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IBM z/OS, IBM AIX, Debian and Ubuntu Score Highest Security Ratings

Eight out of 10 — 82% — of the over 600 respondents to ITIC’s 2014-2015 Global Server Hardware and Server OS Reliability survey say security issues negatively impact overall server, operating system and network reliability. Of that figure a 53% majority of those polled say that security vulnerabilities and hacks have a “moderate,” “significant” or “crucial impact on network availability and uptime (See Exhibit 1).

Overall, the latest ITIC survey results showed that organizations are still more reactive than proactive regarding security threats. Some 15% of the over 600 global corporate respondents are extremely lax: some seven percent said that security issues have no impact on their environment while another eight percent indicated that they don’t keep track of whether or not security issues negatively affect the uptime and availability of their networks. In contrast, 24% of survey participants or one-in-four said security has a “significant” or “crucial” negative impact on network reliability and performance.

Still, despite the well documented and high profile hacks into companies like Target, eBay, Google and other big name vendors this year, the survey found that seven-out-of-10 firms – 70% – are generally confident in the security of their hardware, software and applications – until they get hacked. …

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Facebook IPO Flops; Can it be Fixed?

The honeymoon is over for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. In fact, it ended before it began.

Facebook’s long-awaited and much hyped IPO is less than a week old and the blame game is on as the company has lost nearly 20% of its value since the initial offering.

After three days of trading Wall Street’s take on Facebook has gone from jubilant to jaundiced.

The stock ended its first full day of trading at $38.23 – essentially flat from its $38 opening price though it did manage to set an IPO record for the sheer volume of trades — 567 million shares on opening day last Friday. Investors hoped for a turnaround. That never materialized. On Monday, a selloff prompted the shares to fall by nearly 11%, ending at $34.03. The news worsened Tuesday. The stock sank another eight percent down trading in the $31 – $32 range. …

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Security Wars: Time to Use Continuous Monitoring Tools to Thwart Hackers

It’s time for corporations to wise up and use the latest, most effective weapons to safeguard and secure their data.

High tech devices, software applications, Emails, user accounts, social media and networks – even those presumed safe — are being hacked with alarming alacrity and ease.

Security tools, encryption and updating your networks with the latest patches are certainly necessary, but they are not enough. Corporations must arm themselves with the latest security tools and devices in order to effectively combat the new breed of malware, malicious code and ever more proficient hackers. I’m referring to the new breed of continuous monitoring tools that identify, detect and shut down vulnerabilities before hackers can find and exploit them. …

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2011 in High Tech YTD Part 3: Cisco Pulls Plug on Flip, Focuses on Core Competencies

Cisco Pulls the Plug on Flip

Following two consecutive fiscal quarters, Cisco Systems shocked the industry three weeks ago with the news that it will cease to manufacture its popular Flip video camera and will lay off the division’s 550 workers, substantially reducing its consumer businesses.

Also within the past two weeks, Cisco unveiled a voluntary retirement program aimed at workers 50 years old whose age plus tenure at the company equals 60; these workers have from May 10 through June 24 to opt in. This is the first time in two years that Cisco instituted such a cost cutting policy.

Cisco recently hired Gary Moore as Chief Operating Officer to fine tune its re-focused initiatives. …

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2011 in High Tech YTD Part 2: Management Shakeups at Google, HP, Microsoft etc.

Revolving Door

In contrast to Apple’s stunning success, the first calendar quarter of 2011 was a revolving door for other Silicon Valley companies and executives. There were management shifts, shakeups and ousters at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Google, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Microsoft. They were variously aimed at jumpstarting product momentum (AMD, Microsoft), polishing a tarnished image and placating stockholders (HP) and providing an orderly transition of power (Google).

You need a scorecard to keep up with all the comings and goings.

AMD’s board ousted chief executive Dirk Meyer in mid-January after only 18 months on the job. It then appointed Senior Vice President and CFO Thomas Seifert, as interim CEO while the search goes on for a permanent chief executive. Siefert continues as chief financial officer and says he does not want to be considered for the permanent CEO position. This is probably a smart move. AMD’s flamboyant co-founder Jerry Sanders spent 33 years as CEO (1969 to 2002), but everyone who’s followed has had a short tenure. …

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2011 YTD in High Tech: Bold Aggressive Actions

It’s hard to believe but the first quarter of 2011 is now a memory and we’re well into spring. The tone for the year in high technology was set in early January: fast, bold, aggressive action and sweeping management changes.

