Interoperability

Altitude 360, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP www.altitudelondon.com Today's IT environments are challenged with increased complexity in supporting a multitude of IT systems, all with their own set of management tools. Microsoft and Novell work together to simplify this complexity, streamlining IT environments and bridging the gap between ... read more..

Is fixed mobile integration a contradiction in terms or the most efficient way of managing your mobile infrastructure? Lesley Hansen discusses Fixed Mobile Integration (FMI) is the supply of communication services based on the combination of wired and wireless technologies, and, theoretically, became possible at the outset of the 1990s with ... read more..

Dr Andy Hopkirk, Head of Projects Programmes at the National Computing Centre, reports on the perceptions and experiences of NCC members surrounding interoperability requirements Interoperability is a recurring theme in debates about how to get cheaper, more efficient and future proofed IT systems outcomes of particular interest ... read more..

So long as business applications are user-friendly and do the job, users shouldnt need to care about the bits and bytes. Whether youre at the helm of your company or are a time-pressed employee trying to get your job done, the last thing you want is to be slowed down ... read more..

By Dr Andy Hopkirk, Head of Projects Programmes at the National Computing Centre Interoperability is a recurring theme in debates about how to get cheaper, more efficient and future proofed IT systems - outcomes of particular interest to all NCC members. Both proprietary and open source software suppliers say they have ... read more..

Interoperability between computer systems can be engineered at many levels; most fundamentally between two different operating systems. Microsoft+Novell have been working since late 2006 to make Microsofts Windows and Novells SUSE Linux systems interoperate most effectively both technically and in terms of the customer support provided by both companies. Technical ... read more..

As technology trends advance and reliance upon IT infrastructures increases, what effect will this have on the creative industry? With information moving towards the digital domain, Jonathan Morgan, co-founder of software developer Object Matrix, looks at the demise of tape-based archiving and the natural succession of the digital workflow.There seems ... read more..

It is intended that this document will provide IT strategists and decision makers with an overview of the benefits, risks and challenges faced in moving to an Exchange 2007 environment and help them to prepare their organisations and infrastructures for the future. This document is not intended to provide a ... read more..

Cloud Computing is a term that has quickly become the hottest topic in the technology sector, with seemingly every major provider and thousands of smaller companies offering Cloud Computing services. But what exactly is Cloud Computing? A recent McKinsey report listed twenty-two definitions of Cloud Computing! The umbrella term 'cloud' has been used ... read more..

Colin McDonald, Head of Curriculum Development at Ufi, the organisation behind learndirect and learndirect Business takes a look at the impact of Web 2.0 on IT skills training. Web 2.0 is set to revolutionise the way in which IT skills and other training is provided. In the near future, learners will ... read more..

Dorothy Tudor explores the elements of Agile project delivery with specific reference to DSDM Atern. She examines the factors which make success more likely in an Agile project and gives steps to successful implementation. What is Agile? The modern definition of Agile development approaches has evolved since the mid-1990s as part of ... read more..

Securing remote workers using two-factor authentication Michael Robertson considers the business and environmental benefits offered by remote working and discusses the role of two-factor authentication in enabling this way of working. Remote working - when employees perform their day-to-day role away from a central office for all or part of their ... read more..

The fact that IT and business processes are becoming ever closer can no longer be denied. In many industries many of the most critical business services cannot be supported without appropriate IT systems, marking high levels of 'IT intensity' (a measure of how pervasive IT is within organisations). This has ... read more..

There has been so much recent discussion around business/IT alignment that an outsider might believe that the requirement is a recent discovery. It has, of course, always been the case that the role of IT is to enable the business to conduct its operations more efficiently and effectively, and to ... read more..

Mainframe systems have become increasingly complex and with the shortage of experienced and appropriately trained staff, IT departments can easily end up running some systems in a just-good-enough mode, without achieving the maximum potential. But in doing this, such organizations are failing to grasp the significant impact that improved service ... read more..

Windows Vista has been one of the greatest software challenges in history and has resulted in a completely re-written operating environment that has over 50 million lines of code. The scale and complexity involved in its development has resulted in a number of high-profile delays, with the first production release ... read more..

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is set to become an inescapable part of our IT landscape in a very short timeframe. Despite IT's dreadful habit of disguising simple strategies within meaningless acronyms, it is worth a few minutes of any business executive's time to understand what SOA is trying to achieve, ... read more..

Many organisations implementing ITIL as part of their IT Service Management framework begin with the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). While a CMDB is a key piece of any successful ITIL implementation, there are several traps that are easily fallen into when implementing one. In fact, its complexity and asset-centric view ... read more..

Data Centre consolidation does not signify a move back to the centralized world of 10 to 20 years ago, but the adoption of a more pragmatic appraisal of the IT infrastructure, focusing on optimizing the IT environment to meet the demands of the organisation and providing a flexible foundation in ... read more..

The recent emphasis for IT departments on systems consolidation and compliance with information legislation, has led to a backlog of application development work which must be accomplished in an effective and timely manner. Addressing this need, significant benefits in both speed and development costs can be realised by deploying service-oriented ... read more..

Against the backdrop of putting services online through improved customer front ends, joining up back-office systems, setting standards and improving organisational capacity, an example of an area where clear guidelines have been lain down is that of local government. Central government ... read more..

The key is systems interoperability, both within a business and, more importantly, between businesses. This desire is not new, but what is, are the capabilities offered by new technologies based on XML and WWW communications. There is an abundance of detailed information on XML and ... read more..

All of these interactions rely on the speedy exchange of information, from a news item hitting the company web site to issuing a purchase order. Creating and managing this information (or content) in an efficient manner is therefore of ... read more..