Here’s a New Year’s resolution that you’ll want to keep: pay less for nearly everything you buy for your business. I’m talking computers, printers, tablets, hard drives, software–the works!

Easier said than done, right? Wrong. There’s actually a ridiculously simple, but little known, way to save money on most online purchases: start them at a cash-rebate site.

It works like this: Suppose you’re planning to order one of HP’s spiffy Pavilion dm1z laptops. The base configuration starts at $399.99, and because it’s a brand new model (well, newly refreshed, anyway), there are no deals to be found online.

All you have to do is head to a site like BigCrumbs. Or Ebates. Or FatWallet Cash Back. Search for HP, click “Shop Now,” and then make your purchase like you normally would.

In about 90 days, you’ll get back a percentage of your purchase. It might be 8 percent, or 5 percent, or even just 2.5 percent (the amount varies from store to store and rebate site to rebate site), but it’s still money back.

And think about it: if you save 5 percent on a $400 purchase, that’s $20. If you’re buying 10 new laptops, that’s $200. All for just a few extra clicks when you start your online shopping trip. Kind of a no-brainer, right?

Of course, I haven’t told you the catch yet. That’s because I haven’t really found one. I recently used Ebates to order the aforementioned Pavilion dm1z, and everything worked like a charm. I was even able to use a promo code to get a discount on the laptop (which, granted, lowered my rebate a bit, but I still came out way ahead).

Indeed, I’ve become something of a cash-back convert. Although it takes a few months to get your rebates (which, depending on the site, can come in the form of PayPal or an honest-to-goodness check in the mail), the percentage points do add up. My take: why not use one?

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Many federal Web sites will go dark if the government shuts down tomorrow night, the White House indicated this afternoon.

A 16-page memo (PDF) to federal agencies says their Web sites may stay online only in a small number of situations, including tax collection and handling “exempted” activities such as payments and other functions that are paid for by previous annual budgets.

“The mere benefit of continued access by the public to information about the agency’s activities would not warrant the retention of personnel or the obligation of funds to maintain, or update, the agency’s Web site” during a shutdown, says the memo, prepared by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

It adds: “If an agency’s Web site is shut down, users should be directed to a standard notice that the Web site is unavailable during the period of government shutdown.” The IRS’s Web site would likely stay online, the memo says, because tax collection is an exempted activity, “but the entire Treasury Department Web site would not.”

The current temporary appropriations bill funds the federal government only through 12:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. After that, the procedures outlined in federal regulations and a federal law called the Anti-Deficiency Act kick in.

Making the matter more complicated is that many federal agencies say they have enough money in reserves or other funds to stay open at least through next week. That list, according to The Washington Post, includes the Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Highway Administration, the Veterans Health Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Energy Department, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Federal police and Defense Department military personnel are generally exempted too.

This is something of an unprecedented situation for federal Web sites, which were in an embryonic stage during the last government shutdown in the mid-1990s.

Another option is that the Web sites will stay online, but they won’t be updated.

Also affected: federal employees’ BlackBerrys, cell phones, and laptops. The White House says that non-exempted “employees will be prohibited, after midnight on Friday night, from working remotely, such as from home–including by accessing agency information technology.”

The Anti-Deficiency Act exempts workers dealing with “emergency situations” affecting “the safety of human life or the protection of property.” That’s been interpreted to mean that ongoing, regular functions of government not affecting public safety don’t qualify as emergency situations.

Here’s a longer list of what government services will continue, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. And here’s more from the Office of Personnel Management.

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DUBAI, UAE — Senior business and technology leaders will convene at InterContinental Dubai Festival City from 21-22 February 2011 for CACS in Dubai, an internationally respected event that features governance, security, assurance and risk management experts from around the world.

Hosted by ISACA, a global information technology (IT) association of 95,000 IT professionals, CACS (Computer Audit, Control and Security) will include a keynote presentation by Neeraj Kumar, Senior Vice President of Internal Audit and Chief Audit Executive of Emirates Group. Neeraj Kumar will explain how to use technology to improve proactive risk-focused auditing and continuous monitoring.

