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August 2008

Features

DESKTOP VIRTUALISATION
Virtualising the desktop
The delivery of desktop services from a virtual PC estate within the data centre is a core ambition of many IT organisations
By Phil Jones

UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
The growing pains of unified comms
The vision of a unified communications infrastructure, centred on IP, has been an alluring prospect for over half a decade. So what is holding back broad adoption?
By JJ Robinson

OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING
Cultural dimensions in offshore outsourcing
Understanding cultural differences is vital for successful offshore outsourcing
By Pete Swabey

Perspective

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Corporate game theory
Advanced military simulation techniques could be the key to better business outcomes
By Pete Swabey

SECURITY
Malware in the safezone
Illegitimate code embedded in seemingly safe websites is replacing email as the main method of delivering malware
By JJ Robinson

WEB ANALYTICS
Reel-time analytics
LoveFilm has seen improved conversions since it started gauging how changes to its website influence users
By JJ Robinson

STORAGE
The ultimate archive
The British Library’s information environment presents a storage management challenge like no other
By JJ Robinson

COMMUNICATIONS
Law in the home
NetworkLaw uses remote desktop technology to cut the cost of doing business
By Pete Swabey

DATA CENTRES
A problem shared
Data centre managers in all industries are facing the same issues of heat, power and cost
By Pete Swabey

AGILE DEVELOPMENT
The difficulties of Agile development
The fluid nature of Agile projects can make them difficult to manage, says Dr Peter Merrick
By Dr Peter Merrick

Industry

MONTH IN REVIEW
Month in review
All the top stories from July 2008
By JJ Robinson

STORAGE
Dell blazes an iSCSI trail
Dell's acquisition of iSCSI specialist EqualLogic is just step one of their plan to shake up the storage industry
By Kenny MacIver

MIDDLEWARE
Oracle lays out middleware roadmap
Customer concerns over the software giant's priorities remain
By Kenny MacIver

VOICE OVER IP
Businesses sharpen hunger for Skype
Cash-strapped UK companies are flocking to the low-cost Internet telephony service
By Kenny MacIver

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Brocade and Foundry Networks bid to build a giant
A merger by two medium-sized players forms a network equipment company that hopes to challenge the mighty Cisco
By Pete Swabey

FINANCIAL REPORT
Decapitation spree hits IT sector
AMD and Alcatel-Lucent wave farewell to top brass after disastrous results, while VMware's new CEO rings that changes
By Pete Swabey

INFORMATION AGE INDEX
Information Index August 2008
Industry nosedive halts
By Pete Swabey

Departments

EDITOR'S LETTER
PCs will evaporate into ‘the cloud’
Larry Ellison predicted desktop virtualisation more than a decade ago, recalls Information Age editor Kenny MacIver
By Kenny Maciver

INSIDER
Time for a mid-life crisis
It appears that 43 is the most likely age for IT workers to have a breakdown – with potentially disastrous results
By Pete Swabey

BOOK REVIEW
Groundswell
This book is a must-read for anyone getting to grips with the impact of Web 2.0 on business
By Kenny Maciver

OUTSOURCING
BPO workers of the world unite
India's business process outsourcing industry at last gets its own - technology-driven - trade union
By Pete Swabey

INDUSTRY
Decline in senior IT roles
The number of IT support jobs being advertised has risen while senior roles have markedly fallen, according to a new survey.
By JJ Robinson

EMAIL
Email impatience on the rise

Businesses are becoming increasingly impatient with email and demanding quicker response times
By JJ Robinson

GREEN IT
IT leaders not too concerned about green IT
IT leaders in the UK take a dim view of their company's green credentials, according to a pan-European survey by data centre networking firm Brocade.
By JJ Robinson

OPEN SOURCE
France leads open source adoption
European countries are leading the surge in popularity of open source adoption in the enterprise - with the exception of the UK.
By JJ Robinson

INDUSTRY
Profit warnings down among IT companies
Tech sector performance is up with IT companies issuing less profit warnings in the second quarter of '08.
By JJ Robinson

INDUSTRY
Laptop boom drives PC sales
PC shipments increased a quarter on last year, pushed by rising laptop demand
By JJ Robinson

BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
"The cost of business software and support is set to skyrocket"
As two software giants prepare to increase their fees, are IT organisations about to be hit by a steep rise in the cost of buying and maintaining business software?
By Pete Swabey

Back issues

Information Age, October 2008 - Ten Web 2.0 business success stories, software asset management, Enterprise Security 08, an interview with Michael Dell

Information Age, September 2008 - Mobile security, human capital management, Bank of America. Research Report: Virtual encounters

Information Age, August 2008 - Desktop virtualisation, unified communications, cultrual dimensions in offshore outsourcing.

Information Age, July 2008 - The evolution of the CIO, Agile development, enterprise content management. Management Report: The Future of the Data Centre 2008

Information Age, June 2008 - Offshore innovation, Green IT in action, storage deduplication. Management report: Business Intelligence 08. Research Report: The value of IT

Information Age, May 2008 - The coming energy drought, women in IT. Research report: Information orchestration. Business briefing: Shadow data systems. Management report: Future of Software 2008

Information Age, April 2008 - Corporate social networking, securing virtual environments, an interview with HP's enterprise chief Ann Livermore

Information Age, March 2008 - IT opportunity and threat in the new Chinese economy, thin provisioning, the Effective IT 2008 Summit

Information Age, February 2008 - Living without an IT director, alternative biometrics, WiMax. Research report: Data governance

Information Age, January 2008 - The Effective IT 2008 Report: The technologies and services behind today's most dramatic business success stories. Plus: Management Report - IT for the M Business

Information Age, December 2007 - Data centre mythbusting, protecting against floods, SaaS meets SOA. Management report: Eco-responsibilty in IT

Information Age, November 2007 - Contactless payment systems, data centre co-location, systems management & virtualisation. Research report: Maximising IT's potential

Information Age, October 2007 - Serious business in virtual worlds, agile development at Standard Life, VMware profile, NHS Direct Q&A

Information Age, August 2007 - The insider security threat, video conferencing, Effective IT Awards winners report

Information Age, June 2007 - New licensing models, search and BI, Capgemini's global strategy, Q&A: British Energy

Information Age, July 2007 - Agile ERP, financial service innovation, Storage, Business Briefing: XML integration, Management Report: The Future of the Data Centre 2007, Research Report: Virtualisation

Information Age, May 2007 - Dynamic pricing, business process management, content management, Q&A: Reuters

Information Age, April 2007 - Cyber assault, managed print services, fixed-mobile convergence, Management Report: Business Intelligence 2007

Information Age, March 2007 - SOA design pitfalls, virtualisation and the operating systems, Business Briefing: Enterprise 2.0

Information Age, February 2007 - Out of India, the life and times of the relational database, The Effective IT 2007 Summit

Information Age, January 2007 - Advanced analytics, green IT, the state of security, The Effective IT 2007 Report