The Cloud Has Us All In A Fog

Ever heard of Dropship? It’s an open-source project that “enables arbitrary, anonymous transfers of files between Dropbox accounts.” Dropbox hopes you haven’t; they tried to squelch it this week, and even accidentally reported that it was subject to a DMCA takedown notice, with predictably futile results. I’m mostly sympathetic: I’m a huge fan of their service, Dropship was a clear violation of their terms, and for obvious reasons they don’t want to turn into an anonymous peer-to-peer file-sharing service. Unfortunately, they accidentally built a system which enabled just that.

How about Sony’s PlayStation Network? Of course you have. It was so thoroughly hacked this week that Sony had to shut it down indefinitely. Did you also know that Sony’s PS3 firmware is effectively wide open, because they made a hilariously stupid security mistake? Did you know that that’s probably how PSN got hacked, and that it raised the spectre of the hacker(s) taking over every connected PlayStation 3 in the world and turning them into by far the biggest botnet in history? That probably wasn’t what Sony had in mind, but they accidentally built a system which enabled just that.

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The Cloud Has Us All In A Fog

Make Sure Your Cloud Provider Communicates

Last week's outage of Amazon's Elastic Cloud Compute, and specifically the company's lack of communications around that outage, point out the importance of transparency when working with a cloud provider.

For the most part, Amazon's communication with customers through the outage was done through its Service Health Dashboard. Aside from that, communications from the company were terribly lacking.

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Make Sure Your Cloud Provider Communicates

Making Enterprise Architecture Matter

Of all the IT positions, the head of enterprise architecture is by far the most difficult to recruit for. The right candidate needs to have some expertise in every layer of the technology stack, a keen understanding of the business, the ability to manage a matrixed (and peevish) group of siloed technologists, and the je ne sais quoi to sell concepts like service-oriented architecture to uninterested business executives. If there is one position that truly embodies the CIO paradox, it is this one. As Lynden Tennison, CIO of Union Pacific Railroad, puts it, "The chief architect needs to be the smartest person in the room and the least arrogant."

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Making Enterprise Architecture Matter

Nokia Siemens Networks completes acquisition of certain wireless network infrastructure assets of Motorola Solutions

Nokia Siemens Networks and Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) today jointly announced that Nokia Siemens Networks has completed its acquisition of Motorola Solutions' Networks assets paying US $975 million in cash. As of April 30 2011, responsibility for supporting customers of Motorola Solutions' GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMAX and LTE products and services transfers to Nokia Siemens Networks.

"The people, customers and technology we've acquired greatly complement our existing business by taking us into new markets and broadening our market share," said Rajeev Suri, Chief Executive Officer, Nokia Siemens Networks. "Our combined knowledge and experience will provide our newly expanded customer base with the means to grow by providing greater value to their subscribers."

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Nokia Siemens Networks completes acquisition of certain wireless network infrastructure assets of Motorola Solutions

Apple iPad 2 review: Why it's still winning with business users

While lots of companies want a piece of the multitouch tablet market, iPad competitors have been unable to match Apple. Even business users prefer the iPad 2. Learn why.

It’s been over a month since the arrival of the iPad 2 and Apple still can’t build them fast enough for all of the people who are ready to buy one — let alone keep the retail shelves stocked. Meanwhile, the iPad’s two most widely-hyped rivals so far in 2011 — the Motorola Xoom and the BlackBerry PlayBook — have been greeted by mediocre reviews and tepid sales.

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Apple iPad 2 review: Why it's still winning with business users

Infosys Announces Leadership Succession

The Board of Directors met today and announced the following changes to the Board.

- Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy appointed Chairman Emeritus.

- Mr. K. V. Kamath named as the Chairman of the Board.

- Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan named as the Co-Chairman of the Board.

- Mr. S. D. Shibulal named as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.

The appointments are effective from August 21, 2011. The decision of the Board is based on the recommendations of the Nominations Committee. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Jeffrey S. Lehman, Chairman of the Nominations Committee said,

"This is a great moment for Infosys. These three leaders meld an extraordinary range of talents and experiences with a united commitment to drive the company to unprecedented levels of accomplishment while remaining true to its historic values. We could not be in better hands."

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Infosys Announces Leadership Succession

Digital Advertising Fails to Find a Media Mix

Digital and traditional advertising are failing to complement one another effectively, according to part two of the STRATA quarterly survey of major advertising agencies. STRATA, a leading media buying and selling software provider, found that although digital is playing a larger role, the category still faces substantial obstacles in aligning cohesively with campaign goals. Despite some years of experience with digital, clients still do not fully comprehend the value of this form of media.

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Digital Advertising Fails to Find a Media Mix

Wipro Technologies Feted with 'Verizon 2010 Supplier Recognition' Award

Wipro Technologies, the global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT), has been feted with the coveted 'Verizon Supplier Recognition' Award in the 'IT Products and Services' category, for the year 2010, by Verizon Communications, a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communications services. The annual award recognizes Verizon's top suppliers that have helped the communications leader provide exceptional service to its customers.

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Wipro Technologies Feted with 'Verizon 2010 Supplier Recognition' Award

BMC Software Acquires Coradiant Inc.

BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) has acquired Coradiant Inc., the market leader in end-user experience and web application performance monitoring.

“The addition of Coradiant’s Web Application Performance Management capabilities to BMC’s Business Service Management platform establishes the industry’s most comprehensive solution for anticipating and proactively addressing the end-user experience requirements of our customers’ businesses,” said Paul Avenant, senior vice president, ESM solutions and brand management. “Until now, IT operations teams have struggled to deliver a consistently stellar end-user experience and proactively identify problems with applications before they negatively impact the business.”

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BMC Software Acquires Coradiant Inc.

Netflix subscribers now equal Comcast's

The Netflix juggernaut showed no signs of slowing down during the first quarter of 2011.

On the contrary, for the quarter ended March 31 (PDF), Netflix reported worldwide net profits of $60 million, or $1.11 per share, on revenue of $719 million. The earnings for the Web's top video-rental service were nearly twice the $32 million the company saw for the same period a year ago.


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Netflix subscribers now equal Comcast's