CACS in Dubai will also offer educational sessions on key IT security and governance issues facing enterprises today, including:

• Implementing COBIT: A Public-sector Case Study, presented by Naveed Ahmed, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, Dubai Customs, UAE
• IT Governance to Support Corporate Governance: A Case Study, presented by Avinash Totade, CISA, CGEIT, Dubai Aluminium Company, UAE
• E-government Security: Threats and Challenges, presented by Abbas S Kudrati, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, eGovernment Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain
• Metrics and Indicators for a Changing Security Landscape, presented by Ramsés Gallego, CISM, CGEIT, Entel IT Consulting, Spain
• Social Media: Business Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives, presented by Urs Fischer, CISA, CRISC, IT GRC Consultancy, Switzerland
• Designing Next Generation Security and Audit for Cloud Computing Environments, presented by Eddie Schwartz, CISA, CISM, NetWitness Corp., USA
• The Future of Information: Real Challenges and Opportunities, presented by Norman Marks, SAP, USA
• Automating IT Risk and Compliance to Reduce Costs: A Series of Case Studies, presented by Anil Jogani, CISA, CGEIT, Milan Solutions Limited, UK

ISACA chose Dubai as the location for the conference because it is an important city in the global economy as well as the region’s crossroads, serving as a center of business and technology. ISACA’s United Arab Emirates Chapter was established in 1997 to bring together business and information technology leaders in the region. The ISACA UAE Chapter is a strong network of professionals from all the emirates of the UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

“CACS in Dubai will help attendees add value to their enterprise by providing them with practical guidance on critical IT-related issues facing organizations worldwide,” said Vatsaraman Venkatakrishnan, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, Vice President of IS audit at Emirates Airlines and Chair of ISACA’s Conference Development Task Force.

Attendees who register by 12 January 2011 will receive an early-bird discount. Registration forms for the conference and two pre-conference workshops–Using COBIT for Effective IT Assurance and the Risk Management Workshop: Featuring ISACA’s Risk IT Framework and Guidance–are available at www.isaca.org/cacsindubai.

About ISACA

With 95,000 constituents in 160 countries, ISACA^®  is a leading global provider of knowledge, certifications, community, advocacy and education on information systems assurance and security, enterprise governance and management of IT, and IT-related risk and compliance. Founded in 1969, the nonprofit ISACA develops international IS auditing and control standards, which help its constituents ensure trust in, and value from, information systems. It also advances and attests IT skills and knowledge through the Certified Information Systems Auditor^® (CISA^®), Certified Information Security Manager^® (CISM^®), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT^® (CGEIT^®) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control™ (CRISC™) designations.

ISACA continually updates COBIT^®, which helps IT professionals and enterprise leaders fulfill their IT governance responsibilities and deliver value to the business.

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Information Technology Professionals: Percento Technologies International

In a new-millennium twist on the old protection money scheme, cyber criminals are now targeting business owners online – tellingthem to pay up, in virtual cash, or else. In this case, the “or else” involves a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the company’s Web site.

For the casual business reader, a few questions are probably coming to mind. First, what is a DDoS attack? Second, is this a real threat or a scam? Is my business Web site susceptible to this? And, lastly, what should I do?

No. 1: What is DDoS?

A denial-of-service attack is when an attacker overwhelms a Web site or network host by flooding it with invalid or complicated requests. When this type of attack is “distributed,” it means that it is being carried out by a network of zombie computers (a.k.a., a “botnet”) – making it far more damaging and difficult to defend against.

There’s no need to go further into the technical details here, as there are several types and methods for doing this, but the best analogy I can think of is to imagine a time when your kid was asking you questions. Let’s say you were trying to read or work at home, and your child started in with question after question. Now imagine there are tens of thousands of kids asking you questions — and you should now get the point.

