George Spafford

Think back to the 1970s and early 1980s — the era of “big iron” where mainframes and minis ruled. Those systems cost a lot of money to purchase, load with applications and then maintain and operate. Management did not take purchases lightly and typically centralized the operation around a core group of people. Along with […]

Complex networks require increasingly sophisticated monitoring systems. However, far too often, monitoring is an afterthought and not a holistically engineered part of the system. In fact, it is very common that the overall monitoring system is complicated and mission-critical, yet has varying degrees of documentation, training, fault-tolerance and security. In order to improve, organizations must […]

What do an overwhelming majority of accidents and errors have in common? All too often, operator error is identified as the causal factor. In fact, operators are identified as the culprits in 80 percent of all accidents. Doesn’t this seem odd in this day and age of automation and complex systems? Doesn’t this seem like […]

Much has been written about the need to balance people, technology and processes in order to generate repeatable results that can be optimized. There is a wealth of resources ranging from books to consultants, all ready to assist with the human element as well as the technology side of the equation. The same cannot be […]

In April, the IBM 360 mainframe celebrated its 40th anniversary. The 360 is noteworthy as the computer that is commonly viewed as launching the modern era of commercial information technology. So, as “IT” turns 40, it’s worth reflecting on two “truths” that drive enterprise implementation and use of technology. The first, Moore’s Law, underlies increasingly […]

Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) is a much-used management metric in IT both for discrete components as well as overall systems. For simplicity, let’s define MTBF as the average time between failures. It’s either based on historical data or estimated by vendors and is used as a benchmark for reliability. Organizations trending MTBF over time […]

”I don’t have enough people to build it right the first time.” ”Engineering doesn’t understand operations.” ”They want more features before the bugs are worked out.” ”Quality costs too much.” ”Why can’t we compete?” ”Why are our jobs moving overseas?” What are we talking about — manufacturing of the 1980s or information technology today? In […]

It’s almost impossible to pick up an IT trade magazine today without seeing something about job outsourcing. While far from a new phenomenon, outsourcing is generating a huge amount of stress on employees concerned about losing their jobs. For those anxious IT pros, here are some thoughts to consider. You must be aware of the […]

While IT managers and even business leaders may worry about what’s going on, and what’s not going on, in the IT department, when you move that work outside of the building, it’s enough to give most managers fits. Most public companies these days are very concerned about meeting the requirements of the Sarbanes Oxley Act […]

As organizations rush to put in firewalls, antivirus software, intrusion detection, intrusion prevention and a mile-long list of other technology solutions, they are failing to recognize that there are people and process issues that must be addressed. Unless they are addressed, the defense in-depth strategy is seriously undermined. Two areas that are routinely skipped are […]