Daily News Archive

Please note that The Daily News is publishing (hopefully) twice a week for the foreseeable future due to time constraints.

Tuesday, May 16th

"Many of the obstacles for change which have been attributed to human nature are in fact due to the inertia of institutions and to the voluntary desire of powerful classes to maintain the existing status.” -- John Dewey

 

The Picks of the Day

Execs tell regulators Sarbanes-Oxley costs exceed benefits

“Executives from companies including General Electric, Lockheed Martin and Emerson Electric spoke about the challenges of complying with the legislation during an all-day roundtable held Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Most participants agreed, two years of SOX compliance have shored up corporate accounting practices — but at a cost that’s lopsided compared with the benefits gained. “

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/051106-sox-costs.html?t5

 

IT Process Improvement

Tripwire Prescriptive Guidance Book – “Operational Excellence:  Linking Your Business, Compliance, Operations and Security”

The book has chapters authored by Paul Reymann, George Spafford, Dan Swanson, Barak Engel and Susan Orr.  The book provides insights into Compliance, Information Security, IT Governance and Operations.  Free copies can be requested from the Tripwire link below.

http://www.tripwire.com/promos/61/cio/index.cfm?djinn=OM20060516-1

 

Webcast:  ITSM: From Theory to Reality

May 23, 2006 at 2pm EST (available on-demand approximately a week afterwards) and the speaker is George Spafford

The goal of this webcast will be to discuss what ITIL really is and the perspectives one must have when determining how to implement it in their organization.

http://www.itsmwatch.com/webcast/article.php/3566741

 

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Panelist: SEC Deserves Failing Grade

“In a particularly scathing critique, Alex Davern, CFO of National Instruments, said he was disappointed with the ‘tremendous amount of polite discussion’ during this year's roundtable. The SEC, he observed, ‘deserves a failing grade for implementation of 404,’ adding that back in 2003, the SEC predicted a per-company implementation cost of ‘about $90,000’ for companies of all sizes.”

http://www.cfocom/article.cfm/6913855?f=alerts

 

Union Lawyer, Mid-cap CFO Clash on 404

“The May 10 Roundtable on second-year experiences with Sarbox 404 compliance ended with a bang, as a representative of organized labor clashed with a CFO arguing the case for small companies. The issue: whether the internal controls requirements should be softened.”

http://www.cfocom/article.cfm/6913846?f=alerts

 

Security and Risk Management

The new face of disaster recovery

“Continuous data protection, wide-area file services and managed backup services help companies get their businesses back online faster amid disaster.”

http://www.networkworld.com/research/2006/050806-disaster-recovery.html?t5

 

Spy Agency Watching Americans From Space

“A little-known spy agency that analyzes imagery taken from the skies has been spending significantly more time watching U.S. soil.  In an era when other intelligence agencies try to hide those operations, the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, is proud of that domestic mission.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1957579&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

 

Newsmaker:  Peter Pietra's mission impossible

“Peter Pietra has what must be an unenviable task: defending the Transportation Security Administration's privacy decisions.”

http://news.com.com/Peter+Pietras+mission+impossible/2008-1028_3-6071902.html?tag=html.alert

 

Human Error / Safety

IBM joins effort to prevent pandemics

“IBM is working with leading health organizations to save lives by learning how to curb the spread of infectious disease.  They will do this by utilizing two projects initiated by IBM.”

http://news.com.com/IBM+joins+effort+to+prevent+pandemics/2100-11393_3-6072041.html?tag=html.alert

[The two projects are:  The Interoperable Healthcare Information Infrastructure (IHII) and The Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeller (STEM)]

 

Outsourcing / Globalization

China says its scientist faked chip research

“China said Friday that a prominent university scientist who had developed one of the nation's first homegrown computer chips had fabricated his research and stolen the technology from a foreign company, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.”

http://news.com.com/China+says+its+scientist+faked+chip+research/2100-1006_3-6071983.html?tag=st_lh

[The reason I included this article because it is yet another example of how China is rapidly evolving.]

 

India will focus on high tech defense to compete with the West and stop scientific and technical brain drain : PM Manmohan Singh

"To stop the flight of scientific talent from the country, Government is contemplating ways of making the working environment in cutting edge departments more attractive, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday.”

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/8742.asp

 

Economics / Business / Misc.

20 people who changed the industry

“Reflecting on two decades of tech development and trying to identify 20 of the most influential players is tough, but we skimmed the cream with the help of longtime industry watchers. The result: a list of technologists, savvy business leaders and forward-looking IT executives who made a difference.”

http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2006/anniversary/032706-20people.html?t5

 

Hitachi stresses chemistry on perpendicular drives

“Hitachi Global Storage Technologies isn't the first company to come out with a perpendicular hard drive, but it claims it has a better chemistry set.”

http://news.com.com/Hitachi+stresses+chemistry+on+perpendicular+drives/2100-1041_3-6071932.html?tag=html.alert

 

Thursday, May 18th

"Many companies expect that after this round of downsizing is over, they will be able to resume their regular management practices. It was these management practices, however, that created the need for downsizing.” -- Ronald L. Heilmann

 

The Picks of the Day

Collaboration gets DOD’s modernization on track

“It isn’t systems modernization that is hard — it is management that is hard. Failed systems modernization is often a symptom of failed management.”

http://www.gcn.com/print/25_12/40704-1.html

[This is a must-read article!  “As technology has evolved, it is very tempting for management in large organizations to launch business systems projects in an effort to avoid management issues—issues with processes, issues with centralization versus decentralization of organizations, any number of issues.”]