In the first four months of the year high tech vendors moved quickly and decisively to seize opportunities in established sectors (smart phones, virtualization, back-up and disaster recovery) and emerging markets (cloud computing, tablet devices and unified storage management). As 2011 unfolds, it’s apparent that high technology vendors are willing to shift strategies and shed executives in order to stay one step ahead of or keep pace with competitors. The competition is cutthroat and unrelenting. No vendor, no matter how dominant its market share, how pristine its balance sheet or how deep its order backlog and book to bill ratio dares relax or rest on its laurels for even a nanosecond.

Recaps of some of the year’s highlights thus far are very revealing. …

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ITIC 2011 Reliability Shows that Dell, HP, IBM & Stratus Score High Marks for Service & Support

Dell, HP, IBM and Stratus Technologies won high praise from corporate users for their prompt and efficient after market technical service and support in the latest ITIC 2010-2011 Global Server Hardware and Server OS Reliability survey.

The results came from a broad based survey that polled organizations worldwide on the reliability, security and technical service and support from among 14 of the leading server hardware platforms and 18 of the most widely deployed server operating system distributions.

As we said in an earlier discussion, each poll elicits some surprising and unexpected revelations. In this survey, users reserved their highest encomiums and most critical barbs for the server hardware vendors – both in terms of product performance and reliability and the service and support they receive from their respective vendors. …

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iPad2 Smashes Sales Records

It’s thinner. It’s faster. It’s here. It’s… Sold Out.

The “It” is the iPad2.

And with about 600,000 iPad2 units sold in the first three days of shipment – roughly twice as fast as the original – the iPad can now officially take its place in the pantheon of celebrated phenomena alongside the hula hoop, the Rubik cube, Elvis, Marilyn, Beatlemania, Bieber Fever et al.

Faster than you can say “I gotta have it” Apple’s iPad2 flew off the shelves on Friday and Saturday, dashing any notion (as well as the hopes of more than a few competitors) that the device and the public’s appetite for it has waned in the past year.

The iPad2 was out of stock at every one of the over three dozen Apple Retail stores that I phoned over the last 72 hours. The phone lines were jammed and I spent about five to 10 minutes typical in the busiest locations. …

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The Patent Game: Everybody’s Playing, You Snooze, You Lose

“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.”

— Nikola Tesla

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla have a lot in common with Apple, Google, HTC, and Motorola & Research in Motion.

They were/are all warriors in the ongoing war to see who can amass the largest number of the most lucrative technology patents. Edison and Tesla waged their battle from the late 1860s through the 1920s and the stakes were just as high then as they are now.

Nary has a week gone by without mention of the latest contretemps among the high tech industry titans. There’s been no cessation of hostilities during the holiday season. If anything, top tier companies have become even more aggressive about solidifying and extending their dominance in and out of their core competencies as 2010 comes to a close. …

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As Ellison Rips Rivals, Oracle Services Slip, Support Prices Soar

Memo to Larry Ellison: The Roman Coliseum halted gladiator combats around 435 A.D. SAP has thrown in the towel and has no interest in continuing a court battle. Hewlett-Packard executives are refusing to accept service on your lawsuits and HP’s newly named chief executive Leo Apotheker is laying low, presumably dodging your increasingly vituperative verbal assaults. You’ve got no takers for the bloody, bare knuckles brawl you crave. What does that tell you?

It should signal an end to the Circus Maximus sideshow but it won’t.

No one desires this much attention or sticks their chin out spoiling for a fight like Ellison. And in an industry like high tech that’s overflowing with giant egos, that’s saying something. It’s true that Ellison’s antics always make for reams and reams of good copy. Reporters calling for comments on the latest developments don’t even bother to suppress their mirth. Enough is enough, though. The Larry Ellison Show would be more amusing if corporate customers weren’t getting caught in the crossfire. …

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