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Formerly a National Correspondent for Computerworld, I was also a founding editor of TechBeacon.com, a features editor at Network World, and helped launch content marketing initiatives at Hewlett-Packard, Scale AI and other high-tech companies. I also worked as a consultant for a technology services firm.
It wasn't the first carousel Harry and Julia Trefes purchased and installed at Atlantic Beach Casino in Misquamicut, shortly after purchasing the Pleasant View Beach property from the Westerly-Norwich Trolley
ML attack mitigation is a moving target. Here's what to focus on now - and why traditional tooling like SAST and SCA is not up to the job.
The Huns and the Warlocks, two rival motorcycle gangs, were squaring off in the middle of Atlantic Avenue in front of the Blue Sands nightclub one summer evening in the
Having established its bona fides as a key methodology for cost control and workload optimization of public cloud services, FinOps is expanding into optimizing outcomes for private cloud, SaaS, licensing, AI, and even traditional data centers.
They called it a summer cottage, but the sprawling 35-room mansion that Mrs. George Grant "Pearl" Snowden built in 1930 atop one of the highest points in Watch Hill was
Steve Smith, lead singer for The Naked Truth, looked out over a sea of faces at the Blue Sands night club in Misquamicut as hundreds of people dropped to the
Albert Hartunian's home may look like a castle - anyone driving down Palmer Neck Road on the way to Barn Island Wildlife Management Area in Stonington would certainly think so
Cost, data privacy, and performance issues have IT executives reassessing what should go into multi-tenant public cloud services.
Learn how RL's Advanced Malware Analysis can help your organization move beyond the sandbox to better secure your organization against malicious files.
Long used for brainstorming and project management, these visual collaboration tools now offer AI features that can help teams quickly augment, summarize, translate, and categorize whiteboard canvas content. Here's what to look for and 10 digital whiteboard apps to consider.
From the editors of Computerworld, this enterprise buyer’s guide helps IT staff understand what the various digital whiteboard software options can do for their organizations and how to choose the right solution.
AI innovations are transforming videoconferencing software, which is rapidly being absorbed into unified communications and collaboration platforms. Here's what to look for and 14 platforms to consider.
AI innovations are transforming videoconferencing software, which is rapidly being absorbed into unified communications and collaboration platforms. Here’s what to look for and 14 platforms to consider.
WESTERLY - Walk north along Canal Street and look to your right, into the alley between the Westerly Camera store and the Surf Cantina restaurant, and you'll catch a glimpse
WESTERLY - When Sarah and Chris Cooper opened the Margin Street Inn in May 2018, they were continuing a tradition started by Nancy (Perry) Kelley, who first opened the historic Charles Perry family homestead at 4 Margin St.
STONINGTON - Drive down Greenhaven Road in Pawcatuck too quickly and you might miss the oldest continuously operating farm in Connecticut. The Stanton-Davis Homestead, built by Thomas Stanton in 1677,
New features and capabilities have taken EFSS services far beyond their file syncing and sharing roots. Here are today's trends in EFSS, key features to look for, and nine leading vendors to consider.
CIOs are increasingly exploiting custom AI stacks and new features in line with business software to automate and streamline business processes - with a few caveats.
IT leaders are reassessing organizational structures to be more on the front foot regarding strong skills sets, collaborative team culture, and the right tooling.
Cloud migration doesn't always go according to plan, so knowing how to get the most from your investment starts with having the right strategy and securing good relationships to maximize ROI.
To look at it today, you'd never know that the dilapidated brown shingle building that was once the Girl Scout House at 23 Elm Street in Westerly was originally a
The hybrid workplace is here to stay, so you need the right tools to help employees secure a workspace when they're in the office - and to help you optimize your office space. Here's what to look for and 25+ desk booking platforms to consider.
The compelling benefits of using proprietary cloud-native services come at a price: vendor lock-in. Here are ways CIOs can effectively plan without getting stuck.
IT budgets are being tested like never before due to many factors. But savvy CIOs, tightly aligned with the C-suite, have found ways to adjust to rising costs while others remain on the back foot.
The move toward ubiquitous electronic health record sharing across the US is accelerating, but obstacles remain for providers, payers, patients, and other stakeholders.
