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The article offers the author's insights on the techniques that can help reduce stored-data volume in the U.S. information technology (IT) sector. It states that reducing one's data footprint eases the pressure on networks and backup windows, aside from cutting costs for hardware, software, and data center space. It provides several techniques to reduce data volume which include deduplication, compression, and storage virtualization.

The article reports on the growth of facilities rebuilding their data centers in the U.S. It states that the move aims to save operating costs as well as enhance efficiency and effectiveness in carrying out information technology (IT) operations. Chief information officers (CIOs) and IT executives points out the significance of redesigning their data centers which will help them reduce real estate, infrastructure, cooling and electric costs. Among the facilities that plan to upgrade their data centers, include Christus Health, OhioHealth, and Newbridge Bank. INSET: Armchair Data Center Management.

The article focuses on the contribution of Rick King in the maintenance of the $3.1 billion information services business of the Thomson Corp. in the U.S. As executive vice president and chief operations officer for Thomson's North American Legal business, King has completed a 17,000 square foot upgrade of two 10-year-old data centers in May 2005. Moreover, to consolidate smaller data centers for the company's growing customer base, King plans to build a new 80,000 square foot data center that will house servers and storage for his company's growing customer database. He also aims to find and keep skilled staffers who understand the interplay of computing technology, power requirements and facilities design. INSET: Tape Tales.

The article discusses issues related to efforts to build the next-generation data center in the U.S. There are several challenges facing companies in the successful management of the next-generation data center. These major challenges include the lack of storage virtualization storage and the immaturity of the technology and multitiered or service-oriented applications. Another big problem is looking deep within complex, multitiered or service-oriented applications to see what hardware or software is causing a slowdown. INSET: Data Center Technologies: What's Next?.

Presents the results of `ComputerWorld' magazine's survey on 1998 information systems (IS) budgets of corporations in the United States. Increased spending on building, maintaining and managing electronic links vital to a business; Shortage of skilled IS staff; Greater willingness of companies to upgrade the infrastructures that drive client/server applications. INSET: Don't worry! We'll make it..

Reports that money is not the most important factor in weighing job offers according to the results of a survey of 200 information systems professionals in the United States. Opportunities to learn new technologies; Quality of bosses as a top-ranking issue when making job decisions; Importance of base salary with younger employees.

Discusses the vulnerability of corporate data to computer security problems caused by hacking. Tendency of information systems professionals to ignore basic problems in fighting electronic threats; Case of a hospital in the Southwest which has been exposed to sloppy procedures for information handling; Security threats arising from physical access to power supplies, modems and network cables. INSET: A mixed diagnosis..

This article presents tips on the upgrading and replacement of personal computers in the U.S. CIO Tim Link has replaced computers with one of three standard configurations from Dell Inc. He has carefully planned hot to minimize the number of configurations he must support as he replaces one-third of his systems each year. He is reluctant to go to a four-year life cycle for computers because although that would reduce computer purchase costs, it would mean more individual models. Trying to open files from different versions of applications running on various versions of Windows is a huge headache for users and information technology managers and can be a prime driver for an upgrade. Gartner Inc. analyst Mark Margevicius suggests that if system fails, after the standard three-year warranty period, it is better to replace it than spend time to fix it. For notebooks, Margevicius suggests sticking to the traditional three-year replacement cycle. He also says that adding memory is about the only work worth doing on an older machine. CIO Don Allen says rather than buy new systems whenever they find the money or download software from the Internet, users must accept getting hardware and software upgrades in a departmentwide schedule. INSET: THE THIN-CLIENT ALTERNATIVE.

Focuses on the actions taken by emerging technology companies in the United States to save money, get cash from investors and gain the confidence of information technology managers. Use of the Java Virtual Machine by Kada Systems which allows mobile users to run more robust applications; Chip sets used by Mellanox Technologies to the ease development of InfinBand products.

Details the preparations being done by United State-based public utilities concerning the embedded year 2000 problems. Tests conducted by Washington Water Power; Comments from industry officials; Impact of such problems; Things that officials need to consider.

Looks at the year 2000 project of five organizations in the United States. Lutheran Brotherhood; California State University at Northridge; Social Security Administration; Dayton Hudson Corp.; Reader's Digest Association Inc.

