Emerging Tech


Troubleshooting Application Performance: IT Still Stuck in the Stone Age

Most organizations rely on resource-intensive and manual processes to identify and fix their application-performance woes

Why Physical Data Protection Isn't Enough

Logical data protection is a vital part of IT's backup/recovery plans

Careers: Application Development Skills Back in Demand

The enterprise application developer’s lot has long been an unenviable one—until now, that is

Data Archiving vs. Data Backup: A Closer Look

Savvy organizations are embracing data archiving as a means to reduce costs, improve performance, and satisfy compliance requirements

IBM Offers New Take on Thin-Client Computing

IBM’s new virtual desktop solution emphasizes a centralized, host-based infrastructure and a lightweight, terminal-esque desktop—and virtualization, too

Taking Control of Data Center Automation

There’s an ugly downside to many of the utility computing technologies on the market today

An Rx for Mainframe Viability

If the mainframe is to remain a viable platform for the next forty years, IBM Corp. may need to do more to address some of its most glaring pain points



Careers: In-Demand IT Skills for 2006

Mainframe professionals need not despair: disaster recovery, system auditing, and enterprise application integration skills or experience are eagerly sought

Top-Flight Companies Pay More, Expect More from IT Talent

World-class companies tend to pay almost one-third more for IT talent, but their turnover rates are also significantly higher.

SOA: The Rewrite-vs.-Replace Dilemma

Legacy design approaches complicate things for would-be service-enablers and raise questions about the viability of some mainframe applications

Careers: Big Iron's Catch-22

Are mainframe pros the victims of their platform’s strongest selling points?

Big Blue Gets Dashboard Fever

If vendor interest is any indication, dashboards are hot. In fact, they're positively sizzling, which may explain why IBM is jumping into the fray.

IBM’s z9 Stirs Up Mainframe Market

MIPS-wise, the new z9 is among the most flexible mainframe systems IBM has ever developed.

Big Blue’s SOA Blitz

Are the ESB visions touted by IBM, BEA, and others a new spin on an old idea: vendor lock-in?

Oracle Ratchets Up the Pressure on SAP

Oracle can now lay claim to best-of-breed database, HR, CRM, and analytic software in its fight with SAP

A Mainframe First: J2EE Performance Testing for Big Iron Web Apps

Big Blue’s Rational Performance Tester for z/OS isn’t a technology in search of a market—it’s a reflection of market demand, IBM officials say

Study Finds Quality Improvement Projects Have Lower Failure Rate

Sometimes the smartest thing an organization can do is pull the plug on an ailing project—regardless of how much time and money it’s invested in it

IBM Revamps Flagship Storage Resource Management Suite

Support for z/OS is still gestating, however, and extending TotalStorage Productivity Center to OS/400 will be difficult, too.

Seven Habits of Highly Successful Business/IT Aligners

There are seven ground rules for aligning business strategy with IT. Flub any one of them and you can kiss your alignment aspirations goodbye.

The Mainframe Loses One: IBM Ends Development, Resale of OLAP Engine

IBM’s decision to eighty-six its DB2 OLAP Server has ramifications for mainframe and iSeries shops