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The News - January 18, 2009
The News has a new section! Kurt Milne will be contributing articles/research he has read and his thoughts. Be sure to check out “Kurt’s Corner”.
"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.” – Dale Carnegie
"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” – Unknown
Top Picks
Ask the 'dumb' questions
“Each semester, I introduce my students to a key idea: I want them to join me in the fight against the fear of looking dumb. Overcoming that fear can save them from serious traps.”
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/01/ask-the-dumb-qu.html
[Great commentary! How often do we run into problems because our fear of looking “stupid” caused us not to ask basic questions?]
Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months
“A new study from the National Academy of Sciences outlines grim possibilities on Earth for a worst-case scenario solar storm. Damage to power grids and other communications systems could be catastrophic, the scientists conclude, with effects leading to a potential loss of governmental control of the situation.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,478024,00.html
2009 CERT ® Technical Symposium: Security Challenges in an Evolving World - A Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of CERT
“Participate in the dialog to identify future challenges and promising solutions in providing a safe and secure networked computing capability for the nation and the world. Join us for the 2009 CERT Technical Symposium: Security Challenges in an Evolving World, March 10-11, 2009, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Marking the occasion of CERT’s Twentieth Anniversary, this two-day symposium will bring together leaders in cybersecurity to examine the future challenges we face in securing information and processes as vulnerabilities change, new computing models emerge, and threats evolve.”
http://www.cert.org/technicalsymposium/
The Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) Business Governance System: Understanding its Framework, Benefits, and Why it is more than just TQM, Lean Six Sigma, TOC, etc.
“An Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) addresses these issues and more. IEE is described below with its benefits and how to convey this methodology and to others. The IEE 21st century governance system, which has a 9-step detailed execution roadmap, may initially sound like a re-packaging of Total Quality Management (TQM), Lean Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints (TOC), Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, the balanced scorecard, and/or other methodologies. However, it is not.”
http://www.smartersolutions.com/blog/forrestbreyfogle/?p=650
http://www.smartersolutions.com/blog/forrestbreyfogle/?p=694
Book and Product Recommendations
Governance of Green IT
I sent a copy of the new Green IT process book to James Hamilton at Amazon. He was kind enough to review the book and sent me a quote I can use - “George Spafford's Governance of Green IT is a concise and easy to read summary of the key processes required to operate a resource efficient data center.” For those of you who do not know James, he is a data center guru and for him to say that about the new book means a great deal to me. James was responsible for a lot of the industry-leading data center design work coming out of Microsoft and recently moved to Amazon’s web services group and is now a VP and Distinguished engineer there. He has a blog where he posts his thoughts at: http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRss
For more information on the Governance of Green IT book or to order it, please visit: http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/products/2106
For a free high-level introduction to the Green IT process, please visit: http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/webinars.html and view the December 2, 2008, webinar
There is also a PowerPoint of that webinar at: http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/Governing%20IT%20in%20a%20Green%20World_120208_v1j.ppt
IT Audit / Internal Audit / Compliance
United States: The Move Toward Mandatory Encryption of Sensitive Personal Information
“The security breach notification laws encourage an increased level of security for sensitive personal information to combat identity theft. By not requiring notification of affected individuals following a security breach if sensitive personal information is encrypted, the laws encourage businesses to encrypt data—thus avoiding the hassle and cost of complying with the increasing number of security breach notification laws.”
http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=72468&rss=8&login=true
John Taylor’s Blog on Identity Theft and Business
Interesting post and he also quotes some info on the January 15 th enactment of the state of Massachusett’s new data security regulations. “The Massachusetts Data Security Regulations are perhaps like no other in terms of their depth and scope. During a teleconference, attorneys from the privacy and data security practice of the law firm Goodwin Procter (Boston) described this very detailed, all-encompassing set of rules designed to keep consumers' personal data safe.”
http://jtidtheftblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/compliance.html
Codes of Conduct: Trust but Verify
“The private military industry, like any other, has codes of conduct. They generally aim to obligate private military firms to comply with human-rights principles and international humanitarian law. Many individual private military and security contractors also have their own codes. Such codes have been pushed particularly hard by their trade associations.”