No. 2: Are DDoS attacks common and easy to carry out?

Unfortunately, the answer here is “yes.” There are tools available online that make it relativity easy for unsophisticated cyber criminals and script kiddies to launch sophisticated DoS and DDoS attacks. However, since the DDoS also involves use of a “botnet”, that means the hacker must have access to one. Botnets can be rented for less than $100, so it’s not that hard to accomplish a DDoS.

No. 3: Is my business susceptible to DDoS?

Probably. There are several preventative measures that can be taken to make it harder to attack your network this way, but the reality is that every network is vulnerable to this type of attack. A massive DDoS attack was launched against U.S. government sites on July 4th, 2009.

No. 4: If my network is attacked, what should I do?

If your business receives an extortion e-mail, whatever you do, don’t pay them anything. Chances are it’s just a scam – and the attackers aren’t really capable of launching a DDoS. However, you would be advised to review your network security policies as well as to speak with a cybersecurity consultant who can analyze your network and improve your level of protection. If you hire a consultant, just make sure the person has these initials after his or her name – CISSP, CEH, or CISA.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced a number of products during his company’s Sept. 1 presentation in San Francisco, devoting asubstantial chunk of time to the now-annual refresh of the iPod line. In particular, the revamped iPod Touch—which Jobs joked was an iPhone “without a phone”—will receive a number of features already present in the iPhone 4, including the FaceTime videoconferencing application and the high-definition Retina Display.

But do those additions make the iPod Touch, traditionally the most “consumery” of consumer electronic items, ready for a boosted role in the enterprise?

That question may not make or break Apple’s fortunes with its newest products, but it could affect how some companies choose to procure and distribute devices to their employees in the coming months.

Some of the new iOS features—notably Game Center, a multiplayer-centric gaming platform—remain firmly in the consumer realm, and thus outside the consideration of business mobility. Three other aspects of the iPod Touch, though, have possible relevance: FaceTime, Retina Display and HD video recording .

HD video recording and FaceTime could increase the iPod Touch’s use as an “in the field” device for workers, while Retina Display would certainly boost the visual clarity of work-centric apps. Chances are good, however, that the potential audience already owns devices capable of video- and image-taking; and the WiFi-powered FaceTime and Retina Display, while certainly selling points for Apple, may not offer enough utility to justify a mass device-purchase for an office.

On top of that, the new iPod Touch’s price point—the 8GB version will retail for $229, the 32GB for $299, and the 64GB for $399—could prove a sticking point. Although business IT spending has increased in recent months, in the wake of the global recession, it may be hard to justify that sort of spending on a device when the 16GB iPhone 4 retails for $199, and the 32GB version for $299.

However, Apple’s Sept. 1 announcements surrounding the iPad may make that device an even more viable option as an enterprise item. Jobs told the audience that the upcoming iOS 4.2 will give the tablet new features: wireless printing, multitasking, apps folders, a unified e-mail inbox, stronger security and device-management capabilities, and tweaks to the keyboard and dictionaries.

Apple may intend those tweaks to head off an all-but-certain challenge from other manufacturers, some of whose upcoming tablet PCs may attempt to target the enterprise. During Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference July 12, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his company was developing Windows-equipped tablets designed to appeal to a variety of demographics.

“They’ll come with keyboards; they’ll come without keyboards—there’ll be many devices,” he told the audience. “But they will run Windows 7, they will run Office, they will accept ink- as well as touch-based input.”

Hewlett-Packard is developing tablets with its recently acquired Palm webOS,and company executives have indicated that an enterprise-centric version running Windows 7 is in development. Manufacturers such as Samsung and Dell have either released, or are preparing, similar hardware that runs Google Android. That means the coming months will see iPad competitors with more robust productivity options.

Those competitors’ moves, combined with any tech company’s urge to constantly improve its product lines, likely led Apple to the particularimprovements in iOS 4.2. The question now is how hard the iPad, having already made inroads in a business context, will need to fight to hold onto the majority of that might.

