Links List 12.04.09

December 4th, 2009 by Valerie Barber

Cisco today announced that it has secured 91.1% of Tandberg stock, allowing it to proceed with its $3.4 billion acquisition. Cisco’s initial offer of $3 billion on October 1, 2009, was raised to $3.4 billion and extended three times between Nov. 9 and Dec. 3. More telepresence!

While we’re talking money, IDC reports that global IT spending will increase by 3.2% in 2010 – the pre-recession level of $1.5 trillion in 2008. IDC predicts that half of the growth will come from emerging markets and that the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will account for the majority of that growth.

“High tech should lead us out of the Great Recession in 2010.”

Frank Gens, chief analyst at IDC

The city of Los Angeles’ customized their government cloud computing contract to meet their SLAs rather than the boiler-plate terms that are typically written in favor of the provider. “The government is probably going to look for agreements that are very much like this one going forward,” said David Linthicum, a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Here’s what they got:

• Bulletproof data security
• Business-class performance
• Auditing rights
• Strong remediation options
• Freedom to move

While many companies are reducing or deferring IT security budgets, the NSA reports that most cyber attacks can be prevented by three basic principles: best practices, proper configuration and network monitoring. 

“There are common steps that people could take to bolster computer security and make it more difficult for would-be-hackers to gain access.”

Richard Schaeffer, NSA information assurance director

The Internet Security Alliance proposes economic incentives to improve cyber security, which they feel is not a technical issue, but an economic issue. Their suggestions include grants, loans and stimulus dollars for industry that adopt approved cybersecurity standards and practices, increasing the importance of security in contract awards and tax incentives for compliance.

According to Gartner, data center managers will face greater challenges around energy, space and technology problems in 2010.

“Energy costs are the fastest-rising cost element in the data center portfolio, and yet data center managers are still not paying sufficient attention to the process of measuring, monitoring and modeling energy use in data centers. …removing a single x86 server from a data center will result in savings of more than $400 a year in energy costs alone.”

Rakesh Kumar, Gartner

Cost cutting tips include:

• Rationalize hardware
• Consolidate data center sites
• Manage energy and facilities cost
• Manage people costs
• Avoid needless procurement of new assets

In addition to the ubiquitous end-of-the-year lists, we’ll be treated to numerous end-of-the-decade lists. My how time flies when you’re having fun! I’ll share one each week (interesting or downright funny to me) but feel free to submit any good ones you come across in your readings.

Top five business technologies of the ‘00s

1. Linux
2. XML
3. Server virtualization
4. Rich Internet applications
5. Storage area networking

Popularity: 1% [?]

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