You are here: Home / 2009 / Archives for November 2009

Is the world really going Google?

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Google is going after Microsoft on its home turf–the enterprise world–and businesses seem to be taking notice and jumping ship.

It’s no secret that Google is trying to derail Microsoft’s position in enterprise. Considering the way that businesses drive IT spending, it’s no wonder that Microsoft has built the company around selling its software and solutions to businesses that buy in bulk. Google’s plan to enter the corporate world first became evident a few years ago when it began offering Google Search Appliance (pictured below) and Google Mini.

These rack-mounted devices give businesses document indexing functionality easily integrated into corporate website, intranet, and document management systems. It would all come together later when Google Apps came along, a hosted services suite on custom domain names. Google Apps includes popular consumer web apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs, and Sites–all optimized to run off a custom domain.

Over two million business and 20 million users in over 100 countries and more than 40 languages have switched to Google Apps thus far, the search firm said mid-October. Google claims each day “thousands of companies, including the world’s top brands” switch to its hosted solutions comprising of Google Apps, Postini premium email management services, and the Search Appliance.

Key benefits of running your business off the Google cloud include not having to worry about software updates and maintenance costs because Google maintains web apps, servers, and keeps your data safe in the cloud. There is no learning curve whatsoever because your employees basically run the same services they privately use at home. Finally, there’s the cost comparison: $50 a year per Google Apps seat versus $200-$300 a year for a Microsoft Office seat.

Here are a few data points that paint a better picture of Google’s inroads into the corporate world:

  • over two million business users have gone Google
  • over 60 percent of Fortune 100 have gone Google
  • over 60 percent of U.S. state governments have gone Google
  • some of the companies and organizations that have gone Google include Genentech, Motorola Mobile Devices Business, Northwestern University, New York Life, The Onion, Rentokil Initial, Telegraph Media Group, InterContinental Hotels Group, Konica Minolta, DOCOMO International, Guliver, Fujisoft, and more.

[continued] Analysis: Is the world really going Google? | Geek.com.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Privacy watchdog publishes plain English data protection guide

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Privacy and data protection regulator the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published a plain English guide to data protection law. The guide is intended to help non-experts to navigate the Data Protection Act.

The guide includes a collection of 'data protection myths' which people commonly believe but have no basis in law. These include the theory that you are not allowed to take photographs at school plays and that a nine-day-old baby must sign for its own parcel. Both are, the ICO says, untrue.

“Sometimes organisations misinterpret the Act or hide behind it. Misunderstandings do occur and the ICO is aware of a number of data protection myths and duck outs,” said an ICO statement.

“Small businesses do not have time for pages and pages of jargon and gobbledegook, but getting data protection right makes good business sense,” said Stephen Alambritis, head of public affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). “Data protection lapses cost reputations and can affect the bottom line. But, many organisations tell us that data protection law is difficult to understand. This new no-nonsense guide will help the business community to understand and comply with the law.”

See: The guide

via Privacy watchdog publishes plain English data protection guide | Pinsent Masons LLP.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

EU Clears Bank Data Transfers to United States – NYTimes.com

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

European Union ministers handed U.S. anti-terror investigators broad access to Europeans' bank data on Monday, overcoming concerns by several member states over privacy protection.

The agreement ensures the United States has continued access to information after data collected by Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is moved from databases and servers in the United States to Europe this year.

Without it, any terror investigations would rely on the goodwill of individual European countries to offer information after 2009.

Swedish diplomats said the agreement, which goes into effect in February and has to be ratified by the European Parliament, provided sufficient privacy protection for bank customers.

“The adopted agreement improves the protection of data and we have an anti-terrorism system that's efficient and proportionate,” Tobias Billstrom, minister for migration and asylum policy, told reporters.

Sweden holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU.

Under the agreement, only data referring to people with links to terrorist activities can be made available to investigators, and information about transfers within the EU is excluded.

via EU Clears Bank Data Transfers to United States – NYTimes.com.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Document management software a priority in Asia Pacific | ComputerWorld Hong Kong

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

IDC said Thursday that most respondents in a recent survey indicated that they plan to invest in document management software, followed by record management software among all other content management (CM) software in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan region.

“In India, Singapore, China, and Australia, managing content published on the Web is the top role played by CM software,” said Ridhi Sawhney, market analyst of Asia/Pacific Software Research at IDC. “Managing content with ever-increasing volumes of information, mounting regulatory pressure, and disparate applications with isolated data repositories, remains a big challenge. There is continuous demand for content management software from legacy businesses and developing countries as organizations endeavor to transition from manual overlay systems to automated systems.

CM market in the region is expected to grow steadily at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.42 percent, reaching US$ 308.42 million by 2013.”

[continued] IDC: Document management software a priority in Asia Pacific | ComputerWorld Hong Kong.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Download E-Discovery Guidance – CIO.com – Business Technology Leadership

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

E-discovery is an acute reflection of just how critically integrated IT has become within the legal landscape of business. It is necessary for IT and legal staff to collaborate on the maintenance, collection and preservation of relevant, electronically stored information (ESI). In particular, these preservation policies mitigate the risk of deletion or loss of information for current litigation, or for reasonably anticipated legal action, says Deborah Hill, staff attorney, State of Connecticut Department of Information Technology. While IT staff are critical to figuring out what to save and how, they are generally not familiar with legal terminology or procedures.

This guidance is a legal primer for IT. Hill worked with a team of IT experts to provide clear, jargon-free speak explanations of why and how each part of the e-discovery process works. “We have to educate IT staff about the legal ramifications of not following these rules,” Hill says.