1) Writing in all capitals can convey that you are shouting in your message, and nobody likes to be yelled at. Consider other ways to get your message across while conveying its importance. Using all capitals can be annoying and trigger an unintended response.

2) When sending a mailing, some people place all the e-mail addresses in the To: field. If the recipient list is large, that means that all your readers will have to scroll through the list of those on the e-mail to read the message. In the case of viewing e-mail on a smartphone, this can be extra irritating. You also have to consider that others may not want their e-mail address published for everyone to see. You can avoid both these issues by using the BCC field, or using a program like Outlook to do a mail merge that sends a unique message to each person on your list.

3) E-mail messages are easy to copy, print and forward. If you don’t want anything getting out, don’t e-mail it. Plus, remember that even if that e-mail isn’t forwarded on to someone else, company management can easily intercept inappropriate mail.

4) Save abbreviations like LOL (laugh out loud) or IDK (I don’t know) for text messages among friends. Some may not understand your abbreviations. And while emoticons are fun, they just aren’t professional and you don’t know how the recipient will take them. Just like abbreviations, readers may not know what they mean. It’s better to spell it out and write what you mean.

5) This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she has even read your message. Besides, it usually does not work anyway since the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it. If you want to know whether an e-mail was received, it is better to ask the recipient directly to let you know.

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Microsoft on Thursday announced it will release a public beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) on Sept. 15, a little less than five weeks from now.

Only a minority of Windows users will be able to try the beta, however. IE9 will not work on Windows XP, the aged operating system that powers nearly 68% of all PCs running Windows. The new browser requires either Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Thursday’s announcement followed a comment made late last month by Kevin Turner, the company’s chief operations officer, that the IE9 beta would show up in September. Until today, Microsoft had declined to set a date or even confirm Turner’s statement.

Microsoft first announced IE9 in March, and has released four developer preview builds since then, most recently on Aug. 5 when it said the fourth such preview would be the last.

But while those previews have trumpeted the new browser’s “Chakra” JavaScript engine, graphics processor-powered hardware acceleration, support for the new HTML5, and being more in line with current Web standards, Microsoft hasn’t as much as whispered about IE9′s look and feel.

The developer previews have relied on an nearly-nonexistent interface that lacks even the most basic navigational features, such as a back button or even an address bar.

Most expect that Microsoft will debut IE9′s UI (user interface) in the beta next month.

According to reports earlier this year, IE9 was to feature a look copied from Windows Phone 7′s “Metro” interface. Today, Neowin.net said sources had told it that Metro is out and a “simplistic UI similar to that of Google’s Chrome” is in.

If so, it wouldn’t be a surprise: Other browser makers, notably second-place Mozilla, have headed in that direction, too, as they follow the lead of Google and its cleaner-composed Chrome. Mozilla’s next major upgrade, Firefox 4, will feature tabs on top and will eliminate the traditional Windows menus above the browser’s content area, two UI features popularized by Chrome.

IE is on a two-month upswing in usage share, according to the most recent data from metric firm Net Applications, and Microsoft has to hope that IE9 will be able to keep that momentum.

However, earlier this month Roger Capriotti, a product management lead on the IE team, refused to be drawn into a discussion of Microsoft’s goals for IE9, or even whether the company thought the new browser would entice users to come back to the browser.

Vince Vizzaccaro, an executive with Net Applications, had previously pegged IE’s increase in usage share to the growth of Windows 7, the Microsoft OS that includes IE8, and to a national television advertising campaign in the U.S. More recently, he had other explanations.

“[The two-month increase] is more than a blip for IE,” said Vizzaccaro in an interview last week. “Something is working for them. Maybe it’s related to ongoing privacy concerns on the part of people with Google.”

Microsoft has said nothing about a ship date for IE9, though many have speculated on an April 2011 release to coincide with MIX, the company’s annual Web conference, slated to run April 12-14, 2011 in Las Vegas.

