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Today, some free software is so reliable, feature-rich and easy to use that it compares quite favorably with software sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.


Security
The Password Paradox
The Password Paradox states that most security professionals try to increase the security of their enterprise applications with more and more passwords. The problem is that with too many passwords users can't remember them all, says Bill Carey, vice president of marketing at Siber Systems. Find out more in this IT Link podcast.
Security
Network Security Concerns? Consider Open Source
Open-source security from companies such as Untangle may offer a viable alternative.
Servers
AMD Unveils Triple-Core Phenoms
The chip maker will also roll out a series of new quad-core Phenom processors, including an energy-efficient model.
Storage
Fujitsu Ships Flip-the-Switch Storage Appliance
The company scales down its enterprise SAN to fit smaller data centers and makes it as easy to set up as any Windows-based server.
Compliance
Workshare Bundles New Level of Encryption with DLP
The company is putting new encryption capabilities into its data leak prevention offering in a bid to challenge other security vendors.
Hosted Applications
Big Vendors, SAAS Might Not Always Mix for SMBs
The service side of the equation works, but not the price, when it comes to big-ticket enterprise apps—particularly not when competing with low-cost offerings from nimble, small service providers.
Mobile/Wireless
HP Intros $499 Mini-Notebook
The full-function, ultra-affordable ultraportable, shipping with Linux or Windows XP, will likely fly off the shelves.
Routers and Switches
How to Slash Data Center Energy Costs
By following these simple and practical steps, SMBs can save money and make their IT organizations more environmentally aware.

Top Stories

Get Certified
News: Does it pay to sacrifice the time and money required to get certified in specific technologies or technology business processes? 
Survey: SMBs Wasting Money on Printing, Photocopying
News: If you’re not watching your printing costs, you’re printing yourself an image of squandered money, experts say.
Webroot Expands into Managed Perimeter Security
News: Security vendor Webroot Software has announced a hosted perimeter security solution on a subscription basis.

News

SMBLive expands feature set
SMBLive, developer of the 1StoreFront online social commercial solution for small and midsized businesses, has introduced a new version with enhanced search engine optimization capabilities that result in higher placement in search engines, along with a host of other new features.

Looking for IT staff in new places
By now, it’s old news: If you’re looking for a crackerjack IT professional, especially in hot areas like security and networking, you’ve got a lot of company.
List management: Improving the effectiveness of marketing campaigns

Driving customers to your website is the best way to increase revenues, and anything that helps achieve that goal is welcome news to companies. But generating effective lists is a big job; doing it manually is hopeless, software can be complex and expensive, and getting what you really need—the best prospects for your business—can be elusive.
Taking your company's pulse

As a small company, every employee is vital to the organization. Each employee’s contribution contributes directly to the bottom line, and each employee knows the result of his or her contribution to the company. But as a company grows, the personal touch often is lost. Employees start to lose perspective about how their efforts contribute to the company’s success, and executives start to feel disconnected from the day-to-day operation.
Open source fraught with security vulnerabilities, study says

If security is your top priority, think twice before turning to an open source solution, says an application security solutions vendor.
When it comes to Web 2.0, IT departments have a valuable role to play

It’s not the marketing department or the GenYers in a company who are likely to spearhead deployment of Web 2.0 technologies—it’s the IT department itself
Competition in web analytics is fierce
Competition in the web analytics market is fierce, which is good news for companies hoping to get the best price, flexibility, accuracy and scalability in a web analytics tool
Weathering the recession
Profits are down. The company is having trouble meeting its forecasts. Short-term debt has increased. Employees and customers are exhibiting low morale. If that sounds like the situation in your company, welcome to the recession. But experts say there are ways to recession-proof your company, at least to some extent, to help it weather tough times and come out relatively unscathed
Online payroll meets SMBs halfway
Traditional payroll systems are complex and pricey, making them out of reach for the millions of small and mid-sized businesses across the United States. But the growing popular of software as a service (SaaS), which allows these businesses to access sophisticated software via the Web without installation or maintenance headaches, has made the idea of automated payroll much more appealing, according to a new study from AMI-Partners of New York.
Managed hosting may reduce costs for SMBs

If your business meets certain criteria and has less than about 500 employees, it might be a good candidate for managed hosting, according to a new white paper by Yankee Group of Cambridge, Mass.
Lenovo Releases Bevy of Low-Cost ThinkPad Laptops

Lenovo wants to use its legacy ThinkPad notebook line to dive deeper into the midmarket and small and midsized business space.

