy.
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The software-as-a-service platform enables users to access software applications anytime, from anywhere, via an Internet browser. A SaaS business model enables companies to purchase business software on a monthly subscription basis, and eliminate the need for servers or on-staff support personnel. This fact sheet gives you a quick run-down of what SaaS is, what kind of company it’s best suited for, and why.
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Demarc extensions have been a recurring gray area in the telecommunications industry for years. There is often misconception when it comes to who actually performs the Demarc extension. This confusion can lead to finger pointing and eventually a bad reputation for those involved. Understand the issues surrounding the Demarc extension and how they can be resolved from the very beginning.
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For industries in regulated environments, validation of processes and systems is a required part of business. The goal of the validation process is to provide confidence in a process or system by demonstrating consistent and repeatable results through documented evidence. This article provides an overview of a validation for a computer software system, for compliance with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations.
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One of the greatest challenges facing organizations is the protection of corporate data. The issues complicating data protection are compounded by increased demand for data capacity and higher service levels. Often these demands are coupled with regulatory requirements and a shifting business environment. Learn about data protection strategies that can help organizations meet these demands while maintaining flat budgets.
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In September 2009, IBM Tivoli commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine the total economic impact and potential return on investment (ROI) of deploying monitoring solutions from IBM Tivoli—the IBM Tivoli Monitoring (ITM) and IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) family of products. This paper provides a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of those products on your organization.
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Of the many challenges businesses face today, managing data growth is one of the most daunting. But while there are myriad choices for storage management solutions, most legacy options cannot address changing business requirements, and the results can cost your organization money, time, and peace of mind. Discover solutions that allow you to optimize your service environment and successfully meet your business challenges.
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Despite the slowing economy, data growth continues due to the digitization of infrastructures, the need to keep more copies of data for longer periods, and the rapid increase in distributed data sources. This data growth creates a wide range of management challenges. Discover solutions that can help your company maximize its storage environment and reduce costs while improving service and managing risks.
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Your company needs an approach to server-side application distribution and provisioning that is architected for the cloud and designed for IT, if it’s going to deliver on the business promise of virtualization. Learn about one solution for solution for provisioning and deploying server-side applications in the cloud—or anywhere else.
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Midsize businesses are learning the hard way that most enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications are not truly on-demand, but instead require consulting and specialized customer support services. Learn about the critical consulting and support services required to select, deploy, and fully utilize SaaS solutions to achieve your business objectives and safeguard your mission-critical applications and data.
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This paper from Saugatuck Technology discusses relevant criteria for evaluating SaaS solutions targeting small and midsize firms, and raises key questions that should be asked. It is important to ensure that a SaaS solution is well aligned with business requirements, and can accommodate change and growth. The paper also provides an evaluation template for executives to use in conducting evaluations of SaaS solutions.
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Software as a service (SaaS) is known for its relative speed to implementation and low upfront costs for acquisition and deployment. As a result, SaaS is widely adopted for a variety of business and IT functions. Discover the advantages of moving to a SaaS model for improving business operations, and to better meet the challenges of growth, competition, and regulatory compliance faced by smaller and midsized businesses.
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The dismal economy hasn't been bad news for all segments of the IT industry. The market for applications delivered in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model is increasing thanks to customers who seek better/more targeted functionality, quicker deployment/access, lower up-front and ongoing cost, and ease of use. Learn why SaaS has a history of thriving in down cycles, and what to look for in a SaaS solution.
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Many firms see software as a service (SaaS) as having a cost advantage over on-premise in the short run due to its quick implementation times and pay-as-you-go pricing. But many firms question the long-term value of SaaS, wondering if the rent-versus-own model has a cost crossover point? Discover how some firms have obtained long-term value with SaaS solutions as SaaS has moved into larger, more strategic deployments.
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After a year of silence surrounding SAP’s newest enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, SAP Business ByDesign is back. During that year, many of its competitors pounced on SAP’s silence, even going so far as to spread rumors that the new product was dead. Find out what one Aberdeen analyst thought of Business ByDesign after taking it for a test drive at Sapphire 2009.
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Demand for business expansion, profitability, and an enhanced user experience is accelerating the move to cloud computing. Cloud answers the enterprise’s need to simplify and to use the best resources from the best devices, wherever they happen to reside on the network. For chief information officers (CIOs), it’s an opportunity to reduce operational complexity and deliver greater value to the organization. Find out more.
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Data centers have grown rapidly in size and complexity. At the same time, competitive and economic pressures have made cost control critical. To cut costs and meet service level objectives, organizations of all sizes are initiating projects to simplify IT, consolidate resources, and increase energy efficiency. Discover why companies are turning to virtualization to master these and other data management challenges.
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The high costs of new or expanded data centers, exponential growth in power costs, increased regulations, and the desire to minimize carbon emissions are all driving the recognition that managing energy is of critical importance. Organizations are focused on deploying more efficient systems and tracking the impact of energy consumption more closely. Learn about the issues associated with “greening” today’s enterprises.
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One of the greatest challenges facing organizations is protecting corporate data. The issues that complicate data protection are compounded by increasing demand for data capacity, and higher service levels. Often these demands are coupled with regulatory requirements and a shifting business environment, which impact infrastructure. IT organizations must meet these demands while maintaining flat budgets. Find out how.
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Unifying development and operations is a critical aspect of enabling a dynamic infrastructure—one that improves service, reduces cost, and manages risk to better meet the evolving challenges of today’s technology, application, and business environments. This white paper introduces a process and product framework to help organizations enable a more dynamic infrastructure for delivery of smarter products and services.
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As companies expand operations into new markets, the percentage of total corporate data in remote offices is increasing. Remote offices have unique backup and recovery requirements in order to support a wide range of applications, and to protect against a wide range of risk factors. Discover solutions that help organizations protect remote data and offer extensive data protection and recovery solutions for remote offices.
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The trend toward more flexible ways of working, shorter organizational reaction times, and the ability to fully embrace market unpredictability, is a powerful force that, while positioning business process management (BPM) at center stage, also strains conventional approaches and tools beyond their limits. Discover how goal-oriented BPM goes beyond current BPM practices to better address current business challenges.
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The modern enterprise deploys a variety of server platforms, operating systems, and programming languages. A major barrier to deploying encryption has been the challenge of accessing encryption keys from these widely divergent environments. This paper helps define the key management needs of your enterprise, while defining the elements necessary to reduce the technical challenges and cost of deployment.
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines the standard for Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, and provides a rigorous testing process for software vendors. The AES certification process tests every aspect of encryption and involves millions of operations. Discover a solution that has achieved AES validation for all key sizes and modes of operation, on every major enterprise platform.
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Tokenization is a new type of technology that is being used by companies to reduce the risk of losing sensitive data to identity thieves. This paper discusses how you can make practical use of tokenization to reduce your risk. Additionally, this paper discusses specific target applications in your organization that you should consider for an implementation of tokenization.
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As companies work to meet regulatory requirements to protect personally identifiable information (PII) such as credit card numbers, one option to minimize the risk of loss is to replace sensitive data with a non-sensitive replacement value, or “token.” This white paper discusses how tokenization is implemented, its effectiveness in meeting regulatory requirements, and its impact on your IT systems and business processes.
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While concerns regarding open source are still being debated, many companies are experimenting with and deploying open source application servers in their data centers. While some are attracted to the ability to modify source code as needed, many are attracted to the perceived cost savings of open source. This white paper compares the total cost of ownership (TCO) of one open source and one commercial application server.
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With an increasing number of enterprise applications and access points, organizations face the challenge of providing convenient access while ensuring strong security. Enterprises need software solutions to help ensure that the right users have access to the right information in a timely manner. This white paper describes Tivoli Access Manager for Enterprise Single Sign-On, including its key features and benefits.
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Just because your company isn’t a major corporation with hundreds of offices and thousands of employees doesn’t mean you’re not under the same pressures to maintain access to critical information. But buying the same solutions as the major players in your industry can be expensive and unnecessary. Learn about next-generation data protection and recovery options specifically for small and midsized businesses (SMBs).
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Organizations seeking to align the software delivery process with business strategy and goals are beginning to adopt a collaborative software delivery life cycle. While not always an easy change to make, moving to a collaborative approach has clear benefits for companies and their customers. Learn how three companies improved software quality by following a collaborative approach throughout the software delivery lifecycle.
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The National Geographic Society’s (NGS) Genographic Project is a five-year worldwide scientific study to trace the migration of humanity across the planet. After gathering over 210,000 genetic samples, NGS faced the challenge of processing the massive amounts of data collected. Learn how NGS chose a combination of solutions that helped it gather, manage, secure, store, and analyze hundreds of thousands of genetic samples.
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Business users have become more technically adept, and they expect more accessibility and flexibility in their business applications. Many have become accustomed to the high standards of customization they encounter on the Web. And they’re demanding a similar experience from the organizations for which they work. Discover tools that enable your employees to contribute substantial strategic value to your organization.
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Celina Insurance Group, a mutual insurance carrier that serves eight states in the midwestern US, wanted to increase competitiveness against larger insurance carriers by integrating independent agents into business processes and providing superior services and support. Find out how a new collaborative extranet helped the company reduce policy turnaround times, improve service to agents and customers, and more.
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Appliances are taking up permanent residence in the data warehouse (DW). The reason: they are preconfigured, support quick deployment, and accelerate online analytical processing (OLAP) queries against large, multidimensional data sets. Discover the core criteria you should use to evaluate DW appliances, including performance, functionality, flexibility, scalability, manageability, integration, and extensibility.
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Internet protocol (IP) telephony is increasingly replacing traditional private branch exchange (PBX) technologies. But to replace their incumbent telephony systems, decision makers must look carefully at what’s available, what they’ve got, and what they need, before crafting a short list of candidates. This comparison guide from Focus Research is designed to help midsize and large enterprises do just that.
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Implementing or upgrading an enterprise phone system is a strategic investment for any large enterprise. To reach an informed decision, you should understand the following crucial aspects: phone systems buyer types, product requirements, cost considerations, and vendor relationship needs. This buyer’s guide from Focus Research explains those considerations, and helps prepare you to make the right choice for your company.
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Virtualization technologies allow IT organizations to consolidate workloads running on multiple operating systems and software stacks, and allocate platform resources dynamically to meet specific business and application requirements. This paper discusses the advantages of virtualization, highlights IBM PowerVM, and analyzes the performance of virtualization technologies using industry-standard benchmarks.
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It is a challenging time for Oracle EnterpriseOne (E1) users. Organizations must contain IT costs and still meet business demands. In many cases, pressures to improve performance and increase efficiency are magnified by today’s economic conditions. One solution is to employ—or continue to employ—the IBM Power server platform and i for core E1 systems. Learn how four different installations fared with this solution.
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Facing a projected 400 percent increase in transactional volumes for its key grain handling application, CBH Group needed to boost performance, resilience, and availability. Learn how the company’s new server consolidation and virtualization program helped it achieve a 400 percent increase in transaction volumes, cut costs, reduce power and cooling requirements, and enable rapid response to new business requirements.
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In these challenging times, midsized businesses need to simplify IT infrastructure and reduce costs. Yet, with diverse storage, server, and network requirements—as well as limited physical space to store and manage systems—they have few options. Discover how virtualization can offer small and midsized businesses significant benefits—not simply in server consolidation, but also with affordable business continuity.
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Cloud business intelligence (BI) solutions—also known as software-as-a-service (SaaS) or on-demand solutions—can offer a timely and cost-effective resource for businesses of all sizes to maximize their business potential and minimize costs. Relative to traditional BI solutions, cloud BI solutions offer substantial business benefits. Find out what those benefits are, and how to make them work for you.
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For many companies, traditional business intelligence (BI) software is costly and resource-intensive. So are open source alternatives that require significant configuration and integration. In contrast, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions can reduce the cost of a BI deployment by providing automation and pre-integration. Compare total cost of ownership (TCO) for traditional, open source, and SaaS BI solutions.
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Users of SQL Server value its power, speed, and affordability. But research shows that these users often face significant challenges in producing the business intelligence (BI)—reports, analysis, and dashboards—that they need to gain insight into their businesses. Learn how to evaluate three BI alternatives for Microsoft SQL users, and discover a new reporting and BI paradigm for SQL Server.
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Software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions can be a strategic advantage to businesses, letting companies avoid costly hardware, software licenses, and complex version upgrades. But because most major software vendors are touting some version of SaaS, there is confusion about the solution model and its advantages. Learn what SaaS really means, and discover the short-term and long-term benefits of the model and its variants.
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For manufacturers, barcoding carries with it numerous benefits, including increased accuracy, efficiency, and traceability, along with easier adherence to customer or regulatory requirements. Discover how implementing barcoding as part of an integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution can help manufacturing companies of all sizes, and in many different industries, improve operations and business performance.
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This paper summarizes the benefits an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution provides to the entire manufacturing process, "from shop floor to top floor." Included are key features in a software as a service (SaaS) solution to help an auto manufacturer optimize performance throughout the enterprise.
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Realizing that they need to serve external audiences, an increasing number of companies are interested in using learning to drive revenue and help customers and partners understand their learning options and find what they want. Discover technologies that can help you deliver training, certification programs, and knowledge assets to your company’s networks of partners, suppliers, resellers, distributors, and customers.
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The demand for business intelligence is increasing at a rapid pace across all industries—more so during tough economic conditions as seen in 2009. Many senior executives are looking to optimize existing business processes that can lead to bottom-line and top-line benefits. This paper presents the different levels of analytical solutions that are required for organizations, with a specific focus on predictive analytics.
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The printing environment is now an integral part of the IT infrastructure. Organizations that use managed print services (MPSs) are seeing reduced cost and increased efficiencies. Using MPSs optimizes the way in which networked printers, copiers, and multifunction peripherals (MFPs) are managed to minimize the wastage of paper and toner. Find out how effective MPSs offer cost transparency and reliable service levels.
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With the boom in sales of smart mobile handsets, the opportunity for developing and selling mobile applications is ever more appealing. But the market is changing and evolving rapidly, with new concepts and technologies vying for attention. Discover why, in order to gain momentum, mobile applications need to have both appealing value for customers and the most appropriate, rapid, and wide-reaching routes to market.
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In February 2009, Quocirca interviewed 800 individuals across eight geographies about their views on, and usage of, enterprise performance management (EPM) tools and processes. The research was repeated in December 2009 and there was a clear improvement in understanding of EPM basics. However, much remains to be done. The overall increase in the EPM sub-indices does not mean there is room for complacency. Find out why.
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As networks, devices, and media converge, telecom companies have increasingly complex catalogs of products and services on offer to customers who are, in turn, becoming more aware that they can switch to other providers. These companies need to find ways to effectively and consistently engage with customers to optimize the entire sales experience and capitalize on competing influences rather than losing out to them.
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Whether it’s for an in-house delivery model or an on-demand model, a business case needs to justify the total value of a solution. This ensures that the selected delivery model will help reduce operational costs and drive continuous value from IT investments. Learn how to properly prepare a business case that includes a total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis to assess both cost impacts and line-of-business impacts.
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The most important consideration for product engineering outsourcing (PEO) is vendor skills. Choosing the right set of skills can help companies achieve business objectives such as reducing time to market or lowering costs. Choosing the wrong set of skills can lead to subpar outcomes and mire companies in regret. Ensuring that your projects are in good hands makes the difference between failure and success. Find out why.
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Business intelligence (BI) efforts can only result in a truly intelligent, agile business if they are driven by business goals—comprehensively deployed and adopted; and managed in ways that produce meaningful, measurable and credible results. Discover five BI trends to watch out for in 2010, and learn how to develop an approach to BI that’s effective, and tailored to your organization’s unique needs and goals.
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Hybrid human resources (HR) is all about combining every available delivery option—HR outsourcing being one of them—to provide HR services in as cost-effective and as standardized a way as possible. Companies can choose between an on-premise, on-demand, or a business process outsourcing (BPO) solution—or they can choose and combine the best of all worlds in order to match their business needs. Find out how.
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When the term “enterprise resource planning” (ERP) was introduced, it applied primarily to the planning and management of resources needed to manufacture goods. Today, however, most business decision makers realize that their enterprises rely upon resources, and that planning is essential to optimize how those resources are acquired, allocated, and used. Learn how the definition of ERP has evolved, and what it means today.
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Business intelligence (BI) software is increasingly a key component of IT architectures, and a requirement for most enterprise application sales. Both on-premise software vendors and software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors are responding by developing solutions that combine operational and analytic functionality—often by partnering with established BI providers. Learn what these partnerships mean for your organization.
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Managed print services (MPSs) offer organizations the opportunity to control costs, reduce the complexity of managing a heterogeneous infrastructure, and improve business processes. With many organizations striving to do more with less, MPS can cut expenses by passing control of complex printing infrastructure to the experts, and leaving the organization to focus on its core business competencies. Find out more.
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Digital Britain is the UK government’s strategic plan for the UK’s digital economy. While social inclusion and rights protection are major themes, the plan will also have a significant impact on businesses—encouraging the distribution and virtualization of business functions, and interconnectivity between companies, customers, suppliers, and employees. Learn how to minimize any harmful impact on your business.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) on the shop floor is critical. High-performing manufacturers have found that full integration of real-time operational data collected from the shop floor to the top floor is key to reducing costs, streamlining operations, and improving customer satisfaction. Learn how integrated ERP brings manufacturers improved quality, increased production throughput, less scrap, and other benefits.
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Today’s manufacturers face rising costs, increased competition, and changing customer requirements. If their enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions are not up to par, these companies face dizzying levels of complexity, duplicated effort, and poor product quality and customer service. Learn how to tell whether your ERP system is killing your business, and how a new approach to business systems can help you thrive.
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For many manufacturers, implementing on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems involves delays, unexpected costs, and unsatisfying results. But over the last decade, the innovative software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model has evolved to let manufacturers move beyond traditional enterprise software. Learn how SaaS solutions can deliver ERP integration, ease of use, and up-to-date functionality.
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Automotive supplier Ralco Industries was having inventory trouble. The lack of accurate data from its systems was causing a number of expensive issues—quality problems, scrap, overtime, expedited shipments, etc. Learn how implementing a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution helped Ralco dramatically reduce inventory costs and achieve return on investment (ROI) in just over one year.
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KAMCO Industries, Inc. is an injection molder that serves tier-one and -two suppliers to Honda. After years of using stand-alone solutions and spreadsheets to manage business and production operations, the company was finding it challenging to maintain and support its IT infrastructure. Learn how KAMCO chose a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that helped it increase efficiency and standardize operations.
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When Inteva Products, LLC was launched as an independent company, one of its first challenges was a complete overhaul of its IT environment, which was made up of many different systems—including a legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Learn how the company chose a software-as-a-service (SaaS) ERP solution that trimmed monthly operating costs by one-third and enabled IT staff to focus on more strategic work.
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A supplier to the automotive industry, Grand Rapids Spring & Stamping (GRS&S) implemented an innovative continuous improvement program. The goal: to make incremental improvements in quality, cost, delivery, safety, and morale. With over 8,000 employee-generated ideas now implemented, the company has saved over $1.2 million. Learn how improvements in GRS&S’s manufacturing processes reduce waste and improve the bottom line.
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CAMACO, a leading seating systems solutions provider, needed to replace its outdated, unmanageable batch-process manufacturing resource planning (MRP) system with a completely integrated MRP/enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Learn how the company’s new solution addressed its network issues while reducing its existing burden of high maintenance costs and expensive hardware and software upgrades.
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Bytec, Inc., a supplier of electronic and mechanical assemblies for the automotive sector, needed a system to allow original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers to trace a particularly complex part. Learn how ByTec chose a solution that provided each part with a unique identity, complete with full traceability through the entire manufacturing process, enabling OEMs to identify faults, and avoid warranty costs.
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The electrical power generation, transmission, and distribution system has survived for decades with limited intelligence. But today, independent power producers, green power sources, and new regulations require a smarter grid. Learn how the electric utility landscape has changed, and how Ethernet-based supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems can be used to control power flowing into and out of the grid.
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The convergence of business intelligence (BI) and mobility has been well under way for some time. As more professionals begin using smart phones and other mobile devices to keep up to date with business information, your company’s work force will start seeing mobile access to business data as the rule rather than the exception. Discover the benefits that are in store for an organization that embraces mobile analytics.
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This paper focuses on identifying the similarities and differences between Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA) and Hyperion Planning (HP). For users who are migrating, or thinking of migrating, to Hyperion Planning, strategies will be discussed to ensure their existing functionality can be replicated in HP. The paper is aimed at users who are familiar with OFA or similar multidimensional database applications.
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The success or failure of spend and savings initiatives depends largely on the purchasing processes and technology platforms that support them. To ensure success, organizations need to build a flexible foundation that can adapt to savings measures as needed. Discover five best practices for spend management, inspired by innovations in cloud computing, and learn how they can help your company save money.
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OpSource, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company, was experiencing some growing pains. The company’s financial application made it difficult to track and manage international operations, and was not well integrated with its customer relationship management (CRM) system. Learn how OpSource’s replacement solution helped improve financial controls and support financial operations in four locations worldwide.
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After struggling with manual and often duplicate data entry, paper-intensive processes, and a lack of visibility into financial data, Knoxville, Tennessee (US)-based Faith Promise Church needed a new accounting system that would scale as the church organization grew. Find out how Faith Promise selected a solution that provided much-needed process automation, as well as greater insight into financial operations.
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Emergent Game Technologies develops tools and technologies required to build interactive games. Faced with an accounting solution that was causing lost productivity and accounting inaccuracies, the company sought a replacement. Find out how Emergent’s new solution helped it reconcile multiple currencies across multiple subsidiaries, reduce manual data entry and consolidation processes, and streamline revenue management.
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For finance executives, the financial advantages of cloud computing are undeniable. Shifting the costs of hardware and software from a capital investment to an operating expense makes software-as-a-service (SaaS) more affordable, and far more accessible. Learn how SaaS financials tools can free finance executives from the constraints of on-premise solutions, allowing them to concentrate on growth, regulation, and risk.
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For an increasing number of companies, the costs of owning and operating on-premise software are a burden they are no longer willing to bear. Fortunately, cloud computing is transforming the way companies use computing services by simplifying IT infrastructure, and shifting costs and risks from clients to vendors. Discover how global companies are using cloud computing to manage their financials faster and more easily.
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Every day, companies around the world use instant messaging (IM) and document collaboration systems to solve problems quickly, and maintain real-time connectivity between employees. This kind of instant communication and collaboration can be crucial to a company’s success. Learn about enterprise-level IM systems, and find out which features and functions are most important for corporate and business users.
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The service industry consumes millions of gallons of fuel and expends trillions of pounds of carbon monoxide each year as trucks roll to installation and service locations. Eliminating unnecessary travel is one way service companies can help protect the environment, and meet environmental compliance requirements. Discover a methodology that can help you reduce your fleet’s fuel consumption and carbon monoxide emissions.
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SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 solutions are the next major release of business intelligence (BI) software from SAP. They include features ranging from reporting, query and analysis, and dashboards and visualization, to discovery and predictive analytics capabilities, as well as data quality and extract, transform, and load (ETL) functionality. Get a high-level overview of the new features in SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1.
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Critical business processes in biotech and pharmaceutical companies involve highly confidential documents that need to be safely accessed by external partners and potential licensees. Poor security measures, based on a traditional view of data security, have led to high-profile security breaches. Discover new ways for life sciences companies to conduct important business securely without being impeded by IT complexity.
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For many companies, collaborating with outside partners involves sharing confidential information. Unfortunately, in order to work quickly and efficiently, project team members must sometimes share information without using a safe collaboration platform—putting companies at risk of security breaches. Learn how IT leaders can mitigate that risk by creating highly secure online work spaces for document sharing.
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Most data centers were never designed to be data centers. Organizations are struggling to put a "finger in the dam" to keep up with the speed of change, but budgetary restrictions are such that there is only so much a data center team can do. Learn ways to maximize your data center budget, and find out how unexpected savings in some areas can help cover expenses in other areas.
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When cyber-criminals stage attacks on businesses with covert malware, spam, and scams that drain employee productivity, users aren’t aware they’ve been victimized. Rich media, open-source platforms, and social-networking sites are vulnerable to these threats. Learn how a hosted Web security and content filtering service intercepts all types of Web-borne attacks.
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Technology rollouts on a nationwide and global scale require technicians to perform onsite work. Though you may have hired a technology rollout Company to manage and deploy these technicians, they ultimately serve as direct representatives of your company. If they are ill-mannered, inexperienced, or unprofessional, it is a direct reflection of your company to your customer and you are faced with the consequences. Thus, understanding the relationship your technology rollout company has with its field technicians is very important. Find out how to intelligently evaluate a technology rollout company to ensure that your deployment is as efficient and cost-effective as possible.
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The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has published a PCI DSS Wireless Guideline which acknowledges that wireless is a clear and present danger to network security and those who collect, store or transmit card holder data must take steps to assure that it is secure, whether or not wireless is deployed in the cardholder data environment. Organizations that handle payment card data must take steps to secure the CDE against wireless threats including unmanaged and unknown wireless devices in the environment and must scan all locations. This white paper helps organizations understand how the PCI DSS 1.2 wireless requirements apply to them, how to meet those requirements in a cost effective way, and how to secure your network and cardholder data from wireless threats.
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For managed services providers (MSPs) aiming to serve small and medium-sized businesses, the ability to capture and retain lasting customer relationships is a determining factor for long-term profitability. Only by clearly and consistently communicating your value to your customer can you hope to attain the role of trusted advisor—a position that will help protect you from losing business to lower-priced competitors. Learn how an integrated, offline reporting solution can help ensure that your customers perceive your value in the ways that matter most to all managers within the customer organization.
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A business' success delivering managed services depends on its ability to improve the delivery of effective and efficient services to its customer base. Learn about ways that managed services providers (MSPs) can develop a higher-value business by improving their ability to attract and retain high-quality customers and provide IT services in an effective manner.
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Service companies that want to thrive need to find a better way to deliver services and run their business. Automating IT services is the answer, and it should be the immediate goal of any company that aims to stay in business as market pressures increase. Looking beyond basic automation, becoming a managed services provider (MSP) should be the long-term goal. Discover ways to ensure your service company's survival in today’s competitive IT services market.
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Margins on profitable products and services erode as they become commoditized. And now, the same process is starting to happen to the IT services market. To avoid the commoditization trap and distinguish their services from their competitors, managed services providers (MSPs) need to develop a two-pronged strategy that involves delivering higher-value services that yield greater profit margins, and driving down service delivery costs so they can effectively deliver responsive, tools-based services to compete efficiently in a commoditized market. Find out how.
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Most IT service providers have always and continue to operate in a break/fix service environment. When a customer calls with an issue, the service provider drops everything to fix it. Under these circumstances, service providers have a difficult time forecasting monthly revenues and staffing needs, which has a huge impact on profitability. Add to this the intense competition, excessive customer turnover, low technician utilization rates, and shrinking margins that characterize today‟s market, and the result is IT service providers anxious to find a new way of delivering their services. Learn about innovative IT-as-a-Service initiatives that are defining the new IT value chain of the future.
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With the success of software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based vendors, more applications are being accessed over the Web. Applications once considered too proprietary or mission-critical for SaaS, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), are now being delivered as services. After seeing the increasing rates of SaaS adoption, Nucleus Research decided to examine the user base of SaaS vendor NetSuite. Find out what they learned.
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Do-it-yourself (DIY) security can be daunting. It requires significant time, effort and expertise to maintain strong security while complying with information access and disclosure regulations. Find out how a hosted security solution can provide reliable and comprehensive security coverage for your company’s e-mail, Web, and instant messaging (IM), without requiring extensive expertise or equipment in-house.
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Because e-mail is a source of vital information, users are reluctant to delete old messages. To get around typical storage limits imposed by IT administrators, they often rely on Microsoft Outlook PST files that are stored on individual work stations instead of on a central server—a solution that carries serious risks. Find out what those risks are, and learn about e-mail archiving solutions that can help you avoid them.
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For companies considering offering a product with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business and delivery model, there are many ways things can go wrong—from inadequate market research, to poorly planned release cycles, to a failure to keep up with industry developments. Discover 10 common ways that SaaS companies fail, and learn how to avoid these pitfalls.
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As software-as-a-service (SaaS) spreads rapidly as a business model among independent software vendors (ISVs), the importance of SaaS configurability has come to the fore. With increasingly competitive deployments, the ability of individual tenants to configure their own options, business processes, and data structures will become the key differentiator among otherwise similar offerings—and will often prove critical to
the success or failure of a SaaS deployment. Discover the variety of configurable options, typical technical challenges, and common approaches for optimizing SaaS configurability.
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Nationwide and global multi-site technology rollouts require internal resources beyond just a single point of contact. By understanding the dynamics and configurations of a deployment company’s internal resources, you can be sure that you are getting the most efficient and cost-effective system of methodologies for your project. Get the critical information you need to evaluate a technology rollout company effectively and ensure that you are getting the most efficient and cost-effective implementation system for your technology deployment projects.
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As new products are developed and introduced in the market, it becomes important for manufacturers to know the saleability of these products to further explore the marketing possibilities in the niche user segment. Learn about the Demo/Eval programs that are commonly used by manufacturers to test the usability of their product and also understand some of the basic user requirements that should be offered to enhance saleability.
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When companies have technology rollouts to deploy on a nationwide or global scale, service efficiency is critical. By understanding the details of the Rollout Services Model, they can avoid the potential nightmares of project implementation and increase the chances that projects are completed on time and within budget. Learn how to evaluate a technology rollout company effectively and ensure that you are getting the most efficient and cost-effective implementation system for your technology deployment projects.
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Historically, enterprise level IT tools, at enterprise level prices, have been out of reach to most small businesses. In recent years, the landscape has changed and more frequently small businesses are gaining access to enterprise level features at small business prices. One of the most talked about large-scale features in storage is the capability to use and manage virtual storage to create separate, private disks for different departments or clients. Learn about solutions that offer a simple way for for small businesses to implement virtual storage.
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The rapid deployment of nationwide technology rollouts requires well-defined processes, robust management skills, and a unique understanding of how to get the job done. Without a proven technology rollout system, businesses run a high risk of project complications that can result in increased costs, missed deadlines, and an overwhelming burden on internal resources. Learn what a technology rollout system is, how it can lower costs and save time without compromising quality, and what questions to ask a technology rollout company.
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For IT departments drowning in complex and expensive software maintenance chores, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model can ease the burden. SaaS reduces complexity by outsourcing most of the infrastructure needed to run software applications, and reduces costs by charging only for what is consumed. But you can also adopt a hybrid SaaS model, in which some systems are outsourced and others are kept in-house. Learn more.
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Most enterprises waste millions of dollars annually by not managing their telecom spend in a standardized, centralized, more accurate way. Having ballooned up to being in the top four overall expenses of the entire company, telecom expense management (TEM) is something you should put on your radar—sooner than later. Find out why your telecom expenses are rising, and how you can work globally to reduce them.
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One of the critical components of any infrastructure is the storage layer. But companies often buy equipment without scoping their requirements. And, within a virtual environment, ongoing maintenance and monitoring of storage tiers is more often overlooked than in a non-virtualized environment. Learn more about storage tiers, as well as considerations and techniques related to storage in a virtualized environment.
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In an unpredictable economy, you need to refocus your marketing efforts to be more cost-effective, while achieving measurable results in even shorter time frames. E-mail marketing has many advantages when used as part of an overall marketing solution. Beyond just driving short-term results, you’ll see opportunities to differentiate your firm—so you can expand your market share while building brand awareness.
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The global economic recession has put immense pressure on companies to cut costs—particularly IT-related expenditure. Companies were often forced to run only a few projects with regulatory impact and immovable deadlines, proceeding against very lean budgets. Recently, key economies such as the US and China have started to show signs of recovery. Learn more about how the recession has had an impact on IT investment.
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Many manufacturers are incorporating embedded systems into their products to meet the growing demand. While this approach offers exciting opportunities for innovation, it also adds a level of complexity to products that have zero tolerance for bugs and must beat the competition to market. But companies that successfully address these challenges are seeing higher profitability—in spite of the current economy. Find out why.
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Yes—process manufacturers do face extraordinary business challenges. You need to effectively respond to market imbalances, supplier failure, and increased regulation and quality requirements. You also need an IT backbone specifically designed for process manufacturing—integrating supply chain planning, product lifecycle management (PLM), and enterprise asset management (EAM). Find out how to adapt to the “new normal.”
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For many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, the environment is too complex to implement a new business process without upgrading the IT systems that support that process. Taking a consumer approach to upgrading can help. You need to seek out solutions that fit your CPG environment, can keep up with continual innovation, and more. But you always need to be thinking ahead. Learn more about developing an IT roadmap.
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Calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO) of an Internet protocol (IP) telephony system is complicated. And you need to know the return on investment (ROI). But knowing the TCO doesn’t make it easy to figure out the ROI—because the benefits of IP private branch exchange (PBX) aren’t easy to quantify. You can, however, get an idea of your ROI by knowing 10 ways a new IP phone system can repay the money you spend on it.
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If you are a small to medium business (SMB) looking to purchase a business phone system, you’ve no doubt discovered that buying one is not easy. You must quickly identify your specific needs before you contact vendors and compare phone system options. To make an informed decision about which phone system is right for your company, you should understand four crucial aspects, from product requirements to cost considerations.
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Many failed projects are lamented by analysts and commentators because of the lack of effective metadata management. Your project may fail too—but there are simple steps to avoid the common mistakes that lead to failure. Find out how your service infrastructure affects the agility of your IT systems, and the roles metadata registries, knowledge organization systems, and collaborative tools play in a metadata methodology.
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Formally defining, effectively retaining, and successfully archiving e-mail and other electronic business records is one of the most important tasks facing many organizations today. Learn how to quickly and cost-effectively preserve, protect, and produce legally compliant e-mail and other electronically stored information (ESI) in anticipation of litigation and regulatory audits, with an e-discovery compliance program.
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Online spam campaigns have become more sophisticated and precisely targeted. Spammers routinely disseminate millions of fraudulent e-mail messages to control legions of employee computers and connect them into botnets which sap bandwidth and productivity. Learn how implementing a hosted anti-spam service in your company can provide multi-layered protection against spam, improve employee productivity, and lower costs.
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Today’s mobile software companies face a daunting challenge: How can they achieve quality while getting to market swiftly? After all, speed is king in the mobile market. The trade-off between speed and quality in mobile software development is an illusion—or should be. Get a closer look at the situation with a framework that presents a way to use quality assurance (QA) processes to accelerate development.
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The crucial interoperability of wireless network devices built around the 802.11 standard is threatened by the advent of faster technologies. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is trying to cope by developing the 802.11n standard—but it’s still in draft form. Meanwhile, how can manufacturers cope with the confusion surrounding the future of 802.11? Get an outline of the situation.
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Efforts to improve the efficiency and maturity of a quality assurance (QA) or test organization have largely been academic exercises, and difficult to apply to real-world software development environments. Today, with newer methods such as the Testing Maturity Model (TMM), it’s easier to assess, implement, and improve test processes. Learn about fresh techniques for assessing the effectiveness of QA organizations.
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Stand-alone learning management systems (LMS) often lack scalability, reliability, and secure access—and the interfaces to offer these features. But new development strategies, standards, and tools can move LMS into the “next generation.” If you’re an independent software vendor (ISV), an engineer of educational software products, or the chief learning officer of a corporate university, this info will interest you.
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Identifying, evaluating, and outlining your information management needs is already a tough task—but conducting a complete vendor review can stretch the project further. To reduce the time spent learning about the information management solution landscape—and vendor tendencies—arm yourself with the questions that your search vendors don’t want to answer. The first question: Can I request a proof of concept? Learn more.
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Many companies have begun to appreciate the value of their information assets and have taken a strategic view of information management, including the interoperability of their intranets. A core functionality of any intranet—especially with a large number of Microsoft Office documents—is search. Find out more about the issues surrounding search, to find out whether SharePoint or another search application is best for you.
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If you’re considering upgrading your traditional phone system to a premise-based private branch exchange (PBX) system, there are a few things you need to know before you start talking to vendors. Find out whether your company needs just the basic features, or if you need more advanced functions such as programmable routing and scheduling. No matter the features, a premise PBX system can help you save money—learn how.
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The TrainingPartner learning management system (LMS) helps New Horizons Computer Learning Centers keep its glocal edge by providing back office operations support.
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When Lockheed Martin sells technology such as aircraft to its customers, it also provides training systems for both pilots and maintenance personnel. The training system must handle student and instructor registration, and training records and certifications—with scheduling for students and resources. Find out about the learning management system with simulator training functionality that the company chose.
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Consultant Paul Mitnick chose the Training Partner learning management system (LMS) to help a real estate firm consolidate its learning management program. In addition to a breakdown of the steps involved in his LMS software selection process, you’ll also discover how the LMS implementation went—including the testing and timing involved in ensuring that all data was in the new LMS before it was accessed by users.
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Standards can play an important part in enterprise learning, from the development of learning content to how it interacts with database management applications—specifically learning management systems (LMSs) and learning content management systems (LCMs). This document provides an overview of the standards that affect learning technologies and advice on how to work with vendors of standards-affected technologies.
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Companies dealing with industry or government regulations are often required to meet specific standards for system security, audit trails, and verification of electronic documents. With electronic data increasingly replacing printed documentation, new strategies are needed for dealing with regulatory compliance. Discover how these regulations can affect the use of learning management systems (LMSs) for employee training.
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No matter how effective your sales staff is, there’s always room to boost efficiency and increase sales. But how you go about doing so may be a point of contention. Sales force automation (SFA) solutions come in many flavors, but they don’t all offer the comprehensive SFA functionality you need. Find out how to avoid the pitfalls of choosing SFA software, and get help matching your needs with the right solution for you.
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Is a total ban on workplace social networking a good idea? Companies should take more calculating points of view and look at how to turn the negative effects of social networking into positive effects. Employers can manage employee social networking to maximize the positives. The strategy combines employee education, well-thought-out acceptable use policies (AUPs), and—critically—effective Web filtering technology.
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Hosted services can offer a sound solution for small and medium businesses requiring safe and reasonably priced platforms. Applying the same concept at a higher level could result in hosting and services providers leasing or renting virtual real estate for the services they provide in order to lower their initial investments or subsequent upgrade costs. Learn more about “hosted hosting,” the new breed of hosting services.
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You know your organization’s need for stronger IT security can’t wait any longer. Regulatory compliance and the risk of a data breach are forcing you to implement more stringent security procedures. But password problems still consume time and money. Though the benefits of single sign-on (SSO) and strong authentication are significant, deploying an IT security solution can be daunting. Get tips on how to go about it.
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For many projects, the transition from initiative to production is chaotic and lacks a pragmatic framework for ongoing support. Inheritance Engineering offers a means for carrying out change in a reliable fashion and retaining as much value as possible throughout the life of the software. Unfortunately, this does not occur for a variety of reasons. Find out what those reasons are, and how to address software maintenance.
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For midsize firms seeking more value in a shorter period of time, a rapid enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation may be the way to go. If you’re unsure this is the right choice, you need to consider some important factors. The best candidates tend to be ERP solution first-timers. Learn more about how to work closely with ERP partner vendors for a rapid—and successful—ERP implementation.
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The small to midsize market for enterprise applications is already growing. Small to midsize businesses (SMBs) are looking for practical solutions that offer full capabilities at a quick return on investment (ROI). Vendors responding to SMB requirements now offer solutions with rapid implementation, Microsoft Office integration, and mobile support. Find out more about what enterprise application vendors are offering—and what you should be looking for.
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To compete in today’s economy, you need enterprise-size IT infrastructure and reach—but at a midsize cost. To do this, you need to find an IT community that understands your business processes and objectives. The Oracle Accelerate program offers a way to find a software vendor and local partner organizations that can provide you with the IT infrastructure, the features and functions, and the expertise. Learn more.
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Acts of cyber aggression could lead to a cyber war or worse. Capitol Hill is giving attention to this security issue, and vendors are creating new offerings and expanding existing programs—creating new opportunities in the defense industry and opening doors for new players. Learn more about the blurring between information security vendors servicing the private sector and those in the defense and intelligence industry.
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Continuous change in the retail industry is limiting retailers’ ability to plan, forecast, price, and replenish. Thus, many retailers are facing a dilemma: they need new retail technology to adapt their processes and respond more rapidly to changing markets, but they can’t afford the up-front expenditure or lengthy implementation. But advances in new software-as-a-service (SaaS) retail solutions can help. Learn how.
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Is it true that companies in Europe are more concerned with security, while those in the US are more concerned with productivity? Maybe. However, there’s a trend in the US toward safer log-on, authentication, and authorization. In the next few years, both aspects may converge as the US will be more security-concerned, while the rest of the world will be concerned about ease of use and productivity gains. Learn more.
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Today’s fast-paced lifestyle means many people spend a considerable amount of time in a mobile state, going between home, office, and meetings. With increasing pressure on time and mobility, the ability to secure important assets, both digitally and physically, has become critical. But there is an easy and affordable solution—learn how a surveillance system can be put into place using network attached storage.
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To achieve operational excellence, process manufacturers must be able to control costs while meeting customer expectations. Best-in-class process companies provide visibility into manufacturing operations while using real-time interoperability between manufacturing systems and business systems. Discover how best-in-class process manufacturers accomplish this, as well as other characteristics that help them succeed.
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Why would a company choose to migrate its development tools? And if the migration is decided upon, how can this be done easily and effectively? Get answers to these questions, and explore the concerns and issues surrounding migration of your development environment, using IBM’s Rational Application Developer (RAD) as an example of a current tool and MyEclipse Blue Edition from Genuitec as an example of a new tool.
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Without data that is reliable, accurate, and updated, organizations can’t confidently distribute that data across the enterprise, leading to bad business decisions. Faulty data also hinders the successful integration of data from a variety of data sources. But with a sound data quality methodology in place, you can integrate data while improving its quality and facilitate a master data management application—at low cost.
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Most document security companies concern themselves solely with the prevention of unauthorized access to content. Online publishers, on the other hand, struggle to find a balance between document security and a satisfactory reader experience. A new approach to document security can give online content publishers the ability to protect their content without adding unnecessary complexity to document access. Learn more.
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Organizations must keep up with technology and adapt their quality assurance (QA) processes for continued success. Test management isn’t optional. The proper test management tool allows for objectivity and efficiency, while enabling you to monitor quality at every step of the testing cycle. Knowing where you are in the testing cycle is key, as is knowing how to mitigate the risks while controlling costs and saving time.
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The pervasiveness of malware on the Internet creates more opportunities for mixing and matching dangerous content than previously possible. A converged threat is a combination of viruses, spyware, phishing, spam, and other attempts to exploit vulnerabilities. But you can’t sever all ties with the Internet—you need better protection methods to head off potential threats before they reach their targets. Learn more.
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The payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS) defines a comprehensive set of requirements to enhance and enforce payment account data security in a proactive rather than passive way. These include security management, policies, procedures, network architectures, software design, and other protective measures. Get a better understanding of the PCC DSS and learn the costs and benefits of compliance.
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Small and medium businesses are especially vulnerable to disruptions caused by e-mail loss, compliance demands, and the threat of e-discovery. Yet these companies may not have adequate resources to deal with these risks on their own. Learn how your business can benefit from e-mail archiving, and in particular a hosted e-mail archiving service, to combat data loss, and realize greater productivity and competitiveness.
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As more corporations adopt instant messaging (IM), chief information officers (CIOs) and IT managers are learning that it can be a serious source of liability and security exposure. Users, it seems, simply don’t understand the losses and exposures that can result from incautious IM use. Find out how security software solutions can help you reap the benefits of IM without exposing your company to unnecessary risk.
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When portable document format (PDF) documents are used for medical records, insurance policies, judicial statements—or anywhere that timely and efficient processing of documents is required— inaccurate or illegible characters are unacceptable. Learn how missing or incorrect metadata affects onscreen text rendering in PDF files, and find out how to minimize or prevent the effects of missing metadata.
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While simple on the surface, the decision to outsource is a major strategic undertaking. Besides weighing cost reduction against the consequences of reduced control, companies must also consider various economic effects, political consequences, and even cultural limitations. Discover the economic and political implications of outsourcing and offshoring, and learn techniques for managing successful deals.
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Creating a great Website depends on strategy, and the investment of time and energy in continuous improvement. Learn how techniques like search engine marketing and search engine optimization (SEM and SEO), maximizing lead generation, increasing conversions, improving customer service, and engaging target audiences can take your Website from good to great—and help you maximize return on investment (ROI).
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While the virtues of encrypting PC data are extolled by vendors and the press alike, some painful truths go largely unmentioned. Whether necessary for compliance or state breach disclosure law, or for doing business in a state requiring it, encryption is necessary but difficult. Learn where existing encryption solutions are failing, and find out how emerging tools and trends can make encryption better, and easier.
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Fonts are the essential elements of any portable document format (PDF) file, but are often taken for granted by most readers. But what if you are a developer and fonts are missing? What should you do? Why does this happen? In the first of a two-part white paper series, explore some of the core PDF concepts, font technologies, and get an introduction to the problem of missing fonts in PDF documents.
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The increasing use of virtualization allowed managed hosting providers to reduce costs by sharing infrastructure between customers, creating the earliest versions of what is now known as cloud computing. Platforms managed by specialists provide higher service levels, greater ease of secure access, and more manageable costs than many companies can achieve internally. Discover more about Europe’s managed hosting market.
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IT departments rarely have the luxury of spare capacity or sufficient knowledge of all the products and technologies that the rest of the organization expects. However, IT is an integral part of most companies, and supporting diverse or specialized technologies and understanding their impact on the business is necessary. Organizations not only need third parties—they need them to be focused and cost-effective. Learn more.
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Teamwork requires data to be shared, but security must be maintained. Folder encryption is an essential part of corporate security and protecting intellectual property. Secure Folder can provide a secure electronic workstation. Files and folders can be secured for users’ personal use, or configured so they are available for the shared, exclusive use of a selective group. Find out more about a desktop encryption solution.
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Secure Mail is a plug-in that integrates into Microsoft Outlook. The main functions of Secure Mail are provided in the toolbar or the menu. It’s possible to pre-assign various setup options before the software is rolled out, which can be locked so that the user can no longer change the default settings. Learn more about the main properties of Secure Mail and get an overview of the possible configurations the product offers.
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Unencrypted communication between users’ workstations and the backend SAP servers is a significant vulnerability to your SAP environment. This can put the confidential data inside your SAP systems and your entire business activity at risk—and have a negative impact on your customers. Find out how to reduce business risks and improve audit results through encrypted communication and two-factor user authentication for SAP.
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There has been a lot of buzz about the new cloud computing paradigm. But can cloud computing offer the same benefits as clustering? Find out more in a comparative analysis of the two concepts governing the present and the future of the IT industry: the older, already-proven technology used in clustering systems today, and the new trend of cloud computing—with a special focus on the development of e-mail services.
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Companies performing a software evaluation and comparison want assurance that the products they’re evaluating do what the vendors say they do. Solutions certified by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) and bearing the TEC Certified logo were analyst-verified for accuracy. Learn about a TEC Certified ERP system for distribution and discrete manufacturing that might offer the modules and functionality you need.
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Search engine marketing (SEM)? We’re talking about tactics for Web site promotion—increasing both a site’s visibility to Google (and other search engines) and the site’s prominence in search engine results. We’re talking about pulling visitors through search engine optimization (SEO) and improved organic listing and using paid placement to push visitors to a site. Learn more about how to develop an effective SEM process.
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“Build it and they will come” is not a strategy for e-commerce success. You wouldn’t expect a new store to bring in business without advertising and promotion, so why would you build a Web site and expect it to boost business if nobody knows it exists? E-commerce must be supported with marketing and advertising. Learn about the other nine reasons why e-commerce fails and how you can overcome these pitfalls.
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As marketing budgets shrink and companies in the corporate services industry aim to leverage their Web sites as less expensive alternatives to traditional marketing tools, Web-site strategy is becoming more important. Web-site strategy must focus on enhancing credibility, strengthening existing relationships, generating leads, and more. Get tips on how to create a Web-site strategy that will help you achieve these goals.
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Do you understand the differences between open source and closed source (proprietary) software? To make an informed decision when choosing between them, you need to know the advantages and disadvantages of each. The main issues in the debate include cost, service and support, innovation, usability, and security. Get a closer look at open source and closed source software solutions so you know what’s right for your needs.
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Almost everyone has had a bad call center experience—due to long queues, ineffective interactive voice response (IVR) systems, or an agent who doesn’t communicate well. After, the story is told over and over to friends, warning them about doing business with "that company." Are your customers saying this about your local contact center? If so, do you know why? Learn why you should update your customer feedback systems.
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Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs are just a few Internet services that make up the new growing digital world called social media. Many companies have seen the influence these new sites can have on their organizations for both good and bad. All companies should ask themselves, "How can we tap into the power of this new method of communication to improve our business and the experiences we provide our customers?"
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Agitar provides Java testing solutions to its customers around in the world in various industries. Agitar has been using a network licensing platform since 2004, and now offers floating licenses from a re-distributed server, with stand-alone license server or embedded options. Unlike other license servers that can’t be embedded, there’s no separate licensing process. Learn how this benefits Agitar—and its customers.