It’s possible the ship date will be significantly later: Microsoft finalized IE8 a full year after it released the first public beta for that browser. If it maintains the same pace for IE9, the upgrade’s final edition might not appear until September 2011.

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At the turn of the century, large data centers still relied mostly on direct-attached storage systems, which offer abysmal data utilization rates — 25% to 30% of hard drive capacity.

Since then, many enterprise IT managers have at least begun to study technologies that could vastly improve data utilization, like Fibre Channel, IP storage-area networks, thin provisioning and virtualization. A recent survey by TheInfoPro found that almost half of Fortune 1,000 companies now use thin provisioning or plan to do so.

Nonetheless, data utilization rates at most large companies remain at 40% or lower, resulting in a significant waste of electricity and floor space, analysts say.

“Most people I talk to don’t even know how many terabytes of capacity they have on the floor, much less what the utilization is,” said Andrew Reichman, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.

Average storage utilization rates will remain in the 20% to 40% range until more IT managers start implementing the several storage management technologies available today, he added.

Over the past five years or so, thin provisioning, or provisioning only as much storage as an application server needs, has been among the most popular ways to boost IT storage utilization.

Slumberland Inc. has seen a significant improvement in data utilization since adopting the technology in 2004, said Seth Mitchell, an infrastructure team manager at the furniture retailer.

Since Slumberland installed arrays from Compellent Technologies Inc. with thin provisioning tools, the company’s disk capacity utilization rate has reached 66%, Mitchell said. Without thin provisioning, the rate would hover around 30%, he estimated.

Texas Christian University, which rolled out a 3Par Inc. SAN with thin provisioning capabilities two years ago, has seen its data utilization rate increase to 50% of capacity, said Bryan Lucas, executive director of technology resources.

The university had previously used direct-attached storage systems, which Lucas said were easy to deploy and manage — until the school’s server farm began to grow. “The direct-attached model didn’t scale well,” he said.

Gartner Inc. analyst Adam Couture suggested that corporate implementations of thin provisioning technology have likely been slowed by a flagging economy.

Comprehensive storage monitoring and reporting tools can cost $250,000 to $1 million, Reichman said, and in many cases a full-time employee is needed to manage such a system.

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Assistance in Network Storage Planning

Sure, consumer gadgets are getting most of the attention these days, but data centers are getting some love too. These new products and technologies promise to solve real data center problems or are already working to make enterprise operations run more smoothly. How many are on your wish list?

1. Fiber optics with a twist

The success of the HDMI cable in consumer electronics has proved that having a common cable that works with Blu-ray players, HDTV sets and just about any set-top box helps remove clutter and confusion. Intel has developed Light Peak following this same approach. It’s fiber-optic cable that will first be used with laptop and desktop computers to reduce clutter and to speed transmission, but it could also make its way to the data center as a way to connect servers and switches.

The 3.2mm cable, which is about as thin as a USB cable, can be up to 100 feet long. Intel has designed a controller that will sit inside a computer, and cables are currently in production. Third parties, including Hewlett-Packard andDell, will start making computers with Light Peak fiber-optic cables in them by 2011, according to Intel.

For data centers, Light Peak presents a few interesting possibilities. Fiber optics have been in the data center since the early 1990s, when IBMintroduced its Escon (Enterprise Systems Connection) product line; it connects mainframes at 200Mbit/sec. Light Peak differs in that it runs at 10GB/sec., and Intel claims that the components will be less expensive and lighter-weight than existing fiber-optic products.

“Intel claims Light Peak will be less complex and easier to manage by eliminating unnecessary ports, and deliver the higher throughput required by high performance e-SATA and DisplayPort systems,” says Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT in Concord, Mass. “If the company delivers on these promises, Light Peak could simplify life for data center managers plagued by installing, managing and troubleshooting miles of unruly optical cables.”

Success here will depend on “how willingly developers and vendors” embrace Light Peak and build products around it, King explains.