Focuses on the challenges in running Web sites in the United States. Profitability of Web site communities; Hidden costs and dangers of running Web communities; Web site fees; Types of Web communities. INSET: ParentPlace.com makes money...

Focuses on training programs designed to enhance the skills of information systems (IS) professionals in handling electronic commerce opportunities. MasterCard University's one-day workshop on `Internet and Emerging Payment Methods'; Importance of tighter technology and training standards as Web applications become more strategic; Effectiveness of hands-on training for IS staff.

Presents the lessons learned by various year 2000 conversion leaders in the United States during their first pilot conversion project. Importance of teaching all staff to explain the level of detail needed from application users; Need for the staffers to coordinate in every phase of the conversion project.

Reports on the growing practice among employers to tie information systems workers to contracts that would require them to reimburse training costs if they resign too quickly after the training is completed. Debate over whether employers can claim ownership of skills or information learned on company time and at company expense.

Focuses on criticisms that US President Bill Clinton and top Dept. of Defense leaders are not moving aggressively enough to counter the Year 2000 computer crisis. Need to threat the issue as a potential national emergency; Factors that bog down the military's millennium march.

Reports on the US Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) July 1996 ruling that companies can not amortize works related to the year 2000 computer bugs as a capital expense. Impact on companies' short-term earnings; Information system (IS) managers' duty of informing business managers regarding the millennium's impact on computer systems; Ruling's provisions.

Focuses on the efforts by information systems (IS) staff members to learn and cope with advanced information technologies. Motivations for the self-study initiative; Comments from various IS managers.

The article features Dispersed Storage software developed by Cleversafe Inc., which divides data into "slices" using mathematical algorithms and dispersed them on a different server across the Internet or within a single data center in the U.S. According to Chris Gladwin, company's CEO, the software provides 99.99% reliability because data can be reconstituted using slices from any six nodes. John Webster, analyst at Illuminata Inc., the approach could completely change the way storage administrators conduct their daily operations.

The article reports on the plans of the EMC Corp. to incorporate data encryption technology in its disk arrays using software that the storage vendor expects to obtain through its $2.1 billion acquisition of RSA Security Inc. in the U.S. With the addition of encryption tools, the end-users are able to encrypt an entire database or multiple data volumes via their regular storage management tools without having to deploy new software or a separate appliance. Moreover, it allows customers to use the processing power of disk array controllers to speed up encryption and decryption procedures, which reduce the loads on servers and networks. Kelly Carpenter, senior technical managers at Washington University's Genome Sequencing Center, argued that developing encryption functionality into disk arrays would make it easier to encrypt data at the file system level.

The article features companies offering products and services for the next-generation data center in the U.S. One of the stronger companies in the segment is Opsware Inc. which has "done a good job in niche market" of server and network configuration and provisioning. Splunk Inc. uses search technology to help information technology managers find the causes of problems from unstructured data. Cassatt Corp. software can create virtualized hardware and software resources running on Linux, Solaris and Windows.

Presents news briefs on high-technology firms in the United States as of March 5, 2001. Estimated growth in the public-key infrastructure market by 2004 according to IDC; Acquisition of Network Solutions Inc. by VeriSign Inc.; Products and services offered by Entrust Technologies Inc.

Reports that Q-PC Real Car Computing company is offering personal computer available for cars compatible with the Windows 98 computer operating system.

Focuses on the effort to test a virtual control tower at United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Use of a Silicon Graphics Inc.'s Onyx2 supercomputer; Potential benefits of the virtual control tower.

Discusses the efforts of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine the life saving medical devices affected by year 2000 date conversion problems. Number of foreign and domestic companies that supplied information; Web sites for the list of year 2000-compliant devices.

Presents items related to the year 2000 computing crisis in the United States. Includes the establishment of the PHL Software Services Ltd. to handle Phoenix Home Life Mutual's year 2000 work; Letters as wake-up call from clients seeking year 2000-compliant hardware and software; Growth of awareness about the year 2000 problem in 1997.

Reports that Cap Gemini America offered to guarantee 100% year 2000 renovations of mainframe codes in four weeks. Terms of the guarantee offer; Criticisms from information system professionals.

Reports on Citicorp's plan to downsize and restructure its information technology (IT) and related operations. Plans to consolidate legacy applications and other functions; Company's shift from visionary tinkering with technology and toward more cost-effective use of IT.