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Fair Isaac Corporation’s FICO scores—the global industry standard for objective, profitable risk assessment—are the most widely used consumer credit scores in the world. Fair Isaac was using a simple in-house license manager to protect new installations of the FICO score, but as new implementations spread around the world, the company decided it needed a new system to manage its licenses. Learn about its chosen solution.
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Since 1996, NumeriX had been using in-house-developed licensing tools to manage and protect its applications. In 2006, it outsourced licensing to a third-party vendor that could provide a scalable solution with two licensing options. After some problems with integration, NumeriX consolidated on one commercial licensing management solution. Find out about the benefits of the licensing solution the company chose.
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Product activation is a popular approach for securing software licenses. However, software developers need to understand all the requirements for a capable activation system, from the license models they’ll need to support, to how to deal with the corner-case customer environments. Learn about the obvious, and not-so-obvious, issues software developers need to consider as they select a product activation system.
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Software vendors have used license management for many years. Older approaches, such as key-file-based licensing or dongles, do have a number of drawbacks for both the vendor and the user. Product activation solves many of these problems, so is gaining broad acceptance. Learn more about product activation and licensing management, and why modern product activation systems are superior to other techniques.
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Retaining good IT staff for clients is no easy task. They face issues regarding competitive rates, contracts, benefits, liabilities, and more. So how do companies determine if they have the right model of retained staff? Or how much of a firm’s IT should be outsourced? What are the typical billing models used by service providers? Get help with these and other questions, addressed from the service provider’s perspective.
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The IT field is littered with failed global software integration sagas. The many reasons for these failures include mismatched capabilities, geographical requirements, and project technical management deficiencies. Global software projects should start with in-depth analysis of features and functions, so the software’s capabilities meet corporate requirements. Find out how to avoid a failed software integration project.
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Aligning IT with business objectives has long been a mantra of corporate directives. But organizations often fall short of publishing quality documents and assembling plans that meet business needs—never mind providing the necessary details to ensure thorough infrastructure planning. Don’t focus too much on technology—find out how to better manage the IT planning process and how to overcome its challenges.
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During a recession, successful businesses change their approach to managing information technology (IT) sourcing. The challenge is to become more efficient and invest in IT so the return on investment (ROI) is realized quickly and business competitiveness is improved at lower cost. IT vendor management allows you to build a mutually beneficial relationship with your suppliers and service providers. Find out how.
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Since 1996, Air International US (AIUS) has used an outsourced manufacturing strategy instead of maintaining its own facilities. For the first few years, communication between AIUS and its outsourced partners was manual, which formed a barrier preventing the company from maximizing its contract manufacturing strategy. To improve outsourcing processes, AIUS chose a change management solution with bill of materials (BOM) management and a software-as-a-service architecture. Learn more.
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Martin’s Wood Products, producers of solid wood furniture for over 20 years, is a family-run business that has aimed to keep pace with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) advances of the 21st century. To bring costing under control, and to automatically place accurate and consistent work orders on the shop floor, the company uses an ERP and product configurator solution. Learn more about how the solutions help the company.
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The increasing number of passwords actually decrease productivity and present a security risk when people get frustrated and write their passwords on a sticky note. This means the application of a single sign-on (SSO) solution provides greater security and improved user-friendliness and productivity. Learn how to increase the security and usability of existing and alternative authentication methods, and how the requirements for user authentication can be realized efficiently and at low cost.
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Tape drives and tape drive backups are expensive, time-consuming, and unreliable. Tape drives can cost from $350 to thousands of dollars (and the tapes aren’t free either). Plus, tapes are notoriously failure-prone and vulnerable to environmental degradation—and tape drive installation is expensive. Find out the other reasons why your tape backup system might not be an effective data storage and security strategy.
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SysTrust is an assurance service developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). SysTrust Certification is critical for any CPA, bank, lender, or financial institution subject to a data security system audit. Failure to meet industry standards can result in fines of up to $1,000 (USD) per infraction. Learn how you can protect yourself.
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The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) regulates the storage and management of corporate financial data for all Registered Public Accounting Firms and many publicly held companies. Which SOX regulations affect data backup in your company—and how can a remote data backup solution help you comply? Find out, with an explanation of various sections of the SOX act, matched with key remote data backup functionality.
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A remote data backup solution can be compliant with almost any international, federal, or state data protection regulation—and can be compliant with the common caveats of most data security laws by providing functionality like data encryption and secure media control. And, as some regulations require files to be archived for several years, you can create a routine that archives files you select for backup and storage.
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Backing up critical data on an external drive provides only minimal protection against one type of data loss: hard drive failure and nothing else. External drives are easily damaged, lost, or stolen. Portable drive backups are rarely taken off-site and are insecure, time-consuming, and limited. And when an external drive holding key data no longer works, what will you do? There’s a better way to back up data. Learn more.
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Are you still using tape, compact disc, or zip drives to do manual data backups? If you still don’t believe an automated online backup is the best way to protect your data, you should take a closer look. Learn what the seven misconceptions about online backups are, and why you shouldn’t worry about transferring your critical business data over the Internet—remote data backup isn’t as hard as it seems.
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Sadly, a division exists between business analysts and IT—they often perform separate data-related duties. There are benefits for companies that unite business analytics with business intelligence. But the adaptive information cycle—a model linking the center-out approach of traditional data warehousing to the emergent prototyping typifying today’s analytic environment—is not as complex as it may sound. Learn more.
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Backing up your critical data on compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD) is risky business. Disks can be easily damaged by routine use or natural disaster, lost, or stolen. CD and DVD backups are rarely taken offsite, and are not secure, automated, or full featured. Discover 10 reasons why you need to find a better data backup solution for your business, and avoid the endless expense of backing up on CD and DVD.
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A number of bargain-basement data backup services are entering the market with a barrage of advertising. Some people may make business decisions based on price alone, but when it comes to vital needs like secure data, cheaper is not better. Would you buy the cheapest parachute? Then why settle for the cheapest data backup solution? Learn more about data backup technologies and why you should avoid cheap alternatives.
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Discover a framework for crafting a software-as-a-service (SaaS) strategy in your company. Examine key concerns such as data integrity, maintaining compliance, and ensuring proper process management, as well as approaches to help maximize your return on investment (ROI). A SaaS solution for your enterprise resource planning (ERP) or accounting system might be your ticket to improved business and application performance.
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To succeed in ever-changing market conditions, you must manage and navigate an information network of business partners. Though you may have long focused your IT efforts on automating internal processes to save money, now you need to rethink how technology can support and transform the way decisions are made and business is conducted—both within and across your boundaries, focusing on key business processes. Learn more.
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Specialty Products needed to address several warehouse and manufacturing management issues, including real-time inventory tracking. As it looked for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, the company also wanted one-step order processing. Learn how the new ERP system, featuring a virtual shop front and electronic data interchange (EDI) capabilities, meets the company’s business and warehouse operating needs.
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Dorcy, a global distributor of flashlights and batteries, manufactures its product line in Taiwan, China, and Korea, and repackages products in two US warehouses to ship to major retailers. With 2,500 items in its inventory—approaching $12 million (USD) at any given time—Dorcy needs a warehouse management system (WMS) that automates reports and provides real-time inventory data. Learn about the solution it uses.
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With traditional paper-based invoicing, the cash conversion process is lengthy and very inefficient. Today’s pressures to be accountable mean that you must improve your financial systems to provide timely and accurate financial information. Electronic data interchange (EDI) can minimize the delays on payment and address the lack of access to process information. Learn more about improving your invoice and payment cycle.
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Looking for a way to maximize the productivity and profitability of your inventory investment? Although good inventory management software is one key to an effective inventory management program, it must be implemented by a team that thoroughly understands the distributor’s needs and challenges. Learn about two solutions that, when combined, can lead you toward the goal of achieving effective inventory management.
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IT has long been seen as one of the best ways to address the challenges of the business environment. Yet the complexity and rigidity of IT infrastructure keep IT from fully serving the business. IT could better help serve your customers and reduce business costs if it were provided as a service. Find out more about IT service management standards and best practices, with a focus on SAP’s approach to IT optimization.
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IT managers realize that service-oriented architecture (SOA) projects are no longer an “if”—they’re a “when.” SOA can help achieve your number-one goal: aligning IT with business. If you’re in the consideration and planning stage, you’ll need some practical strategies for a business-driven SOA deployment. Find out how packaged solutions can accelerate SOA deployments, ease the burden of SOA management, and more.
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Many business activities require access to real production data, but there are just as many that don’t. Data masking secures enterprise data by eliminating sensitive information, while maintaining data realism and integrity. Many Fortune 500 companies have already integrated data masking technology into their payment card industry (PCI) data security standard (DSS) and other compliance programs—and so can you.
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Whether you’re working toward your first or your next payment card industry (PCI) data security standard (DSS) audit, you know compliance is measured on a sliding scale. But full compliance can’t be achieved with just one policy or technology. Using data masking, a technology that alters sensitive information while preserving realism, production data can be eliminated from testing and development environments. Learn more.
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Do you use real customer profiles and statistics to drive marketing efforts, or real employee data for salary or benefit analysis? While these activities are critical to success, they can put you at risk for a data breach. But with a data security system, you can maintain the data’s original properties, while giving clearance for key business activities to proceed. Learn how to assure your sensitive data is protected.
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To many managers, the words “business process management” (BPM) conjure up images of complexity—months of planning, meetings, and more meetings. While BPM can be complex, it needn’t be. You can move quickly to implement process automation for your company. Learn what to consider and act on as you contemplate how to automate your business processes and increase competitive advantage and customer loyalty.
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In 2008, botnets were responsible for 90 percent of spam. The ever-changing nature of botnets makes them hard to detect and even harder to defend against—and these compromised “robot” computer networks don’t seem to be going away in the near future. Learn about new and sophisticated botnets, how they can affect your business network, and the steps you can take to protect your company from a botnet attack.
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Like many distribution companies, Hydro-Scape needed to streamline and automate its business processes to increase speed and accuracy when serving customers, as well as boost productivity and profitability. The company chose an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution with distribution-specific functionality, including the ability to integrate data across the entire operation. Learn more about the distribution ERP.
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American Refrigeration Supplies (ARS) is a wholesaler of refrigeration and heating equipment, parts, and supplies. In a difficult economy, there is little margin for error with respect to how ARS manages its clients and vendors. Because a growing number of product vendors are using electronic data interchange (EDI), ARS was pushed to upgrade its distribution processes. Learn about the EDI solution the company chose.
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Falcon Technologies, Inc. (FTI) is a leading distributor of data and telecommunications products. After several years, FTI realized its legacy accounting system could no longer manage the growing business, and that it needed an industry-specific solution. The new system, with a few customizations, has allowed FTI to improve its efficiencies and productivity, resulting in a growth rate of over 50 percent. Find out more.
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As time passes, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems drift further and further into misalignment with enterprise goals, strategies, and tactics. Eventually your legacy ERP system begins to interfere with your company’s ability to operate efficiently. Examine ERP evaluation criteria and techniques, and equip yourself with the tools and knowledge you need to measure your current ERP system’s effectiveness.
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Successful businesses start with a plan, and begin with the end in mind. A Web site is no different—it simply functions in the online world, rather than the physical world. The Australian government tells us that over 11 million Australians frequently use the Internet—why not take advantage of this? Here are seven key strategies that can help you decide what type of environment to create as you plan your online business.
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Business networks have come to the fore in the past decade, as the power of customers and consumers has increased relative to the manufacturers and retailers that serve them. These networks enable these companies to deliver faster innovation to customers at lower costs by sharing investment, assets, and ideas. Find out how information technology and communication (ITC) systems can help you unlock new market opportunities.
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IT has long been one of the best ways to address business challenges. Yet significant obstacles at the level of IT infrastructure stand in the way. Siloed IT operations and rigid IT management processes can impede business agility. When IT partners with the business to act less as a technology provider and more as a service provider, business objectives can be achieved more efficiently and cost-effectively. Find out how.
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Many small to medium businesses (SMBs) do not have experience with software as a service (SaaS), but are looking to adopt SaaS solutions soon. According to studies, 2009 will be the tipping point, with a majority of companies aiming to adopt SaaS this year. But these companies must be cautious, as the old rules for on-premise software analysis and purchase don’t apply. Discover the new rigorous criteria you should use.
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You needn’t be a seer or sage to perceive risk—it’s as predictable and devastating as a Florida hurricane and as far-reaching as a corporate scandal. But you do need to be a visionary to see the underside of the risk coin. This side represents opportunity, competitiveness, and growth. Find out why insight into managing two types of risk, rewarded and unrewarded, can help you explore opportunities for growth and profit.
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Workers spend on average close to 80 percent of their workday with some combination of enterprise applications and desktop tools. Best-in-class companies have already found ways to improve productivity. Learn more about the convergence of enterprise applications with desktop tools, and the role it plays in providing visibility to enterprise data, improving communication, and facilitating real-time decision making.
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New Avenue Solutions is a consultant for small to medium businesses (SMBs) in network setup and installation, security, data backup, and more. As part of New Avenue’s service offering, it rents rack space in a data warehouse to manage customers’ network and backup solutions. As storage demands grew, transfer rates slowed, and maintenance became increasingly time consuming. Learn how New Avenue overcame the problems.
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For business everywhere, the growth in the Internet has resulted in an enormous challenge to effectively and affordably manage, store, and archive digital files. In small to medium businesses (SMBs), solutions to store and manage digital files are often on a PC server or external hard drive—which can limit growth. SMBs should look for a storage and file management solution that allows for incremental growth. Find out why.
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New data sources, unstructured data, and greater volumes of data than ever before are creating an information overload. Plus, customers’ demands for faster service stress front-office applications, while parallel demands from internal users place greater demands on back-office systems. Before you discover that your data quality has been rendered ineffective, consider adopting enterprise information management (EIM).
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In a business and technology environment that evolves faster all the time, a key challenge for franchise operators is to continue finding ways to improve. Some recent advances in the architecture of Web-based business tools have major consequences for franchise operators. Find out more.
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Information management software from Business Objects, an SAP company, can be used for SAP data migration projects—either for upgrades from one version of SAP to a newer one, or from other environments to SAP. In practice, many considerations that apply to SAP migrations are the same as those pertaining to non-SAP environments. But a few requirements are particular to an SAP implementation. Find out what they are.
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The Web affects the way many industries do business. By using online booking systems and targeted Web marketing, airlines have undergone a paradigm shift in how they sell their service. Other industries have seen the Web’s impact on pricing, marketing, sales, and profitability. Learn about a Web service that can help your company better leverage the Web for a broader branding and marketing strategy.
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Electronic communication tools are increasingly at risk due to sophisticated e-mail and Web threats. Implementing reliable, effective protection is essential—but many companies don’t know about the latest proactive virus protection techniques. Find out where your company’s vulnerabilities are, how your traditional security software might not be protecting you as well as you think, and how a heuristic solution can help.
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Most strategies for dealing with e-mail deluge involve getting more power out of the e-mail solution: greater storage or better spam filters. But what if you’ve got the problem all wrong? The purpose of technology, including e-mail, is to enhance employee productivity. Find out how online collaboration tools can help you reduce the e-mail deluge, streamline information management, and increase overall productivity.
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Thousands of new Web sites appear every day. Many of them, however, are destined to have limited impact on the businesses they represent. Yet there are businesses with Web sites that have transformed their operations by additional lead generation, customer satisfaction, or online sales. How can you differentiate your Web site and ensure it brings you a solid return on investment—and boosts your sales? Find out more.
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What are the common reasons for the failure of the majority of Web sites? Web development companies should focus more on the strategy behind the Web site, and on how to attract more clients and improve internal operational efficiencies through the Web. Find out tips on how you can change your Web marketing strategy to achieve high return on investment (ROI) from your Web site, with minimal effort.
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Nowadays, it’s easy to spend nearly as much time trying to make the pieces of your supply chain work together as you actually spend working. Managing disparate systems and solving communication issues create challenges that keep your business-to-business (B2B) solutions from working in sync. Find out how integrating the technology, business processes, and communication of your entire business community can help.
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Leading companies are increasing the percentage of perfect orders and reducing costs by exchanging documents with trading partners via electronic data interchange (EDI). Diverse trading partner capabilities and high-cost value-added network (VAN) fees, however, can pose barriers to even greater success. Learn about a solution that can help remove those barriers and let you exchange data regardless of format.
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While an electronic data interchange (EDI) initiative improves supply chain communication and speeds up the exchange of goods and services, it is a complicated undertaking. To get started, learn how Inovis Professional Services array of consulting and training offerings, including assessments and technology planning, can help you implement mission-critical integrated solutions efficiently and cost-effectively.
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Early in 2004, software service provider Vermont Information Processing (VIP) saw an opportunity to help beverage producers drive down costs, improve productivity, and increase the accuracy of their business processes through automated supply chain communication solutions—or electronic data interchange (EDI) solutions. Find out why VIP chose Inovis’ suite of EDI solutions, and how it and its clients are benefiting.
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Achieving perfection in all of its transactions is important for shipping companies like Yantian—perfection that can only come with automation. While Yantian uses industry-standard electronic data interchange (EDI) to exchange transaction documents, it must accommodate the wide variety of media, formats, and protocols shippers use. Find out how Yantian used a server solution to simplify its trading partner management.
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Tandy Brands designs, manufactures, and markets fashion accessories for the whole family. With five years of success using the Inovis TrustedLink solution to trade via electronic data interchange (EDI) with 80 retailers, Tandy was mandated by Wal-Mart to use the Internet to do business. Find out how the company integrated its existing solution with another one from Inovis to satisfy Wal-Mart’s demands—and save money.
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Electronic connections with corporate customers determine much of a bank’s competitive differentiation and cost structure. But many banks are held back by outdated file transfer systems, which make it difficult to reliably connect to clients and rapidly deliver new services. Learn how using a managed file transfer platform can help banks simplify data transfers, lower costs, and deliver compelling services to customers.
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The need to transmit documents securely to business partners or within your own company is increasing rapidly. Critical, time-sensitive documents need to be secure and auditable, and delivery must be guaranteed. Learn how the Inovis BizManager business-to-business (B2B) gateway solution can help your company achieve a standardized, synchronized, and streamlined exchange of information, both internally and externally.
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The ability to securely exchange information with trading partners is vital to your success. And while the type of information varies by industry, the goal is the same: standardized, synchronized, streamlined exchange of information across the trading community. Learn how Inovis BizManager provides direct, secure data exchange, and can reduce the time, cost, and effort of fulfilling electronic communication requirements.
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Designed for the IBM System i and iSeries platforms, Inovis’ BizManager400 provides secure managed file transfer of critical business documents like purchase orders, advance ship notices, and invoices. BizManager400can also serve as a single business-to-business (B2B) gateway for trading partner connectivity, community management, integrated mapping, and integration. Find out about the key capabilities of BizManager400.
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Part of the BizManager product suite, BizLink is an enterprise-level electronic data interchange (EDI) solution and business-to-business (B2B) gateway. It’s designed for secure managed file transfer, regardless of disparate data types, transports, and connectivity methods. Find out how Bizlink can protect private data, and simplify the management of a complex community of external partners and internal organizations.
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Big Lots, the largest closeout retailer in the United States (US), needed a way to manage vendors, and get its products to stores as quickly as possible. The company chose Inovis Partner Performance Management—an on-demand, service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based solution—as its supplier management system. Learn how this solution helped Big Lots share data with vendors, reduce errors, and improve its supply chain.
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Fashion retailer Anchor Blue was looking for a way to increase supply chain visibility, reduce costs, and shorten the time required to get products onto store shelves. The company implemented the Inovis AS2 software solution to consolidate data from multiple partners into a single view. Learn how the new electronic data interchange (EDI) system helped reduce transaction costs and get merchandise into stores faster.
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Oxford University Press (OUP), the largest university press in the world, publishes over 4,500 books per year. OUP has long used electronic data interchange (EDI) for inbound orders, invoices, and credit and delivery notes. Learn why incorporating a value-added network (VAN) to its existing EDI software helped OUP improve its warehouse efficiency, boost trading partner adoption, and reduce annual VAN costs by 60 percent.
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Mission Rubber’s customers—the manufacturer’s representatives and distributors it sells through—began insisting on the use of electronic data interchange (EDI) for all transactions. The company wanted a reliable supplier that could provide cost-effective EDI translation and document exchange functionality. Find out why Mission Rubber finds its EDI solution is simple to set up, manage, and use—and how the company benefits.
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As EXEX Jewelry began to grow, the company’s founder realized her existing system of tracking transactions couldn’t keep pace. And increasingly, large retailers demanded that all transactions be completed via electronic data interchange (EDI) and that product information be uploaded to a centralized, third-party repository. Find out how EXEX has improved efficiency and increased product data accuracy with an EDI solution.
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Milwaukee Electric Tool, in business for 85 years, was using an electronic data interchange (EDI) solution that had been outsourced at very high cost. When the company chose a new EDI solution, the focus of the conversion was on reducing costs while improving accuracy and increasing trading partner adoption. Learn more about how the company put EDI order processing back in-house and reduced cost per order by 86 percent.
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Deluxe Media Services supplies the world’s best-known film, music, and games companies with solutions for manufacturing and distributing packaged media. But in each country where Deluxe has operations, it was using a different electronic data interchange (EDI) provider and value-added network to exchange critical business documents. Learn about the problems this caused, and the EDI solution Deluxe chose to solve them.
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Dole manages a diverse network of global shipping, manufacturing, and sales operations. It needed a system that would enable connectivity with all its global operations and support internal systems. Dole looked for a provider to take on its external and internal connectivity needs. Find out about the data exchange solution that provides Dole with connectivity along with transaction tracking, auditing, and management.
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Web-borne malware is now more common than malware entering a company through e-mail. The number of Web sites carrying malware increased by 400 percent in 2008. This can cause serious issues for your business. You need to proactively protect your networks both by instituting acceptable usage policies for employee Web usage and by implementing a solution that can effectively combat these malware intrusions. Find out how.
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Unplanned e-mail outages or even routine maintenance can cause huge disruption, not only to your business, but also to your customers and partners. What issues do organizations face regarding e-mail outages? Learn about the different e-mail continuity solutions available and how a hosted e-mail continuity service can provide a cost-effective, high-availability e-mail solution with minimal deployment efforts required.
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With limited IT budgets and resources, how can small to midsized companies effectively and affordably manage and secure their digital assets? Creative companies, with assets that are almost entirely digital, are especially concerned with effective data management. Explore options that can save time and money—and provide your creative companies with creative solutions for solving your digital file management problems.
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Although students at the University of Nevada’s Reno campus were generally respectful of the campus’s computers and IT policies, entertainment or malicious software often appeared on computer hard drives. This made machines less stable or even disabled them entirely. To combat the problem of computer network security, UNR found a solution that enables automatic shutdown time and safer shared computer workstations.
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Schools often need to deploy computers that offer a limited feature set, as limiting a computer’s functions is important to protecting its purpose and keeping students focused. To lock down student workstation functionality, Newburgh Enlarged City School District finally implemented a solution to control system settings and application functionality. Learn more about the features and functionality of this workstation access solution.
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Oklahoma City University spent a significant amount of money putting the latest computer technology and software in its classrooms. But teachers noticed students weren’t always using these learning tools appropriately. After installing teacher management software, instructors have total control of classroom computers and no longer have to deal with classroom distractions, such as games and instant messaging. Learn more.
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Student workstations at the University of Kentucky were constantly going down due to user activity—both innocent and malicious. IT couldn’t repair all the workstations immediately, so many students had to wait to use a computer. To reduce computer downtime and eliminate workstation damage, the system administrator installed a solution that prevented workstation drift and helped ensure desktop security. Find out how.
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Small and medium businesses (SMBs) face many time-consuming tasks when looking for a Web presence, especially if they don’t maintain in-house resources to manage their Web servers. Managed hosting services provide a coordinated, comprehensive solution for SMBs. Discover how managed hosting services can help SMBs tackle these tasks and reduce costs while maintaining reliability, uptime, and security.
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Lewis and Clark Community College in Illinois (US) was having a number of technology problems in its classrooms, leading to student attention issues. After installing a new software solution, teachers can now share their screens with students, provide remote assistance to students from a central console, and monitor classroom screens to ensure students are on task. Find out more about this workstation management solution.
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Coeur D’Alene School District’s director of maintenance was looking for ways to help the district save money. Knowing that the district was spending a lot on energy and that an element of energy waste was involved, he decided to search for an energy management solution for the district’s classroom computers. Find out more about the software-based desktop computer energy management solution the district implemented.
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More and more students in classes at a senior high school were using USB drives to bring applications into the classroom. Because allowing unauthorized programs to run on workstations presents a number of serious challenges to teachers, the school needed to find a way to stop this behavior. Learn about the solution the school used to block distractive software and ensure its computers were used for their intended purpose.
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The desire to be environmentally responsible—and save money—led Howard Community College (HCC) to green its campus. Seeing that there was room for savings in its computing technology, HCC searched for an energy management solution that would make workstations available when system resources are required, while conserving power during productivity downtimes. Learn how the solution HCC chose offered energy savings and more.
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The IT landscape has grown into a complex system of servers, networks, locations, products, and processes. Making all these systems work efficiently and securely has become an enormous task. This four-chapter e-book can help you identify the issues surrounding the design, control, and management of jobs, and give you insight into best practices for an efficient, maintainable job scheduling and workload automation system.
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In December 2008, Advanced Systems Concepts commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine the potential return on investment (ROI) that companies may realize by deploying ActiveBatch, an IT job scheduling and management solution. Learn about the financial impact in a midsized financial services company with global operations, in which ActiveBatch is used to manage its mission-critical job scheduling environment.
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The market penetration of server virtualization is staggering. Nearly 100 percent of Fortune 1000 companies are using virtualization technologies on production systems. On the other end of the spectrum, virtual utility hosts and cloud computing vendors are springing up to cost-effectively support smaller companies, showing benefit for those that require only a single server. Everyone is virtualizing, but why? Find out.
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Most financial offices run at least three separate industry-specific software packages—often from different vendors. The problem with having all of these different solutions is that most of them require their own databases and do not integrate very well with each other. Document management systems (DMSs) are becoming popular with financial advisors, as they help organize the office and provide risk management. Learn more.
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Often, enterprise applications such as document management software (DMS) don’t gain wide use within a company or provide full return on investment. For these elements to be realized, you must complete the puzzle by integrating with third-party applications such as accounting, personnel management, or other software products. Discover some integration points and the value-add of integrating business applications with DMS.
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The Internet allows us to access information from anywhere in the world. However, access to documents is a barrier to many remote workers and travelers who rely on people in the office to retrieve files from cabinets and fax or e-mail those documents. Learn how document management systems (DMSs) can help create, manage, audit, and retain documents in a company-wide, controlled, and remotely accessible filing structure.
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Is it is possible for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to achieve levels of application integration historically reserved for large enterprises with deep IT pockets? Duplication of data can be eliminated with the right electronic document management system (EDMS). Discover how an EDMS can be integrated with other core business applications to replace paper files and documents, driving efficiency and managing IT costs.
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Electronic document management systems (EDMSs) are used by companies to organize and streamline their document processes to increase productivity and efficiency. Integration between the EDMS and the customized software results in desirable improved efficiencies and savings. This integration can be accomplished using an application program interface (API) that comes along with the EDMS application. Find out how.
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Today’s Web applications exist in an environment vastly different from when businesses first entered the Internet. Few companies have a comprehensive Web application security program to prevent Internet-borne security breaches. Learn how security concerns for Web applications are different than for traditional applications, and how to build a Web security program that curbs costs and provides effective security.
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Vulnerabilities in Web applications are now the largest vector of enterprise security attacks. Attacks compromising sensitive data are often the result of “cross-site scripting,” “SQL injection,” and “buffer overflow.” As many companies have discovered, these attacks will evade traditional network defenses unless you take new precautions with automated detection. Learn more in this primer to Web application security.
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Limited resources dictate that most midsize companies must support business continuity at the lowest cost and without putting additional pressure on scarce IT resources. But business continuity is more of a critical success factor than ever before. Customers won’t tolerate a lack of service availability. Midsize companies must find a way to ensure maximum business continuity, and reduce downtime—and costs. Learn more.
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The key to enterprise performance management is to identity a company’s value drivers, focus on them, and align the company to drive results. But there are many management methodologies—such as the balanced scorecard, performance prism, and five forces. What is the right framework for your business? Find out about six management processes and the tools that can help you asses which metrics framework will work for you.
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A strong identity management platform plays dual roles: gatekeeper and guardian of business intelligence (BI) and data. Midsize businesses can’t operate effectively without the ability to control access to their networks and business systems. And, many midsize companies must report on this information for compliance purposes. Learn about the factors driving midsize companies toward stronger identity management systems.
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For years, SEM Products Inc.—manufacturer of interior and exterior auto body repair and refinishing products—was managing its business with two software systems and various manual processes. As the business grew, it became clear that these systems were lacking in data accessibility and overall functionality. Learn about the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution SEM now uses for improved order entry functionality.
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While companies have long seen their stores of data as valuable corporate assets, how they manage those stores varies enormously. Today, however, new government regulations require that companies retain and control information for long periods of time. Find out what IT managers are doing to meet these new regulatory requirements, and learn about solutions for storing vast quantities of data for the lowest possible cost.
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Addressing information protection and control (IPC) is a complex challenge. Enterprises must secure their databases to protect sensitive information and comply with policy regulations. Learn more about threats to business information, the impact of government regulations on data protection, and how database security best practices can prevent sensitive customer data or company information from being distributed.
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A highly available IT infrastructure is a critical success factor for businesses in today’s fast moving and “always on” economy. But the traditional approach to building high availability infrastructure is expensive to implement and rarely meets user’s service level expectations. Learn how technologies available in the Oracle Database 11g can help you avoid costly downtime and recover quickly from unavoidable failures.
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Companies are recognizing the value of an enterprise data warehouse (EDW) that provides a single 360-degree view of the business. But to ensure that your EDW performs and scales well, you need to get three things right: the hardware configuration, the data model, and the data loading process. Learn how designing these three things correctly can help you scale your EDW without constantly tuning or tweaking the system.
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Bollé, a midsized distributor of sunglasses and other products to the Australian and New Zealand markets, sources both locally and from overseas. Inefficiencies resulting from a lack of integration between finance and inventory—and non-existent system security—forced Bollé to review its systems. After implementing PRONTO-Xi, the company achieves better than 99.5 percent order dispatch accuracy. Discover more benefits.
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IT spending is often an issue for companies, but in difficult economic times it’s even more important to see what benefit IT can bring to the business. But IT investments are most effective when they improve business performance. Find out the degree to which organizations in the United Kingdom (UK) understand what IT is doing for their businesses, and in particular how some companies measure this and benefit from it.
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Monitoring, measuring, and reporting on the financial health of a company is a basic need that requires effective tools and processes to optimize the end result. Underpinning this is the requirement for planning capabilities, using scenario and what-if analysis with simulations and other forward-looking capabilities. The new primary research presented in this report shows that most organizations still have much to do.
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The automation of traditional paper-based processes with technology can lead to unnecessary complexity. This leads to increased costs and other challenges which can be avoided if solutions are simple and fit closely to the business task in hand.
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The distributed replicated block device (DRBD) is a software-based replicated storage solution mirroring the content of block devices (hard disks, partitions, logical volumes, etc.) between servers. DRBD mirrors data in real time, transparently, and synchronously or asynchronously. Learn how to initialize it and configure your MySQL server to use DRBD to synchronize your data, as well as troubleshooting tips.
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Research shows that back-office connectivity is not addressed by many customer relationship management (CRM) solutions—meaning, customer data cannot be shared effectively and companies are prone to errors, delays, and needless paperwork. In the long run, this negatively impacts overall customer satisfaction in small to medium businesses (SMBS). Learn how front-to-back-office integration can help you address these issues.
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There are two basic approaches available for organizations to offer their team members collaboration, communication, and intranet functionality: the in-house model (also known as “on premise”), and the outsourced model (also known as “on demand”). Learn more about these approaches, with a particular focus on their cost considerations, with a comparison of collaboration tools from HyperOffice and Microsoft Exchange.
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Collaboration technology is the new e-mail. But how do you know which collaboration solution will best suit your needs? Compare the comprehensive functionality of Microsoft SharePoint with HyperOffice, including e-mail, collaboration, document management, intranet/extranet, content management, and support. HyperOffice has been designed specifically for Outlook users who want the functionality of Microsoft Exchange.
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While network complexity and bandwidth demands continue to increase, applications such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) increase performance requirements. Today’s network administrators need versatile monitoring and analysis tools to quickly troubleshoot and monitor security and compliance. Retrospective network analysis (RNA) tools let you go “back in time” to reconstruct failure or attack. Discover the benefits.
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As you implement a virtualized environment, knowing how to monitor and maintain them becomes yet another challenge. Monitoring network and application traffic in an environment containing one-to-many relationships between physical hardware devices and virtual application servers presents a number of concerns. Learn about the traffic flow in virtual environments, and the various visibility options and their ramifications.
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Integrative software as a service (SaaS) business systems are a way of transforming your finance operations. SaaS can position finance as the nexus of standardized, real-time information. Finance executives should investigate SaaS solutions and providers, so that finance and IT can work together to enable a cost-effective transformation of finance to a stronger leadership role and improve finance’s value to your company.
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Founded in 1916, Oldfields is an Australian manufacturer of painting equipment, scaffolding, and garden sheds. To meet aggressive customer responsiveness targets, the company depends on up-to-date information and reliable communications. Learn how implementing PRONTO-Xi on a wide area network (WAN) helped Oldfields get quick access to data required for decision making, controlling costs, and improving customer service.
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When implementing a new business management system, you need to consider many factors. With advances in Web technologies and growth in broadband across the Internet, alternative deployment methods have emerged. Nowadays, you often must include the question of whether to implement the solution on premise or on demand. Find out more about these options and how your choice can impact the overall success of your solution.
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Regulations regarding digital information use, storage, and protection are meant to help maintain the integrity and security of public and private networks. Compliance measures such as the payment card industry (PCI), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and others focus on the long-term retention and integrity of all data. Achieving secure, long-term data retention is easier with log management and incident response tools.
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A strategic compliance program can help employers in the United States (US) reduce the likelihood of litigation, regulatory investigations, security breaches, privacy violations, and other electronic disasters. Find out what it takes to make a compliance program succeed, and learn the importance of establishing clearly written rules, formal employee education, and effective hosted-services solutions right from the start.
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Companies using traditional means cannot cost-effectively respond to daily threats. Analyzing such threats is cumbersome and time-consuming, involving multiple applications for code analysis, as well as a network of computers. Emerging threats cannot be addressed by the same human resources as in the past. Learn how those expert skills and knowledge have been transferred to a data security system with artificial intelligence.
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With an uncertain future, if you want to continue growing you must step away from “business as usual” and focus on keeping operations lean and efficient. Top-level executives have directed managers to restructure and cut costs. For chief information officers (CIOs), restructuring often means consolidating IT resources to eliminate redundancy. But today, managers must look past the numbers and evaluate long-term benefits.
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There are three types of web security solutions: software-based, appliance-based, and managed services. Each needs to be evaluated against several key buying criteria, including the accuracy of threat protection, ease of installation and use, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Learn about the benefits of each category, and how they deal with all manner of web-borne security threats, including inappropriate use of the Web.
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The Internet creates new opportunities for mischief—and new challenges for managers. How do you balance individual access with the overall good of the business? What’s the right balance between monitoring and blocking? Learn about a Web security solution that can allow you to monitor and enforce your Internet usage policies, bringing site monitoring and filtering together with anti-virus and anti-spyware protection.
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Server-based computing has been seen at best as a way to provide those within highly task-based environments with a controlled desktop environment. However, changes in software, hardware, security, and management systems are driving the shift toward server-based computing being suitable for a larger proportion of a company’s user base. Learn how client-side computing can be more tightly controlled yet provide flexibility.
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Network-centric operations (NCO) provide the ability to leverage information networks to generate a more dynamic and agile decision-making space. A fundamental enabler is service-orientated architecture (SOA). The use of industry-standard IT architectures helps ensure that systems can be provisioned rapidly, shared as appropriate, and give the flexibility and response times needed within such challenging environments.
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Networked printers and multifunction peripherals often require a high level of support and manual intervention. Secure remote monitoring platforms reduce device downtime by automating service alerts and meter reading, and providing proactive toner replenishment. Users benefit from improved device uptime, and manufacturers and their service partners can build proactive service relationships that can drive customer loyalty.
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Given today’s economic climate, companies are looking to create more value by reducing risk and saving costs. As companies increasingly rely on data networks encompassing an ever-growing range and number of internet protocol (IP)-enabled devices and applications, they need to more effectively administer and manage these assets—they can no longer take the management of their IP networks for granted.
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Requirements management (RM) is about bringing products to market faster, improving team efficiency, and catching requirements defects earlier. But you need to dig deeper into the return on investment (ROI). What’s the tangible cost savings an RM solution can deliver to your company? What’s the difference if you just use spreadsheets to manage requirements? Get answers to these and other questions with this ROI analysis.
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Whatever you’re building, your company’s success relies on your development team’s success. The path to building great software is through requirements management. Companies that embrace this concept experience fewer errors and frustration, faster planning and development cycles—and they’re able to deliver higher quality products. Learn about seven essential tips for success with requirements management.
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As energy resources become scarcer and more expensive, electrical efficiency is a more important performance factor in the specification and selection of large uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. There are three subtle but crucial factors that can affect the cost of operating a UPS system. Sadly, these factors are often unrecognized. Find out what they are, as well as common errors in evaluating UPS efficiency.
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Common methods for monitoring the data center environment date from the days of centralized mainframes, and include such practices as walking around with thermometers. But as data centers continue to evolve with distributed processing and server technologies that drive up power and cooling demands, you must examine the environment more closely. Monitoring equipment isn’t enough—learn how to better manage your data center.
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Blade servers have a major advantage over traditional ones—improving processing ability while using less power per server. But, with their smaller footprint, blades can be much more densely packed, resulting in racks that use up to 20 times the electrical power and generate up to 20 times the heat. This can stress power and cooling system capability. Learn how to create a power and cooling strategy with these guidelines.
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In some circumstances, the air surrounding IT equipment can be harmful to internal electronic components and lead to failure and downtime. Reliance on precision cooling solutions to maintain the proper humidity level in a computer room or data center doesn’t always assure proper humidity levels at the IT equipment air intake. Learn more about humidity, its effects, and its management in computer rooms and data centers.
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Avoidable mistakes made when installing cooling systems and racks in data centers or network rooms compromise availability and increase costs. These flaws create hot spots, decrease efficiency, and reduce cooling capacity. Although facilities operators are often held accountable for cooling problems, many problems are caused by improper deployment of IT equipment. Learn more about these mistakes and about simple remedies.
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Data center electrical efficiency is rarely planned or managed. The unfortunate result is that most data centers waste substantial amounts of electricity. Today, it is both possible and prudent to plan and measure data center efficiency. In addition to reducing electrical consumption, efficiency improvements can bring higher IT power densities. Learn how to describe, measure, and evaluate data center efficiency.
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Perimeter computer-room air handlers and central air-handling units have been used to cool data centers since the launch of the mainframe. But as rack power grew, air delivery and heat removal challenges appeared. Row-based designs address issues of proper heat removal and cold air supply—and bring energy-efficiency advantages. Learn more about row-based solutions and the benefits they can deliver to your data center.
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Business intelligence (BI) and business performance management (BPM) are two disciplines that become critical as companies progress through the midsize stage. BI and BPM provide key capabilities that every midsize company should have, to answer fundamental questions about performance, now and in the future. Learn how your operations are affected by specific challenges—and how a BI/BPM solution can help address them.
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These days, there is increasing pressure on companies to become more efficient and reduce the bottom line. Improving communication with suppliers, partners, and customers can dramatically optimize business processes and increase responsiveness. But how can you easily improve these channels of communication? Web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that support Web 2.0 collaboration tools can help. Learn more.
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The new web-borne threats attacking business networks are more intense and sophisticated than ever. Methods using rich media, web 2.0 collaboration tools, and a host of other technologies expose networks to a new breed of web security threats. Find out what the latest web security threats are, including the risks and business impact these threats represent, and understand the advantages of hosted security solutions.
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Today, more than 100 million web sites vie for the attention of consumers worldwide. Many of them will use a search engine to find the goods, services, and information they want. When they do, you want to make it clear that you have what they’re looking for—you want their search to start and end with you. Learn more about how to use a content management system to create web content for search engine optimization (SEO).
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One of the best starting points for determining a web site strategy is to understand both the market that your company operates in and the needs of your key stakeholders. But most companies today are highly complex and political, making the identification and prioritization of stakeholders a difficult task. Discover the three key broad stakeholder groups that you need to factor into your web strategy planning.
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Electronics enterprises must respond to business drivers such as reduced time to market, technological innovation, and distributed operations and cost control to remain competitive. Effective collaboration among internal engineering and manufacturing, as well as external suppliers and distributors, requires great effort. But an engineering collaboration solution can help teams work together in real time. Learn how.
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How much time do you waste juggling multiple applications or searching for documents instead of focusing on your customers and prospects? Salesforce.com and Google, two software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers, have teamed up to bring together Web-based business applications that can streamline communication and collaboration. Find out how to take advantage of the benefits of SaaS to meet more of your business needs.
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In today’s Web-connected era of business, the quest for new ideas that boost competitive edge and deliver new sources of profitability is no longer a solitary activity. The Web has become a source of breakthrough innovation—enterprises no longer have to invest in expensive tools and skills to spark and manage innovation. Get tips on how you can best deploy the Web for better innovation management and profit enhancement.
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Swiss financial services company Global Refund needed to replace its antiquated customer relationship management (CRM) system. To find a mobile-enabled, user-friendly solution that could handle the company’s 15 million yearly transactions, Global Refund turned to TEC. Learn how TEC helped Global Refund turn its long-list of 40 vendors into a short-list of four, and shave two months off the selection process.
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Data migration has proved to be one of the greatest threats to continuous applications and data availability. Migrating to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 can create challenges on top of the usual time-consuming efforts. Find out about the common difficulties reported by companies that have set up Exchange Server 2007, and migration tools that help ensure your data remains protected during the journey to your new platform.
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E-mail is a prime communication channel for business, so e-mail security has a high priority. But as budgets tighten, it’s more difficult to keep up with new threats to e-mail security. Sustaining and enhancing security while optimizing your budget can be done with a cost-effective solution that optimizes your existing investments in technology, people, and processes. Find out what a network appliance can do for you.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems now support many organizations’ most important business processes, and house their most sensitive corporate data. As a result, senior management needs to fully understand both the timing and project plan before proceeding with any ERP upgrade. Learn how to plan and manage your next ERP upgrade project, and develop an overall corporate strategy for maintaining your ERP system.
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Guardian Management had a clear vision for its business: shift emphasis from real-estate management to real-estate investment, and expand throughout the western United States. But Guardian’s technology infrastructure didn’t support these goals, so the company embarked on comprehensive infrastructure optimization. Discover why the new infrastructure is more available and reliable—and how it’s fueling business productivity.
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Noble Trade, a wholesale distributor of industrial materials, lacked a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Customer data wasn’t organized, and customer activity history was being lost. To address these issues, managers selected Microsoft® Dynamics CRM Online as the company’s CRM solution. One of the benefits is better collaboration between sales and service, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
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Expanding rapidly into new lines of business and geographic regions, Current Energy found its old accounting software was limiting its potential. The company wanted to combine intercompany accounting functions, its point-of-sale (POS) and field service management solutions, and top-notch business intelligence (BI) and reporting capabilities. Find out how it improved customer care and reduced monthly closing times.
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Widex Canada, a manufacturer and distributor of high-end hearing aids, wanted to automate its work flow—from sales order entry through shipping and delivery. It also wanted more flexible reporting accounting and sales. Learn how combining Microsoft® Dynamics NAV with Tectura’s Configure to Order and Workflow helped Widex make its day-to-day processes more efficient and report results quickly and accurately.
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Coordinating all shipping processes—from inbound to outbound freight—can be a logistics headache in a global economy—especially if you don’t make the most of all a transportation management system (TMS) has to offer. One director of logistics found that a web-based TMS solution resulted in a 10 percent decrease in the number of carriers, with a 15 percent increase in carrier load factors. Learn more about the benefits.
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The only way to prevent chaos during testing is to have the process fully understood by all stakeholders, with defined roles and responsibilities. The result of a well-planned and well-designed approach is realizing the expected business benefits and return on investment (ROI). Whatever the project life cycle, a single test process can be used to great effect. Find out what you should consider in this type of project.
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Today’s executives have more challenges and concerns than ever, from compliance to use of technology. To thrive and ultimately excel within a competitive landscape, an organization must have a technology framework capable of meeting today’s marketplace requirements while positioning the company for future growth and challenges. Find out how to better leverage technology investments and become a best-run business.
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Want to know more about distributed agile best practices for software development projects? Find out about the challenges and lessons learned from this implementation of distributed agile for teams distributed across US, Europe, and India. Discover how this large, globally distributed project for a large telecom vendor realized such benefits as better collaboration, higher quality product, and on-time delivery.
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Tortilla and wrap manufacturer La Tortilla Factory had three software systems to manage its business: one for billing, one for financial reporting, and one for inventory. As the company grew, this multisystem setup wasn’t providing the necessary integration. Find out about an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that helped the company establish process controls to help it grow, while integrating older systems.
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Euclid Insurance needed to allow clients and carriers to securely transfer sensitive data without straining the company’s IT resources or forcing use of cumbersome encryption keys. Euclid standardized its data security with an online data storage solution. Find out about the benefits, including secure online file sharing and collaboration; auditable document access for regulatory compliance; and lower cost of operations.
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In a global survey of senior managers in various functions from 17 industries, 61 percent say IT’s primary mission today is that of reducing costs and boosting productivity. But the IT mission is changing: nearly 70 percent of the same executives say that within three years IT’s main role will be to enable revenue growth. Learn more about how this shift is expected to happen, and how to manage it in your organization.
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Despite significant investments in data collection and integration, few companies can redeploy accumulated data to drive business performance. To succeed, they need new business intelligence (BI) tools that can integrate and analyze huge amounts of internal and external data. Learn how such tools can help your company understand customer needs, identify trends, and use the resulting lead time to seize opportunities.
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Life sciences manufacturers face new pressure on operations from many directions, including market needs, compliance requirements, and the transition to new IT technology. Many companies recognize that improving performance demands better sync with the plant floor and more accessible data. A real-time performance management solution can help drive excellence in manufacturing performance via better integration. Learn how.
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Virtualization of system resources aboard x86 servers has become a de facto component of modern computing. So hardware and software vendors have begun to consider its impact on the architectural design of their products and the go-to-market models they use. Find out how virtualization can offer companies cost-savings for existing infrastructure, and new deployments that can be architected to leverage virtualization.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) strategies—whether new to a company or already installed—can make some critical differences that help a company survive economic setbacks. Though you might be tempted to put off a software installation project due to tight economic conditions, you should include a CRM strategy as an important component of your plan to return to—or maintain—economic health. Find out why.
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Today’s office phone systems provide a means to communicate and much more: videoconferencing, unified messaging, and automated attendant. And with the rich selection of features available, companies ranging from small offices to large companies can find the solution they need, and even integrate it with other business applications. Find out about five phone systems features that could be valuable to your company.
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Laptop users often are forced to sacrifice performance and functionality, “dumbing down” critical applications for the sake of portability. Executives in many industries are looking for ways to increase productivity, expand the reach of sales and marketing, and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO). Learn about common issues involved in deciding between laptop and desktop computing, and discover a solution.
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The Delphi technique—drawing wise counsel from senior and experienced software developers—can help you prepare estimates for software development projects. With this method of software estimation, project specifications are given to a few experts, depending on their availability. Learn about the essential steps involved in this software estimation methodology for more accurate estimates of software development effort.
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The conventional unit of measurement for software size is the point. Unfortunately, the point-based measurement system fails to account for many of the complexities of software development. This paper proposes software size units (SSUs) as an alternative to points, defines their component elements, and explains how to use SSUs for more accurate software estimations and easier productivity assessments.
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While many software professionals know one or more software sizing techniques—most have a reasonable understanding of function point analysis (FPA) or use case point techniques—they’re often stymied when it comes to making a real-life estimate. Learn a methodology that can help you make realistic estimates, including best- and worst-case scenarios that you can use to make pricing and delivery commitments to clients.
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Project management tools for software development should include a broad range of functionality. Project teams must be able to estimate the scope and duration of each project, divide work into components and tasks; provide quality assurance; and generate detailed performance metrics. Find out how many project management solutions are missing the mark, and learn what to look for when choosing a solution of your own.
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Choosing a solution for vulnerability management (VM) is a critical step toward protecting your organization’s network and data. Without proven, automated technology for precise detection and remediation, no network can withstand the daily deluge of new vulnerabilities that threaten security. This 12-point short list of considerations can help you determine what solutions will work best for your organization.
