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Closed minds are holding back IT
Sadly, contributors miss the point when addressing the problem of adopting any piece of IT kit (Letters, 12 November).
If a given individual has been weaned on the plethora of DOS-based systems when playing games, and has never been exposed to other operating systems or environments, such as Unix, Linux or Mac, then whenever they decide to buy a new piece of kit, they will invest in a PC.
Although the debate over PC versus Mac has moved on, with Intel underpinning both PC and Mac now, the key issue to address for IT departments is whether they wish to become perpetually locked in to a closed system, such as Windows, or migrate to open-source environments such as Linux.
If they decide against the latter option, they will continue to be locked in to an increasingly expensive option that offers no scope for systems administrator to create as robust and secure a system as might otherwise be possible.
Rebecca Pidgeon
Benefits of virtualisation
Gartner’s Ken McGee and other analysts have concluded in recent weeks that the looming threat of recession may force some IT chiefs to cut their budgets for 2008 (Gartner advises IT leaders to prepare two IT budgets for 2008, 7 November). But considering the correlation between innovation, growth initiatives and the technology that fosters them, this option can prove unfeasible for many organisations.
Eliminating outdated or under-utilised IT assets may offer immediate cost relief but then how do businesses support growth? Any limit on resources will not only inhibit an IT director’s ability to implement and/or expand programmes, but put them at a disadvantage in investing in and utilising new technologies.
The ideal is to be able to do more with existing resources, and this is where application virtualisation is hotly tipped as the next big thing for IT infrastructure in 2008. By providing the tools to create a flexible, on-demand infrastructure that intelligently provisions processing power as and when it is required across the entire organisation, application virtualisation quite simply enables IT chiefs to do more with less.
Alun Baker, DataSynapse
The saddest people in IT
In response to recent comments on this letters page about giving allegiance to a PC or a Mac, perhaps the true saddos within IT are those techies who grew up playing games on their PC console and have yet to properly grow up and learn the difference between a brand and a franchise (Letters, 12 November).
Within IT, whereas Dell and other manufacturers have established brand identity, the closest thing the PC market has to a brand is that of “Intel Inside”.
Lalaine Veroga-Paras
IBM still trails in analytics
Like the SAP-Business Objects acquisition announced last month, IBM’s move to acquire Cognos underscores what has been evident for some time, that business intelligence (BI) – particularly BI query and reporting tools – has become a commodity (Cognos falls to IBM as BI shakeout continues, 19 November). What is key to companies now is the importance of “enterprise intelligence”, which elevates knowledge and decision-making capabilities from the departmental level to the executive suite.
With Cognos, IBM has continued its move into the software business, and will offer BI reporting tools to go along with its middleware and database software, and strong services arm. Yet in this deal, neither IBM nor Cognos delivers the goods in analytics.
Companies need to see around corners and know what will happen next, and they need to make decisions in the context of the issues most relevant to their industry. Analytics – data mining, forecasting and optimisation – are key to business success.
Richard Kellett, SAS
No such thing as an eco-friendly printer
As both a Wiccan and an IT professional, I strongly agree with Alistair Dabbs (Firms should tone down green rhetoric, 5 November). It is unconscionable that any printing company would present themselves as eco-friendly.
Printer manufacturers may have taken steps to reduce waste, pollutants and so on, but by its very nature the industry of printing is detrimental to the environment. This is why I have spearheaded an effort at our organisation to combat excessive printing.
We are now including a small graphic in our email signatures along with the words “Think before you print”. It reminds the recipient to consider the environment before needlessly printing the contents of the email. It also keeps people sensitive to information security. If the contents of the email should not be left lying around in a hard copy, it probably should not be printed.
Lucas Burke, CISSP,
Let women shine in IT
I have been running our IT department for the past 10 years in an organisation that is dominated by females (Strength through diversity, 17 September). Among the first five staff I employed were two females. All the new staff were fresh graduates and new to the IT work environment.
They all received equal treatment and training opportunities, but the female members of the team never scaled the same heights as their male colleagues.
Despite a lot of support and training, the two females eventually moved on. This was five years ago. Since then, we have had difficulty attracting female IT staff. All responses to adverts we put out during that time were male – until this year.
This year, we got quite a number of female applicants and we now have two new female staff. They are both very bright, hardworking and dedicated and are doing just as well as everyone else. They have brought with them such a colourful diversity of ideas and creativity to the team that there really is no argument for not actively promoting female IT staff among the workforce.
Patrick Anigbo, head of IT, Adepta
Green IT has to be profitable
It is good to see people making money from green products (Money talks loudest in Green IT Zone, 29 October). This is the only way green ideas will really solidify into actual practices – if someone can make a living from them.
No matter how idealistic people are, they need to be able to support themselves too, which is why it is great to see people being green just for the money. It is more sustainable that way.
Rob
Kyocera is on right track
Printing is not a green activity, nor could it really ever be dressed up as such (Firms should tone down green rhetoric, 5 November).
Like so many business activities, the manufacture and use of printers has an inherently negative impact on the environment, which is something that printer manufacturers have long known.
I also agree that trumpeting compliance with standards that are actually becoming the industry norm does little to inform the consumer of the greenness of a company. Some printer companies proudly advertise the fact that they will collect your used printer when you buy one of theirs, conveniently forgetting that this is a requirement under the WEEE directive in any case. Plus, any printer manufacturer worth its salt will have a cartridge return and recycling programme in place – if only from the selfish point of view of keeping used cartridges out of the hands of remanufacturers.
At Kyocera we have never claimed that our printers are environmentally friendly. We do, however, believe that they have less environmental impact than the conventional technology alternative.
