6 reasons why Google built its own AI chip

Data centers workloads once handled by IBM mainframes and Sun servers were commoditized by Intel PC hardware, driven by cloud companies like Google. The belief held by the tech industry, including Andreessen Horowitz VC Ben Evans up until recently, that this would continue forever changed last week when Google released a detailed research paper about performance and architectural details about its Tensorflow Processing Unit (TPU).An advertising, cloud services and software company breaking from its core business raises the question: Why are Intel, Qualcomm and NVIDIA not meeting Google’s data center needs?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How a job candidate’s experience affects your brand

The internet is forever. Memes, Tweets, blog posts, PR wins and gaffes -- once published, these things won't ever go away. Nowhere is this fact more important than on employer review sites, where candidates and employees turn to share their thoughts, feelings and personal experiences interacting with a company, says Dan Schawbel, research director at Future Workplace.The research, "The Future of Recruiting," from Future Workplace and HR and social media recruiting technology solutions company CareerArc, surveyed 1,054 total respondents, including 616 employers and 438 job seekers, and showed that 61 percent of job seekers visit a company's online properties first before applying; a 17 percent increase from 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Review: VMM 2016 stiffs Azure, older Hyper-V

As you read through the list of new features in System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), you will be hard-pressed to find any new features not directly related to Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V. As I worked with VMM 2016, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that VMM 2016 was good ol’ VMM 2012 R2 with bolted-on support for features introduced in Windows Server 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Review: VMM 2016 stiffs Azure, older Hyper-V

As you read through the list of new features in System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), you will be hard-pressed to find any new features not directly related to Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V. As I worked with VMM 2016, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that VMM 2016 was good ol’ VMM 2012 R2 with bolted-on support for features introduced in Windows Server 2016.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Top 30 free apps for Windows 10

Top 30 free apps for Windows 10Image by IDGWith Windows 10 adoption ramping up, many folks are looking for ways to further improve the Win10 experience. So why not make the most of your transition by reconsidering your old app habits and getting Win10 tools that will help you work smarter, faster, and more productively?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to jumpstart your infosec career

It would sure make things simple if there was one easy and obvious way to get a job or start a successful business in IT security. But it would also cut off a lot of potential career paths. We spoke to a host of different IT security pros and found that indeed there wasn't just one route to that coveted job.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

The rising security risk of the citizen developer

While shadow IT was always a challenge for enterprise IT teams, it rapidly started to accelerate with the growth of the smartphone, and then cloud computing with the incredible expansion of public cloud infrastructure and software as a service offerings that made it as easy as providing a credit card to access a cloud service. Today, shadow IT has spread beyond smartphones, tablets, and cloud services and is rapidly extending into the domain of the enterprise developer.The trend could create profound risks for enterprise security teams if these shadow, or citizen, developers, aren’t reined.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The rising security risk of the citizen developer

While shadow IT was always a challenge for enterprise IT teams, it rapidly started to accelerate with the growth of the smartphone, and then cloud computing with the incredible expansion of public cloud infrastructure and software as a service offerings that made it as easy as providing a credit card to access a cloud service. Today, shadow IT has spread beyond smartphones, tablets, and cloud services and is rapidly extending into the domain of the enterprise developer.The trend could create profound risks for enterprise security teams if these shadow, or citizen, developers, aren’t reined.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Windows 10 privacy settings: What’s new in the Creators Update

Windows 10 privacy is a contentious issue. This is in part because Windows 10 is integrated with cloud-based features like Cortana, and it has features influenced by mobile such as determining your location. Then there's Microsoft's more questionable goals, like scooping up diagnostic data and gathering information for better ad-targeting.In previous versions of Windows 10, managing privacy was, to put it mildly, an insane process. Settings were strewn all over the operating system and the web.Privacy isn't much better in the recently released Creators Update, but Microsoft has consolidated its web-based privacy information related to a user's Microsoft Account. In addition, privacy settings on the PC are a little more helpful.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What it takes to be a security consultant