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Virtualization software reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) in server environments and provides almost immediate return on investment (ROI). TCO analysis should take a holistic view of all software and hardware costs, giving a better view of technology purchases and where new efficiencies can be made. Learn how to apply a TCO model to virtualization projects, and reduce the costs of operating a server environment.
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Organizations that want a sustainable competitive advantage need to reduce infrastructure costs, respond faster to business needs, and increase the consistency and predictability of operations. Adopting virtualization infrastructure—the combination of server, storage, and networking virtualization technologies—is essential to achieving these goals. Find out how virtualization can help you decrease costs and more.
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If you’re not up to speed on the key benefits of software asset management (SAM) solutions, this overview can help. Additionally, you’ll learn about the areas where an SAM solution can deliver the most tangible, quantifiable cost savings to your company. You’ll also learn how to calculate the potential return on investment (ROI) on an SAM solution in order to present senior management with a compelling business case.
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A new, connected way of working is breaking down the old, functional silos of activity that kept workers isolated in their desktop cubicles. Rippling across the modern, web-enabled workplace, it links people wherever they work and collaborate—in workplaces, virtual spaces, meeting rooms, and mobile devices. Learn how on-demand applications can combine to create productive, adaptable information sharing and workflow.
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Many organizations do a poor job of measuring the business value of their IT investments. Simple financial metrics are not good enough. But there are a number of consistent, repeatable, and credible measurement methodologies that hold both business users and IT departments accountable. Compare four methodologies, and learn how adding one of them to your overall governance framework can improve your IT investment returns.
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You should answer several questions about your organization’s needs, requirements, and culture as you decide between a colocation and a cloud computing provider. You should also consult with potential vendors before subscribing to a new service. You may find that your web-hosting strategy would benefit from both types of web hosting. Before you buy, consult this checklist to make sure you’re asking the right questions.
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Hosting a Web site in-house can be expensive, as it requires the necessary hardware and software and power and security precautions—not to mention the cost of bandwidth. To reduce costs and increase both security and performance, some companies are turning to “shared” solutions such as managed hosting and colocation. Before implementing one of these solutions, learn what your options are, and the questions to ask vendors.
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System planning is the Achilles’ heel of a data center physical infrastructure project. Planning mistakes can propagate through later deployment phases, resulting in delays, cost overruns, wasted time, and a compromised system. These troubles can be eliminated by viewing system planning as a data flow model, with sequenced tasks that progressively transform and refine data from initial concept to final design. Learn more.
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The average power consumed by an enclosure in a data center is about 1.7 kilowatts (kWs), but the maximum power that can be obtained by filling a rack with available high density servers, such as blade servers, is over 20 kW. Find out about the power density values of current and new data centers, and learn practical approaches to creating strategies for deploying high-density computing, with limitations and benefits.
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Monitoring servers, environments, platforms, applications, and services have become key ingredients for building successful IT departments. However, it can be a daunting task to find the right solution to accomplish these critical needs with a limited budget and tight timelines. Learn about the differences between agent-based and agentless monitoring, so you can make the right decision based on your company’s needs.
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The high availability and performance of mission-critical applications is no longer a luxury for companies; it’s a matter of business survival. If applications fail—or deliver low performance levels—revenues and customers are lost. Learn about the benefits of adopting both server monitoring and capacity planning solutions that can quickly be deployed, automate processes, and adapt to change—without breaking IT budgets.
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IT management is faced with the daunting task of turning complex data into actionable information that supports an organization’s business strategy. IT management is also responsible for ensuring the availability and performance of mission-critical applications. Discover how to manage the IT environment from a dashboard that can deliver valuable and easy-to-use information from both physical and virtual environments.
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As virtualized servers move to production environments, the threat of process and infrastructure breakdown is mounting, exposing IT departments to a number of virtualization risks. IT managers are looking for solutions that provide better control and a more comprehensive view of their virtual and physical IT environments. Follow these simple guidelines to choose the best-fit vendor for your virtualization solution.
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Many large, sophisticated enterprise IT environments still suffer from preventable critical failures. To keep the infrastructure up and running, IT departments must constantly monitor servers, applications, and services—task that have become essential over the past 10 years. Learn about the most common infrastructure problems, and discover simple and proactive measures you can take to cut downtime by over 50 percent.
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Virtualization is a leap forward in data center evolution. It saves energy, increases computing throughput, frees up floor space, and facilitates load migration and disaster recovery. Optimizing your power and cooling infrastructure is an essential step in realizing the full potential of virtualization. Find out why optimized infrastructure is so important, and how you can reap the full rewards of virtualization.
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Network-critical physical infrastructure includes power, cooling, racks and physical structure, security and fire protection, cabling, management systems, and service. To manage these key pieces of your network’s physical structure, you need to be able to manage devices individually. Find out how an element management solution can help you assimilate and manage the large volume of data necessary for network availability.
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Conventional methods for specifying data center density don’t provide the guidance to assure predictable power and cooling performance for the latest IT equipment. Discover an improved method that can help assure compatibility with anticipated high-density loads, provide unambiguous instruction for design and installation of power and cooling equipment, prevent oversizing, and maximize electrical efficiency.
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Conventional models for estimating the electrical efficiency of data centers are grossly inaccurate for real-world installations. Electrical loss estimates are typically made by summing inefficiencies of electrical devices, such as power and cooling equipment. Discover a more accurate efficiency model that can help you identify and quantify waste in power and cooling equipment, and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).
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The traditional room-oriented approach to data center cooling has limitations in next-generation data centers. Next-generation data centers must adapt to changing requirements, support high and variable power density, and reduce power consumption and other operating costs. Find out how row- and rack-oriented cooling architectures reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), and address the needs of next-generations data centers.
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When Taiyo America started manufacturing in 1995, it set up a DOS-based system and three standalone software programs. Despite efforts to “integrate” these systems, Taiyo realized they weren’t designed to handle the unique needs of a formula-based manufacturer. After evaluating five enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, Taiyo chose an integrated ERP system that offers data visibility across the company. Learn more.
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High-density IT equipment stresses the power density capability of modern data centers. Installation and unmanaged proliferation of this equipment can lead to unexpected problems with power and cooling infrastructure. Find out how to measure and predict power and cooling capacity and the rack enclosure level, to ensure predictable performance and prevent problems such as overheating, overloads, and loss of redundancy.
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Cooling for IT wiring closets is rarely planned and often only implemented after failures or overheating occur. Specifications for cooling IT wiring closets should assure compatibility with expected loads, provide clear instruction for design and installation of cooling equipment, be flexible enough to work in various types of wiring closets, and more. Discover the science and practical application of cooling strategies.
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When looking for a data center rack solution, you should be familiar with the alternatives for providing electrical power to high density racks in data centers and network rooms. Learn why your rack power system should adapt to changing requirements, and get guidelines for power rack systems that can reliably deliver power to high-density loads, while adapting to the changing needs of your data centers and networks.
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Managing product images is frustrating. Typically, images are not documented nor linked to the associated product information. Worse, suppliers and retailers rarely have a system to exchange images, forcing retailers to reshoot photos that suppliers already had. Learn how including product images in your data synchronization process helps make product information, including images, accessible to anyone who needs it.
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Well-informed accounting treatment of network-critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) assets can improve a company’s financial performance. Design and manufacturing improvements in modular and scalable uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), power distribution units (PDUs), and computer room air conditioners provide entirely new NCPI asset management opportunities with direct and measurable financial benefits. Learn how.
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Electricity costs are an increasing portion of the total cost of ownership (TCO) for data centers. But you can dramatically reduce the electrical consumption of typical data centers through appropriate design of both the network-critical physical infrastructure and IT architecture. Discover how to quantify electricity savings and learn about methods that can greatly reduce your data center electrical power consumption.
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Data center commissioning requires tight coordination between vendors, facilities, IT departments, engineers, the commissioning agent, and others. Managed properly, commissioning can deliver an unbiased evaluation of whether a new data center will succeed or not. Managed poorly, it can lead to problematic data center performance issues. Learn 10 common data center commissioning mistakes, and find out how to avoid them.
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In data center design projects, flawed management frequently leads to delays, expense, and frustration. Effective project management requires well-defined responsibilities for every manager, tight coordination among suppliers, well-defined procedures for managing change, and consistent terminology. Learn how enforcing these requirements can help your company achieve an efficient process with a predictable outcome.
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Whether dealing with a mess of their own making or an inherited one, IT professionals have several options for bringing order to chaotic data centers. Today’s technologies provide integrated rack-based data center solutions for power, air, cable routing, and management. Learn how to eliminate the root causes of data center disorder and transform your messy data center into a clean, well-managed facility.
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As the complexity of security threats increases, so do the security measures needed to protect networks. Data center operators, network administrators, and other data center professionals need to comprehend the basics of security to safely deploy and manage networks today. Find out what you need to know about the fundamentals of secure networking systems, including firewalls, network topology, and secure protocols.
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Despite advances in technology, power outages continue to be a major cause of PC and server downtime. Protecting computers with uninterruptible power supply (UPS) hardware is part of a total solution, but power management software is also needed to prevent data corruption after extended power outages. Learn about the various software configurations you can implement and the best practices that can help you ensure uptime.
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The need to share information is greater than ever, with increasingly complex company-wide processes. The movement of digital data, both within a company and across its porous boundaries, carries more and more risk as regulations for data protection and personal privacy are tightened. Discover how to stay ahead of the competition by putting the technology in place that allows you to share content widely, but safely.
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The Internet offers companies the opportunity to present a commercial image independent of size and location. With this and the Internet’s ability to extend a business’s reach, it is valuable to know precisely what various Internet service providers (ISPs) offer before buying. This includes evaluating service level and support capabilities and understanding how these vary throughout the United Kingdom (UK). Find out more.
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InMotion, with more than 50 stores in 33 airports, delivers portable entertainment to the travelers’ market. InMotion faced inventory control issues due to limited store space, and plans to merge with another airport retailer added to the problem. The merger required InMotion to find a solution that could handle multiple sales channels while providing real-time inventory updates to prevent overstock in stores. Learn more.
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Security Benefit is a financial services company based in Topeka, Kansas (US). The company’s outside sales team operates from remote locations nationwide. For years, the company used an internally developed contact management system to support its remote sales force. But, field sales staff couldn’t stay connected to the most relevant business data. Learn about the solution that gave the company access to real-time data.
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Founded in 1983, Network Equipment Technlogies (NET) provides network and voice exchange solutions for government and enterprise customers worldwide. To increase its operational efficiency, cut costs, and improve government reporting and compliance capabilities, NET needed a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Find out how switching to Microsoft Dynamics AX has helped NET save an estimated $1.5 million (USD).
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For today’s small to medium manufacturers, increasing the bottom line while optimizing efficiency poses an increasingly difficult challenge, especially in our current economic crisis. This, coupled with competition in a global environment, puts manufacturers in a tight spot. Discover the key challenges facing small to medium manufacturers, and the on-demand solutions you can leverage to sustain and win business.
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In today’s market, customers have no patience for companies that let their size and complex product lines slow them down. The challenge for communication service providers (CSPs) is to leverage their size and complex service offerings to keep pace with competitors. Discover how a next-generation configuration solution can provide you with the tools and the service agility you need to meet and exceed customer expectations.
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Formerly just a soccer team but now a large company, Brazil-based Cruzeiro Esporte Clube needed effective administrative management. Cruziero had to choose a new system that would be able to integrate with its legacy systems. The results of the successful integration include business intelligence capabilities that allow a flow of information between the team and the board of director—and a reduction of costs. Learn more.
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When considering major purchases, most people ask, “Why rent when you can buy?” But with IT systems, the reverse may be true. Software as a service (SaaS) offers many advantages over traditional software, especially in terms of the on-going costs of maintaining and upgrading systems. Learn how passing those burdens on to a SaaS vendor can help your company focus on optimizing efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
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Today’s economy favors agility—companies must respond instantly to fluctuations in the marketplace to keep a competitive edge and save costs. A flexible communications infrastructure is a key part of achieving organizational agility. Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), the technology behind the converged voice-data network, allows companies to scale phone solutions to their needs—saving money even as those needs change.
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Choosing a business phone system is a three-phase process. First, evaluate your requirements, then evaluate potential vendors, and finally evaluate the technology. Shopping for a new phone system is as much about planning, implementation, and support as it is about installing new state-of-the-art equipment. Before making your decision, learn the dos and don’ts of the evaluation and selection process.
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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are facing new challenges and opportunities. By linking people, processes, and workflows from inside and outside your company, business management software can help you drive success. Learn about key drivers in the “extended enterprise vision” strategy and how to integrate newer concepts, such as service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web 2.0 capabilities, with existing applications.
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Plasti Dip International has been a leader in rubberized and specialty coatings since 1972, selling its products to manufacturers, retailers, and distributors worldwide. To compete in a crowded retail marketplace, dominated by large retailers, Plasti Dip required integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) and electronic data interchange (EDI) functionality. Discover how the company found the right solution.
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IT infrastructure software has a well-established track record for experiencing frequent cost overruns and missed deadlines. Expensive software and extensive customization are the key contributors to increasing identity management costs to four or five times more than the price of the initial identity software license. Learn how software as a service (SaaS) can reduce the cost and complexity of IT infrastructure.
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Connecting company networks securely to the Internet has been the role of the venerable network router. Companies seeking to securely link trusted networks with external users and Internet resources—like software-as-as-service (SaaS) applications—are discovering that identities must be unified across internal and external networks. Discover the benefits of a new device created to meet this need: the identity router.
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Providing single sign-on (SSO) to web applications and portals is more critical than ever. IT must manage identity and access to web applications and demonstrate compliance. This once required expensive infrastructure software and much time to deploy. With cloud-delivered identity services, companies can realize immediate benefit from an investment without installing and maintaining more software. Learn more.
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Symplified KeyChain can provide access management and secure single sign-on (SSO) for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and enterprise applications. By easing user access and strengthening security, KeyChain can improve manageability of both your SaaS—Salesforce, Workday, Concur, and others—and your enterprise applications, like SAP and Oracle. Find out how it can help manage your applications, regardless of location.
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Your online business relationships change constantly. Managing the web identities used in these relationships—for employees, consultants, partners, customers, and vendors—is critical to secure growth. But there’s a way to remove the cost and complexity from securing online identities. Learn about a solution that can deliver identity infrastructure on demand, removing the complexity and costs of legacy identity solutions.
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You can use identity and access management to improve security, reduce risk, and meet compliance requirements for cloud systems. But are you aware of the identity requirements for access controls and audit for software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications? Or about the compliance regulations governing sensitive information in SaaS and cloud applications? Discover how to address the needs of SaaS and cloud-based identities.
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Researching over 200 companies using more than 250 PCs and one or more Microsoft Dynamics applications, Microsoft found several key pain points. One was rapid growth and how it’s hindered by systems that can’t scale to support it. Another point was integration problems, especially with customer and partner systems. Find out how these companies used Microsoft Dynamics to support rapid growth and drive business success.
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When Microsoft researched nearly 200 companies with more than 250 PCs using applications in the Microsoft Dynamics line of business management solutions, the common issue was the need for modern systems. These companies wanted to avoid mistakes caused by manual processes, integration problems with other systems, and more. Explore these companies’ experience with using Microsoft Dynamics to update business processes.
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An unprecedented wave of security breaches has led to the establishment of technical standards, IT governance frameworks and laws designed to improve and enforce IT security. Companies are under increasing pressure to control their IT infrastructures more effectively. Learn how ongoing automated vulnerability assessments, together with well-defined network security policies, can simplify the compliance process.
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New network vulnerabilities appear every day due to flaws in software, faulty configuration, and human error. Detecting, removing, and controlling vulnerabilities requires vulnerability management (VM)—the continuous use of software tools to purge exploitable risks. Find out how making VM a part of your network security strategy can help you counter sophisticated exploits and document compliance with security standards.
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Vulnerability management, the discovery of vulnerabilities and assessment of the risk to the network, is a critical part of both the security and business landscape that any company’s security team needs to understand and implement for long-term success. But companies that rely totally on signature-based defenses can be helpless against many threats. Find out how to reduce risks by identifying and eliminating weaknesses.
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Unsurprisingly, research shows that the majority of companies see their future predicated on how well they can innovate. However, just throwing IT technology at issues in the hope that innovation will happen is not viable. Ideas are ephemeral and easily crushed within the wrong environment. Creating a suitable culture, allied with a well implemented idea management approach combined with strong leadership, is required.
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Crowley Maritime, offering a range of services such as shipping and barge towing, needs rapid customer billing and invoicing. The company’s electronic data interchange (EDI) volume increased by 500 percent over five years, and management wanted to sustain this growth without harming service delivery. Find out how an integration solution enabled Crowley to support new growth without adding new staff, while reducing costs.
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IT groups aspire to standardize on common integration platforms, but the pressure to integrate with business partners quickly often forces companies to favor expediency over strategy. With so many technology choices, it’s important to understand the role each can play when building an overall business-to-business (B2B) strategy. Learn about the four points you should consider when evaluating vendors and service providers.
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Companies should consider managed file transfer (MFT) suite vendors that meet their tactical and strategic needs. It's all too easy to be reactive and deploy technology that supports only one file transfer protocol and one standard for secure file transfers. It's more prudent to deploy a product that can be easily expanded and upgraded to handle multiple protocols and multiple standards in a well-managed, auditable way.
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Business-to-business (B2B) gateway solutions have matured to the point where they can support a wide range of projects. However, there are still functional differences—including product maturity, service-oriented architecture (SOA) enablement, architectural coherence, and community management—among competing solutions. Find out who the leaders, challengers, visionaries, and niche players are in the B2B gateway market.
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Today’s data transmission departments are battling for budget and relevance. Moving files and ensuring delivery is getting tougher every day. To successfully deliver data to an increasing number of target platforms and meet rising customer expectations, leading companies are adopting service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and upgrading their file transfer departments into data transmission services. Find out more.
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Supply chain operations play a vital role in the success of any consumer or high-tech original equipment manufacturer (OEM). But some companies consistently outperform in the field. Find out how these companies are making their supply chains more effective and efficient by supporting sophisticated business processes with technologies like integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and demand management software.
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Mobile devices have become important tools for leading-edge companies looking for an advantage in a competitive global business environment, by providing users with instant access to key people, processes, information, and products. Turning to a mobile customer relationship management (CRM) solution can help you see further gains in productivity, customer satisfaction, and real-time updates. Learn more about mobile CRM.
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The biggest threat to data security doesn’t come from hackers, misconfigured firewalls, missing patches, or negligent employees. Nor is it in the application layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Basic Model. Instead, there are three undocumented layers of the OSI Model that exert a huge influence on security decisions and the integrity of security programs. Learn about those layers and how to manage the threat.
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E-mail marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of reaching audiences. But it’s only effective if it reaches inboxes. As Internet service providers (ISPs) develop increasingly stringent rules to fight spam, spoofing, and phishing, many legitimate messages are getting blocked. Find out how to cope with the constantly changing deliverability landscape and learn key strategies for improving e-mail marketing results.
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Outsourcing is increasingly used to reduce costs and increase value—but it has its risks. As companies look to push more of their custom software application development needs to outsourcing partners, you need to plan carefully to build stringent security requirements into contracts and create metrics to ensure those requirements are met. Find out how to increase the value and reduce the risk of outsourcing.
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Organizations preparing to meet globalization head on face a complex set of business and technology challenges—from the supply chain complexity of entering new markets to the need for global visibility and standardized business processes. Learn how globally implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and integrated business processes are helping companies exploit new markets and lower manufacturing costs.
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With products increasingly becoming commodities, chief executive officers (CEOs) recognize that first-rate customer service is key to enhancing customer satisfaction. While revenue is flattening for many product businesses, service income is increasing. Find out how integrating business processes and customer relationship management (CRM) data can help you deliver new service offerings and improve the customer experience.
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With increased mergers and acquisitions at the global level, organizations have started recognizing the benefits of upgrading to a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform and a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Learn how different approaches to ERP system and architecture upgrades can help your company drive down costs, raise employee productivity, and produce meaningful business process improvement.
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With the frenetic pace of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) showing no sign of abating, nearly every chief information officer (CIO) today must at some point grapple with the enormous challenges of integrating acquired companies. But too often success eludes the merged companies—with IT getting part of the blame. Find out how to avoid common M&A pitfalls and achieve rapid, highly effective post-merger integration.
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Companies implement unified communications (UC) to boost employee productivity. An approach for successful UC implementation includes an often overlooked component: the need for visibility and control of network flows due to the increased demands of UC. Learn about a network appliance that can provide visibility of network traffic, so you can prioritize and control that traffic to realize the benefits of UC.
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The differences between on-demand applications (also known as software as a service, or SaaS) and on-premise solutions mean that stronger benefits can be achieved with a SaaS-based system. On-demand solutions are far more cost-effective than their on-premise counterparts—statistics show that the total cost of ownership (TCO) for an on-premise solution over the first three years is 60 to 200 percent higher. Find out more.
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In today’s economy, competitive advantage can be short-lived. Companies recognize that continued investments in IT infrastructure are required to stay ahead. Executives in all industries must understand how IT drives value and competitive advantage. Explore the relationship between IT investment and gains in performance and productivity, and find out how leading companies are maximizing their returns on IT investments.
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In this economy, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is a critical business asset and key driver of lean practices. According to Aberdeen Group, best-in-class manufacturing companies are 35 percent more likely than other companies to operate on a current version of ERP. Discover the key considerations―and the potential benefits―that you should keep top-of-mind as part of an overall application lifecycle strategy.
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Web 2.0 technologies are gaining greater acceptance in the workplace, as they promote intra- and inter-organizational collaboration and productivity. The marriage of these technologies with three-dimensional (3-D) virtual world technology will bring even greater opportunities. Find out how these technologies have potential not just for collaboration and productivity, but also for learning and innovation.
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Has your organization truly embraced the message of the incident management process, as part of the practices recommended in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)? If your efforts have centered on the service desk, then you may be missing out on a lot of what incident management in particular and ITIL in general can offer. Learn more about the core principles of ITIL, and how you can use them to improve service management.
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Mobile and Internet technologies are now the de facto standards for daily communication. Service providers take the opportunity to launch innovative solutions. One such is femto cells: small base stations and access points providing last-mile access and better coverage in densely populated areas. Learn about the differences between unlicensed mobile access (UMA) and second generation/third generation (2G/3G) femto cells.
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Voice over Internet provider (VoIP) solutions are appealing for companies, but many haven’t yet discovered the perks of IP phones. Price is one factor in this hesitation—IP phones are often the highest cost component in migrating from a traditional system to VoIP. Learn how to identify the key features of IP phones and to ensure your employees can make proper use of them, so your employees’ working lives can be improved.
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Signing up for a hosted IP PBX provider is like signing up for cable TV; providers want to lock you into a long-term contract at terms that give them the most profit, while you just want to get the service and features you need at the lowest possible price. The key to avoiding a contract with more—or less—service than you need? Ask the right questions. Find out what you should ask before signing on the dotted line.
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Long-term cost savings and extensive feature sets make voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone systems an attractive option for many businesses. But with prices for a single VoIP phone ranging from $150 to $700 (USD) or more, switching to VoIP can be an expensive proposition. Find out what to look for in a VoIP phone system, how to buy, what you can expect to pay, and how to get the most out of your investment.
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The payment card industry (PCI) Data Security Standard establishes common processes and precautions for handling credit card data. Although achieving PCI compliance can seem daunting, the requirements represent security best practices that should be observed by any organization with IT systems and data to protect. Learn about network scanning and security assessment solutions that can help you manage PCI compliance.
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Designed to improve consumer financial services, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) includes security provisions for protecting confidential electronic financial information. For the approximately 9,500 financial institutions affected, compliance can be complex and process-intensive. Learn about network security auditing and vulnerability management solutions that can make GLBA compliance faster and more cost-effective.
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As businesses feel the squeeze of a tough market, many are looking to their voice networks to cut overhead costs—without compromising critical communications features, of course. Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology offers companies the flexibility to develop a lean, low-cost phone solution that can align perfectly with changing business needs. Discover five ways that adopting VoIP system can save you money.
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Businesses with large sales forces, customer service teams, and help desks must continually find ways to reduce their skyrocketing annual phone costs. Deploying a company-wide voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system is one of the best ways for companies to save money. Learn the six most important things to consider when evaluating VoIP solutions, so you can choose the one that works best for your business.
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Choosing a business phone system is an opportunity to align a company’s communication infrastructure with its business processes and goals. To choose the best system, companies must clearly understand their requirements, find vendors who can handle those requirements, and leverage new technologies like voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Read about three companies who followed these steps to find best-fit solutions.
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As companies come to grips with current fiscal realities, choices may result more from reaction than the use of sound judgment. Removing vital resources and reducing services can create an even lower return on investment (ROI) than existed before downsizing. Outsourcing may offer a solution. Learn about the effects that the present financial situation will have on the outsourcing community, including buyers and suppliers.
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For businesses of all sizes, especially those lacking the IT resources and budget for an in-house e-mail archiving solution, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution may offer a feasible and effective alternative. SaaS e-mail archiving can be implemented in days rather than months, eliminate upfront hardware and software costs, and get transparent, continuous upgrades. Discover the other benefits of SaaS e-mail solutions.
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The Internet has grown from mainly academic and military use into a global, integrated, and sophisticated commercial utility. Not just an “information superhighway,” it now offers voice telephony, video, and mobile communications in a converged network. Connection services have expanded, and Internet service providers (ISPs) are adding value. Explore the challenges and opportunities—and find out what lies ahead.
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Even in challenging economic times, companies still need to use technology to communicate with customers, partners, suppliers, and employees. Cutting back on spending can have a negative effect in a long downturn. You’ll have fewer options when conditions improve—and a disadvantage compared to competitors that continue to invest. Learn about 10 steps you can take to maximize use of communications, while minimizing costs.
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Businesses of all sizes must manage an increasing diversity of remote users and devices. The tasks involved range from keeping systems running to ensuring security, compliance, and more. Under this sort of pressure, IT managers and managed service providers must have flexible access to powerful tools and an ability to share the data those tools rely on. Software as a service (SaaS)-based tools can help—find out how.
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The network of devices used for information, security, and daily transactions is now ubiquitous, and everyone now relies on it even if they don’t acknowledge it. But network failure can cause widespread disruption, unhappy customers, unproductive employees, and lost business. Ensuring network availability, security, and efficiency is a job for experts who need powerful tools to carry out these tasks. Learn more.
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You may already know what disk defragmentation software does and what the benefits are. Take a closer look at the benefits in performance, cost, time-to-complete, wattage consumed for each test, and overall kilowatt hours (KWHs) consumed with Diskeeper defragmentation software. All tests, including methodology, format, and protocols, were performed with a focus of determining power and cost savings. Learn more.
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Most operating systems use logical file systems optimized for traditional magnetic hard disk drives (HDD). As a result, users adopting newer solid state drive (SSD) technology often see poor write-speed performance caused by free space fragmentation. Learn how new automatic disk maintenance technologies can improve SSD performance and extend the life of SSD devices by minimizing free space fragmentation.
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Disaster recovery is a key component of any business continuity plan. Unfortunately, complexity and high implementation costs prevent many organizations from adequately protecting themselves in the event of a site failure. Discover how data protection solutions, tailored to meet the recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives of your data centers and remote sites, can save your company time and money.
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The trade-off between best-of-breed functionality and ease of integration is no longer so simple. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software continues to expand, blurring the boundaries of core ERP functionality. The three essential factors to consider in ERP versus best-of-breed decisions are functionality, integration, and the ability to upgrade. Find out the questions you need to ask when considering an ERP extension.
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Organizations increasingly see business model innovation—not new products and services—as the basis of their competitive advantage. Common approaches to innovation include improvements to customer experience and supply chain management, and implementation of a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Learn how these innovations can help create new opportunities for companies and their customers, partners, and suppliers.
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Today, global trade management issues affect small and midsized businesses (SMBs) and large multinationals alike. While enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a key component of any globalization strategy, not all ERP vendors offer the same degree of localization. Before undertaking an ERP implementation, it’s important to understand the extent to which each vendor provides international support and functionality.
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IT departments in midsize companies are expected to improve the service quality to PC users, cut IT support costs, and increase business flexibility. But midsize companies often worry about tight IT budgets and few IT resources. Deploying the Windows Vista operating system can help. Find out what 73 midsize companies have to say about how Windows Vista has offered not only cost savings, but security benefits and more.
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Take an in-depth look at Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. This comprehensive guide includes a detailed overview of the Exchange Server architecture, and discusses new features and capabilities for tightening security, improving regulatory compliance, maximizing availability, and boosting productivity. It also provides tips for installing and upgrading Exchange Server deployments, and for simplifying server administration.
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To better support mobile employees, Lifetime Products deployed a unified messaging solution focused on the flexibility of wireless devices. Using features in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, Lifetime replaced its voice mail system with a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution, and streamlined access to e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages. Learn how this solution helped the company boost productivity and reduce costs.
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Craft brewery New Belgium found it challenging to integrate its old networking and e-mail system with its applications from other vendors. The company decided to implement a new Microsoft® IT infrastructure, including Exchange Server 2007. Among other benefits, the company expects a big reduction in IT administration time, and an improved ability to use its wealth of business information to help drive its operations forward.
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Estimation process improvement offers a significant opportunity to get more success out of your software projects. As you gain a better understanding of the factors influencing your estimates and as you complete more iterations of each estimate, your model can become more sophisticated. Discover how to approach the task systematically with a defined technique and supporting data—an advantage over ad hoc techniques.
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The new world of work is here. Businesses are already feeling the impact of a dispersed workforce, pervasive connectivity, and the watchful eyes of shareholders and government regulators. In such an environment, a more collaborative business is key to greater success. A robust communication and collaboration platform can add value to your workforce and help you turn the new world of work into a new world of opportunity.
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Lower IT costs, faster return on investment (ROI), and better security—just a few of the promises the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model makes. SaaS can help small-to-medium businesses manage customer service and support cost-effectively. But there are a few concerns to consider if you’re thinking of an on-demand service. A vendor that offers the best of both on-demand and on-premise solutions may be the answer.
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Until recently, St. Vincent Heart Center used an HTML-based intranet to disseminate various types of information to its 470 employees and 200 contract workers. But information on that system wasn’t easy to find. Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 offers the organization easy access to information—and it enhances productivity and supports increased security for confidential information. Read more about the benefits.
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Before any medium-to-large company implements Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007, it’s important to become familiar with the process that may occur. Included in this practical scenario, using a fictional company, are typical approach and implementation techniques that may come up when planning, customizing, and deploying Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Learn more about the features and functionality available.
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Barker Implement, an Iowa, (US)-based farm equipment vendor, wanted to expand its business, improve productivity and customer service, and strengthen IT security without adding IT staff. To address those goals, Barker standardized new client computers on Windows Vista Business and deployed Windows Server 2008. Find out how Barker achieved efficiencies that are expected to yield long-term cost savings as the company grows.
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Limited office space at the National Aquarium in Baltimore required staff to share computers, resulting in several security risks and inefficiencies. For more efficient and secure computer sharing, enhanced data security, and reduced support time, the Aquarium moved all users to Windows Vista. Learn how the move has reduced login time from 15 minutes to 5 seconds, provided faster access to information, and more.
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Midsize businesses face the same security threats as larger companies, and likewise they must comply with the same regulations. But, their security budgets are smaller. The good news is that IT security systems don’t have to be expensive. Learn about the top three security problems, how to develop security policies using integrated security solutions, and how to do vulnerability assessment with low-cost security tools.
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Lundburg Family Farms, a grower of organic and sustainably farmed rice products, aims for top efficiency in all areas, and so it looks for new IT management solutions that offer long-term cost savings and efficiencies. The company’s old operating system didn’t provide adequate network security, and it wanted to find a flexible security solution that would enhance security while improving network user access. Learn more.
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Ensynch, a provider of IT security management solutions, was satisfied with its operating system. However, Ensynch often looks to make upgrades that will improve its competitive edge, especially those that strengthen IT security, better promote mobility, and improve employee productivity. Discover how Windows Vista helped Ensynch achieve stronger IT security, faster mobile connectivity, and more efficient use of IT staff.
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Companies producing and selling complex and configured products can achieve a major competitive edge by successfully implementing product configurator software as a core element of a configurability strategy. This can provide a greater range of product variations, using fewer resources. Learn more about how you can gain the intended benefits from implementing a configurability strategy with product configurator software.
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Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services have created the virtual office, allowing workers to connect and collaborate wherever they are. A VoIP network consolidates audio, video, Web conferencing, and data into one communications server for a flexible, efficient system that enables your employees to share information more easily. Discover the four advantages of VoIP solutions, for a remote—and more productive—office.
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Many companies approach customer relationship management (CRM) software as an opportunity to save money via automation. While most CRM solutions offer powerful infrastructure benefits, approaching your new CRM tool with a focus on customer loyalty can earn you more repeat business. Learn about six ways your CRM solution can help your service agents personalize customer service—and maintain customer loyalty.
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Litigators and regulators are aware of the importance of e-mail, often making it the first target and most significant of discovery efforts. Typically, discovery costs make up at least 50 percent of litigation costs, and most discovery efforts and costs relate to e-mail and e-discovery. Learn why many current e-mail archiving policies don’t work, and what you should be doing to improve your company’s records management.
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Consolidating various data center devices running on multiple platforms provides network administrators with a more efficient information infrastructure. After all, fewer moving parts results in better overall efficiency and reliability. Use a centralized console to manage infrastructure, and combine reliability and remote connectivity while reducing costs—without compromising application and technology service levels.
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Many large companies don’t realize the pains network administrators take to maximize real estate in the data center. The keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch can help by enabling IT pros to effectively manage the continual expansion of data centers. Learn how organizations of all sizes can optimize their data centers using KVM and remote technology to set new standards of excellence in reclaiming precious rack space.
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New standards, protocols, and platforms to support the data center continually appear: TCP/IP, Telnet, SSL, PPP, USB, MacOS, Linux, and Windows 2003 servers—the list goes on. All offer flexibility, standardization, and compatibility. But they also pose challenges, such as silos of information and limited access from applications on other platforms. But data center infrastructure needs to be centrally managed—discover how.
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For data center administrators responsible for monitoring the screens of hundreds—and potentially thousands—of servers and PCs, video resolution is paramount for efficiency. A keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch can help by enabling IT staff to manage servers and other network devices, within the data center or remotely. Get a technical glimpse into the “whys” behind the “V” in KVM and the importance of video resolution.
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In the past 12 years, the universal serial bus (USB) has grown from pipe dream into the de facto standard for devices such as portable memory devices, video game consoles, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and more. Learn how a USB keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) can correctly emulate the constant presence of a keyboard and mouse to each connected computer, offering much more flexibility in the data centers of tomorrow.
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The need for secure remote management tops network administrators’ “to do” lists. Until now, this was cost-prohibitive for all but the largest data centers. However, Internet protocol (IP) remote management devices are now affordable, enabling all organizations to benefit from secure IP access throughout an office in a distributed computing environment or around the globe—all via an Internet connection and browser.
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E-discovery is the extension of the discovery process to include identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing, and analyzing electronically stored information. Today, it represents 35 percent of the total cost of litigation. Companies that fail to produce e-mail in a timely manner face paying fines and other risks. Learn how you can develop an e-discovery plan to better manage your electronic data discovery processes.
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The Internet is now an important business tool—but it also puts companies at risk of exposure to Web-based threats that can cause major damages, such as financial losses, identity theft, and loss of intellectual property, to name a few. To protect your business data and reputation, learn about a multilayered solution that can offer stronger protection while reducing your reliance on time-consuming signature downloads.
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Most companies have already invested in e-mail security. However, yesterday’s defenses may not be up to the challenge of tomorrow’s threats. Why? Because Internet security risks are increasingly malicious: Web threats are growing more than 100 percent every six months, and targeted attacks are up 351 percent from two years ago. Re-examine your approach to mail server security and protect yourself from malware attacks.
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Ping Identity provides software for the computer security and identity management industry. Ping wanted to facilitate rapid, high-end development and accelerate time to market for its leading Web security product. When its first outsourcing choice didn’t offer enough Agile development expertise, Ping found another solution that helped reduce costs by 46 percent and doubled in-house performance in key areas. Learn more.
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Analysts estimate that 80 percent of a company’s intellectual property is in its e-mail. Finding this information when it’s needed can be a major source of frustration for employees—one that can consume hours per week and megabytes of storage. But clearly these documents must be retained, not deleted. Learn about a searchable archiving solution that protects companies from liabilities as well as increasing storage costs.
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Today’s mobile devices improve productivity and efficiency, but they also bring new risks to companies: confidential corporate and personal data can be lost or subject to other threats. Mobile device security management should consider a combination of people, processes, and technology. Learn about current security issues and actionable mobile security best practices so you can mitigate the risks your company is facing.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software can facilitate business improvements. But it can also create new challenges, including obsolete technology, lack of flexibility, and high support costs, to name a few. There’s a way to keep your current ERP system while extending its capabilities to remote manufacturing sites, service centers, and supply chain partners: a service-oriented architecture (SOA) approach. Learn more.
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There are many legitimate reasons for upgrading your company’s enterprise network. The trick is selling those reasons to the executives holding your company’s purse strings. When you know it’s time for a network upgrade, you need more than just the technical facts—you have to arm yourself with a solid business case. Start with 10 tips that can help you sell the members of your upper management team on a network upgrade.
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Because there are many areas of specialization in computer security, it’s possible you don’t even know what you don’t know. To help you understand the areas where you might be missing key information, you need checklists of the most important facts that small to midsize business owners should know about. And, learn how a few simple and inexpensive solutions can help keep your computers and networks safe and secure.
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IT asset management (ITAM) can provide insight into your information infrastructure and enhance your ability to control IT asset performance. Through better management of IT assets, you can ensure that every piece of hardware and software is fully used. Get tips on how to spell out to your stakeholders the benefit of ITAM, including improving service levels to users and eliminating compliance risks, to your stakeholders.
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Testing, installing, and using a digital certificate on your Apache Web server can benefit your business by addressing online security issues. If your system’s security is maximized, your customers can feel more confident about using your site to perform transactions. Get the lowdown on best practices for setup to help you ensure efficient management of your encryption keys and digital signatures.
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Server-gated cryptography (SGC) as part of your secure socket layer (SSL) certificate can protect you from the dangers waiting in cyberspace. But first you should know how SGC-enabled SSL certificates work and why they are different from other certificates. Find out how SGC-enabled SSL can help you assure your customers that you have stronger encryption, greater privacy, and reduced risks of fraud and identity theft.
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Some companies need to secure multiple domains or host names for their Web sites. The Starter PKI program from thawte provides a system that enables the purchase and renewal of multiple secure socket layers (SSLs) and code signing certificates. Cut the red tape involved in adding domain names: find out how The Starter PKI Program works, as well as how to enroll, the costs involved, and how it can benefit you.
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As a software developer, you know that the product you make available on the Internet can be tampered with—without detection—if it’s not secured. Customers need to know that the software really comes from the publisher who signed it and that it’s not been altered or corrupted. For secure online distribution and confident customers, learn how to sign your code and active content with a code signing certificate solution.
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Secure socket layer (SSL) secures data transmissions across the Internet, and is an integral part of most Web browsers and Web servers. To make an SSL connection, SSL protocol requires that a server have a digital certificate installed—which is typically signed by an independent and trusted third party to ensure its validity. Find out more about SSL and how to know if you need to deploy an SSL certificate.
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You have a Microsoft Internet Information Services (MS IIS) web server. But what about your digital certificate solution? Learn how to test, purchase, install, and use a digital certificate from thawte with your MS IIS, and ensure efficient management of encryption keys and digital certificates with best practices. Learn how you can address online security issues to build the confidence of your customers.
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Many consumers don’t trust Web site safety enough to complete an e-commerce transaction—and consequently, billions of dollars in sales are lost. How can you combat this trend and ensure your customers trust you enough to share their sensitive data in online transactions? Learn how an extended validation SSL certificate increases the visibility of authentication status—to help assure your visitors find your site is safe.
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Although use of VoIP is growing rapidly, several factors have inhibited more rapid adoption across all market segments. These factors include concerns about maintaining consistent voice quality over IP networks, especially during periods where other types of traffic on the IP network suddenly “spike.” Discover a more efficient approach to transporting VoIP.
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Highly interactive applications such as Citrix are characterized by many small packets. Expand Accelerators’ real-time byte-level caching and compression has the granularity necessary to optimize Citrix’s interactive applications, increase throughput, and deliver more user sessions on the same bandwidth. Learn more about how you can improve performance for remote users accessing Citrix applications over the WAN.
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Today’s modern wide area networks (WANs), such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks, provide more than just a framework for information transport. Many large enterprises use a networking infrastructure provided by a service provider and employ some or all its services on the network. However, deploying WAN optimization devices in an enterprise WAN can present stiff challenges. Find out how to overcome them.
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Delivering access to applications over the wide area networks (WANs) is now an essential aspect of any IT strategy to reduce total cost of ownership and improve return on investment. For example, server-based computing and server consolidation strategies can remove servers out of the branch offices to consolidate and centralize them in the data center, usually based on a virtualization infrastructure. Find out more.
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For many companies, a network analyzer with application analysis capabilities is the essential tool in the IT administrator’s toolbox. No other tool can provide you with the level of individual transaction detail that is often necessary for solving problems. Learn the concepts and technologies behind effectively managing application performance, so you can identify and correct issues before they affect your business.
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The sensitivity of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) to delay and packet loss, compared with other network applications such as e-mail services, presents a big challenge. But if you have a basic understanding of VoIP traffic and of the quality metrics that VoIP monitoring tools can provide, you increase your ability to run your network smoothly. Learn about the statistics and metrics you need to maximize your VoIP use.
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Cisco, a provider of networking solutions for the Internet, has more than 225 sales and support offices in 75 countries. Quickly and effectively integrating new employees from over 25 acquisitions was a headache without a single platform for its learning systems. Learn about the scalable, Web-based learning management system Cisco deployed, and how the solution even helped deliver a faster time to market for new products.
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The one thing you can count on today in business is change, whether it’s customers, business models, or the pace of business. To manage change, companies rely on technology. But the most effective management control and optimization of company performance can be achieved only if you have the right systems. Discover how an integrated system can help you manage data and make better decisions, for a more successful company.
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A network security appliance is more than a modified operating system running on a server. Compelling total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits are only achieved from solutions that incorporate a foundation of sustainable reliability. Discover the essential requirements for such a foundation, including appliance architecture combining best-of-breed software, and network-centric configuration, administration, and management.
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Effective network security is most successful when you use a layered approach, with multiple defense factors in the overall solution. Successful remote access solutions provide effective authentication and access control—and you must take care to ensure your data can be transported securely over the network. Learn about the components of a layered strategy, and how to provide embedded systems with remote access ability.
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Software manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) needing to embed business intelligence (BI) modules into their solutions are familiar with the “build versus buy” question. Learn about the factors you should take into consideration when making this decision, including cost, time to market, and the module’s quality and ability to be embedded—as well as the best practices.
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Data center resources are often underused while drawing enormous amounts of power and taking up valuable floor space. Virtualization has been a positive evolutionary step in the data center, driving consolidation of resources to maximize power saving and to simplify management and maintenance. Learn more about the benefits of virtualization, and the issues you need to consider when planning a consolidation project.
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IT administrators must maintain application availability while controlling costs. One key area where operational efficiency can be achieved is in the storage infrastructure. But traditional storage systems are inherently inefficient. Learn why thin provisioning can help simplify storage management while improving capacity use, and how distributed redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technology can help.
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Loss of data due to system failure can cost a company thousands of dollars per hour of downtime. Business continuity is critical, with data protection plans that provide rapid, seamless, and non-disruptive backup and recovery. Learn how Oracle databases, when used with Pillar’s replication solutions, deliver a backup and recovery plan that can protect against errors and provide more efficient storage management.
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Growing demands on storage management system requirements can run counter to your need to lower costs. With Database 10g, Oracle introduced new features that can simplify database storage management to offer significant savings in both deployment cost and ongoing management overhead. Find out about best practices for deploying Oracle with Pillar’s Axiom storage system, with benefits to performance and management.
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One of the biggest issues now facing corporations is regulatory compliance. As if corporate security threats weren’t enough, regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and others now have long checklists of mandated requirements that must be adhered to—and thoroughly documented—by IT departments. Learn about a logical approach to managing the volumes of data required to prove compliance.
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Botnets, networks of hacked computers (bots) that are controlled from a central computer, are rapidly increasing in size and complexity to render legacy e-mail security solutions obsolete. Current reactive methods for e-mail security are insufficient, and more proactive strategies are needed. Defend your network with a new anti-botnet solution that helps prevent unwanted e-mail traffic. Find out more.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is often criticized for being complex and difficult to use—which puts up a barrier to receiving potential benefits. Systems with integrated search functionality and Web-like interfaces can make ERP solutions easier to use. Learn how to evaluate ERP software for its usability, so you can avoid investing in platforms that aren’t evolved toward usable and efficient interfaces.
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WLAN administrators will certainly appreciate 802.11n’s backward compatibility with their existing STAs. But at what price this compatibility? There’s no doubt that 802.11n delivers significant improvements—but just how much of this improvement is actualized when coexistence and protection mechanisms are in use? Download this white paper for a detailed look at the impact of coexistence on 802.11n data rate and throughput.
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The 802.11n standard promises to extend today’s most popular wireless local area network (WLAN) standard by increasing reach, reliability, and throughput. The final standard, predicted to be ratified later this year, is expected to trigger broad-scale deployment of bigger and faster networks. Find out about the essential new technologies used by 802.11n, and their impact on network planning, installation, and operation.
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There are many ways to safeguard wireless local area networks (WLANs), but which measures should you deploy, and how can you tell whether your network is sufficiently hardened against 802.11 and 802.1X attacks? Download this white paper to learn about a process for business risk analysis, vulnerability identification, and threat remediation—and find out how to conduct your own WLAN vulnerability assessment.
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The steady growth of wi-fi in the enterprise demands that corporate IT teams learn and adopt new security methodologies tailored to the unique requirements and weaknesses of wireless networks. Download this white paper to learn about the real-world best practices needed to deploy and maintain a secure wireless network.
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Enterprises worldwide are realizing that mobile solutions can deliver great improvements in business performance. Successful organizations understand that mobile applications create fundamental value in key business processes, as well as the potential for improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue. Do how do you get from here to there? Don’t miss our four-point deployment checklist for success.
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Large and midsized organizations everywhere are realizing that information is critical leverage for innovation and economy in operations. Yet enterprises are facing huge disappointments in their investments in advanced enterprise applications—indeed, the value derived from these traditional on-premise systems seems to be falling over the years. Find out what you can do to cushion the blow.
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Worldwide, scores of enterprises have realized that they must protect their investments in legacy systems—without getting locked into outdated technologies. They face this challenge especially when making efforts to advance to superior information systems that allow them better efficiencies and more distributed computing strengths. Find out how to manage the challenge—without cost overruns and unprofitable delays.
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Today, almost everything has gone online, from banking to pet food. And every day, new companies are starting up with a purely Web-based business model. This means that established companies have to adopt new tactics to make their online presence felt. All this has fueled the need for a robust Web-centric application infrastructure. Find out about the 10 benefits the J2EE platform can bring to your organization.
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Active communication and collaboration are critical to business success today. Effective information sharing in both extra-enterprise (external partners and customers) and intra-enterprise (employees) environments can bring a strong competitive advantage to your organization. Find out more about how extranets and intranets can help you secure business cohesion and internal productivity.
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This white paper describes how interdomain federation happens with the Jabber Extensible Communications Platform (Jabber XCP). If you’re a service operator, line-of-business manager, security professional, or application developer, we’ll help you understand the benefits and challenges involved in building communication "clouds" using real-time technologies such as extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP).
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At Jabber, Inc., security is a core priority in every phase of design, implementation, and deployment. We aggressively apply lessons learned from other Internet-scale technologies and from our work with customers in the financial, government, and telecommunications sectors to achieve continuous improvement in the security profile of our products. In this whitepaper, we delve into the core security features of Jabber XCP.
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Speed and agility are increasingly important elements to success in a wide variety of domains. As a result, the Internet is becoming a more dynamic, user-centric, real-time environment. In this white paper, we explore characteristic technologies of the real-time Internet and how enterprises, governments, service providers, and other organizations can leverage those technologies to build competitive advantage.
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This white paper discusses how session initiation protocol (SIP), real-time transport protocol (RTP), and extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP) can work together to harness the unique strengths of each protocol within and across applications. Each protocol has a role in powering the real-time Internet, and this paper highlights how they complement each other to create a whole solution.
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Presence is a key technology powering the real-time Internet. Forward-thinking businesses, service providers, and government agencies are already reaping the benefits of presence-enabled information exchange. This paper explores the nature of presence data, its value to the organization, and methods for leveraging presence to create strategic value and competitive advantage.
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Download this white paper to find out about the different types of firewalls, their features, and how to implement a firewall solution.
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The rise of electronic records is having a profound effect on business litigation. Electronic records are now so important that the litigation rules in US federal courts have been officially amended to give judges and litigants more guidance on coping with records. IT managers tasked with setting policies for e-mail retention should understand the amended rules before any lawsuit is started or anticipated. Learn more.