CIOs see opportunities to use breakthrough AI models to increase productivity in areas ranging from writing marketing copy to software coding - but only if enterprises have the right guardrails in place.
Discover how UAS are revolutionizing bridge inspections, reducing costs, and improving safety while addressing the challenge of structurally deficient bridges.
Every IT leader wants to extract the maximum value from tech investments before retiring them, but that's not always possible.
From an energy efficiency perspective, sustainability has always been a "no brainer" for IT, says Lee Green, chief architect at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). The business imperative to streamline business processes and optimize IT operations was driving efficiency improvements well before the healthcare insurer developed its corporate sustainability framework.
Robert L. Mitchell learned firsthand that, in an emergency room, lack of access to patient data can be a killer.
Distributing decision-making authority at pace for technical and financial approvals is an essential component of digital transformation, but are CIOs ready to let go? Two events influenced Schneider Electric CIO Elizabeth Hackenson to distribute more decision-making authority throughout the company's IT organization.
Genpact's Srivastava agrees: "Data ingestion, harmonization, engineering and governance are 90% of the work that goes into building an AI system. If you focus on the 10% and let go of the 90%, you're dead from the start. So build that foundation of data."
5 reasons why users are ready to trash your app Every morning, I launch my NPR news app, press play, and-nothing happens. Each time, I must go to another screen to re-select my local NPR news station, return to the main screen, and press play again. Only then does the broadcast start.
Vice President of Engineering Ken Okumura manages engineering and operations infrastructure at TRUSTe, a provider of technology products and services that business customers use to manage their data privacy practices. His security-focused career track has also included roles at Qualys, Inc., Postini, and Verisign, where he was one of the first employees hired.
Blame it on the public cloud service providers. It was, after all, the Amazons of the world that raised the bar by making the provisioning of IT resources look so easy. Why should users have to wait? If I can get it quickly and easily there, the reasoning goes, why can't I get the same agility from my internal data center?
Bill Loconzolo, vice president of data engineering at Intuit, jumped into a data lake with both feet. Dean Abbott, chief data scientist at Smarter Remarketer, made a beeline for the cloud. The leading edge of big data and analytics, which includes data lakes for holding vast stores of data in its native format and, of course, cloud computing, is a moving target, both say.
Computerworld Feature Stories
What businesses know about any given individual is a lot. But what are companies doing with that data? Not as much as you might think -- at least not yet. Companies are getting more sophisticated, however.
The rapid pace of innovation in mobile devices and software has made managing it all a moving target, but the proliferation of user-owned devices at work means businesses cannot wait to beef up their support infrastructure. So how do you choose the right tool set, given all the activity?
These folks won't migrate. The reason probably isn't what you're thinking. Computerworld - With the long-anticipated Cobol skills shortage starting to bite, many businesses have been steadily migrating applications off the mainframe. Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina has been doubling down.
Virtualization and private clouds have delivered hardware savings in a big way for most enterprises. Software savings, however, are proving more elusive, and that's been particularly true when it comes to virtualizing Oracle databases, according to several sources. While virtualization has enabled server consolidation ratios of 3:1 or more, businesses may see little or no reduction in associated software costs.
The transition to cloud-based services is ratcheting up traditional enterprise software costs and adding layers of complexity. Here's how IT organizations are breaking free. Computerworld - David Steinour is at his wit's end with enterprise software cost increases.
IT needs to get ready Computerworld - When NASA's Juno satellite blasted off for Jupiter, the 3D printed parts in its final assembly represented just one small step toward manufacturer Lockheed Martin's goal to eventually build an entire spacecraft using additive manufacturing technology.
I have had a smart thermostat and Wi-Fi security cameras in my home for about a year. While using these (and researching my article The Internet of Things at home: Why we should pay attention), I started to wonder if the task of managing smart devices could quickly get out of hand.
Award Winning Stories
At the entrance to "The Vault," the most secure room within the most protected building operated by security services provider Symantec, an iris recognition system stands guard as the last line of defense.
She had me at hello ... or just about. Our conversation had barely started when privacy activist Betty Ostergren interrupted me to say that she had found my full name, address, Social Security number and a digital image of my signature on the Web.
