The News - March 29, 2009

 "It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.” – Martin Van Buren

Top Picks

ITIL Certified Products are Not a Magic Bullet–More Likely They are Just a Bullet
Michael Lohr of Tripwire has some great perspectives to share on the lack of value around the recent announcement that there would be ITIL certified tools.  The tools haven’t caused 99% of the train wreck ITIL projects I have seen.

http://www.tripwire.com/blog/?p=281

Leaders stress need for G20 unity
“Key politicians from around the world have underlined the need for unity in addressing the world economic crisis when leaders meet at the G20 summit.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7970660.stm

IT Audit / Internal Audit / Compliance / Ethics

Trying to Limit Disclosure on Explosion
Bayer is trying to limit discussion of an explosion and threats by invoking a maritime safety law since they have a dock on a canal.  The invocation of the law to avoid public discussion around a sensitive, if not deadly, issue doesn’t seem right.  Take a moment and read the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/us/29chemical.html?ref=earth

Geithner: The Regulatory War Ahead
“The Treasury Secretary promised specifics in coming weeks, including separate proposals addressing consumer protection, gaps in U.S. regulation, and ways to coordinate regulatory reform with other countries.”
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2009/db20090326_230079.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_policy+%2Bamp%3B+government

IT Process Improvement / Quality Management

Defending ITIL’s Value

“We should be able to read about all sorts of success stories with metrics yet most articles are about promise, theory, and application. Why is this? Why aren’t there more reports of success and why are both IT and business leaders starting to become jaded when it comes to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)? Part of the problem is in how ITIL is viewed and how it is implemented.  ITIL isn’t simply about a collection of processes listed in books. It’s about IT service management (ITSM) and the belief that IT must deliver services to the business that meet requirements. In a sense, IT is playing catch-up with manufacturing. Following WWII, the Japanese were quick to embrace quality management led by the likes of Deming and Ishikawa. In the 1980s, U.S. manufacturing realized they needed to fundamentally change how they conducted business in order to compete with the Japanese. Now, it is IT's turn. This means that not only IT but the business also must change how IT is wielded in order to successfully enable IT’s mission of value creation and protection.”
http://www.itsmwatch.com/itil/article.php/3811476

With economy in crisis, IBM SOA strategist Carter sees business processes under scrutiny
“Business processes in organization are under new scrutiny in the midst of the ongoing world economic recession, IBM's Sandy Carter, VP for SOA and WebSphere Strategy, this week told an audience at a meeting of the SOA Consortium in Washington, D.C. Some of that process scrutiny could lead to greater energy savings in IT and other parts of companies, she suggested.  Companies are beginning to look more closely at what they define as 'cost,' Carter indicated.”
http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid26_gci1351951,00.html

Kurt’s Corner

News and views from Kurt Milne, the managing director of the ITPI.  He can be reached at: kurt.milne@itpi.org.

Clouds SLAs – dialing in SLAs
One of the potential inhibitors of cloud computing is dialing in appropriate Service Level Agreements with vendors.  Here are some interesting “digging” around outage SLAs at three current vendors.
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cloud-computing/?asrc=TAB_searchServerVirtualization

Microsoft weighs in on internal vs. external cloud debate
If you are gazing at the sky watching the cloud change shape – there is now a good chance that the cloud will be shaped like an “M”.   Microsoft suggests their Azure platform will only be used to plug into Microsoft hosted computing resources.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216300168&cid=nl_IWK_daily_H

Ready, Fire, Aim – sometimes you have to circle back to get ITSM right
I can’t vouch for the author’s credibility (just kidding George!) – but this article about re-energizing a stuck ITMS project is worth a read.  Soft issues related to ITSM projects are worth keeping in mind if you want to achieve goals.
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid80_gci1351147_mem1,00.html?ShortReg=1&mboxConv=searchDataCenter_RegActivate_Submit&
[Thanks Kurt … I think J]

Data Centers / Cloud Computing / Green IT

Iowa governor trolling for Microsoft facility
“Iowa Gov. Chet Culver will travel to Redmond, Wash., next week to try to shake loose money for a Microsoft data center planned near Iowa's capital city.  Microsoft announced in August that the $500 million data center was to be built in West Des Moines, Iowa. But a significant economic downturn followed, and in January, Microsoft cut 5,000 jobs and postponed the project.”
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/404392_msft28.html

How Google Routes Around Outages
“Google doesn’t discuss operations of specific data centers. But Holzle, the company’s Senior Vice President of Operations and a Google Fellow, provided an overview of how Google has engineered its system to manage hardware failures and software bugs. Here’s our Q-and-A.”
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/03/25/how-google-routes-around-outages/

Security and Risk Management

FBI: Hackers Extorted Money From Hundreds Of Teens
“Two of these hackers have been arrested for spying on children between the ages of 14 and 17 using the child's personal Web cam”
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/3/27/fbi_hackers_used_stolen_images_to_extort_money_from_teens.html?refresh=1

Expert cites "major problem" with security policy compliance
“The independent security consultant said too many organizations have security policies on paper only and don't really have the systems in place to ensure compliance. He reached back to the demise of Arthur Andersen and financial troubles at Cooper Tire as being caused in large part to problematic data destruction policies.”
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/032509-secureworld-security-policy-problem.html

