InnoTech Conference & Expo - Ricardo Mendes Reporting

Watch this KOKH FOX 25 :: Morning News Clip from Oklahoma morning show where the 4th annual InnoTech conference just took place.

Minicom's own Ricardo Mendes was at Innotech and had this to say about it:

We shared the booth with Wright Line and Eaton.

The representatives from each company were: Terri Marroquin; Sr. Account Manager from Wright line John McIlwain; Account Sales Manager from Eaton Ricardo Mendes; Sales Rep from Minicom Advanced Systems

We were showing our management platform AccessIT and KVM.net II where we shared a booth with Wright Line and Eaton.

It was a great local show. The attendees were from local business, local government and federal government.

*****

A new social network for Oklahoma's Tech Community was launched last year, membership is growing so if you are in the area - be sure to sign up!

Hot Topic: Data Center Security

According to this article on eWeek.com, the majority of data centers do not have adequate defenses in place in the event of a cyber-attack. A study by AFCOM, the world's largest data center industry association, found that:

“Sixty-one percent of survey respondents said they see cyber-terrorism as a threat they need to deal with, but only a little over one-third of data center managers actually have included it in their disaster recovery plans, AFCOM said. Only 25 percent have addressed cyber-terrorism in their policies and procedures manuals, and only 60 percent have a written policies and procedures manual, AFCOM said. Only about 20 percent provide any cyber-terrorism employee training. On the other hand, 82 percent report that they perform background security checks on all potential new employees—another solid defense against cyber-terrorists, AFCOM said.”

There is an obvious gap between the perceived need for a deterrent for cyber-terrorism and what actually is actually done to prevent attacks.

Laziness? Lack of time? Lack of money? Don’t really believe it is necessary?

How do you explain this gap?

Channel Insider’s slideshow, Top Reasons SMB Security Still Sags, seems to provide some answers to this conundrum.

10 Common Network Security Design Flaws

Brian Posey’s article on TechRepublic highlights 10 common network security design flaws. The list has clear headings, with practical advice on how to fix these flaws.

Read more about each one to get the full story, but here is the short list:
1. Set it and forget it
2. Opening more firewall ports than necessary
3. Pulling double duty
4. Ignoring network workstations
5. Failing to use SSL encryption where it counts
6. Using self-signed certificates
7. Excessive security logging
8. Randomly grouping virtual servers
9. Placing member servers in the DMZ
10. Depending on users to install updates

You don’t need to do a public mea culpa, but take a look at your network – is your company at risk as a result of any of these practices, or are these flaws so basic that only a novice would find them on his or her network?

Green Homeland Security Data Center

Congress requires Homeland Security's data center to go green

Homeland Security has a nice fat budget for expansion and upgrades for its data center, but it is conditional.

According to the article on nextgov:
The fiscal 2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill requires the department to spend $38.5 million to upgrade the power capabilities at the National Center for Critical Information Processing and Storage, known as Data Center One and based at NASA's Stennis Space Center, near the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. Homeland Security cannot spend the remaining $45 million on building out the data center, which will provide information processing for the entire department, until DHS officials can make certain the data center has enough power and uses green technologies to reduce demand.

Will green considerations help maximize the budget, or does it mean getting less bang per buck?

Creating a CIO Profile

Two interesting pieces on the ideal CIO:

One man’s take on Tomorrow’s CIO and the Implications for SMBs

It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s CIO Superman!?


The first piece talks about the importance of having a CIO who is receptive to technology innovations, particularly those he identifies as the “Big Four”:

Cloud computing
Software As a Service (SAAS)
Open source
Web application hybrids (aka mash-ups)

The author argues, “Each of these innovations is or will be disruptive to your business, much like the Internet itself. However unlike the Internet, which was relative easy to understand and to envision its role in the future of your business, The Big Four are more arcane conceptually, more complicated technically and more difficult to envision. Consequently, businesses with the new brand of technology leadership are pursuing these approaches, whereas those that don’t are not.”

He also claims that these innovations are technology’s “certain future” which SMBs cannot afford to ignore.

A persuasive argument, especially convincing since the author acknowledges that he usually does not necessarily recommend new technologies for SMBs.

Is a CIO who does not embrace these innovations by definition “Yesterday’s CIO?” Does a reluctance to adopt these innovations necessarily mean a company will get left behind?

The second piece talks about the difficulties of finding a CIO with ideal qualifications, which include:

Leadership abilities
Hands-on technology background
Experience in leading large change programs
Experience in running successful IT infrastructure operations
Management experience in a non-IT function
Innovative thinking that can solve relevant industry and business issues

The ability to understand how projects and operations impact corporate financials
The fact that talent with these credentials is hard to find seems to indicate that if a CIO is of a certain caliber, he or she does not need to follow any proscribed mandate. A strong CIO can pick and choose which, if any, new technologies are appropriate for their company.

CASE STUDY: Ohio's Area Agency on Aging District 7

We recently installed AccessIT in the Area Agency on Aging District 7 in Ohio. Here's what Charlie Maillet, IT engineering and operations specialist for the Agency had to say about it:

“Minicom’s KVM IP solution is very appealing because I can manage my whole network from my desk,” stated Charlie Maillet.“They offered the most cost effective solution with the best technology to simplify management of our network.”


The Challenge:
Due to budget cuts, Ohio's Area Agency on Aging District 7 (AAA7) was challenged to do more with less. Rather than cut programs that keep seniors in their homes longer, the organization looked to improve their operations by enhancing IT efficiency and implemented a KVM IP solution from Minicom that would save money, enable remote access and provide a more efficient method to manage their distributed network.


The Solution:
Using AccessIT™, AAA7 system administrators gain centralized remote access and power control that enhances IT efficiency & productivity, improving their ability to serve the community’s population


The Products Used in this installation were: AccessIT, Smart 116 IP, & IP Control

Learn more about remote server access, watch this short webcast now: Achieving Remote Server KVM Access to your data center

Red Flag: No Money = Server Failure, According to Gartner

Read Gartner’s doom and gloom predictions about how not replacing servers could result in increased server failure over the next two years.

According to the article:
“In round numbers, the scheduled replacement of some three million servers worldwide, or about 3% of all servers, has been delayed, Peter Sondergaard, Gartner's global head of research, said today at the research firm's Symposium/ITxpo 2009 conference here. He added that the number of delayed replacements should reach 10% of all servers by 2010.”

The general tone of the article is that even though this past year was the worst in terms of IT budgets, things will not stabilize for a few more years.

If your servers are nearing the end of their run, will you make noise to get what you need, or will you accept that shrinking budgets mean less than optimal data center equipment?

Slideshow: Industry Graveyard 2009

2009 is not over, but these products, companies and events are.

Network World’s slideshow has spooky images of all that has passed to the other side in the last year such Goodbye SOA, Circuit City, GeoCities Web hosting service, and domain tasting.

Turning Up the Heat on Data Centers

Keeping data centers at the right temperature is a continual challenge. The Data Center Journal’s article “Chill Pill for Hot Data” talks about a system which claims to have gotten the balance just right. How did they do it? According to the article:

“The research team merely wrote software to connect the gap between management systems that otherwise run separately for IT and facilities management. Traditionally speaking, companies have otherwise kept both these realms separate. And now the team has connected up these systems resulting in huge savings.”

Definitely intriguing, especially the bit about big savings, with the projection that most data centers will see ROI within a year.

Does the article’s claim that at least 90% of data centers maintain a temperature that is five degrees cooler than necessary ring true, in your experience?