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9894
Planning ahead will help make IT audits painless
“Tight money, increased government regulation and heightened turmoil in many industries mean IT audits will be on the increase. The end of the year is a good time to prepare for the tough questions that lie ahead.”
http://www.indusbusinessjournal.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=A7B9B019F4ED4F3196FF6518665AB133
IT Process Improvement / Quality Management
Symantec Issues Data Center Study
“The study revealed that data center managers are conflicted by more demanding user expectations and higher levels of performance, while ultimately challenged by their primary objective of reducing costs. The results of Symantec's second annual State of the Data Center report is based on a survey conducted in September and October 2008 by Applied Research, which surveyed 1,600 data center managers in Global 5000 and large public sector institutions located in 21 countries.”
http://thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/011309_Symantec_Issues_Data_Center_Study
How to capitalize on green-IT computing
“Old notion: Green computing is expensive and low-yield. New order: Green offers easy ways to save cash.”
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=330369
Managing e-Waste requires planning
“Proper management of IT hardware not only boosts a company’s ecological and environmental sustainability, it can also contribute to achieving goals on the social front through e-Waste management with zero-impact on the environment says Akhtar Pasha”
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20090119/greenit03.shtml
How to Benchmark Data Center Energy Costs
“Despite the potential for savings, however, most IT departments have not rushed to benchmark data center energy efficiency, primarily because there's no incentive to measure it, says Forrester analyst Doug Washburn. He notes that only 11 percent of IT organizations are responsible for paying their energy-related operating costs (the power bill typically goes to the facilities group).”
http://www.itworld.com/green-it/60542/how-benchmark-data-center-energy-costs
Kurt’s Corner
News and views from Kurt Milne, the managing director of the ITPI. He can be reached at: kurt.milne@itpi.org
Stability is dead. Long live stability. **
Maintaining control of a dynamic environment may be the defining IT challenge of the decade. Kurt’s corner articles will focus on identifying emerging best practices that help close the gap between operations frameworks based on stability, and the emerging paradigm of dynamic virtualization and cloud computing. **Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!
Has “server as fuse” finally arrived?
In case you didn’t see Gartner Group's top 10 technologies for '09 – drum roll… #1) Virtualization #2) Cloud Computing. Don’t stop there. #3) Servers Beyond Blades -- is about hardware becoming more dynamic. “IT professionals who understand that “wasting” servers… will have an advantage over previous approaches which scripted, sculpted, and nurtured servers to maximize the return and life of a single computing device (the physical server).”
http://vmblog.com/archive/2008/12/10/2009-in-virtualization-and-cloud-computing-the-year-of-the-virtualization-professional.aspx
Are sold-out co-location datacenters an indicator of cloud demand?
IT co-location is the provision of space, bandwidth, and power in a data center, with the customer being required to provide and manage the computing hardware. Co-location providers are sold out and building more facilities.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Data-Storage/Why-IT-Colocation-Centers-Will-See-Boom-in-2009-Despite-the-Macroeconomy/?kc=EWKNLHCR12312008STR1
On the other hand, cogent analysis from someone who “doesn’t get it”.
”At one level, I totally get the Could Computing concept. It is sexy as hell. But, as a user, I could not immediately think about any process running that I would want to throw out onto a cloud, so I started with the stuff I knew I could never let leave the building.”
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid80_gci1343864,00.html
Security and Risk Management
NIST announces that draft Special Publication (SP) 800-122, Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), is now available for public comment.
SP 800-122 is intended to assist Federal organizations in identifying PII and determining what level of protection each instance of PII requires, based on the potential impact of a breach of the PII's confidentiality. The publication also suggests safeguards that may offer appropriate protection for PII and makes recommendations regarding PII data breach handling. NIST requests comments on draft SP 800-122 by March 13, 2009. Please submit comments to 800-122comments@nist.gov with "Comments SP 800-122" in the subject line.”
