|
May 01, 2008
SECOND INSTALLMENT OF ITS FOUR PART TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION
SERIES, ENABLING FOUNDATION
On March 13th Know Technology held its second installment of
its four part technology information series, Enabling Foundation.
This information session focused on the importance of the Infrastructure
Optimization Model, creating Efficient and Reliable Solutions,
and ensuring Secure and Anywhere Availability for today's business
technology.
At the outset of the event Know Technology CEO Stephen
Hand walked the attendees through the Infrastructure Optimization
Model. Infrastructure optimization- centered on using an organization's
IT assets to support and advance the business- helps business
measure their level of infrastructure optimization and therefore
the businesses ability to utilize its IT assets to advance
the business. This was a relevant back drop for the rest of the
morning's discussions.
Participants agreed that they are under a great
deal of pressure to deliver Efficient and Reliable Solutions.
Two hot topics in this regard are Virtualization and Green Power Management.
These issues where explored in conjunction with subject matter
experts from Microsoft and APC. For instance Microsoft's Server 2008
platform is designed around the concept of running multiple
instances of just the server roles one needs - on less hardware.
APC's products can provide reliable power management while meeting the challenge
of delivering a Green solution.
Later in the morning the topic of Secure and Anywhere Availability was addressed. IT professionals
confirmed that they are working under two assumptions; It will be available anywhere, and it
will be secure. Two specific technologies that address this
issue are mid-market anti-virus solutions and Unified Threat
Management. A product specialist from Microsoft did a deep dive into Microsoft's
Forefront security product family and how it delivers a comprehensive
suite of solutions for servers, clients and the edge. Separately,
Unified Threat Management was addressed by professionals from
Watchguard. Watchguard products enable fast, secure and manageable
connectivity required by today's distributed work force.
The conversation amongst the attendees and the feedback from the
evaluation forms confirmed that the information disseminated
during the event was useful to the mostly C level attendees.
They indicated that they were looking forward to KTL's next
event- People Effectiveness, an exploration of what technology
can do to help people be effective in their jobs. This event will
occur on April 15th in conjunction with the Maine Bankers Expo
in Portland. |
