http://www.ectnews.com/ ECT News Network business and technology updates, with news and feature commentary from industry experts. en Sat, 18 May 2013 15:05:08 PDT Podcast ECT News Network podcasts@ectnews.com no ECT News Network http://www.ectnews.com/images/2006/ect_podcast_300x300.png http://www.ectnews.com/ http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/3523697345-audio-player.swf Sat, 18 May 2013 15:05:10 PDT player 0:00 audio "We have to provide better and faster services to our customers every week and every month. We mostly had problems on issues such as the accessibility, authorization, downtime, and private data for reaching the other third party's infrastructures," said Hasan Yukselten, test and release manager for TTNET. "So we needed virtualization on our test systems and we needed automation for getting fast deployment." http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-05-20.mp3 Sat, 18 May 2013 11:51:18 PDT Virtual Testing Trims Real World Costs and Delivery Times "We have to provide better and faster services to our customers every week and every month. We mostly had problems on issues such as the accessibility, authorization, downtime, and private data for reaching the other third party's infrastructures," said Hasan Yukselten, test and release manager for TTNET. "So we needed virtualization on our test systems and we needed automation for getting fast deployment." 23:58 ECT News Network "Instead of buying three or four database types -- a structured database, something that can handle text, a solution that handles semi-structured or structured, or even a high performance analytical engine -- what if the tool chain abstracts much of that complexity?" said Matt Wolken with information management at Dell Software. "This means the tools that you use every day can comprehend any database type, data structure type, or any vendor changes between platforms." http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-05-06.mp3 Sun, 05 May 2013 13:20:07 PDT New IT Tools Untie Tangled Webs of Business Data "Instead of buying three or four database types -- a structured database, something that can handle text, a solution that handles semi-structured or structured, or even a high performance analytical engine -- what if the tool chain abstracts much of that complexity?" said Matt Wolken with information management at Dell Software. "This means the tools that you use every day can comprehend any database type, data structure type, or any vendor changes between platforms." 36:23 ECT News Network "You end up spending less money, because you're a more efficient organization, and you end up delivering better value to customers, because you're a more effective organization," said Huge Evans, CEO of Enterprise Architects. "This efficiency and effectiveness need within organizations is worth the price of investment in this area. The actual tangible benefits that we're seeing across our customers includes reduced cost of their IT estate. " http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-04-22.mp3 Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:27:19 PDT From Sluggish to Sleek: How Business Architects Transform the Enterprise "You end up spending less money, because you're a more efficient organization, and you end up delivering better value to customers, because you're a more effective organization," said Huge Evans, CEO of Enterprise Architects. "This efficiency and effectiveness need within organizations is worth the price of investment in this area. The actual tangible benefits that we're seeing across our customers includes reduced cost of their IT estate. " 33:33 ECT News Network French bureaucrats got a little taste of their own medicine when the Wikimedia Foundation refused to entertain a request to take down a Wikipedia page without the proper paperwork. The authorities either couldn't come up with legal justification or decided it would be more expedient to cut to the chase. They cornered a Wikipedia volunteer and threatened to throw him in jail if he didn't remove it. He did, but it was soon restored -- and page views soared. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-04-19.mp3 Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:28:00 PDT Power to the Wiki-People French bureaucrats got a little taste of their own medicine when the Wikimedia Foundation refused to entertain a request to take down a Wikipedia page without the proper paperwork. The authorities either couldn't come up with legal justification or decided it would be more expedient to cut to the chase. They cornered a Wikipedia volunteer and threatened to throw him in jail if he didn't remove it. He did, but it was soon restored -- and page views soared. 14:41 David Vranicar "I came from a couple of companies that utilized virtualization at very high levels," said Ray Todich, systems administrator for Associated Surgeons and Physicians. "So I'm very aware of the benefits, as far as administration, and the benefits of overall redundancy and activities -- the software and hardware used to allow high performance, high availability, access to people's data, and still allow security be put in place." http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-04-08.mp3 Sat, 06 Apr 2013 18:19:02 PDT Virtualization: An IT Prescription for Healthcare Providers "I came from a couple of companies that utilized virtualization at very high levels," said Ray Todich, systems administrator for Associated Surgeons and Physicians. "So I'm very aware of the benefits, as far as administration, and the benefits of overall redundancy and activities -- the software and hardware used to allow high performance, high availability, access to people's data, and still allow security be put in place." 