2. Submerged liquid cooling and horizontal racks

Liquid cooling for data centers is not a new concept, of course, but Green Revolution Cooling has added a new twist. For starters, the rack is turned on its side, which helps with cable management and makes it easier for administrators to access equipment, and the horizontal rack is surrounded by liquid. A new coolant, called GreenDEF, is made from mineral oil that is nontoxic, costs less than other liquid-cooling methods and is not electrically conductive like water, according to a GR Cooling spokesman.

“The liquid actually moves through the floor and circulates up through all of the computing nodes,” says Tommy Minyard, director of advanced computing systems at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, part of the University of Texas at Austin. This means more-effective cooling because heat is moved away from the processors via cables on the sides and under the rack, he explains. Minyard is installing GR Cooling systems in his data center and expects a 30% to 40% savings compared to traditional air-cooled systems.

Data center cooling device

Green Revolution uses horizontal devices for racks, along with a new type of coolant, to reduce energy costs in a data center.

Minyard says liquid cooling has made a rebound lately, recalling the days when Cray offered submerged cooling systems, and he notes that even IBM is moving back into chilled-liquid-cooling some compute nodes.

Pund-IT’s King says a major issue is that enterprises have fought the return of liquid cooling in the data center because of the high costs of implementing the technology and because it is unproven as a widespread option.

“Liquid cooling usually costs much more to install upfront than air cooling,” says Mark Tlapak, GR Cooling’s co-founder. “Compared to air, every liquid cooling system has some added nuance, such as electric conductivity with water-based cooling systems. ” But, he says, “spring a leak in the water systems, and you lose electrical equipment.” Still, for Minyard, GR Cooling is an ideal fit: His data center gravitates toward dense, powerful systems that pack intense power into small spaces, such as IBM blade servers and the latest Intel processors. The Ranger supercomputer, for example, uses 30kw of power per rack.

3. Several broadband lines combined into one

Enterprises can spend many thousands of dollars on fiber-optic lines and multiple T1 connections, but at least one emerging technology is aiming to provide a lower-cost alternative.

Mushroom Networks’ Truffle Broadband Bonding Network Appliance creates one fast connection out of up to six separate lines, a technique known as bonding. The Truffle combines the bandwidth of all available broadband lines into one giant pipe, with download speeds of up to 50Mbit/sec., the company says. Internet access may be through a DSL modem, cable modem, T1 line or just about any broadband connection.

This helps increase overall throughput, and acts as a backup mechanism, too. If one of the “bonded” lines fails, the Truffle connection just keeps running with the other available lines.

Steve Finn, a television producer in Kenya, uses Mushroom Networks’ appliance for a program called Africa Challenge that is broadcast to eight African countries. He relies heavily on broadband to produce the content and at one time paid as much as $4,000 per month for connectivity. Speeds vary depending on latency and traffic, but he says the bonded speed is generally about four times faster (four lines times the speed of each individual line), at about half the cost of one equivalent high-speed line.

Frank J. Bernhard, an analyst at Omni Consulting Group, says Mushroom Networks fills a niche for companies that do not want to pay the exorbitant fees for multiple T1 or T3 connections but still need reliable and fast Internet access. Other companies, includingCisco Systems, offer similar bonding technology, but at a greater cost and with more complexity at install, which means the technique has not yet been widely used.

4. Multiple data centers more easily connected

In a very large enterprise, the process of connecting multiple data centers can be a bit mind-boggling. There are security concerns, Ethernet transport issues, operational problems related to maintaining the fastest speed between switches at branch sites, and new disaster planning considerations due to IT operations running in multiple locations.

Cisco’s new Overlay Transport Virtualization, or OTV, connects multiple data centers in a way that seems really easy compared with the roll-your-own process most shops have traditionally used. Essentially a transport technology for Layer 2 networking, the software updates network switches, including the Cisco Nexus 7000, to connect data centers in different geographic locations.