The guide starts with simple definitions of legal terms that IT staff are likely to encounter. It then outlines and explains the reasoning for the obligations surrounding data preservation for legal purposes. It closes with instructions for preserving e-mail, other electronically stored information and documents, as well as hard copies.

[continued] Download E-Discovery Guidance – CIO.com – Business Technology Leadership.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Law Firms Promote Fewer Senior Associates to Partnership

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Fewer associates are winning promotion to partnership this year, a trend industry experts say is a result of the economic downturn

This month, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton elected four new partners firmwide, half as many as in 2008, while Latham & Watkins cut its firmwide promotions 25 percent to 23. Ropes & Gray named one third fewer with eight new partners, while Proskauer Rose named four to partnership, one less than in 2008. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the most profitable firm in the country, this month named two new partners, down from six last year.

Consultants say the trend likely is a reflection of the financial condition law firms have found themselves in, with demand for legal services down and profits falling. Making partner had already become tougher in recent years, Dan DiPietro, advisory head at Citi Private Bank's law firm group, said via e-mail. With the recession, he added, “the bar has been raised on what it means to become an equity partner and to stay an equity partner.”

He added, “While I don't think the economic meltdown caused this trend, I do believe the trend accelerated as a result.”

The bulk of promotions at law firms are expected to be announced over the next two months. But several firms have already made their decisions known, and most have elevated smaller classes.

[continued] Law.com – Law Firms Promote Fewer Senior Associates to Partnership.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The E-Discovery Sanctions Cube

November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Over the past few years, federal and state courts have rendered an unprecedented number of e-discovery sanctions orders and decisions. The trend is towards more and increased sanctions for e-discovery failures. These sanctions cases need a unifying theme and explanation; they need a model for analysis. This article presents the E-Discovery Sanctions Cube as a first effort at such an analytic tool. What is at stake is more than a theoretical exercise. Without a coherent model, we seem to learn the lessons of each case, but lack a comprehensive overview to ward off future disasters. If we can grasp the underlying dynamics of e-discovery sanction cases, we may be better able to devise a strategy to avoid e-discovery train wrecks. Indeed, our preliminary use of the E-Discovery Sanctions Cube as a teaching tool in law school e-discovery classes suggests that early dialogue between counsel and judge in Rule 16b hearings is key to the avoidance of sanctions and upholding the integrity of our system of justice.

[continued] The E-Discovery Sanctions Cube « e-Discovery Team.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

November 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Powered by Twitter Tools

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Achtung! Google Analytics is illegal, say German government officials

November 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Several federal and regional government officials in Germany are trying to put a ban on Google Analytics, the search giant’s free software product that allows website owners and publishers to get detailed statistics about the number, whereabouts and search behavior of their visitors (and much more).

According to an article in today’s Zeit Online (poor Google translation here), multiple federal and state government officials charged with guarding over national data protection are convinced that Google Analytics is against the law in Germany and are mulling imposing fines on companies who use the service to gather detailed stats based on their website visitors’ usage patterns without the explicit consent of those visitors.

Still according to the Zeit Online article, an approximate 13% of German website publishers (meaning those with sites that have .de as their TLD) currently use Google Analytics, including several websites of leading media organizations, political parties and pharmaceutical companies. The government officials are particularly wary about the information Google is able to collect on websites of health insurance companies and the like, saying Google could conceivably create profiles of people that would include information about their interests, lifestyles, consumption patterns, political and sexual preferences.

This isn’t the first time German privacy protection officials have voiced their concerns about the Google Analytics service, as it had earlier criticized the search giant over keeping everyone ‘in the dark’ about which information they’re collecting exactly and how much identifiable data is sent to and stored on servers located on U.S. soil. German laws prohibit such data to leave the country, they claim.

Google Germany’s Per Meyerdierks, however, says the company is well within its rights to process user data in the United States because it respects the Safe Harbour treaty between the EU and the USA. He argues that an opt-out would be entirely unnecessary, and that users always have the option to refuse cookies anyway.

One German lawyer that gets cited in the article says the penalties could amount up to €50,000 (about $75,000) per website that uses Google Analytics to keep track of its visitors’ usage patterns.

via Achtung! Google Analytics is illegal, say German government officials.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft begins paving path for IT, cloud integration

November 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Microsoft last week launched its first serious effort to build IT into its cloud plans by introducing technologies that help connect existing corporate networks and cloud services to make them look like a single infrastructure.

The concept began to come together at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference. The company is attempting to show that it wants to move beyond the first wave of the cloud trend, which is defined by the availability of raw computing power supplied by Microsoft and competitors such as Amazon and Google. Microsoft's goal is to supply tools, middleware and services so users can run applications that span corporate and cloud networks, especially those built with Microsoft's Azure cloud operating system.

“Azure is looking at the second wave,” says Ray Valdes, an analyst with Gartner. “That wave is what happens after raw infrastructure. When companies start moving real systems to the cloud and those systems are hybrid and they have to connect back in significant ways to legacy environments. It's a big challenge and a big opportunity for Microsoft.”

To attack the opportunity, Microsoft introduced projects called Sydney, AppFabric, Next Generation Active Directory, System Center “Cloud”, and updates to the .Net Framework that provide bridges between corporate networks and cloud services. While a small portion of the software is available now, the majority will hit beta cycles in 2010.

via Microsoft begins paving path for IT, cloud integration.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts