Briefings Direct

Much has been said about cloud computing in 2008, and still many knowledgeable IT people scratch their heads over what it really means. They want to know, How can enterprises best prepare to take advantage of this shift in IT resources use and acquisition -- but while also avoiding risks and uncertainty? To learn more about how enterprises should begin enjoying the pragmatic benefits of cloud-based delivery of mission-critical applications and data, BriefingsDIrect's Dana Gardner spoke with Rebecca Lawson, Director of Service Management and Cloud Solutions at HP; Scott McClellan, Vice President and Chief Technologist of Scalable Computing and Infrastructure in HP’s Technology Solutions Group, and Norman Lindsey, Chief Architect for Flexible Computing Services at EDS, an HP company. Read a full transcript of the discussion at: http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/enterprises-can-leverage-cloud.html. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.

In an age of significant layoffs and corporate restructuring, the burgeoning problem of identity and access management for IT operations and data centers has escalated into a critical security issue. Managing who gets access to which resources for how long -- and under what circumstances -- has become a huge and thorny problem. Improper and overextended access to sensitive data and powerful applications can cause massive risk as employees are upset. To learn more about how enterprises should begin coordinated identity and access management strategies, BriefingsDIrect's Dana Gardner spoke with Dan Rueckert, worldwide practice director for security and risk management in HP’s Consulting and Integration group; Archie Reed, distinguished technologist in HP’s security office in the Enterprise Storage and Server Group, and Mark Tice, vice president of identity management at Oracle. Read a full transcript of the discussion at: http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/identity-and-access-management-key-to.html. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.

Welcome to the latest BriefingsDirect Analyst Insights Edition, Vol. 33, a periodic discussion and dissection of software, services, SOA and compute cloud-related news and events, with a panel of IT analysts. In this episode, recorded Nov. 7, 2008, our experts examine services-oriented-architecture (SOA) governance, how to do it right, its scope, its future, and impact. We'll be talking with Todd Biske, author of the new Packet Publishing book, SOA Governance. The panel also focuses on the IT policies that an Obama administration should pursue, as well as ruminate about what a cabinet-level IT director appointee might accomplish. Please join noted IT industry analysts and experts Jim Kobielus, senior analyst at Forrester Research; Tony Baer, senior analyst at Ovum Research, and Biske, an enterprise architect at Monsanto. Our discussion is hosted and moderated by BriefingDirect's Dana Gardner. Read a transcript of the podcast: http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/briefingsdirect-analysts-review-new-soa.html. Charter sponsor: Active Endpoints.

Many enterprises are factoring how to bring more applications into a virtual development and deployment environment to save on operating costs and to take advantage of service oriented architectures and cloud computing models. Managing virtualized applications is an essential ingredient in making cloud-computing approaches as productive as possible while avoiding risk and complexity. To learn more about how enterprises should begin moving to application-level virtualization, BriefingsDIrect's Dana Gardner spoke with Billy Marshall, founder and chief strategy officer of rPath. Read a full transcript of the discussion at: http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/interview-rpaths-billy-marshall-on-how.html. Sponsor: rPath.

Fresh research from IDC on service oriented architecture (SOA) adoption patterns shows what users of SOA identify as essential success factors. The perceptions are critical as more companies cross from experimentation to more holistic SOA use and its required governance. A recent webinar captures the IDC findings and shows how HP is working to help companies adopt SOA successfully. That webinar is captured here as a podcast. Join BriefingsDIrect's Dana Gardner as he moderates a presentation by Sandy Rogers, program director for SOA, Web services, and integration research at IDC, along with Kelly Emo, SOA product marketing manager for HP Software. Read a full transcript of the discussion at: http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/webinar-idc-research-shows-soa-adoption.html. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.

The critical and global problem of energy management for IT operations and data centers has emerged as both a cost and capacity issue. The goal is to find innovative means to conservation so that existing facilities don't need to be expanded or replaced. In order to promote a low-risk matching of energy supply and cost with the lowest IT energy demand possible, the entire and contextual IT landscape needs to be considered. That means an enterprise-by-enterprise examination of the "many sins" of energy mis-management. To learn more about how enterprises should begin an energy-conservation mission, BriefingsDIrect's Dana Gardner spoke with Ian Jagger, Worldwide Data Center Services marketing manager in Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Technology Solutions Group, and Andrew Fisher, manager of technology strategy in the Industry Standard Services group at HP. Read a full transcript of the discussion at: http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/solving-it-energy-use-issues-requires.html. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.

Implementing best practices from the the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is becoming popular in IT departments. As managers improve IT operations with an eye to process efficiency, operational accountability, and systems behaviors, they need visibility into systems and networks. The use of systems log management and analytics in the context of full IT infrastructures produces the audit and performance data trail that helps implement and refine such frameworks as ITIL. To learn more about how systems log tools and analysis are aiding organizations as they adopt ITIL, BriefingsDirect's Dana Gardner spoke with Sean McClean, principal at consultancy KatalystNow, and Sudha Iyer, director of product management at LogLogic. Read a full transcript of the discussion at http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2008/11/log-management-and-analytics-key-to.html. Sponsor: LogLogic.