Security Is Shaping IT Pros Roles - ' Outsourcing and open source ' (
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It sounds as if managing network access from diverse points of entry and
constantly supporting and refining the security posture are really occupying
a huge fraction of all of your bandwidth these days.
Benincasa: In the past, we had a lot more time to work on improvement
projects. Today, a big percentage of our time is spent on day-to-day activities
and security. Fighting the issues doesnt keep us from doing other projects,
but a project that might have taken us two weeks in the past would take us four
weeks now. We just have less time to spend on the future.
In this presidential campaign season, the subject of outsourcing and offshoring
of jobs, especially in IT, has had a pretty high profile. How is all this affecting
you?
Benincasa: Were not really impacted by it. Were all in-house support.
We use the outside very rarely.
Gunnerson: Were primarily a U.S. company. We have used offshore talent
on occasion, usually on a project basis and only when it helps us speed our
time to market. ... So far its not so much support as it is programming.
Is anyone looking hard at the notion of moving away from mainstream applications
to open-source?
Gunnerson: I think thats always a consideration. ... The question becomes,
When is there a close-enough desktop derivative in the open-source field that
will allow me to move or coexist?
And you feel that you have your radar on that all the time and that when
it happens youll be aware of it but it hasnt happened yet?
Gunnerson: Exactly. If there were a compelling monetary reason, wed
go after it immediately. I mean, if it was millions of dollars saved, thatd
be one thing. But its not millions of dollars saved at this time; its more
like risk avoidance because you want to have multiple platforms in case one
of them gets severely hacked.
What were seeing is that the applications that were available on open-source platforms were good a couple of years ago. Theyve had two years to get better, and theyve gotten better. The other vendors that have databases and application front ends and app servers have made progress, too, but I think the folks in open source are catching up pretty well. Were starting to see parity. Once you have parity and theres an opportunity to move off of a proprietary platform, you will.
Do you feel the range of choices available is on the increase or the decrease,
generally speaking? And is it taking up more or less of your time to stay aware
of those options?
Benincasa: I think the choices are increasing. Were actively working
on an OpenOffice.org rollout, and thats something that a few years back wasnt
even an option.
So were seeing that there are alternatives. Look at Linux. Were doing some
prototyping and using its terminal services, if you will, not only for low-end
machines and shop machines but also as a possibility for remote access. Were
looking at all these other options that maybe two or three years ago didnt
exist.
For more on Benincasas OpenOffice.org project, click here.
Calabrese: On the Linux side, we are playing in that realm, the difference
being continuity and predictability of service. Weve gotten it to the point
where stuff with a Microsoft logo on it is pretty reliable, and when we do hit
a fail point, we can recover from it pretty fast and pretty predictably. Granted,
[these products are] the favorite target for viruses and worms and such,
but when we get those, we recover from them pretty fast. Weve yet to see an
alternate operating system virus in-house, and I can say that Im not sure how
long it would take me to recover from one.
Next page: Looking ahead.