Sponsored Content
Updated: In an open letter to the Linux and open-source community, Novell repudiates suggestions that its recent collaboration agreement with Microsoft acknowledges that Linux infringes on Microsoft's intellectual prop
The EMEA region is one of the hottest for Red Hat and its JBoss division, the company says.
Podcasts/Videocasts
The Password Paradox states that most security professionals try to increase the security of their enterprise applications with more and more passwords. The problem is that with too many passwords users can't remember them all, and they end up calling up the help desk, which drains productivity, or writing them down in an insecure manner. After a point, says Bill Carey, vice president of marketing at Siber Systems, systems will end up being less secure. Find out more in this IT Link podcast.
 
AMR Research president and CEO, Tony Friscia, and research director Rob Bois discuss how Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs and social networks are changing the face of customer
 
Project management software usually is not for the faint of heart, but advancements in technology may allow companies to embrace project management in a more aggressive manner, says Joel Koppelman, co-founder and CEO of Primavera Systems, in this IT
 
Opinions 

Unified Communications on a Budget
Every time you turn around these days it seems like somebody is trying to convince a customer that they need to adopt a new approach to telephony that allows them to embrace unified communications.

Midmarket Needs a Bigger Appreciation for XML
Vizard: Midmarket companies can't afford to ignore middleware.

The Midmarket Rising
Vizard: When it comes to emerging technologies, the conventional wisdom of the day has always been that midmarket companies are laggards. But a new study from CIO Insight shows otherwise.

Building Software-as-a-Service Applications for Everybody
Vizard: Progress Software is leveraging software as a service as a revenue-sharing program for its midmarket customers.

Big Vendors, SAAS Might Not Always Mix for SMBs
Vizard: The service side of the equation works, but not the price, when it comes to big-ticket enterprise apps—particularly not when competing with low-cost offerings from nimble, small service providers.

Vendors Increasingly Swayed by Smaller Customers' Demands
Vizard: Don't be surprised to see better customer service from vendors when it comes to satisfying the needs of midmarket companies.

There Is No Business Intelligence in the SMB Market
Vizard: Here's a frustrating thing about running an IT shop for an SMB: Not only does it seem like nobody in the vendor community is listening to you, it seems like the vendors don't even know what they sold you.

Embrace and Extend Trump Rip and Replace Every Time
Vizard: When it comes to the small-to-medium business customer, what a lot of vendors don't get is just how much the IT organizations of these types of companies need to get done with very few people to actually do the work.

No Real Reason to Be Keen on Green Computing
Vizard: Vendors' green-IT spiels aren't ringing true; they're trying to push inventory by appealing to a futuristic payoff that does nothing but bring risk to IT in the short term.


 
 
Careers
Gov. Schwarzengger appointed a new state CIO in the hopes of cleaning up the state's IT infrastructure.
 
Georgia's governor feels that his state's IT is inefficient and ineffective, and has decided to outsource it.
 
Toyota expects to accelerate its cost-cutting efforts next year to save more than $2.7 billion annually, its president said.
 


 
Slide Shows
10 Ways Your Employees Pose a Security Risk for Your Organization
Employees can pose security threats to your enterprise IT infrastructure through mobile devices such as smart phones and laptops, as well as the various networks and applications with which their unsecured devices are liable to interact. Enterprise IT administrators, network administrators, and enterprise security workers and consultants should be aware of these security risks.
Profile of a Midmarket CIO
Here's a look at how CIOs at smaller firms stack up against their enterprise counterparts.
When and How to Lock Down Browsers
Microsoft has beefed up phishing filtering in IE, and Mozilla plans to make Firefox more resistant to malicious downloads. But don’t be lulled by those measures.
Top Web Site Vulnerabilities
How dangerous is the Web? WhiteHat Security recently updated its top 10 list of Web site vulnerabilities, finding that nine out of 10 public sites are vulnerable from one or more of these. Read on for the list.
Steps to a Successful Data Protection Strategy
Here's a plan for setting up a comprehensive data protection strategy.
Online Backup: Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck
Backing up data online can be a good business move, but only if it's done right. Here are five areas to consider before signing up.
Top Low-Cost Virtualization Picks
Virtually all the major server vendors are prepping midmarket virtualization offerings. Read on for a look at some of the leading virtualization products specifically tuned for the needs of smaller companies.
The Top SMB-Focused Printing Tech from AIIM
AIIM's recent On Demand conference featured a host of SMB (small and midsize businesses)- and SOHO (small office/home office)-targeted digital printing technologies. Here are some highlights.
How to Slash Data Center Energy Costs
By following these simple and practical steps, SMBs (small and midsize businesses) can save money and make their IT organizations more environmentally aware.
Spyware Saps User Productivity
Spyware isn't typically seen as a particularly damaging form of malware, but a recent report from CompTIA that focused on the frequency and costliness of spyware at small and midsize businesses (firms with 10 to 200 PC users) found that it's plenty pricey and a big drain on productivity.
The 10 Most Wanted IT Skills
Skills relating to security, firewalls and data privacy are most in demand, according to a recent survey done by CompTIA. Check out this slideshow for the complete list of the most wanted IT skills.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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