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#800-122
NIST Interagency Report (IR) 7497, Draft Security Architecture Design Process for Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)
“[This] is intended to provide a systematic approach to designing a technical security architecture for the exchange of health information that leverages common government and commercial practices and that applies them specifically to the HIE domain. This publication assists organizations in ensuring that data protection is adequately addressed throughout the system development life cycle, and that these data protection mechanisms are applied when the organization develops technologies that enable the exchange of health information. Please submit your comments to draft-nistir7497-comments@nist.gov. The comment period for draft NIST IR 7497 closes on Friday March 13, 2009.”
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#nistir-7497
INFOCON Mailing List - Daily News on Cybersecurity & Homeland Security Issues
The information warfare mailing list is back up and running after a brief hiatus. Mr. Naef shares information daily and I find the list very informative.
http://www.iwar.org.uk/general/mailinglist.htm
Obama plans to keep his BlackBerry
“Obama did not tell CNN how he would overcome the major hurdles to keeping his BlackBerry, including the requirement to keep a record of every White House communication. The major concern about using a BlackBerry as president stems mostly from using it for outbound e-mail, several analysts have told Computerworld.”
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9126258&source=rss_topic17
Healthcare / Bio-Informatics / Care Delivery Organizations (CDOs)
Microsoft: Don't just throw money at health care
“In stark contrast to the many businesses beating a path to Washington to beg for money, Microsoft is urging caution as the government looks to spend billions on digitizing health care. Peter Neupert, the former Drugstore.com CEO, who now heads Microsoft's health care unit, said investment is a ‘necessary, but not sufficient’ condition for improvement and said that spending money on computer technology may not even be the right first step.”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10142627-75.html
[Great perspective from Peter Neupert of MS and he’s right. Spending money isn’t the goal – improving healthcare is.]
Prospect of big bucks for health IT draws cheers from many
“In a series of press conferences and similar events in Washington today, business leaders, the informatics community, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease and others expressed enthusiasm for the inclusion of billions of dollars for health IT in the forthcoming economic recovery bill.”
http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/01/14/prospect-of-big-bucks-for-health-it-draws-cheers-from-many.aspx
[Interesting but you’ll view it in a different light if you read the comments from Neupert above first.]
Simple Checklist Makes Surgery Safer
“A checklist for surgical teams that includes steps as basic as having the doctors and nurses introduce themselves can significantly lower the number of deaths and complications, researchers reported Wednesday.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/health/20surgery.html?ref=health
Human Error / Safety / Environment
Biologist: Birds competing for airspace with planes
“Populations of large birds have increased dramatically since the 1970s, when environmental regulations were instituted in the United States. Birds have become more accustomed to living in urban environments near airports and the number of airline flights has risen sharply, according to Dolbeer.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/15/dolbeer.birdstrikes/index.html?eref=rss_tech
Black Boxes in Hand, Full Story Emerges
“Investigators looking into the emergency water landing of US Airways 1549 raised the wreckage from the icy Hudson River late Saturday, capping a dramatic and elaborately planned recovery effort.”
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6675047&page=1
More peanut butter products recalled
“The company that sells Little Debbie snacks announced a recall Sunday of peanut butter crackers because of a potential link to a deadly salmonella outbreak. The voluntary recall came one day after the government advised consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods with peanut butter until health officials learn more about the contamination.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28695782/
Global News / Business / Economics
China becomes world's third largest economy
“China has overtaken Germany to become the world's third-largest economy earlier than expected, after estimates for the country's gross domestic product were revised higher. The National Bureau of Statistics of China reported this morning it now believes the Chinese economy grew by 13% in 2007, up from an earlier estimate of 11.9% and China's highest annual growth rate since 1993.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/14/china-world-economic-growth
Why Innovation Could Not Save Nortel
“Analysts and innovation consultants alike say promises and buzzwords could not save the troubled equipment maker from sagging demand for phone gear and a crippling $4.5 billion debt load. Efforts to create new products and business either came too late or, worse, were far off-base."
