Novell picks up on Just enough operating system

Let’s start by taking care of the semantics where “Just enough operating system” is generally referred to as “JeOS” or “Juice”, for the really wired crowd.

Yes, JeOS is pronounced “Juice”, like in the juice you drink.

So what’s JeOS, anyway?

Glad you asked, it refers to a customized OS that precisely fits the needs of a particular application. Huh? Simply said, it’s the opposite of a bloated, one-size-fits-all operating system. It’s a base OS with (or without) specific pieces of it, like a MySQL engine, for instance.

JeOS is all about optimization, speed and lightweightedness.

In this age of information, data can explode and setting up lightweight server appliances can ease administration, lower the latency times (associated with queries) and reduce the risk with operating such an appliance.

If you only install the part of the OS that you need (for a specific server appliance), you’re likely to build up a the fastest possible server for a given task (for that level of computing power). So who’s picking up on the JeOS craze? It’s basically a Linux thing with Ubuntu leading the way, VMWare integrating it in its virtual machine matrix and for the very companies, Novell which is adding its weight to the JeOS scene.

In fact, Novell’s new SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 adds capability for policy-driven systems management and, on top of that, it’ll soon be certified to run on Amazon EC2 and as more coders are jumping in the cloud, daily, that’s clearly a smart move.

But that’s not all since, later this year, Novell plans to release tools that let a company (or developer) build a virtual appliance using only the parts of SUSE Linux needed to run an application, stripping out the rest to create that contextually ideal lightweight package.

Of course, Novell hopes the JeOS moniker sticks and more companies adopt this “building block approach” to operating systems management.

Tags: novell, jeos, juice, ubuntu, server, server appliance, os, operating system, virtual appliance, suse linux, linux, enterprise, systems management, amazon ec2, cloud computing, lightweight os, vmware, server edition jeos, just enough os

Higher availability using FlexFrame for Oracle RE

Are you looking to consolidate your Oracle services? Are you looking to benefit from the simultaneous operation of databases across several servers?

If so, make sure to consider Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ FlexFrame for Oracle Rapid Edition (RE).

It’s a server consolidation and high-availability solution for:

• Oracle Database;
• Oracle Fusion Middleware; and
• Oracle applications.

FlexFrame for Oracle RE can be used to consolidate standalone industry-standard servers, storage and applications into a reliable, shared infrastructure in which any application can use any server and storage. For any busy CTO, this is a dream come true!

Don’t worry if you’re running Linux-based Oracle applications because FlexFrame for Oracle RE also provides high-availability for those servers.

FlexFrame for Oracle RE is delivered, installed and maintained like an appliance so it can be implemented with little disruption and risk. Operating systems and Oracle services can run unmodified on FlexFrame for Oracle RE and furthermore, consolidated operating system images are easier to store and maintain in the virtual FlexFrame environment, especially when compared with local boot environments.

So if you believe it’s time that you focused more on your Oracle applications and less on the administration of your server farm, per se, FlexFrame for Oracle RE might be worth a second look.

In a nutshell, it makes hosting Oracle applications a whole lot easier.

Tags: oracle, oracle rapid edition, oracle re, fujitsu siemens, flexframe, flexframe for oracle re, boot environments, operating system images, os images,virtualization, application hosting, server, storage, shared infrastructure

Deploy your Oracle software in Amazon’s EC2

Running software and backing up databases in clouds, as a concept, is gaining ground as savvy developers understand when to use it… and when not to.

Not all corporate software deployments should occur outside of the realm of an internal server room but for some projects, it’s the new way to reduce development, integration and testing cycles.

If you happen to be using Oracle to manage your data, you’re well set to use their software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform which is an open and integrated set of technologies, including the following:

• Oracle Database;
• Oracle Fusion Middleware;
• Oracle Enterprise Manager; and
• Oracle VM.

They allow independent software vendors to build, deploy and manage both on-premise and cloud-based applications.

The Oracle SaaS platform helps businesses achieve scalability and availability with support for grid computing,virtualization and integrated management across the platform. Coupled with the development, integration and testing cycles savings (in both time and money), it’s even more interesting.

SaaS and cloud computing have made the enterprise IT infrastructure somewhat elastic so that it can grow incrementally without any theoretical upper limit. Oracle has caught on to this idea and has partnered with Amazon Web Services to enable companies to…

• deploy Oracle software; and
• back up Oracle Database.