Helen Hopper, Kyocera
Blind allegiance to an IT brand is sad
In his strident advocacy for OS X and all things Mac (Letters, 5 November), Thomas Barta is guilty of making the same mistake that mindless enthusiasts always do on both sides of the rather boring PC versus Mac so-called debate.
Barta’s attempt at dismissing the PC environment as “1980s technology” without having the honesty to admit that the very same term can be used to describe the Mac’s origins removes any and all credibility from his argument.
I just wish the misguided fools on both sides of the Mac/PC fence would grow up and admit that people should be allowed to choose whatever platform best suits their individual or corporate needs.
Getting hot under the collar about what is essentially a piece of office equipment betrays a life that is empty of more interesting things.
Paul Harper, ICI
Women are keen on IT
Martin Davies works in a strange world – or I do (Letters, 29 October). I have been an IT professional for more than 25 years. From my very first class, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of women students.
Subsequently, I have found the female sex to be well represented in the IT industry. On more than one occasion I have worked for a female IT manager.
So to say that women “just do not want to do IT” is fatuous, to say the least.
John McCallum
Wi-Fi outlook is bright
I read Dave Bailey’s recent article on wireless networks with great interest (Time to wave goodbye to Wi-Fi handoffs? 29 October). Although remedying the problems associated with Wi-Fi roaming is important, the article neglects to mention a far more interesting development – the convergence and integration of all radio frequency (RF) technologies, including Wi-Fi, WiMax, Bluetooth, Mesh, RFID and Zigbee.
Businesses today should be keeping a close eye on the convergence of networking technologies to see what effect unified wireless communications will have on their operations. This convergence will allow information to flow freely between previously disparate RF networks and be managed from a central point. As John Donne famously said, “No man is an island” and, in time, this principle will apply to networks as well.
Organisations are also seeing the union of fixed and mobile networks, with traditional mobile phone and 3G technologies linking into the company network so that information can be exchanged and directed in the most business-efficient fashion.
Angelo Lamme, Motorola
Wi-Fi fees too high
BT’s new international travel vouchers for business Wi-Fi users are proof that despite moves by the European Union, roaming fees continue to be exorbitantly high (BT offers Wi-Fi travel vouchers, 5 November).
While these vouchers will help reduce the roaming fees businesses pay each month by enabling them to make cheap voice over IP phone calls abroad, they do not go far enough.
Vouchers for Wi-Fi services can be an expensive option for many businesses. They can also be a wasteful option, as they are an ad-hoc payment method and in many cases are only valid for a relatively short time, meaning that unused minutes are unnecessarily lost.
Unlimited Wi-Fi access subscription models are now emerging and enable organisations to manage employee usage much more effectively and provide greater cost control.
Staying on top of communications expenses can be a nightmare for many businesses, particularly if employees are regularly travelling abroad.
If business Wi-Fi access is going to take off, it still needs to be more flexible and cost-effective if users and organisations are truly going to benefit.
Gavin Dresselhuis, Trustive
Don’t be wet, use a Mac
It seems to me that running Windows gets more expensive every year (Apple unleashes Leopard, 29 October). You have the performance penalty, the support, and the security infrastructure to take account of.
In contrast, Mac OS X seems more cost effective with each release. You can even run legacy Windows applications full-speed now, so each Mac can serve as more than two machines in one.
We will reach a tipping point: firms cannot limp along with 1980s technology forever, even if their needs are pretty basic, namely email and word processing.
Thomas Barta
How to bring all mobiles under control
The recent Windows Mobile announcement from Microsoft is a great validation of the importance of the mobile device management (MDM) marketplace, as well as the maturing of the enterprise need to mobilise employees and applications (Management boost for Windows Mobile, 29 October).
However, while Microsoft will provide capabilities that address some of the issues highlighted, these will only be for Microsoft devices – less than 15 per cent of the smartphone market, according to Canalys statistics from 2006.
In a typical enterprise, there are many different mobile devices being used, many of which have probably not been sourced by the IT department. Therefore enterprises need complete MDM capabilities that enable them to manage and secure all device types irrespective of the operating system, manufacturer, mobile network used, or data applications and services supported.
Matt Bancroft, Mformation
A complex marriage
The business intelligence (BI) market has been defined by consolidation, so I was not surprised to hear of SAP’s intention to buy Business Objects (SAP buys into BI with Business Objects deal, 15 October). Yet, I wonder what the benefits of the deal will be to both firms’ customers and partners.
When you combine an organisation like SAP that has traditionally built large complex software for experts, with an organisation like Business Objects that has traditionally built large, complex analytic systems, the result is more complexity – not less. And not what businesses need.
Andy Honess, QlikTech
Take the pain out of change
I’d agree that implementing Itil by itself is not enough to control problems associated with change (Itil offers more tips on managing change, 15 October). Organisations should strive for change management maturity in order to gain significant business benefits from their change management processes.
Recent research from [IT testing specialist] StackSafe shows how more “mature” activities – automating change management, regularly scheduling changes, testing change in a staging environment, as well as adopting Itil – help companies limit the problems that changes cause in production.
For example, companies with an automated change management process noted 25 per cent fewer production problems than companies with a manual process or no process at all.
As complexity grows in IT operations, this situation will become more challenging.
Joe Pendry, StackSafe
Web apps have much to offer
Providers of state-of-the-art web-based applications have invested millions in overcoming factors that can affect speed (Web-based apps are a waste of time, 29 October). As a result, web-based applications are a modern-day lifeline to many companies.
They offer added security, disaster recovery and a level of technological investment that few firms could afford to make themselves.
Looking at these applications as a “waste of time” is hiding the fact that they have a lot more to offer.
Steve Hull, Sawfish Software