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Enterprise e-mail solutions are vital to successfully doing business. However, they’re also increasingly expensive and complex, and e-mail servers are regularly subject to malicious attacks and other issues. Successful risk management begins by creating a policy for the entire messaging infrastructure. Learn how to build on that foundation to mitigate risk, so your organization is free to focus on growth and innovation.
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Power disturbances might be the cause of unexplained office equipment breakdowns and damage. The office products industry could save itself numerous headaches—and much money—by examining open sources of data regarding power disturbances across the US. Discover more about the opportunity that exists to redefine the interface between the power grid and the machine with communications-enabled power manager devices.
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Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework of best practices to manage IT operations and services, with the main objective of aligning business and IT. Because there is no mandate that companies implement all framework specifications, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) need to have a cost-savings approach to ITIL implementation, so they can adopt the right features of ITIL. Learn how.
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Modern online social networks are successful and popular, and have been since the mid-1990s. The question now before us is this: what is this phenomenon and where do we go from here? Find out how online social networking and the many related user trends can impact businesses, governments, and other organizations—including virtual organizations—with a detailed account of the types of social network users.
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Are you on the front lines of product development and project management, and tired of seeing the same project failure statistics? Are you ready to do something to change your approach to requirements management? Then read about the three most common myths (plus a bonus myth) associated with requirements management, and how you can dispel them once and for all—for more successful products and project outcomes.
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The results of a recent industry survey shed light on the latest trends, challenges, and solutions in software product development for 2008. If you are involved in the planning and development of products, software applications, or systems, this report can help you gain insight into the biggest challenges in innovation, the top barriers to success, which metrics matter most when measuring success, and more.
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Microsoft Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) software is designed to help enterprises get a 360-degree view of their customers across marketing, sales, and service. Scalability testing of Dynamics 4.0 shows that the solution can achieve sub-second response times running user transactions against a database of over one billion records. Learn how these results can impact the success of your organization.
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The latest customer relationship management solution from Microsoft, Dynamics CRM 4.0, is engineered to meet enterprise performance and scalability requirements. Focusing on performance and scalability, application flexibility, and network configurability, this CRM solution can help you keep costs under control while you maintain the value of customizations—so you can react quickly to changing market demands.
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Your customer relationship management (CRM) solution must be able to deliver across marketing, sales, and service while offering user scalability, data scalability, and network performance. But you may not have considered how network performance can affect other aspects of your company’s performance. Learn about a solution that has been enhanced with functionality for network bandwidth use improvements of up to 94 percent.
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The user scalability of your applications can be key to your organization’s success. Benchmark results show how a next-generation customer relationship management (CRM) system can meet the needs of an enterprise-level, mission-critical workload of 24,000 users while maintaining high performance response times. Learn how CRM can help you achieve a 360-degree customer view, adapt quickly to business change, and more.
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Implementing a digital signature solution can secure business operations, reduce costs, advance business processes, and improve your competitive advantage. However, implementing an incompatible digital signature solution could end up costing thousands—if not hundreds of thousands of dollars more than necessary. Before you invest, get an overview of the options and their associated costs and different value propositions.
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A software migration can cause pain over many months in at least three crucial areas, though it will provide long-term benefit. But with a migration assurance program, you can completely avoid major pain. Find out how a rollover to Office 2007 and Vista can impact the productivity of your users, your IT staff, and your business. And learn about the steps you can take to minimize or avoid a decrease in productivity.
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In the competitive auto industry, Nissen Chemitec America knows the need for lean manufacturing. Its legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was preventing the company from adopting lean principles, and so in 2003 it looked for an ERP tailored for contract manufacturers serving the auto industry. Learn how the new system helps the company stay lean within the confines of compliance and changing customer demands.
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IT organizations struggle with the challenges of shrinking budgets, ever-changing technology, compliance pressures, and more. For greater efficiency, many IT organizations are turning to information technology service management (ITSM) to help improve processes. But there’s still too much focus on technology and not enough on business outcomes. Learn key strategies for changing your approach to delivering IT services.
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Customers and users see the value of IT services only after they’re in operation. Unfortunately, preparation and due diligence doesn’t always mean that you end up providing the IT services those users are expecting. With the automotive industry used as an analogy, get key tips on how to better define and document IT operations design and transition—so ultimately, your customers and users get the services they demand.
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Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau I is the oldest hospital in Spain, with over 34,000 admissions each year and 150,000 emergencies. In 1999, the hospital began to implement an intranet to provide information to employees, with an update in 2003 to provide visibility of corporate information. Learn how the company is integrating a content management system with portal tools to integrate processes and improve efficiency.
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Most large organizations today rely so heavily on their networked infrastructure that they believe they must move beyond troubleshooting and assume a more proactive approach to management by using performance management tools. Learn about features and functions to consider when evaluating a performance management solution, and compare and track how well the solutions will manage your complex IT environment.
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You probably know that managing your IT assets and infrastructure is becoming increasingly more complex, as your company operates on a broader, more global scale. But do you know what IT asset management (ITAM) is and how it can benefit your company? Learn about ITAM solutions that can help your organization gain greater control over the various components, including software and hardware, within your IT architectures.
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Software as a service (SaaS) is known for its relative speed to deployment and low up-front cost. Less well known are the business advantages of SaaS for enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, especially for small and midsized businesses. Learn how a fully integrated SaaS solution can help you improve your business operations, as well as better meet the challenges of growth, competition, and regulatory compliance.
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The Internet is a huge information resource and plays an increasingly important role in business and education. However, without adequate controls, organizations may be faced with a broad range of issues, from excessive personal use of the Internet during work hours, to legal risks if users access inappropriate content. But with web filtering technology, you can enable proactive management of Internet access. Learn more.
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Research shows that up to 90 percent of e-mail received by companies is spam. In the beginning, spam was mainly text-based, but over the past few years, spammers are increasingly using embedded images and attaching common file types, such as mp3s, to gain access to mailboxes. Learn more about the types of spam out there, focusing on NDR, or non-delivery report spam—and how you can block it.
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North American server installations are uniquely inefficient because of multiple circuits, use of floor space and weight, and more. A new approach to power distribution for high-density server installations saves floor space, simplifies power cabling, saves capital cost, reduces weight, and increases electrical efficiency. Learn more about how this distribution architecture can provide you with numerous benefits.
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New power and cooling technology allows for a simple and rapid deployment of self-contained high-density zones within an existing or new low-density data center. The independence of these high-density zones allows for reliable high-density equipment operation without a negative impact on existing power and cooling infrastructure—and with more electrical efficiency than conventional designs. Learn more now.
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Many of the mysteries of equipment failure, downtime, software, and data corruption are the result of a problematic power supply. Compounding the problem is that there is no standardized way to describe power problems. Learn more about common power disturbances, what can cause them, and how to safeguard your critical equipment—all described in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard terms.
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High-density servers offer a significant performance per-watt benefit. However, they can present a significant cooling challenge. Most data centers are designed to cool an average of no more than 2 kilowatts per rack, but many new servers demand over 40. Thus, innovative strategies must be used to properly cool high-density equipment. Read about 10 approaches that can help increase cooling efficiency in your data center.
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Globally, data center power and cooling infrastructure wastes more than 60 million megawatt-hours per year that do not contribute usefully to powering IT equipment. This is an enormous financial burden on industry, and is a significant public policy environmental issue. Find out about the principles of a new data center architecture that can be implemented today to dramatically improve the electrical efficiency of your data center.
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The majority of IT organizations are under great pressure to evolve to a next-generation network operations center (NOC). A survey of 176 IT professionals has revealed that over a quarter of NOCs don’t meet their organization’s current needs for application performance management. Learn how to migrate away from the current stove-piped NOC to an integrated operations center that effectively supports all components of IT.
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IT organizations can no longer manage networks in isolation from the applications they support, requiring a shift from focusing on devices to a focus on performance. But a number of factors complicate the task of ensuring acceptable application performance, including the lack of visibility into application performance. Learn tips to plan, optimize, manage, and control your application performance and improve delivery.
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For disaster recovery, remote replication is a simpler alternative to traditional servers. However, simple replication in a virtual server can affect the consistency of files or applications and create longer recovery cycles. Find out how two virtual machine (VM) solutions can overcome these limitations to deliver consistent replication and fast recovery of stored data for uninterrupted processes and business continuity.
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The recently standardized NETCONF configuration management protocol, with the NETCONF-oriented data modeling language called YANG, can simplify network configuration management. Learn how the two technologies work, and how they can be used to support transactional capabilities and rollback management—so next-generation configuration management systems are simpler and more understandable than current systems.
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The loss of your computer facilities, even a temporary one, can seriously affect your operations, resulting in significant monetary consequences. And the risk of catastrophe has greatly increased. For this reason, you should invest in an effective and reliable backup system. Learn about procedures for server backup management, and the various tools available on the market that can help you protect your vital data.
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In 2007, IT GRCM (governance, risk, and compliance management) became a hot new segment in the IT industry. Many vendors began offering solutions for policy mapping, advanced computer controls collection, and more. Now, IT GRCM providers are revamping their products for increased efficiency and usability. Get ratings for the overall market as well as market segments, and learn from a vendor product and service analysis.
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ProCurve Networking delivers wired and wireless enterprise networking solutions. With nearly four times the market growth rate, ProCurve needed a new customer relationship management (CRM) system to increase its sales force efficiency, facilitate information-sharing, and enable customization. Read how the company implemented Microsoft CRM and built a custom demand-forecasting module that improved customer service.
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Real estate firm The Norris Group was holding ten years of customer history with an online e-mail marketing vendor. Costly errors, data loss, and the lack of vital features convinced the firm to find a new solution that would store data and make it available whenever needed. Find out how the new online solution safeguards, analyzes, and shares customer data with employees, while easing the IT administrative burden.
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Virtualization is changing the way system hardware is used, and the way desktop environments are delivered and how users interact with applications. Virtualization can improve system use and reduce downtime—but there are significant inhibitors to a successful virtualization deployment. Find out why common virtual machine (VM) software is not enough to meet your business goals, and how a VMware solution can help you.
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Nucleus Research reports that NetSuite, a leading integrated Web-based business software suite, can deliver a positive return on investment (ROI) in fewer than nine months, by automating processes, boosting sales, increasing productivity, reducing or avoiding headcount, increasing data visibility, and retiring costly legacy systems. Learn how NetSuite business management software provides a positive ROI to businesses.
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Companies spend millions each year conducting mandatory training for audits, the risk of noncompliance, internal training requirements, and a plethora of other reasons. Manual training processes increase a company’s risk of noncompliance—and can be redundant. Read the 10 steps that can help you develop an enterprise-wide compliance training strategy, to reduce the costs and the compliance risks of mandatory training.
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You need a new Internet protocol (IP) phone system—but you’re not quite sure which features and functions would best meet your business operation’s needs. It’s important to know if you’re better off migrating to a hybrid IP PBX system or to a pure IP system. Answer this question and 10 others so you can be prepared to talk with resellers and vendors about IP phones for your voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) system.
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Looking for a new business phone system? To find a premise-based private branch exchange (PBX) solution that meets your needs, you should ask yourself several key questions about your current situation. Be sure to specify your business requirements up front to PBX providers—and know which you’re prepared to drop in return for a lower cost. This checklist can help you ask the right questions and keep track of the answers.
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Many companies have already invested heavily in solutions that provide remote access solutions to their employees, and are now looking to leverage those solutions for their remote vendors. But what works for your employees might not work for your vendors—and the wrong solution can introduce security risks, from viruses to unauthorized access and noncompliance. Learn about the different access requirements for vendors.
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Today’s increasing compliance requirements have focused additional attention on how enterprises manage and control these critical accounts and passwords. How can you address the requirement for shared privileged access while still maximizing information security? Find out how traditional solutions may not be providing the security you need—and how upgrading your password system with an automated solution can help.
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Noncompliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards can have a devastating effect on any company that relies on credit card transactions. Contractual penalties and revocation of your rights to process credit card transactions are just two potential repercussions. Though there is no single solution for PCI compliance, you can minimize the risks by staying on top of the latest products and procedures. Learn more.
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With the compliance demands of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the Payment Card Industry (PCI), and others, it’s crucial that companies emphasize separation of duties (SoD) and internal access controls to help maximize network security. But many still struggle with the real-time need of granting temporary access to resources. Learn about a solution that can offer secure, controlled, and audited resource access in a timely fashion.
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Data Protection Manager is designed to provide continuous data protection for servers. A virtual tape library solution with de-duplication complements Microsoft DPM 2007, and together they can meet the data protection and recovery challenges of both Windows and non-Windows environments. Find out how these technologies work together to provide continuous data protection and recovery for enterprises of all sizes.
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A data de-duplication application can be an integral part of your data protection and data replication software. De-duplication technology can dramatically reduce the cost of protecting your data. Find out how data de-duplication software can work in conjunction with storage software to minimize duplicate data for more efficient disaster recovery—and how this can save bandwidth, storage resources, and overhead.
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Data de-duplication can be considered the next evolutionary step in backup technology, as it can reduce data volumes, slash storage needs, and minimize data protection costs and risks. But to separate the hype from reality, you must consider a number of key factors so you can select a data de-duplication solution that actually delivers cost-effective, high-performance, and scalable long-term data storage. Learn more.
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Successful business operations hinge on a company’s ability to maintain a high level of data availability. Database applications, such as Oracle, demand advanced data storage management to optimize application and data availability, as well as storage management capabilities. Discover a solution that can help deliver an enhanced backup, restore, and recovery regime that protects your vital data from soft and hard errors.
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IT managers face explosive data growth, which drives up costs for primary storage and storage for backup and disaster recovery. To help reduce costs and footprint while maximizing return on investment (ROI), a single-instance repository de-duplication tool, when integrated with a virtual tape library, could be the answer. Learn about how using this green, flexible, and scalable solution can help with your backup needs.
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What if you could track the location of mobile assets and provide the information to your accountants, without global positioning system (GPS) devices, radio frequency identification (RFID), or satellites? How about by capturing asset ID numbers and locations with camera cell phones? Find out how this system works and how it can be implemented in public companies—for more compliant tracking of mobile assets.
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Before you commit to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, you should answer several questions about what your company needs and wants to accomplish with its ERP strategy. The answers can help you determine which applications and what kind of functionality you need from your ERP solution—which goes a long way toward easing the implementation process. Discover the key questions now with this convenient checklist.
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A hosted Internet protocol private branch exchange (IP PBX) system can provide an easy way for small to medium businesses (SMBs) to move to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and get a new range of features and capabilities. While there are several IP PBX options, hosted applications are usually quicker and cheaper to install. Discover the critical features and services your SMB needs in a new hosted phone system.
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In today’s increasingly connected business environment, IT organizations need to implement an ever-higher standard of security at the network endpoint. Administrators must meet the needs of new and more demanding regulatory requirements, foil an expanding population of professional computer criminals, and prevent rapidly propagating new viruses from entering and damaging operations. Discover a solution that can help.
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As the number of remote and mobile workers grows, new security practices highlight the need for strong authentication. Today, passwords aren’t enough protection against unauthorized access. How can you increase authentication security while preserving operational and budget efficiency? Learn about the challenges of identity authentication, and the versatile solutions that can help prevent the risk of breaches and attacks.
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Companies want to manage security risks and encryption to protect data and to comply with industry guidelines. The desire to separate network management from document ownership can create additional security concerns, as IT services are outsourced. To address these issues, you need to ensure your security solution provides visible and on-going encryption of sensitive data files shared on your networks. Learn more.
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Secure sockets layer (SSL), an essential security protocol, has allowed the Internet to extend to e-business. At the heart SSL is the certificate. As organizations increasingly rely on SSL, the number of certificates in use can grow into the hundreds or thousands, increasing your costs. Learn about the three key areas impacting the management of SSL certificates today—and what you can do to reduce cost and complexity.
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If you’ve already implemented Sage Saleslogix for your customer relationship management (CRM) process and CRM analytics needs, this guidebook can help you achieve more value. And if you’re considering Saleslogix for your new CRM solution, you’ll learn best practices, including how to integrate and customize; how to move from sales to support, service, and marketing; and how to think strategically about training.
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Archiving and logging standards place a great burden on network security professionals and IT administrators. When your routers, firewalls, and other devices are added to multiple servers, the volume of data that must be kept accessible can be tremendous. Learn more about event log standards and challenges, and how to implement a tool that can improve troubleshooting and diagnosis of incoming—and in-house—security issues.
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Genius Project4Domino and Microsoft Project are both project management tools, and though their range of features is different, they are also complementary. Using the solutions together can bring a well-rounded project management solution to companies of all sizes. Learn how they can be used to ensure consistency and eliminate downtime, so your long-term strategic project plans are a success.
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Dynamic and customizable portable document format (PDF) forms have thousands of everyday uses. Monthly statements mailed to customers and insurance applications are just two. Creating these forms is easier than you might think, when the functionalities of two text solutions are combined. Get the details on how to merge document and formatting applications to create dynamic, customer-friendly PDFs.
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The power grid is pushed to its physical limits with our growing demands for cheap electricity. To keep up, we need a “smart” electrical grid prepared for real-time information and enabling fast response. A new power delivery system can manage supply and demand while allowing consumers to manage their energy usage online. Read more about the benefits for utility companies, consumers, the economy, and the environment.
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Most small to midsize companies have found business intelligence (BI) solutions to be beyond their financial reach. But now, you don’t have to rely only on spreadsheets for data visibility—with software-as-a-service (SaaS), BI can quickly and easily be set up enterprise-wide. Find out five requirements of a scalable data warehouse strategy, for more effective data analysis and better understanding of business performance.
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Competitive testing analysis is a vital part of designing, evaluating, and marketing hardware and software products. National Technical Systems (NTS) tested two change management systems, measuring how quickly each compares selected datasets. Find out which solution proved to be twice as fast as the other in a local area network (LAN), and almost 24 times faster in a wide area network (WAN) environment. Learn more.
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Your data models are brilliant ... but only if database administrators (DBAs) and developers are on the same page. A mismatch of expectations can slow down a project and lead to weak products. But this situation can be avoided if you develop a strategy that builds a little more teamwork. Follow seven cost-effective steps to better collaboration, and get a lot more value from your software development team’s data modeling.
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The combination of cross-platform environments, added database complexity, more data, and less headcount is a challenge for database administrators (DBAs) trying to maintain high database availability and performance. Discover techniques DBAs can use to streamline and automate storage, performance, and capacity management to deliver high database performance and availability—helping to ensure overall database success.
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One of the most formidable IT challenges that companies must solve is the extreme cost of the development process. Don’t let your data warehouse development project become part of the 50 percent that’s abandoned—and don’t lose time and money. Learn how to optimize your development process and improve the performance of your database management systems through a complete examination and debugging of your database schema.
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When choosing a change management tool for your business environment, you need to consider several important factors. First is the number of database platforms in your data center, and whether to get a solution that supports multiple platforms. Find out the other factors, and how the right tool can reduce training and software costs, increase productivity, and ensure database availability, security, and performance.
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Your business has a better chance of withstanding the challenges of difficult economic times if it can respond quickly to change, provide accurate data, and fulfill demand in a timely way. Electronic data interchange (EDI) can help give you this competitive edge. But to make EDI work, you need to know the five worst mistakes to avoid making when you embark on an EDI integration project in your small to medium business.
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Although IT outsourcing can result in cost savings of up to 60 percent, you’re not as likely to see that return if you don’t have an offshore development center (ODC). This team of programmers and developers, hand picked to complement your skill-set and culture, works on your behalf at the service provider’s site, and can be a seamless extension of your IT department. Learn more about the benefits of setting up an ODC.
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User training is a key aspect of the software implementation process. But it’s also the most overlooked, as companies often think more about software functionality than about how well their employees are adapting to using it. Don’t assume that your employees are too busy, or that software training costs too much. Find out how user software training can save you money and increase your return on investment (ROI).
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Social networking sites offer recruiters a valuable opportunity to seek out, scout, and connect with applicants in ways that traditional channels can’t support. The key to success in this space is to develop a smart, targeted recruitment strategy that works with, not against, the fundamental principals of social networking. Get 5 tips to crafting a social networking recruitment strategy—so you can recruit the best talent.
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Online recruiting is one of the pillars of smart recruiting strategies for firms in every sector. Job seekers and employers alike are turning to electronic resources for their job search and recruiting processes. But human resources staff may not know the best practices for online recruitment, and should stay on top of online recruitment trends. Get a clearer picture of the impact and implications of online recruitment.
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A non-profit hospital needed to protect its critical clinical systems without either interrupting system availability or overloading the small IT security team. The hospital had to overcome several vulnerabilities, such as the fact that some clinical systems could not be patched due to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Find out how a server security solution helped the hospital address these challenges.
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Quantros, an application service provider (ASP), required a secure network and maximal uptime, but with a small IT department and a small budget. The challenges were to implement and enforce sound security policies and to keep up with the stream of vendor patches. A server solution that fixes vulnerabilities at the root cause and eliminates the need to hastily install patches increased server protection. Find out how.
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Server security is a key issue for the health care industry. Between an expanding body of regulations and the need for 24/7/365 system availability, it’s essential to address vulnerabilities as soon as possible. But with constant new threats, protecting your server isn’t easy. Learn about the special needs of server security in the health care environment, and how you can have comprehensive protection with no down time.
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The availability of your server and key business applications depends on how you deal with security vulnerabilities. Intrusion prevention systems (IPSs) go some distance toward protecting databases and networks from hacking. But it’s not enough. Discover the benefits of a next-generation IPS that generates no false positives and can be deployed with zero risk to instantly protect your data from potential security threats.
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You wouldn’t be entirely wrong in assuming that the security practices and policies you apply to your physical infrastructure can be transferred to your virtual. But you need to be aware of the complications of virtual infrastructure security. Learn about a solution that can help overcome the challenges of virtual networks, to back up for disaster recovery, better consolidate your servers, and reduce energy requirements.
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Effective CRM deployment can bring many productivity gains. And although free customer relationship management (CRM) tools may sound great to overburdened company directors, there are five reasons why free CRM tools should be avoided. For one, free isn’t always free, as hidden costs can undermine your budget. Find out about the other reasons why it’s better to tighten your CRM budget now, rather than go bust later.
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Many frustrated executives find that despite the fortune spent on managing servers, networks, and applications, there are still complaints about the performance, usability, and availability of their customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. How do you know if your CRM system performs for each user? What does it mean when users say the system is slow? An experience management solution can give you the answers.
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Staffco, employing nearly 20 high-level sales engineers, sought a customer relationship management (CRM) system to free itself from the manual processes of its 2- to 3-year sales cycles, with lengthy design and test processes and associated reporting needs. Maximizer CRM’s functionalities, including automated reporting and a project management system, resulted in time and costs savings for Staffco. Learn how.
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A national health insurance company’s spreadsheet-based telecom management process was leading to time and money wasted as staff tried to make up for lack of spend visibility. Further pressure to prepare the telecom function for upcoming merger activity pushed the company to find a technology that would effect immediate cost savings and long-term telecom expense management. Read more about the solution the company chose.
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Internet protocol (IP) and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems allow inexpensive transport, cheap phone calls, and simple management of a single network. But the true value is in the new applications IP enables, such as unified communications (UC). How can you use UC to further decrease costs, enhance productivity, and improve customer service? Learn how to go beyond messaging for real-time call control and more.
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Software developers need a powerful tool to control and plan the quality of their software applications. With a solution that offers project analysis, testing, and bug administration, you have options that can help increase the quality of your software products. Read about a software test tool that has administrative functions to help you more effectively plan, control, and evaluate your software as it’s developed.
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An increasingly mobile workforce offers many benefits. The right mobile and wireless technologies address the unique computing demands of mobile workers, and help automate processes and boost return on investment (ROI). But to maximize mobile technologies, companies must blend their needs with those of the user and the job function. Learn about the challenges of implementing mobile applications—and how to overcome them.
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Electronic health records can provide many benefits for patients and health care providers and insurers. Health care technology managers should have a strategic technical background to make informed decisions about integrating, partnering, or supporting personal health care record (PHR) solutions. Learn best practices on implementation, and how to leverage your existing health care technologies with new PHR platforms.
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All businesses require instant sharing of information. To replace traditional paper-based methods, you’ve probably already installed a system to manage sending and receiving large digital files. But there are other opportunities to increase business efficiency and reduce costs that also lessen the environmental impact of moving large files. Find out how deploying a digital logistics solution can help manage your data.
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Remote control software allows you to work on a remote computer—located across the hall or around the world—in real time, as if you were using its own keyboard and mouse. And remote solutions can dramatically reduce your cost of supporting client desktops. But before implementing remote software in your company, learn about the various remote capabilities and features you need to consider, including automated scripting.
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Learn how IT asset tracking tools helped Allina Hospitals and Clinics monitor 2,700 computers on and off their network without having to invest in additional infrastructure. This case study shows how their security system enabled this leading health care provider to go from a 30 percent tracking record to an almost perfect record for its growing inventory of laptops and electronic health records.
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Learn how Grant Thornton achieved a 99.7% guaranteed IT asset tracking rate across a nation-wide network of leased computers to tightly control network endpoints, achieve regulatory compliance, and drive down total cost of ownership (TCO).
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The best encryption and security policies will not protect your laptops against careless employee use. Learn about the latest innovations in tracking IT assets off the local area network (LAN), remotely deleting sensitive data, and physically recovering stolen computers.
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The portable nature of laptops makes them particularly susceptible to all kinds of security and tracking problems. This paper discusses the strengths and limitations of laptop security, including the technology for accurately tracking IT assets, recovering missing computers, and deleting data remotely.
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Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) can exponentially multiply the possibilities for business telecommunications. But getting the phone system that meets your needs depends on your company’s size, structure, business model, industry, and budget. There are three main decisions to make as you explore your options. Find out how to choose a VoIP network, equipment, and type of service contract—for the best solution for you.
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Streamline telecommunications and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO)—can it be done effectively? Yes. How? With voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Whether you choose to implement a hosted service or invest in a licensed solution, the many benefits of VoIP, including lower start-up and maintenance costs, might prove to be the best way phase out your legacy phone equipment and boost the performance of your business.
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Consumer electronics companies of any size must deliver superior customer service, optimize performance, and design agile supply networks. When using business software to deal with these challenges, growing electronics companies face the same issues as larger companies, but also have concerns about cost and implementation speed. Learn how a new class of scalable solutions can meet the needs of electronics manufacturers.
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Unfortunately, electronic documents are rarely categorized based on records management standards or retention policies. Organizations facing numerous claims, litigations, government investigations, or audits realize that identifying, locating, and reviewing electronic data is time-consuming and costly. A solution that helps archive and search for your vital electronic data can also ease your efforts to comply. Learn more.
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Server virtualization isn’t a new concept. But the benefits of extending server virtualization to the desktop may not be common knowledge. A virtual desktop solution can allow companies to run virtualized PCs and computer desktops on servers located inside the data center. Besides allowing centralized management, this setup can improve security and deliver new capabilities to the user. Learn about other benefits.
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Data auditing and data encryption are two key Payment Card Industry (PCI) requirements for maintaining cardholder data protection. Although the two capabilities are distinct, they’re also synergistic—in fact, PCI recommends using data auditing as a substitute for encryption. Learn more about an auditing and encryption solution that can help you make better decisions about protecting your and your clients’ sensitive data.
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Whatever your reasons for needing to capture a complete audit trail for all database activity, you want to make sure your system allows you to support three accepted approaches. This three-way auditing ability can provide auditing for all activity in your database, including monitoring, reporting, and alerting on all critical data activity across your company. Learn more about these approaches, and their many benefits.
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The number of mid-market manufacturers and other businesses using electronic data interchange (EDI) is expanding—and with it, the need to integrate EDI data with in-house enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting systems. Unfortunately, over 80 percent of data integration projects fail. Don’t let your company join that statistic. Learn about five key steps to buying and implementing EDI to ERP integration software.
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An online American bank, providing various financial services, needed to replace its legacy script-driven batch job processes with a job scheduling solution that could handle the bank’s growth. The bank’s IT team, however, faced two major hurdles affecting growth: both batch job processes and script-writing were manual and inefficient. A job management solution helped the bank achieve new levels of growth. Learn how.
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IT administrators need to simplify both complex and routine tasks to deliver increasing value with limited resources. Data center automation can help minimize the duties associated with maintaining the existing infrastructure. Learn about a solution that can enable automated batch processing for more efficient operations, and integrate the diverse application and platform environments often found in today’s data centers.
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When buying a job scheduling solution, you should gather as much information as possible to make an objective comparison of competitive products’ key capabilities. Seek out customer references, analyst recommendations, and press articles to supplement vendor marketing materials. And to make sure you don’t miss any important evaluation criteria, benchmark the functions of job-scheduling software with a detailed checklist.
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Many of today’s business processes require batch operations. But IT organizations are struggling to keep up with scheduling as batch windows shrink and more jobs are added to a growing number of platforms. Are your batch production lines not as smooth as they should be? A scheduling tool can simplify, consolidate, and automate your batch scheduling; lower the cost of batch management; and reduce the risk of failed jobs.
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Maybe you’re considering software test tools for the first time. Or maybe you have experience but think your existing software test automation process needs retooling. Whatever your perspective, there are tips and tricks you may not know about test design and development. These 10 steps to building software test automation can help you shorten your time to market, improve the quality of your products, and save you money.
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Dramatic progress in communication and media industries are pushing service providers to seek new differentiation strategies. Next-generation services can play a major role in your future as a service provider. But first you need to understand the implications for your operational- and business-support systems—in particular your billing system. Learn how to make the most of next-generation services to generate revenue.
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Personalized and higher-quality network services, such as customized or performance-sensitive services, can help you stand out from the competition. But can you give customers any range of those services without undergoing a complete system transformation? Yes: by using mediation to deliver advanced service management. Find out how mediation can help you offer unique, wide-ranging services—without sacrificing quality.
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Integrating UNIX, Linux, Mac, Web, and database platforms includes securing all systems with the same authentication, authorization, and group policy services you use for Windows. How can this be done, without intrusive reconfiguration of your existing systems, while still providing the necessary granular administrative control? Learn how to leverage a centralized identity management tool leveraged with Active Directory.
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UNIX and Linux systems aren’t exempt from the rigors of regulatory compliance. System logs can help you spot suspicious insider activity and contribute to more accurate compliance reports by showing which users accessed what systems, what commands they executed, and what changes they made to key files and data. Find out how centralized UNIX/Linux auditing can help you troubleshoot and reduce your risk of non-compliance.
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Data leakage and data breach are two disparate problems requiring different solutions. Data leakage prevention (DLP) monitors and prevents content from leaving a company via e-mail or Web applications. Database activity monitoring (DAM) is a data center technology that monitors how stored data is accessed. Learn why DAM complements DPL, and how you can benefit by making it part of your overall data security strategy.
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Data auditing is a form of data protection involving detailed monitoring of how stored enterprise data is accessed, and by whom. Data auditing can help companies capture activities that impact critical data assets, build a non-repudiable audit trail, and establish data forensics over time. Learn what you should look for in a data auditing solution—and use our checklist of product requirements to make the right decision.
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Threats to data content posed by insiders. Compliance regulations entailing stringent data controls. It’s hardly surprising companies need to find more secure methods for keeping confidential data under lock and key. Learn about managing security challenges across three important layers of your IT infrastructure, and how database activity monitoring (DAM) and database auditing and protection (DAP) can help you.
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Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) is transforming service providers’ networks by helping roll out blended voice-data-content services for wider markets. But before you implement IMS architectures to deliver more complex offerings, you need to know how IMS impacts your IT environment—and to address vital questions related to profitability and pricing, return on investment (ROI), and quality of service.
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Today’s reality for service providers is about dealing with falling voice revenues—and keeping existing customers. Some providers look for alternative sources of revenue via digital content and gaming. But as this happens, the product offerings become more complex, and the role of partners more and more important. Automated partner settlement solutions can play a very crucial part in your partner strategy. Find out how.
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As traditional paper-based documentation and transactions shift to digital, companies must be vigilant that their electronic signatures solutions protect against forgery and guarantee non-repudiation. Also, these solutions must be easy to use. Before you sign the contract on a new digital signature solution, find out 10 vital criteria for choosing a solution that meets your needs—and sustains the integrity of your data.
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Data breaches and leaks are on the rise—and the consequences, from theft of identity or intellectual property, can seriously compromise a company’s reputation. Stolen laptops, hacking, exposed e-mail, insider theft, and other causes of data loss can plague your company. How can you detect (and respond!) to breaches and protect your data center? Learn about the functions and benefits of an automated data auditing system.
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Many companies face the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance challenge of monitoring all the data activity of their most privileged users. Those challenges include tracking access to sensitive financial data, reporting on controls, and responding to problems. Learn about a database auditing and protection solution that can help capture targeted activities, without impacting the performance of production databases and software.
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Web 2.0 applications, perceived by many software users as better looking and easier to use than traditional apps, can provide many benefits to your company. However, building Web 2.0 apps adds development burdens of security, transaction management, and a variety of user interface features. To conquer these issues, you might consider an application generator to eliminate hand-coding infrastructure programming. Learn more.
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To meet high user expectation for applications, your IT department must find ways to improve productivity and complete projects according to the latest standards—often with a reduced head count. In this environment, wasting time on code writing and other repetitive tasks is agonizing. But application generators can automate and manage your development processes. Learn about the functionality that can benefit your company.
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All government projects must be run as efficiently as possible. Modeling and simulation tools can help maximize efficiency and predict the costs and risks associated with many government projects. Model-building templates, plus features that allow users to share and re-use models and create custom models, can help government successfully design and complete major environmental and infrastructural projects. Find out more.
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Like other successful technology solutions, once proven in an enterprise environment, virtualization spreads quickly. While virtualized resources can address your growing capacity needs, they can also pose significant challenges—with long-term success depending on how well you can manage the virtualized system. Learn about what tools you’ll need in order to provide seamless physical and virtual server management.
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Data security breaches are a common occurrence in business. As such, today’s business climate needs to find better ways to collaborate—without compromising sensitive information. Documents can be kept more secure through best-practice, persistent security strategies that provide end-to-end protection beyond the firewall. By deploying such a strategy, you can securely accelerate business and gain competitive advantage.
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Contrary to popular belief, requirements discovery and elicitation are processes—not deliverables. And in fact, companies that focus on both the process and the deliverables of requirements are far more successful than those that focus on documentation quality alone. After all, it’s the quality of the document development process that creates an economic advantage. Find out what you can do for immediate and tangible benefits.
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Do you know what you need in a hosted content management system (CMS)? Have you pinpointed the security features and characteristics that are essential to compliance with internal and external policies, and industry best practices? Find out how a hosted CMS can take care of everything from user management to Web browser, Web server, database, and application security—and let you focus on your own business and content development.
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To keep your IT infrastructure healthy, strong operational processes are essential to managing changes—both planned and unexpected. A streamlined, integrated approach that incorporates hardware and software assets is a key foundation for meeting regulatory compliance requirements. Find out how you can benefit from applications that enable continuous compliance with operational processes and tools—and reduce your business risk.
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If you’re still struggling to deploy and maintain traditional on-premise software applications, you might consider a new generation of on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) alternatives to satisfy your rapidly changing business requirements. There are many benefits, but also risks that can negatively impact your operations. Find out how safeguarding your SaaS with a wide area network (WAN) application delivery can help.
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With today’s varied communication technologies, there are more ways than ever to stay in touch—and more pressure to respond immediately. This and the need to prioritize multiple messages prove that companies must provide employees with tools suited to managing an increased flow of messages. Learn more about second-generation enterprise communication solutions and how your company can deploy them for maximum benefit.
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If your web site is poorly designed, your sales force will have a hard time selling it. As in any business venture, the keys to online success involve attention to quality and setting clear goals. Would it surprise you to find out that successful Web publishing has everything to do with business focus, not technology issues? Not sure where to start? Read about key concepts that can transform your company’s online activities.
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Day-to-day IT requirements are often managed at the expense of strategic goals. But if you can consistently control change in your IT environment, you’ll be that much closer to resource efficiency and risk mitigation. Learn about a four-phase change management methodology that, when used with enterprise software, can help you detect, track, and analyze change—for continuous improvements and more budget for new projects.
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Is your IT environment suffering? Increasing complexity and the challenges of achieving regulatory compliance within a tight budget could be making it more difficult for you to manage change. A traditional change and configuration management (CCM) tool might not be providing all the help you need. Find out how a CCM tool that addresses configuration audit and control can ease your IT infrastructure’s aches and pains.
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The prevalence of Web 2.0 demonstrates that integrating the technology used to manage Web sites is becoming easier. A similar mashup of methods for Web site marketing tools can help you measure how you communicate with customers and help deliver sales opportunities. But before you start cooking, find out how to pick the right ingredients for two simple but effective mashups for Web site subscription and content feedback.
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Intranets must be personalized for individual users and will manage themselves if a Web content management system (CMS) is installed. Right? In fact, these are two common and long-standing myths about intranets. One of the main objectives of a knowledge-sharing intranet is to be the authoritative source for up-to-date, company-wide content. Debunk other intranet myths and learn how simple can equal successful.
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In today’s competitive market, creating and maintaining successful customer relationships is vital. That’s why everyone involved with the customer must work together as a team. In most companies, sales, engineering, and marketing often use separate systems—causing communication gaps in customer support. Discover how sharing information through integrated customer relationship management (CRM) can help bridge those gaps.
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Most businesses recognize the strategic importance of customer relationship management (CRM), but some small to medium businesses (SMBs) continue to use basic contact managers or simple spreadsheets to track customers, manage leads, and collaborate on sales. Achieving great results requires more than just installing CRM software. Learn how assessing your business’s CRM maturity level can help build your road map to success.
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In the computing world, a dramatic shift is taking place—enabling a new way for IT departments to manage services. The promise of a leaner, more efficient data center has many businesses clamoring to go virtual. In the rush to virtualize, however, they have forgotten the painful and expensive lessons learned from introducing risk into the physical environment. Find out how detective controls can mitigate those risks.
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Migration can be risky and expensive if handled by inexperienced developers. Seemingly small things can lead to bigger issues and cause performance problems. Hence, the services of a professional migration service provider who has executed similar projects is recommended. Learn about the different ways you can completely migrate from Windows to UNIX and Linux, so that you can make an intelligent, informed decision.
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It seems that these days you need a password for everything. And with so many to remember, it’s no wonder helpdesks are bombarded with calls that tie up the IT department’s resources. Password inflation and the resulting fatigue increasingly frustrate not only end users, but the support teams that deal with the fallout of strict password polices as well. Find out how some businesses are putting an end to this madness.
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While the growing trend among companies today is to implement stronger password policies to increase network security, it seems that many still struggle with finding the most cost-effective solution. Read about what a recent survey of over 600 IT professionals discovered about password policies, and find out why implementing a low-risk, cost-effective, and secure password management solution is just what you need.
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The evolution of interfaces to web content has changed the way companies manage their web sites. On one hand, it's easier than ever to manage digital content. But on the other, with the advent of Web 2.0, there's still a lot you need to know to maximize your web content—and your sales and customer relationships. Learn how software-as-a-service (SaaS) can play an important role in your web content management strategies.
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Your web site can be your best marketing and sales tool in a global market. Stale content, however, isn't useful to visitors—so you have to make sure your site is constantly updated. How can you reduce the time and financial expense of using multiple systems and multiple forms of content to revise your site? A software-as-a-service (SaaS) content management system (CMS) might be the solution you're looking for. Read more.
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Companies looking to expand their facilities and strategize their way into the marketplace often focus most of their efforts on bottom line results. During the process, they factor in infrastructure costs but often pay little attention on how to control them. Find out how a Web-enabled solution that puts infrastructure management sharply in focus can help you easily access distributed information while helping curb costs.
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Role management is becoming recognized as an essential aspect of an organization's identity management and security. But role management goes well beyond simply assigning passwords or user IDs. You must also manage and govern the roles related to the core business activities of your organization. Start by looking at key considerations for choosing a role management solution, and benefit from suggested best practices.
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Organizations need to control who has access to enterprise resources, what level of access individuals have, and who is authorized to grant access. But you may not know that identity management involves more than your organization s operations side—you must also align your infrastructure to maximize security. Find out key considerations and best practices for developing a user provisioning and access management strategy.
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Is your information security system staying on top of the 400 new threats that appear monthly? Securing your Web applications is not a one-time event, but a continuous process of testing and re-testing for new vulnerabilities, especially when vital data is in development or production. Learn how a Web application security optimization process can help you perform effective continuous assessments of your system.
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As with any project, implementing a new content management system (CMS) for your web site must start with a set of ideas outlining the types of services, capabilities, and desired outcomes you wish to have. Choosing the right Web CMS will undoubtedly take some time, but with the proper guidance—and this handy system pocket guide—you’ll be on your way to a successful implementation and a number of new opportunities.
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There’s no disputing the fact that content management systems (CMS) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) are closely related. From reuse, the ability to loosely couple service and functions, to being able to combine services into a new form, SOA and CMS share many common threads in the enterprise world. Find out how the forces that have made SOA so important today are now doing the same for CMS in web site management.
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Along with positive technological changes inevitably come the negative (spam 2.0, anyone?). Today's e-mail spam is increasingly image-based and harder to detect. Fingerprinting and optical character recognition (OCR) help identify some spam, but are less and less effective. Find out how a solution that creates real-time, behavior-based rules for new spam campaigns can put spam in its proper place—outside your system.
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You think you're staying on top of security by monitoring your IT systems for changes and user activity. But current approaches to network security, such as native auditing, often fail to perform as well as they should. Before you hit the panic button, find out why your system may be letting you down, and letting unauthorized users in—and how with real-time insight into your servers, you can boost security and compliance.
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Before you decide if you need to update your financial management software, you should ask some questions about five key areas of your operations. For example, does your current system generate the types of reports you need? And does it allow your processes to support your policies? Evaluate all the challenges you face with your current financial management software—and find out how you can overcome them with an upgrade.
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Compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is mandatory. As such, businesses must think seriously about their data storage security and the day-to-day encryption management of their customer data. As a merchant or credit card processor, will you be ready when the auditors come knocking? Learn more about the foolproof way that many businesses are passing PCI DSS audits.
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Enterprises are becoming increasingly aware of their fiduciary duty and legal obligation to protect confidential and personal information. As such their IT departments must find a way to effectively secure storage tiers from unauthorized access and viewing. Discover why today’s storage security technology with integrated encryption processing is the type of solution that many IT professionals are turning to.
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This report identifies the major IT issues faced by small to midsized businesses (SMBs), including information silos, lack of IT staff, and outdated business applications. Because they lack the right information to meet customer expectations, SMBs have difficulty reacting quickly to fast-changing market dynamics and growing their revenue. Find out how the elimination of information silos can create a more consistent effective customer experience.
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Flakeboard's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system could not communicate effectively amongst its global sites. To address this challenge, and to manage growth, the company worked with Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) to perform a detailed comparison of vendors' solutions. Read more about how TEC's expertise helped Flakeboard reduce the costs, risks, and time involved in the vendor selection process.
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As the growth of electronic records continues, two major trends in the world of document and content management have now become intertwined. In view of these trends, companies are beginning to assess their current record management practices, and what has resulted is the clear need for electronic records management (ERM). Discover how ERM can provide a cost-effective solution for your growing business.
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For Dillard’s Inc., copying thousands of documents a day was just part of the routine. It soon came to realize, however, that this practice was not only wasteful, but costly too. To manage its documents more efficiently, the company turned to Xerox’s Document Centre multifunction system and DocuShare software. Since installing the new system, Dillard’s has reduced its copying costs from $1.54 (USD) per print to 28 cents.
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High-speed Internet access (HSIA) has become a key technology asset for many hospitality providers around the world. But as a widely regarded bottom-line impacting resource, HSIA must be properly managed in order to prevent negative impacts on a facility’s revenue. Learn how to create a strong, winning HSIA strategy that will increase your guest satisfaction and secure recurring revenue well into the future.
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Choosing a business phone system requires more than just a comparison of feature lists and usage plans. If you want the best business phone solution for your company, you need to ask the right questions about reliability, scalability, and security that go far beyond the perfunctory. Not sure exactly what to ask? Consider this list of questions in case communication with your phone system vendors starts to break down.
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You've settled on a service plan and chosen the hardware for your new business phone system with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). But without careful and informed bargaining, you can leave behind valuable discounts and vital service level agreements (SLAs). Before you commit to a contract, whether or not you're implementing VoIP, find out five tips that can help you get the most out of your business phone contract.
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There's a customer relationship management (CRM) solution for every business. But which one is best for yours? With so many variations in CRM modules, such as sales force management, marketing, and analytics, it can be difficult to find the one that meets your functional requirements. Read this checklist for five steps that can help you choose the CRM solution that aligns with your company's budget, scale, and goals.
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Choosing between a business VoIP business phone system and other types of system requires an analysis of users needs and a view of your company s long-term goals. Your decision-making process should include four major considerations. For one thing, your company s calling pattern impacts your phone system needs. Find out why, and learn about the other three considerations before you replace or upgrade your phone system.
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Collaborative tools are becoming essential to sharing data in today’s office environment. You need a solution that can grow to accommodate new projects and uses—and a storage system that is flexible enough to meet initial demands and adapt to changes. Find out how a multiple-node storage area network (SAN) can maximize the scalability and functionality of your collaboration tools, and ease storage administration.
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To retain the integrity and availability of your key operational data, your server infrastructure must provide effective data backup and recovery. When used with a storage area network (SAN), a data protection manager (DPM) can help increase your storage space, reduce time needed to create backup, and allow for quick recovery of data when disaster strikes. Learn more about this scalable and cost-effective solution.
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Many businesses today rely on telecom expense management (TEM) for mission-critical functions ranging from sales to service to customer relationship management. But despite its overall importance, nearly one-third of a telecom staff’s time is spent on processing orders and invoices. Maximizing the potential of a telecom system requires a data-driven approach. Find out how Map-To-Win is helping businesses do just that.
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The days of telephone switchboard operators are long gone. In today's electronic age, through private branch exchange (PBX) technology, operators have been replaced with Internet protocols that automate the switchboard process. But how can you make the most of your modern phone system when you're not really sure how it works? Discover some tips and tricks that can help you understand—and optimize—your business phone setup.
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In recent years, the BlackBerry smartphone has transitioned from being a small-scale productivity tool to a widely used mission-critical platform. This shift has prompted IT organizations to explore what key technical capabilities and internal process standards are needed to ensure superior performance and availability. Discover why traditional monitoring technologies have failed, and what new approaches have emerged.
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Earlier-generation spam systems all share a common weakness—they rely heavily on analyzing content that can easily be manipulated by spammers. As such, state-of-the-art antispam systems must go beyond content examination by analyzing messages in the full context in which they are sent. Find out how using a multilayer defense approach can help you successfully eliminate spam and blended threats in your enterprise.
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Every enterprise must be prepared to confront an incident that threatens the security, privacy, or general operations of the company or its customers. But how is it possible to respond to an incident quickly, without interrupting corporate operations? By building an incident response team (IRT) with the right skills, authority, and knowledge to properly deal with a range of known—and unknown incidents. Find out how.
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Like telephony, radio, and television, the Internet has become the ultimate disruptive technology—dramatically changing many aspects of daily life. With each technological revolution, sales professionals have had to learn how to use disruptive technology effectively. Find out why some software firms are now launching their products under the Sales 2.0 banner, and how you can use it to leverage Web 2.0 technology.
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It’s almost a certainty that every company will, at some time or other, face a significant incident. As such, many experts are turning to enterprise incident management. It empowers professionals from a variety of fields to work together to solve problems in a coordinated, disciplined manner so that budgets can be justified and progress can be made quickly. Learn how incident management can benefit your business.
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While there are numerous strategies for dealing with the restoration of functions through a recovery process, there is only one for continuing operations with minimal interruption. It’s called a reserve system, and it’s vital for business continuation. It’s fast and easy to activate, simple to move, low in cost, testable, available, and highly reliable. Find out how it compares to some of the more traditional strategies.
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Just when malware design seemed to have reached a plateau, new and more complex attack techniques have now emerged. For a while, security controls designed to manage spam, viruses, and malware were working, but as a result of this success, the threats they protected against were forced to change. Learn about today’s key security trends and how you can fight against the sophisticated new generation of Internet threats.
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Once a revolutionary concept, data warehouses are now the status quo—enabling IT professionals to manage and report on data originating from diverse sources. But where does log data fit in? Historically, log data was reported on through slow legacy applications. But with today’s log data warehouse solutions, data is centralized, allowing users to analyze and report on it with unparalleled speed and efficiency.
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Telephony is a key element of convergence—and the primary reason for the hype surrounding it. But why is telephony so important to convergence? Voice or telephony traffic is very sensitive to latency on the network. The fact that converged networks must provide timely and reliable delivery of voice traffic makes it a key component to a successful converged solution implementation. Learn more about how it all works.
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Is your business tangled in a maze of voice data networking equipment that burdens your staff and is cumbersome to support? If the answer is yes, then you may want to think about network convergence over Internet protocol (IP)—the foundation for IP telephony, unified messaging, and multimedia customer contact centers. Find out more about how your business can benefit from data and voice convergence solutions today.