32:12 ECT News Network No one is keeping a closer eye on the NCAA Final Four than Ken Pomeroy, who has turned his hobby of analyzing basketball stats into one of college sports' most talked-about websites. He's created a brand that is no longer merely a labor of love, but an increasingly mainstream – and lucrative – outlet. Pomeroy talks about the evolution of kenpom.com, the science of paywalls and the prospect of pulling a Nate Silver and joining with a mainstream media outlet. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-04-06.mp3 Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:51:28 PDT A Slam Dunk for College Basketball Stats No one is keeping a closer eye on the NCAA Final Four than Ken Pomeroy, who has turned his hobby of analyzing basketball stats into one of college sports' most talked-about websites. He's created a brand that is no longer merely a labor of love, but an increasingly mainstream – and lucrative – outlet. Pomeroy talks about the evolution of kenpom.com, the science of paywalls and the prospect of pulling a Nate Silver and joining with a mainstream media outlet. 15:22 David Vranicar The phone hacking scandal in the UK prompted a far-reaching investigation into the practices and ethics of the British media. Arrests have been made, jobs lost, and new laws proposed. However, some bloggers argue the legislation is unclear about what constitutes a "relevant publisher," and that they could become ensnared by stringent regulations meant for major media companies. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-03-30.mp3 Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:51:29 PDT UK Bloggers Bite Back Against Proposed Media Muzzles The phone hacking scandal in the UK prompted a far-reaching investigation into the practices and ethics of the British media. Arrests have been made, jobs lost, and new laws proposed. However, some bloggers argue the legislation is unclear about what constitutes a "relevant publisher," and that they could become ensnared by stringent regulations meant for major media companies. 14:48 David Vranicar "We make sure that whatever solution we deliver is architectured from a single model that we manage centrally," said Richard Aarnink, leader of the IT management domain at Achmea Holding. "That's a real benefit that we gained in centralizing this and making sure that we can, from both the architecture and project perspectives, govern the projects that we're going to deliver to our business units." http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-03-25.mp3 Sun, 24 Mar 2013 11:52:22 PDT Rebooting IT to Run Like a Business "We make sure that whatever solution we deliver is architectured from a single model that we manage centrally," said Richard Aarnink, leader of the IT management domain at Achmea Holding. "That's a real benefit that we gained in centralizing this and making sure that we can, from both the architecture and project perspectives, govern the projects that we're going to deliver to our business units." 28:30 ECT News Network It is supposed to be the social media-powered enabler of free speech in China. However, Sina Weibo's reputation is under a microscope following a new study showing more than half of user accounts surveyed were empty, and there weren't many postings of original content. In a country with so much repression, though, maybe a few voices being heard is better than silence. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-03-23.mp3 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:15:18 PDT China's Great Big Holey 'Twitter' Net It is supposed to be the social media-powered enabler of free speech in China. However, Sina Weibo's reputation is under a microscope following a new study showing more than half of user accounts surveyed were empty, and there weren't many postings of original content. In a country with so much repression, though, maybe a few voices being heard is better than silence. 18:51 David Vranicar "The information security industry has struggled with getting the attention of, and support from, management and businesses for a long time," said Jack Jones, principal of CXOWARE, "and it has finally come around to the fact that the executives care about loss exposure -- the likelihood of bad things happening and how bad those things are likely to be. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-03-18.mp3 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:10:59 PDT Locking Up Big Data, Unlocking Its Value in Enterprise Risk Management "The information security industry has struggled with getting the attention of, and support from, management and businesses for a long time," said Jack Jones, principal of CXOWARE, "and it has finally come around to the fact that the executives care about loss exposure -- the likelihood of bad things happening and how bad those things are likely to be. 32:34 ECT News Network Trends in IT are opening up new frontiers in the enterprise, and that is forcing information architects to jettison old ways of thinking about the volume and speed of the data that's streaming into their organizations. It's not just how to store and study all that information, but how it ties into their security procedures, their mobile workforce, how much to store in clouds. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-03-11.mp3 Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:59:00 PST How to Drink from the Big Data Firehose Without Drowning Trends in IT are opening up new frontiers in the enterprise, and that is forcing information architects to jettison old ways of thinking about the volume and speed of the data that's streaming into their organizations. It's not just how to store and study all that information, but how it ties into their security procedures, their mobile workforce, how much to store in clouds. 45:30 ECT News Network Like the ghost of Hamlet's father, the 2002 purchase of a Danish tech company has come back to haunt Microsoft. Denmark's taxing authority wants the software giant to pay $1 billion in back taxes related to the acquisition. The purchase made headines in the country back then, and Danes have some opinions now about Microsoft's business practices involving their homegrown firms. