With the recent 2200 page report about the accounting gimmicks at Lehman Brothers, it's worth looking at the merger of EMC and Archer Technologies. I'm not suggesting accounting fraud. On the contrary, the merger should take Archer's SmartSuite financial data security and EMC's own services from RSA Security Practice and boost standards and compliance to the next level. The Virtualization and Private Cloud Security services are supposed to assess secure virtual desktops and private clouds. A Fraud Assessment and Strategy offers recommendations to mitigate risk. A Risk Operations Service helps companies build security centers.
It isn't easy to create a corporate entity that's in the league of companies such as Lehman Brothers, Enron, MCI WorldCom or others that fell after accounting scandals, but it is possible to nip problems in the bud. You need ethical management and auditors. But it also helps tremendously to plug security breaches. All you need is vulnerability and one sticky fingered employee or financial whiz who thinks he can razzle-dazzle upper management by falsifying data, and you've got a potential disaster.
A new survey by the Ponemon Institute and Guardian Analytics found that 55% of businesses admitted that they have experienced fraud in the past year, with 58% enabled by online banking. A full 80% of banks failed to catch the fraudulent transactions before the funds were transferred out. Slightly more than one quarter of these companies were not compensated for their losses. The bottom line is that cybercrooks are targeting online bank accounts of small and medium-sized businesses and financial institutions are not protecting their customers' assets.
While new technologies such as virtualized data centers and cloud computing are exciting and are supposed to be cost-effective, they carry additional security and risk management issues. Companies cannot wait for auditors to identify weaknesses. There must be constant automated analysis and encryption of information from multiple sources. Who can benefit from such a product? A credit card processing company such as First Data, which is testing TransArmor. It will be able to take card numbers out of merchants' point-of-sale systems just as a transaction occurs. The software encrypts the data credit card companies and card-issuing banks for approval. Stores won't have to worry about protecting their customers' credit card information.
As an investor, I look forward to the potential of other software development that makes me feel confident that when the auditors sign their standard statement in a company's annual report, the figures are indeed accurate and that my investment won't go the way of Enron.
There's a lot of buzz lately about cloud computing. While it sounds like a new and improved way of forecasting the weather, the people at The Weather Channel have nothing to worry about.
Cloud computing is basically anything which involves delivering hosted services over the Internet, such as IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), PaaS (not Easter eggs, but Platform-as-a-Service) and SaaS) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Computer people like cute and catchy names, and this one comes from the cloud symbol that represents the Internet in various flow charts and diagrams.
So what does this really mean? The whole point of the Internet is to deliver services efficiently. If it's a public cloud, it sells to anyone and everyone. Amazon.com is a public cloud. There are private clouds which are proprietary, such as a hospital portal that allows access only to doctors who are affiliated with that hospital. What's really key about cloud computing are the forces that are driving it.
Microsoft is seriously looking at a new way for large corporations to buy MS Office under a new license called "Union." It would charge companies the same amount for software whether it is hosted on-site or in the cloud. SD Times reported that this new license would address various degrees of software usage. Regular and heavy users may require an on-premise server version. Light users may be able to use a version that is hosted by Microsoft. The "Union" bundle might combine Office 2010 (which is currently in the beta stage) with office web applications and store it from Sharepoint Online. It sounds, well, nebulous, but it's all about the money. Microsoft is hoping to maximize revenue without driving customers to seek inexpensive or free solutions.
More small and mid-size banks are paying considerable attention to cloud computing because it may be cost-efficient for regulation, compliance and security. Accessibility is also a driving force. Yet a survey by the think-tank, The Financial Services Club, reported that 37.9% of retail banking firms are not even considering cloud computing, in part because they are unsure of what it is. A survey by Wall Street & Technology found that that 12 percent of executives in the capital markets are dismissing cloud computing as a marketing gimmick.
The bottom line is that until there is more evidence for effective cost-cutting and until more large companies use it, cloud computing is remain a niche for people in IT. A word to the wise: Learn!
Most consumers are happy with duo-core processors. Bump up a computer to dual-quad and they're even more thrilled with the performance. But the news that Intel will soon launch six-core processors has people like me higher than a kite. The "Westmere," which sounds like a luxury real estate development, is expected to be out by the end of the month. Advanced Micro Devices is trailing slightly behind with its Phenom II X6. The Westmere is not the first six-core chip from Intel, but the Core i7-980X is targeted for dual-socket platforms and more advanced than the six-core Extreme Edition chips, which is based on 32-nanometer process technology. Hyper-threading will, for all practical purposes, double the number of threads executed per core. Pricing? Just over a thou and you need 12MB of memory on your computer. Some industry experts think it's overkill for most people. But then, didn't Bill Gates once say that no one will ever need more than 640MB of hard drive? Westmere, Eastmere. Phenom. Extreme. Whatever the name, they'll set new standards.
Fast wireless is usually talked about in conjunction with sending photos, videos and music from cell phones. But what about wireless networks in hospital IT infrastructure?
Across the country, hospitals -- despite financial scares -- have been piloting or deploying wireless VoIP handsets, PDAs, phones and even badges to improve communication. The problem is that the more wireless devices, the more chances of dropped calls and choppy sound, something that iPhone users have been experiencing because of its popularity.
The newest standard in wireless is the 802.11n. Its proponents claim it has real world throughput that's about seven times faster (at 160 Mbps) than the older 802.11g networks, and even at 300 feet and 70 Mbps, it's 70 times faster.
The reason for this fast speed is multiple input/multiple output (MIMO), which requires multiple antennas to send and receive data in simultaneous radio streams.
This is all in theory. In reality, the 802.11 network sometimes operates at just 130Mbps or below. In order for the network to run at full force, you need Wireless N routers and network adapters linked and running in a channel bonding mode, which uses two adjacent WiFi channels simultaneously.
Nothing is perfect. With channel bonding, there is a risk of interference with nearby WiFi networks. By running in traditional single channel mode, the risk is kept low. The network needs to include only 802.11n users, not b or g, or the entire network's performance may suffer, depending on the router. The bottom line is that technology is always changing. The issue is where to prioritize.
Can't wait to get the feedback on the new Atom N470 processor that Intel will release this week. It's supposed to bump up the performance on netbooks slightly to 1.83GHz. Every nanosecond counts today.
The real question is why is it next to impossible to find a netbook with more than 1G of memory? When they first came out, it was easier to find 2G. Windows needs 1G to run. For some, the netbook could be more than just a box with e-mail and Internet capabiilty. My wife used to work in the investment business when Psion (remember them?) had spreadsheet capability. A netbook with enough power to run MS office is perfect for business travelers who need spreadsheets, Word and PowerPoint because it gives them almost everything they need yet is lighter than most laptops. At least the Atom N470 processor is more power efficient and will allow improved system and graphics performance.