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Most spam, viruses, phishing, and e-mail denial-of-service attacks can be traced back to a single common cause: lack of e-mail protocol authentication. This lack of authentication means that a receiving mail server cannot reliably verify that a particular message is in fact from the sender it claims to be from, making it harder to distinguish friend from foe. Find out more about new standards that can help.
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While a great deal of attention has been given to protecting companies’ electronic assets from outside threats, organizations must now turn their attention to an equally dangerous situation: data loss from the inside. Given today’s strict regulatory standards, data loss prevention (DLP) has become one of the most critical issues facing executives. Fortunately, effective technical solutions are now available that can help.
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In today’s Internet-connected global economy, the market doesn’t allow for companies to sit back and relax into a comfortable niche. Customer loyalty is ever harder to maintain, and you risk losing your business to competition if you can’t respond quickly to market change. Before you lose any more ground, find out how to replace your disconnected, redundant business processes with flexible and efficient ones integrated by IT.
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Service excellence alone is not enough to ensure future growth and profitability in today’s challenging market. Streamlining IT processes is essential to your business workflow. Whatever your professional services software needs—from customer relationship management (CRM) to human capital management—it’s time to learn your lessons: find out key strategies and best practices that can help your company grow profitably.
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University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) had never suffered from a shortage of data sources. But the executives felt it wasn’t effectively using this data to make decisions—leading the university to seek a solution that would help it rise above the data confusion. With an automated dashboard system from ActiveStrategy, the UWHC has aggregated its data and can now focus on issues that will help move its strategy forward.
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While many small to medium businesses (SMBs) manage their own data communication systems, most rely on the phone company to take care of their voice communications. But as the world of voice and data communications converge, it’s even more important for SMB managers to understand the basics of communication networks and how they work. Read more about the basics of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and its benefits.
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If you’re like many small businesses, you may be overwhelmed by the plethora of technologies that all claim to grow your business, reduce your expenses, improve customer service, and enhance employee productivity. But which technologies will really make a difference for your business? And how do you know which ones are right for you? We review four important technologies and show you how they can work to your benefit.
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In the past, full efficiency was almost impossible for most manufacturing sites thanks to lack of integration between plant systems and business systems. But that’s changing now, with the advent of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA). SOA allows you to change and improve your processes without expensive IT integration projects. Learn about the business opportunities SOA can create for you.
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The future, they say, is demand-driven. Not having the data you need to forecast your supply and demand processes means you’re in the slow lane toward a successful future. But if you already know store information is vital to your supply chain, you’re halfway there. Go the distance: learn how direct store delivery (DSD) solutions can give your consumer package goods (CPG) company more control over supply chain processes.
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How can you leverage your current IT infrastructure without increasing complexity—and cost? Creating the next generation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) via enterprise services architecture (ESA) outsourcing can make your IT system leaner, less expensive, and more adaptive. Read more for a clear picture of how to avoid difficulties when adopting an enterprise services approach for your back-office processes.
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You’re planning to upgrade your business intelligence (BI) solution and can’t wait for implementation. But are you sure of how to take advantage of its key value drivers, or which functionalities are best for your organization? And can you anticipate—and minimize—implementation risks? Find out how an upgrade assessment done by experienced professionals can help you develop a proven upgrade plan and lower associated costs.
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The rules for success in today’s fiercely competitive market are constantly changing. Through service delivery innovation, a company can differentiate itself. But how do you change your service delivery methods to keep existing clients and entice new ones? A networked organization is one of six characteristics of successful service delivery innovation. Find out how you can put them into practice and attain the benefits.
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Changing business practices, especially those that consolidate business and IT functions, requires careful research and decision making. For companies needing to move beyond traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, enterprise service applications (ESA) can help reduce the complexity of having disparate IT systems. Find out about the benefits of ESA and how it can help you achieve operational excellence.
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Professional service providers are starting to apply supply chain management concepts to their strategies for hiring and retaining talent. Adapting to market demands such as globalization and a more sophisticated client base means human resources departments need a complete and integrated process of talent management. But hiring and keeping top talent can also help you increase revenues and increase client loyalty. Find out how.
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Managing growth is a monumental undertaking—and one that Valero Energy Corporation has mastered. But as one of the largest oil refinery companies in North America, with revenues exceeding $90 billion (USD), the company needed to find a way to fit new applications into its existing infrastructure in a quick and cost-effective manner. By switching to SAP’s NetWeaver platform, Valero saved $480,000 (USD) in the first month.
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A recent study by Jupiter Research found that e-mail marketers using Web analytics click-stream data to generate targeted e-mail campaigns produce an impressive average click-through rate of 14 percent, and a conversion rate of 3.9 percent. Can your business claim numbers this high? If not, find out how you can with Web analytics tools that will help you gain insight on your subscribers’ behaviors while increasing sales.
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As one of North America’s premier producers of duck products, Maple Leaf Farms knew the importance of delivering fresh, quality goods to its customers. But in order to streamline its manufacturing, shipping, and reporting processes, it would need to invest in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Since implementing ERP, the company has profited from greater inventory control and improved customer service.
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As one of the largest gear manufacturers in India, Sona Koyo knew that in order to retain its competitive edge, changes to its legacy systems would be required. On average, Sona’s employees were wasting 5 percent of their time redoing paperwork and tracking activities. Since integrating a business process management (BPM) system, Sona’s employees have cut down their tracking time down to zero hours with minimal efforts.
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The reasons most enterprises upgrade to an IP PBX system range from wanting to replace outdated equipment, to saving money, to adding needed functionality, to keeping up with growth. To evaluate competing offers from both established and new vendors, you need to learn about the market, background information, technology, standards, and the features and services that are critical and important to enterprises. Learn more.
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Today’s midsized distributors can benefit from their software systems in ways that were impossible a few years ago. By layering advanced, affordable supply chain management (SCM) and electronic data interchange (EDI) functionality on top of their existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, they can profit from improved productivity and lower labor costs. Find out how.
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Sant Joan de Déu Hospital is one of the most important hospitals in Spain, and specializes in pediatrics and women’s medicine. Because of its status, it needed to find a way to automate its internal processes and develop a corporate portal for patients and health professionals. Since deploying a business process management (BPM) solution, Sant Joan has increased accessibility and created autonomy within its departments.
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When it comes to US Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, safe change actions are critical. But what’s the best approach for file integrity monitoring and change detection? While there are many solutions on the market, continuous file integrity monitoring (CFIM) is winning over the competition worldwide. Find out how CFIM can handle your operational control monitoring requirements.
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If the auditors came knocking, would you be prepared? When they do come, you’ll need to be ready to answer some tough questions regarding your change management processes. Implementing and assessing change management controls for Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliance in the US can be a very expensive and time consuming process. Find out how you can reduce the SOX burden by improving the way you manage your change processes.
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The University of Maryland School of Medicine had already experienced VMware technology as a way to consolidate its servers; what it didn’t realize was that the company’s solution could also address its disaster recovery needs. By combining two storage technologies—creating a common storage area network (SAN)—the school has reduced unexpected downtime from hours to seconds and has saved thousands of dollars in hardware costs.
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As the Microsoft Exchange environment continues to grow, building and managing the underlying IT infrastructure becomes increasingly difficult for Exchange administrators. Adding more and more storage can lead to frequent system downtime and slower response times. Discover seven ways your administrators can spend less time on day-to-day Microsoft Exchange management—while planning for future growth in the process.
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The pressure to reduce costs, increase network performance, and improve productivity has been a constant battle for IT and telecommunications groups alike. While new technologies have emerged to help solve some of these requirements, in many cases they have proven to be inefficient and expensive. Find out how Layer 2 link balancing technologies can help your organization build a faster, smarter wide area network (WAN).
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Is it possible for a business to ensure uninterrupted, secure, and high-performance access to network-based business applications and web sites? Yes. With network load balancers, user requests are evenly distributed among available servers so that individual servers do not become overwhelmed. Learn about the basics of load balancing and how it can improve the performance and security of your business applications.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) can benefit from the expansive use of IT just as much as their larger counterparts. And in many cases they have to, because of their interactions not only with remote users, but with suppliers and customers as well. To this end, an SMB’s IT infrastructure needs to be resilient and secure. To ensure end-to-end care of data assets, businesses need to adopt the right strategy. Find out how.
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As the global marketplace continues to become more competitive, enterprises are struggling with how to retain their competitive edge. While many have transferred their databases to internet protocol (IP) to replace outdated systems, some have yet to upgrade their phone systems as part their strategy. Discover how migrating to voice over IP (VoIP) as part of an overall telecommunications strategy can help your business.
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The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) was created by credit card companies to protect cardholder data, ensuring that merchants and service providers maintain the highest degree of information security. However, many retailers are still questioning its effectiveness and necessity in light of the high cost of compliance. Read this white paper to find out what this cost really means for your organization.
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Advanced phone features used to be out of reach for small businesses. Then came Internet connectivity, local area network (LAN) networking, and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Read this white paper for an overview of the basic elements you should look for when buying a phone system. Find out what enterprise telephony can offer you, including available features as well as the pros and cons of traditional VoIP systems.
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The US energy sector has experienced recent loss of counterparty confidence. To offset this, managing credit risk has become paramount. Knowing what the risks are is just the start—risk mitigation methods must be used to reduce overall credit risk exposure and to free up capital resources. Find out three key ways to mitigate risk, and how a clearing, novation, and release agreement (CNRA) can help guarantee collateral.
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The blade server market is one of many fast growing in the IT industry, helping large businesses resolve issues with power, cooling, and space constraints in their datacenters. But what about the mid-market customer whose needs are very different? Hewlett Packard (HP) addresses these needs with the launch of its new HP BladeSystem c3000—a complete blade server and storage solution designed with the mid-market in mind.
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As businesses become increasingly dependent on technology, service quality becomes more important. With so much riding on IT’s performance, a new service-centric model has emerged: service lifecycle management (SLcM). Based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles, SLcM provides a framework that enables organizations to optimize business outcomes and facilitate continual service improvement.
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Today’s configuration management tools focus on collecting and reporting statistics, logs, and failures, but fail to address the need for analyzing this data to determine best practices for improving efficiencies. That’s why Configuresoft has developed software that enables you to link core systems configuration and change management disciplines into actionable analytics. Find out how it can work for you.
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Canadian manufacturers are getting squeezed. Challenged by a rising Canadian dollar, forced to hold the line on prices in the US market, pressured by customer demand for lower prices, better quality, and quicker service, these manufacturers need a way to retain their competitive edge and increase bottom-line profitability. Find out why product data management (PDM) is a solution you can turn to in these challenging times.
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Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS) is a popular tool for the Windows platform that offers essential version control features and helps promote team collaboration. However, while it performs certain functions well, it’s not optimized for remote access, lacks many critical security features, and suffers from stability problems. Find out why many developers are now switching from VSS to SourceAnywhere Standalone.
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A business phone system is only as effective as its implementation. Despite its streamlined architecture, installing a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone system can present some challenges. The key to a successful rollout is a well-planned, phased approach. Following these 10 steps can help you lay the foundation for a system overhaul as well as streamline your business communications for many years to come.
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Data deduplication is one of the hottest technologies in storage today. However, with many different deduplication approaches from various vendors—each hyping its own unique benefits—it’s easy to get caught up in determining which factors are most important for you. Discover the different methodologies used in design deduplication solutions so you can make the right decision the first time.
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The teachers at Bangor Township Schools in Michigan (US) wanted a way to monitor students’ computer screens to make sure computers were being used for classroom projects and not games or messaging. Insight, Faronics’ classroom management solution, allows teachers to monitor every screen and to send warnings to students who visit inappropriate web sites. Read about the other benefits these teachers gained with Insight.
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According to Web services provider IronPort, over 92 billion spam messages are sent around the world daily. While it may seem like an uphill battle, several strategies are available that can help. To combat these threats, many organizations are implementing new technologies to secure their inboxes by blocking unsolicited messages. Discover what other tactics your business can adopt to help e-mail deliverability.
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It’s an inescapable, undisputable fact that most organizations have conflict between IT security and IT operations. Having been given two distinctive—yet potentially contradictory—goals, in a sense they were destined to be at odds with one another. What does it take to bridge the gap between these two teams to achieve compliance? Can standardized processes and software tools help (or hinder) this effort? Find out here.
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The competitive nature of the financial services industry today and the changing landscape of the customer approach to investing puts an onus on suppliers to consider how well they are dealing with customers’ business transactions. In order to provide better customer service—while at the same time improving operations—these organizations must invest in a system that allows real-time visibility of the entire process.
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When it comes to your Web applications, speed is the only metric that matters. After all, Web apps handle the bulk of your critical operations, from inventory and customer relations, to sales and accounting. They’re essential for interacting with your business partners, and without them there’d be no such thing as e-commerce. Read this guide to find out what you can do to accelerate your Web applications to top speed.
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If you’re moving toward outsourcing and a dispersed workforce, deploying a centralized knowledge and document repository is going to be one of your biggest challenges. All users, regardless of their location, expect reasonable application response times to actively participate in the knowledge exchange process within your organization. Find out what you can do to overcome this challenge—before it hits your bottom line.
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Managing a newly deployed voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) integration project is not as easy as some IT managers believe it to be. Delivering voice traffic over the IP network is time-consuming, and requires the right tools and a proper budget. To fully understand the costs associated with IP telephony implementation, businesses must first conduct a thorough evaluation of their management options—prior to deployment.
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Human resources (HR) systems have been around for many years, providing robust and efficient solutions for companies of all sizes. When properly designed, implemented, and maintained, these systems allow companies to engage and nurture their employees and critical processes. When these systems are neglected, however, the result is a loss of competitive edge, increased employee dissatisfaction, and unnecessary costs.
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Manufacturers today face increasing pressures to boost revenues and secure profitability. But for them to realize the full financial value of these initiatives, they must invest in a system that can quickly and easily implement or consolidate core business applications. With QAD on-demand, businesses can reduce IT complexity and costs with simplified deployment options and complete application management alternatives.
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Why choose on-demand when there are so many integrated software solutions on the market? Because on-demand packages provide a number of benefits that can help IT focus on innovation and creating true business value, rather than dealing with network headaches. But along with the benefits there are a number of challenges. Read more about these challenges and how you can manage your on-demand implementation project.
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Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 is frequently deployed in small or midsize applications. And while many customers view it as an excellent small network-attached storage (NAS) solution, they often move to larger, proprietary file server appliances when their needs expand beyond its capacity. This approach, however, adds more expense and complexity. But with Sanbolic’s Melio Cluster, capacity can be added as needed.
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Microsoft System Management Server 2003 and Operations Manager 2005 storage monitoring solutions provide the necessary tools to centrally manage and monitor Windows client and server infrastructure. Now, Sanbolic’s LaScala clustered volume manager and related products offer a complementary toolkit which enables administrators to centrally configure and assign storage assets in a storage area network (SAN) environment.
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To solve your data-intensive problems and deal with data storage tasks, you might consider a two-tier method. How? By using service-oriented architecture (SOA) to make distributed systems interoperable. Why? SOA can optimize data storage architecture, transparently and securely, to maximize and optimize access to large quantities of data. Learn about other benefits, and the steps that are best for your IT infrastructure.
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Administrative errors can and do happen, but native tools do little to aid administrators in this area. While Microsoft’s Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is a great tool for managing group policy, it has its limitations. Discover how to implement best-practice approaches to help successfully extend the deployment of group policy to your server security settings, while reducing costs and minimizing errors.
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Effective IT disaster recovery (DR) and planning is essential for every business. However, IT environments have become so complex that safeguarding the business against disasters can present some major challenges. One way to improve your business disaster recovery planning is by pre-testing DR scenarios using network simulation. Find out how a simulation testing solution can help you better protect your business.
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Company employees, business partners, and customers all demand secure and low-response-time access to business applications—from wherever they are. While SAP addresses this need through its enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) solution, when security features are added the application response time is slower. So what’s the best way to test global SOA deployments? Read this white paper to find out.
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UreSil, a manufacturer of specialized health care products, feared its legacy manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software was hindering efficiency and compliance. The Sage ERP X3 enterprise resource planning (ERP) came to the rescue, and after a formal ERP training program, full implementation required only one week. All processes, including tracking and inventory, are now streamlined, flexible—and compliant.
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Are you on top of data security compliance? Is your source code secure? Are you looking for a new approach that can help ensure these things are taken care of? With SourceAnyware Hosted solution—which provides 128-bit SSL encryption—your data is protected and your source code is secured from attacks. Find out how SourceAnywhere can help you lower total cost of ownership and improve your development team productivity.
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As businesses become increasingly dependent on the effective delivery of IT services over global networks, technologies that optimize application performance over wide area networks (WANs) become more competitive. But how do you know which WAN to choose when there are so many solutions on the market? By learning about WAN best practices and principles, and by making comparative evaluations of competing vendors’ offerings.
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The nature of software is that it constantly evolves, requiring regular updates throughout its lifetime as new features are introduced. But managing and implementing these changes is often left to experienced administrators who are often overwhelmed with other projects. Find out how moving to a delegated administration model can help your business improve its administrative productivity, system availability, and security.
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Increasing user productivity is an ongoing challenge for many companies. While an abundance of online information and applications is available to them, facilitating fast and secure access to the information can be a complex task. An integrated provisioning and single sign-on (SSO) solution provides secure access to the network from the moment an employee starts the job—enabling full productivity from day one.
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The threats faced by small to medium businesses (SMBs) are multidimensional and must be handled differently from big enterprises, given the smaller number of personnel dedicated to look after them. The ideal security software for SMBs looking to protect their information systems would be the combination of antivirus, antispam, and content security solutions, combined with a powerful network firewall. Find out why it works.
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When you connect to the Internet, you do so through the Windows Socket (Winsock) layer. While this layer is an integral part of the Windows operating system and acts as an interface between your computer and the Net, it cannot distinguish the difference between good traffic and bad. MicroWorld Winsock Layer (MWL) technology helps by sitting on the Winsock layer and analyzing the traffic—before it gets to your computer.
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Today’s business processes place high demands on IT infrastructure, and the answer often is integration of software and hardware resources. Now you can integrate by separating: divide logical processing and storage resources from the physical hardware on which they run, and help make virtualization a powerful tool for improving your data center’s flexibility, reliability, and use—while reducing cost of management.
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Virtual data centers must enable increased physical server use and central management of virtual machine infrastructure. A clustered file system, with a virtual machine manager (VMM), can add critical new management and migration capability to current virtual servers. Before installing and configuring VMM, find out the hardware and software required for migration and integration, and helpful “how-to” pointers.
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What do you do with a growing number of customers and not enough office space for workers? Health eConnex, a health care claims-processing service, found the solution in optical character recognition (OCR) for AnyDoc Software’s remote verification feature. Now employees telework, processing 75,000 claims a day with 99.5 percent accuracy. Learn how the solution helped make manual data entry a thing of the past.
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In a 2006 SAP survey, 93 percent of respondents experienced data management issues during their most recent projects. The problem: many organizations believe that they are using master data, when in fact what they are relying on is data that is dispersed throughout the enterprise. Discover the importance of master data and how the ideal master data management (MDM) solution can help your business get it under control.
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The amount of malware that is being released around the world is increasing at an alarming rate. To combat these cyber-crimes, new layers of protection are needed that take advantage of automating the entire malware protection cycle—from sample collection, analysis and classification, to remediation. By combing automation with Panda’s Collective Intelligence, targeted attacks can be detected more quickly and efficiently.
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For advocacy firms, safeguarding client information is of paramount importance. One key concern for these law firms is the presence of vulnerabilities in their networks due to the general lack of user awareness in information security issues. While there are a number of solutions on the market to combat threats, MicroWorld’s suite of security solutions provide highly advanced protection that businesses can rely on.
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Software implementation can be complex. Even when it seems all your business processes and systems are “go” after the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, there might still be room for improvement. Find out how a post-implementation system assessment of technical and functional systems can improve data capture accuracy, increase user buy-in, and boost your return on investment (ROI).
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Computerized numerical control (CNC) is crucial to the successful operation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application, but the road to success is sometimes rocky. To surmount the challenges of meeting your CNC needs, learn how an on-demand (or CNC managed services) model can improve your return on investment, and streamline and standardize your business processes.
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Spam has become a global epidemic. And because it is constantly evolving and mutating, spam makes it difficult to separate good e-mails from the bad. While most mail servers have mechanisms to combat spam, they often require third party solutions to eradicate spam from the network. Find out more about the shortcomings of established filtering methods, and how one community-based approach to filtering can work.
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Have you ever received a call from your existing long-distance phone company asking you to switch to its service and wondered why they are calling? Chances are the integrity of its data is so poor that the company has no idea who many of its customers are. The fact is, many businesses suffer from this same problem. The solution: implement a master data management (MDM) system that uses an accurate data matching process.
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Ensuring the quality, accuracy, and security of customer data has never been more important than it is today. The growing potential for privacy breaches and tighter compliance regulations have created unique challenges and responsibilities for many data providers. Here we discuss some of the key privacy issues surrounding data management, and how partnering with a provider of master data management (MDM) software can help.
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The most common challenge companies face when it comes to achieving scalability isn’t the cost, but the difficulty of predicting that cost once applications grow beyond a certain threshold. Don’t scale up—scale out, with coherent clustered caching. Learn about caching methods that can help improve and predict scalability, as well as maintain accurate and up-to-date data, even in the face of peak user load.
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Virtual private networks (VPNs) are optimized to perform specific functions within the remote access architecture. But deploying the often complex mix of approaches for managed and unmanaged devices can affect your security. Blue Coat RA provides a new approach that bridges the gap between traditional and endpoint security technologies—helping businesses meet remote access requirements in a simple, cost effective manner.
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Businesses today are increasingly committed to Web-enabled applications as a cost-effective way of delivering critical business solutions. But as more and more businesses follow suit, it becomes increasingly apparent that better performance and availability across the Internet must be realized by the early movers in order to maintain their lead. With the deployment of advanced products and services, this can be achieved.
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Blade computing is a new computing architecture that provides a highly dense, scalable, and powerful flexible platform to support businesses’ software needs. Blade architecture was once used for simple server consolidation, but it has now become a way of managing IT assets, which provides significant business benefits. Find out how a blade system can benefit your company while optimizing your existing infrastructure.
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Today, more business than ever is done in branch offices or at remote sites, but very few IT resources are actually hosted there. To reduce costs, businesses often consolidate applications—but consolidation can lead to poor performance. With the right solution, however, acceleration techniques—like bandwidth management and protocol optimization—can be properly dispersed to remote applications, helping increase performance.
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According to Symantec, 40 percent of malicious attacks target your browser. With Web content threats quickly on the rise, there’s an opportunity for businesses to enhance their Web filtering strategies. Enforcing appropriate use policy and providing robust Web content security, however, requires a dynamic filtering solution that can mitigate a variety of content security threats—not only today but in the future as well.
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Although secure sockets layer (SSL) is a ubiquitous enabler of e-commerce and outsourcing, it creates a special challenge for network administrators and security professionals because its encryption is known to decelerate data. In order to regain control over application delivery—when everything business-related is encrypted—organizations need to look toward SSL-aware solutions that can help decipher and accelerate data.
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A secure and accurate flow of information in your supply chain operations has never been more critical—and complex. Digital transfer of unstructured information is a security risk, for both confidentiality and compliance, and traditional file transfer methods are now falling short. A managed file transfer solution combining hardware, software, and networks can meet your demands for visibility, security, and compliance.
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To ensure end-to-end visibility while still meeting multiple trading partner requirements in your supply chain operations, one solution is to consolidate with a single value-added network (VAN). Looking for a migration partner? Want to know more about the latest in VAN solutions? Learn the drill without tripping any alarms: use a best-practices checklist to help make your VAN migration simple and seamless.
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To understand the complex relationship between business and customer, there are several questions companies must ask. How much do we spend on advertising to reach out to customers? How much do our customers spend on purchasing our products? With customers scattered all over the globe, it’s difficult to know. With an organizational hierarchy management solution, finding the answer to these questions just got easier.
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As the solution of choice for many companies, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have helped many manufacturers operate more efficiently and effectively. By streamlining business operations, ERP systems can solve many of the problems faced by today’s manufacturing companies—and help them become leaner and more competitive. Find out how an ERP solution can work for your company.
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A call center can be so much more to your enterprise than a costly necessity. By carefully selecting an on-premise contact center solution, your company can boost revenues, retain customers, and discover customer service strengths and weaknesses in the long term. But before making a purchase, do you have the information you need about your current situation? Find out what to ask before you buy.
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Explosive data growth, shrinking backup windows, and unreliable restores are just a few of the issues you have to manage on a daily basis—especially if you’re using a legacy tape backup application system. But you can still use your legacy system by extending its life and enhancing its reliability with a hardware-based disk compression solution. Find out how, and considerably reduce your backup and recovery times.
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The capacity of today’s storage systems is increasing at an astonishing rate. But the truth is: the more storage you have, the more you use. So, how do you create an efficient data storage system? And how much space can it really save you? Advanced single instance storage (A-SIS) deduplication can reduce storage consumption up to 95 percent—helping you conserve disk space, while keeping your system overhead low.
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Chances are, if you’re backing up your data, you’re using backup tape as your solution. But advances in data management technologies are making disk-to-disk (D2D) backup a vital component of any sane data protection strategy. In fact, D2D backup provides answers to the challenges threatening traditional tape backup strategies. Find out how to evaluate the different advanced data protection solutions available on the market today.
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Storage system administrators are constantly battling with growing volumes of data. But can you create more space-efficient storage? You can. With a data virtualization solution like NetApp Snapshot, administrators can create point-in-time copies of data volumes—consuming only a fraction of the space normally required. Find out how using data virtualization tools can help reduce your ongoing data storage management costs.
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Accounting firm Fox and Fiorino P.A. knew there had to be a better way to take care of billing. With most of its billing being entered manually, no real-time reporting was available to ensure accuracy. So in 2003, the company implemented BillQuick. With this automated time-keeping and billing solution, Fox and Fiorino has improved the quality of its information, reduced overtime, and increased revenues and cash flow.
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Every company faces different challenges and has different needs in regard to enterprise resource planning (ERP). Choosing the right ERP system can be difficult because there is really no one-size-fits-all ERP solution. However, there are certain basic principles that apply to nearly every company’s situation. Find out what they are, and learn how you can increase your chances of a successful ERP implementation.
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The first step in any enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation involves bringing together the team that will plan and implement the project—your ERP task force. But who should be a part of this task force and why? Selecting the right people is imperative and can play a major role in determining the success or failure of your ERP effort. Find out about what you should beware of when assembling your team.
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When it comes to business-to-business (B2B) communications, two of the basic requirements for regulatory compliance are having a reliable network and a high quality dial tone. So why would you want to settle for anything less? To ensure that both are obtained, many companies are entrusting their data—and their compliance responsibilities—to the Inovis Multienterprise Expert Services Hub (MESH) platform. Find out why.
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E-mail archiving systems are no longer simply tools that focus on regulatory compliance, but instead are multifaceted systems that can help companies satisfy legal discovery requirements, improve messaging-related storage management, and assist in disaster recovery efforts. While there are several solutions available, a hosted solution can offer a number of important benefits you should consider.
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Does your business have a records management policy that addresses e-mail? Well if it doesn’t, now’s the time to consider adopting one. To meet Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) requirements, businesses must create and enforce a clear corporate messaging policy. With Fortiva’s on-demand archiving solution, your legal team can easily develop e-mail policies—making compliance with legal discovery demands much easier.
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With the recent amendments made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), businesses must take a closer look at how they manage their electronic data. Recent studies have shown that many companies are not prepared for how these changes will affect their business. To improve their governance procedures to meet these new requirements, businesses must invest in technology that can adequately preserve electronic data.
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It’s no secret that there is a bevy of deployment options available with most customer relationship management (CRM) solutions today—ranging from customized to out-of-the-box. But with choice comes complexity. In order for CRM buyers to choose wisely, they must find a deployment approach that best matches their needs while delivering superior performance, application integration, and functionality. Find out how.
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Even when business revenues decline, the demand for IT services often continues to increase. To meet those challenges, both businesses and IT partners must come to terms with the demand and delivery needs of each group. Strong communication between the user and the IT provider is essential. Strategize your initiatives and transform your business: find out key recommendations to manage IT supply and demand relationships.
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Wi-Fi has become the access method of choice for users at the office, at home, and on the road. According to research, nearly 200 million Wi-Fi chipsets were sold in 2006 alone. But can Wi-Fi work effectively in a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment? Yes it can. To deliver Wi-Fi more reliably to increasingly diverse devices requires a self-configuring platform that covers larger areas and higher user densities.
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For consumers, fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) means a world where integrated voice and data services are available anywhere through a single mobile handset. For carriers, FMC represents a lucrative opportunity to leverage inexpensive technology. This technology, however, has its technical challenges, making performance hard to predict. To be successful, carriers need to understand the factors that influence this behavior.
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Today, dozens of independent operating companies and international carriers offer Internet protocol TV (IPTV) services to homes around the world. But IPTV for in-home distribution has been a weak link in the IPTV delivery chain—until now. Ruckus Wireless multimedia systems can help overcome current Wi-Fi limitations and enhance subscriber experience by uniquely enabling a whole-home network for video, voice, and data.
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Radio communications are subject to unpredictable behavior due to environmental dependencies and various types of interference. But with the proper operating parameters and an agile antenna system, many of these impairments can be mitigated. Using smart antenna technology like Wi-Fi, with its adaptive real-time system, you can greatly improve the transport of demanding applications in challenging wireless environments.
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It is widely acknowledged that unauthorized changes made to an IT infrastructure cause up to 80 percent of a system’s unavailability. So what key ingredient is needed to reduce that percentage? By adding change control to an existing or planned change management infrastructure, businesses can improve IT service availability, lower compliance costs, and accelerate their IT infrastructure library (ITIL) implementations.
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There are key systems in every infrastructure where unapproved change can pose significant business risk. These guidelines show you how to properly categorize these systems in order to identify those that have risk characteristics. By learning how to identify critical change control failure points in your infrastructure, you reduce the threat of costly downtime, potential security breaches, and compliance weaknesses.
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Identity theft and credit card fraud affect all businesses—and the problem is only getting worse. In order to combat these threats, credit card companies have joined forces to introduce the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). For financial institutions, complying with PCI DSS by using real-time monitoring and selective enforcement software can help to relieve the burden of unauthorized changes.
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Deploying and migrating JaveEE applications is hard work, the kind that is error-prone, repetitive, and time-consuming, resulting in lost man-hours, soaring costs, and potential configuration issues that are bound to pop up later. In response to this complex environment, Phurnace Software has created a software application that accelerates the deployment of JavaEE applications and helps to minimize errors.
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Before an organization can truly realize the cost and agility benefits of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA), there are a few concepts it should know about. By understanding the various stages of SOA adoption and by knowing what technologies are available, an organization will stand a better chance of succeeding in its SOA initiatives. With these seven steps, effective SOA can be realized.
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For over 30 years, Madison Chemical Industries has sold 100 percent polyurethane coatings and linings to companies around the globe. With the technical challenges it faced as a growing company, it was becoming clear that the DOS-based system it was using to maintain its inventory had to go. With an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, however, Madison has been able to reduce its inventory by 15 percent.
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Raining Rose, maker of body care products, started as a family hobby back in 1996. Since then, business has soared—making it one of the fastest growing companies in the US. In 2004, however, it faced serious challenges related to this rapid growth; poor inventory control was affecting customer service. But since deploying an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, it has seen vast improvements in inventory accuracy.
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Superior Quality Foods was growing, but poor inventory control was impacting its profitability. To ensure there was enough stock to meet production needs, it always ordered extra raw materials—just in case. To reduce costs and improve inventory control, Superior chose an enterprise resource planning (ERP) and mobile wireless inventory system—and since its implementation has realized 98 percent accuracy in inventory.
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Corporate governance encompasses the processes and systems by which organizations operate—and it affects every business. To effectively participate in governance processes, businesses should consider closed-loop service oriented architecture (SOA). Although stand-alone applications for governance, management, and security exist, find out why they do not enable the demand and value management that closed-loop SOA offers.
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Corporate IT organizations are struggling to satisfy the demands of a constantly evolving business environment. Lowering costs and responding to changing markets are a few of the challenges they face. Another is understanding how to leverage mission-critical applications as they develop new composite applications. Find out how deploying a service-oriented legacy architecture (SOLA) can help—and save you time and money.
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Corporate IT departments and independent software vendors (ISV) alike are faced with a number of similar business challenges. One such challenge is the problem of how to derive additional value from their existing Windows and UNIX software applications and create advantage with Web-enabled solutions. Discover the pros and cons of Web-based and Web-enabled applications—and learn about the solutions that lead the pack.
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Linux operating systems are taking the world by storm, and have seen double-digit growth rates for seven consecutive quarters. With its promise of higher performance and better stability and security, Linux has become the alternative to traditional Windows-based servers. By deploying Linux in key strategic areas and taking advantage of application publishing solutions, you can lower your costs and speed time-to-market.
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Nearly half of all US companies have serious data quality issues. The problem is that most are not thinking about their business data as being valuable. But in reality data has become—in some cases—just as valuable as inventory. The solution to most organizational data challenges today is to combine a strong data quality program with a master data management (MDM) program, helping businesses leverage data as an asset.
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“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack!” That saying and Internet site searches go together like ham and eggs. To help maximize search effectiveness, many online retailers are now establishing competitive advantages through site search analytics. By manufacturing and analyzing search content, they’re improving the relevancy of search results, thus closing the gap between searching and finding—and buying.
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The security provisions of the US Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) are complex and process-intensive, and non-compliant financial institutions and their officers have suffered penalties as a result. With QualysGuard’s vulnerability management and policy compliance solution—including on-demand auditing capabilities—financial institutions can easily meet the key security guidelines that are detailed in the GLBA.
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Despite the defensive efforts of firewalls, intrusion detection, antivirus solutions, and the like, criminals, careless employees, and contractors have exposed more than 158 million digital records of consumers personally identifiable information since 2005. With this critical need for stronger network security, Qualys has developed an on-demand solution that effectively manages these vulnerabilities.
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While most information vulnerabilities stem from external intrusion and theft of data, there remains a greater potential for information to be lost, stolen, or accidentally erased by internal sources—the employees. Don’t let this be the case with your business! Information vulnerability management (IVM) is a corporate issue—one that needs addressing. To learn how you can reduce your exposure, download this white paper.
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As with all things, there’s a good side and a bad side—the Internet is no different. Although it improves communication between businesses and customers, it can also overwhelm customers that are bombarded with marketing e-mails on a daily basis. Customers want more convenient contact channels. Smart companies understand this and are responding by adopting a multichannel approach to customer relationship management (CRM).
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As a provider of employee benefits, CIGNA must observe a bevy of regulatory compliance mandates. Because much of its efforts are compliance-focused, it continually embraces technology, searching for new products to better manage its benefit offerings and track its security risks. With QualysGuard’s vulnerability management solution, CIGNA has mitigated vulnerabilities and remained up-to-date with compliance regulations.
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With a vast global network that supports over 60,000 employees, vulnerability and risk management programs are crucial for Oracle GIT. To further enhance its IT system risk management capabilities, Oracle deployed QualysGuard’s on-demand software vulnerability and compliance management solution. Since its deployment, Oracle has optimized its scanning capabilities and automated its demand security auditing processes.
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As one of the largest Internet marketplaces, eBay proclaims that the trust it enables between buyers and sellers has been the key to its success. To ensure continued success, eBay wanted to standardize its network security auditing and remediation processes, and turned to QualysGuard’s vulnerability management solution. With Qualys’ automated solution, eBay can now quickly and easily remediate any network vulnerabilities.
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To keep your growing business competitive, your data center must be secure, protected against disaster, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But if managing IT is not your core competence, what are your options? A managed service provider (MSP) can help. Learn about the benefits of outsourcing data center management, and make sure your crucial business applications are always available when you need them.
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Corporate concern for the environment is no longer just an issue of compliancy. Businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about how much energy is required by their IT operations, especially by their data centers. Greening IT starts in the data center: find out how data center consolidation—and other solutions—can help you reduce energy consumption, and even increase productivity and efficiency.
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The communications landscape has never been more complex nor offered so many choices and solutions as it does today. As more employees go mobile, companies need to be able to offer better communication capabilities to their people. The convergence of technologies involved, however, can cause service provider issues and create confusion for customers. To solve these issues, several questions need to be asked.
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When it comes to data and storage management, midsize organizations often face similar issues to those of their larger counterparts. Rapid data growth, business continuity, and data archiving are just a few of the problems they must deal with. By coupling IP-based storage area network (SAN) technology with Ethernet-based SAN connectivity, however, organizations can gain higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness.
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With the increasing complexity of the data center and its dependent systems, data center automation (DCA) is becoming a necessity. To replace the costly and inefficient human aspect of managing the data center, IT departments must adopt DCA solutions. Combined with utility-based computing architectures, these solutions can provide greater dynamics in the environment and facilitate speed of response to market demands.
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Remote access to source code is a requirement for today’s development teams. Popular source control packages are ideal for sharing code across a local area network (LAN), but when used remotely over the Internet, they cause problems in performance, security, and flexibility. Find out how remote-access middleware does more than increase your network speed. It can protect your code base and provide multiplatform support.
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For small businesses with limited budgets and IT support, customer relationship management (CRM) has been out of reach. Until now, these small companies have missed out on the benefits provided by CRM because most applications were built for larger companies. New technology, however, has now emerged that levels the playing field for these smaller businesses by providing a fully customizable and affordable CRM system.
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What can user-driven applications like Morello and Microsoft’s Office SharePoint (MOSS) 2007 do to help your web content management strategy? By combining the two, users can develop web applications and collaborative workspaces themselves rather than acquiring IT development input. In doing so, they unlock the silos of working practices and content stores, and add significant value to the web content management strategy.
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When testing firm Promissor’s system kept crashing, it knew it was time to make a change. With over 800 employees made up of part-timers, temporary workers, and employees on various pay cycles, its payroll team was constantly reconstructing lost time sheets and wasting valuable time. Since implementing an automated Web-based solution, it has benefited from improved data collection accuracy and reduced manual processing.
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Non-profit organization The March of Dimes realized that to continue its success, it would need to find more efficient and effective ways to work. Its human resources (HR) department was doing most of its HR and payroll processes manually—for over 1400 employees in various locations. To automate these processes, it turned to a Web-based application and has since significantly cut down on processing time and expense.
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There are many factors to consider when purchasing a new phone system. In addition to planning the scale of your proposed system and how long you expect to use it, you should also think about the number and type of features you need, from call hold and speed dial, to computer telephony integration (CTI). Put your money where your voicemail is: find out about the latest phone system features and improve your bottom line.
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Small-business users of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) have very different needs. But all users have similar concerns when it comes to cost, the range of features, and the level of service included in their VoIP plans. Does your provider offer remote office features? Fax support? E-911? And do you need a hosted or an on-premise service? Before you sign the contract, there are a few things you ought to know.
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TESTCo was accustomed to managing its issue tracking for software testing using Microsoft Excel or one of its customers’ homegrown solutions. But as operations expanded, the company realized it needed a better system to manage this process—one that could monitor issues and ensure they were resolved and documented. Using ProjectLockers Issue Manager, TESTCo has benefited by saving on maintenance hours and costs.
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For many years, S&C Electric, a global provider of electric power system equipment, used internally built tracking and Subversion data to manage source code and documents and to track viruses. But as it grew, its needs became more complex, and more maintenance time was required. A managed source control solution now manages and protects S&C Electric’s intellectual property, and saves the company a lot in man-hours.
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Software company Terra Technology’s development team often worked remotely, without a centralized development system. Managing documents manually was quickly becoming an unproductive use of the team s time—and increased its chances of making errors. Since using ProjectLocker’s document management system, Terra Technology has saved valuable time and money, and can now focus on its core competency—supply chain software.
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When crafting an e-mail marketing campaign, a few guidelines should be followed in order to maximize its effectiveness. Believe it or not, e-mail marketing is not only an art, but a science as well. Carefully balancing the needs of the audience, properly communicating your inspiring message, and using the right technology to manage the interaction are some of the key ingredients needed to make it a success.
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Any geographically distributed business with three or more remote sites has likely dealt with tape-based backup systems. If this sounds like your business, then you certainly understand the complexities involved with managing growing data—not to mention the risks. The good new is that an agentless, multisite backup and recovery software solution is available that can offer a high-speed alternative to tape-based systems.
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Would spending millions of dollars and countless hours securing your data center be enough for it to pass a compliance audit? While many businesses work hard at securing their data centers, they often forget to secure remote office data. With the consequences of non-compliance ranging from financial penalties to job loss and worse, it could mean the end of your business. Don’t let compliance become your Achilles heel.
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IT managers today face plenty of problems when it comes to protecting remote office data—problems that agentless architecture could eliminate. Many organizations outsource their data protection, which can be costly. But an agentless architecture disk-to-disk (D2D) software solution can offer your business bottom-line benefits that range from lower administrative costs to pay-as-you-grow scalability and increased security.
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For customer relationship management (CRM) to work effectively, departments within an organization must communicate and have access to centralized information. But integrating front- and back-office applications shouldn’t involve compromise. Learn how to automate sales and CRM with accounting systems, with key pointers in planning your integration project. And find out how to boost your CRM return on investment (ROI).
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Online advertising has grown so fast that it has surpassed billboards, magazines, and cable in spending. Local advertising is growing even faster, and the need to provide competitive services to advertisers is becoming imperative. As demand for local listings increases, a tool enabling advertisers to manage their own web site listings will not only save them significant operating dollars, it’ll provide a competitive edge.
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Today’s IT professionals are often challenged by unrelenting changes in the enterprise, increased data growth and compliance regulations, and geographic distribution of assets, to name a few. Keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) over Internet protocol (IP) can help by providing an effective tool that can remotely manage servers—regardless of their physical location. When looking for a KVM over IP solution, you should consider some basic requirements first.
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An estimated 55 percent of users of business critical applications work in remote locations. With so many users working remotely, networks become congested and user productivity suffers. Until now, wide area network (WAN) monitoring and shaping has required special appliances, but there’s a new alternative software-based solution available that leverages the power of the user’s PC—providing unprecedented traffic control.
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Is it possible to easily migrate from legacy tape devices to encrypting tape drives and still keep costs to a minimum? The answer is yes. With a comprehensive key management storage security system, a manageable and affordable migration process is achievable with a simple 3-step process. This process includes many benefits, such as a complete feature set that enhances system auditability and minimizes operational costs.
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What’s all this hype about wikis anyway? According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, wikis are descending from the crest of a hype wave and coasting into areas where real business value can be recognized. Why? Because their ability to allow corporate users to collaborate on any number of internal projects in an online environment where everyone is given an equal voice is not only empowering, but speeds the process of innovation.
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What can a managed Subversion solution do to help .NET businesses solve their integration problems? Subversion meets the challenge of software development by allowing teams to use branching and tagging methods that help them work better with their QA organizations. It also saves .NET businesses a lot of money over setting up and maintaining a development infrastructure in house, which keeps the cost of ownership manageable.
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Software development best practices can save you money and make your team more productive. When software development teams don’t invest in a solid development platform, it makes their work harder and often ends up costing them more money over time. A hosted platform, however, provides a level of convenience and savings that makes it the obvious choice for today’s IT development, management, and consulting organizations.
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What does Visibility’s .NET enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution have that others don’t? .NET technology. And because it contains no legacy code, it provides a system that’s accessible using a web-browser and has a user interface equal in functionality to a client-server application. In fact, any client PC with Internet Explorer 5.5 or later can operate it—without compromising the quality of the user experience.
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In their efforts to accelerate time to market and improve business process efficiency, many marketing organizations adopt customer relationship management (CRM). But CRM often falls short in exploiting the exponential growth of content associated with product and brand marketing. By using a digital asset management (DAM) solution, however, you can increase productivity and achieve a favorable return on investment (ROI).
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In today’s business world, heightened privacy concerns and tightened regulations such as the US Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act have forced organizations to improve their workflow and archival and records management processes. That's why many results-oriented organizations are now using workflow software—bringing together people, processes, and documents to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and meet compliance requirements.
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The future of customer service management (CRM) is changing—and SAP’s CRM 5.2 is a big part of the reason. SAP is known for constantly enhancing its products—whether it’s changing its tier architecture or introducing new dimensional components. But its latest in CRM technology provides many new features and functionalities, and introduces some of the latest trends. If you want to know more about SAP CRM 5.2, here it is.
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Today’s complex enterprise networks present unique challenges to those whose task it is to manage and secure them. Existing security measures that worked yesterday may not be sufficient tomorrow. But by combining Configuresoft’s Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) with Microsoft’s System Center 2007, businesses can secure their data, protect their bottom lines from costly downtime, and meet regulatory standards.
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If you’re dealing with increasing demands on your server storage by adding servers one at a time, the number of servers is growing hand in hand with management complexity, while stretching your IT budget. Make sure your data assets are covered—find out how server and storage consolidation storage systems can simplify storage management, increase flexibility, and advance data protection and disaster recovery.
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IT is often characterized as distinct groups pursuing individual agendas and launching disconnected initiatives to increase operational efficiencies. To overcome this, organizations need a set of capabilities that can help improve coordination between IT and the rest of the business while facilitating effective service management. Adopting foundational technologies and a best-practice benchmark is a good place to start.
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Most businesses today depend on their own IT departments to satisfy corporate governance objectives and meet increasing customer demand. Unfortunately, many have failed to clearly demonstrate to themselves—and to their customers—that they are truly managing their business. Only when the IT department understands what the business wants can it benchmark itself and build continual improvement plans that can meet these demands.
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Manufacturers’ business needs have changed significantly over the past few years, evolving the roles that technology plays within the manufacturing process. Two key technologies—enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM)—have developed into key success factors for manufacturers and when combined, provide a collaborative environment that adds value and helps in maintaining a competitive edge.
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Developing a good disaster recovery plan (DRP) in today’s business world is a must. In fact, downplaying the importance of a DRP can be costly—especially if you’re a small to medium business (SMB) that is slow in adopting DRP. Recent studies have shown that 40 percent of businesses that have encountered a disaster close their doors within the following five years. To stay afloat, here are ten steps that should be taken.
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Is scrambling to consolidate and virtualize your information systems department frazzling you and your hardware? Are management and infrastructure costs not as low as you’d like them to be? Separate your business applications from your physical server hardware—and make your virtual infrastructure more dynamic and flexible, while reducing costs. The trick is doing it without losing space or key data. Find out how.
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Enterprises of all sizes are building flexible storage infrastructures by using iSCSI and virtualization technologies that let them allocate and shift storage area network (SAN) resources dynamically in response to the demands of their virtualized server environments. Find out how a virtualized infrastructure with virtualization technologies can help you achieve an IT infrastructure that is simple to manage and scale.
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iSCSI storage area networks (SANs) offer an alternative for building SANs. Consolidating storage in a SAN offers storage management and scaling benefits for data centers, and iSCSI support in Windows Server 2003 makes connecting servers to an iSCSI SAN easier and more affordable. Read this technical briefing to understand best practices and the benefits of using an iSCSI SAN with SQL Server 2005.
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In order for a business to stay on top of compliance requirements required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)—and avoid financial penalties or possible jail time—it must take a good look at its IT environment and financial reporting processes. The collection, management, and analysis of log data are integral to meeting SOX requirements and as such, require a system that automates these processes across the IT infrastructure.
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SQL Server deployments can be large and complex. However, Auto-Snapshot Manager simplifies data management tasks and offers a comprehensive approach to SQL Server protection by providing both local and remote database protection, allowing for quick data recovery in case of data loss or site failure. Find out more about how Auto-Snapshot Manager can provide you with the safety net you need for effective disaster recovery.
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Organizations of all sizes face similar challenges when managing storage—not enough capacity or protection. Help has arrived with Internet small computer system interface storage area networks (iSCSI SANs)—and they're steadily gaining momentum. With iSCSI SANs, businesses can effectively manage their storage needs, while lowering costs and increasing security. Find out why many industry leaders are choosing iSCSI today.
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With your Internet and e-mail gateways largely secured against external hackers, most security breaches are now occurring within your network. But why should this issue be placed above the many other IT and governance concerns vying for your attention? Well, where would you be if your closest competitors suddenly had your latest technical blueprints—or if your customers all cancelled their accounts thanks to a data leak?
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Today’s extensive use of data collection tools coupled with the easy access to communication networks has woven more devices and systems into the fabric of our daily lives. As the scale of integration and complexity grows, so does the need for the appropriate paradigm to address it. In order to scale, system software architecture must be organized around a common-shared information model that can span multiple systems.
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Information lifecycle management (ILM) is rapidly gaining acceptance as a process crucial to the success of many IT initiatives. The reason for this is the importance of managing data. With the growing demand for ILM comes a variety of solutions that follow a disjointed, point product approach. By choosing an ILM software designed to scale to its needs, a business can benefit from software built on a unified platform.
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Every day, sensitive business information finds its way into the wrong hands—through external breaches or internal theft. Such data is highly regulated, and any risks of exposure can result in stiff penalties and legal liabilities. Many of these security risks lie in the test/dev environments, and as such require a solution that protects data application clones from unauthorized access without jeopardizing its integrity.