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2009/id20090114_754937.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
It's the Global economy, stupid!
“Tomorrow, Barack Obama takes over as the 44th President of the United States of America, the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office. The eyes of the world will be on him, not only because he symbolises the great American dream but also because it looks to the US to lead the world out of the present economic morass. Will its hopes be realised, or belied?”
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Its_the_Global_economy_stupid/articleshow/3998679.cms
US News / Business / Economics
Recession? Not for These Businesses
“While the U.S. recession is largely a story of bank failures, job losses, and consumer penny-pinching, the downturn is also stimulating sections of the economy that run counter to such economic cycles. People look to repair, not replace. Workers switch industries, seeking recession havens where possible such as health care and education.”
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jan2009/db20090116_786365.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
Rethinking IT
This is an interesting article by Ken Brill of Uptime. His commentary is on the shift from batch transactions to on-line real-time transactions and what that has meant to the cost structure of IT and impacts to productivity.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2009/01/13/cio-rethink-it-tech-cio-cx_kb_0114rethinkit.html?feed=rss_technology
Obama to push bankers to resume lending
“President-elect Barack Obama will push bankers to resume lending to businesses and consumers to help put the ailing economy back on track, but things will get worse before they get better, his top aides said Sunday.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/18/AR2009011801203.html
PG&E’s Savings by Design
“SAVINGS BY DESIGN is a program to encourage high-performance nonresidential building design and construction. Sponsored by four of California's largest utilities under the auspices of the Public Utilities Commission, Savings By Design offers building owners and their design team a wide range of services:
* Design Assistance provides information and analysis tailored to the needs of your project to help you design the most efficient building possible.
* Owner Incentives help offset the costs of energy-efficient buildings.
* Design Team Incentives reward designers who meet ambitious energy efficiency targets.”
http://www.savingsbydesign.com/index.htm
Technology & Science
Green-minded Google Gets Red-faced Over Search Energy Consumption Claims
“So much for clean, green IT and green computing for Google Web services. Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that Google uses a lot of energy. Specifically, two Google searches on a computer can generate almost the same amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide) as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea. When you consider the millions of Google searches users do daily, that's a lot of boiled water. Google proceeds to throw cold water on the metrics.”
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Greenminded-Google-Gets-Redfaced-Over-Search-Energy-Consumption-Claims/
Amazon’s Digital Text Platform
This reviews how to get started publishing for Amazon’s Kindle
https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin
The Quick Start guide is at: http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=113&categoryID=2
Methane discovery could mean life on Mars
“The methane could have come from past or present subsurface microorganisms, geological activity or comets striking the planet, scientists and NASA officials said. Scientists were not sure how long the methane has been on the planet.“
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/01/15/mars.methane/index.html?eref=rss_tech
Complaints flood Seagate over hard drive problems
“Seagate Technologies' online support forum has been riddled this week with complaints from owners of the high-capacity Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive, which in recent months had already drawn some complaints that the drive has been freezing up during data transfers or failing all together.”
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9126280&source=rss_news
$16B Bank Goes Off The Grid With Hydrogen Fuel Cells
“A search on "hydrogen fuel cells" turns up a blend of results, including some puzzlers (e.g., from Sept. 2007, a hydrogen fuel cell bicycle). But add the words "data center" to the search and you'll find that $16 billion First National Bank of Omaha and its data center are in their tenth year of being completely powered by hydrogen fuel cells and are -- literally -- off the grid.”
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/01/16b_bank_goes_o.html
InformationWeek Analytics: An Inconvenient Data Center
“Wild price swings in the energy market and Al Gore have likely raised the green concept to your CEO's desk. This InformationWeek Analytics Report provides a high-level overview of the state of green IT initiatives to help you assess your current footprint and the options available.”
http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212900868&subSection=All+Stories
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