What is Application Performance Management (APM)? Like a lot of good questions, it depends on your business needs.  What is the goal of an ideal APM?  Does it mean 99.999% availability?  Perhaps it is a favorable overall end user experience when using the application but, as compared to what? My point is that Application Performance Management / Monitoring means different things to different businesses and it can even depend on the application involved. What is the Goal of APM “Begin with the goal in mind.” I wish I could take credit for that quote.  What is the goal of the APM? Have you listed out the objectives you hope to obtain from your APM strategy?  This approach will help your team ensure satisfaction with the final solution chosen.  Here are some examples. Minimum of 99.999% availability with lower Mean Time To Know (MTTK) and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) Less ... (more)

Lex Sells? - A Practical Legal Response to SCO: A "Free Software Act"

The few legal researchers in this area worldwide seem hell-bent on fitting free software into a copyright mold, even though the introduction of copyright coverage of software had been very divisive in its time and cut hackers (I use this term interchangeably with free software developer) off from a previously communally held resource. This may once have been the only option, but I now believe that the exclusive reliance on copyright has had its day. A new law to protect free software, a sui generis or "of its own kind" legislative regime, is warranted for a number of reasons: First, it will extend the ambit and number of rights already granted in free software licenses, which would prevent vexatious cases such as SCO vs. IBM from ever coming to the fore by giving exemptions, for example, from liability for inadvertent infringements of copyright by free software dev... (more)

LinuxWorld Expo: Linux IT model gives Morgan Stanley flexibility

NEW YORK (IDG News Service) — In mid-2001, Morgan Stanley began overhauling its IT infrastructure, aiming at a new management architecture based on a thin-client model that would allow all data, applications and even operating systems to be hosted on network servers. The guiding goal was flexibility, said implementer Jeffrey Birnbaum, managing director and global head of enterprise computing in Morgan Stanley's institutional securities division. With thousands of internally developed applications and 36,500 supported PCs spread throughout 20 countries, Morgan Stanley wanted an architecture that would let it quickly deliver anything that needed to flow to end users, including data, applications, software patches and system configuration changes. It also wanted the ability to add new applications and machines to its network for the lowest possible cost, Birnbaum... (more)

SYS-CON Radio interviews Vikas Gupta and Gavriel State of TransGaming Technologies

SYS-CON Radio interviews Vikas Gupta, Co-CEO, President and COO and Gavriel State, Co-CEO and CTO of TransGaming Technologies Listen to the Interview ... (more)

StarDot Welcomes CyberVision Inc. as Their New NVR Partner with full Support of StarDot’s New Line of Dual Codec H.264/MJPEG Cameras

StarDot Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high definition multi-megapixel IP cameras and video servers, and CyberVision Inc., a world leading Linux Video Surveillance and IP solutions provider with over 100 worldwide OEM and ODM customers, have announced today the full integration and support for StarDot’s H.264 NetCam SC cameras. CyberVision’s 64 channel NVR system, based on the Linux operating system, is an all in one Hybrid recording system. CyberVision’s NVR software offers support for H.264, up to 64 channels, Full HD, 4:3 and 16:9 wide screen display option, 24TB HDD storage and several recording modes. CyberVision’s NVR system is a popular solution for finance, traffic and retail with its easy out of the box setup and feature-loaded design. CyberVision’s NVR design offers the convenience of incorporating an existing analog camera structure with new IP ... (more)

MontaVista Announces New Proof-of-Concept Program to Deliver Low-Cost Option for Rapid Prototyping of Automotive Projects

SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/06/12 -- MontaVista® Software LLC. today announced the launch of its Automotive Technology Platform PoC Program (ATP PoC), a new low cost program designed to enable Tier-1s and OEMs in the Automotive IVI market to rapidly engage in Proof-of-Concept (PoC) or demonstration projects on a limited budget. In conjunction with this new program, MontaVista announced the release of its new Automotive Technology Platform (ATP) 3.0, the first platform declared compliant to the new GENIVI Compliance specification version 3.0 by the GENIVI Alliance. MontaVista's ATP PoC program bundles an evaluation copy of MV ATP with engineering services and support to enable rapid prototyping at the startup phase of a new project. This allows customers to rapidly create a prototype or demo without having to make a large investment while ensuring the solution ... (more)