…in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, dubbed Amazon EC2.

If you’ve been in charge of projects that seem to grow exponentially, you’re likely to understand, first-hand, why this technological approach makes sense. It’s up to you to see if your project is a good fit for it.

Tags: oracle, saas, software-as-a-service, cloud computing, grid, deloy oracle, backup oracle, amazon, aws, ec2, amazon ec2, cloud storage, cloud applications, reduced development time, oracle savings, orace scalability

US-based companies’ IT work going global

The field of information technology (IT) has seen more than its fair share of jobs going offshore, mainly to save money on the tech-related payroll.

Companies that feel compelled to slash jobs locally while staffing up their offshore operations have received a lot of media coverage, usually good from the investors’ angle and usually bad from everyone else.

To this day, the whole offshoring trend isn’t well understood by the IT managers and even less by the general public so InformationWeek’s September 2008 Analytics Report, revealing IT strategies from the 500 (alleged) best and brightest companies, in North America may further help us put numbers on this globalized work phenomenon.

So the basic assumption is that United States companies are looking beyond their borders when it comes to their latest IT strategies.

The following numbers seem to be going in that direction…

• 67% (of the 500 companies that have been surveyed) use offshore IT services — If anybody still doubted the outsourcing trend was for real, this is the number that ends the debate;
• 46% have full-time IT employees outside the US — The offshore wages are so low compared to domestic ones that setting-up a foreign shop can be done relitively cheaply;
• 40% conduct business process outsourcing offshore — This is the proverbial cherry on the outsourcing sunday as whoever determines the BPOs has a lot of power over “how things get done”;
• 14% encourage US IT workers to work in offshore comapny offices — And most of the time, it’s a matter of setting things up “over there” so that unit can (eventually) become “worthy” of “local quality standards”.

So the numbers are pretty clear about the fact that offshoring has moved into “mainstrem IT” but qualitywise, many US-based companies are still seeing very serious problems stemming from their “cheap” offshore workforce that perhaps entertain a different relation with the whole “quality matters”.

US companies using offshore workers report countless problems ranging from poor communications, sloppy code, tech short-sightedness, critical lack of “vision” and scalability as well a general sense of having to reinvent the wheel every time a more challenging project comes up.

In other words, even though some American companies might be celebrating the spectacular cuts in employee wages, when they offshore their IT work, the end result isn’t necessarily going to be in-line with the standards they’ve been enjoying for several decades, domestically.

When the US-based companies fired hundreds of thousands of workers to send their work offshore, many of those IT-proficient workers decided to leave the “crazy 9-to-5 rat race cubicle experience” to go “independent”, usually as consultants. Their take on the situation is positive, overall. By being their own boss, they decide everything about their job, including their fees so, at anywhere between $75 and $175 per hour, it’s relatively easy to make as much (or more) money as their previous “full-time” job… and, as a bonus, they get to see their family a lot more.

Of course, there’s a huge lot of IT workers who have yet to find themselves another job (since they’ve been offshored so massively) and that’s very sad as these qualified workers are being replaced by foreigners who cost less but probably are worth less, also… and their managers only see the wage part, blissfully ignoring the quality part of the global equation.

US customers are also on the losing end of this offshoring proposition because they stand to receive sub-standard services while the price they pay isn’t likely to go down as the difference will generally be passed along to the shareholders, as generous dividends. And… since the rich shareholders often send off their money to offshore bank accounts, the domestic economy is likely to suffer a lot more (over the coming years) as offshoring gets even more prevalent and shareholders continue to use “fiscal havens” to legally evade their tax responsibilities, at home.

So offshoring is good for…

• the rich shareholders; and
• for the workers at these “exotic” locations.

…but bad for everybody else, such as…

• the fired workers who (previously) contributed so massively to the tax base and the social economy;
• the consumers who basically do business with an “American-front” while providing all their sensitive private information to an “offshore back-end” where no (credible) legal framework exists; and
• the US government which gets a lot less taxation money to carry out its social projets and responsibilities.

Some experts are saying that within a decade or so, foreigners from countries such as India, China, Vietnam and Romania will catch-up with the US IT workforce’s typical high-quality results.