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-03-09.mp3 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:49:17 PST How Microsoft Became Denmark's Billion-Dollar Baby Like the ghost of Hamlet's father, the 2002 purchase of a Danish tech company has come back to haunt Microsoft. Denmark's taxing authority wants the software giant to pay $1 billion in back taxes related to the acquisition. The purchase made headines in the country back then, and Danes have some opinions now about Microsoft's business practices involving their homegrown firms. 15:36 David Vranicar Business leaders are scrambling to take their organizations deeper into the cloud, leverage the growing amount of data about their customers and protect their companies from new security threats. Enterprise architects are usually their first call when it comes to bringing order to IT business process chaos, but EA's are also having to adapt to the very same trends impacting corporations. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect.gardner-2013-03-04.mp3 Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:08:37 PST How IT Trends Are Adding to Enterprise Architecture's Foundation Business leaders are scrambling to take their organizations deeper into the cloud, leverage the growing amount of data about their customers and protect their companies from new security threats. Enterprise architects are usually their first call when it comes to bringing order to IT business process chaos, but EA's are also having to adapt to the very same trends impacting corporations. 28:48 ECT News Network AT&T has been in the hosting business for more than a decade, but it has adapted that part of its portfolio thanks to the rapid demand for cloud-based services. The telecom giant is now taking a range of offerings to the cloud -- infrastructure, virtual private networks, storage, platforms -- based on what businesses of all stripes have been asking for from network providers. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-02-25.mp3 Sun, 24 Feb 2013 12:18:33 PST AT&T Cloud Services: Aiming Higher for its Hosting Business AT&T has been in the hosting business for more than a decade, but it has adapted that part of its portfolio thanks to the rapid demand for cloud-based services. The telecom giant is now taking a range of offerings to the cloud -- infrastructure, virtual private networks, storage, platforms -- based on what businesses of all stripes have been asking for from network providers. 33:23 ECT News Network The recent report from the security company Mandiant about Chinese hacking practices has been international fodder all week -- for media outlets eager to report, and Chinese officials eager to deny. In the process, the small firm has found itself in the public spotlight thanks to the report's revelations. Dan McWhorter, managing director of Mandiant's threat intelligence unit, discusses the roots of the investigation, how it affects the cybersecurity debate, and what it's like for Beijing to call out Mandiant by name. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-02-22.mp3 Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:23:34 PST Inside the Hunt for Chinese Hackers The recent report from the security company Mandiant about Chinese hacking practices has been international fodder all week -- for media outlets eager to report, and Chinese officials eager to deny. In the process, the small firm has found itself in the public spotlight thanks to the report's revelations. Dan McWhorter, managing director of Mandiant's threat intelligence unit, discusses the roots of the investigation, how it affects the cybersecurity debate, and what it's like for Beijing to call out Mandiant by name. 19:05 David Vranicar A recent wave of product activity by major technology companies is forcing a second look at Africa as the next big arena of opportunity for smartphone manufacturers and providers. Certain regions may be growing faster than others -- from an economic standpoint -- but the projected growth over the next half-century is drawing fresh challengers now to BlackBerry's traditional dominance of the continent. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-02-15.mp3 Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:17:02 PST Africa Is Not a Country - It's a Collection of Smartphone Markets A recent wave of product activity by major technology companies is forcing a second look at Africa as the next big arena of opportunity for smartphone manufacturers and providers. Certain regions may be growing faster than others -- from an economic standpoint -- but the projected growth over the next half-century is drawing fresh challengers now to BlackBerry's traditional dominance of the continent. 15:40 David Vranicar Big Data is creating a sea change for auto manufacturers, according to Michael Cavaretta of Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. "Our perspective has been let's make sure that we identify the highest value, the greatest ROI areas, and then begin to take some of the major datasets that we have and then push them and get more detail. Mash them up appropriately and really prove up the value for the technologists." http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-02-04.mp3 Sun, 03 Feb 2013 19:26:51 PST Auto Biz Game-Changers: Big Data Mashups Big Data is creating a sea change for auto manufacturers, according to Michael Cavaretta of Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. "Our perspective has been let's make sure that we identify the highest value, the greatest ROI areas, and then begin to take some of the major datasets that we have and then push them and get more detail. Mash them up appropriately and really prove up the value for the technologists." 