Three years ago, when electric grid operators were starting to talk about the need to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks, few utilities had even hired a chief information security officer. Then came Stuxnet. In 2010, that malware, widely reported to have been created by the U.S.
Just two weeks after Mohawk Fine Papers made the decision to sell its products on Amazon.com, integration work was complete, connections to its ERP system lit up and sales started rolling in. "Amazon generated tens of thousands of dollars in revenue immediately," says Paul Stamas, vice president of IT at the $300 million, 725-employee manufacturer of premium papers.
It was more two decades ago, during a visit to my cousins' dairy farm in rural Maine, that I first saw ID tags in action. Before anyone was talking about RFID - before there was an ISO standard for radio frequency tags - dairy farmers were already making use of sensor technology.
There's plenty of blame to go around. Some Web sites haven't been updated, and many developers still don't design their pages to modern standards and best practices. Browser vendors still interpret some standards differently and don't fully implement all of the features in others. The list goes on.
"Google knows more about you than your mother." Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, recently made that statement to this reporter. A few years ago, it might have sounded far-fetched.
Paper has been around in one form or another for 5,000 years. Paper money has been the preferred medium of exchange for business transactions for about 1,000 years. For the past 30 years, organizations have been trying -- with limited success -- to eliminate paper from business processes.
Despite virtualization's promise, most organizations have yet to deploy virtual servers. Here's why.
Over the next 10 years, thin-film polymers and other flexible substrates could change how people think about and use displays. In the future, you may "print out" reports to sheets of e-paper: flexible polymer displays about as thick as a sheet of paper that can be spread out on a desk for easy comparison and analysis and then reused when the work is done.
When Dave Saltzman prepares for a business trip, he charges up the main battery in his notebook computer, removes the CD-ROM drive and fills the bay with a second battery, and then packs a third one in his bag. That's sufficient for long trips, says Saltzman, systems manager at United Parcel Service Inc.
Privacy is under attack from all quarters, but even today, there are things you can do to protect your personal data. Here are some tips. Computerworld - Who says privacy is dead?
Bruce Edwards began to understand that spyware was more than a consumer PC problem when his users started complaining loudly about poor performance and an increase in pop-up ads. But it wasn't until after he'd checked all of his organization's PCs that Edwards understood the full scope of the problem.
Features
Computerworld - Something happened on the way to the cloud: Too many business customers got burned by bad contracts. It's not that cloud services can't deliver value. But in the rush to the cloud, enterprises often end up stuck with contracts that don't fully meet the business's needs, lack accountability and cost considerably more than anticipated.
When Kaiser Permanente began a program to dispose of its obsolete computer equipment two and a half years ago, it was motivated more by cost concerns than by the desire to properly dispose of products with potentially toxic content.
Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.
Today's crop of software does much more than manage mobile hardware. Mobile device management tools are transforming into veritable "Swiss army knives." But while all cover the basics when it comes to hardware management, there are differences when it comes to some of the extended features you may require.
Cheating is on the rise, but IT certification programs are fighting back. Computerworld - It didn't take long for the test center proctor to realize something was amiss. One group of people clearly stood out from the rest of the candidates taking a popular IT certification exam.
It's a cause. It's a curse. It's just business. Ad blockers take a bite out of the $20 billion digital advertising pie. Computerworld - For Mauricio Freitas, publisher of the New Zealand Geekzone website for mobile enthusiasts, ad blocking software has been a major headache.
Palm prints, iris images and mug shots join fingerprints in the FBI's database, helping to identify the bad guys. Computerworld - Nearly 80 years after it began collecting fingerprints on index cards as a way to identify criminals, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is moving to a new system that improves the accuracy and performance of its existing setup while adding more biometrics.
What can Internet of Things products bring to your home? Here are the features offered by 14 of the major vendors. The Internet of Things may be coming to the office -- but it's already in the home.
With online tracking on the rise and Do Not Track efforts moving ahead slowly, users and browser vendors have been taking matters into their own hands. Computerworld - How do you feel about your Web-browsing activity being tracked?
Computerworld - Online ads can be annoying, but increasingly they're malicious, too. In the wake of a highly publicized "malvertising" incident last December, during which attackers were able to deliver malware through online ads published on Yahoo.com, that question is now top of mind for some.
