COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Business Intelligence and Enterprise Search to Ride Out the Recession (Strategic Focus)

2009-06-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

The global recession will further compound business problems in 2009. Datamonitor believes that this is the right time for customers to derive value out of existing investments, capitalizing on the convergence between business intelligence (BI) and enterprise search and retrieval (ESR). This report focuses on converging BI and ESR technologies and highlights growth opportunities and user needs.

Driving Better Business Intelligence Through Streamlined Analytics

2009-06-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Analytic processes are failing to keep pace with demanding analytic requirements because they cannot enable timely data integration. Geographic BI technology provides a single, seamless data development and processing environment. Our research reports span the global software and IT services domain covering: strategic issues, technology and services, companies and markets. Ovum's research has, for over 20 years been focused at the junction of the technical and commercial domains. Our strategic issues agenda addresses the major disruptions that are affecting both the software and IT services suppliers, and their customers that they serve.

Open Sesame: Why Open Source BI and Data Warehousing Solutions are Gaining in Acceptance

2009-06-25T08:25:00.001-07:00

In the beginning, open source solutions were the shiny play things of the techno crowd. After all, they were fun, new, and most importantly, free. No one would have considered using them in any real world corporate IT shops…

My, how times have changed. Today, open source solutions are not only being considered, they are being implemented by large and small enterprises -- at rates that are mind-boggling. This paper examines the challenges faced by organizations today regarding their BI/data warehousing environments, why traditional solutions fall short, and the rise of upstart open source companies.

Lowering Mainframe TCO through zIIP Specialty Engine Exploitation

2009-06-25T08:24:00.001-07:00

Mainframe infrastructures of today bear little resemblance to the rigid, monolithic systems of the past. Industry standards and integration tools have matured to provide increased flexibility and intuitive integrated development environments to simplify reusing legacy data sources in new application development initiatives. As this report has shown, utilizing zIIP specialty engines as part of your SOA enablement strategy can significantly lower mainframe TCO. However, without software to exploit the zIIP across multiple data and applications environments for Web services, SOA or data connectivity, its true potential cannot be realized. DataDirect Shadow is a single unified-platform, built exclusively for integration with IBM System z mainframes. It uses patent-pending technology to deliver broad exploitation of zIIP engines and enabling customers to deliver business systems that involve the System z platform in a timely manner and with a material reduction in overall TCO. DataDirect Shadow provides a new benchmark in mainframe integration, one that not only allows the mainframe to be a full participant within an SOA, but extends the value of the platform to business by enabling it take on new workloads with dramatically reduced costs.

Best Practices in Analytics, Business Intelligence and Performance Management

2009-06-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Beginning in June 2009, each issue of DBTA will incorporate a new themed "Best Practices" section designed to deliver relevant case studies, customer references and technology overview/benefits in a clearly defined area of information management. The editorial team at DBTA has chosen the area of analytics, business intelligence and performance management as the first to be covered. According to DBTA research, 42% of our subscribers spend more than five hours per week on BI reporting while 15% of our readers spend more than half of their time every week preparing BI reports. With all of that work and evaluation going into BI within our reading audience, this is a highly relevant topic for you and a great place for DBTA to start providing deeper background information on solutions.

Best of Breed Mainframe Integration and SOA Tools A buyer's guide for tools to help with mainframe integration leveraging SOA

2009-06-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

In today's IT marketplace it is easy to think that mainframes are being marginalised more and more in companies across the world. Indeed, not so long ago the story was that the mainframe was the dinosaur, headed towards global extinction. The forecast has, of course, been thoroughly disproved, as many companies continue to gain great business benefit from their mainframe investments.

This paper considers the topic of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), and identifies the best-of-breed characteristics to look for in evaluating any mainframe SOA toolest, in order to help companies make the decision that will best suit their business needs.

The High Performance DBA: Optimizing Databases for High Performance

2009-06-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

The database administrators job continues to grow more challenging and complex - new platforms, more data, more databases, and less help seems to be the norm. To keep key database systems available and optimized for high performance the DBA must put a strategy in place that focuses on the key areas of database management:

Storage management
Performance Management
Capacity Management

This paper outlines techniques you can use to streamline and automate the management of these critical areas so you can deliver high levels of availability and performance. Get the White Paper now and learn more.

Critical Skills for Final Cut Studio Streaming Producers

2009-06-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

by Jan Ozer

Producing Streaming Video with Final Cut Studio and need some streaming-specific training? If so, Critical Skills for Final Cut Studio Streaming Producers is the training DVD for you.