17:56 ect-gardner The WTO ruling that lets Antigua suspend U.S. copyright law has its roots in the birth of online gambling. It quickly became a major part of the Antiguan economy, but dried up after the U.S. pulled the plug on its agreement with the island nation. The WTO ruling gives Antigua a new card to play: the threat of opening the floodgates on U.S. copyrighted content. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-02-01.mp3 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 05:00:00 PST Online Gambling: The WTO Loads Antigua's Slingshot The WTO ruling that lets Antigua suspend U.S. copyright law has its roots in the birth of online gambling. It quickly became a major part of the Antiguan economy, but dried up after the U.S. pulled the plug on its agreement with the island nation. The WTO ruling gives Antigua a new card to play: the threat of opening the floodgates on U.S. copyrighted content. 34:08 David Vranicar Google has avoided any serious antitrust allegations in the U.S., but Europe takes a much more jaundiced view of the way the company has been throwing its weight around. It all comes down to different notions of what is meant by the term "competition" -- and how it affects both consumers and other businesses operating in the space. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-01-29.mp3 Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:00:00 PST Google, the EU and Competition: Speaking Different Languages Google has avoided any serious antitrust allegations in the U.S., but Europe takes a much more jaundiced view of the way the company has been throwing its weight around. It all comes down to different notions of what is meant by the term "competition" -- and how it affects both consumers and other businesses operating in the space. 21:48 David Vranicar Listen to a podcast featuring guest George Turrentine, senior IT manager at a large telecom firm, whose focus is on IT security and compliance. Co-hosting the discussion are Raf Los, chief security evangelist at HP Software and Dana Gardner. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-01-21.mp3 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:08:19 PST Enterprise Security: No Perimeter Is Perfect Listen to a podcast featuring guest George Turrentine, senior IT manager at a large telecom firm, whose focus is on IT security and compliance. Co-hosting the discussion are Raf Los, chief security evangelist at HP Software and Dana Gardner. 33:45 ECT News Network In this TechNewsWorld podcast, we chat about Apple and China with Charlie Custer, the China editor of TechInAsia.com. Custer discusses Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent trek to China, how the nation’s wages complicate the Apple business model, the hurdles posed by China’s zealous regulatory system and more. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-01-19.mp3 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:38:11 PST Apple's China Challenges In this TechNewsWorld podcast, we chat about Apple and China with Charlie Custer, the China editor of TechInAsia.com. Custer discusses Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent trek to China, how the nation’s wages complicate the Apple business model, the hurdles posed by China’s zealous regulatory system and more. 20:21 David Vranicar Jim Killock, executive director of the UK-based Open Rights Group discusses the events to transpire since the April ruling blocking The Pirate Bay in the UK and what it means for Internet users going forward. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2013-01-12.mp3 Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:11:13 PST The UK's Tangled Antipiracy Web Jim Killock, executive director of the UK-based Open Rights Group discusses the events to transpire since the April ruling blocking The Pirate Bay in the UK and what it means for Internet users going forward. 26:47 David Vranicar Abe Naguib, senior director of AIG's Global Performance Architecture Group discusses customer-driven IT innovation with cohosts HP Chief Software Evangelist Paul Muller and Dana Gardner. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-01-14.mp3 Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:07:38 PST Letting the Customer Experience Drive Innovation Abe Naguib, senior director of AIG's Global Performance Architecture Group discusses customer-driven IT innovation with cohosts HP Chief Software Evangelist Paul Muller and Dana Gardner. 31:31 ECT News Network Listen to a podcast featuring John Maxwell, vice president of product management for data protection at Quest Software -- now part of Dell, and George Crump, founder and lead analyst at Storage Switzerland, an analyst firm focused on the storage market. The chat is moderated by Dana Gardner. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/ect-gardner-2013-01-07.mp3 Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:02:08 PST Cleaning Up the Data Backup Quagmire Listen to a podcast featuring John Maxwell, vice president of product management for data protection at Quest Software -- now part of Dell, and George Crump, founder and lead analyst at Storage Switzerland, an analyst firm focused on the storage market. The chat is moderated by Dana Gardner. 36:07 ECT News Network Josh Peterson, tech editor for the Daily Caller, speaks about the International Telecommunications Union conference, which was the venue for competing proposals about regulating the Internet. http://www.ectnews.com/shared/audio/tnw-vranicar-2012-12-22.mp3 Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:56:12 PST The Internet Governance Tug-of-War Josh Peterson, tech editor for the Daily Caller, speaks about the International Telecommunications Union conference, which was the venue for competing proposals about regulating the Internet. 11:22 David Vranicar