December, 2008

I thought I would share our electronic team Christmas Card with you (powered by Silverlight – click to view animation). We hope you enjoy a safe and happy holiday season – whichever holiday you choose to celebrate: Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Festivus.... Take the time be be with your friends and family, disconnect from the grid a little in order to reconnect with those that matter to you most. ...

It’s a pleasure connecting and supporting each and every one of you through the year, both personally and from a team perspective … I am lucky to have a role and great team that is focused on supporting and helping you make a positive difference in Canada.  I also feel so lucky to have this relationship with you. You’ve given us great feedback to help better support you , adjust our programs and...

There is amazing work being done by volunteers in non-profit organizations such as in: policy, security, immigration, creating an IT profession, regulation, best practices, standards, increasing under-represented groups (such as women) into technology, addressing falling enrollments in technology, accreditation of post-secondary schools, professional-level certification, curriculum innovation, providing...

Stuart R. Crawford Success Creator You Factor Inc. http://www.stuartcrawford.com 1-403-604-9464 Did this thought ever enter in your mind about a relationship or partnership? How did I ever get into business with these guys? How did I end up partnering with them? What do I have to do to get out of this relationship? These are normal thoughts that a lot of entrepreneurs, business owners and small business...

This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Kelly Gotlieb , "the" Internationally Renowned Pioneer in Computing - Kelly talks about his classified work. Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki , FCIPS , I.S.P. , MVP , DFNPA , CNP This week, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P. continues his exclusive interviews with computing...

In this episode I talk with Greg Patchev (IT Manager from Gerrie Electric ) and Andy Papadopoulos (president of Legendcorp ) on how they came about deploying a Microsoft based Unified Communications solution to replace an end of life PBX system for 17 offices. At first they were only looking for a collaboration / presence solution, but they soon discovered that Office Communication Server 2007 met...

With the holidays around the corner, it brought to mind this study and two interviews I did for CTV’s Canada AM and 57News . The interviews center on how technology is bringing the world closer together.  There is a MS Instant-Messenger study that suggests there are really Six.Six Degrees of connection between people -- much like the game surrounding “6 Degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon....

October 2008 articles     I wrote an article, “ The Future of IT: BAITing the right skill sets ,” for the October issue of Canadian Government Executive Magazine about a consensus happening in the market…so I’m sharing it with you. Enjoy! Stephen Ibaraki , FCIPS , I.S.P. , MVP , DFNPA , CNP This is old news, but still relevant, because government still isn’t getting it right enough of the...

This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Bruce Cowper , Top International Security Authority, Chief Security Advisor Microsoft Canada. This is Part 3 in a 3 Part series where Bruce provides deep insights into security. Take a moment to scan the Topic Index…and then listen to the interview!   Enjoy, Stephen...

This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Bruce Cowper , Top International Security Authority, Chief Security Advisor Microsoft Canada. This is Part 2 in a 3 Part series where Bruce provides deep insights into security. Take a moment to scan the Topic Index… Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki , FCIPS , I.S.P. , MVP...

Application Platform Strategy Recently a series of questions came up within the Global IT Advisory Council so I provided my take which I’m sharing with you. Regards, Stephen Ibaraki , FCIPS , I.S.P. , MVP , DFNPA , CNP What is an Application Platform to you? I see this from a holistic view which includes the applications, the application platform interface, the application platform itself, an infrastructure...

This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Bruce Cowper , Top International Security Authority, Chief Security Advisor Microsoft Canada. This is Part 1 in a 3 Part series where Bruce provides deep insights into security. Take a moment to scan the Topic Index… Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki , FCIPS , I.S.P. , MVP...

I hope you have been following the Ignite your Career series we've put on this year for IT Managers. We're wrapping up this edition on December the 9th with a special session called " Project Management for the IT Manager - when to bring in help ". I had a great conversation with one of the panellists last week - Jessica Keyes, author of " Leading IT Projects, the IT Manager's Guide ". I'm in the process...

If you have not listened to The IT Manager Podcast recently – or if you have never listened in before, you should take a moment to have a listen to this show. It’s the first episode where we’ve refreshed the format and updated the production elements. It’s only 30 minutes long and this episodes topic is about reducing your data management complexity with SQL Server. Our previous episode focused...

Over the last 6 weeks or so, John Bristowe and I , as well as Rick Claus and Christian Beauclair , have visited 10 cities for the AlignIT Tour . For those of you that attended the tour events, we thank you once again for taking the time out of your busy schedule to hear about how you can take the road to a more optimized and dynamic IT infrastructure by taking advantage of a model-based approach through...