Clive Longbottom on IT-Director.com

CA - Same old same old, or new opportunities?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:00:00 +0100

CA is wanting to change. Its new CEO, Michael Gregoire, looks and sounds good - but can he carry out the changes required? [Read More...]

Dreaming of the perfect trip

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:00:00 +0100

Travel is not the exotic and exciting experience it once was. Many aspects are now just drudgery, yet moves are afoot to make travel easier. [Read More...]

Behavioural analytics - Bah, humbug?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0100

Analysing behaviour in real time can lead to multiple benefits, from optimising customer buying habits through to identifying abnormal activity in people within a crowd. Featurespace, a Cambridge Ring company, has something interesting. [Read More...]

Is the use of cloud sharing systems worrying you?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 09:00:00 +0100

Cloud file sharing systems are being used heavily, but may be scaring the life out of those organisations that want more control of their intellectual property - or are heavily governanced. Perforce Commons may be a solution. [Read More...]

The Financial CRD Game - a game of two halves.

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:00:00 +0100

The Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) is upon the financial industry in its version IV. However, lack of leadership from the centre is threatening to slow adoption of a core technology - XBRL [Read More...]

Gaining strategic technology platforms through financing

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:00:00 +0100

The use of managed financing is an accepted approach when it comes to cars, office equipment and even coffee machines. However, within the UK's SMBs, it doesn't seem to have taken off quite so well for IT and telecommunications equipment [Read More...]

Measuring the social perceptions of big data

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 07:00:00 +0100

Big data was a growing topic during 2012. However, just how did the general user perceive the topic - what better way than to analyse every Tweet during 2012 that covered the topic? [Read More...]

Does "Where?" trump "How?"?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:30:00 +0100

The choice of external data centre is fraught with issues. The Patriot Act, FISA and other governmental laws around data mean that intellectual property held within data may be compromised. Do small nation states hold the answer? [Read More...]

Power to the people

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:00:00 +0100

Data centres are increasingly seen as energy hogs. Fiddling with servers and so on may help, but dealing with inefficiencies at the UPS level can have lasting impact [Read More...]

Manage licences and virtual machines to avoid VM sprawl

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 07:00:00 +0100

Virtualisation is great. Unfortunately, it can make things so simple that IT governance suffers. Virtual machines (VMs) can be easily set up, provisioned - and then forgotten about. What can be done to maintain control? [Read More...]

When is a cloud not (quite) a cloud?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 07:00:00 +0100

The definition of cloud computing by NIST is quite definitive - but is a missing of one small point enough to make a cloud just a bit of advanced virtualisation? [Read More...]

Facing Jeopardy: Which company is finding problems in identifying the right homes for its Watson?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:00:00 +0100

At a recent event, IBM's Watson was an area for discussion. Watson sprung to fame in the US by beating two humans in a TV games show, Jeopardy! This led to a lot of coverage for IBM - but also to a lot of problems. [Read More...]

Cloud Chains - Integrating beyond boundaries

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:00:00 +0100

As cloud computing becomes more prevalent, just how can the different functions and services available to an organisation be identified, managed and integrated to best support the business? Behold the cloud aggregator... [Read More...]

The cloud - business continuity at affordable pricing?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 06:00:00 +0100

The cost of true business continuity is beyond the means of many small and mid-sized organisations. However, the cloud may be able to bring such capabilities within their reach. [Read More...]

Dealing with the consumerisation of data storage

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Do services such as Dropbox, Apple iCloud, Microsoft SkyDrive pose a threat to information security at enterprise level? This article looks at the consumerisation of data storage and how to deal with this potential security threat [Read More...]

Beating physics - latency doesn't have to be an issue.

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:00:00 +0100

The bane of a remote system is response - the latency between the user initiating something and the time for a response to happen. Although bounded by the laws of physics, the correct technical architecture can mitigate the problem. [Read More...]

How to make sense of the big data universe

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Big data - is it just yet another band wagon? If not, what is it really about, and how should you go about ensuring that it helps your organisation. [Read More...]

Ensuring that "top down" and "bottom up" meet in the middle

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:00:00 +0100

Too many times have projects that have been driven from the bottom up failed to meet the business' reuiqrements. Similarly, those driven from teh top down have failed to have the right technology underpinnings. Can things be done right? [Read More...]

When an apple is not an apple

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Trying to compare the technical aspects of different cloud environments is not easy, as each provider uses different measurements. Is there a simple way to compare apples with apples - or is this always going to be a fruit salad? [Read More...]

The future of public sector IT

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Historically, IT projects in the public sector have tended to be overspent and underperforming. Not the sort of track record that sends out the right signals during a poor economic climate - but can things be done differently? [Read More...]

Planning for the new desktop

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Thin-client computing - or more accurately, server-based computing - has been around for years - Citrix first entered the market in 1993 with a product based on Novell's Netware, DOS and Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager, QEMM. [Read More...]

Government getting to terms with IT procurement?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Many are the tales of the public sector getting poor deals in IT (well, in many areas of procurement, actually). Finally, however, it looks as if someone is getting a handle on what public sector procurement could - and should - be like. [Read More...]

Don't head down a cloud cul-de-sac

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Cloud computing promises much when it comes to the capability to move workloads between dedicated private and shared public infrastructure so the that the use of resources can grow and shrink as needed. Standards, however, are needed. [Read More...]

Gen Y - or Gen Why?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 06:00:00 +0100

There has been a rash of articles, discussions and commentaries around the need for organisations to adapt themselves to the needs of the new generation of workers coming in to the workplace. But - just how important are Gen Y? [Read More...]

Adobe - From media to marketing - and beyond?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Adobe is changing - more focus is being placed on how it can move from being the darling of the media creatives to being part of a larger ecosystem including marketing, which will then drive it more into sales, CRM and other areas. [Read More...]

EMC is changing - but will its customers get the message?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 06:00:00 +0100

EMC used to be just about storage - with its main focus on the hardware. Recent acquisitions have moved EMC into far more of a software play - but how well will its customers, prospects, channel (and its own employees) get this? [Read More...]

Who wants sweaty assets?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Maintaining an IT platform that supports the business is no easy thing - and being told to do more with less isn't exactly helpful. IT Lifecycle management (ITLM) offers a way to create a more strategic approach. [Read More...]

Big data - big misunderstandings, big mistakes?

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:00:00 +0100

If an organisation is sitting on top of 10 databases, each of which is 100TB in size, it has a big data issue, right? Well, not necessarily... [Read More...]

Citizen engagement: open, yet secure

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Increasingly, government at central and local levels it coming to realise the benefits to itself and its citizens by moving services on-line. Housing, health, benefits - you name it, the public want to be able to interact via the web. [Read More...]

Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone else's headache

rss@it-analysis.com (Clive Longbottom, Quocirca) — Wed, 02 May 2012 06:00:00 +0100

For most organisations, the lifecycle of IT equipment is straightforward: buy it, provision it, run it, deprovision it and dispose of it. Simple and reasonably effective. [Read More...]