Until then, the US IT workers will likely further their qualifications and make themselves “essential” all over again, namely by shifting the current computing paradigm, meaning that the basic “rules” of the IT game could change in the US’ favor, once again.

Whatever you think of all this, offshoring will continue to have a very real impact on how the domestic IT workforce evolves — fortunately, worthwhile opportunities still exist for “the locals” although it’s wise to assume that, from this point on, it might not be that way forever.

Tags: offshore, offshoring, offshored workers, foreign worker, it workers, exotic locations, us-based companies, us it work, domestic wages, foreign wages, high it wages, low it wages, india, china, vietnam, united states, politics, taxation, fiscal havens, fiscal evasion, shareholders, money, dividends

PrestaShop lets you open up your own web store

If you’re a merchant looking for a straightforward way to morph into an “e-merchant”, PrestaShop might make it on your shortlist.

For starters, it’s an open source (read: free) PHP and MySQL-based web script that, once installed, allows you to run your very own “electronic store”, with all the modern bells and whistles you’re used to seeing at the major e-tailers, including a comprehensive PayPal checkout.

The larger setups might swing towards the very impressive Magento Commerce web script, which is also open source and based on PHP and MySQL but for anything akin to a small to mid-sized store, PrestaShop feels like an awesome fit — even though it can technically handle a much larger store.

PrestaShop handle multiple languages, multiple currencies and multiple payment processing options brilliantly. It sports many “web 2.0″ features like a tag cloud, countless modules (extending the basic features) and a healthy dose of AJAX effects, namely when you add an item to your shopping basket.

From a customer’s standpoint, the web script looks very nice, is intuitive and performs flawlessly. All of which are essential for online sales to happen.

As an “e-store administrator”, you’ll be able to manage your catalog, customers, orders, payments and shipping to stay on top of what’s going on. The “admin interface” is easy to operate and the average semi-techie type will feel in control enough to enjoy working with this script (and that’s important if you’re going to use PrestaShop on a daily basis).

In a nutshell, here’s an overview of what PrestaShop offers, in its “front office”, which is basically the stuff your online customers will look for, see, use and appreciate:

• Special deals (price reductions, gift vouchers)
• Featured products on homepage
• Top sellers on homepage
• New items on homepage
• ‘Free shipping’ offers
• Cross-selling (Accessories)
• Product image zoom
• Order out-of-stock items
• Customer subscription & user accounts
• Unlimited payment methods
• Payment by bank wire
• Cash-On-Delivery (COD)
• Preconfigured for Paypal
• Multiple-recipient contact form
• Product tagging & tag cloud
• Search
• Merchandise return (RMAs) & credit slips
• Package tracking
• Offer gift-wrapping & recycled packaging
• PDF customer invoice
• Shopping Cart recall
• Sale of services & virtual goods
• Custom Favicon
• RSS feed
• Newsletter opt-in
• ‘Pick up in-store’ option

By all means, this is a highly credible (front-end) feature set which, coupled with your time, effort, creativity and marketing in setting up your online store can help you succeed in your e-tailing project.

Open source consulting firms might also adopt this script as it’s solid enough for serious deployments (now) but also set for a bright future with loads of upcoming features like 1-click purchases, affiliates management, per-item shipping cost and a loyal customer program.

It’s always reassuring to see an open source script being update regularly with such high-impact features that bring real value for both the e-merchant and the online customers.

Keep an eye on PrestaShop, this e-commerce web script is clearly going places.

Tags: prestashop, e-commerce, e-merchants, e-tailing, e-tailers, e-shops, online shops, e-shopping, web script, php, mysql, open source, paypal, bank wire, money, merchandise, package tracking, rmas, credit slips, free download, front office, online shoppers

Google Chrome enters the browser war

It can look deceivingly simple.

The planet’s search giant launches —yet another— web browser.

Is that supposed to be noteworthy?

Consider that Google has launched the beta version of Chrome, their own flavor of web browser, which is a MS-Windows software set to make browsing the web as pleasant an experience as searching it, using the Google Search web site.

For the average user out there, that’s the kind of argument that will send shockwaves out to Microsoft’s seemingly stagnant Internet Explorer developers who have, in many ways, failed to make their browser significantly more user-friendly. Even in their Beta 8 release. Yikes!