InfiniBand, sexy? It and other high-speed server interconnect technologies, until now used mostly in high-performance compute clusters and in the back offices of financial services businesses, are starting to get traction in those gigantic Web 2.0 data centers says Eyal Waldman, CEO of Mellanox.
In the recent story about the evolution of 3D printing, we didn't have room to talk about Ford Racing's use of the technology to help build NASCAR engine parts. It uses a 3D printing process called selective laser sintering (SLS), rather than machine tooling, to build the sand-cast molds used to form aluminum intake manifolds for the NASCAR engines it manufactures.
Industrial Light & Magic has been replacing its servers with the hottest new IBM BladeCenters -- literally, the hottest. For every new rack ILM brings in, it cuts overall power use in the data center by a whopping 140 kW -- a staggering 84% drop in overall energy use.
When it comes to designing efficient data centers you rely on experts, but behind the scenes those experts don't always agree. Certain religious wars continue to be debated. One is the age-old AC versus DC for power distribution. Another has to do with the use of raised floors.
Who says you need a college degree to land an IT job? Out of 21 categories of IT careers, it's possible to land jobs in three without a college degree, says Lonnie Emard, president of IT-ology, a non-profit consortium that works with businesses and educators to promote IT careers.
Computerworld - What is the Internet of Things (IoT), exactly? If you're a consumer, then the first thing that leaps to mind might be a Nest Wi-Fi thermostat, or perhaps those smart health bands that let you monitor your activity level from an app on your smartphone. That's part of it.
With swift, nonstop innovation, he helps bring better healthcare to children. Computerworld - Ed M. Martinez isn't afraid to shake things up.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium turned to cloud-based analytics when it needed a way to better predict how many visitors would be coming on any given day. With 65% of its expenses dedicated to payroll and attendance swings that ranged from 1,200 to 5,000 people per day, finding a way to ensure that staffing levels corresponded to attendance levels represented a huge opportunity for savings.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Five years ago I kicked out Comcast, cut the cable TV cord, and went to my local telco provider, FairPoint Communications, for high-speed Internet service. Now I'm giving Comcast a second chance. I'm already starting to have second thoughts.
An agile approach to projects lets IT pros take on multiple roles and learn new skills. Computerworld - Working in IT at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is great for all the reasons you'd expect.
Loads of IP-addressable sensors are descending on the enterprise. Here's how you'll need to pull them all together. Computerworld - As CIO at Boeing, Ted Colbert is no stranger to the Internet of Things.
Today's crop of software does much more than manage mobile hardware. Mobile device management tools are transforming into veritable "Swiss army knives." But while all cover the basics when it comes to hardware management, there are differences when it comes to some of the extended features you may require.
A retail mindset helps this CIO create better processes for the utilities business. Computerworld - Before Karen Austin reached her current position as CIO at Pacific Gas and Electric, her career road map included stops in the CIO suites at Sears and Kmart.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a robot as "a real or imaginary machine that is controlled by a computer and is often made to look like a human or animal." So when Alastair Bathgate stopped by Computerworld's offices the other day to talk about how software robots are the Next Big Thing I pressed him for a definition.
For TurboTax, this is the moment of truth. The tax preparation software and SaaS vendor will processes 26 million 2013 tax returns this year, says vice president Bob Meighan, and most of that activity will occur over the next few days. This week things at TurboTax are flat-out crazy.
Here's how to minimize your personal data footprint when messaging, on social media, and using mobile apps Computerworld - Is privacy dead? Not by a long shot. While you can't control everything that's out there about you, there's quite a bit you can do to reduce your data footprint -- or at least avoid adding to it.
How to just say no to direct mail and other 'offers' Computerworld - You have more control over your privacy than you think. While it's true that you can't control absolutely everything that's out there about you, with a little work you can exert more control than you might expect over what's gathered, its accuracy and how it may be used, say privacy experts.
Only 23% of law enforcement agencies participate in a national data warehouse -- but observers remain hopeful. Computerworld - In 2008 the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services division (CJIS) embarked on an ambitious effort to enable information sharing among every federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agency in the United States.
