Calculating Costs: Spending on Smarter Storage

DAS vs. NAS vs. SAN. It’s not a German lawsuit. It’s an evaluation that technology managers must make when deciding which architecture should manage company data. In direct-access storage, or DAS, drives are connected directly to the computers whose data must be preserved. If you haven’t moved to a storage-area

Primer: Application Switching

What is it? A way of handling network traffic by identifying and analyzing packets of information before they reach the server. Also known as content switching, application switching can identify legitimate requests, deny attacks and, in some cases, rank traffic by priority. A financial transaction or important database query, for

Linux Plays On

Robert Mendel, director of information technology at Life Time Fitness, plans to roll out Linux-powered PCs in the company’s new exercise centers. He’s also installing Sun Microsystems’ StarOffice in place of Microsoft Office in his Eden Prairie, Minn.-based business. He wants to save on licensing costs. “We’re going to pursue

Escape From Mediocrity: Eckerd’s Technology Challenge

Twin pillars in the lobby of Eckerd headquarters, relics of a private trade show for its partners and suppliers, proclaim the drug chain’s mission to go from “Good to Great.” That’s a reference to management guru James C. Collins’ book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and

Tool: Storage Methods Side-By-Side

Storage may not strike you as a thrilling topic, but it can be an expensive one to ignore. Click on the icon for a detailed calculator built for Baseline by software maker Alinean.

Gotcha! Deploying Job-Scheduling Software

Did you know that: Despite all the talk about “real-time” systems, batch scheduling is often the order of the day Companies need software programs, called job schedulers, to control what programs are going to run and when, to keep orders handled and operations humming. But this doesn’t necessarily happen the

Quiz: Do You Need An Application Switch?

Application switching method of handling network traffic identifies and analyzes packets of information before they reach the server. But do you need it? take the quiz below and find out. 1. We offer complex or feature-rich applications on our Web site. TRUE FALSE 1. 2. 2. Different site visitors have

Past-Forward: BMW Glitches Redux

When SAP AG executives outlined the company’s “best-of-suite” strategy, they neglected one part that would interest cash-strapped technology executives: its open-source database (“SAP’s Silent Database,” May 2003). There’s a good reason for that omission—SAP planned on going from silent to sold. SAP said May 27 that MySQL, a Swedish database

By the Numbers: June 2003

For full infographics, please download the PDF at left. Open-Source Knowledge: Stuck in Neutral?A survey of software developers in North America found that 56% are using at least some open-source code in their applications today, according to Evans Data of Santa Cruz, Calif. That’s up 18 percentage points from 2001,

The War on Spending

Recent attacks in the West Bank, Riyadh and Casablanca may mean the war on terrorism is far from over. But despite those ominous rumblings, technology executives say they have not increased spending on securing their data networks—and are still wrestling with the question of how much to spend. These are