But what’s wrong with Firefox (open source superhero), Opera, Safari or Camino?

Nothing, they’re very functional and serve countless netizens very well, on a daily basis. So why would Google spin their own browser, amid a healthy selection of other quality browsers? Because the -real- target isn’t just the web browsing part, it’s the “operating system” part.

That’s right, folks!

Google has been talking about it for many years and it seems Chrome is the software foundation through which they could eventually take a shot at managing —part or all— of the OS itself.

Now, this is -major- news and if Microsoft wasn’t paying attention about the browser part, they’re definitely tuning in for the OS part because that’s their business’ core bread and butter.

And Google seems to have a plan so the Redmond folks better move quickly or risk missing their window of opportunity to cash in on the next big paradigm shift that could turn the OS foundation upside down as the Mountain View search giant marches on in front of the world open source parade towards another score.

It all seems complex but it’s not.

Google wants to grow and it appears, among other alternatives, leading the browser war to get a software foundation in place for a shot at delivering the very OS that makes PCs work, makes good business sense.

So Google Chrome is available for download and as usual, it’s free!

Firefox is still the open source crowd’s favorite but the browser war just got hotter with the introduction of Google Chrome. These are very interesting times…

Tags: google chrome, free browser, google browser, browse the web, mountain view browser, map browser, anonymity browser, anonymous browsing, the next os, google os, google operating system, microsoft, ms-windows, pc, ie, internet explorer, ms-explorer, redmond, browser war, browser features

The Oracle and BEA middleware

Have you been following the Oracle and BEA saga, lately?

It seems many concerned customers are still unsure about what the recent acquisition of BEA by Oracle means to them but until the air is cleared out regarding this major transaction, perhaps a good way to make sense of it all is to take a look at the merged middleware offerings.

For good measure, we’ll also take a peak at service-oriented architecture and developer tools but the bulk of the offerings remain confortably nested in middleware so here’s a look at what you can expect.

Middleware

• Application server
  • Oracle JRockit - The industry’s highest performing Java Virtual Machine now built into Oracle Fusion Middleware;
  • Oracle JRockit Real Time - Deterministic-GC and Latency Analysis Tools help monitor and tune applications;
  • Oracle JRockit Mission Control - Tools to monitor, manage, profile and eliminate memory leaks in Java application;
  • Oracle WebLogic Server - Fully-featured, standards-based application server delivering compliance with open standards, multi-tiered architecture and support for component-based development;
  • Oracle WebLogic Application Grid - An extreme scale-out grid platform.
• Identity Management
  • Oracle Entitlements Server - Externalizes and centralizes administration of enterprise entitlements, simplifies authorization policies and enforces security decisions;
• Transaction Processing
  • Oracle Tuxedo - Platform for building large-scale distributed enterprise applications that enable businesses to reduce development and deployment, while preserving existing assets;
• User Interaction
  • Oracle WebCenter - Open, comprehensive and standards-compliant user interaction product suite providing web integration and interface services for deploying a broad range of solutions;
  • Oracle WebCenter Interaction - Formerly called BEA AquaLogic User Interaction, it’s an integrated, comprehensive collection of components used to create enterprise portals, collaborative communities as well as composite and social applications;
  • Oracle WebCenter Services - Integrated set of products designed for creating dynamic user work environments that take advantage of SOA while enabling business users to bring complete context to their daily work tasks;
  • Oracle WebLogic Portal - Formerly BEA WebLogic Portal, it’s a portal framework for creating highly interactive composite applications in a SOA environment with an integrated set of design-time tools for Java developers.

Service-Oriented Architecture

• Oracle SOA Suite - Suite of products that help build, deploy and manage deployments ranging from department-level to enterprise-wide systems.
• Oracle Service Bus - Accelerates configuration and deployment while simplifying management of shared services across the SOA.
• Oracle BPM - Modeling, implementation, execution and monitoring of end-to-end business processes.

Developer Tools

• Oracle Workshop - Extends Eclipse and Web Tools Platform with tools for Java, Java EE, Object Relational Mapping, Spring and Web Applications.

Quite a line of products, to say the least!

As you can see, Oracle has been busy integrating the BEA products to provide a unified line. It will take some time to getting use to but over time, customers using these technologies will benefit from enhanced data management technologies.

