Stories by Tom Kaneshige

Three Rules for Managing PC Power Usage

Nearly a third of tech's power usage comes from PCs and peripherals, according to a new Gartner report. How can companies stem this power flow? CIOs can follow a few simple rules for saving energy and reducing costs. For starters, they need to avoid falling for some of the power-saving myths swirling around PCs.<br/>

Desktop Virtualization and Licensing: IT Wary of Gotchas

CIO Roxanne Reynolds-Lair of The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising wanted to bring both Macs and Windows to her college's students, administrative employees and teachers. She bought a MacBook Pro and tested new-fangled desktop virtualization software that allows her to run both Windows and OS X on a single machine.

Crisis for tech workers: Life after layoffs?

Signs everywhere point to the plight of the laid-off tech worker. Tech consultancy BearingPoint files for bankruptcy. Hewlett-Packard's profits plummet. Silicon Valley employment falls for the first time in several years. With daily layoffs and few new jobs available, techies have seen their careers careening off track -- and now they need to reinvent themselves or get off the tech train altogether.

IT learns to do less with less, Gartner survey says

Forget "doing more with less" -- that's the IT mantra of yesteryear. Now IT departments are making better use of their resources, and though they're not necessarily doing more things, they are going about their tasks differently, according to findings from a Gartner survey released today. "They're working smarter, not harder," says analyst Mark McDonald.

The tricky math of server virtualization ROI

Server virtualization is supposed to save buckets of cash, largely from server reduction. After all, consolidating some 20 physical servers to three host servers means less hardware, power and cooling, and management overhead.

Hot tech certifications in a cool job market

If the doomsayers prove right, throngs of laid-off tech workers will soon be competing for only a handful of available jobs. Technical certifications, once thought to be the ticket to higher pay and more prestige, may be needed to simply avoid the unemployment line. The trick is to get the ones that will really help keep or land that job, since it turns out many certifications won't be all that useful.

A future without programming

A few years ago, self-proclaimed non-developer Kevin Smith worked for a software company that tried to build a project tracking tool using Microsoft .Net. Some 15 developers spent a year with little success. "After burning though a million dollars and still without a product, the company called it quits," says Smith, now managing partner of NextWave Performance, a consultancy in Denver, Colo.

Tech workers: Ready to be a free agent?

In these uncertain times, who isn't worried about job security? There are ominous signs aplenty: tech projects put on the chopping block, layoffs looming, and spotty full-time hiring opportunities on job boards. It's good to have a backup plan in case you're let go, and one plan is to prepare yourself to be a free agent.

So, CTO, who's your Sarah Palin or Joe Biden?

Even in the nuts-and-bolts world of tech execs, choosing a right-hand man (or woman, of course) can be as politically challenging as anything going on in the halls of Washington, D.C.

Will your IT job survive the financial meltdown?

Fearful tech workers tiptoeing along the shaky alleys of Wall Street -- and fretting about losing their jobs -- should take a deep breath. Of the more than 100,000 job losses expected as a direct result of the financial crisis, only a tiny slice will likely be from the tech ranks, figures Sean O'Dowd, an analyst at market researcher Financial Insights.

The devilish details of desktop virtualization

Faced with a massive PC refresh at a price tag of US$1.8 million, Jack Wilson instead rolled the dice on virtual desktops three years ago. The enterprise architect at Amerisure Insurance didn't just dabble in the nascent technology, he enacted a sweeping change, replacing all 800 PCs with Wyse thin clients and a server infrastructure that hosts 800 Windows workspaces -- a feat that took eight months and, critically, struck at the heart of worker productivity in a services-dependent industry.

Beware open-source violations lurking in your code

IT organizations that feel safe from open source licensing violations might be wise to check their code, as open source components are rapidly seeping into applications by way of offshore and in-house developers taking open source shortcuts, as well as a growing population of open source-savvy grads entering the workforce.

Social networking hype 2.0

Clever social networking-related startups with obscure taglines -- including Causecast ("Change your world, and the world will change"), Qik ("See what happens"), and Joongel ("Internet the easy way -- we have chocolate") -- line the showroom of TechCrunch50 in San Francisco. If you want to find out what these companies do, you'll have to ask the one of the beautiful people manning the tables.

Securing the enterprise beyond the perimeter

Trying to secure laptops, cell phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices today is "terrifying," says Christopher Paidhrin, IT security and HIPAA compliance officer at Southwest Washington Medical Center. "End-point security is scarily immature."

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