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The growth of application data has placed an enormous burden on IT organizations to maintain acceptable application performance and availability. The weight of managing and navigating through vast amounts of inactive data has caused outages and raised budgets, among other problems. Active archiving software, however, addresses complex data management issues and delivers lasting benefits to organizations and its users.
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Data breach is a very real problem in business today. Every day, organizations store massive amounts of data inside database tables—data ranging from credit card transactions to product inventories. This valuable information is what runs the business. In order to protect this data and stay on top of compliance, an enterprise data management solution that respects information privacy regulations should be considered.
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The maze of regulations governing electronic data has never been more complex. Various regulatory bodies, as well as international, regional, and national governments, have different requirements for handling electronic data. Get an in-depth look at compliance regulations, particularly the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), that impact IT managers, and learn about best practices for managing your electronic messaging content.
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E-mail has become so pervasive that many companies would lose financially if it were unavailable for more than a few hours. However, as more information is held and exchanged electronically, so organizations are subject to increased risk. Find out about a defense strategy that allows you to centrally deploy content protection across your business, from the end points, at the gateway, and inside the Internet cloud.
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Fax hardware plays a crucial role in the sending and receiving of business documents. With high-volume use over time, instabilities in performance can occur. Therefore, how well fax boards and fax software applications perform together becomes an important consideration. With IQ Express intelligent fax board series, fax servers send and receive corporate documents electronically—reducing costs and improving productivity.
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For automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, consumer demands are high and global competition is fierce. To compete successfully, manufacturers must meet expectations and still generate an acceptable profit margin. By using QAD’s Just-in-time (JIT) Sequencing process together with its Manufacturing Execution Workbench (MEW) tools, automotive manufacturers will have the foundation needed to meet these challenges.
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Three strikes—your out; that’s what lockout management does. But employees often forget the many passwords needed to access information. What ensues is a flood of calls to the help desk that, over time, can become a huge administrative burden. Adopting a strong password policy is critical. By implementing a lockout management strategy via automated management solutions, businesses enhance security and improve workflow.
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The increasing number of remotely-accessible business applications and the consolidation of data centers have turned the wide area network (WAN) into a strategic corporate resource in constant demand. But as bandwidth is limited, competition between various types of traffic can slow your mission-critical applications, to the detriment of employee productivity and satisfaction. Find out what you can do to ease the pain.
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The StreamSense platform delivers global, real-time visibility and control over legacy and new converged wide area networks (WANs) and wireless networks, so service providers can manage and provision new network services. Find out how StreamSense records WAN application delivery performance, providing long-term visibility into technical details for operations teams, as well as business-oriented data for decision makers.
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When Naghi Group’s annual revenue began to soar, it realized that running core business operations on multiple systems was no longer feasible; its current solution lacked the integration capabilities necessary to communicate with its distribution and manufacturing departments. After only a few months since integrating VAI’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Naghi has already realized its many benefits.
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Financial service institutions spend thousands of dollars every year on securing their networks from external breaches, but often fail to think about possible internal threats. Employee fraud has become a growing problem in the financial sector—one that many institutions are not fully prepared to handle. Implementing automated detection technologies, however, can be their first line of defense to eradicating this problem.
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Are virtual appliances really more advantageous than physical appliances? For businesses looking to decrease server complexity, increase load balance, and optimize scalability and mobility, the answer is yes. Virtualization has brought distributed computing to a new level and provides many key benefits. This white paper looks at four of those benefits and uncovers why more organizations need to consider making a change.
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Electronic communication tools can provide enormous benefits for your employees, as well as distinct competitive advantages. However, they also carry the risk that employees might communicate in ways that violate corporate policies, various statutes, or best practices. Find out about the key steps you should take to mitigate the risks you face from employee use—and misuse—of communication tools.
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Employees installing and using unauthorized applications like instant messaging, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), games, and peer-to-peer file-sharing applications cause many businesses serious concern. Find out why it’s important to control such applications and learn about various approaches you can take to find a simple and cost-effective solution that integrates with malware protection.
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The first six months of 2007 continued a trend of rapidly mutating virus and spam campaigns. Small targeted attacks were favored over large-scale attacks. The Web in particular continued to be a growing source of threats, being overrun with Trojans, spyware and adware, potentially unwanted applications, and undesirable web sites. Protect yourself: learn about our predictions for the upcoming threat landscape.
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Today’s information technologies present businesses with countless ways to communicate and collaborate, creating a new global work environment that does not follow traditional physical limitations of borders and boundaries. Find out about an approach to network security that extends your protection beyond the workplace to reach remote users and an increasingly mobile workforce.
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Technology products always seem to come out strong, and then wither under intense scrutiny. This was the case with single sign-on (SSO). However, any product driven by strong need will reinvent itself to address the problems it contains. With SSO, a number of myths have now been exploded. Find out why it may be time for you to evaluate SSO for your company. Myth #1: You can’t get true SSO.
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While virtualization technology can simplify server management and reduce operating costs, in production environments it presents a disaster-recovery challenge. The problem: simply backing up a host server doesn’t always ensure that data within virtual machines is recoverable. With Acronis’s True Image, IT managers can rest assured their data, settings, applications, and operating systems are protected against disaster.
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In today’s economic climate, you need to ensure you keep your business and operational costs down while delivering world-class customer service. Conventional stand-alone business software applications do not enable you to do this. The business benefits of software as a service (SaaS) applications are leading many smart companies to use SaaS to help cut costs, improve operational productivity, and increase efficiency.
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To boot or pre-boot, that is the question. There’s no doubt that operating systems (OSs) are complicated given the sheer amount of code that must be flawlessly interfaced and the potential vulnerabilities that can ensue. While full disk encryption (FDE) is one step closer to a more secure OS, encryption without strong authentication isn’t enough. For security-conscious users, pre-boot authentication is the only way to go.
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The Mobile County Public School System was frustrated with frequent attacks by viruses and malware on its student and staff workstations. The school district’s IT department searched for ways to gain more control over the multi-user computer environment. With Faronics’ Deep Freeze servers, IT now has centralized control of workstations, and increased protection against the effects of spyware, malware, and viruses.
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Newport Independent school district’s implementation of a formal energy-conservation policy created problems for the district-wide computer system. Rather than having to manually shut down up to 900 computers at the end of every day, the district’s head IT technician opted to centralize control with Faronic’s Power Save technology. The final result: a solution that is both environmentally and fiscally responsible.
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The Internet has made information transfer faster and easier. But alongside, hacking and data theft are increasing threats to organizations’ security. How can files be delivered safely within an organization or far beyond its walls? Secure file transfer reporting and tracking tools help keep sensitive data in the right hands—and help organizations comply with government regulations.
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If you’re operating a small to medium business (SMB), you have special needs when it comes to IT security. While large businesses usually have large budgets to invest in the latest technologies, you have to wait until new technologies have proved themselves. One such technology is e-mail content security (ECS). But do you know what makes a good ECS solution and what makes a bad one? If you don’t, you should. Find out now.
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So you think you just need to be able to block spam? Think again. When it comes to anti-spam, detection is important. But so is management. You also need to control incoming and outgoing e-mail content, as well as checking for spam, viruses, specific text, and attachments within a rule-based framework. Find out how to use an integrated e-mail content management package for effective and flexible spam control.
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Discover the best way to optimize Microsoft Office 2007 SharePoint Server applications and reduce network costs. Learn how download times of commonly accessed documents across a wide area network can be reduced from over four minutes to less than one second. In extreme scenarios (with user response times in excess of 10 minutes), find out how you can reduce the workflow wait down to 15 seconds!
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Many manufacturers want to increase production efficiency and improve quality—but how can they ensure their efforts are successful? A process-oriented enterprise resource planning (ERP) system may be the answer. This white paper includes case studies on a variety of process manufacturing industries and provides valuable insights into the ERP capabilities required to successfully manage a process-oriented implementation.
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On top of the many challenges faced by IT managers today comes yet another challenge: ensuring efficient and secure user access to SAP. Because of the unencrypted communication between users’ workstations and the backend servers, the SAP environment—and the confidential data it stores—become vulnerable. With a secure single sign-on solution to SAP, however, you can significantly improve the security of this environment.
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Today’s business environment is more mobile than ever. With more employees traveling—using laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and home computers to conduct business—vulnerabilities increase. Companies are now protecting their digital assets with full disk encryption (FDE). Recent advances in FDE allow businesses to protect data stored on users’ mobile devices, without jeopardizing intellectual property.
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Protecting your company’s data is not only wise, but often legally necessary. In order to beef up their data security programs, more companies are implementing full disk encryption (FDE). In the past, FDE was software based, which left it open to greater security risks. With the advent of new technology, however, it is now possible to migrate from software- to hardware-based FDE while still protecting your existing systems.
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Fax servers are essential for the financial services industry. Their reliability and security help transmit financial information quickly and safely. Financial institutions, however, also have workflow and document needs due to lots of back-office paperwork. Luckily, there are fax servers on the market that help financial institutions optimize workflow and business processes—organizing and reducing paperwork backlog.
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When you decide to implement a new fax software solution, you should review how the solution will be implemented and managed, as well as its ability to grow with your network. Within a Windows network, critical architectural, administrative, and usage concerns should be thoroughly considered. Review your options with this fax server overview outlining the benefits of different fax servers and e-mail integration.
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Secure transmission of health care information is critical to your medical organization and your clients. Volumes of critical medical data are sent to you every day, making it imperative that the information be sent quickly and safely. Fax servers are easy-to-use point-to-point systems that provide secure transmission of confidential information—saving you time and money while protecting all your sensitive data.
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Whether field service is your primary business or a service offering, incorporating mobile technologies into your existing system can give you a competitive edge. Electronic information capture not only increases reporting accuracy, but it also provides real-time data for your planning, billing, and purchasing needs—bridging the gap between your front-office operations and back-office processes.
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Keeping up-to-date on security features is challenging for any size business. Making your computer system secure without sacrificing usability isn’t easy. In fact, careful planning is absolutely necessary to ensure a secure system that works for you. Whether you’re worried about hackers, phishing, or internal breaches, there is a security solution to help you protect your critical data.
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You’re already well aware that secure file delivery is key to your company’s information security. But are you one of many who don’t know how to send a file securely from one person to another? Think you know how, but aren’t sure about federal and state compliance? Knowing how to keep data secure doesn’t have to be top secret. Learn more about a delivery server that can give you confidence about your confidential data.
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What would you do if a critical error occurred during production—all because the wrong data was input into your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system? You’d probably be asking “how could this happen?” The ability to communicate information between teams can mean the difference between production success and failure. Avoid these snafus with a system that can integrate the data of both the design and ERP systems.
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Insecure data. Heavy fines due to non-compliance. Loss of customers and reputation. It adds up to a nightmare scenario that businesses want to avoid at all costs. However, this nightmare is preventable: knowledge base-driven data security solutions can be critical tools for enterprises wanting to secure not only their data—but also their status in the marketplace.
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You think you’re doing right by copying data so it’s available for production support. But did you know copied data is often at risk of insider theft or tampering? And that database management tools, such as encryption and digital certification, aren’t always deployed properly, thereby increasing the risk? Using a solution that centralizes database security policies can help. Find out more—before your data is desecrated.
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Why is Vyatta’s open source networking approach so successful? Because it is in touch with today’s users needs. By eliminating the reliance on specialized hardware, Vyatta’s open source, Linux-based approach to networking is changing the way networks are being purchased and deployed. With its strong community of users, Vyatta is challenging even proprietary networking vendors like Cisco. We challenge you to find out more.
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How can you get the most out of your virtualization project and avoid the common mistakes made by many businesses? By adopting a strategy that’ll allow you to be free of risk and save on your pocketbook. Don’t let your virtualization project become another implementation failure; make it a success. Sensitizing yourself to the five mistakes common to many enterprise virtualization implementations is a good place to start.
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Microsoft Dynamics is a business management solution designed to allow your employees to customize and automate their Microsoft Office system user interface according to their preferences and work styles. Microsoft Dynamics helps your employees and your business work more efficiently—giving you a faster return on investment and an effective and profitable business.
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The open architecture of Microsoft Dynamics GP provides a flexible solution for organizations implementing a business management system. The foundation is provided by the Dexterity runtime engine and Microsoft SQL Server, helping Microsoft Dynamics GP offer many features and benefits. These include an extendable architecture allowing add-ons and vertical enhancements—so that organizations can grow today and tomorrow.
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Microsoft development tools will help developers and independent Microsoft software vendors integrate Microsoft Dynamics GP with existing applications. This accounting and business management system includes many features and benefits, as well as guidelines to help developers choose the right tools for various development tasks and create custom applications that integrate with Microsoft Dynamics GP.
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With ever-changing technology, businesses often spend too much time and money trying to sustain their outdated systems. But is it possible to maintain a legacy system without the substantial costs of frequently updating it? By adopting service-oriented architecture (SOA)—which provides a suite of automated tools and services for migrating and extending legacy platforms—businesses can maximize quality and minimize costs.
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Systems integration with service-oriented architecture (SOA) helps you reuse the functionality in your mainframe applications. Extending your mainframes to an SOA through Web services will accelerate your time to market, keep your costs low, and help you avoid undue risk. Keep your business dynamic and current, and stay competitive in today’s marketplace—modernize your existing mainframes with SOA.
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In the rush to explore the “next big thing” in software technology, it’s easy to forget the huge investment you’ve already made in mainframe assets. These assets have performed the business functions that they were designed for, but it’s OK to remain open to new solutions too. By leveraging existing assets while moving to a service-based architecture, you can extend your existing business resources while saving money.
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Color printing used to be reserved for only the most important documents, where the high cost was justifiable. As printing technologies have advanced, however, color printing has been added to the everyday office environment. Today, the demand for color printing is growing as more and more organizations discover that they can print in color as easily, quickly, and inexpensively as in black and white.
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Environmental concerns are a focal point for businesses wanting to “go green,” and they are looking at every aspect of their operations, including their printers. Replacing even a portion of energy-inefficient printers with environmentally friendly ones will have a positive impact on the environment, helping to conserve energy and reduce waste. Saving energy is not only good for the planet; it’s also good for business.
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The role of finance departments needs to shift from cost center and scorekeeper to that of key advisor to the business. That’s why you need to change processes to help employees work more efficiently on high-value analytical tasks. Implementing next-generation enterprise financial systems will help balance control, transaction processing, and decision support—as well as lower your total cost of ownership.
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To survive in today’s global marketplace, companies must develop a competitive advantage. Your business can thrive with the help of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA). With the ability to implement business strategies more quickly, this greater flexibility will help your new business processes and empower your information workers—giving your company long-term growth and an ongoing competitive advantage.
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Globalization is one of the top issues affecting organizations’ supplier management strategies. True supplier collaboration can no longer be avoided: working closely with suppliers around the globe is the best way to streamline and reduce costs and increase value. With practical tips and techniques on how to achieve your vision statement, you can attain sourcing excellence while setting a pace that’s right for your company.
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Storage area networks (SAN) continue to grow in size and complexity. Often, the ongoing cost of maintenance and upgrades exceeds the initial acquisition and implementation cost. The ideal solution is to find an architecture that provides a simple migration path without disrupting the existing infrastructure. A stackable fibre channel switch can deliver—without diminishing your ability to upgrade and expand in the future.
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VMware and blade servers have taken the IT world by storm. Virtual server use has grown over 50 percent, and blade servers account for 12.5 percent of all new servers. Can you incorporate them into your existing frameworks? Yes. Routers can scale server numbers with virtual interfaces, and with fibre channel storage area network (SAN) connectivity, you can reduce testing and development costs in VMware environments.
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Corporate e-mail usage is expected to jump 38 percent by 2009. Can our future data centers handle this load? By using QLogic’s fibre channel host bus adapters (HBAs) in the Microsoft Exchange environment, your data centers can handle the load without degrading overall performance—thus providing the bandwidth and throughput you’re going to need.
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The Solaris operating system has become the top choice for hosting data center applications. Sun Solaris platforms consistently exceed the reliability requirements of enterprise data centers while at the same time reducing total cost of ownership (TCO). QLogic fibre channel solutions are a perfect match for Solaris environments and successfully meet the input/output requirements of enterprise applications.
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With the advent of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and virtual private branch exchange (PBX), phone calls are treated more like e-mail—with no loss of connection quality. Now, are you looking to update with a phone system that can grow with you, and allow for a remote data center? Find out how to generate cost savings and productivity gains with these tips to modernizing your business phone system.
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The increasing necessity of Web-based telecommunications means that businesses are choosing to streamline operations with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). But what’s in it for you? Should you make the switch? Read about the top reasons other businesses are adopting VoIP applications—and see how the integration of voice, data, and video can open up a world of opportunity for enhanced communication.
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IT managers know that choosing the Linux host bus adapter (HBA) for their data center infrastructures can impact the reliability of their systems. That is why Linux-based servers are being deployed in many enterprises. You can use the reliability of QLogic storage area networks (SANs) to drive more value from your SAN investments—giving your IT managers increased reliability and scalability in a hardware portfolio.
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Storage area networks (SANs) are key components in IT organizations, as they provide access to and protection of critical data. Managing data storage is becoming increasingly complex, with regulatory and corporate requirements dictating national disaster protection. Whether your company is near or far, remote SANs store your critical data, saving you and your company from losses in even the most dire of circumstances.
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Realize the benefits of storage area networks (SANs) by using public or private networks. The benefits of SANs include centralized data management, back up, and restoration of data, as well as remote archiving for disaster recovery and business continuity. Host bus adapters (HBAs), switches, and multiprotocol routers are the keys to the fibre channel network—and the high-quality of select remote sites.
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Most IT managers have proven, cost-effective ways to increase the return on investment (ROI) of existing infrastructures—that is, storage area networks (SANs). SANs provide high-availability storage to servers within corporate infrastructures. Connecting low-cost servers to SANs makes business sense, as it dramatically reduces the cost-per-server connection to well below $100 (USD).
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Server consolidation is the reason enterprises deploy server virtualization technologies across their data centers, improving server and processor use. As more virtual servers are consolidated onto a single server, demand is increased on the central processing unit (CPU) and host bus interfaces. However, you can do more with less by deploying a fibre channel host bus adapter, enhancing your server consolidation levels.
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Traditionally, utilities have leveraged robust meter, network, and customer service infrastructures. These technologies served the needs of largely regulated energy and utility markets characterized by price regulations, easy access to energy resources, and sufficient infrastructure capacity. There are few examples of "old" technologies that make such a compelling argument against replacement. All that’s about to change.
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Traditional disaster planning and recovery solutions, including tape backup, image capture, and clustering, fail to deliver the necessary combination of recovery speed and integrity within reasonable budgetary constraints. That’s why organizations are increasingly leveraging virtualization to achieve superior disaster planning and recovery operations. Find out how to make it work for you.
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Development and problem solving happens too often at the testing stage, once product prototypes have been built. This can be costly, both in terms of the time and the resources expended. Computer-aided design (CAD) and exercises (CAE) can address your concerns about product safety and performance, as well as augment your return on investment (ROI). Shift your product development paradigm with digital engineering tools.
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The enterprise environment continues to evolve and change. Regardless of technology breakthroughs and system designs, storage area networks (SANs) continue to provide IT with severe administrative challenges. But by implementing a cost-effective and robust core-to-core solution, system administrators can reduce the management burdens and provide greater access to network resources.
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Fibre channel storage area networks (SANs) used to be implemented in only high-end enterprise class data centers, but this is no longer the case. SANs have become more affordable and can be widely implemented without sacrificing performance. When you need to expand your frame-based computer network, consider stackable switches as a cost-effective solution for the infrastructure of a fibre channel SAN.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) must adapt to technology innovations as well as the demand-driven consumer market. The need for small computer system interfaces (SCSIs) on each server host, along with enhanced security needs have driven SMB costs upwards. Is there a solution? Yes. Storage area networks (SANs) built on stackable switches help reduce costs, and are a viable approach for SMBs.
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As clusters grow to address the problems of increasing application complexity, interconnect performance has become a key factor in overall application and clustered system performance. Finding the interconnect performance you need is a complex task— however, when compared with two other adapters, InfiniPath SDR Infiniband interconnected faster and scaled better on high-performance computing (HPC) applications.
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Industries involved in outsourcing and collaboration know that accurate data translation is fundamental to a project’s successful completion. Valuable engineering and manufacturing product data must be exchanged quickly and efficiently while protecting corporate assets—but with older technology, this is not always possible. Learn more about a number of integration solutions that can help you reengineer your supply chain.
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Permanent node-to-node data paths through a service area network (SAN) fabric are surprisingly inefficient. Some interswitch links (ISLs) become oversubscribed, while others are underused, and don’t allow you to maximize the function of your existing switch investments. Unclog your SAN’s data paths—and increase reliability and availability, as well as your return on investment.
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Ideally, your service area network (SAN) permits an uninterrupted flow of data all the time. Unfortunately, with changes to the SAN fabric—when a server comes online, or when storage ports are added—the attendant tape backups might cause a serious lapse in the flow of data. However, an interoperable solution can keep registered state change notifications (RSCNs) from making your SAN go haywire.
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IT organizations today are faced with the constant pressure of reducing costs at the service desk, while at the same time ensuring optimal customer service. To accelerate their IT infrastructure library (ITIL) initiatives, many are implementing service resolution management (SRM) systems. With the addition of SRM, these organizations can address the core issues required to operate an efficient and strategic service desk.
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As products become more complex and customer expectations continue to rise, service and support become increasingly difficult. So how can service and support managers transcend these problems and use each customer interaction to build customer loyalty and drive service leveraged revenue? By empowering customers with Web 2.0 technology and enabling users to manage their own experiences. Find out how.
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Server and data center consolidation has never been more important. Issues such as server sprawl and increasing costs have made consolidation the number one priority among IT managers. New virtualization technologies, however, are helping data centers combat these problems. Learn about the factors that are driving consolidation initiatives today, and find out what best practices can be used for ensuring its success.
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As your business grows, so too does the complexity of your data center. Along with this complexity, there are problems such as the inflexibility caused by operating systems, applications, and associated data, which are bound to the hardware they are installed on. Discover eight ways to optimize the infrastructure in your data center using virtualization products designed to work with your current technologies.
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Today’s data centers are an increasingly complex mixture of server platforms, hardware, operating systems, data, and applications that have accumulated over time. So how do you take your data center from a tangled mess of suboptimal servers which may be hampering your service levels, to one that can maximize performance? With the use of virtualization technology, data center optimization can become a reality.
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So, you’ve made the switch from a traditional rack server to a blade server. Now, you want to maximize your blade server return on investment (ROI) and reduce your costs further. A variety of input/output (IO) products is out there, specially designed to comply with all original equipment manufacturer (OEM) blade hardware. The next step is to get the facts on how they can benefit you.
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“Virtualization” may be a mature concept—but it has by no means stopped evolving. Keen on keeping on top of every new development in virtualization solutions? Don’t get left behind! Learn about the next generation of host bus adaptor (HBA) virtualization technologies and how they can help you consolidate underused servers, support legacy applications, and ease disaster and recovery planning.
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One of the main concerns now facing IT managers is how to keep the interoperability of their service area networks (SANs), without sacrificing functionality. What can you do to make your SAN “share everything and play nice”? In fact, there are many options available for extending SAN fabrics. The result: independent routing, improved interoperability, high performance routing, and universal SAN bridging.
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As management visionary and author Peter Drucker once said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” No statement rings truer—especially when it comes to security risk reduction. By having an accurate depiction of your network, however, you can identify real-world security threats and learn how to evaluate your organization’s ability to respond to them. Find out how, with these seven essential steps.
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With the growing global epidemic of data theft, tougher regulations are being enforced by government bodies worldwide. As such, organizations need to work harder at proactive security. With the right technology, identifying network vulnerabilities and measuring overall security exposure becomes manageable. By using these eight steps as your guide, you can put an end to network security vulnerabilities once and for all.
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The limited distance capabilities of storage area networks (SANs) make it difficult for IT managers to share, protect, and move data over areas greater than ten kilometers. Using routers and switches that link SANs over Internet protocol wide area networks (IP WANs) is one way to approach this difficulty. Go the distance with your SAN—learn what it takes to build and implement SAN-over-WAN solutions.
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Are ever-increasing demands for data accessibility causing your storage area network (SAN) to stretch beyond its limits? And as you consider various solutions, are you concerned that your IT budget is being stretched too thin? Put those worries to rest: SAN consolidation solutions can extend the life of your SAN—and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO).
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Scalability—or performance? In the past, storage area network (SAN) architects had to choose one over the other with regard to their SANs. Now, however, compromise is no longer necessary. Stackable switch solutions allow for seamless scaling and high performance—which means you can breathe as easily as your data transfers.
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Worldwide, various standards have been created to provide some form of structure with respect to delivering products and services. Over time, however, the adoption of industry compliance guidelines has seen many pitfalls, specifically with the advent of technology. Developing a sound compliance strategy requires a unified solution—one that includes all the necessary components, but also keeps the business users in mind.
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Joshen Paper & Packaging needed to update its enterprise resource planning (ERP) distribution system. Joshen partnered with Vormittag Associates Inc. (VAI) and found a solution that consolidates its financial reporting and provides its sales team with real-time inventory information access. The result: faster inventory turnaround and order fulfillment—and to date, about 100 new clients in its customer base.
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“The lower the communications latency, the faster the time-to-solution.” This truism, though logical and truthful, is only useful to IT managers if it is accompanied by suggestions targeting ways to reduce communications latency. But help is here: a single-chip application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), optimized for communications patterns typically found in HPC applications, makes this truism ring truer.
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Whether you’re a manufacturer, vendor, or customer service company, the increasing pressure to make sales and decrease service costs affects you. The key to its success is to look at your customer experiences as repeatable life cycles. Instead of viewing sales and service as independent challenges—solved by using disconnected software packages—an integrated solution that accelerates the total life cycle may be the answer.
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Knowledge management (KM) can mean different things to an organization depending upon the nature of the initiative. KM is not a technology or set of methodologies, but a practice or discipline that involves people, processes, and technology. If implemented correctly, a KM initiative can improve the productivity and efficiency of an entire organization. With these ten basic principles, your organization can learn how.
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Today’s support organizations often face the challenge of providing efficient and effective customer service. Without the right tools, it can become an uphill battle. To gain true scale and effectiveness in service and support, many organizations are now turning to knowledge management initiatives like knowledge-centered support (KCS)—a business process that directly addresses the root causes of support inefficiencies.
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Are you moving to call-center multisourcing to save money? Did you know that many multisourced agents use varied and unreliable systems? This leads to unavailable agents and, consequently, long waits for your customers. Are all call centers like this? No. Call centers using a common hosted platform share tools and unify agent management, resulting in answered calls and positive customer experiences
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An ever-increasing demand on storage area networks (SANs) has meant a necessary evolution of throughput standards. SAN administrators are now burdened with multiple generations of SAN host bus adaptors (HBAs)—and unwieldy management overhead. A scalable HBA architecture might provide just the functions you need to address your cost, performance, backward compatibility, and future scalability concerns.
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Reducing costs and increasing the quantity and availability of data have always been concerns for IT departments. Booting up with a local area network (LAN) has long been one effective way of meeting those needs. However, what you might not know is that storage area network (SAN) booting with iSCSI connections can be even more effective in cutting costs and supplying information—and in providing greater security.
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Supplemental product or technical data is typically delivered separately from the information contained within portable document format (PDF) files. This can make it difficult for users to locate the additional content for download. With the CopyFILE plug-in application, however, companies can integrate supplemental product information by using links within a PDF file—thus allowing content to be easily distributed.
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To build or not to build—that is the question. Is building an enterprise application from scratch better than modifying existing application code? With a .NET framework, the answer is an emphatic yes. Building applications from scratch using only .NET code not only provides cost savings, it also allows software developers to extend applications to users via the Internet—without sacrificing functionality or security.
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Interconnect performance has become a key factor in application and system performance, and this will increasingly be the case as applications become more complex. Indeed, latency and bandwidth are not the only factors defining interconnect performance. Discover the truth behind common interconnect performance misconceptions, and gain a better understanding of how your interconnect solution will perform.
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Want even more connectivity options for your storage area network (SAN)? Need to boot your blade server up to iSCSI-based storage systems? Itching to offload iSCSI traffic from the host processor and allow your server to support boot from SAN configurations? This paper outlines how dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) can be adapted in several ways to automate and ease the configuration of your servers.
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The ratification of standards is important to any industry. Now, in the realm of storage area networks (SANs), new standards are being put in place to ensure user-friendly and heterogeneous fibre channel switches that allow for multiple vendors and increased interoperability. Before incorporating a multi-switch fabric into your SAN, however, you should know the whys, whats, and hows involved.
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Disappearing network perimeters highlight the need for identity-based security. Open networks, mobile systems, and unmanaged endpoints have become overwhelming obstacles—and cash drains. However, enforced identity-based policies within identity-blind systems have proven futile. Is there a solution? Yes. Make your policy enforcement layer identity-aware—build user identity knowledge directly into your network fabric.
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Good security used to mean perimeter firewalls and desktop anti-virus software. However, threats don’t come just from outside the company any more. That means security must go beyond the desktop and into the network infrastructure itself. You can stop security breaches at the source—with multimethod and microsecond threat detection—before any damage is done to your network and your business.
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The 802.1x protocol should be the obvious choice when implementing user-based authentication in enterprise networks. So why doesn’t everyone use it? Because it doesn’t give a complete solution for authentication and policy requirements, even when it’s integrated with a network access control (NAC) solution. But if you integrate 802.1x with a local area network (LAN) secure switch, you get a more complete secure solution.
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Registry cleanup is inarguably an integral component of PC maintenance. However, many PC users may be wasting time and effort cleaning their registries more often than necessary, depending on the age of their computers, as well as how often software and other utilities are installed. In order to save time and get the most out of your PC, there are a number of myths about registry cleanup you ought to dispel.
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While globalization can bridge distances and enhance communication, the story is a little different when it comes to wide area networks (WANs) and their effects on branch application performance. High-latency connections and chattiness cause slowed data transmission, and consequently, decreased user productivity. But there is light at the end of the tunnel: a fast branch office application delivery infrastructure.
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If you base your selection of an outsourcing partner on a service provider’s strengths, it can be difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison among the various models. The best way to make a comparison in a thoughtful and effective manner is to develop individual specifications matching buyer needs with service provider strengths in order to make an enduring match. Find out how.
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Bridging the gap between an application’s problem domain and its code can be difficult, even for the best software engineers. Bridging these two diverse worlds—each with its own language—requires a finished application that creates an intersection between the two. By building a domain-specific modeling (DSM) language and generator using MetaEdit+, engineers close the gap and pave the way to better productivity.
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There is a high demand for economical and efficient enterprise applications. The Internet and open source software are creating opportunities for software vendors to deliver their software as a service. By transforming your own applications, you give your clients access to your solutions on the Web, on a per-use, per-project, or subscription basis—giving them the inexpensive, accessible service they want.
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The need to maintain legacy applications in the face of evolving business requirements is not exclusive to IT organizations. However, IT developers face specific challenges when reducing the complexity of applications and extending the life of database management systems (DBMS). Instead of getting disoriented along the murky paths of manual code inspection, learn about automated solutions that reduce complexity—and cost.
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Two indicators of a successful enterprise are its longevity and its ability to adapt to a constantly changing business environment. However, an enterprise’s business processes, including its analysis and management tools, often fail to keep up with those changes. Knowing how to modernize existing tools in order to prevent the loss of valuable data and application functions is essential—and not as difficult as it sounds.
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Stable revenue and stronger customer relationships are what software companies want, and more are turning to software as a service (SaaS) platforms to reach these goals. Building an SaaS infrastructure is complex, and you need operations and engineering experts to manage your infrastructures. Start by following a step-by-step process—thus helping to increase your revenue and strengthen your customer network.
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In today’s datacenter, management costs have eclipsed all others. Server management puts a huge strain on IT budgets and, as a result, solutions that reduce costs by simplifying IT infrastructures and automating management processes are in high demand. Thankfully, a Linux-hosted management tool delivers automation for key management process—allowing your IT talent to focus on real-time business needs.
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For independent software vendors (ISVs), software delivery creates big operational challenges. Integrating an application with the latest operating system and service pack causes headaches for customers and suppliers. However, pre-built server devices or appliances contain one convenient, ready-to-go system, minimizing configuration glitches and letting customers and suppliers step back while the appliance does the work.
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Businesses and security threats alike are evolving. Strong protection of client data is a necessity for any organization handling credit card information, especially if it’s subject to payment card industry (PCI) compliance. As a result, many businesses are looking for ways to ensure proper security controls. Thankfully, there are solutions adapted to the challenges of meeting PCI compliance—and staying secure.
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Reducing server management complexity and total cost of ownership (TCO) are key IT goals. There’s a new generation of automated management tools designed to enable provisioning, monitoring, and control of blade systems in infrastructure deployments. This means more work in less time, ensuring IT talent is responding to business needs—resulting in improved TCO metrics rather than time-consuming manual processes.
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In stark contrast to a few years ago, IT executives now rank power and cooling among their top concerns. As IT continues to support more servers, power and cooling have become limiting factors to the number of data center servers. However, there is a solution. Blade server thermal technology optimizes power and cooling while improving energy monitoring—real benefits that reduce the overall IT total cost of ownership (TCO).
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When companies discover new security vulnerabilities, they must retrofit the affected software with an appropriate patch and fend off the wrath of customers. Each newly discovered vulnerability results in a frantic patch, halfway deployed, and potentially opens up another hole. That’s why you should address security vulnerabilities during the software development process—before you get locked into a game of catch-up.
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Information security managers, quality assurance staff, and developers are faced with the enormous responsibility of keeping Web applications secure from the ever-growing menace of hackers and internal threats alike. So how can they protect sensitive data without exhausting internal resources, overspending the budget, or being forced to use costly manual penetration testing using external consulting firms?
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The Internet continues to be a powerful force for driving business activity, and is increasingly being used by organizations to manage internal corporate data and operational activities. Indeed, the online presence of a business or organization depends on the use of Web applications to store, transmit, and manage confidential information. So do you know where your top Web application vulnerabilities are?
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For organizations deploying many servers, total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses favor blade over rack-optimized systems. Blade server systems—reducing both capital and operating expenses—exploit economies of scale when deploying servers in volume. Saving power, cooling, and space by more than 25 percent, the blade advantage is particularly relevant for servers working in conjunction with storage area networks (SANs).
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The world is focusing on environmental awareness, and reducing greenhouse gases is now an inevitable part of doing business. But how can you conform to compliance regulations and still remain competitive? Green-centric asset management implementations—valuable tools in resource conservation—are helping companies increase productivity and improve their bottom lines. Maybe getting greener isn’t so hard after all.
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Implementing IT solutions that fulfill all corporate requirements requires exhaustive research and analysis. But the reality is that most organizations have neither the time nor the resources to do all this. Indeed, such an approach is largely impractical, since by the time you’ve built your perfect solution, it may already be out of date. So what are your real options? Three words: Business. Process. Integration.
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Slowdowns, scalability issues, and security gaps hit Web applications where it hurts. Data center consolidations put distance between application servers and users—producing long round-trips and slow response times. Luckily, there is a solution. Deploying a wire-speed application system—in a unified single-platform design—boosts response times, improves infrastructure scalability, and safeguards against security threats.
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The greatest threat on the Internet involves increased data theft, data leakage, and targeted attacks for the purpose of stealing confidential information. To combat this, the payment card industry (PCI) has created a data security standard (DSS) that holds all merchants—regardless of size—to much higher standards of performance when it comes to protecting customers’ financial and personal information.
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Malware attacks have reached unprecedented levels—to the point where antivirus labs cannot keep up with the sheer volume. What are the current malware dynamics, and how far-reaching is their impact? More importantly, what is the state of technological solutions to address the issue?
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There is no single antivirus engine on the market today that is the fastest and most effective at identifying viruses, spam, or other threats. According to a recent survey, 97 percent of organizations have antivirus software installed, yet 65 percent have been infected at one time or another since. One way to reduce the chance of virus infection is to install multiple antivirus scanners at the mail server level.
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Is it beneficial to use multiple types of virtualization software together? The answer: yes. Combining complementary virtualization technologies provides a stronger, more robust solution that reduces costs, maximizes return on investment (ROI), and minimizes the number of servers to manage. By consolidating these technologies, organizations can get the most out of the application, hardware, and operating system (OS).
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Customers, employees, and partners are an integral part of any business—each playing an important role in its success. But how is it possible to share vital information between them? In order to access information, understand trends, and build better processes, a system that enables multi-user collaborative technologies is required. Without these collaboration tools, business process management (BPM) cannot be successful.
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As the digital era evolves, media content companies are faced with a number of new challenges. One such challenge is that they can no longer specialize in one communication format. The advertising market is now a dynamic and complex forum making it difficult to manage multiple channel revenues. A standard, integrated solution, however, can facilitate the management of advertising revenues while increasing customer satisfaction.
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Today more than ever, retailers are faced with the challenges of selling locally while competing globally. To be successful, they must provide a shopping experience that inspires customer loyalty. Retailers that understand their customers’ shopping habits can build strategic global supply chains that anticipate demand. One way to achieve this is with a scalable technology platform based on industry standards.
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As the creator of performance apparel, Under Armour has become the fastest-growing designer and distributor of its category of apparel in the world. In 2005, to sustain growth and compete on a global scale, it needed a flexible IT landscape that could offer better visibility to data and scale over time. With an out-of–the-box scalable solution, Under Armour is on its way to reaching the $1 billion (USD) revenue mark.
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Just when you thought you had all your security measures figured out, along comes the portable storage device to make you question them all over again. With the popularity of portable consumer products—and their ever-increasing storage space—comes a greater risk of losing sensitive corporate data. To secure corporate data, companies must not only focus on perimeter security, but on internal security weaknesses as well.
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In 2004, there were 1.3 billion credit cards in circulation in the US. With fraud incidents on the rise, credit card companies are at constant risk of losing sensitive cardholder data. At the same time, strict payment card industry (PCI) requirements are forcing companies to put better systems in place to ensure clients are adequately protected. By implementing the right software tools, achieving compliance is possible.
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Improving the supply chain is essential for any company that wants to gain or maintain a competitive edge. To do this, companies are adopting sales and operations planning (S&OP) strategies. Years ago—when the pace of market change was slow—S&OP was a nice-to-have; today it’s a business imperative! But it doesn’t have to happen overnight. By taking a five-step approach, companies can implement S&OP at their own pace.
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When it comes to disaster recovery (DR) software, companies should think of it as an insurance policy—not just software that recovers lost data. Being prepared for disaster makes good business sense, but oddly enough, few companies are. Because Linux distributions don’t include DR tools, companies must look to a file-based recovery solution that can recover the entire system and eliminate the need to rebuild.
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As with any hot market, point-to-point wireless is bait for the pathologically
opportunistic. In this atmosphere—often termed "anarchy"—trust can t be a matter of faith. To get in on the wireless opportunity without getting shafted, you need to know a few basic and incontrovertible facts concerning the difference between licensed and license-free wireless. In fact, a successful outcome depends on choosing the right one.
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"Wild West" is a metaphor often used to describe the wireless wide area network (WAN) business. But it s worse than that. In the Old West, everyone had a gun. In this business, customers are defenseless. What s going on? Well, for one, vendors are playing fast and loose with terminology that should mean something. Wireless is compelling, but how do you decide what s right for you—and who do you trust?
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Why do some customer relationship management (CRM) implementations fail? The answer: companies’ lack of understanding of their current CRM environments, and of what areas need modification or improvement. Companies with a clear understanding of what they need from a CRM solution—as well as of what CRM means to their business—are more likely to succeed. To clinch that success, some key elements should be assessed first.
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In business, planning plays a fundamental role in analyzing and forecasting key financial data. While forecasting future events is one benefit of planning, it can also be used to achieve a series of objectives, including regulatory compliance. In order to achieve these objectives, companies should consider implementing a unified customer performance management (CPM) solution—one that takes compliance into consideration.
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As a supplier to Wal-Mart, appliance manufacturer Haier America was required to implement a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging system. To satisfy this requirement and to keep costs to a minimum, Haier needed a solution that would seamlessly integrate with its current enterprise resource planning (ERP) application. That’s why it turned to a custom-designed modification package. But was it enough for Wal-Mart?
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For most companies, e-mail is an integral part of the business workflow and a primary channel for communication. For these reasons, e-mails can be considered legal business documents and should be retained for a predefined period to satisfy government regulations. With an e-mail archiving system, message contents and attachments are stored in a read-only format, ensuring they are archived in their original state.
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Research shows that between 65 and 95 percent of all e-mail is considered spam. On an individual level, spam is an annoyance more than anything else, but on a company-wide basis, spam causes significant problems—and the cost to manage it is sizeable. Spammers are always one step ahead of antispam vendors, so to combat this persistent problem, companies need a single-source product that can eliminate spam for good.
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Over the past few years, vulnerabilities have exploded across all types of platforms—leaving IT security and operations teams scratching their heads. Today, many companies use the scan-and-patch method for managing vulnerabilities—a reactive security process that should be avoided. By combining assessment and remediation, companies create a vulnerability management program that can rapidly respond to emerging threats.
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Although layer-two networks are a viable, cost-effective alternative to traditional wide area network (WAN) services, they have some major security deficiencies. One of the key drawbacks of layer two is its inability to handle identity authentication—which creates serious theft and vulnerability problems. With a layer-two data protection solution, however, you can mitigate these types of security issues.
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Storage area networks (SANs) are complex structures that contain an infinite number of configuration possibilities—making the process of configuring the devices to be installed into the SAN a lengthy one. To simplify the process, QLogic’s configuration wizard provides users with some basic tools to guide them through common SAN tasks, enabling them to easily build stable and secure SAN fabrics for their storage solutions.
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The days of storage area networks (SANs) built with hubs and based on private, arbitrated loops are gone. Today’s fully public switches—which include a variety of switch features—make managing large SANs a lot easier. The key to a flexible SAN is the switch’s ability to create zones, which allows the SAN to be partitioned into various groupings and enables SAN managers to allocate storage where it makes the most sense.
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The first step to a successful storage area network (SAN) implementation is preplanning. Architecting a SAN not only helps solve issues of storage consolidation, it facilitates day-to-day data center support and maintenance. A SAN investment should save support dollars, not require additional support resources. With a sound implementation strategy, costly upgrades—and many headaches—can be avoided.
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With data theft on the rise, many companies are forced to improve their network security. And although they spend millions of dollars every year on securing these networks, the focus has largely been on securing the access to the network rather than protecting the information itself. Secure information sharing (SIS) solutions integrate additional intelligence into the process—and protect your data without added overhead.
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Research shows that the occurrence of multivendor Internet protocol telephony (IPT) environments is on the rise. As such, an increasing number of companies are faced with the challenges of using multiple tools to manage these environments. With a single, specialized IPT management solution, companies gain a unified view across the entire voice infrastructure—which can significantly impact total cost of ownership (TCO).
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Now that you have planned and assessed your new system, it’s time to explore the next phase of the integration process: design and pre-deployment testing. Part 4 of this 4-part e-book series provides a basis for the exploration of network design. In addition, it includes a report card that will help you select the appropriate design and validation software tools for your Internet protocol telephony (IPT) system.
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When deploying any new system, preparation is key—and Internet protocol telephony (IPT) systems are no exception. Part 3 of this 4-part e-book series provides some basic steps you can take to successfully deploy voice and data network services. A complete capabilities inventory has been included to help you ensure that every feature of your current system will be considered for inclusion in your new system.
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The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) provides a common process framework for driving service quality improvements and cost reductions. That’s why organizations must ensure they clearly understand the objectives of their ITIL implementations, while implementing robust governance processes to measure and report progress—or else risk implementations that fail to live up to stakeholder expectations.
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The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has become an answer for many IT departments trying to solve their business problems. But many organizations find that their investment in ITIL has failed to yield the anticipated return on investment (ROI). So what’s the key to maximizing ITIL ROI? First, understanding that the term “ITIL-compliant” has as many meanings as there are outsourcing service providers.
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Chapter 2 of this 4-part e-book explores the Internet protocol telephony (IPT) life cycle, and discusses how understanding the key phases of this packet-based system can increase implementation success. By harnessing your knowledge about this system's natural rhythms, you will begin to establish key concepts that you can put into action—facilitating the management of the system and reaping its long-term benefits.
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As the era of traditional telephony draws to a close, the doors to the next generation in communications open. Chapter 1 of this 4-part e-book discusses electronic human voice communication and its importance in business today. It documents the underlying beliefs, philosophies, and observations of the future of telephony, and provides the basic concepts readers will need to guide them through the rest of the series.
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Data loss can be damaging to a business—hurting short-term stock prices, impacting customer relationships, and reducing revenues. As more companies conduct business via network communication, the need to protect their customer data and intellectual property becomes greater. With a data protection solution, organizations can secure their data in motion—without introducing unmanageable cost and complexity into the network.
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When it comes to security architecture, choosing a system that’s scalable and applicable to a broad set of security needs is a wise move. New security services for Internet protocol (IP) networks are emerging that enable new levels of scalability and manageability—while remaining completely transparent to the network. By applying this type of system, you build an optimal framework for future security applications.
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Spam considerably lowers user productivity, as it delivers unwanted, irrelevant, or anonymous e-mail messages. The best way to manage the incidence of spam is to measure it. The Spam Index—a tool for measuring improvement in spam control systems and for comparing spam control performance with competitors—is a method used by businesses worldwide to achieve lower spam levels and improve business performance.
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E-mail is a powerful business tool that most enterprises can’t live without. Unfortunately, along with its capability of accelerating commerce, productivity, and social interactions, there are some drawbacks—such as spam! Companies that rely on e-mail to do business simply can’t afford the negative affects of spam. However, new technology is emerging that helps stop spam and allows users to get on with business.
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In this new era of corporate governance, risk avoidance, and responsibility, organizations are more than ever held accountable if their data is not properly protected. As such, many are finding new ways to address security risks, by developing multiple layers of defense to reduce points of weakness. Deploying data encryption technology is a good place to start—but the key is making the right choice.
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Heightened awareness of vulnerabilities in sensitive stored data has resulted in the increased application of encryption technology. To secure data at rest, a well-defined process for handling the keys used to encrypt data—as well as the keys used to safeguard the data encryption keys—is essential. With the proper key management controls in place, companies can ensure that data is effectively secured and recoverable.
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In order to stay competitive, growing organizations need technology that allows them to react quickly to changing industry. According to recent polls, nearly 40 percent of midsized businesses are getting that technology through customer relationship management (CRM). With a rapidly growing market of choices, it’s important to look within your company to assess its needs and goals—before you commit to a CRM solution.
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If you could have a 360-degree view of your business, wouldn’t you want to take a peek? Most companies would say yes, but no business could benefit more from this panoramic view than large enterprises. Today, they’re getting that view—and more, from customer relationship management (CRM) technology. For large enterprises, CRM represents a powerful opportunity for positive change—and you ignore it at your own risk.
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You can’t pick up a business or IT magazine today without seeing numerous articles about the growth of mobile and wireless technologies. Why are these technologies so trendy? The answer is simple: developments in mobile computing, wireless communication, bar codes, and other data collection and communications technologies help businesses extend visibility and control over the operations that really matter to them.
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It s hard to go anywhere these days and not see ads for mobile wireless carriers. But the technology is so confusing and the choices so overwhelming, it can be impossible to know which solution to choose. Before making the wrong choice, it’s best to have a basic understanding of mobile wireless communication—how it is currently being used in the industry, and how it can benefit your organization in the future.
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How can you establish a priority-based mobile networking system that provides workers access to company and customer records that they can manipulate from the field? By employing a total solution system that provides various methods of transmitting data. While this type of system may be more costly to implement than a stand-alone pager or cell phone, the benefits it offers can directly impact your bottom line.
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When it comes to two-dimensional (2D) symbologies, less is more. While 2D bar code symbols may be less costly to print, they are considerably more expensive to read, because of the complexity of developing decode algorithms. However, with the integration of public domain 2D symbologies into a range of application standards, solutions employing these codes are beginning to reach their full potential.
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For manufacturers, improving internal processes and supply chain responsiveness can help maintain profitability. That is why many are tuning into radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. With RFID, the benefits are immediate throughout the supply chain, and organizations that take the time to understand its capabilities and limitations can increase their inventory visibility while streamlining their operations.
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has retailers talking. The reason: RFID helps reduce labor and improves the ability to gather data. Retailers can use this data to make positive changes to business processes, which can be tremendously advantageous for them. With careful planning, an RFID system can provide immediate benefits, as well as long-term competitive and total cost of ownership advantages.
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Imagine this scenario: an infected laptop within your company has accessed the network and is spreading malicious code to thousands of other devices. This incident could cripple any business, but with network access control (NAC) products, companies can rest a little easier. NAC’s ability to measure, enforce, and report on an array of security issues has gained it attention amongst security conscious organizations.
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As proprietary network hardware appliances become obsolete, unified network platforms (UNPs) are slowly gaining momentum. UNPs are the new paradigm for networking and security—operating on a single system that can be implemented on off-the-shelf hardware. With a UNP, organizations can design, build, manage, and maintain secure networks, without the limitations and expense of vendor proprietary hardware and software.
