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Posix is still evolving and success will depend on how well you follow the rules. Here's what to watch for. Early adopters of Posix-compliant VMS say that, with only a […]

What's one of the most significant challenges facing database managers today? The need to incorporate different forms of information--including text, graphics and video--into their applications. Database managers will soon have […]

INDUSTRY STATIC FOR 1991 AS WORLD ECONOMY COOLS Most MIS managers are viewing their 1991 budgets with the mixture of fear and apprehension. After all, much of the world is […]

TP MONITORS DELIVER MORE USERS FOR LESS COST Although relational databases have become critical elements of most organizations, the cost of deploying this technology tends to escalate dramatically as more […]

HOW X TERMINAL DOLLARS MAKE APPLICATIONS SENSE At first glance, many system managers might have a problem with paying more than $1,000 for an X windows terminal. After all, an […]

CIM GIVES MANUFACTURERS SAVINGS OVER LONG HAUL Increased global competition, drastically shortened product life spans and the need to cut costs are driving manufacturers to find ever-better ways of creating […]

INCREASED BACKBONE TRAFFIC PUSHES USERS TOWARD FDDI Like age-hardened arteries, the Ethernets of corporate America are soon going to clog. More users, more data, faster computers, workstations and network-dependent applications […]

John Rudasill was steamed. If only he'd told his director of Mexican operations to stuff his pockets with pesos when securing phone lines for a new trucking terminal in Monterrey. […]

To the end user, Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT looks, acts, and feels like the Windows 3.x system that shares its name. From the developer's point of view, however, Windows NT […]

Two-dimensional graphics has become a universal element of computing, found everywhere in graphical user interfaces and in applications themselves. Meanwhile, 3-D graphics remains limited to specialized applications such as CAD, […]

Mis managers looking to integrate fast X window devices based on RISC processors with existing DOS and Macintosh applications are evaluating a suite of tools designed to give them the […]

Concurrently sharing access to applications across multiple desktop systems is an old-fashioned idea that has its roots in traditional minicomputer systems. But the real challenge for moving to groupware involves […]

Few MIS managers would deny the potential benefits that client/server computing could bring to at least some aspects of their business. In theory, client/server computing combines the price/performance of workstations […]

The RMS file may still be alive and well at most DEC sites, but increasingly, the database management system forms the core of an organization's information system strategy. Relational database […]

There was a time when capacity planning for a system just took a little common sense. Lots of activity on one of your disks? Buy a faster subsystem. Response time […]

The difficult choice facing MIS managers these days is not whether they should decentralize their accounting operations, but which platforms they should employ to achieve their distributed computing goal. With […]

By most accounts, imaging if destined to become increasingly important in commercial and scientific/technical computing. Imaging applications range from the relatively simple digital storage and retrieval of paper documents to […]

Although many MIS departments are still in the throes of bringing their old applications into the relational database fold, proponents of object-oriented databases are already projecting their technology as the […]

Over the past several months, radical shifts in the structure of the computer industry have fundamentally changed the competitive relationships of every major system manufacturer. In a scenario somewhat reminiscent […]

As multivendor, distributed computing environments proliferate, system management has become something of a crucible on which MIS directors must forge efficiency in the face of diversity. Clearly, the advantages that […]

In theory, computerized project management is fairly simple: It's the task of organizing and directing resources to meet a specific, onetime objective. But when software-driven program evaluation and review techniques […]

DESKTOP MANAGERS TAKE GUIs TO THEIR GOLDEN AGE As the latest workstations arrive bundled with graphical user interfaces such as Motif from the Open Software Foundation (OSF) and Open Look […]

EXPERT SYSTEMS PAVE WAY FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING As competition becomes increasingly complex, many companies have discovered that the knowledge their employees accrue is one of their greatest assets. Compared to […]

RDBMS SECURITY: A DIRTY LITTLE SECRET Security is an issue that all system managers worry about but precious few want to discuss in detail. No manager wants to admit that […]

BUILDING A WHOLE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS In these ecnomically bleak times, with everyone talking of recession and tight budgets, maintaining sprawling legions of corporate data centers […]

RDBMS FORMS THE BASIS OF FINANCIAL CONTROL TOWER Combining accounting software with the information stored in distributed relational databases can provide an organization with a tremendous financial boon. By creating […]

SAVINGS ON DEMAND: DISTRIBUTION PLANNING Like its close conceptual cousin Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP), Distribution Resources Planning (DRP) is an attempt to gain control over the processes that govern the […]

OPTICAL DISKS SAVE SPACE, TIME, MAINTENANCE COSTS As both a technology and a finished product, optical disk storage is still in its infancy. Optical disks remain significantly more costly than […]

THIS NEW HOUSE of Cicada is buzzing with activity and excitement. Now that we've hammered the last shingle on the roof and addressed that plumbing problem in the downstairs bathroom, […]

Like many manufacturing firms, Gillette has been slow to incorporate personal computers into its operationS. Although the well-known razor-blade manufacturer has offices scattered throughout the world, it has only about [...]

The unsinkable ship. The rustproof car. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The mainframe-linked database. Most microcomputer databases, whether equipped with an easy query language, armed [...]

Most apparent in the evoluation of television was the size, quality and appearance of the screen. The improved technology--better transmitting, receiving and decoding circuitry--that supported the bigger screen was largely [...]

Kerthunk! ThwopThwopThwop... To most any auto-driving American, the sound of a flat tire is as familiar as Michael Jackson's voice on the car radio. And for 25 million drivers, the [...]

Word processing--the first application of the information age that unfolded with microcomputers--may become that age's first extinction. That was the concern of some vendors as more integrated-software packages cropped up [...]

FINANCIAL PLANNING SOFTWARE Financial-planning software is a curious, in-between breed of the software species. It may be a spreadsheet, but one that lacks the expansive capabilities of SuperCalc or 1-2-3. [...]

It's the 'pareve' stamped on a pack of crackers in the supermarket, or the UL tag clipped onto a lamp cord. It means that this product meets exacting standards, has [...]

FINDING THE PATH TO THE BEST DATA DELIVERY PLATFORM Choosing a database management system is one of those purchasing moves that consultants gently call a 'career decision.' To put it […]

GATHERING STORM OVER CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING Today the aggregate MIPS scattered across desk tops in most organizations are equal to and sometimes greater than the total MIPS stashed away at the […]