The OSV software costs about $25,000 per license and uses the maximum bandwidth and connections already established between data centers.

There are other approaches for linking multiple data centers, a Cisco technical spokesman acknowledges, including those involving Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) or, before that, frame-relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode protocols.

But unlike some of the older approaches, the spokesman explains, Cisco OTV does not require any network redesign or special services in the core, such as label switching. OTV is simply overlaid onto the existing network, inheriting all the benefits of a well-designed IP network while maintaining the independence of the Layer 2 data centers being interconnected.

Terremark, a cloud service provider based in Miami, uses Cisco OTV to link 13 data centers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. The company says there is a significant savings compared with taking a “do-it-yourself” approach to linking data centers, due to reduced complexity and OTV’s automated fail-over system that helps multiple data centers act as one if disaster strikes.

“Implementing the ability to balance loads and/or enact emergency fail-over operations between data centers traditionally involved a dedicated network and complex software,” says Norm Laudermilch, Terremark’s senior vice president of infrastructure. “With Cisco OTV, Ethernet traffic from one physical location is simply encapsulated and tunneled to another location to create one logical data center.”

Virtual machines from one location can now use VMware’s VMotion, for instance, to automatically move to another physical location in the event of a failure.

5. Priority-based e-mail storage

Communication is what drives a business, but too often the bits and bytes of an e-mail exchange are treated in the data center as just another data set that needs to be archived. Messagemind automatically determines which e-mails can be safely archived onlower-cost systems.

The tool analyzes all company communication — tracking which messages end users read, delete or save — and then groups them according to priority level.

Data center administrators can use that information to store e-mail based on priority level, which in turn can save money. For example, instead of storing all e-mails in one high-cost archive, messages marked as low priority — based again on the end user’s clicking behavior — can be stored in lower-cost storage systems. High-priority e-mail can be stored on higher-performance, and higher-cost, media.

That same behind-the-scenes analysis can be used outside the data center, rolled up into a dashboard that managers and end users can view to help them on projects. For example, business units can view e-mail diagrams that show who is communicating effectively on a project and who seems to be lagging behind and rarely contributing.

Pund-IT’s King says Messagemind is an intriguing prospect because e-mail has become such a wasteland of broken conversations and disconnected project discussions. Managing e-mail becomes even more painful if a company is subject to litigation, and e-mail becomes part of the legal discovery process.

“Even the best e-mail solutions require employees to manage their messages,” says King. “If it works as advertised, I could see this catching hold in enterprises. By managing e-mail more effectively — and automatically — Messagemind’s solution could take a great deal of weight off the shoulders of data center admins struggling under ever-increasing volumes of stored messages.”

6. User accounts virtualized for easier restoration

Virtualization has become the buzzword of the past decade, but it usually involves abstracting an operating system from a server or data from your storage allocations. AppSense is virtualization software for user accounts. It extracts user profile settings from Windows applications and maintains them separately. That means that if an application is updated or changed, the user information is still available. If user settings are corrupted or lost, administrators can restore the settings with a minimum of bother.

Landon Winburn, a software systems specialist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, uses AppSense to virtualize user-account profiles for his 3,000 students. Winburn says the university used to manage user settings manually, taking about 40 to 60 calls per week related to log-ins. The university also had five to 10 corruptions per day related to user settings.

“Before AppSense, the only solution for a corrupt profile was to delete the profile and have the user start again from scratch for all applications,” says Winburn.

But now, with AppSense’s ability to restore these settings, the university doesn’t have to directly address the problems, since they are handled automatically. By virtualizing accounts, the university could also increase the number of XenApp Server accounts from 40 user profiles per server to about 80.

John Brandon is a veteran of the computing industry, having worked as an IT manager for 10 years and a tech journalist for another 10. He has written more than 2,500 feature articles and is a regular contributor to Computerworld.

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Percento Technologies: Managing Buisness IT Networks across the United States of America