IT security consultants tend to be busy people. Given the widespread shortage of professionals with skills in many different aspects of cyber security, organizations frequently need help from outside experts.Like many others who work in information security, Kevin Beaver, did not initially set out to pursue a career in the field—or to eventually become an independent IT security consultant. “During my senior year of high school, my late mother, Linda, encouraged me to go to college and study computers. That seemed to be a growing field with lots of opportunities,” Beaver says. “My mom was exactly right! My computer studies led to me pursuing this thing called computer security.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

What it takes to be a security consultant

IT security consultants tend to be busy people. Given the widespread shortage of professionals with skills in many different aspects of cyber security, organizations frequently need help from outside experts.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Women in Tech: Keys to Retention

Forget Heliocentrism—Embrace the cloud and Zeus-centrism

In the early 1600s, one of my favorite historical figures, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, championed the works of one Nicolaus Copernicus and postulated that the universe was heliocentric. The term was named after Helios, the Greek god of the sun, indicating that everything revolved around him.In the IT world, the cloud has become the center of the universe. And since Zeus is the Greek god of the sky, which includes thunder and cloud, it makes sense that CIOs should adopt a Zeus-centric faith.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The pathway to digital transformation runs through IT

When Scott Crowder joined BMC as its vice president of infrastructure and operations in 2011, he felt like he had stepped back in time. While he knew BMC’s products to be world class, the data center and other technologies running this world-class operation seemed more like they belonged in a museum.+ Also on Network World: Accelerating digital transformation using the Medici Effect + Thus started a transformational journey that began in earnest with Crowder’s appointment as BMC's CIO in 2014. He had already begun the transformation of the data center in his first role, but upon taking the reins as CIO, he knew he had the opportunity to reshape the IT landscape from the ground up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: The pathway to digital transformation runs through IT

When Scott Crowder joined BMC as its vice president of infrastructure and operations in 2011, he felt like he had stepped back in time. While he knew BMC’s products to be world class, the data center and other technologies running this world-class operation seemed more like they belonged in a museum.+ Also on Network World: Accelerating digital transformation using the Medici Effect + Thus started a transformational journey that began in earnest with Crowder’s appointment as BMC's CIO in 2014. He had already begun the transformation of the data center in his first role, but upon taking the reins as CIO, he knew he had the opportunity to reshape the IT landscape from the ground up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Secrets of bimodal IT success: Tiger teams, skunkworks and the camel’s nose

For such a seemingly obvious idea, Gartner ignited quite a firestorm with its proposition that, to remain relevant, IT must be broken into two distinct realms: one focused on keeping the lights on, or, in Gartner parlance, Mode 1, and one devoted to the cool stuff that business people want, or Mode 2.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Secrets of bimodal IT success: Tiger teams, skunkworks and the camel’s nose

For such a seemingly obvious idea, Gartner ignited quite a firestorm with its proposition that, to remain relevant, IT must be broken into two distinct realms: one focused on keeping the lights on, or, in Gartner parlance, Mode 1, and one devoted to the cool stuff that business people want, or Mode 2.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Tips and tricks for a successful SD-WAN

Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology promises enterprises true transport independence and flexibility. SD-WAN adopters can turn to any transport protocol -- 3G, 4G LTE, MPLS, Internet or Wi-Fi -- to provide the best cost and performance benefits for specific applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Tips and tricks for a successful SD-WAN

Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology promises enterprises true transport independence and flexibility. SD-WAN adopters can turn to any transport protocol -- 3G, 4G LTE, MPLS, Internet or Wi-Fi -- to provide the best cost and performance benefits for specific applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

31 tech pros share favorite IT products

What's to like? Image by Vicki Lyons, Prakash Kota, Julie Ulrich and David LeDouxEvery year we ask IT pros to share their favorite enterprise products, and every year we learn what it takes to win them over — including gear that saves time and money, bolsters security, and streamlines digital transformations. Read on to learn what 31 tech pros like best, in their own words.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here