December 2004

INsights is sent to you by Key Information Systems as a free news service providing facts and news critical to Information Technology.

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In this issue...
  • October Webinar: Fault Tolerance for Windows Applications
  • September Webinar: ERP: The New Competitive Weapon
  • Field Report: Fault Tolerant Jackpots
  • Perplexities: Ralph Morin’s column
  • Electronic Media News: New information sources for IT
  • Key Factoids: Gartner study, IM study
  • Key Links: New IBM servers, compliance, IT risk assessment
  • Key Offers: High availability, SAN, and Education special offers
  • New Key Talent: Terry Boulais and Allen Shahdadi

    • October Webinar Report:.

    Affordable Fault Tolerance for Windows Applications.

    Architecting Solutions with Marathon Technologies

    Key’s October webinar explored the value of applying fault tolerance technology to the Windows environment. Greg Cullen, Director of Systems Engineering at Marathon Technologies and Pete Elliot, Director of Marketing for Key Information Systems discussed how affordable Fault Tolerance is being achieved for mission-critical Windows applications. Also reviewed was how to achieve continuous operations during planned and unplanned failures with no interruption in service and no loss of application data. Case studies were presented.

    Issues covered in the webinar include: 1.) How Fault Tolerance differs from High Availability, 2.) How consolidation increases the need for business continuity, 3.) Application candidates for FT, 4.) Why traditional technologies have failed to prevent downtime, 5.) Diagnosing your needs for Windows Business Continuity, and 6.) Choosing a Windows Business Continuity Technology.

    Portions of the content of this webinar are summarized.

    click here to read more:     http://www.kanatsiz.com/key/111.html

    More information about this solution can be found at: http://www.keyinfo.com/Alliances/marathon.htm.

    For an archived recording of this and all past KEY Webinars, go to: http://www.keyinfo.com/resources/web_arch.htm.

    September Webinar Report :.

    ERP: New Competitive Weapon for Small and Medium Business

    Architecting Solutions with PeopleSoft

    Key’s September webinar explored the use of an ERP system to remain competitive in today’s world. Dwight Klappich, VP and ERP expert at META Group described how ERP is helping small and medium businesses (SMB) succeed in today’s highly competitive environment. Dwight pointed out that larger organizations are gaining advantage over SMBs by using their greater financial resources to exploit technology. In addition, customers are taking full advantage of their growing position of power to mandate rules of engagement with their suppliers and this is challenging SMBs.

    Scott Lutz, Director of Product Marketing at PeopleSoft, described how PeopleSoft application solutions are helping to solve these issues using integrated ERP solutions.

    For an archived recording of this and all past KEY Webinars, go to:     http://www.keyinfo.com/resources/web_arch.htm.

    Portions of the content of this webinar are summarized here: http://www.kanatsiz.com/key/222.html

    Field Report :.

    Never-Down Jackpots

    Fault tolerance enables multi-casino application

    The Company
    Aristocrat is a manufacturer of gaming hardware and a global leader in the development of software-based sophisticated gaming products for use by casinos around the world. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Aristocrat (    http://www.aristocratgaming.com) has offices in the United States, Australia and other countries.

    The Problem
    Aristocrat had developed a new version of a gaming application called Multi-Site Progressive (MSP) System. With MSP, slot machine players at casinos around the U.S. are connected, permitting them to play for combined jackpots. State Gaming Control agencies require redundancy in these systems to minimize downtime on the jackpot links.

    The Approach
    Aristocrat uses an SQL Server 2000 database running on a Windows server to monitor and increase jackpot levels for each slot machine within the MSP. If the database application goes down, the jackpots cannot continue to be managed and the games must be shut off. To protect against such an event, even Aristocrat needed more than a highly available system, they need fault tolerance. The choices that Aristocrat evaluated for server redundancy were Microsoft Clustering and Marathon Technologies fault tolerant software.

    The Solution
    Aristocrat selected Marathon FTvirtual Server ™ software because it offered a zero downtime solution that eliminated the failover process. This was critical to the IT group at Aristocrat, since the back-end database must continue to function in order for their external gaming machines to operate properly within the MSP.

    The Results
    Marathon FTvirtual Server keeps the system up continuously and the gaming machines running. “Key engineers played a significant role in the deployment and worked hand-in-hand with our in-house engineers to deploy the software successfully,” said Adam Goldstein, Director of Information Technology at Aristocrat.

    For a more complete writeup: http://www.keyinfo.com/downloads/Mrthon_Arist.pdf
    For data on Marathon FTvirtual Server: http://www.keyinfo.com/downloads/Mrthon_DataSht.pdf

    Perplexities :.

     This is the third in a series of exploratory articles by Ralph Morin at KEY.

    Throughput

    Throughput. Kind of suggests the process of making sausages, doesn’t it? However, someone who speaks English and has never heard that particular word before, with a little reflection, can gather a rudimentary meaning of it, maybe from the context in which it is used and partly from the word itself. They then can come to a fairly clear definition in their mind of what it means. Children do it every day. They gather unfamiliar phrases and words and illuminate them in their minds against the background of known references and suggestions taken from the usage. Their knowledge base grows and becomes their key by which they gain access to the outside world.

    click here to read more:     http://www.kanatsiz.com/key/333.html

    Electronic Media News :.

    Midrange Server Name Change
    The publisher of these electronic newsletters has changed its domain name from Midrange Server to IT Jungle.

    New site home page:     http://www.itjungle.com/index.html.

