Find analysis of data from Cutter's ongoing industry research efforts, brief treatments of topics that don't require the in-depth research of an Executive Report, updates on previously-covered topics, and more, in 2-4 page Executive Updates.
The Green Data Center: Taking the First Steps Toward Green IT? Part II
Part I in this two-part Executive Update series (Vol. 9, No. 3) defined green IT and discussed the developments and initiatives that have led to an awareness of the need for green data centers in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. Here in Part II, I discuss some principles, make recommendations for the design and operation of a green computing infrastructure, and propose a strategy for implementation.
The Green Data Center: Taking the First Steps Toward Green IT? Part I
Grid Computing Now! is a UK-based knowledge-transfer network aimed at championing the adoption of grid computing technologies to IT leaders in UK public and private sectors.
CIO Eyes Only: One More Case for Green IT -- Part II
In the first Executive Update of this two-part series, I examined the need to be prepared for a looming crisis in the data center due to the lack of planning and execution in green IT. Here in Part II, I present a way to look at your data center energy efficiency in order to be prepared for such a crisis.
THREE-WEEK APPROACHConsider the following three-week approach to establish a sound response.
Innovation and the Role of the Enterprise Architect: Charting the Course for Business Transformation
Given the complex and global nature of today's business world, organizations are looking for ways to deal with realities and turn them into advantages. As a result, a focus on innovation has become a key strategic differentiator, resulting in competitive, sustainable advantage and maximized stakeholder value.
Commodities, Switches, and Change: Leaving the Firewall for the Cloud
Information technology was put "in play" by Year 2000 (Y2K) remediation, the dot-com crash of 2000, and the "IT doesn't matter" argument that first appeared in 2003. People began to think about technology differently after so many events and so much attention. Was technology a blessing or a curse? Could it transform business models -- or just enable existing ones?
The Project Concept Phase: Part III — As Good as It Gets
Enterprise Risk Management: A Unified Approach
Enterprise risk management (ERM) is founded on the relatively recent understanding that bringing together the many and diverse silos of risk management within an organization will result in a more efficient and cost-effective approach as well as yield additional benefits from natural synergies.
Outsourcing: Measuring What Matters -- Part III
CIO Eyes Only: One More Case for Green IT -- Part I
Today, the skill set required to upgrade data center energy efficiency echoes the very same knowledge required to rapidly downsize IT operations during an energy emergency. As a data center manager, do you have that skill set? If you were tasked with developing a plan in a few weeks to lower IT power consumption by 50% as quickly as possible, could you write a plan while minimally affecting operations? What would you do first, second, and third?
Enterprise Architecture and Business-Focused Change Management: Part V
In the previous parts of this Executive Update series, I focused on the application of the concept of refactoring needs to various processes related to software development -- refactoring needs being an ingredient of enterprise architecture (EA) [1-4]. Here in Part V, I share some insights regarding the value that EA and its management processes gain from the concept.
Web 2.0 Reference Model: Realizing Web 2.0 Principles in Enterprises -- Part I
Web 2.0 is the most talked about emerging technology trend today; it is creating quite a splash as it stretches the boundary of what the traditional Web can do. In the absence of any industry consensus, Web 2.0 can best be explained as the second phase in the evolution of the Web that provides an enriched end-user experience and enhanced online social collaboration.
The Project Concept Phase: Part II -- Is Crowdsourcing a Good Strategy?
There are many hollow buzzwords floating around, and "crowdsourcing" may sound like one, but it isn't. It is a fascinating term that was coined just a couple of years ago [2], and if you google it, you'll get more than half a million hits. Crowdsourcing refers to the way consumers participate in the creation of the products they use, and it has caught on quickly.
SaaS Penetrates the IT Department
The Project Concept Phase: Part I -- The Reality Check Between Idea and Implementation
Some of the most exciting advances in software have come from surprising sources. The military and defense industries, for example, have benefited greatly from recent advances in graphics and animation, many of which originated in -- and here's the surprise -- video games (which in 2006 was a six-billion-dollar business).
The Benefits and Goals of a Healthcare Services Ombudsman
Green Requirements for IT and Telecom
2008 could well be a watershed year for environmental concerns in the US, and this has a number of important consequences for IT. Although the concern is greatest in Europe and Asia, the UN Climate Change Conference 2007 in Bali has reinforced the fact that "green" issues now have global importance. Increasingly, they will be used as a bargaining chip in political and economic negotiations.
Developing an Applications Maintenance Strategy
Enterprise Architecture and Business-Focused Change Management: Part IV
One of the most vital concerns for enterprise architecture (EA) is its evolution: the ability to purposely shape EA with regard to various small changes introduced to an IS environment. The issue of implementing changes to EA in a coordinated manner was the genesis for the concept described in the previous parts of this Executive Update series [1-3].
Turning Information into Action: Scorecard Usage in Retail Supply Chains
Retailers increasingly rely on sophisticated information technology to support the management of their supply chains. Retailers track the flow of material between their stores, distribution centers, and upstream suppliers. Ideally, they share detailed information across and within the firm pertaining to inventory, forecast sales, actual sales, and delivery schedules, among other key metrics. To incorporate this information into formats useful to users, retailers are turning to scorecards.
The Implications of Blue Cloud
IBM has raised the possibility that the mainframe of the future might well be a cloud. This is likely to have considerable long-term implications for vendors and IT departments alike. On 11 November 2008, IBM announced its Blue Cloud program to offer a cluster-computing cloud infrastructure for sale in the spring of 2008, based on a mixture of open source and proprietary software and powered by a BladeCenter-based data center using x86 and Power processors.
Enterprise Architecture and Business-Focused Change Management: Part III
When asking a typical IT manager about a single area where an enterprise architecture (EA) effort should be able to prove its value, probably the most expected answer would be "giving support to projects being run." It is not my ambition here to present the whole scope of possibilities in which EA could support running projects but rather to focus on the refactoring needs concept introduced in Part of this series. Recall that Part II presented refactoring needs in the context of an actual case study in which I worked. Here in Part III, I continue with that case and get into more details about how the refactoring needs built on an EA could support and synergize ongoing software development projects.
Building Effective Portals: Achieve Return on Technology Investments -- Part II
Over the last few years, it has become clear to many practitioners that a portal can add distinct value, agility, robustness, and versatility to their business applications [1, 3, 4, 6]. A portal can introduce the doorway to a common view while providing access to applications in multiple organizations of the enterprise.