IT operations is under a set of conflicting mandates and pressures.The business wants IT operations to be more agile and to be a partner in the process of bringing more business functionality online (also knows as digitization).The executives in charge of IT (most often the CIO) want IT operations to be more cost effective, which means spending either needs to be reduced or not grow as quickly as it has in the past.Application owners want two inherent conflicting objectives. They want IT operations to guarantee that their infrastructure will provide excellent performance for their applications, and they simultaneously want IT operations to feel more like a cloud provider with a rich set of self-service options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
SAP's revenue from cloud subscriptions and support grew so quickly in 2016, the company has raised its forecasts for 2017 and 2020.Full-year cloud revenue grew 31 percent compared to a year earlier, accounting for over half of the company's revenue growth. Total revenue reached €22.1 billion (US$23.8 billion), up €1.3 billion on 2015, while revenue from cloud subscriptions and support grew €707 million to €3 billion, the company reported Tuesday.Profit after tax rose to €3.6 billion from €3.1 billion in 2015.SAP is keen to see more of its software business move to the cloud because, unlike traditional software licenses that bring a bump in revenue at the moment a deal is signed, it represents a predictable source of revenue. Together with software support, the company says that the growth in cloud services means 61 percent of its revenue now comes from more predictable sources.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A U.S. appeals court will not reconsider its groundbreaking decision denying Department of Justice efforts to force Microsoft to turn over customer emails stored outside the country.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a 4-4 decision Tuesday, declined to rehear its July decision that denied the DOJ access to the email of a drug trafficking suspect stored on a Microsoft server in Ireland. Microsoft has been fighting DOJ requests for the email since 2013.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Since Epicurus wrote in the third century BC about pain and pleasure, happiness and unhappiness has been a constant subject of conversation. Recently researchers from the University of Stuttgart studied the effects of software developers’ state of happiness on performance and found unhappy developers negatively affect the development process and software products.This might explain why some software companies treat their development teams to pingpong tables, foosball, cappuccino machines and other perks.A clearer understanding could lead to successful intervention, more effective than those perks, and (depending upon the costs) astonishing productivity benefits.Though not mentioned by the researchers, it sounds very similar to the work of author and TED Talk speaker Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his ideas about creating conditions that lead to a flow state, also called the zone of deep concentration, and undistracted, peak performance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Kingston Digital USB3C Works with newer USB Type-C devices such as smartphones and tablets, and is also compatible with USB Type-A ports on existing USB host devices. Designed to be simple and fast. The 64GB model is currently 22% off, putting its current price at just $28.87. See it on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you are planning to apply for a federal IT job, President Donald Trump's federal hiring freeze makes it harder, but not impossible, to land a position with the U.S. government.On Monday, Trump signed an executive order preventing the filling of vacant positions or creating new jobs "except when necessary to meet national or public security responsibilities," said Trump Administration Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a briefing today.[To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.]Defense agencies are big users of IT and appear to be unaffected by the freeze. Cybersecurity hiring is a major impetus at civilian agencies and, depending on how broadly the government defines IT jobs related to "public security," there could still be quite a bit of hiring.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
President Donald Trump has named Commissioner Ajit Pai, an outspoken opponent of the FCC’s net neutrality rules, as the next head of the agency.The choice was widely expected after Trump’s election last November. Pai is the senior Republican on the commission, having served since 2012. He doesn’t need to be confirmed by the Senate because he is already on the Commission.Pai attacked the reclassification of broadband as a utility in 2015, saying it would place excessive burdens on service providers, other internet players and consumers. The expansion of broadband service through a competitive marketplace has been one of Pai’s themes as a commissioner.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
One trend at CES 2017 came in the form of 2-in-1 devices. These hybrid tablet-notebooks were everywhere -- Dell alone announced three hybrid devices, and companies like HP, Toshiba and ASUS also unveiled new tablet hardware.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 7 reasons to deploy Wi-Fi security in Enterprise mode
Hybrids offer the flexibility of a tablet, with the functionality and performance of a notebook. After an initial lukewarm reception, they're finally taking off. These six devices unveiled at CES 2017 will lead the pack in the continuing shift to hybrid devices for both consumers and the enterprise.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Videoconferences can reduce an organization's travel expenses and make people more productive by virtually bringing far-flung employees together, but -- as we all know -- they can be frustrating to set up and conduct.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Google co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledges that he was caught off-guard by the phenomenon of artificial intelligence, which he notes now permeates key Google properties.Speaking at the recent World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, Brin, a trained computer scientist, said he didn't pay attention to AI in the 1990s because "everyone knew [AI] didn't work," he said.[ The InfoWorld deep learning reviews: Spark lights up machine learning. | TensorFlow shines a light on deep learning. | Microsoft takes on TensorFlow. | MXNet: Amazon's scalable deep learning. | Caffe deep learning conquers image classification. | Get a digest of the day's top tech stories in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. ]