    Four Hundred Monitor
    Four Hundred Monitor is edited by Dan Burger, and it provides a weekly snapshot of news, product developments, professional events, and industry happenings in the IBM midrange world with a focus on the OS/400 platform.
    Current issue: http://www.itjungle.com/fhm/fhmindex.html
    To subscribe: http://www.itjungle.com/subs/subscribe.html

    5-Minute Briefing: Data Integration
    Last month we reported on 5-Minute Briefing:Data Center for data center managers. It’s sister publication is 5-Minute Briefing: Data Integration, a weekly summary of news, trends and insights that data architects, database professionals, IS and line-of-business managers need to know to address crucial data integration challenges. Published by Database Trends and Applications Magazine and delivered free every Monday via email, it’s edited by long-time industry editor and analyst, Elliot King.
    See a current issue: http://www.dbta.com/5_minute_briefing/current.html
    To subscribe: http://www.dbta.com/5_minute_briefing/subscribe.html

    The Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Journal
    >From publisher, Jack Martin: “The Sarbanes-Oxley Act builds on previous legislation and guidelines to require that organizations institute greater internal controls. The SEC requires publicly traded companies with market capitalizations over $75 million to meet major SOX compliance directives this year. The simple truth is many companies are trying to sweep problems under the rug to meet this deadline. One needs to only look at past SEC enforcements to understand that this will spell both business and personal disaster for many people in the coming years. Visit SOCJ at: http://www.s-ox.com.”

    Key Factoids :.

    The High Cost of Maintenance – Gartner Study

    (Excerpted with permission from 5-Minute Briefing: Data Center)

    A Gartner study conducted in the past year indicated that 60 to 80 percent of the average company's IT budget is spent on simply maintaining existing legacy apps. Replacement isn't a viable option for many, as costs can be high and security concerns hard to overcome. They often represent decades of investment in business processes. Nonetheless, companies need a reasonable development strategy. For more facts, go to 5-Minute Briefing: Data Integration at www.dbta.com/5minutebriefings.html. The full article can be found at:     http://www.dbta.com/datacenter/archives/11-23-04.html

    Growth in Enterprise Use of IM

    The Radicati Group’s published paper, Enterprise Instant Messaging Market 2004-2008, reports:
  • 85% of all enterprises in North America use IM
  • By year-end 2008, there will be 72 million enterprise IM users worldwide
  • By year-end 2008, 88% of business IM users will rely on a public IM network
  • The worldwide revenue for all segments of the IM market (Enterprise IM, IM Management, Wireless IM, Public IM Networks) will reach $413 million by 2008.
    • Radicati also counted companies that use an Enterprise IM:
  • 44% are for increased intra-office communications
  • 33% are to reduce long-distance phone costs
  • 11% complemented their existing email and phone systems
  • 11% wanted to increase productivity


    • Key Links :.

    New IBM i5 and p5 Servers

    Learn about IBM’s new i5 and p5 servers
    http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/

    Compliance

     Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal
    http://www.s-ox.com

    IBM on Sarbanes-Oxley: A Call to Action
    http://www-1.ibm.com/services/ondemand/business/sox_call_to_action.html

    TechWeb’s compliance site
    http://www.techweb.com/focus/software-IT_Compliance

    IT Compliance Institute
    http://www.itcinstitute.com/

    IT Risk Assessment

     Successful IT Risk Assessment
    http://www.ucop.edu/irc/itsec/risk.html

    Lasa Knowledgebase IT Risk Assessment
    http://www.lasa.org.uk/knowledgebase/pages/mngitriskassessment.shtml

    Risk Assessment and Fraud
    http://www.mc2consulting.com/fraurisk.htm

    GSA Document on Risk Assessment
    http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/risk_assessment_R2RQ8-k_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.doc

    Risk Assessment at UC Davis
    http://security.ucdavis.edu/present_handout.6.17.03.pdf

    Key Offers :.

    For more information about these offers from Key, please contact your Key representative or contact Pete Elliot at     pelliot@keyinfo.com.

    HA for 25K
  • High Availability software for OS/400 and Windows
  • Free installation and support for 12 months.
  • Prepaid for $25,000
  • Expiration: December 31, 2004
    • ONStor SAN File Storage Manager Configuration
  • ONStor SAN Filer with mirroring software, onsite installation
  • Bundled price: $173,000
  • Expiration: ongoing
    • Discounts on IBM Education
  • Buy your next IBM Education Pack from Key
  • Education planning assistance from Key included
  • Save from 5 to 20 percent
  • For more information, contact Paul Johansen at 800.929.9514 or pjohansen@keyinfo.com
  • Expiration: ongoing

    • New Key Talent :.

    Terry Boulais and Allen Shahdadi

    Terry Boulais has joined Key as Director of Business Development, working directly with Key's clients to develop strategic solutions for their most important IT issues. Reach Terry at     tboulais@keyinfo.com, 1-949-683-0552. Allen Shahdadi has joined Key as Director of Sales, working with Key's product solution specialists and Key's customers. Allen can be reached at ashahdadi@keyinfo.com, 1-925-864-6115.

    Reader Feedback:.

    We value your comments. Please send us your ideas and suggested topics to: pelliot@keyinfo.com.

    Key Information Systems, Inc., (www.keyinfo.com) a Premier Business Partner with IBM, is a systems integration company located at 22120 Clarendon St., Suite 110, Woodland Hills, CA 91367, USA. Founded in 1995, the company provides corporate infrastructure architecture for business continuity, storage, and e-business solutions. Key Information Systems is a leading provider of IBM server solutions for the iSeries, AIX (UNIX), NT, and Linux platforms and has distinguished itself by extending its high availability infrastructure solutions to the Internet economy. The company delivers a complete range of professional services including education, maintenance, and IBM Global Financing. For more information, please visit the company online or call 1-877-442-3249.

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