Category Archives: The Nature of IT

Scientists crack RSA SecurID 800 tokens, or not

Caveat: I am not a cryptology guy and I stopped running a security consulting practice years ago, so feel free to correct my oversimplified illustrations in the comments.  Accuracy is important. This breathless article from Ars Technica declares in large … Continue reading

Posted in Future of IT, Security, The Nature of IT | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Using run books for fun and profit (and sanity)

I recently had an argument with some of my colleagues about the difficulty and value of developing operational run books for an IT shop.  By “recently” I mean every single day of my life.  Since I must defend the utility … Continue reading

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This is why “Shadow IT” happens

One of my friends, let’s call him Rich, works for one of the largest school districts in the U.S. as a technology coordinator.  Rich is the business end between the classroom and the prodigious IT resources a top-10 school district … Continue reading

Posted in Big Data, Future of IT, I Get E-Mail, Private Cloud, Public Cloud, The Nature of IT, This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You can build it but they won’t come unless you invite them

I get e-mail, so much so that I have had to add a category for it.  This one came in Tuesday: I spoke with [client], who has spent a lot of money creating a private cloud for the company.  They … Continue reading

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Tackling that unstructured data mess, practically

Yesterday I wrote a little about the resurgence of phone calls asking about ILM and played a bit of a highlight reel as to a workable strategy from the perspective of a Compliance expert.  The challenge, as I stated, was … Continue reading

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I want to transform my approach to IT, but…

I get e-mail: Pete, I have a client that wants to explore IT transformation and maybe move to a cloud or “As a Service” model but the managers keep throwing up this objection- At this point the writer inserts one … Continue reading

Posted in Future of IT, Private Cloud, The Nature of IT, Transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Getting to Chargeback in “As a Service” Models: Think Pizza

A recent industry conference featured session after session of presentations where people asked (appropriately or not, for the session) how they were supposed to do chargeback in the cloud.  After listening to the sessions and queries I concluded the question … Continue reading

Posted in Driving Transparency, Future of IT, Growing the Business, Private Cloud, Public Cloud, The Nature of IT | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why I Read News, NOT Tech “News”

I read The Economist, Financial Times (when I can find it) and maybe the local paper in the city I find myself each week.  Online, I follow about 3 blogs and Fark.  I don’t, as a rule, read any of … Continue reading

Posted in Future of IT, Hardware, In the News/Blogosphere, Science, The Nature of IT | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Solved problems

I took time out a few weeks back to attend Edward Tufte’s One-Day Course on “Presenting Data and Information” and learned several new things and had several ideas reinforced by the methods and examples that Edward used.  One of my … Continue reading

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NASA’s 4TB Per Day

I imagine these folks know something about a cloud.  That NASA collects 4TB of data per day was actually a little surprising to me; I thought the number would be higher.  Still, it’s a staggering quantity on the order of … Continue reading

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