 

The Security Implications of Outsourcing

“Concerns about data security and the qualifications of India's 350,000 call-center workers are starting to mount. According to John C. McCarthy, vice president for research at Forrester, some outsourcing providers forgo background checks of employees and even help applicants dress up their resumes.”

http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=10000002KW7O

 

IT Process Improvement

Common Elements of Risk by Christopher Alberts

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/06.reports/06tn014.html

Sustaining Operational Resiliency: A Process Improvement Approach to Security Management by Richard Carall

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/06.reports/06tn009.html

Mission Assurance Analysis Protocol (MAAP): Assessing Risk in Complex Environments by Christopher Alberts and Audrey Dorofee

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/05.reports/05tn032.html

[Thank you for the above report suggestions Julia!]

 

Selling Complex Solutions

“Technology, regardless of its form, isn't purchased solely on features or the perceived value of the seller. It also isn't purchased due to incredible multimedia presentations, smoke and mirrors. Instead, technology is purchased based on the perceived value of the buyer. No matter what the seller does, the value is assigned by the buyer and that fundamental issue must be taken into account. For people selling technology, to internal or external buyers, this realization is key. It isn’t about selling features, it is all about selling a solution that addresses the buyer’s needs.”

http://spaffordconsulting.com/sellingcomplexsolutions.html

 

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Sarbox Rollback Bill Introduced

“Under the bill, a company could choose not to provide controls assessments and have their auditors attest to them if they meet one of five requirements: A total market capitalization under $700 million; total product revenues under $125 million; fewer that 1,500 shareholders; have been a public issuer for less than a year; or has not been required to file an annual report.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/6941534?f=alerts

 

Sarbanes Oxley Compliance at 90% Among US Firms – Survey

“However, while compliance is running at 90%, the survey shows that 80% of US respondents feel the costs of complying to be excessive, with critics labeling SOX ‘a knee jerk reaction to these scandals, and so it is unwieldy, expensive, and hinders the efficient functioning of business.’ Only 20% of US respondents and 27% of European respondents believe SOX is a good law.”

http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/13696.html

 

Security and Risk Management

Is Your Sense of Security...FALSE?

In this issue of the IIA’s Tone from the Top newsletter they discuss the role of COSO Enterprise Risk Management.

http://www.theiia.org/download.cfm?file=85272

 

Technology Disaster Recovery Firms Gear Up For Hurricane Season

“Technology firms are capitalizing on the federal government's slow response during last year’s hurricane season. CapRock Communications, a leading global satellite communications provider, is significantly expanding its disaster recovery product line for 2006.”

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003593543

 

FBI Special Agent Recounts Outsourcing Horror Story

“Day, who has worked in computer crime for 8 years and calls herself ‘a geek with a gun,’ told attendees at last week's CIO Forum that their companies need to do serious research about the laws of any country to which they outsource work.”

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/051606-fbi-outsourcing-horror.html

 

Ways Google is shaking the security world

“CSOs and CISOs have a different reason to think carefully about Google and the implications of having so much information online, instantly accessible by almost anyone. Although these issues relate to all search engine companies, Google gets most of the attention­ -- not only because of its huge share of the Web search market but because of its unabashed ambitions to catalog everything from images and libraries to Earth, the moon and Mars.”

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9000540&source=NLT_SEC&nlid=38

 

Human Error / Safety

EU countries urged to appoint bird flu "czars"

“EU governments should each appoint a ‘bird flu czar’ to make sure they could cope with a flu pandemic and put preparations on a par with countries like the United States, a top EU official said on Tuesday.”

http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-05-16T160001Z_01_L16747439_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-CZARS.xml

 

Outsourcing / Globalization

For Students With 'Learnability,' A Future In IT Via India

“The fast-growing company, which doubled its revenue from $1 billion to just more than $2 billion since 2004, hailed the American talent search as a 'very important landmark' in its 15-year history. The company's chairman and chief mentor, N.R. Narayana, called it 'the first global recruiting initiative of its size to bring foreign talent into India' and essential to Infosys' ambition to build a global business, with a workforce as diverse as its client roster.”

http://searchcio.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci1188793,00.html?track=NL-48&ad=545111USCA

 

Middlesourcing: Leapfrog the Outsourcing Value Chain

“Middlesourcing is a term that helps to illustrate how firms in Singapore and SE Asia can benefit from the technology waves in China and India, and create a new niche area for business. As a regional hub (with similar time zones with that of India and China) with a wired-up populace and strong e-government infrastructure, Singapore can leverage its position as a middleman and become specialists in managing outsourcing relationships that have started in India and China.”

http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,34,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html

 

Infosys plans to set up campus in Shanghai

“Infosys will set up a campus near Shanghai in China. Mohandas Pai, head, human resources, told newspersons here today that the Chinese government had offered Infosys land and the company was considering the proposal.  The company today has around 500 employees in China but is planning to have around 10,000 in about four years.”

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=91425&leftnm=8&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

 

Economics / Business / Misc.

HP Repatriates Data Centers, Saves $1B

“Hewlett-Packard announced plans to consolidate its 85 data centers worldwide into six large centers located in three U.S. cities.  The world's second-largest computer maker estimates that this consolidation will reduce its spending on information technology by roughly $1 billion.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/6941449?f=alerts

 

Facing The Digital Music

“Warner's Edgar Bronfman talks about what's ahead for the music industry”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_21/b3985088.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn

 

It Feels Like 1998 All Over Again

“Signs of a new bubble in Silicon Valley are rising, but whether that's cause for concern is a matter of fierce debate”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_21/b3985051.htm?chan=tc?campaign_id=rss_tech