To make sense of this extensive line of products, Oracle provides documentation, sample code, technical whitepapers, demos and viewlets, internet seminars as well as discussion forums directly relating to Oracle products, on its own web site so you can also review them, if necessary.

This world-class combination of data management products is a fine choice for the Fortune 500 but it could also help you mid-sized or smaller company, just the same.

Tags: oracle, oracle middleware, oracle fusion, oracle databases, oracle development, oracle tools, oracle products, oracle technology, oracle network, soa, developer tools, internet, web, weblogic, portal, web server, webcenter, oracle tuxedo, oracle jrockit, java development, bea, bea aqualogic, jvm, java virtual machine

Verisign’s push for stronger SSL encryption

If visitors to your web site need to transfer sensitive information, they’ll feel a lot better knowing their session is encrypted with SSL.

Why is that?

Well, in the case of a low-level 40 bits encryption, a hacker’s “brute-force” attack on a given session would likely result in the complete access to that session in around 4 hours (using a high-end home computer system) which is, let’s be honest, better than no encryption at all.

For the record, that 4 hour breach was possible back in… 1997 — imagine the same “brute-force” attack with today’s much more powerful compters and you quickly get the picture.

Without SSL, there’s no protection whatsoever from “technically talented prying eyes” so that’s why some of your visitors feel more comfortable transfering their data within SSL-encrypted sessions.

So, what’s “SSL”, anyway?

The popular acronym “SSL” is short for Secure Socket Layer. It’s a protocol originally developed by Netscape (now being shut down, by AOL) for transmitting private documents online.

Technically, SSL uses a cryptographic system based on two keys to encrypt the data where one key is public (known to everyone) while the other one is private (kept secret from the world, by the recipient of the message). Both browser branches, Netscape Navigator and MS-Internet Explorer support SSL so a growing number of web sites use the protocol to transfer confidential user information, namely credit card numbers.

Spotting SSL-enabled web destinations is very easy as by convention, URLs that require an SSL connection to work start with “https:” instead of the standard “http:”.

But is there a more secure SSL encryption level than just 40 or 56 bits?

Fortunately, yes. Verisign and host of other credible providers offer 128 and even 256 bits encryption. For the day-to-day uses of banks and responsible companies managing web transactions, 128 bits should be more than enough, though.

You see, 128 bits of encryption represents a dramatic increase in complexity over mere 40 bits. If you’re good in math, you’ll be happy to learn that 128 bits SSL encryption has 300 spetillion times more combinations that 40 bits — again, that’s 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times!

If your web site initiates 128 bits SSL connections with its users, you can estimate that for a hacker to breach one of your sessions, using the same “brute-force” approach as the one decribed earlier, it would take well over a trillion years. That more than enough for your users to feel comfortable with transfering their sensitive information over the web, with your company.

That’s also the main reason why Verisign, based in Mountain View, CA, is pushing so hard to get companies to secure their online properties with 128 bits and higher SSL encryption.

Some of the oldest browsers and operating systems can get in the way of a smooth experience of SSL encryption for some users who are unfortunate enough to be using proverbial dinosaurs to go about their computing tasks but for anybody using 2003-and-after technology, 128 bits encryption shouldn’t be a problem.

The reason why the bulk on online communications occur without encryption is mainly because of the weight it adds to unencrypted data. You see, a bit of data travels quite fast on the internet but wrap it with 128 bits of encryption and from a technical standpoint, it becomes 128 times heavier. So if “everything” on your web pages suddenly becomes 128 times heavier, that could seriously impact on the user experience, especially if he isn’t connecting to the internet using the faster pipelines like ADSL or cable.

For this reason, SSL encryption is generally limited for use in the sensitive zones of a web site, like the credit card checkout step, at the very end of the entire shopping process.

While you can get an SSL encryption key from a wide range of providers like Entrust, GlobalSign, GeoTrust, RapidSSL, MBNX, Comodo, Thawte and many others, a growing number of companies are looking for features like Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) which dynamically provide every site visitor with the strongest encryption available to them and Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates that turn the address bar green and allows viewers to experience new interface advancements, which are namely offered by Verisign.