The No. 8-ranked company on our 2013 Best Places to Work in IT list also isn't shy about recognizing standout employees. Computerworld - For Jeff Tepfer, working at a big high-tech company like Qualcomm has outsized advantages, including opportunities to work abroad. "Working on-site in India, China, Taiwan and other locations has been a great experience," he says.
Two companies decide that Drupal, a powerful but complex content management system, works best for them. Computerworld - Of the open-source content management systems (CMSs) available today, WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are, according to Web technology tracker W3Techs, by far the most popular. But how do companies choose which to use?
Two companies decide that Joomla has the feature set and usability they need for their websites. Computerworld - In this, the second installment of our three-part series on finding the best open-source content management system (CMS) for your needs, we asked two organizations that use Joomla to explain why they felt that Joomla was the best choice for them, how the transition went, and whether they're happy with the results.
If you want to make sure nobody's making off with your valuables -- or that your dog isn't chewing up the furniture -- try one of these cloud-based cameras Computerworld - Whether you feel the need to keep an eye out for intruders at home, keep tabs on the baby in the other room or just want to see what your pets are doing when you're not around, cloud security cameras can help.
Cover Stories
As these companies have discovered, when IT projects focus on operational efficiency, sustainability benefits usually follow. Computerworld - When Kevin Humphries talks about green IT at FedEx, you won't hear much about reducing the company's carbon footprint. FedEx embraced the new math of green IT when it engineered every inch of its new, LEED-certified 46,000-sq.-ft.
Computerworld - Ask CIOs what comes to mind when they hear the term "consumerization of IT" and most likely you'll hear tales of users carrying personal smartphones and tablets into the workplace, demanding access to corporate email and other applications. But mobile devices aren't the only consumer-based technologies pushing their way into the enterprise.
Iris recognition finally seems ready to break into the mainstream, particularly in banking and law enforcement, as prices drop and systems get easier to use. Computerworld - At the entrance to "The Vault," the most secure room within the most protected building operated by security services provider Symantec, an iris recognition system stands guard as the last line of defense.
WordPress' flexibility and ease of use convinced two organizations to use it as their content management system. Computerworld - In this last installment of our three-part series on finding the best open-source content management system (CMS) for your needs, we asked two organizations -- online magazine Quartz.com and Carleton University -- to talk about why they chose WordPress over other open-source options and how well that decision has stood the test of time.
containerization technology for managing mobile devices
Could aggressive data mining by law enforcement prevent heinous crimes, such as the recent mass murder in Aurora, CO., by catching killers before they can act?
Hiring an R&D team that knew nothing about the business sparked disruptive ideas Computerworld - When MasterCard WorldWide's chief innovation officer, Garry Lyons, launched MasterCard Labs two years ago, his approach to hiring was anything but conventional. Lyons began by recruiting talented people who didn't know anything about the payments processing business.
Computerworld - How do you keep Wi-Fi up and running for 80,000 fans at the Super Bowl? That's just one of the challenges Michelle McKenna-Doyle faced this year as CIO for the National Football League.
Blogs
IT staffers set their own hours and work with bleeding-edge tech at the No. 75-ranked company on our 2013 Best Places to Work in IT list. Computerworld - For twentysomething senior software engineers Pete Brousalis and Trey Springer, working in IT at Enova International is as much a lifestyle choice as a career decision.
Computerworld - Bring your own device is so 2012. The next big push in the consumerization of IT is bring your own cloud. And just as when consumer devices poured into the enterprise, many IT organizations have already responded with a list of do's and don'ts.
Will an all-in commitment to data-driven campaigning and predictive analytics give Obama the extra push he needs to win - and change the way presidential campaigns are waged in 2016?
Focusing on both big ideas and small accomplishments Computerworld - For Joseph Eckroth, success comes from thinking big while paying close attention to the little things. As CIO at Hertz, Eckroth has successfully championed Express Rent, an innovative idea for self-service kiosks that had previously languished, says CTO Rob Moore.
These organizations are floating more and more applications into the cloud. They're scaling up, while keeping a keen eye on the risks and rewards.
