Ovum’s view of Oracle Accerators

IT Toolbox provided information from Ovum: ORACLE ACCELERATE – NOT JUST SMART BUT TIMELY.

Video here here and associated document Ovum whitepaper Accelerators.

Government departments to swap spare software licences

clipped from www.computerweekly.com The government is setting up a software swap-shop to allow government departments to use spare software without paying extra licensing costs. The pool, the first of its kind, is designed to minimise waste caused when government departments take out licences for more copies of software than they use. The software license pool will be a key component of a government-wide memorandum of understanding between the Treasury’s Office of Government Commerce and Microsoft. A source close to the negotiations said that re-usable Microsoft software licences were just a beachhead. The OGC had opened talks with all major vendors to agree the same terms.

Lazy Agents look here

Agents…dontcha love ‘em.

In the dim and distant past I used to be a contractor, reliant on agents for work. At various times I also had need to call upon them to provide me with people, so I have seen how they operate from both sides.

Even today I got an email from one asking if I was interested in a job that had absolutely no relevance to me. I know he had looked at my information on Linkedin but he had singularly failed to link his requirement to my skill-set. Even more interesting, he was trying to sell me while it is patently obvious that he should be selling to me. Lazy, lazy, lazy and such a good reason not to do business with him.

Agents…if I send you this link, consider yourself officially lazy.

Five ways Gen Y will change the way you work

clipped from news.zdnet.com The Millennials are coming – armed with Facebook accounts and netbooks, the latest generation of young workers are entering the workplace ready to raze traditional touchstones of business to the ground.

Gartner sees boom for virtualization in slump

clipped from news.zdnet.com The European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) market for virtualization software is likely to be very robust in 2009, with the market for hosted virtual desktops leading the field, according to analyst Gartner. Despite the recession, Gartner predicted on Wednesday that in 2009 virtualization software revenue in the EMEA region could increase by 55 percent, from €330m ($437m) in 2008 to €512m ($678m).

Saving green by being virtually green

clipped from news.zdnet.com Commentary–The focus of IT departments has shifted palpably in the last few months. Until last year, their focus was on becoming more environmentally conscious and making concerted efforts towards “greening the datacenters.” Today, the entire focus is on cost savings, cost avoidance and cost deferment. Few organizations realize that virtualization can be a critical link to creating a utopian world where IT can lower costs while at the same time be more green. Historically, server consolidation has provided tremendous gains by lowering heating and cooling costs, limiting hardware needs and for many companies, enabling the wholesale dismantling of entire datacenters. Clearly, all those components helped save IT departments money but were they also ecologically sound moves? Also, what is next for IT departments once they have consolidated?

Cutting costs by scrapping paper

clipped from news.zdnet.com Even with reduced budgets and limited resources, IT can take a leadership role in developing information management strategies that merge electronic processes and manual paper-based processes into one efficient workflow. Here are five considerations IT decision makers should keep in mind when pulling paper into electronic processes:

Sun-Oracle FAQ: Did IBM make a big mistake?

clipped from news.zdnet.com Oracle’s proposed $7.4bn acquisition of Sun Microsystems has shaken up the tech industry. The mega-deal, which comes soon after IBM’s bid for Sun fell apart, strengthens Oracle’s hand in the software market and gives Oracle control over the Unix-based Solaris operating system and Java programming language. More dramatically, it could pave the way for database giant Oracle to become a systems vendor. So what are the challenges for the players involved, and the implications for the industry as a whole? We asked a panel of expert analysts to weigh in on various aspects of the deal.

Green strategies not a priority for European IT departments, says Symantec

clipped from www.computerweekly.com Improving sustainability and meeting “green” policies set out at a corporate level is not a high priority for European IT departments in Europe. The lack of support for green issues in IT departments is revealed in a survey of 800 datacentre managers released by Symantec. Symantec’s ‘Green Datacentre’ report shows that datacentre managers are being driven to adopt green policies to meet operational as opposed to altruistic goals.

How to make money by going green

clipped from www.computerweekly.com For Ken Harvey, group general manager and chief information officer of HSBC, the recent hike in the cost of electricity has been a good thing in one way – by waking IT directors up to the business benefits of running more environmentally friendly operations. “Power is now 6% to 7% of datacentre costs compared to 1% a few years ago,” he said.