We are living in exciting times, especially those of us who work in IT. The technological changes going on all around us are, historically, on par with previous leaps in human development. For businesses, technology offers tools that allow them to compete and thrive. It gives them the ability to apply intelligence and process management…

Technologies such as virtualization and the cloud have changed data centers dramatically in recent years. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the need to keep them cool. While many organizations have moved data and workloads to the cloud, most keep some servers on-premises, often in smaller data centers or server closets. Because most physical…

Most people who’ve been in the workforce for a decade or more remember a time when they had to carry two mobile phones with them everywhere they went — one for work and one for personal use. It’s a clunky setup that has been replaced in many (but not all) organizations by bring-your-own-device (BYOD) or…

Recently, I asked a roomful of CISOs from a variety of industries — including retail — how many of them had an incident response plan or even an incident response retainer in place. Even in that room, where every single person was in charge of safeguarding his or her organization’s data, only 20 percent raised…

It was my honor to again attend the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Technology Conference — an annual exposition and education event formerly known as Law Enforcement Information Management (LEIM) — along with my colleagues in CDW’s government and public safety practice. The conference always affords us a great opportunity to meet with…

Getting hacked is nothing new, as the recent “WannaCry” ransomware aptly demonstrates. Organizations have been fending off malware for years. But a virus outbreak back in 2005 was far less sophisticated than any of today’s attacks. Even ransomware — basic automated software that enterprises fight daily — can bring an organization to a standstill. Although…

I’ve recently come across a number of comments from industry experts declaring that 40G Ethernet is dead — that it’s a given for organizations to jump on the 25/50/100G path. Those conclusions are simplistic and misleading. To really get at the heart of this question, organizations need to look at five critical factors. 1. Switch-to-Server or…

Are you still using tape to store your organization’s critical data? Are those tapes sent offsite daily? How long does it take to restore data if it is deleted, corrupted or destroyed? How will it impact your business? Backup and recovery are at the cornerstone of any IT shop. Above all else – if you…

Today, NetApp held a public launch event on their website to announce their new directions for Data Fabric and data management. One of the many highlights of the presentation was the announcement of the new NetApp HCI platform. Dale Degan (director, product marketing, SolidFire products and solutions) spoke at length about the exciting new offering…

Healthcare providers are considering a growing number of digitally enabled devices that have the potential to dramatically improve clinical care while driving down costs. These devices offer providers a major opportunity to leverage the Internet of Things (IoT) in coming years. Although discussions about IoT typically focus on data analytics and clinical use cases, healthcare…