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Malicious hacking and illegal access are just a few of the reasons companies lose precious corporate data every year. As the number of network security breaches increase, companies must find ways to protect data beyond the perimeter of their businesses. But how do they build a data-defensible architecture that will protect data on an ever-evolving network? The answer: by first developing an in-depth defense strategy.
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The supply of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) services and service providers has grown exponentially with the demand for Internet protocol (IP) and Ethernet services. But while MPLS enhances packet processing speed and network performance, it lacks in security. As government and industry compliance regulations increase, organizations must invest in tools that can ensure security without affecting network performance.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) often face the same challenges as large businesses—just on a smaller scale. One such challenge is finding a business solution that manages expansion and addresses complex reporting and compliance issues. Many SMBs are now adopting enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions—complete with tools to help them meet the current and future needs of their growing business.
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Wide area networks (WANs) are essential to the majority of businesses, enabling effective communications within the organization and with customers, partners, and suppliers. As more bandwidth-intensive applications are added to the mix, these networks are expected to handle the extra load—which can decrease its performance. Ensuring WAN usage is well-managed eliminates unwanted traffic and accelerates business activity.
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Small to medium businesses (SMBs) face the same challenges as large businesses when it comes to IT management—they have increasingly complex systems they rely on to drive their businesses and gain a competitive advantage. Operating and maintaining a complex IT infrastructure requires specific skills, but getting the right staff at an affordable price can be a problem. Outsourcing IT management may help to ease the strain.
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In any organization, people remain one of the largest sources of value when it comes to business processes. But providing them with tools that can be easily accessed and used has its challenges. As we move into the era of service-oriented architecture (SOA), portal and collaboration software now delivers the essential people-focused capabilities businesses need, while adding significant value to the organization.
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Today, companies are looking to improve work processes, comply with legislation, and increase productivity—and they’re implementing electronic document management systems (EDMS) to help them effectively manage their information. By deploying EDMS—which are capable of capturing, storing, and retrieving records, files, and folders—these companies are achieving unprecedented levels of control, efficiency, and automation.
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One of the first and seemingly simple questions that companies ask when making IT investments is “how much does it cost?” Many often find themselves wondering why—even after a successful implementation—their costs keep going up. When evaluating a mobile workforce automation project, companies should take the time to conduct a thorough total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis to detect hidden costs—and avoid nasty surprises.
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In the $1.8 billion market of document management services, only 10 percent is billed by dealers. So how can they increase their share of the managed print services trend? The dealer’s path to advantage lies in its service and supply organization. To make this transition, the dealer needs a tool that gathers knowledge of the client’s fleet and identifies where printing dollars can be saved.
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How do companies address the out-of-control costs associated with network printing? Many look to control them by outsourcing their managed printer services. The transition from basic dealer services to a holistic approach—where the dealer manages the print services for the entire organization—has its challenges. With printer fleet management tools, companies gain a competitive advantage and save on printing costs.
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Going mobile has become a growing trend, with many businesses reaching well beyond the use of cellular phones as their only lines of communication. Why? Because these businesses realize that linking the mobile workforce with the enterprise and its data resources—using mobile applications—is key to enhancing productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Choosing the right devices, however, can be very challenging.
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Integrating full-text and fielded data searches can help you find essential information more easily. Whether your existing metadata fields reside within a document or are stored in a separate database, a search index can combine full-text and fielded data dynamically. This allows multiple users to search the same documents with a single index—and a single user to integrate two searches in one query.
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Republic Indemnity Company of America has been meeting the workers’ compensation
needs of small and midsize businesses in California and the western United States
for nearly half a century. Republic Indemnity’s goal is to consistently provide customers with quick and reliable service. To accomplish this, Republic Indemnity sought to streamline its processes through a business-to-business (B2B) connectivity solution.
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With an impressive 160-year history procuring and blending teas, the Harris Tea Company is the largest blender and packer of private label teas in North America. As sales grew, Harris Tea wanted to upgrade its supply chain technology to efficiently process orders it received from stores around the country. After researching and evaluating the wide universe of integration vendors, Harris Tea selected Boomi.
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When considering any software solution, two things come to mind: flexibility and cost. With virtualization technology, multiple applications can now be hosted safely and securely on a single server, eliminating the overhead of running multiple operating systems (OS) per server. This capability can greatly reduce costs and help organizations deliver consistent service levels despite unpredictable workloads.
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Cox Communications, a leading cable provider, needed to find a way to centralize the IT requirements of its customer support team. With over a hundred users, its challenge was to move from single desktop applications to a centralized server which would offer many concurrent instances of the application—and minimize the cost. By deploying a virtualization solution, Cox realized a return on investment (ROI) of 300 percent.
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Your operations and assets are under multiple points of attack, both inside and outside your network. Organizations face escalating security risks and network availability requirements as they open their networks for communications and transactions with key customers, business partners, and employees. That’s why you need to ensure efficient monitoring and enhancement of your network security posture and operations.
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Malware infections are becoming more and more severe, making detecting infections before they infiltrate your server or desktop a high priority. Perimeter-based security keeps the malware—and the risks—away from your systems. Adding layers of security, particularly outside the network, can help you identify and stop Internet threats before they infect machines, expose sensitive information, and consume valuable resources.
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The computational complexity of problems faced by programmers today is growing exponentially. With accelerated changes brought on by the Internet, companies need to explore new methods of enabling their programmers to focus on these complex problems. When dealing with complex data, an object caching database system can alleviate the task of programming special code for persistent data while writing applications.
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New Star Asset Management was looking to maximize its existing sales channels and drive more information gathering via the Web. In order to achieve its aggressive targets, it needed to find a way to make better use of the Web, while reducing costs. Since integrating a Web content management system, New Star has seen a significant drop in Web-related expenditure—with cost savings of nearly 68 percent in the first year.
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The Web has become a vast potential business asset for many companies today. But while business users have the vision, it’s the IT department that actually creates and deploys the Web application. This often raises the question of Web site ownership. Empowering both parties with the right tools to match their respective skills can help address this question—and many others—for businesses in this confusing situation.
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One person’s freedom to pirate is another person’s loss of royalty revenue. Every day, millions of Internet users are downloading copyrighted materials—music, movies, TV shows, and more. Although this is illegal under most countries’ copyright laws, it doesn’t stop them. What’s worse is they don’t even see themselves as criminals. Piracy isn’t going away, and content owners and governments need to regain control.
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It’s no coincidence that the surge in counterfeiting over the past decade has coincided with a huge increase in Internet access around the world, and the more recent shift toward broadband connections. The Web provides a shop window to the world, yet it is impossible to police. New, intelligent, automated monitoring technologies are beginning to offer powerful solutions to this rampant online problem.
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C# is a modern object-oriented language for application development. In addition to object-oriented constructs, C# supports component-oriented programming with properties, methods, and events. WinA&D is a complete Unified Modeling Language (UML) tool enriched with C#-specific details used to generate source code. This white paper discusses how C# constructs are represented by UML—for forward and reverse engineering.
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Understanding how a system really works is the first step toward using, improving, automating, or explaining it to others. The basic concept of a system is that it is driven by cause and effect—but there is so much more to understanding its full complexity. The best place to start is by learning how causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are used to model dynamic systems by identifying variables and causal effects.
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Interactive web sites are event-driven. With each user click, a menu selection or keyboard action initiates a thread of execution that runs many lines of code. Many Web projects start as small code snippets gathered from open source sites, but as the web site grows, new developers are added to the mix. Without design and documentation tools, the project can become unmanageable, unreliable, insecure, and costly to expand.
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In 2004, Microsoft offered a midwestern-US-based financial services corporation a range of options to renew and replace its existing enterprise agreement. But without the right negotiating skills, how could it be certain Microsoft’s offer was the most cost-saving approach? The company engaged an independent consulting firm, and in less than three weeks recognized savings of 28 percent on a $3 million (USD) agreement.
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As a business employing IT, you may have encountered situations where the software application you purchased didn’t come with a help file. With no time to write complete documentation yourself and no budget to hire a professional technical writer to do it for you, what do you do? By applying the basic principles of cost-effective documentation, your business can develop impressive documentation quickly—for a minimal cost.
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Corporate leaders know that revenues are made from “better data.” And when your data is at risk, so is the survival of your organization. That’s why it’s essential to protect your revenues with “safer data”—and it’s also why the common business language is now one of risk management. IT departments are now learning this in many of the same ways that business people have always had to—including the hard way.
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Information technology (IT) governance is currently a hot topic. But what is “governance” exactly? IT governance includes a number of actions and decision-making structures that encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT, and it’s an important area of focus for any organization that wants to increase its IT business value. We present a step-by-step guide to help you achieve the IT governance you need.
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The latest threat plaguing the corporate office is clipped to the belts and purses of your workforce—their mobile devices. And while employees have the ability to keep in touch, in real time, with their clients and the office, it also increases the risk of security breaches. Finding weaknesses and securing your mobile network should be one of your highest priorities—someone may be stealing your sensitive data right now.
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If you’re looking to rein in your supply chain costs, you may want to consider an electronic “source-to-settle” enterprise application—particularly the crucial supplier interface portal. This portal provides many business benefits, but you need to be aware of the “dirty little secret” vendors won’t tell you about: they get the system up and running, but direct supplier integration is often only an afterthought.
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"I recently had lunch with a colleague from a major international consumer goods manufacturer and we looked at the results for his company. There were a handful of vendors touting solutions for his company s integration requirements. The colleague works right at the heart of these processes with good visibility into both the business side of the house and IT. And he was shocked at the results."
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Just about every IT professional has a fragmentation horror story about a system so severely degraded by fragmentation that it was unusable. But very few IT professionals can offer more than anecdotal evidence regarding the importance of defragmentation software. That’s why we decided to put fragmentation to the test, with the intent of answering the basic question: is fragmentation really a problem in your organization?
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The exponential growth of storage requirements is driven by the information age—the thirst for information and the increased complexity and size of applications, operating systems, and data. There are bigger disks storing an abundance of larger files than ever before, so the effects of fragmentation can worsen noticeably over time. To keep up with same-day performance degradation, disks must be defragmented in real time.
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As organizational storage allocation requirements multiply, the time required to back up file-based data also continues to increase. While software vendors continue making advancements in technology to speed up the disk fragmentation process, it continues to remain an issue—one that needs to be addressed at the file system level. Defragmenting the hard drive volume prior to performing the backup may be the answer.
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SANs, NAS devices, corporate servers, and high-end workstations all suffer the effects of fragmentation because of their multiple physical disk drives. This is attributed to the impact of fragmentation on the logical allocation of files and their physical distribution. The solution to this problem: implementing an automatic defragmentation software solution, together with intricate modern hardware technologies.
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The power sector realizes the importance of information technology (IT), and its potential to contribute to the power reforms process. The global IT market for this sector provides a wide range of technology and solutions that can address the entire business value chain in power distribution—from setting up distribution network and service connection, to distribution load management, power delivery, and customer service.
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In recent years, the rapid succession of virus attacks has created an intense security environment. The capacity for quick response to new anti-virus attacks is a critical component of any organization’s security plan. Antivirus scans are significantly faster on desktop systems with regularly defragmented files and free space—which means that using software to automatically keep systems defragmented should not be overlooked.
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While service oriented architecture (SOA)-based systems are great for re-using the existing IT infrastructure to implement newer business processes, they only help IT professionals. Thus, an SOA-based system is a technical answer to a business challenge—but in order to help businesses react to business changes, existing business rules management system (BRMS) technology should be included in the mix.
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Enterprises are using business rules engines (BREs) as a means to reduce the costs of managing change. However, because these business rules are stored separately from the application code, many questions need to be answered: Can you track changes to policies? What risks are involved in having business policies outside of code? And how can you minimize these risks?
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Within the manufacturing community, the arrival of the latest, greatest enterprise software technology is often met with skepticism. The right service-oriented architecture (SOA) application, however, can reverse such doubts, as SOA continues to emerge as the dominant technical platform for building next-generation business applications. Its potential to transform enterprise software applications is not only well hyped—it’s also well documented.
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.NET technology is a wake-up call, and some people are sleeping through it! Remaining competitive means mission-critical software systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, must be designed from the ground up for connectivity and integration. But software developers don’t advertise their shortcomings, and some ERP vendors—and by association, their customers—are being left behind.
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We all know that computers, generally speaking, have not been as reliable as phones. And the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) has been, in some cases, justified. However, for VoIP the question now is not whether reliability can be achieved, but rather how much reliability you can expect from the options available to you.
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The average personal computer (PC) costs an enterprise $10,000 (USD) per year to own and maintain—five times the purchase price of the hardware and software! Is it possible to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of technology platforms? Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) manageability can be a crucial step in self-provisioning users and unburdening valuable network professionals.
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Enterprises of all sizes are adopting Internet protocol (IP) telephony for cost savings and productivity gains—but high quality voice service takes more than just buying the latest equipment. Is IP telephony right for your organization and your network? Get the straight facts from an industry leader—along with a 7-step assessment and deployment checklist for a successful implementation.
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Effective communication uses many senses, but visual communication provides huge amounts of information, and can convey all sorts of meanings. Face to face, we can rely on visual cues; however, the amount of information transmitted via distant communication is limited by cost and complexity. And when the costs of transportation rise, broader use of remote visual communications becomes increasingly practical.
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There is a considerable need to understand how technical performance and the problems within the technical infrastructure impact the capabilities of the business itself. The majority of companies can only measure specific asset and application performance, whereas many issues within the infrastructure lie at the transport level, where packet switching can present both great opportunities and major issues.
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Information management, which includes both data and content management, is an essential element of service-oriented architecture (SOA). Taking a service-oriented approach to information data can thus help you achieve greater value from your information assets. Implementing master data management (MDM) services can provide a multiplier effect, by delivering high-value business services over and above information integration services.
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Predictions of the death of software are overstated. In reality, businesses are becoming more reliant on technology, not less. What’s changing, however, is the number of options available for managing, delivering, and paying for software applications. Many independent software vendors recognize the benefits of offering software as a service--a delivery alternative that can present long-term benefits for all parties.
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The Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) have become mission-critical services as the Internet and other Internet protocol (IP)-based networks become business necessities. Services like IP telephony are intolerant of down-time—they require “dial tone” reliability and a solution that enables them to remain available despite any of the unforeseen circumstances that can incapacitate a server.
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The greatest threat to the security of the modern network is complexity. Threats to network security almost always play on missed details in the design of a network or a piece of software. These overlooked details enable much larger and potentially devastating security breaches to occur. However, this threat can be countered with a well designed network and vigilant safeguards.
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Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) has been adopted as the dynamic protocol of choice for pain-free management of network resources. The integration of the Domain Name System (DNS) and DHCP into a single network helps overcome traditional barriers to effective resource allocation. Indeed, combining DNS and DHCP enhances information security, thus providing a solution your organization can grow with.
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The Domain Name System (DNS) plays an important role in providing the information used by the Windows Domain locator service to connect and authenticate with Active Directory. But how can organizations with existing configurations using the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND)—the international DNS benchmark—be sure that migration to other server solutions will yield a dependable DNS solution?
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Domain name system (DNS) best practices are becoming more standardized. However, DNS services are often overlooked simply because they are so commonplace. The result is poorly configured services that are either not fully functional, or easily compromised. To ensure that the Internet remains a reliable medium for information and commerce, further implementation of secure and efficient DNS will be required.
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Small to medium businesses have typically built their own domain name system (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services, used Windows DNS/DHCP, or turned to a hosted service provider for these services. This approach may appear to offer tremendous savings, but contains many hidden costs and risks that are not always apparent until a catastrophic loss of service occurs.
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When Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) was created, the Internet was still mainly a vehicle for scientific collaboration. Indeed, the need for security has grown out of the increased use of the Internet as a commercial medium. That’s why new DHCP issues have come to the forefront that were simply not explored in the early days of the Internet.
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To understand the power of cache poisoning and pharming, imagine that you’re logging on to your Internet banking service. The page looks a little odd, but the address is correct, and it has the same fields as usual. You might enter your credentials without thinking twice. Unfortunately, you’ve just provided a criminal syndicate with the contents of your bank account.
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Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology has become a money-saving telecom option that brings the power of a computer to a user’s phone. VoIP devices, however, require more complicated configurations than the average network client. Indeed, without reliable and properly configured domain name system (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services running on a network, VoIP services are impossible.
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Organizations deploying next-generation business and communications applications are looking for ways to rapidly increase the use of existing Internet and core network resources. These network environments demand new management frameworks to simplify network configuration and deployment changes. However, existing point-based solutions do little to address issues of scale, usability, security, and network availability at the Internet protocol (IP) level.
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Increased complexity, coupled with the adoption of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), demands additional management overhead for enterprise- and carrier-class networks. This management need is compounded by requirement for corporations to implement IP version 6 (IPv6)-compatible networks to ensure capacity and service over the next decade. This transition will require careful planning, and naming systems will play a critical role.
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A modern weight control system must support data entry from humans, as well as direct acquisition from weigh scales and devices. However, it cannot operate as a stand-alone point solution. It must span geographic space, hosting data from multiple lines and even divisions. And because of the proliferation of co-packers, it must sometimes even span company boundaries.
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Organizational growth can come in many forms. It can be sheer increases in number of employees, customers, patients, members or constituents; it can involve launching new products, or entering new geographies; it can simply be increasing transaction levels. Regardless of form, managing growth confidently means relying not only on an organization’s people, but also on its business systems.
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Today’s leading-edge business applications go beyond mere Web enablement, where publishing information to the Web is the primary motive (referred to nowadays as Web 1.0 applications). State-of-the-art enterprise software must also incorporate a single, integrated interface that links applications instantly to business processes and collaborative technologies. However, developing Web 2.0 applications is anything but trivial.
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In times like these, when IT spending is increasingly subject to cutbacks, finding out how to get "more for less" is as crucial to a company’s IT department as making sure that applications run smoothly. In Rome, Italy, Gruppo Tosinvest managed to prove that this challenge—which keeps legions of IT managers awake at night—can be solved.
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There are several ways to virtualize the front office, with at least four different solution choices available. The soundest advice may be for companies to start the process, and evaluate the alternatives based on their ability to solve real business needs. It’s time that the personal computer (PC) find its place in the data center—not proliferated around the workplace.
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New developments in telephony solutions have left some small businesses reeling; smaller organizations incorrectly assume there’s a steep learning curve for new products. However, there is no real reason for any business to be left behind. One-size-fits-all telephony is a thing of the past, and new flexibility can level the playing field for any size of business.
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For today’s organizations, Internet access is a must-have. However, when they decide to open the door to the World Wide Web, the good—along with the bad—enters the network. Spyware and viruses can be distributed onto the network from untrustworthy web sites. In order to protect the best interests of the organization, an effective Web content filter is required.
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As a mid-market company, you’ve been using electronic data interchange (EDI) for a number of years. It saves time and money—and most importantly, your trading partners need you to. But new technologies offer a streamlined and cost-efficient approach to EDI. These capabilities mean you don’t have to settle for "workarounds," "good enough," or "my vendor left me no choice."
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Accessing more real-time intelligence can give your company the flexibility and agility to win in the marketplace. However, multiple and disparate data systems, lengthy integration cycles, and isolated business processes may well be standing in your way. The question then becomes “What kind of IT platform is going to give me the kind of information I really need to have?”
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The number of devices in the corporate world is increasing every year. And as mobility proliferates, so does the requirement for network security solutions to protect against external attacks, as well as attacks originating inside the network perimeter. However, network access control solutions can provide organizations with the ability to automatically enforce security policies, while still maintaining user productivity.
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The network infrastructure in today’s enterprises faces incredible challenges as both business processes and workforce requirements evolve. Furthermore, large public enterprises are hosting exponentially higher numbers of financial auditors due to US federal regulations, especially Sarbanes-Oxley. This has caused a heightened need to ensure that the network remains safe, while still permitting auditors and their unknown devices to remain productive.
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Over the last two years, there has been a significant amount of IT industry attention focused on controlling users and devices access¬ing the corporate network. In this same time, the number of mobile com¬puting devices has surpassed the number of desktops used in corporate networks. Needless to say, the challenge IT managers face in securing the network has grown exponentially.
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With the emergence of network access control (NAC) technologies, network administrators now have tools to gain critical network understanding. NAC solutions can contribute significantly to an organization’s business objectives by automatically enforcing network and security policies, preventing network downtimes, maintaining network integrity, and meeting compliance regulations. With this in mind, it’s important to look at what NAC implementations actually require.
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Internet access is now mission-critical for many enterprises. Yet the unpredictable nature of Internet bandwidth can put important applications at risk. For converged networks with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and data running at the same time, redundancy is a must-have, as IT managers strive to achieve the same levels of reliability phone users have come to expect.
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As a bedrock element of any sound corporate data protection strategy, encryption protects valuable company data, whether it is at rest, in transit, or in use. Advanced encryption algorithms coupled with faster processors now make it possible to transparently encrypt and decrypt entire drive volumes, massive amounts of data on storage area networks (SANs), and other large-volume data stores.
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High-profile cyber-attacks are imprinted in the enterprise security worldview, and for good reason. Enterprises without sound intrusion prevention strategies across the three threat dimensions—undesired access, malicious content, and rate-based attacks—are exposed to unacceptable risks, especially from hybrid attacks. However, a three-dimensional protection (3DP) approach provides protection for clients, servers, and network infrastructure, while maximizing bandwidth for mission-critical traffic.
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IT departments play a key role in complying with the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Without the right technological solutions to record and monitor access to networks, financial systems, and sensitive data, company management cannot ensure the integrity of the information in their financial reports. That’s why technology that helps with SOX compliance and internal control management is imperative.
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Grid infrastructure is maturing as an enterprise form of distributed computing—and with an increasingly wide range of applications able to make use of its high performance and lower cost, it’s not too late to invest in grid technology. However many “early adopter” investment banks now have multiple disparate grids, and face the problem of how to consolidate them.
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Many organizations use limited (restricted) users and system policies and group policies to ensure users cannot access certain areas of the computer or install most off-the-shelf software. However, these approaches require the network administrator to be very knowledgeable, and to spend large amounts of time setting and maintaining the policies. The alternative: a whitelist-based security solution.
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The problems caused by malware and malicious code in the form of rootkits and Trojans are multiplying everyday. These pervasive problems have created a new industry of antivirus and anti-spyware software. Blacklist-based software is one of the most common response solutions. However, the relatively new approach of whitelist-based software is a simple and secure option for total system control.
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Educational institutions represent a unique and complex learning environment from a technological standpoint. Educational instructors are faced with the conundrum of needing to be more knowledgeable about technology in order to ensure that students are appropriately educated; yet they have to continually tighten security because of the growing number of threats—both internally and externally.
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Typically, there are two approaches to managing public access and workplace workstations: the lock-down approach, and the reactionary approach. However, despite the variety of public access or corporate computer environments that exist, non-restrictive technology is applicable to all of them. With this technology in place, users can use workstations as they desire, but downtime and technical support costs are eliminated.
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E-mail users around the world have noticed an increasing number of unsolicited messages reaching their mailboxes. Anti-spam solutions have had to increase the frequency of their updates, and also to develop more heuristics more rapidly. That’s why it’s vital to implement an automatic process that quickly learns the characteristics of new spam—without affecting existing detection accuracy.
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As with most new technologies, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) brings new challenges along with benefits. The main challenge is VoIP’s extreme sensitivity to delay and packet loss compared with other network applications. However, a basic understanding of VoIP traffic and of the quality metrics provided by VoIP monitoring tools will help you keep your VoIP network running smoothly.
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Whether you’re monitoring networks for security threats, or capturing and decoding packets while troubleshooting, you need reliable ways to see the network traffic. Traffic levels on the given segment, coupled with the visibility level you require, will suggest the most economical solution. Of the three most common ways for analysis devices to capture network traffic, which is right for you?
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NetFlow and sFlow are traffic reporting mechanisms that manufacturers have embedded into enterprise-level switches and routers. Until recently, analysis vendors have viewed these technologies as a competitive threat rather than an opportunity. But now that NetFlow and sFlow support are appearing in commercial analysis tools, IT administrators can better leverage this free visibility lying latent in their switches and routers.
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Organizations with existing Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) networks seeking to implement IPv6 face challenges in identifying impacts, planning the transition, and executing the migration. Given the common organizational reliance on external communications for partner links, home-based employees, and Internet access, an overall plan should be compiled addressing the current environment, users, and the controlled steps to IPv6 deployment.
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Effective IP management requires proper allocation of address space for adequate address capacity as needed, as well as accurate configuration of DHCP and DNS servers. Along with flawless configuration and management of each of these foundational elements of Internet protocol (IP) address management, address managers must also integrate these management functions into the broader IT network management environment.
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Many companies are struggling to comply with a patchwork of regulations related to sensitive corporate information. As a result, companies are looking for new database security and auditing solutions to help prevent unauthorized access to confidential information—and to satisfy internal and external auditors—without the performance loss and insider security risk of traditional database management system (DBMS) logging approaches.
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The capacity for service-oriented architecture (SOA) to provide a framework for next-generation enterprise telecommunications services has become a reality through the maturing of Web services technology. Such communications services can now take their rightful place alongside collaborating business processes to allow enterprises to achieve a fully integrated SOA, an architecture that can grow with the business and grow with technology.
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Security is a vital consideration when evaluating enterprise Internet protocol (IP) telecommunications solutions. In addition to delivering business benefits, a voice over IP (VoIP) system may also become a target for unauthorized users, and must be secured against threats. Indeed, if threats and vulnerabilities are not addressed, the results can be devastating with respect to lost productivity, resources, and reputation.
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The service-oriented architecture (SOA) integration framework enables organizations to map IT processes to business needs, with new business processes being defined on demand for business agility. However, SOA is predicated on an ability to integrate loosely-coupled services, one application to another: users are not necessarily involved. This creates challenges for governing how service assets are developed, provisioned, and invoked.
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XML gateways, a new class of networking device, manage message-level security, service-level agreements (SLAs), and performance in service-oriented architectures (SOAs). XML gateways specialize in application-level protocols rendered within the XML or Web services message itself. With the ability to rapidly inspect and process XML messages, they can perform security, transformation, routing, and SLA operations at wire speed in the network.
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There’s no universal solution for Web services security. Sometimes, access lists programmed into the Web services themselves are sufficient. Other times, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) may be more than adequate. However, when granular message processing and auditing is essential, dedicated extensible markup language (XML) and Web services security technology will prove necessary. Which options are right for you?
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IT managers undertaking any implementation of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes should understand the concept of process maturity. As a foundation for process improvement, these key practices improve the ability of organizations to meet goals for cost, schedule, functionality, and product quality—the ultimate goal being to improve efficiency, return on investment, and effectiveness.
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Images have long been part of e-mail communications—from corporate logos in signatures, to scanned documents, and more. But recently, spammers have started using a variety of techniques to embed unsolicited messages into images in order to bypass increasingly sophisticated spam filters used by companies and Internet service providers. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
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There are hundreds of anti-spam and anti-virus products designed to defend against unwanted e-mail. These solutions can take the form of software, appliances, or managed services. Managed filtering services are convenient and economical, and are also extremely effective in managing threats. In fact, most managed e-mail defense services block threats before they even reach the internal network.
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The US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 applies to health care providers, health plans, and clearing houses that electronically maintain or transmit health information. Among other things, these entities are required to have data backup plans, disaster recovery plans, and emergency mode operation plans. Fortunately, there is a way to meet these security and contingency requirements.
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Today’s n-tier infrastructures make significant demands on the problem management process. Isolation of performance problems in these environments is difficult at best, and traditional monitoring tools are not equipped to deal with the multiple dependencies and complexities they present. Indeed, even effective problem management processes may not be sufficient without improved tools.
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While many monitoring frameworks support commercial applications and application infrastructures, very few offer organizations the capacity to manage the custom application components that are inevitably a part of their infrastructure. But as these applications tend to be the most critical components of the target infrastructure, a framework that cannot provide insight into these ultra-critical components is offering severely limited value.
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The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) provides a comprehensive and consistent set of best practices for IT service management (ITSM), promoting a quality approach to achieving business efficiency in the use of information systems. The key paradigm shift that ITIL s ITSM best-practices taxonomy seeks to achieve is the movement away from management of silos, towards management of services spanning multiple silos.
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As telecommunications networks grow in size and complexity, enterprises and service providers are faced with an increasing burden on operating expenses. In particular, the amount of power consumed and heat dissipated within even a single rack of communications servers is now a very real budget consideration. Clearly, lowering these numbers is the concern of all communication platform designers.
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The next-generation input/output interconnect standard for the PC industry arises from PCI Express and PICMG 1.3 specifications. However, as platforms change to incorporate these standards, they’re virtually eliminating space for high-end telephony boards. When building telephony solutions, vendors must be aware of the changes in these specifications so that they can better use current and future systems for communications applications.
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One of the most challenging areas in any Siebel implementation has traditionally been setting up and maintaining interfaces between Siebel and other back-end systems. However, it is now possible to create a real-time web service interface to other applications from Siebel 7.8 or 8.0, without writing a single line of code.
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Traditionally, IT infrastructure operations teams are organized as domain experts—one expert for network devices, another for the Citrix MetaFrame Server, another for the database, and so on. Most monitoring systems mirror this approach, with separate solutions for monitoring different network elements and applications. This approach is rife with complications, but alternatives do exist which can simplify your day-to-day activities.
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With hundreds of monitoring solutions available, which ones are right for you? Many organizations spend months assessing different products, but find it difficult to distinguish between them, thanks to industry jargon—“proactive monitoring,” “root-cause analysis,” “service-oriented user views”… There are different ways to compare them, but before you even begin, you need to be clear on what your objectives are.
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For years, organizations have had to settle for inadequate approaches to front-office to back-office integration. However, with Scribe’s component architecture, when a new version of Dynamics GP or Salesforce comes out, you can plug in a new version of the Scribe Adapter for the upgraded application, and your existing Dynamics GP to Salesforce Template will experience little or no disruption.
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Thanks to pressures in the telecom equipment manufacturing industry, application-ready platforms (ARPs) in Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) are increasingly indispensable. ARPs must provide standards-based platforms to support diverse sets of applications. The ATCA ARP provides such a platform, but in light of the ATCA specifications that define the basis for the platform, ARP implementations still present some interesting challenges.
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Storage is a vital part of enterprise IT infrastructure, with Internet protocol (IP) telephony storage leading the way as an effective technology. With the increased adoption of open standards-based architecture by the enterprise telephony market, IP telephony storage will gain acceptance as an entry-level storage tool and a viable low-cost alternative to Fibre Channel storage area networks (SANs).
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Interoperability and performance are key market enablers for providers of network equipment. The relationship between performance and time-to-market has been widely studied, and a strong correlation has been defined. However, the performance gap that exists between an interdependent (proprietary) design and a modular (standards-based) design has not been explored to the same extent.
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Many application providers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) either select a standard platform for their applications, or provide guidelines and recommendations as to which infrastructure components will optimize their solutions. Thus, one of the critical factors that should be considered prior to selecting a standard platform is the certification it carries, and how it pertains to your organization’s needs.
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Monitoring the end-to-end performance of applications and services at all infrastructure tiers is the "holy grail" of IT organizations. But most companies use silo-based monitoring tools incapable of monitoring events and activities occurring elsewhere in the infrastructure. A "collaborative" approach for deploying such tools stands a greater chance of adoption than the typical top-down implementation method commonly used today.
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Rapid changes in international markets—and mounting pressures to reduce costs and improve quality—make globalization a key issue for most organizations today. Worldwide company reorganizations, acquisitions, mergers, and spin-offs affect the structure of an enterprise, demanding immediate action. Globalization requires that companies enable core business processes on a global basis, while providing ease of use for local user communities.
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The most advanced business process management (BPM) applications bridge departmental and geographic boundaries, and manage the flow of documents and data according to sophisticated process rules. And while many would suggest that an on-demand BPM service offering would most benefit small businesses, a real case can be made that such offerings might be more valuable for medium and large businesses.
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Success often brings unanticipated growing pains to businesses at precisely the moment they’re experiencing initial triumph in the marketplace. When businesses add phones and operators to existing call centers to cope with growth, they run some predictable risks, including not only mounting staffing costs, unchecked calling costs, and scalability failure, but also customer dissatisfaction and outright abandonment.
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We don't like to be reminded that there are people who thrive on the theft or malicious destruction of sensitive information, especially where financial transactions are concerned. However, businesses can no longer afford to be complacent. Implementing a practical policy such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard can go a long way toward ensuring peace of mind.
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Corporations share data with a variety of remote offices, trading partners, customers, and regulatory agencies. Sensitive data is transferred to and from entities around the world billions of times a day. Security breaches are frequently in the news, with reports of compromised customer data. However, business-to-business (B2B) workflow breakdowns are more likely to occur—and are potentially just as harmful.
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Typically, useful network documentation requires a significant investment in time and effort. But because enterprise networks are in constant flux, many companies do not document their network on a regular basis. However, by adopting a sole source, service-based solution for network shapes and stencils, organizations can perform mission-critical documentation more regularly—in ways that are simpler, faster and more effective.
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There was a time when companies went with one platform, and stuck with it, hiring IT staff with that technology in mind. That time has passed. Today, heterogeneity is the name of the game, with orga¬nizations having combinations of legacy software and distributed systems, across multiple platforms and applications. But while heterogeneity brings multiple benefits, it also involves serious risk.
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Reliability is the most critical aspect of a business phone system. However, there are different approaches to providing reliable voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems, which is why you need to consider the reliability of the underlying data network—and the challenges of implementing a virtually always-available system on an infrastructure that has a much lower availability rating.
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In the past, most businesses have operated more or less effectively with a certain level of downtime—whether required to maintain systems, applications, and data, or to produce daily analysis reports. Unfortunately, today’s emphasis on ever-greater productivity and profitability means that downtime becomes an obstacle to improving perfor¬mance and delivering value—the two essential conditions that make your business competitive.
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Everyone wants the biggest bang for their IT buck—the most functionality and ease of use, deployed to the widest audience, for the lowest cost. But for years, packaged software, despite high up-front and recurring costs, has been a must-have. However, business professionals are beginning to recognize a more efficient approach to their software needs: the smart client.
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Developers obviously need to leverage best techniques to migrate MS Access applications to the MS SQL Server and Oracle Client/Server database platforms. However, they can also benefit from a presentation of specific migration procedures; guidance on which migration path makes the most sense; and a list of criteria to assist with the decision on whether to migrate at all.
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Vulnerability assessment (VA) has become one of the hottest fields within computer security. VA tools are designed to detect and report on security holes within software applications, allowing organizations to take corrective action—before devastating attacks occur. Indeed, due to reduction in hacker “time to exploit,” along with intense regulatory pressures, the need for reliable VA has never been greater.
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As digital information has become more and more critical to businesses, firewalls—which once served as the walls of the fortress, have now become an archaic means of defense. Thus, as threats evolve, responses must change as well. Rather than focusing protection solely on perimeter security, it is imperative to look at protecting data at the source—inside the database.
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Hackers have recently started to use search engines to find web-facing database interfaces that can be used to mount attacks on databases placed behind a firewall. This is a significant new development, completely exposing previously “protected” databases to outside attack. In fact, an attacker can data mine any of the commonly used search engines to find target databases to attack.
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Most large organizations zealously protect their networks and host operating systems. But enterprise-class applications receive comparatively little attention, on the assumption that they are protected by defenses at the network perimeter. Yet these applications and databases are the major reason enterprises invest in IT in the first place—and the data they contain are often the enterprise’s most valuable assets.
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Database intrusion detection and security auditing continues to grow in importance. Thus, monitoring your database applications is a critical component of achieving a strong defense-in-depth around your sensitive data. However, to be efficient and effective, you must use the right combination of tools. Monitoring should never replace other layers in the security stack—it should complement the existing pieces instead.
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At its core, security is all about risk reduction. One of the most effective database security practices, “defense in depth,” employs multiple layers of protection to reduce the risk of intrusion. No single level of defense is infallible, and even multiple layers cannot ensure your organization will be 100 percent impenetrable. However, they can make you far less vulnerable.
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Software testing is carried out primarily to unearth system defects, and to prevent defective products from reaching customers. It’s also carried out to convince customers that a product conforms to and fulfils the agreed-upon specifications and functionality. However, in order to evaluate potential approaches to estimating test efforts, it’s vital to understand what the activity of testing actually consists of.
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The later in the system development life cycle (SDLC) major errors are discovered, the more expensive it is to fix them. In fact, errors in released software are up to 80 times more expensive to fix than defects in the specification stage. That’s why you should adopt a methodology that brings the early stages of the SDLC up to a high level of maturity, in a way that’s consistent, proven, and optimized for success.
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Internet protocol (IP)—used for transmitting data across networks everywhere—is now used pervasively, transmitting data to and from a multitude of devices. Arguably, IP is the most successful open standard ever, but as network communications converge under a single standard used for an increasing number of applications, we need to understand how effectively these critical assets are being managed.
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Quocirca conducted two surveys separated by twelve months that looked at the data management infrastructure of UK and Irish businesses, and how this was linked to their ability to respond to the whims of the regulators. In the year between the two surveys, a lot had changed.
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Since there are multiple vendors offering hosted customer relationship management (CRM) applications, the buyer’s toughest decision is finding a vendor that offers the many benefits that come from a workflow engine similar to those used in multimillion-dollar CRM deployments. Truth be told, CRM alone is not enough, as not all providers have a workflow engine which enables full process automation.
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Traditional document management systems are geared toward control, discipline, and orchestrated workflow. Contrast this with the untamed world of ad hoc processes that drive so many of our activities. In this environment, teams are dynamic and agile. Imposing structure and formal processes almost always results in confusion, resentment, and lost productivity. The needs of distributed teams require a different approach.
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Given ever-increasing regulatory pressures, document life cycle management is clearly an issue every enterprise must resolve. Until now, documents stored on local machines and e-mailed outside the organization have presented a particularly thorny challenge. Fortunately, new technologies make it possible to extend document life cycle management to the desktop and enforce document retention policies across every computer in the enterprise.
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Documents provide tangible evidence of decisions and agreements. They contain crucial intellectual capital. And they make key contributions to your brand. As a result, your organization invests significant resources to create processes for protecting critical documents and managing associated business risks. That’s why your document security services need to work within your environment to enhance existing security processes and technologies.
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The source code for mission-critical software products is almost never provided to users by the supplier. All the end-user has is a copy of the compiled source code—in other words, the object code that can only be read and executed by the computers concerned. That’s why professional escrow is becoming an essential component of operational risk management.
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As most people understand it, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is telephone calling over the Internet. Thus, switching to VoIP seems to be a fairly straightforward proposition. If you put a VoIP-capable phone on each desk and plug it into your local area network (LAN), the call goes out your wide area network (WAN), and voilà—IP telephony, right? Wrong.
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Today’s software developers face requirements that were previously unknown in the industry. Businesses now demand reduced time-to-market, lower costs, and greater stability. And although collaboration is key to addressing these issues, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Thus, an automated change management system can help you increase the predictability, reliability, and speed of the software development cycle.
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Your organization, like most others, is probably searching for ways to improve the capabilities of its telephone system, or to replace it altogether. But given the variety of telephony options, failing to research your choices means you’re at risk of stumbling over some of the most common pitfalls in telephony solution choices. The result: an inappropriate—and expensive—telephony purchase.
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The benefits of e-learning have been amply demonstrated and extensively documented. However, less attention has been paid to the business benefits of implementing learning management systems (LMS). The misconception is that LMS and e-learning are irrevocably linked. But that isn’t necessarily the case. In fact, an LMS can provide real benefits, in the broadest—and most critical—business sense.
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Rich Internet applications (RIAs) represent the next wave in the evolution of web applications, as they promise the richness, interactivity, and usability lacking in many of today’s web applications. However, as with any technological innovation, with the new opportunities come new challenges to be negotiated. What are the business benefits of adopting RIA, and what are the risks?
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Time was, information technology (IT) systems lasted much longer. Organizational restructuring was uncommon, as business did not really require it. However, with ever-shrinking business cycles, IT must now be capable of quickly adapting to changing business needs. That’s why present-day IT systems must be built to change—and services-oriented architecture (SOA) may just hold the key.
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As of June 2006, the payment card industry (PCI) has established a detailed set of policy, procedure, infrastructure, and data security requirements for merchants that store and process credit card data. That’s why it’s vital for key PCI requirements to be met when it comes to encryption, user authentication, virus and malware control, access control, and auditing.
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Access control is more than just checking devices for malware before admitting them to a network. Identity-based network access control (NAC) looks at the identities of users and devices, and knows what resource they are authorized to access, allowing enterprises to tightly control access, and the devices and behavior of users.
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Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a driving force for future functional use within organizations. However, these functions must be viewed as being shared services for all processes. Functional re-use will be the main means of ensuring that organizations can respond rapidly and effectively to market dynamics, and that improvements to specific functions will have the optimum impact across the whole organization.
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Data centers are squeezed by a variety of pressures, such as power consumption, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) requirements, new servers, human error, patching, asset tracking, and more. On top of this, you have to keep up with dynamically changing business requirements. One of the key ways you can address these dilemmas, however, is through server consolidation using virtualization.
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Low-cost hardware and a plethora of connectivity options should make it easier for employees to be more productive. However, outside the perimeter of the business location, additional controls need to be applied to ensure data security and integrity. What’s the best approach to getting the most out of mobile productivity? And how to avoid the six most common mobility pitfalls?
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There’s plenty of promise and potential for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology to help companies address fundamental needs, such as increasing revenue, improving operations, and reducing costs, while still providing a communications foothold for the future. However, the technology can be both costly and complex. How do you decide if and when VoIP is right for your business?
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Hosted private branch exchange (PBX) phone solutions are changing how small to medium businesses (SMBs) serve their customers, grow their business, and support their employees. Delivering the professional phone system capabilities large businesses use at a lower cost, hosted PBX is helping SMBs save money while putting their customer services on a par with much larger organizations.
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During the past decade, organizations of all sizes have made significant investments in enterprise application software. Unfortunately, the level of integration between these systems has become less effective and more expensive than originally envisioned. The question is how to leverage the considerable investments organizations have made, in order to maximize the value of the information stored in these discrete infrastructures.
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It’s estimated that almost one trillion lines of legacy code are in active use around the world today. If this code is going to be migrated, it’s vital that a methodology be put in place for substantial automation; otherwise the highly tedious process will serve as a major impediment to this important initiative. So what are your options today?
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Typically, the cost of feature-rich and scalable business phone systems prevents small businesses from purchasing these powerful tools in the initial stages of their growth. Thus, new companies generally choose standard business phone lines from their local phone company along with multi-line phones. With voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology, however, small businesses now have a cost-effective, feature-rich alternative.
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Until now, SharePoint has been implemented as simply a platform for front-end-heavy intranets, or as a system for limited document sharing and forms automation solutions. However, it now encompasses solutions for web-enabled applications, extranets, intranets, document management, business intelligence, and complex workflow. Thus, SharePoint needs to be internally marketed in a way that maximizes its capabilities for the web-enabled organization.
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While optical technology has become the default removable storage medium on the desktop (CD and DVD), in enterprise storage the evidence of failure is unmistakable. After fifteen years, optical technologies in the enterprise storage market account for only a fraction of 1 percent of enterprise storage hardware spending. There is a dramatically different future, however, for some optical storage subsystems.
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Companies establishing a pure Internet protocol (IP) environment can benefit from the capabilities that are only supported by IP telephony, including a simplified cabling infrastructure; dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP)-enabled IP telephones that provide easier moves, adds, and changes; and support for 802.11 wireless devices, as well as the support of unified messaging, unified management, and web-based call center applications.
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You’ve determined the business rationale for embracing Internet protocol (IP) telephony as a strategy. Now it’s worth investing time in the project definition phase, since this will result in a clear statement of requirements that are in line with your objectives. However, how you define the project will depend on the needs of your business and your plans for convergence.
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Analysis of the tasks and time in information technology (IT) projects invariably reveals the presence of a familiar recurring burden: testing—often still performed manually and inefficiently, yet accounting for a substantial proportion of the budget. Can some simple and effective focused measures have a dramatic and positive impact on the success of key projects? That depends on your approach.
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Before engaging with vendors to identify the best solution, you need to perform an evaluation of your network capabilities, and assess the potential impact to your business of a converged network. As with any network implementation, a realistic understanding of what is required to reach your objectives will enable you to ensure a successful transition to enhanced network capabilities.
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Business process management (BPM) provides adaptability and agility to service-oriented architecture (SOA). The central nervous system in the architecture, it orchestrates the services provided by different applications that excel at what they do. And the more powerful the BPM solution used to manage these processes, the easier and more cost-effective it will be to adapt to unique business requirements.
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IT costs are escalating, data centers are multiplying, power and space require¬ments are way too high, complexity is increasing, and businesses are locked into static applications that are making them less competitive, not more. This is the state of IT today and something obviously has to change. Well, the “cheap computing” revolution is dawning. So what do we do now?
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The high capital costs of conventional application environments is a major problem for businesses. Some virtualization platforms provide a solution, but many data center resources that could benefit from dynamic management are simply not appropriate for virtualization. To address these issues, organizations need strategy that build on the capabilities of virtualization platforms as part of a comprehensive data center solution.
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As enterprise Java has become more and more pervasive, IT has used Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technologies to build many of its most mission-critical applications, typically over-provisioning hardware to guarantee performance—at an extremely high price. Hence, the goal of automation and virtualization software: to enable IT to provide applications at required service levels and reduced costs.
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Services-oriented architecture (SOA) is known for its building-block software design approach. Less commonly understood is the challenge of managing composite applications whose components are shared by multiple applications. The performance of these components varies with application demand, resulting in dramatic and unpredictable changes in application service levels. However, there is a cost-effective way to resolve the SOA application infrastructure dilemma.
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Across the globe, IT organizations are hindered by applications that were built in silos with tightly coupled dedicated hardware and software, resulting in systems which are too brittle to rapidly respond to new directives. The only way out is to create a more dynamic, real-time IT infrastructure—one that allows resources to be quickly repurposed to the most critical tasks.
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Installing software and patch updates can be frustrating and time-consuming for IT staff and users alike. But it's critical to update your computers regularly to keep security filters current. This need increases exponentially if your users are mobile and geographically dispersed. Should this continue to be the responsibility of your IT staff? Or should you outsource this function to a managed service provider (MSP)?
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Employees with laptops can do their jobs anytime, anywhere. They are empowered to respond to customers, partners, and colleagues faster and more effectively. Sales, service,
marketing, and logistics improve... but if your company’s technical support strategy isn’t up to scratch, these gains can be quickly erased by hidden costs—or overturned by critical security risks.
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Customizing third-party “vendor” source code is becoming increasingly common. But managing the incorporation of vendor application releases alongside customizations requires an additional layer of software configuration management (SCM) to integrate subsequent vendor releases. Traditional branch-based SCM tools require an unnecessarily complex branch-and-merge process. However, there is a more intuitive and efficient parallel development model for managing customizations to vendor code.
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Most software configuration management (SCM) systems rely on metadata annotations to support basic system operations, such as computing the contents of software configurations. With AccuRev, configurations are first-class objects called "streams," whose contents aren't defined in terms of metadata annotations at all. AccuRev relies on the chronology of SCM operations, enabling users to leverage the incremental nature of the process.
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The options available for mitigating e-mail spam in the enterprise are varied—as varied as the variety of actual spam definitions. These factors often lead to some confusion about what a particular anti-spam solution can or can’t do. In order to focus on the basics, you need to cut through the hype in the anti-spam market and its buzzwords.
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An Internet service provider (ISP) presents one of the most complex environments for managing spam, due to the sheer volume of e-mail, and the high service levels demanded by customers. The main challenge for ISPs seeking anti-spam solutions is thus to find products that provide the flexibility to suit a wide variety of users, and the preferences of those users.
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A single view into the health of the IT infrastructure is essential to efficiency. However, comprehensive monitoring is inaccessible to many IT organizations, thanks to limited resources: not only must they deliver performance and availability at service-level agreements, but they must find efficient ways to do it, to address other priorities such as innovation, training, development speed, and revenue support.
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To function as a business partner, IT must deliver service at predictable levels—and also contribute to enterprise strategy, by planning for services that enable growth. That’s why IT needs end-to-end infrastructure views that reveal issues as they happen, and track trends that predict future needs. But how can IT create unified views of the environment without draining critical resources?
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A multibillion-dollar crime industry is changing the security landscape. Cyber-theft of intellectual property, customer data, and money is on the rise—directly impact¬ing corporation’s bottom lines. To stay ahead of these targeted attacks, you need a comprehensive view of point secu¬rity solutions and infrastructure monitoring tools—without the cost-prohibitive labor hours involved in manual log analysis or proprietary aggregation tools.
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Information technology (IT) executives are beginning to seriously re-evaluate their highly hyped, service-oriented architectures (SOA) strategies—and consequently, their IT outsourcing, hosting, and enterprise system management strategies. However, creating long-term strategies is complicated by the wide range of available service delivery models. That’s why it’s vital to uncover the important concepts—and decision points—relating to these different delivery models.