Computerworld - Rebecca Rhoads rose up from Raytheon's engineering ranks to become CIO, and earlier this year, her duties were expanded to include leading the defense contractor's newly formed Global Business Services unit.
Iris recognition finally seems ready to break into the mainstream. Computerworld - At the entrance to "The Vault," the most secure room within the most protected building operated by security services provider Symantec, an iris recognition system stands guard as the last line of defense.
Shops incorporating mobile, collaboration tech into process management
The combination of predictive analytics and social media is helping retailers anticipate the whims of fashion -- but it's not yet a substitute for expert human judgment.
DigitalGlobe's CIO explains how Earth imagery can solve a multitude of business problems.
This CIO tackled an IT modernization project that also tested his diplomacy skills. Computerworld - In the two years since he joined Enterprise Business Partners, CIO Pradip Sitaram has helped the affordable housing and community development organization modernize its IT infrastructure, move to the cloud and transform IT into a proactive, problem-solving organization that serves a family of five businesses.
How much private information is available about you in cyberspace? Social Security numbers are just the beginning.
Priority No. 1 for this rising CIO is changing executive mindsets about IT.
Would you entrust your mainframe to the cloud? Perhaps not for production, but IBM is hoping to gain customers for its cloud-based disaster recovery services by offering support for virtual mainframes.
The airline's still revamping core legacy apps, only in a different way. Computerworld - American Airlines was well into a simultaneous revamp of its Passenger Services System (PSS) and Flight Operating System (FOS), its two most mission-critical families of applications, when the airline changed course last January.
Robert Half Technology's annual Salary Guide for technology professionals, released this week, offers some interesting insights into which career tracks are rising and which are lagging. Want to know where you fit in? Here's the deal in a few, easy to parse snapshots.
Contrary to popular opinion, you don't need a huge budget to get started.
Investing in an IT career is like investing in real estate: In both cases location matters. While it's not all about location, location, location, compensation for the same IT job can vary widely -- sometimes by $50,000 or more -- depending on where you decide to work. But the best paying job may not be the best value because cost of living factors can more than cancel out a higher salary.
Computerworld - Ask any three IT professionals what they're looking for in mobile-device management (MDM) software and you're likely to get five different answers. Customers are pushing the limits of the software -- asking it to do many more things than it was originally created to do -- and vendors are happy to oblige.
Make these mistakes and you won't need an algorithm to predict the outcome Computerworld - Whether you're new to predictive analytics or have a few projects under your belt, it's all too easy to make gaffes. "The vast majority of analytic projects are riddled with mistakes," says John Elder, CEO at data mining firm Elder Research.
The inside story of a problem-plagued financial system overhaul that just might work.
Yes, Apple products are making their way into corporate America. But the numbers are still relatively small.
Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers weighed in on a wide variety of issues, from the coming shakeout in the top six enterprise IT vendors to the CIO's role as a stepping stone to the CEO's office. Here are 10 key takeaways from the conversation.
What are the most useful in-browser tools for Web designers and developers? Here's what the pros recommend.
Entrepreneur Tim Schumacher, founder of the domain registrar Sedo.com, is the primary investor behind Adblock Plus, the free browser add-on that blocks Web advertisements. Schumacher, 36, who left Sedo in 2012, is also the driving force behind Adblock Plus' controversial business model, the Acceptable Ads program (see Ad Blockers: A solution or a problem?).
By interlocking business services, companies gain customer knowledge, efficiency and speed. The payoffs are huge, but laying the groundwork for IT standardization is no easy task.
Critical infrastructure providers face off against a rising tide of increasingly sophisticated and potentially destructive attacks emanating from hacktivists, spies and militarized malware.
Mohawk saves millions by using the cloud as a central integration point for all its B2B transactions.
Dr. Colleen McCue, senior director of social science and quantitative methods at DigitalGlobe, has been modeling violent crime using machine learning for more than 20 years. "People are creatures of habit. That's what this all goes back to," she says, adding that models can also make predictions about specific offenders if there's enough previous criminal activity.
Google may know more about you than your mother does. Got a problem with that?
When the last Cobol programmers walk out the door, 50 years of business processes encapsulated in the software they created may follow.
Improper disposal of obsolete IT equipment is fast becoming a major liability for corporations.