Spotlight Features

Last week had its share of crazy news in what has become a very interesting period for the PC business. You only have to go to the Web to see the warning signs of an apocalyptic event, like spoofing on Apple and Intel, Microsoft and Lawrence Lessig launching a new open copyright tool, and an Apple u...

Accessing the Internet in India can be a major problem, discovered Akiba Stern, a partner with New York-based Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, on a recent visit to an outsourcing service provider's facilities there. It wasn't that the firm's connectivity services were poor. Rather, its security processe...

As a company grows, so do its accounts receivable. Growing pains often involve a shortage of cash, creating inadequate cash flows. So, wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to wait for your customers to pay you? Actually, that is what factoring does for you; it turns your invoices and your receiva...

This week, the U.S. State Department began rolling out "e-passports," new high-tech documents that bolster border security through identity safeguards. In a dangerous world, upgrading passports is prudent policy that serves the interests of Americans at home and abroad, but not everyone is happy wit...

Virtualization -- the use of multiple instances of operating systems, applications, or other software running on single hardware devices -- comes in many different forms and flavors, but among the most often mentioned of late is XenSource and its open source Xen virtualization technology. While stil...

Is identity theft on the rise, or is it a problem that has been vastly overhyped? Recent incidents of lost or stolen laptops have focused public attention on the huge amount of personal information that can very easily make its way outside the control of corporate IT. However, in spite of so many in...

One of the most advanced communication hubs in the world crashed unexpectedly in Seattle on Sunday afternoon, July 30, 2006, due to a string of malfunctions in the facility's electrical power system. The facility, called Fisher Plaza, is billed as one of the most secure data centers and telecommuni...

Not long ago, if a company wanted to outsource non-core operations -- such as contact center or back office processes -- India was the locale to choose. End of story. That was then, though. Over the last few years, markets around the world -- as well as the outsourcing industry itself -- have evolve...

University network and IT environments are characterized by their diverse and constantly changing nature, large scale and wide scope. Today, that means wireless networks, Voice over Internet Protocol, mobile phones and other digital gadgets must be woven into existing network and computing infrastru...

On Tuesday, government officials in India rejected an offer to participate in a much-hyped project to distribute laptops costing US$100 each to the world's impoverished children. A closer look reveals this scheme to be little more than open source evangelism in the Third World. The laptop project i...