Opinion. Presents the usual complaints of entrepreneurs about advertising on the World Wide Web. CyberGold Inc.'s payment of people to look at advertisements on its Web site; Advantages of Web advertising over direct mail; Lack of measurable results from Web advertising.

Reports on the projected onslaught of lawsuits related to the year 2000 computing crisis that could lead to legal costs amounting to $100 billion. Initiatives developed by information systems managers in anticipation of the crisis; Comparison of post-year 2000 costs with the costs of fixing the problem; Cost estimates on litigation and damages by analyst Capers Jones.

Reports on the increasing reliance of companies on computer vendors for outsourcing even as they experience disappointing results. Turnover of some information systems operations to outside vendors; Failure of outsourcers to deliver according to expectations; Dissatisfaction of chief information officers with the level of expertise and sophistication provided by outsourcers. INSET: Outsourcing bit by bit..

Presents issues, trends and statistics relevant to the year 2000 computer crisis in the United States as of July 14, 1997. Labor cost of conversion programming overseas; Percentage of information system managers planning to postpone application development until the end of the century; Techniques for making business owners realize the seriousness of the year 2000 crisis. INSET: Offshore programmers: Low cost for long?..

Commends how high-technology companies in the United States are using information technology (IT). Cost-cutting and cycle-time reduction; Reorganizing and simplifying chaotic workflow systems; Avoiding redundant, incompatible applications; Controlling IT spending to business units.

Discusses why computer service providers in the United States refuse to outsource personnel for year 2000 conversion work. Users' plan to replace old applications rather than fix them; Learning curve faced by information systems managers with the year 2000; Shortage of Cobol programmers and software testers; Problems faced by Pete Westlake in converting Orlando Regional Healthcare System's information service.

Focuses on various efforts to address the year 2000 date conversion crisis in the United States. United Health Care Corp.'s assigning of bridgemasters to handle year 2000 conversion work; US Internal Revenue Service's formation of a core technical team made up of IRS specialists brought together to focus on year 2000-related issues.

Reports on the decline in productivity among American software developers in 1996, based on a survey by Meta Group Inc.'s Software Engineering Productivity Strategy Service; Factors affecting productivity; Improvement in quality of software products in the United States.

Looks at a survey of corporate information technology directors in the United States on their approach to the year 2000 problem. Indication that a small percentage had a detailed conversion plan in place; Advice to companies who haven't started critical year 2000 conversion plans.

Opinion. Comments on the computer industry's efforts to establish electronic data interchange (EDI) standards that would address the year 2000 computer systems bug. EDI industry's standards debate; Companies' call on their suppliers and business partners to prove that their computer systems are year 2000-compliant.

Presents trends, issues and statistics related to the year 2000 date conversion crisis. Establishment of the Bluegrass Year 2000 Group; Books on the year 2000 computing crisis; Rate paid per hour for a good project manager; Amount of conversion demand that conversion firms have the capacity to meet.

Looks into the possibility that large corporations in the United States may be able to impose year 2000 standards on their suppliers. General Motors, Sears, Roebuck & Co., and the financial services industry as examples; Advice to companies on how to cope with a trading partner that won't be compliant in time. INSET: EDI ready for millennium..

Reports that a Congressional committee will review on February 24, 1997 the United States government's progress in tackling its Year 2000 computer problems. Impact on Social Security checking and government delivery of supplies; Estimates on the cost of fixing the problems; Determining which systems must be fixed and which can be scrapped.

Presents developments in the computer industry in the United States for the week ending February 10, 1997. Virtual Experience's introduction of the VX-1 Basic Software Project Management Simulator for managing software projects; Information offered at the EarthCam site on the World Wide Web; Computer density in America at the end of 1996.

Reports on Hitachi Ltd.'s efforts to enter the mobile computing market in the United States. Challenges facing the company in the market; Market share of Hitachi notebook computers.

Focuses on Johnson & Johnson's training program for information systems (IS) managers in the United States. Aim to focus IS chiefs on strategic projects; Use of a survey that asks users how they view their systems and IS' contributions to their business; Alignment of information management with business concepts.

Reports on computer industry-related news as of May 27, 1996. Forecast on increasing information technology purchases; Bell & Howell's first live Internet broadcast; Advantages in using Interpose's Cost of Network Downtime Calculator.