Plixer's Mix Master Mitch Busts Out New Cisco Medianet Rap Video

SANFORD, ME -- (Marketwire) -- 12/05/12 -- Plixer International, Inc., a leading provider of NetFlow-based network traffic monitoring and threat detection technology, today announced the debut of its latest in the popular Mix Master Mitch video series. Titled, "Cisco Medianet: Application Performance Monitoring with NetFlow," the entertaining video series blends Plixer's new Scrutinizer v10 features with the rapping style of Mix Master Mitch, to both entertain and inform viewers about the network performance and security benefits of flow-based monitoring tools. The new Cisco Performance Monitoring rap video is currently available on youtube.com and includes a cameo appearance by Plixer's President and CEO -- Michael Patterson. Patterson, who recently published Unleashing the Power of NetFlow and IPFIX, elaborates on the marketing value of combining rap music and ne... (more)

Spin Systems, Inc. Joins Red Hat Partner Program

STERLING, Va., March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Spin Systems, a leading provider of enterprise-wide medical, legal and financial solutions to Fortune 500 companies and federal government agencies, announced today that it has joined the Red Hat partner program. Spin Systems has broad knowledge of technologies based on Red Hat and Red Hat JBoss Middleware solutions  and created a solution that collects more than 1.2 billion records per day from medical diagnostic devices, electronic medical records, information kiosks, and other sources. In addition to reducing costs and improving efficiency, the solution is designed to help clients access healthcare records in seconds rather than weeks or months. "We decided to partner with Red Hat because of our positive experience with them in the past. Red Hat's technologies help Spin Systems offer better and more cost-effective solu... (more)

ONUG Releases Prioritized Use Cases to Lower Cost and Ensure Greater Choice in Software-Defined Networking Solutions

The Open Networking User Group (ONUG) Board of Directors identified eight use cases and associated requirements to ensure IT executives receive the benefits of lower OpEx and CapEx, greater choice and faster delivery of innovative IT solutions. Real world user deployments, market updates, independent test results, and use cases were presented and evaluated at ONUG Fall 2013, hosted October 29-30, 2013 by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The IT business leaders at ONUG voted and selected as the Top 3 priorities for RFIs/RFQs to be issued in the next year: Integrated Layer 4-7 Network Services Virtual Network Overlays Branch Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WANs) Other use cases identified included: Traffic monitoring and visibility, white box networking, automated network segmentation, Linux-based automation, an abstract Policy to define applications and IT Infrastructure ... (more)

The i-Technology Right Stuff

Related Links: Wanted: 19 More of the Top Software People in the World Sung and Unsung i-Technology Heroes Who's Missing from SYS-CON's i-Technology Top Twenty?" Our search for the Twenty Top Software People in the World is nearing completion. In the SYS-CON tradition of empowering readers, we are leaving the final "cut" to you, so here are the top 40 nominations in alphabetical order. Our aim this time round is to whittle this 40 down to our final twenty, not (yet) to arrange those twenty in any order of preference. All you need to do to vote is to go to the Further Details page of any nominee you'd like to see end up in the top half of the poll when we close voting on Christmas Eve, December 24, and cast your vote or votes. To access the Further Details of each nominee just click on their name. Happy voting!   In alphabetical order the nominees are:   Tim Berner... (more)

The Top 250 Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem

In the run-up to the next Cloud Expo, 7th Cloud Expo (November 1–4, 2010) being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, it's time to give my earlier list a complete overhaul. Here, accordingly, is an expanded list of the most active players in the Cloud Ecosystem. I have increased it from the 'mere' 150 I identified back in January of this year, to 250, testimony – as if any were needed! – to the fierce and continuing growth of the "Elastic IT" paradigm throughout the world of enterprise computing. Editorial note: The words in quotation marks used to describe the various services and solutions in this round-up are in every case taken from the Web sites of the companies themselves. Omissions to this Top 250 list should be sent to me via Twitter (twitter.com/jg21) and I will endeavor to include them in any future revision of this newly expanded rou... (more)