Brin was head of the Google X research group, which featured Google Brain, a project centered on machine intelligence, he recalled. "Fast-forward a few years, and now Brain probably touches every single one of our main projects, ranging from search to photos to ads to everything we do."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Victims who were burned by Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices that overheated or exploded won't soon forget, but Samsung clearly wants to move beyond the disaster and the recall of all 3 million of its Note7 smartphones.After months of investigations, the South Korean company on Monday formally blamed short-circuiting in batteries by two battery manufacturers as the cause for overheating.In some cases, batteries were missing insulating tape around battery components or electrodes were damaged and bent. Some welding defects in some of the second wave of batteries by a different battery maker also caused short-circuiting.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Best practicesImage by ThinkstockThe rise of malware targeting unsecured IoT endpoints, like the Mirai strain used as part of October’s DDoS attack on Dyn, mean it’s more important than ever to make security a priority. Remote workers who use their home office as their primary office are arguably at even more of a risk since they may be exposing corporate assets as well as personal assets. Untangle recommends the following best practices to secure your home network.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Despite the tendency to feel that getting work done from your smartphone means you’re “always working,” there are still those moments when it’s liberating to be able to finish off a quick task or respond to a company message without opening your computer.I find that the real key is knowing the type of work you want to do and getting your setup right. This is especially important when you head off on a trip or you’re at a conference where you’re more likely to have access to your phone when you’re crammed in a presentation or running from one room to another.MORE: 10 mobile startups to watch
If you’re looking for a guide on what you need, or just some ideas for getting started, let us offer you a helping hand. There are plenty of good apps and services that you may not have heard of, or maybe you just need a tip about how to make them work best for you.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If we show you how to back up your PC for free, will you finally do it? Beyond simple hard drive failure, your PC could fall prey to user error, thieves, and all sorts of nefarious malware. The only way to ensure that none of your personal files or programs are lost in a catastrophe is to back up everything regularly.While backing up your data can be as simple as dumping critical files on an external hard drive every now and again, you’ll ideally want backups that let you recover not just yesterday’s version of a lost file, but last Tuesday’s as well. Backups should be easy to do, or they won’t get done. And ideally, you should have more than one backup in more than one location.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Seven out of 10 companies say that “employee engagement” is critical to their organization’s success, according to an oft-cited Gallup poll. Now those companies are counting on HR software to help them get a clearer picture of their workforce and encourage greater engagement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
With enforcement of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) set to begin on May 25, 2018, organizations that handle any personal data relating to EU residents must begin preparing now, if they haven't already.Most organizations will need to designate a data protection officer (DPO), says Steve Durbin, managing director of the Information Security Forum (ISF), a global, independent information security body that focuses on cyber security and information risk management."The GDPR is putting data protection practices at the forefront of business agendas worldwide," Durbin said in a statement earlier this month. "Its scope is unmatched by any other international law, and we estimate that more than 98 percent of ISF members will be affected by its requirements because they process the personal data of EU residents, or are based in the EU. For most organizations, the next 18 months will be a critical time for their data protection regimes as they determine the applicability of the GDPR and the controls and capabilities they will need to manage their compliance and risk obligations."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ask organizations today about the value of data and you’re likely to hear it measured in terms of competitive advantage, customer experience and revenue generation. As Dante Disparte and Daniel Wagner put it in a December 2016 HBR article, data is “becoming a centerpiece of corporate value creation.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
For D-Wave, the path to quantum computers being widely accepted is similar to the history of today's computers. The first chips came more than 30 years ago, and Microsoft's Basic expanded the software infrastructure around PCs.
Quantum computers are a new type of computer that can be significantly faster than today's PCs. They are still decades away from replacing PCs and going mainstream, but more advanced hardware and use models are still emerging.
"A lot of that is unfolding and will have a similar dramatic change in the computing landscape," Vern Brownell, D-Wave's CEO, said in an interview.
D-Wave is the only company selling a quantum computer. It sold its first system in 2011 and is now pushing the speed limits with a new quantum computer called the D-Wave 2000Q, which has 2,000 qubits.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Mike Pompeo was sworn in late Monday by U.S. Vice President Michael Pence as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency, amid protests from surveillance critics who worry about his conflicting views on a number of key issues.The oath of office was administered to him after the Senate voted in favor of his confirmation in a 66-32 vote.Critics of Pompeo, a Republican representative from Kansas, are concerned that he may weigh in with the government on a rollback of many privacy reforms, including restrictions on the collection of bulk telephone metadata from Americans by the National Security Agency under the USA Freedom Act. There are also concerns that the new director may try to introduce curbs on the use of encryption and bring in measures to monitor the social media accounts of people.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A compact power bank, a car jump starter, and a LED flashlight, all fit into a minimal and portable design. Whether it is your car or your USB devices, never run out of power again. Store it in the glovebox or simply drop it in your bag. Have a concentrated 14000mAh source of power always with you -- enough for up to 20 vehicle jumpstarts or many device recharges before the unit itself needs to be recharged. RAVPower's jump starter typically lists for $160 but is currently discounted 59% on Amazon to just $66. See the discounted car jumper now on Amazon. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here