Larry Dignan

A few questions to ponder as you kick off the week: Do you know your offshore providers disaster recovery plans? Do you have the plans in writing? Have you integrated your service providers plans with yours? Can your company adapt if youve farmed out business processes and your service provider suddenly cant deliver? Those are […]

Financials Intels tug of war There are two things we know about Intel. For starters, it is being hurt by encroachment from Advanced Micro Devices. And Wall Street isnt a big fan—Intel has been one of the worst performing stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this year. According to some prognosticators, the companys woes […]

Security Homeland headache Nearly half of federal technology executives have no integrated plan to meet the Office of Management and Budgets latest homeland se-curity requirement, according to research company Input. The requirement, known as HSPD (Homeland Security Presidential Directive)-12, requires standard forms of personal identity verification for all federal employees and contractors. The deadline is […]

Darel Myers is a storm chaser. Myers, technical equipment manager for Allstate Insurances 10-year-old national catastrophe team, brings mobile connectivity via satellite-equipped mobile homes and a bevy of laptops whenever a disaster—be it a tornado, a hurricane or an ice storm—strikes. “Theres never an off-season,” Myers said. “Just because its not in the media doesnt […]

Ask the average network administrator about Cisco Systems MCK or NRK, and youre likely to get a blank stare. Thats because, other than international relief agencies, few know about Ciscos skunk works project—a network in a box designed to deliver in the worst circumstances. The box, which is about the size of a large suitcase, […]

Enterprises that dont protect customers personal information should be hit in their wallets. Maybe then, lax corporate security practices will improve. How these penalties get levied will be subject to debate, but its becoming apparent that something dramatic needs to happen, and money talks. How much is personal data worth? The Department of Veterans Affairs […]

Boot Camps rival has officially launched. Parallels, a Herndon, Va.-based startup said June 15 that its Desktop for Mac virtualization software has emerged from beta and is available for $49.99. The software, which allows Intel-based Apple computers to run Windows XP, lets Apple users run Windows XP and Apples OS X at the same time. […]

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates is planning to leave in 2008 the company he founded 31 years ago, in order to focus on his philanthropy work. Gates said June 15 he will remain as chairman and doesnt “see a time when Im not chairman of the company.” “Its not a retirement. Its […]

Telecom Vonages IPO follies First, Vonage pitches its IPO to its customers. Nice idea—at least on paper. Then customers take Vonage up on its offer to participate, and the IPO tanks. Whoops. Now Vonage has a few customer service issues to worry about. Lesson: Perhaps its not such a bright idea to have customers and […]

Veterans groups may have accidentally found the remedy for companies lax protection of customer information. The cure: $1,000 for each person affected by a data breach. The veterans groups behind a massive class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which opened the door for the personal information of 26.5 million veterans to be […]