Final Cut Studio and Compressor are fabulous tools, but the workflow can be confusing. For example, which de-interlacing option triggers Compressor’s vaunted Optical Flow technology (and which don’t)? How does editing in a custom Final Cut Pro setting or encoding with a Quick Time Export Component impact your options in Compressor’s Geometry Pane?

With over 330 screen-filled PDF pages, supported by dozens of tutorials and hundreds of sample and example files, this mixed media DVD answers these critical questions and details Compressor’s encoding options for H.264, VP6 and WMV/VC-1.

Other sections illustrate the streaming video workflow from set design and lighting to choosing the optimal resolution, data rate and aspect ratio for your video. Concerned that Compressor may not deliver the best output quality? The final chapter compares Compressor’s H.264, VP6 and WMV/VC-1 output quality with files produced by Sorenson Squeeze and Telestream Episode Pro to show how Compressor stacks up.

“Jan Ozer uses streaming media technology to teach streaming media. It’s one of the most thorough and up-to-date resources I’ve ever seen. The content goes many layers deep to explain fundamentals, and still explores brand new developments. It is a great training tool that allows users to tailor their “just in time” learning, and to fill in any gaps in their knowledge”.

Jeff Hanley, Manager, Multimedia
Corporate Learning Center
KLA-Tencor

Fullext Sources Online

2009-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Edited by Mary B. Glose, Tina D. Currado and Tracy L. Elliott

Fulltext Sources Online is a directory of periodicals accessible online in full text through 30 aggregator products. Published biannually in January and July, FSO lists more than 42,000 newspapers, journals, magazines, newsletters, news wires, and transcripts.

Each entry lists the aggregators and databases that provide the title online in full text. Coverage dates, frequencies, and lag times of titles appearing online are included, as well as ISSNs, publishers’ websites, and document types. Free archives, selected coverage, and open access journals are indicated. Subject, geographic, and language indexes are also provided.

Money Movement

2009-06-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Money Movement - Principal Bank's online money transfer service - lets you conveniently transfer money with the click of a mouse between your Principal Bank accounts and checking, savings, and investment accounts - even those at other financial institutions. Money Movement lets you transfer money online between your accounts, even if the accounts are at other banks. It can also be used to make payments on your Principal Bank loan, and deposits into your accounts. It's simple, convenient and secure.

Whether you're at home, at work, or on the road, now you can transfer money online anytime, any place you have Internet access. Once an account is set up, an external money transfer request takes only moments, and will be completed in three business days. Money transfers made between Principal Bank accounts are completed in real time.

With Money Movement you can:

Transfer money online between accounts at Principal Bank
Transfer money online between your Principal Bank account and your accounts at other financial institutions all across the country
Make online payments on your Principal Bank loan
Transfer money online to family and friends with Principal Bank accounts
Set up one-time or recurring online money transfers

Transfer money in or transfer money out. With Money Movement, the choice is yours!

Money Movement is available for the following Principal Bank accounts:

Checking
Regular, Advantage, and Money Market Savings accounts
Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit accounts

Please note: Money Movement is currently not available for Health Savings Accounts to ensure that your contributions are credited to the correct tax year.

Stories on Tom's Guide

2009-06-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Love it or hate it, the release of a new iPhone operating system and new iPhone hardware has an effect that cascades across multiple industries and consumer demographics. Businesses and consumers of all types are among the winners and losers in the aftermath of a launch. Now that we’ve had a chance to examine the iPhone 3.0 operating system and iPhone 3GS hardware, we take a look at who benefits and who suffers the most from Apple’s latest mobile platform.

.5 TB Low-Power HDDs: Green Gets Big

2009-06-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

The latest 2 TB hard drives are still expensive, but 1.5 TB disks provide low power consumption at a better cost-to-capacity ratio. We look at offerings from Samsung and Western Digital to determine the value of taking a step down from the flagships.

Cyberpower’s Gamer Dragon: Can AMD Bring The Game?

2009-06-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

cyberpower sent us a factory-overclocked Phenom II X4 955 system wielding two Radeon HD 4890 cards in CrossFire. We pit the formidable rig against our previous System Builder Marathon Core i7 machine to see if AMD can deliver a viable gaming alternative.

Eating Disorder Treatment FAQ

2009-06-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

1. What is a Treatment Center?

A treatment center can be:

- Inpatient, where clients live in for a period of time and it is staffed by medical professionals 24-hours a day.

- Residential, where clients live in for a period of time, and it is staffed by treatment professionals. Medical staff is available on an as-needed basis.