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Intelligence agencies cannot afford delays in uncovering insight, whatever the source. At the same time, they must work within operationally constrained environments. Unfortunately, traditional IT approaches simply fall short when it comes to providing a solution that can reliably process massive amounts of data in a timely fashion. But with national security at stake, failure is simply not an option.
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GeoEye is the leading provider of map-accurate commercial imagery to the US military and intelligence community. In the past, GeoEye lived by the motto that “big problems require big machines.” However, this was presenting the company with significant—and escalating—cost and complexity issues. The solution: a self-managing and self-healing distributed computing environment that required no custom application development.
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A global telecommunications provider was mired in a hardware-centric architecture for its network applications. Even with a sizeable computing infrastructure investment, failure of server components was inevitable, and application failover schemes were risky. The provider needed a more cost-effective way to scale its operational support system (OSS) applications—without sacrificing dependability.
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Is your enterprise software really making you more competitive? After all, for years you’ve had to make expensive trade-offs between application dependability and manageability—and the sheer computing power required to deliver effortless scalability simply didn’t exist. However, a new type of software environment is successfully and cost-effectively meeting the requirements of today’s most demanding applications.
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Application software companies often find themselves in positions where their products and services depend heavily on software that they may not be equipped to optimally engineer. This typically results in misallocated resources, inferior products and services, and ultimately business decline. Companies need to know when to outsource critical integral design, development, and delivery requirements that they cannot effectively meet themselves.
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Application software companies unwittingly but consistently overlook significant portions of their application software life cycle, resulting in consistent under-performance of products and services, a reduced harvest, dissatisfied customers, and missed opportunities for growth. In fact, you could be neglecting up to 70 percent of the energy necessary to have your products reach and maintain peak performance throughout their life cycle.
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Companies using earlier versions of the JD Edwards family of products may be considering upgrades to the EnterpriseOne versions. However, the decision to upgrade is often overshadowed by the considerable costs of doing so. Approaches to reducing these costs lie in rigorous approaches to several critical project activities, ranging from a thorough upgrade assessment to the transfer of knowledge.
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IT managers understand the difficulty of demonstrating returns on investment for technology projects. The issue is particularly acute for large multiphase deployments, such as IT infrastructure library (ITIL) implementations: massive projects which are hard to sell to management, and which promise returns many years in the future—after significant investment. So how do you get management to buy into your vision?
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Compliance with the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is not a one-time project, but a sustained effort to gain visibility into processes affecting financial reporting accuracy. Most IT controls are manual, error-prone, and resource-intensive. However, there’s a new, radical solution: an automated IT control framework in which all the information required to verify compliance is available in a single reporting system.
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When Katrina hit in 2005, Murphy was among the many companies impacted by the devastation. Although its servers sustained no physical damage, they were inaccessible, and Murphy could not reach or use its data until the waters receded and the servers were moved. After retrieving the servers from New Orleans (US), the company went directly to Virtuozzo for an evaluation.
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The playing field for server virtualization has become much more crowded over the last few years. It can be very time-consuming to digest each vendor’s marketing materials to find the right solution for your organization. That’s why you need to be aware of the main considerations and basic differences between the technologies, to find a starting point for technology evaluation.
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Historically, IT administrators have provisioned new servers with every new application, resulting in a large number of servers with utilization rates of 10 to 15 percent or less, commonly known as server sprawl. Server sprawl is responsible for a range of costs, including infrastructure, hardware, software, and management costs. So why hasn’t hardware virtualization solved your server sprawl issues yet?
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Today’s information technology (IT) organizations are dealing with the consequences of exploding infrastructure complexity. At the root of the problem is uncontrolled server sprawl—servers provisioned to support a single application. Organizations that have implemented hardware virtualization have unwittingly created a new problem: operating system (OS) sprawl. IT organizations have to find ways to address this critical challenge—today.
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X1 Enterprise Edition lets users search enterprise data with desktop, mobile, or browser clients. Thus, when integrating X1 Enterprise Edition security with an existing Microsoft network installation, it’s important to understand how X1 security features are configured and deployed (including web server security), and how X1 and Microsoft Windows security layers work together at runtime.
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Knowledge workers by the millions are leveraging desktop search (DTS) tools. However, with change comes risk, and failing to proactively establish policies and lock down a centrally managed DTS solution can result in significant civil and criminal liabilities. But by following a few basic principles, companies can realize the full benefits of this new technology, while enhancing their information security.
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To date, the best option for discovering and extracting information from software applications has primarily been manual, with automation tools serving in support. These initiatives are tedious, long-term, and high-risk. Companies try to lower monetary cost by outsourcing such projects. However, the time to completion and risks remain unchanged at best. The solution? Automated documentation and transformation of software applications.
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The warehouse management system (WMS) concept has matured into a collection of time-tested technologies that reduce inventory costs and increase overall inventory management efficiencies. By implementing WMS technology, organizations can achieve a higher return on their software dollars and provide better service to their customers. A WMS can provide organizations with tangible benefits that improve warehouse operations without adding headcount.
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Making sure that your applications run properly over private and public wide area networks (WANs) is particularly challenging for applications that are sensitive to network conditions. The only way to have confidence that a given application will operate with acceptable performance once it is deployed is to test it under expected (and maybe unexpected) production network conditions—prior to deployment.
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User proficiency is critical to software implementations. Without competent users, your implementation will probably fail, and the return from your software investment will be less than anticipated. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence, often attributable to lags between training and the go-live date. In-application performance support is thus of tangible benefit to users—and to your organization as a whole.
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One of the most important aspects of any business management application, including CRM applications, is its underlying architecture. An application’s customizability, adaptability, portability, scalability, and extensibility are all functions of its architecture. A well-designed architecture will thus accommodate growth and adapt to business changes—without affecting the performance of the application or requiring an exhaustive re-implementation.
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Since its inception in the 1980s, remote control software has come a long way—evolving into sophisticated tools that provide much more than just simple remote control. But with the wide range of remote control products on the market, it is important to know which features are truly beneficial, in order to separate the good from the bad.
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XPS, Microsoft’s new document format, is bound to be a serious competitor to PDF. It has the advantage of having learned a lot from PDF, without having gone through multiple iterations throughout the years. However, PDF still has first-mover advantage. With the millions of PDF documents and hundreds of PDF tools available, PDF is not going to disappear anytime soon.
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For compliance with vendor requirements, Source 1 Enterprises, a supplier of health and beauty products, needed a solution to automate bill-back revenue and current deal sheet promotions. Reporting and alert systems were also needed, to collect potential revenue based on standard vendor terms, in conjunction with the latest promotions. For a solution, the supplier turned to SAP Business One.
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Most decisions on technology investments, like decisions in other business areas, are tied to expected benefits. Typically, these benefits are identified as cost savings, greater efficiencies, "best practices," or more sales. But too often the value promised by adopting new technology is misinterpreted or misunderstood by the business. The result: mismanaged expectations, or worse, business decisions made with faulty information.
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When enterprise architects first conceived and created enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions in the mid-1980s, their predictive genius was praised during successive dot-com eras as Nostradamus-like in reading the future market’s thirst for transactional-driven solutions. Today, those transactional systems look like aging athletes on steroids—over-bulked, over-paid, and with very real worry that they’ll be found out.
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A crucial advantage of the SAP architecture is that configuration changes can be made easily—the downside being its tightly integrated nature, which increases the risk of unintended consequences. That means time to market is slowed by extensive testing. However, you can accelerate SAP delivery by using a test automation solution which automates most of the maintenance required by changes.
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When selecting integration solutions, the only certainty is that there’s no way of telling what systems and databases will need to be integrated in the future. As your business becomes more dependent on electronic relationships with suppliers, customers, and partners, it becomes harder to impose your own best practices. That’s why you need the flexibility to adapt to any conditions.
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Although service-oriented architecture (SOA) provides greater flexibility for organizations, connectivity within SOA is a major issue, and must be addressed at an early stage. The use of a bus architecture provides a high level of abstraction, and minimizes the number of adaptors required, while data transformation and intelligent data mapping help to lower time spent on retro-testing and maintenance costs.
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In the context of delivering applications as a service, the enabling software layer also needs to be delivered as a service. While there are a number of benefits to this model, there are also concerns preventing organizations from adopting it. All things considered, however, there is evidence that delivery of software as a service is a positive step to take.
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Organizations of all sizes can benefit from instant mobile access to communications. It is important that these benefits not be undermined by an overly restrictive attitude to security. The best way to minimize the risks is to take proactive steps to manage mobile security challenges. That way, organizations can continue to be secure, while taking full advantage of mobile technology.
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As businesses move away from buying applications to buying the means of facilitating business processes, a different approach to technology assets is required. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) will enable organizations to run business from a process point of view. Tooling must therefore allow existing investments to be used within the SOA environment, enabling business processes to be easily and effectively modeled.
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One of the biggest decisions that must be made in the support and evolution of a purchased software application is whether to upgrade or reimplement. This one decision has far-ranging implications on the entire organization, and can drive the technology direction for years to come. The key is to understand the difference between an upgrade and a reimplementation.
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User provisioning manages the entire life cycle of user access to IT resources. Traditionally, the connection between provisioning and IT security administration has been unreliable, with too many processes connected to too many systems. A better approach is to leverage a single application for user administration across the IT infrastructure. This model reduces complexity, enhances reliability, and lowers costs.
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IT plays a critical role in any outsourcing effort. Organizations engaged in or pursuing business process outsourcing (BPO) must ensure that they truly understand the capabilities of their existing software environment, as well as the capabilities of candidate BPO service providers. Embedding IT requirements and capabilities from the start will thus improve the likelihood of success for any BPO endeavor.
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The multitude of messages and media in this interactive age contributes to a fragmented consumer goods market. Shorter product life cycles, mass product customization, and increasing supply chain complexity are all symptoms of the new project economy. The arrival of this new age must be recognized by business leaders, and the systems supporting business must change to accommodate this reality.
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There is a common perception that supply chain automation has created an environment in which transactions move quickly and efficiently in industries such as the retail supply chain and high-tech manufacturing. However, this perception is challenged by a recent research study, based on interviews with 400 management representatives of medium to large organizations in the USA, UK, Germany, and France.
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Most organizations have already taken steps to extend IT access to employees in remote locations. The questions is, should they continue to extend this process—and how? Mobile technology benefits are often difficult to measure, but the costs of hardware, software, and services are often of such a magnitude that the benefits need to be tangible to justify the cost.
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Although short message service (SMS) messaging is a cheap and efficient communication channel, many enterprises are still reluctant to deploy it as a corporate tool. At issue is its lack of reliability and security while transmitting information. The enterprise SMS market thus has to evolve from the person-to-person infrastructure into a model that supplies businesses with secure and scalable messaging.
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Technology decision-making in larger organizations is about making existing IT platforms as efficient as possible. However, there are weaknesses in the day-to-day operation of such environments, particularly in storage and information management. Positioning information lifecycle management (ILM) in the context of infrastructure management provides an understanding of where we are today—and of how much further there is to go.
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To derive maximum value from your data, you need a strong data governance program that helps develop and manage data as a strategic business asset. The success of a data governance program thus hinges upon a robust data integration technology infrastructure. Developing the right technology infrastructure is critical to your ability to automate, manage, and scale your data governance program.
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Integration projects that attempt to fuse processes with application and system interfaces are likely to fail. A more pragmatic approach involves service-oriented architecture (SOA), where integration is determined by business requirements rather than technology factors. However, SOA alone is insufficient. Composite adapter services provide a layer of abstraction between service requestors and service providers, enabling cost-effective and versatile enterprise integration.
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In August 2006, Microsoft conducted a Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 standard distribution benchmark to measure the performance and scalability characteristics of the application in a simulated distribution scenario. This benchmark exercised core accounts receivables scenarios around order entry through invoicing, in addition to procure-to-pay processes around purchase order creation through receiving of goods. We look at the methodology and results.
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The client/server trend in multi-tiered computing has been made possible because of reductions in the cost of hardware and software components, as well as the availability of high-performance database engines. The utility of this technology is reflected in the Microsoft Dynamics AX application. Its three-tier client/server technology provides a solution that can be accessed through networks, even with limited bandwidth.
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When companies extend their IT operations to mobile employees, valuable data and devices are taken out of the protected perimeter of the office, and placed in the briefcases of users. Business processes may run more efficiently, and there may be more flexibility in working practices, but this is of little benefit if attitudes to IT use are complacent or irresponsible.
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La abstracción es el ejercicio de comprender una serie de problemas a la vista heterogéneos y darles comprensión homogénea. Una de las principales abstracciones del mercado actual de las entidades es la administración, motivo por el cual se anunció el Microsoft Business Framework, el cual afectará el ERP clásico de las supuestas Best Practices.
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Across the public sector, cost savings will be decisive when considering an investment in blade computing. The decision can be made on a fairly straightforward cost basis—does the investment pay back? But blade computing also offers advantages in terms of the ability to respond to business needs, which should make it a core part of public sector IT strategy.
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E-mail is more important to companies than ever, since sensitive information is e-mailed both inside and outside the organization. However, growth in overall e-mail volume, driven by more sophisticated spamming attacks, as well the need to ensure content is suitable for purpose, means that we now must reconsider how we view e-mail management within the organization.
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We are now seeing a high level of uptake of grid computing, with pilots resulting in implementations. However, these implementations are based on advanced clustering of single applications—and large-scale grid implementations covering an enterprise’s total IT infrastructure are still rare. The key to mainstream adoption may lie in a better understanding of the business value of grid computing.
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Malware has become part of the business environment that every organization must account for. Defending against malware attacks is particularly difficult for small to medium businesses (SMBs), which may have needs as sophisticated as those of large enterprises, but rarely with the same IT resources. For malware defense software, SMBs thus place a premium on ease of integration and management.
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Remote working is not new, but increasing dependence on instant IT access has led to increasing demands for mobile data services. Certainly, these services can be complex, and it is valuable to be insulated from the effects of rapid change. But ultimately, mobile access should be considered as just one aspect of IT usage, rather than as a separate entity.
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Una vez atravesados los problemas del ERP en los noventa, en el año 2000 logra alcanzar su madurez, enfrentándose al mismo tiempo con problemas tales como la regionalización y la actualización de versiones, entre otros. Actualmente se acerca otra etapa en la resolución del modo administrativo, en la que el problema del ERP será atacado con productos de plataforma.
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How you decide to deploy and implement new Internet provider (IP) telephony infrastructure, as well as new applications or services to end users, will vary greatly based on the scope of the project and the degree of complexity involved. However, whether you are deploying to small remote offices or to large core sites, it is vital to establish standardized procedures.
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Enterprises looking to understand their Internet provider (IP) telephony implementation costs must go beyond simple analyses of return on investment. A total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis is required to help drive the bigger picture, as it considers both tactical and strategic goals, including management of the overall IT budget (annual operational and capital expenditures), risk assessment, and strategic objectives.
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When telecom operators interconect to send or receive different types of traffic, call detail records (CDRs) are generated at both ends. These CDRs need to be reconciled periodically to find errors, if any. While there are industry standards for resolving these errors, comprehensive reconciliation solutions do exist that focus on the issue from a billing perspective.
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Broadband Internet subscribers have a choice between DSL or cable systems. Providers of each system must meet the particular billing challenges raised when offering such services. Each system has areas of potential revenue loss, and billing system strategies must take these into account in order to reduce the risks.
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The medical marketing agency AlphaMedica, based in New York, New York (US), is a fast-growing business. It needed an accounting system that could keep up with a flurry of activity, generate quick payments and reports, and link smoothly to the in-house systems used to manage the more specialized aspects of its business. For help, it turned to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.
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A typical manufacturing business today is faced with countless business challenges: domestic and global competition; high sensitivity to economic cycles; rising labor, materials and energy costs to name just a few. To combat today’s challenges manufacturers can easily and affordably leverage the web for internal efficiency gains, enhanced customer service, and increased sales.
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The Internet industry is intensifying day by day as it becomes the basis of communication for businesses. With the introduction of voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), communication costs have been greatly reduced, and the Internet industry is thus introducing variant services to consumers that were unthought of before. One of these emerging ideas is direct inward dialing (DID).
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When operators interconnect together to send and receive voice and other services, special requirements arise for the billing. Operator to operator interconnect billing, settlements, rate sheets, and charging policies are some of the areas that need special consideration.
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Customer relationship management (CRM) is growing in importance as a competitive tool. However, a successful CRM solution must consider many factors, including a well-defined implementation strategy, the people factor, and the need for integration with the incumbent enterprise resource planning solution. If these conditions are met, CRM can have a dramatic impact on internal processes, customer satisfaction, and company profitability.
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Essai is a leading US manufacturer of semiconductor test products. But Essai needed a solution that could support rapid business growth, maintain stringent quality requirements, and support the development and design of high-mix products. Essai worked with Microsoft Certified Partner Oztera, which implemented Microsoft Dynamics NAV 3.7 and customized the solution to achieve complete automation of all business processes.
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Webcom Limited is a Canadian book manufacturer specializing in custom book production. Its heterogeneous IT infrastructure was resulting in discontinuous information flow, which impeded staffers’ abilities to collaborate throughout the steps of a book’s production. But when Webcom Limited migrated to an integrated Microsoft business management system, it saw a 33 percent improvement in the automation of job production workflow.
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Steinway & Sons is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments, and the year 2003 marked 150 years of their business success. Steinway & Sons received national attention for the rigorous, textbook approach they used in their mid-90s search for an alternative to their old home-grown accounting system. Ultimately, Steinway chose the Navision solution.
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The hub and spoke concept refers to a parent or holding company that uses one business software system (the hub), which is integrated with the systems used by its individual subsidiaries or divisions (the spokes). We look at the hub and spoke concept with SAP R/3 at the hub, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV at the spokes.
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Chief information officers keen to introduce service-oriented architecture (SOA) into their organization must deal with the many legacy applications that are potential roadblocks. To move to an SOA-enabled future, organizations have to service legacy applications, and evaluate which legacy application would give the best return on investment if modernized. The solution may be a process-oriented approach to legacy system transformation.
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The exponential growth of storage requirements is driven by the increased complexity and size of applications, operating systems, and data. In this environment of bigger disks storing not only larger files, but more files than ever, the effects of fragmentation rapidly grow on systems each day. To combat the daily degradation of system performance, disks need to be defragmented daily.
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The recent explosion of virtualization as a technology coincides with the trend of consolidating systems on to less, but more powerful, hardware. With more robust hardware, consolidation makes cost-effective sense. And given the reduced management overhead and more efficient hardware use, virtualization makes a great deal of sense indeed. However, it’s also important to be aware of its dangers.
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Managed well, service-oriented architecture (SOA) offers a tremendous opportunity to make positive changes and lay a foundation that will allow IT to become responsive and cost-effective. But SOA is also a potential minefield: hype is raising expectations beyond reality in an environment that is already stressed. In fact, managed poorly, SOA can be an expensive and spectacular failure.
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Washington Information Network 2-1-1 (WIN 211), was the non-profit organization tasked with implementing an integrated call center solution in the State of Washington (US). WIN 211’s challenge was to define system requirements, and select a vendor that could interconnect eight call centers into a single, cohesive information service system. For a solution, it turned to UCN inContact.
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In a world that’s constantly demanding better communication to improve the level of perfect orders, while optimising working capital and reducing supply costs, it is vital to provide an electronic trading network across all customers and trading partners quickly, easily, and at low cost. But how to go about establishing a single integrated electronic supply network for collaboration and trade?
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In order to support the requirements of voice deployments, next-generation networks must be capable of supporting a service equivalent to the existing public switched telephone network (PSTN), in terms of reliability. Furthermore, these networks must be capable of carrying voice services even under heavy load, while maintaining the integrity of the voice calls, under even the most extreme circumstances.
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The history of telecommunications management is rife with examples of good technology failing to meet business requirements. Historically, while business has needed management of service definitions, technology has focused on element management, leaving a gap between what is desired and what is possible. If operational expenses are to be lowered, this gap must be closed.
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With network operators facing eventual equipment obsolescence in their existing narrowband public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) expects that end-to-end voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solutions will necessarily replace PSTNs in the medium term. What are the primary issues that must be addressed to define a large-scale VoIP network capable of supporting full PSTN equivalence?
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As Internet and IP technologies are increasing service expectations, the number of resources available to create, deploy, and manage new services have reduced. The result is that expectations for new services are outpacing the ability to deliver them. We explore the limitations of traditional voice service architecture, and propose a new architectural solution to address these shortcomings.
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True multi-service, multi-vendor global networks are the future of the telecommunications industry. However, mazes of international standards and protocols can create barriers rather than solutions. For service providers and system suppliers alike, implementing standards for interoperability is far from simple. The MultiService Switching Forum (MSF) fills the void by developing implementation agreements that take standards from theory into practice.
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Widespread acceptance of the principles in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is nearing a level that would indicate the communications industry is close to reaching a de facto convergence architecture. We look at similarities and differences between the MultiService Forum R2 (physical) architecture and the 3GPP R6 Core IMS functional architecture.
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Bandwidth managers can provide the basis of a large-scale solution for a quality of service (QoS) that can support public switched telephone network (PSTN)-grade services. A key aspect of the solution is the ability to be integrated with multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) traffic engineering capabilities, to provide a highly scalable, resilient, and rigorous solution for end-to-end quality of service.
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End-to-end performance monitoring on signaling and bearer links, and on inter-networking between service and transport provider domains, are the most complicated and necessary areas of a new management networks paradigm. The testability of next-generation networks (NGNs) and their components should thus be addressed in the context of the performance and fault management functional areas of the telecommunication management network (TMN).
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Given the types of overload scenarios encountered within traditional networks, similar traffic principles requiring overload management will be required within (NGNs). What, then, are the characteristics of overload protection within real-time communications servers? And what types of overload management methods are available for optimizing server performance?
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Network-level behaviors can impact the determinism of call admission control decisions for a particular bandwidth management deployment. However, different network routing and forwarding models can have different impacts when used in conjunction with the bandwidth manager. We examine these models, considering their ability to provide the deterministic admission control capabilities available within the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
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Implementing enterprise software solutions raises numerous obstacles, which can all be attributed to a single cause: users are unable to properly use the software. This is because users grapple with barrages of training methodologies and approaches for each new application. The solution may be a "universal adapter," a synchronized learning content development platform for a wide range of enterprise applications.
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The risks of enterprise resource planning (ERP) upgrades are clear. However, progress has been made, and this is especially true for SAP customers migrating to ECC 5.0. But what are the risks associated with SAP upgrades? And what are specific risk-mitigation approaches? SAP’s ASAP upgrade methodology can help answer these questions to maximize the value of an upgrade investment.
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File fragmentation is a primary factor in the most common system stability and reliability problems. For this reason, advanced daily defragmentation of every server and workstation should be considered. In fact, when advanced site-wide defragmentation is fully automated, it is one of the most effective system maintenance activities for protecting and improving the stability and uptime of an entire network.
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In the converging network and security infrastructure, relating what is reported from security products to what is observed on the network is critical. Q1 Labs’ network security management product, QRadar, combines network behavioral analysis with vulnerability assessment and security event correlation into one platform. Ultimately, this convergence reduces IT acquisition and operations costs, and enhances responses to network security incidents.
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A major challenge for IT managers is that much of the data they need in Windows environments is stored in iSeries and Mainframe host systems. Traditionally, unlocking this data and making it available in Windows environments for further processing has involved major reprogram¬ming, and significant resource investments. There are, however, simple solutions that address the jump from host to Windows.
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The anti-spyware industry is going in two separate directions. First, there are suite products that come with other security applications, along with anti-spyware. Second, there are best-of-breed products that are purely focused on detecting and eradicating spyware. Depending on the type of organization, choosing a suite-based anti-spyware over best-of-breed software can leave a company vulnerable.
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Security measures that repel spyware attacks are critical to any comprehensive security plan, thanks to laws requiring companies to notify their customers if they experience a data security breach. But it’s not enough to have a plan for complying with breach notification laws. Every company’s goal should be to avoid having to give such a notification in the first place.
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In the future, companies will partner for competitive advantage, building supply chains excelling in every aspect of their operation. But companies excelling in their own fields may find themselves excluded from these supply chains if their technical foundations are incompatible with popular standards. Technological adaptability is paramount, and Lawson’s M3 Enterprise Management System was developed with this imperative in mind.
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Organizations wanting to create a more flexible, responsive environment to support their business processes must consider removing the process dependencies from the underlying hardware and software infrastructure. This can only be done through suitable intermediary technologies such as a service-oriented architecture that uses application servers with integrated middleware providing solid support for existing application integration and future business process requirements.
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Organizations spend millions of dollars in developing custom solutions to plug the gap between the demands of the business user and the available features of their enterprise systems. For this reason, it’s worth examining how the Microsoft SharePoint Server environment can help organizations efficiently deliver focused business solutions on a common business platform with a familiar interface and development methodology.
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Due to the increasing popularity of the Microsoft messaging and collaboration environment, companies are looking into migrating their messaging and application infrastructure from other platforms (such as Lotus Notes) to the Microsoft environment. But how can you effectively transition from Lotus Notes to the Microsoft environment while managing the change for all concerned? And what elements need to be considered?
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With today’s strategic focus on data, a significant challenge facing companies is the ability to use data to create a single customer view (SCV). An SCV means that a company has a accurate and complete view of their customers across all applications, databases, and customer touch points. The financial, operational, customer satisfaction, and regulatory effects of unreliable SCVs are overwhelming.
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The frequency of breakdowns in the IT client relationship is reaching epidemic proportions. Indeed, an IT client breakdown is comparable to the onset of an illness. If caught early enough, treatment is often relatively painless. However, if left to advance to the later stages, or full maturity, the treatment will not only be invasive, but also require significant recovery time.
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Customers are a company’s true source of value creation, and maintaining their trust is imperative. When companies understand this, privacy protection will become an important business tool, rather than just a regulatory requirement (as many companies think of it). Obtaining, using, and especially protecting customer data has never been more important to the strength and positioning of a company’s success.
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For many owners, executives, and managers, service-oriented architecture (SOA) has not been clearly defined. Some may have heard the term, and may even have read some of what has been written regarding SOA, but most have not had that opportunity. For many, SOA has been left to the IT department. We explain what it is and why it’s important.
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A survey of existing IT event resolution processes suggests organizations are unsatisfied with current processes, despite the importance of ensuring that severe service outages do not occur. In fact, over 75 percent of participants identified significant gaps in existing processes. However, it is possible to identify the components of an effective interactive event notification platform to mitigate current process gaps.
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Although faxing remains the communications bedrock for countless enterprises, people are now seeking ways to replace outdated fax technology and improve workflow efficiencies. Thus, the lure of converged networks has driven many enterprises to embrace voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) technology, and to merge their voice and data networks. In fact, VoIP is the harbinger of sweeping transformations in the communications industry.
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The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is the world’s largest financial services post-trade infrastructure organization, having cleared and settled more than $1.4 quadrillion (USD) worth of securities in 2005. In the highly competitive financial services industry, the secure processing of transactions is vital to DTCC's success, which is why DTCC integrated security testing into the application development processes.
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Businesses are being held increasingly accountable for their business application security—by customers, partners, and government. Unfortunately, most businesses are playing catch-up with security. What’s really needed are processes that fix the software development cycle by weaving security expertise into software acquisition, development, and deployment. Businesses that don’t take a process-oriented approach today may end up chasing application security forever.
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In searching for tools to implement an effective application-security strategy, managers have a choice between two technological approaches: dynamic analysis and static analysis. Available in a variety of freeware and commercial automated tools, both approaches promise comprehensive detection of security vulnerabilities. But a truly effective strategy may require a mix of both.
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Application security is an important emerging requirement in software development. This article introduces CLASP, an application security process and plug-in to IBM 's Rational Unified Process environment. It was developed by Secure Software, and gives organizations a structured way to address security concerns during the software development lifecycle.
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Corporations striving to comply with data security laws and regulatory initiatives must implement anti-spyware measures. Businesses who fail to take reasonable physical, administrative, and technical measures to prevent the unauthorized acquisition, alteration, or destruction of valuable information, risk costly and disruptive legal proceedings. And courts and responsible agencies will freely second-guess such decisions in the event of a data breach.
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It is sometimes difficult to quantify the scope of spyware problems within corporate environments. The least noticeable effect of spyware is to slow network and desktop processing by tiny increments. But even the slightest slowdown, multiplied across the enterprise, adds up to a serious bottom line impact in decreased automated processing and worker productivity.
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The threat of spyware has risen to epidemic levels for many information technology professionals trying to protect their users and network. In response, many security vendors are creating anti-spyware software to seek out spyware and eradicate it from the enterprise network. Webroot's Spy Sweeper Enterprise is just such a product.
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At first glance, spyware and computer viruses appear to have much in common. But in fact, spyware is a unique challenge. Unlike viruses, the motivation behind spyware is financial, which has driven rapid technical innovation and broad distribution. The first line of defense is education; understanding the unique threat spyware poses is the first step in a plan for protection.
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With the advent of the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), security is no longer optional for health care organizations. As spyware risks grow, they must ensure that data is protected from unauthorized disclosure, and that it is available when needed. Thus, implementing anti-spyware measures is both a good business practice and a move towards ensuring regulatory compliance.
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In less than six months, RxAmerica was able to respond to unprecedented call volume—primarily from seniors seeking information on the US Medicare prescription drug program—by increasing their service representative population by more than 500 percent, and by opening 6 new call centers. The cornerstone of their solution: a hosted call routing platform.
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Consider the case of two hypothetical companies—Company A and Company Z—each using an identical enterprise software package delivering identical core functionality. Company A has the same number of users, but the total cost of ownership (TCO) experienced by Company Z is about twice the TCO enjoyed by Company A. Why? We explain.
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IFS Applications is built using the same principles employed by successful manufacturers—the production and assembly of components. This allows change and evolution within a component without affecting other components. With a proven track record of building for change, IFS provides step-by-step, non-disruptive introduction of new technologies into operational systems.
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Anyone even peripherally exposed to business media that touch on enterprise application technology has seen the term service-oriented architecture (SOA) bandied about in advertisements and articles. Given the central role of SOA in information technology, it is important to get beyond a buzzword level understanding. There are three key concepts surrounding SOA: granularity, Web services, and change management.
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Most retailers can no longer compete on price alone; however, integrated retail solutions built on Microsoft SQL, and OPOS and ART Data Model standards offer a competitive advantage. They support holistic systems that integrate point of sale, enterprise, and even warehouse management functions, to deliver better service to customers.
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Retail departments enticed by software which promises to make them better and more accurate often fail to consider that they will need constant input and output of data in order for the software to work effectively. To improve the customer experience, a retail organization needs to fashion itself into an integrated enterprise that relies on a single database. But how?
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Successful enterprise-wide integration strategies for financial institutions (FI) use a holistic approach that formulates a multipronged strategy. This strategy must encompasses a number of individual integration strategies covering data, application systems, and channels. This will help FIs address challenges, remain flexible, and gain a crucial edge over competition in the process.
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When creating a seamless value chain, it is essential to focus on the customer. However, information, data, and processes are key when planning the complex merger of processes, technologies, and culture. Additionally, a successful value chain recognizes that partners, vendors, suppliers, and employees play a vital role to ensure that customer values are both recognized and realized.
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E-government webs are among the largest webs in existence. Thus, creating a semantic web infrastructure to organize them is highly desirable. At the same time, the complexity of existing e-government implementations also challenges the feasibility of semantic web creation. This paper explains challenges in semantic web development, identifies Wiki advantages, illustrates a potential solution, and summarizes major directions for research.
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Increased risk from unprotected user files and remote data is causing companies to re-evaluate their current remote backup processes. Managing remote data poses unique challenges, especially given the variability of networks, computing platforms, lack of trained IT staff at remote locations, and other issues. What are the issues, requirements, approaches, and best practices for effective remote data management?
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Service oriented architecture (SOA) is a term that is still not well understood by many enterprise executives and managers; however, it requires direct interaction between these two areas. The relationship between enterprise resource management (ERP) and SOA is a meeting point for these areas. Business owners, executives, and managers can lead their enterprises to greater profitability and efficiency by understanding SOA.
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The globalization of discrete manufacturing is forever changing the notion of what a "small manufacturer" is. Even companies that are considered relatively small in revenue, employment, or client base, must now operate like the largest corporations when structuring and conducting their businesses. Infor examines how today's mid-market manufacturers are transforming themselves—focusing on business processes and employing ERP systems for their own operations.
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Technology changes have allowed an alternative to the client-server model to emerge, specifically the application service provider (ASP), in which the vendor hosts the software on its server and charges a monthly or annual fee per user. The growing acceptance of ASPs has accelerated the growth of professional services automation. This paper compares the client-server and ASP models and outline ths benefits that companies are realizing from PSAs.
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It is essential for users to be able to create and deliver secure, professional-looking e-mail communications which present a consistent corporate image. PDF software meets these needs. However, when considering PDF, users must determine if the solution enhances communications for all network users, and whether the solution integrates PDFs with other software packages, including e-mail, accounts, and customer relationship management systems.
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Information workers routinely generate huge amounts of useful information in their documents. However, because this information is unstructured, it cannot be used by other applications. Smart documents tie an XML-based document definition together with a set of custom actions. Smart training centers can thus leverage XML-based documentation to expand information and minimize worker training costs.
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The shift from traditional application design to service-oriented (SOA) principles utilizing XML and Web services promises increased IT agility and reduced technology costs. However, without effective production-caliber infrastructure, the benefits of SOA and Web services will go unrealized. A modular solution that ensures extreme, fine-grained control over XML message handling can deliver the effective performance and policy compliance for every message.
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E-mail is one of the most important communication mediums. However, its ubiquity has exposed enterprises to a wide variety to new risks. While a great deal is known about inbound message-borne threats, such as spam and viruses, relatively little attention has been paid to outbound e-mail content. This annual survey examines the level of concern in organizations; the technologies used to mitigate risk; and the state of e-mail-related policy implementation and enforcement.
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The growing list of regulations for protecting data in virtually every size organization and industry means enterprises are being pressed hard to find effective, affordable, encryption technologies. Identity-based encryption has a greater advantage over traditional approaches to public key cryptography. It ensures the security of encrypted e-mails while minimizing the burden on end users.
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Enterprises should consider collaboration as a core component of their IT infrastructure, and not simply as a set of tools that facilitate translation and communication. In this white paper, learn why SAP NetWeaver is the long-term integration platform of SAP; why business to business (B2B)integration is critical to SAP implementations; and how NetWeaver and SEEBURGER solve integration issues.
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Today, more has to be done with less, and IT infrastructures require flexibility to deliver differential value. Upgrades, customizations, and back-end integration fail to suffice; companies need the ability to build applications on an as-needed basis. Composite applications fulfill this objective by helping organizations leverage existing enterprise applications, drive down the cost of change, and increase the pace of innovation.
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Data centers are complex mixtures of legacy platforms, hardware, operating systems (OS), data, and applications. They are inflexible, costly, and difficult to manage, so instead of optimizing the current OS, users are adding new ones. By using OS Portability and streaming servers across physical or virtual infrastructures over the network, users better utilize their data centers.
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Due to the changing regulatory environment and the complexity of business today, organizations are facing increased accountability. Security risks, however, can often be difficult to measure and even more difficult to understand by people outside of the department. The key to demonstrating improvement is to translate security information in to business terms. Organizations must align, manage, and measure security around business operations.
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Using aggregated dashboard views and establishing metrics can help IT audit and governance professionals and IT security professionals implement policies that keep secure networks operational. Such tools can distill information to its essence, offer decision support, allow problems to be identified and isolated faster, and permit greater accountability. Ultimately, they allow more efficient and cost effective processes.
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Human resource management systems (HRMS) and payroll vendors are entering the software as a service (SaaS) market en masse. Though much as been written about the benefits of SaaS, only now are the short and long term ramifications of SaaS being discussed. As long as the purchaser is fully informed, then a decision can be made that best meets the needs of the enterprise.
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As much as 80 percent of day-to-day business activity is taken up by digitally-based messaging. Integrating telecommunications with your messaging environment is crucial. Second generation IPT leverages data networks, and increases productivity through voice application integration. It integrates directly with customer relationship management or enterprise resource planning systems, Lotus Notes, and Outlook, Word, and Excel, to digitally capture information for compliance and traceability.
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Changing business scenarios, collapsing traditional barriers, and globalization are creating new challenges. Furthermore, mergers, acquisitions, and changes mandated by regulatory compliance are driving business change. The current competitive environment demands collaboration in real time, and organizations need a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that adjusts business processes and applications according to market requirements. Standards and best practices for adoption are crucial for a functional SOA.
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When vendors sunset test automation scripting tools without providing a forward compatible path for replacement, companies are forced to pay for change with no benefit. Most enterprise business processes span both old and new applications, and cannot be effectively tested without changing tools. Companies need to create a future-proof strategy for assuring that these costs never have to be repeated.
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The evolution of test automation towards data-driven and key/action word frameworks reflects the realization that the process becomes more efficient if there is less code to develop and maintain. Instead of taking twenty years to evolve towards efficiency, you can take a revolutionary leap with a code-free approach that makes it easier to implement, manage, and maintain automated tests.
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Many companies want to migrate to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), but will not take any risk because their phone system is too critical to business. Openface presents a methodology for smoothly migrating to VoIP. Smooth Migration to VoIP is targeting companies that have a Legacy PBX in place (that is not IP-ready) and are interested in migrating to VoIP through a smooth transition process.
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Small and medium businesses (SMB) generally purchase integration solutions that conform to plans of their larger business partners. Their decisions are reactive, rather than proactive. Understanding the SMB market can help integration solution providers better understand SMB needs. This white paper addresses integration in the SMB market in two parts: the first deals with understanding the nature of the SMB market; the second deals with what SMB integration solutions should address.
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Global manufacturers want an integrated view of the shop floor. In response, manufacturing execution systems (MES) have emerged as a powerful tool for integrating plant-floor data with information provided by applications, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). MES can connect the world, and it has an exciting future when combined with promising technologies such as business process management (BPM) and service oriented architecture (SOA).
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The total cost of ownership for on-demand solutions is much lower than that of traditional on-premise solutions, even when evaluated over a three- to five–year period. In fact, on-premise solutions require significant investments in IT infrastructure and application deployment, support, and update resources—investments that most small to medium businesses (SMBs) are in no position to afford.
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Persistent delivered web-based sales support and customer service solutions to a broadband data and VOIP provider. We helped our client rapidly build and deploy web front end systems for order entry, self-care, and customer care and also integrated these systems with their fulfillment, inventory, and billing systems using service oriented architecture (SOA). This resulted in improved end customer acquisition and satisfaction and improved time to market and significantly reduced total development costs.
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Software validation is required by any company covered by the US Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and 21 CFR Parts 210 & 211. Many small to mid-sized companies see this as an overwhelming task, but when approached in a logical manner, it does not have to be. This white paper will guide you through ten steps in making your validation run more smoothly and successfully.
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This white paper describes the real world collaboration process and presents a survey of the web software tools that are available today to support the collaboration process.
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Business intelligence (BI) capabilities transform vast amounts of data into relevant information that organizations rely on to make decisions and manage performance. Most companies have some form of BI, and most are familiar with its benefits. However, in order to extract maximum advantage from BI initiatives, it is necessary to be aware of—and avoid—their seven “fatal flaws.”
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The notion of having disparate mediation systems in today’s service oriented telecommunications industry is no longer valid. The accurate and timely knowledge of customer information, such as usage patterns, preferences, spending habits and duration can provide competitive advantages to service providers. Learn about convergent mediation systems that can support multiple service types (voice, data, content) in this white paper.
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Just uttering the term "blade server" creates confusion and spawns many questions. That’s because the term is applied to a wide range of hardware and software products that can vary greatly in terms of value, functionality, and fit in the enterprise. This is akin to using the term "automobile" to describe everything from a three-cylinder compact car to an eight-passenger SUV. In this buying guide, we’ll sort out the confusion and provide you with a practical checklist for evaluating current market offerings. There is a place for blade servers in your enterprise, but not every enterprise needs every offering available.
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The transition to IP A wireless carrier s national or regional next generation core network will be an all-IP network in the sense that IP will be the network layer (L3) protocol. MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) will be the transport protocol for all IP-based services, applications, and control and management traffic in the network. Learn more in this white paper.
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This document provides a general overview of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), detailing the architecture and technology benefits of implementation. MPLS greatly enhances the performance of internet protocol (IP) network traffic by allowing operators to engineer their IP backbones based on their unique data and voice transport requirements for improved network performance and sustainable profitability for packetbased services.
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Technology can be used to achieve competitive advantages, increase customer service and loyalty, and increase efficiency, but technology can also cause vendor lock-in and escalating costs. Learn how the object orientation, and service oriented architecture features in IFS Service-Oriented Component Architecture can help develop agile business software.
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Organizations are overwhelmed with how to begin implementing identity and access management (IAM)
solutions. They are scratching their heads and asking, "Where do I start?" Even after implementation, security and information protection must be continually improved while ensuring compliance with regulations. Auditors continue to ask: "Are the right controls in place?" "Are they effective?" Download this white paper to learn more about defining the steps necessary to understanding and deploying IAM, giving enterprises a roadmap to an effective IAM program.
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Disintermediation is the process of removing redundant intermediaries from a systems management infrastructure. Once vital to systems monitoring, proprietary agents are now made largely redundant by native management tools, emerging standards and agentless monitoring architectures. Centauri makes disintermediation possible by providing a low-cost event management solution that unifies performance data and event messages under a common umbrella. This paper describes how you can take advantage of the disintermediation opportunity and minimize the risks of migrating from working proprietary data collectors to a new native-agent based solution.
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There are potential benefits of operating business process management (BPM) side-by-side with business service management (BSM). BPM and BSM are emerging technologies: BPM is concerned with the orchestration and management of effective business processes, while BSM focuses on the operational effectiveness of the enabling IT services. These technologies are mutually beneficial to one another. This white paper is intended for managers interested in implementing robust BPM solutions in IT-dependent business scenarios or managers looking to lay down a basic foundation for effective on-demand utility computing. It addresses the partnership between Fuego and Proxima Technology, vendors in BPM and BSM solutions.
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The Internet is having an identity crisis. Long regarded as a powerful tool for cost reduction and service enhancement, the Internet is falling short of its promise because of the real and perceived threat of identity theft. Financial losses and insurance costs are mounting, as organizations struggle to protect their information perimeters and improve the strength of their authentication systems to ensure that the authorized user is present during the sign-in process. The widespread use and misuse of passwords as authentication tokens is generally cited as a cause of the accelerating erosion of user confidence and the increasing incidence of identity theft. It is generally agreed that passwords are not enough. Much has been lost, however, in the race toward person-present authentication systems. While the application of passwords is fraught with risk, the introduction of complex authentication infrastructures and cumbersome end user technology has eroded usability and increased the cost of security dramatically. This paper describes a new authentication approach that retains the simplicity and low cost of passwords, while gracefully introducing as much person-present assurance as is required by the application.
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The past decade saw the emergence of the storage area network as a way to centralize, consolidate, and virtualize deployment and management of storage resources. This architecture was developed to address complex problems that arose as storage moved from a central point (the mainframe-based data center) to a distributed model due to growth in departmental systems and applications.
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Server consolidation is a hot topic. As a supplier of enterprise-class servers, Egenera has participated in many consolidation projects, with both customers and prospects. This paper summarizes what we’ve learned about consolidation, and provides a roadmap for driving consolidation in your organization. We answer the question most often asked by our customers: How do we get started?
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To dramatically lower datacenter costs and improve competitive advantage, IT organizations should start with an examination of the cost and competitive-advantage drivers in their current infrastructure. Egenera has studied several Global 1000 organizations and uncovered similarities in their cost structures.
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Application Service Provision (ASP).There has been a trend in recent years towards the use of remote software services through application service providers. These are companies who make software applications available via the
Internet to users who, rather than buying software, pay rental fees for it. The software does not have to be installed locally, the application being available through any web browser, and all support and maintenance is handled by the service provider. CMMS vendors are not the only ones offering these solutions. CAD modelling, engineering design, finance packages, purchasing, ERP
and even your company Intranet can now be rented. This is an expanding sector and the signs are that major growth is about to take place. Earlier problems with slow data
transfer speeds, communication costs and data security have largely been eliminated and this has made ASP a very attractive proposition. This is clearly illustrated by the
proliferation of systems that have become available over the last three or four years with most of the major CMMS vendors now offering an ASP option.
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How many times do you hear network administrators scream at the top of their voice, "I have spent millions of dollars buying expensive and the best antivirus software solutions and yet every two months, when a new virus strikes, I have my entire network go down!" This is a common complaint you will get to hear from one and all network administrators, primarily because most security vendors today concentrate more on a "reactive" approach to stop virus attacks, than a “preventive” approach!
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Spam is unsolicited junk mail sent to you or your mail server. People who indulge in such activities are called spammers. These are sent by commercial advertisers who may offer dubious products, get rich schemes, products that do not suit your life style, promote illegal activities, etc. The intent here is to make you spend money. Almost 60% to 70% of spam is related to porn. There is another type of spammer who sends large number of e-mails that flood your mailbox or mail server. This white paper provides
information about spam, losses caused by spam, how spam works and suggests key features that a good anti-spam software should have.
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Unwanted pop-up ads are intrusive Internet advertisements that are displayed when you access web pages. This white paper provides information about different type of pop-up ads, losses they cause, how they work, and suggests key features that a good pop-up ad filter software should have.
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The Internet access you have provided in the office costs money. You wish to see it used as a productive tool and increase business. It also provides the best way to appear busy. Employees can open multiple pages, a few of them related to legitimate work, while the others cater to their "personal" interests. It takes a single mouse click or Alt+Tab to navigate between pages, when a supervisor appears. This white paper provides details of how Internet access can be abused and how organisation can keep a tab on its employees.
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Many organizations are undertaking some form of lean initiative, but if one were to ask one hundred different people, one would probably different explanations from each person. With a variety of methods, techniques, and terms bandied about, many are forced to use the same definition that the late Justice Potter Stewart used for pornography: “I know it when I see it.” Shop floor practices that move inventory to the point of consumption, like kanban, are also associated with lean. But what really is lean? And does it go beyond the shop floor to impacts all areas of the business?
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Life cycle development can be a complicated and intimidating process for many organizations. Are you
struggling to adapt the development process successfully to your own projects? Do you want to use various formal life cycle processes such as Agile, Incremental, Spiral, and Waterfall, or various informal processes, such as extreme programming (XP) and others? Are you burdened by the development process? This paper will explain how you can simply and easily adopt any life cycle process.
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Decison support systems range from simple electronic filing cabinets to complex data intensive and analytically sophisticated executive information systems. This primer provides an overview with real case studies.
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thawte's new SGC SuperCert now automatically steps up to 128-bit encryption for certain end users with the Windows 2000 operating system who, in the past, would not receive 128-bit encryption irrespective of the version of Internet Explorer used. The systems affected are those that shipped prior to about March 2001 and did not subsequently have Microsoft's High Encryption pack or Service Pack 2 installed. thawte's SGC SuperCert ensures that all these site visitors enjoy the protection of the strongest SSL encryption available. Find out how you can ensure that you are providing the best possible encryption for each and every visitor to your web site.
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thawte Technologies is a Certification Authority (CA) which issues SSL Web Server Certificates to organizations and individuals worldwide. thawte verifies that the company ordering the certificate is a registered organization and that the person in the company who ordered the certificate is authorized to do so. thawte also checks that the company in question owns the relevant domain. thawte digital certificates interoperate smoothly with Apache and the latest software from Microsoft and Netscape, so you can rest assured that you purchase of a thawte digital certificate will give your customers confidence in your system and integrity—they will feel secure about transacting on-line. Information is a critical asset to your business. To ensure the integrity and safety of your information, it is important to identify with whom you are dealing and the data you are receiving is trustworthy.
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In this guide you will find out how to test, purchase, install, and use a thawte Digital Certificate on your Microsoft Internet Information Services (MS IIS) web server. Throughout, best practices for set-up are highlighted to help you ensure efficient ongoing management of your encryption keys and digital certificates. We will also touch on the role of thawte as a trusted third party and how using a thawte digital certificate can benefit your business by addressing unique on-line security issues to build customer confidence.
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Continuous process simplification of inherently complex enterprise applications should be the primary goal. Apptricity believes that the primary focus for business-
technology managers should be on achieving a rapid application integration and deployment to guarantee measurable return on investment (ROI). Business technology and business managers should not have to constantly recalibrate solution delivery objectives or re-scope project deliverables with reduced functionality because of finger pointing or other rationalized justifications. How can ROI be assured and achieved more rapidly? What are the major decisions faced by organizations relative to their information technology (IT) strategy, and how does this impact ROI? And why would a company choose an (application suite) versus extending in-house legacy systems?
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What differentiates highly successful companies from the ones that struggle, or worse yet, don’t make it? What do companies like Microsoft and Boeing have that ensures that they maintain their market leader status? They deliver their products, services, and images differently, but consistently. They have spent a great deal of money, research, and effort to determine their optimal business flow, and they follow business best practices that put in place “systems” that guarantee their success. Small businesses can also gain the competitive advantage by implementing best practices. Learn how Advantage can model, facilitate, and enforce those best business practices for small businesses.
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