Preventing or Dealing with Conficker

Visit this MS page:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007

Experts: 'Smart-grid' system vulnerable to hackers
“Determined hackers with as little as $500 worth of equipment and some computer know-how could cripple the smart-grid technology being piloted in Boulder and rolled out nationwide, security experts say.”
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/mar/29/experts-smart-grid-system-vulnerable-to-hackers/

Health and Healthcare

APIC Supports Coalition to Improve Healthcare Quality
“The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) announces its support of the Stand for Quality, a diverse coalition of more than 165 healthcare organizations who recently announced a plan to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare for all patients through a public-private partnership.”
http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/hotnews/healthcare-quality-coalition.html
The Stand for Quality site is:  http://www.standforquality.org/

Hospitals begin to embrace quality improvement methods
“Hospitals across the country are just starting to see the benefits of lean and Six Sigma quality improvement methods, according to a new study released by the American Society for Quality of Milwaukee.  Hospitals are beginning to embrace lean and Six Sigma business management strategies to reduced costs and improve productivity, according to The ASQ Hospital Study, which looked at implementation of lean and Six Sigma at 77 hospitals.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/03/23/daily13.html

Healthcare reform czar has insider's view of the industry
“DeParle's business experience, coupled with her management of government medical programs, gives her an insider's perspective on the machinery of healthcare delivery.  But it also raises questions about Washington's revolving door between government and industry: Can DeParle avoid conflicts of interest, given the size and market share of some of the firms she has worked for?”
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-deparle29-2009mar29,0,6508858.story

Human Error / Safety / Environment

Among Climate Scientists, a Dispute Over ‘Tipping Points’
“Environmentalists and some climate experts are increasingly warning of impending tipping points in their efforts to stir public concern. The term confers a sense of immediacy and menace to potential threats from a warming climate — dangers that otherwise might seem too distant for people to worry about.  But other scientists say there is little hard evidence to back up specific predictions of catastrophe.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/weekinreview/29revkin.html

Global News / Business / Economics

Does the buck stop with the US dollar?
“Proposals for a new world currency (or currencies) order to succeed the hegemony of the US dollar are not new. But current concerns over the stability of the global financial situation have reignited such calls with new urgency.  Last week a United Nations Commission on International Financial Reform recommended to the UN that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favour of a shared basket of currencies.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/2299542/Does-the-buck-stop-with-the-US-dollar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR2009032503476.html
http://www.globalcrisisnews.com/general/china-and-russia-call-for-new-currency-us-rejects/id=691/
http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090325.wibcurrency25/BNStory/Business/home
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/03/137_42153.html

Is China the New America?
“Today, there are increasing demands that China contribute more to internationally coordinated rescue packages through a reformed International Monetary Fund (IMF). China is also one of the few economies still growing in 2009, though most economists have reduced their estimates of growth rates. Finally, China and the United States are the only countries that are large enough, and have sufficiently well-ordered government finances, to launch major efforts at fiscal stimulation.”
http://www.midasletter.com/news/09032701_Is-china-the-new-america.php
[Great article.  It is a reprint from Foreign Policy magazine.  Definitely read it.]

US News / Business / Economics

U.S. Economy: Spending Growth Slowed in February
“American consumers’ spending slowed in February and their confidence remained near a three-decade low this month, reflecting the toll of a deteriorating job market.  Purchases advanced 0.2 percent after climbing 1 percent in January, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment was 57.3 in March after 56.3 in February.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=awlvE9_aHA6g&refer=home

Nuclear-Power Industry Enjoys Revival 30 Years After Accident
“The U.S. has 104 reactors from the earlier wave of construction, which generate about 20% of the nation's electricity. Utilities have applied to build 26 new reactors, often at or adjacent to existing plants, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has to approve the plans, says the first approvals could come by 2011. Given how long it takes to build a plant, the first wouldn't come on line until later in the decade.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123820275563962721.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Airline Lobby Impatient With Delays on New Traffic Control System
“The United CEO said air travel delays cost U.S. businesses, passengers and shippers $40 billion a year. The current system, which can barely cope with the level of air traffic in the skies today, costs United alone $600 million a year, the company estimates. With a new ATC system, safety would be improved, airlines would become more punctual, burn less fuel and reduce carbon emissions, Mr. Tilton said.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123818857733360521.html#mod=loomia?loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r5:c0.052417:b23414074

Technology & Science

Tesla Motors Model S Backed by Google Founders Brin, Page
“Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are two of the investors pumping money into Tesla Motors, which has revealed the prototype for its all-electric, zero-emission sedan, the Model S. Drivers will theoretically be able to monitor the car’s electric charge via an iPhone or laptop. Tesla represents an attempt by Silicon Valley to build a car company, and will rely on government money to put the Model S into production.”
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Green-IT/Tesla-Motors-Model-S-Backed-By-Google-Founders-Brin-Page-336717/

Discovery Makes Safe Return
“The space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven returned to Earth on Saturday, successfully wrapping up a construction mission at the international space station.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/28/AR2009032801752.html?hpid=sec-nation