In other words, the SSL encryption market is getting very competitive and the prices are lower now than ever before. Ultimately, a company can issue both SSL encryption keys itself, thereby completely circumventing the very need for an external provider -but- there’s the certificate integrity question being raised when such a practice occurs.

So, for most companies (especially the smaller ones), it’s more credible for the site visitors when a major SSL key provider garantees the very integrity of the system.

The bulk of information available online will never need SSL encryption since it’s intended for public use but for those more sensitive bits of information, companies can rely on either 128 bits or (for the hopelessly paranoid) 256 bits of encryption to keep their users safe from hackers, lurking in the darker corners of cyberspace.

Tags: ssl, encryption, 40 bits, 56 bits, 128 bits, 256 bits, secure, https, browsers, public key, private key

Of the synthetic worlds’ new ways

Over the past few years, synthetic worlds, like Second Life and some 50 others, have created a new way for people to socialize, entertain, innovate and transact business — in itself, this can be a harsh reality for many organizations.

Why is that?

Mainly because traditional inward-focused business models may not have the long-term sustainability to survive much longer, at least in the online realm.

If you’re new to this online phenomenon, consider that synthetic worlds are basically computer-based simulated environments that allow for multiple users to inhabit and interact with each other through 2D or 3D graphical representations of humanoids and other forms (also known as the “avatars”).

Also note that these virtual words resemble the real world with rules such as gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions and communication.

Businesswise, the typical process for a company to get some kind of value out of synthetic worlds starts with (1) a sound understanding of the virtual environment at hand, (2) the launch of a test (or prototype) environment followed by a (3) full implementation and hopefully, regular follow-ups.

Companies need to realize that, in these new virtual environments, self-organized consumer communities (think of them as ongoing uncensored “60 Minutes” shows on steroids) can lead to lucrative opportunities or, if the balance should swing in the other direction, present pretty self-evident (and dramatic) new threats such as when a business (or one of its products) gets on “the bad side” of one or many members, in a given synthetic world.

Taking a long-term strategic approach to assessing the pros and cons of virtual environments ensures, at the very least, that enterprises decide to venture into an environment based on a thorough evaluation of its possibilities… and its risks. As the consumer environment alternatives change, virtual environments offer new routes to market and since the traditional business model will likely be unable to cope with it, the opportunity is that much more significant.

As synthetic worlds stand today, companies that explore and understand these environments will likely win consumer buy-in along with better loyalty tomorrow.

Tags: synthetic worlds, virtual environments, avatars, socialize, entertain, innovate, transact, online

Fixing the IT skills deficit

Human resources executives and their IT counterparts are under the impression that finding the workers they need, featuring the right computer-related skills, is nothing short of a headache.

In fact, two recent surveys — one from Robert Half Associates and the other from the Society for Information Management — rank finding skilled IT professionnals as their most pressing issue. There’s no way around it, IT recruitment needs a fix.

It’s pretty common to hear IT execs blame universities for not producing a stream of IT graduates who are prepared to function in the business world. It’s no secret that executives like to focus on their projects and often end up treating (even skilled) IT talent as a mere commodity… which is NOT the way to deal with the current IT skill crisis.

There may exist countless solutions for resolving the apparent IT skills shortage but since we all need answers fast, here’s a no non-sense solution (Ah! The “S” word!) which is straightforward enough for all C-level folks to understand and it’s implementable in three easy steps:

1. No matter how badly the economy affects your firm, increase training for your current IT employees;
2. When recruiting from outside your company, be willing to interview capable IT pros, even when their skills aren’t 100% perfect match for the position;
3. Bite the bullet and provide new hires with technical training.

Getting the IT skills you need is all about broadening your talent searches but also, it’s about creating the skilled workforce your company needs — waiting for a university do to te job for you might cost less (read: zero) but it’ll probably do very little to fix your IT skills problem.

Keep in mind that this strategy assumes that you plan to keep your IT employees for a long stretch of time while ideally emphasizing career development and true committment to employees. Companies that follow this approach are more likely to have adequate IT staffing levels and lower turnover rates.

In a perfect world, the “Recruitment & Retention” strategies would always include training because, among other things, with a highly trained and competent IT workforce, even the CEO ends up having (much) more money in the bank!

Tags: it skills, it employees, it staffing, tech workers, skilled workforce, business it, skills shortage