- Intensive day treatment (also known as partial or partial hospitalization), where clients are treated for several hours a day a few times a week but return home at night.

Royal Admiral Nautical Gifts -

2009-06-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

- Royal-Admiral.com™ was founded in 1998 as a fund raiser for Power to Parents, a non-profit organization. Our mission is to provide the best specialty products available in the nautical marketplace.

Alkota Russian Gifts - Manufacturer and designer of unique and hard to find high quality Russian gifts and collectibles. Direct deliveries from Russian villages.

Best virtualization products of 2008

2009-06-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

The end of 2008 will be remembered for the crash of the global economy and, within our world, rapidly shrinking IT budgets. But there are always companies poised to punch back and capitalize on these events, and the virtualization market is full of them.

Today, SearchServerVirtualization.com has announced the winners of its annual Products of the Year awards, a sampling of the companies we and our judges believe are best positioned to provide great products in 2009 and beyond.

The awards span five categories: virtualization platforms, data protection, systems and performance management , lab management and workflow automation, and desktop virtual desktop infrastructure. Winners were selected from a pool of products announced and shipped between Nov. 1, 2007, and Nov. 1, 2008, and were submitted by the vendors themselves or users. Awards were granted based on innovation, value, performance, reliability and ease of use. For an overview of all the winners, check out SearchServerVirtualization.com's best virtualization products of 2008 roundup.

Computex Taipei 09, Cybernet dominated the show with its All-in-One PCs.

2009-06-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Cybernet’s strategic partners will once again be exhibiting its innovative space saving products June 3^rd through June 7^th during Computex in Taipei. In 2007 Computex had a reported attendance of about 35,000 overseas buyers, with 135,000 visitors total, generating on-site revenue worth about US$12.5 billion. Representatives from all industries and companies come from around the globe to visit the famous Taipei World Trade Center in hopes of finding new and exciting technology.

You can find our products at Computex in Taipei’s World Trade Center in hall 1, booth number C616-618. We’ll be showcasing our latest Zero-Footprint-PC offerings, the ZPC-9100 & ZPC-GX31, as well as our latest All-in-One LCD-PC, the iOne-GX31, in both the 17” and 19” configuration. Computex is a great opportunity to meet with industry professionals who are influential decision makers in their fields, such as switching to a PC that is not only affordable but smart. Both the ZPC and i-One are easy to set up and transport, making them ideal products to use at trade shows and kiosks. The 17” and 19” i-One screens with touch capability are eye-catching and user-friendly.

Adobe Photoshop CS4

2009-06-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you work with 3D, Photoshop Extended is a must-have upgrade; ditto if you think you'd use more of Standard's tools if the interface were less opaque, if you need to upgrade other suite applications, or if you qualify for an academic discount. All things considered, while Adobe Photoshop CS4 makes some improvements over CS3, it might be worth skipping this generation and waiting for the next.

Best security apps

2009-06-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

Top-ranked antivirus apps will keep viruses, worms and Trojan horses away from your PC, while firewalls will keep malicious users from accessing your PC without your knowledge. Don't have time to consider individual antivirus and firewall apps? There are also security suites that have antivirus and firewall protection built-in.

Best productivity apps

2009-06-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

Plenty of software cuts through the clutter and helps you work efficiently. These are our favorite small-business and personal productivity software applications.

Latest software reviews & advice

2009-06-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

The good: The dozen applications in the Adobe CS4 Master Collection sport streamlined interfaces and integration for designing and editing images, Web pages, mobile sites, desktop apps, animation, film, and print layouts, and support the latest digital formats.

The bad: These costly, heavy-duty applications take long to install, are hard to learn, and hog resources; personal tech support can exceed the price of some applications; some apps, such as Photoshop, offer few compelling reasons for most users to upgrade.

The bottom line: The CS4 Master Collection contains every application in the Adobe Creative Suite. Although priced for serious professionals, it's a relative bargain compared with buying each ingredient piecemeal.

How BitTorrent Works

2009-06-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

Instead of downloading a file in its entirety, BitTorrent gathers pieces of the file you want and transfers them simultaneously from other sources. How does it put the pieces back together?

How Gnutella Works

2009-06-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

File-sharing allow millions of people to freely trade MP3 and video files on the Internet. Is it legal? How are the files exchanged? Is there a central database? Find out how the file-sharing structure works and see why it makes it difficult for record labels to sue.

WinRescue Vista

2009-06-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

Specially adapted to work in Windows Vista. Click on the WinRescue Vista link above for download links and to learn more about WinRescue Vista.