Blog moved
We have decided to host our wordpress blog ourselves as this allows us to add features such as mobile and Iphone viewing. You can find the new blog location at http://vehera.jsn-server7.com/jana/blog/
December 10, 2007
November 2, 2007
UK government sites suffer cyber-terrorism
Officials from the UK government have confirmed that various departments had suffered cyber attacks which are thought to originate from China. This has accelerated fears that the Chinese authorities are looking at ways to use the Internet to destabilize governments.
SAP Acquire Business Objects
SAP agreed to acquire Business Objects for $6.8 billion. This is SAP’s largest acquisition. SAP has promised an updated product roadmap soon.
October 8, 2007
John Freeland leaves Salesforce.com
According to an 8-K filed by Salesforce.com, John Freeland has resigned from Salesforce.com effective September 28, 2007. Freeland was hired as President, Worldwide Operations.Read the complete filing here.
Tags: Salesforce.com, SalesForce, John Freeland
September 27, 2007
Enterprise Mashups Hurtle Toward Mainstream
Enterprise mashups have reached the peak of their hype cycle and are on their way to popping up in the enterprise.ADVERTISEMENTMany companies looking to cull data from multiple sources to help their employees do their jobs better are seeking mashups as an answer, said Anthony Bradley, a Gartner analyst, Sept. 21 at the Gartner Web Innovation Summit 2007 here.
Mashups are applications that pull data from multiple sources, often applications, to fortify the value of the information the software yields. Calling mashups a Frankenstein of sorts, Gartner analyst Bradley said mashups don’t own their own data. Rather, data and business logic are sourced externally.
As with many Internet-driven technologies, mashups got their wings in the consumer space, with enterprising programmers splicing Google Maps with retail information or some such configuration.But Bradley said businesses are increasingly using mashups to improve workflow efficiencies at a time when knowledge workers are looking to get information faster. The major benefit of mashups is rapid application development, he said.
Enterprise Mashups Hurtle Toward Mainstream
We’re not surprise to to see this at all. It makes a lot of sense for all sizes of business to take advantage of Mashups to make access to no only make working with inter-related data easier, but also to build new applications that can help their business or which they can use to promote their business.
September 22, 2007
Finance crisis ‘will hurt IT contractors’
The number of IT contractor roles in Britain’s finance industry will inevitably decline amid jitters from the Northern Rock credit crisis, a leading IT jobs agency said yesterday.
A management expert also said shock waves from the lender’s implosion will shake the finance jobs market for at least the next 18 months, with IT staff budgets among the hardest hit.But global IT recruitment firm Hudson says demand for financial IT experts could slump as early as this year, causing pay rates to plateau, before they further depress into 2008.
A slowdown in temporary IT jobs looks like an inevitability, the firm said.Economic pressure on IT staff budgets would revert market status to five years ago, when contractors were mainly hired for niche roles, rather than to fill headcount.But for now, there is no evidence that end users facing the shaken finance industry are cutting their spending on IT contractors, consultants or freelancers.
Similarly, contractors themselves aren’t refusing IT roles with financers, but they are asking questions about how these companies responded to the turmoil, Hudson added.Another IT recruitment agency, CV Screen, doesn’t foresee Britain’s financial woes as having a “sudden impact” on permanent or contract IT recruitment.Its managing director, Matthew Iveson, said: “It would be naïve to think that the current credit crunch will not have some impact on the employment market.“But the current signs are that organisations are still feeling bullish and have not put [IT] projects on hold. We are continuing to field enquiries from both existing and new clients.”Positively for the economy, management and IT consultants are yet to be bitten by Britain’s banking crisis, hailed as the most embarrassing for over a decade.
Fiona Czerniawska, director of a thinktank for the Management Consultancies Association, which represents 70 per cent of the UK consulting industry, said confidence among members remains high.“Capital markets is quite a niche segment,” for UK-based consultants, she added, “much smaller than banking and insurance, so it’s unlikely firms would be heavily exposed here.“Longer-term, however, it’s clearly a situation we need to keep an eye on, as it might be the first sign that the recent boom in consulting may have peaked.”
Finance crisis ‘will hurt IT contractors’ :: Contractor UK
We’ve heard comments from numerous consultancy firms that they expect to see a glut of contractors released onto the market that in January and result in better choice for agencies and lower rates…..
Tags: ITcontracting
Wikipedia policed by WikiScanner
WikiScanner is a new tool that effectively polices the entries on Wikipedia. The tool simply looks at the millions of edits made on the online encyclopedia and then matches the original IP address of the editor to check whether any entries were “massaged”.
Not surprisingly a minority showed signs of being massaged, in particular there were changes made to the entry for ExxonMobile the global oil company, The edits tried to play down the impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil disaster. Other changes that were linked back to corporate IP addresses were Wal-Mart, who edit made salary information look more favourable, and links critical of Starbucks, the coffee shop, disappearing.
Fact - never believe what you read online - always double or even triple check the source…..
Tags: WikiScanner, Wikipedia, Wiki
Reuters sign with Fujitsu
Reuters have signed a 10 year contract with IT services group Fujitsu. The contract is worth roughly £500 million. Reuters expect to save £150 of IT spending over the course of the deal.
Tags: Reuters, Fujitsu, outsourcing
Barclays also need emergency loan
A “technical breakdown” meant that Barclays Bank had to apply for an emergency £1.6 billion loan from the Bank of England. Barclays blamed the ther eason on a malfunction with the Bank’s inter-settlement system, Crest. This left the Bank temporarily unable to cover its positions in the market.
Concerns over liquidity in the global financial markets certainly seem justified with the admission of facts coming out of high street banks over the last month…
