January, 2006

In the podcast, Roger makes this prophetic statement: "Web Services will be both a boon and a bane for large enterprises. A boon, because it will enable workflow in ways unimaginable a few years ago. A bane, because it will result in the most expensive and spectacular IT failures in the history of our industry." Roger Sessions , Founder and CEO of ObjectWatch Inc., Board Director of the International...

There has been a lot of talk recently about 64–bit from a server and datacenter perspective, but there really has not been much talk about 64–bit in the desktop or the consumer space. In John’s post ( http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/archive/2005/11/15/414557.aspx ) he talks about reducing the Datacenters footprint with 64–bit and virtualization, and while this sounds great for IT, it does...

You and I know that this is a reality for many businesses. What is this? Working in a mixed environment. I found this paper to be a good overview resource for IT managers. In late November and mid-December, Quest worked with Microsoft to deliver a Webcast about SMS and MOM and how customers can leverage Vintela Management Extensions (VMX) to manage their entire enterprise, including Windows, Unix...

John did a post a few weeks ago about MS CRM 3.0. It shipped on schedule which is a great sign and it offers many new options to businesses. In a recent chat with CRM expert Joe Horvath, I found there were significant benefits and solutions offered by this update. It competes effectively with all other CRM offerings. Joe is a co-founder of iFusion Solutions Inc. a multiple award winning top 3 CRM provider...

I was talking with Adam Cole and he had some really interesting things to say so I invited him here to provide a "guest blog." ******* Adam Cole, BMath, I.S.P., PMP Manager SPS Applications & Development - McKesson Canada Regional Director, National Board, Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) ----------- Methodology, you know what it is. It's the medicine you should take to avoid...

Some of you may remember Ilya in the 90s’ before he went to Redmond when he worked for MCS and when he made presentations across Canada as a Senior Systems Engineer and Senior Technology Specialist. He was always engaging and easy to follow providing useful pointers for IT Pros. As a result, anytime he was in Vancouver, I would make sure I caught his sessions. When he was promoted to Redmond, I followed...

Computerworld has a great article talking about different vendors and their approach to patching. I think this brings to light an interesting challenge for IT Managers; how and when to patch systems? Here at Microsoft we provide guidance about the severity of a vulnerability to help you determine how critical this is to your organization. As is mentioned in the article, Microsoft has also...

You may have seen this advisory but I’m blogging about it due to its potential serious repercussions. “Systems that are infected with Win32/Sober.Z@mm may download and run malicious files from certain Web domains beginning on January 6, 2006 and approximately every two weeks thereafter.” Watch for spikes in network traffic Thursday or Friday. [Note: I have seen a few indications that it could happen...

I’m a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and it’s a topic I’m trying to put on the member’s radar map. You see, I find Directors often separate these two items as somewhat unrelated to each. Or worst they still don’t even consider this important enough to elevate to C-level status or Board-level. I explained this situation to a retired CEO of one of the largest enterprises—we both...

I know this is a hot topic for IT managers. In a recent poll of CIOs, it ranks number one and even ahead of security. So now the question, are there models you can study to gain greater insight and provide you with some really usable guidelines? Here is a great white paper that does just that. I found it really useful since it provides the processes and tools that the Microsoft Information Technology...

This isn't the first post about staying connected to appear on this blog, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Today I want to talk about how you can stay more connected to Microsoft to find out what is happening with our Security Response center. In a previous post John talked about all of the different sites that you could go to in order to stay abreast of all our official security announcements...

You hear about security all the time but have you and your team been designing your applications with security in mind. I found this web-cast, “5 Steps for Developing Secure Applications,” from ITworld.com dated January 12, 2006 provides a good overview roadmap for IT managers: http://www.accelacast.com/webcasts/gartner_compuware_app/ A synopsis of the web-cast’s main themes follow: Essentially...

Given the recent activity on the security front I thought it would be worthwhile to highlight how to keep up to date with MS security advisories and bulletins. From my perspective... there is no better place then Technet. The below links will give you a great place to start. Security Advisories - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/default.mspx Security Bulletins - http:...

This is a handy tip from those who worry about the “always available” administrative shares. You can make the disappear with this handy script. Have a look from Technet . Thank you, Stephen Ibaraki

In my opinion, it’s not worth the risk inherent from business inflexibility in supporting older systems. To be able to compete effectively, businesses need to be agile and this requires newer technology or at least a strategy of replacing legacy systems. I know there is the other argument. It works so why replace it. However with the second internet a fact, and the trend towards all things internet...

Control Objectives for Information and related Technology ( CobIT) 4.0 , published by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) provides the much needed best practices and guidance to manage 34 processes for the “essential” tighter alignment and achievement of “business” and technology goals. I have written about this before. IT governance must be represented at the executive...

I was interviewed for the January 20th issue of ComputerWorld Canada on software trends and just received a request for an interview from NetWorld Canada on server virtualization. So, I thought, why not blog about virtualization in a broader sense and find a good reference link for IT managers. I feel it makes sense to strategize for it, if you have not implemented some form of virtualization already...

Stephen brings up a good point as there is a lot of activity on the security front this week. Given the activity I want to make you we help keep you connected and bring to your attention the security advisory we’ve issued regarding recent variants of the Win32/Sober worm. The antivirus community has been tracking variants of Win32/Sober, a mass mailer worm that attempts to entice users into opening...

After I published this blog post , I was pointed to a great resource from one of our MS MVP's The " Unofficial x64 FAQ " is maintained by Charlie Russel who is one of our MVP's living out in B.C. If you are trying to figure out how to get Windows working with the latest devices, check out the site. Great work Charlie.

I thought that I'd bring this to your attention as you might want to send this information to your Tech IT pros or even use it yourself. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2006/01/default.aspx The January•February 2006 issue of TechNet Magazine is now available online at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2006/01/default.aspx . A downloadable CHM file of...

I have to hand it to Microsoft. They are taking some bold steps and they are all in the right direction. For example, look at this Canadian IT Managers forum initiated by John Oxley where all manner of items are discussed and an open discussion is invited. You have to respect that. And now according to a study by IDC, for two years in a row and in a comparison with the 25 leading software vendors,...

I attend many conferences but there is one that I feel requires your particular attention—INFORMATICS 2006, May 28-30 in Victoria BC. It is specifically geared for you and so I highly recommend you attend. INFORMATICS 2006 is the premier conference for IT Managers and professionals with “Six thought-provoking keynote sessions, twenty-six workshop sessions focusing on topics related to management...

I find these malicious little rootkit beasts somewhat terrifying! Strong words I know but when you have a security threat, such as creating a backdoor to your system or running code for every process, that is undetectable even by scanners, you have a real problem. And rootkit authors are always looking for ways to remain hidden from detection. You definitely need to be up on them. Have a look at...

When John invited me to join him and Barnaby in this blog I agreed for a number of reasons: John has taken a bold move to engage with you which I respect and he has so many great ideas to connect us even further; I can bring in viewpoints from IT professional groups and experts as an independent volunteer. Think of me as one "your" links in this collaborative forum. In this role, I want to hear your...

I have a more technical leaning. How about you? You may find this of interest: On January 13, 2006, 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time, join Kyril Faenov, Director of Windows High Performance Computing, and key members of the Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 product team to discuss the development of the new Windows high performance computing platform for parallel computing. The new product simplifies the...