Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

IT Budgets Have Been Axed

2009-02-28T06:00:00-05:00

Compuware, a provider of solutions to optimise IT performance, says its survey of 112 company senior executives at a recent Sydney conference, also found, that while there had been big cuts, 28% of organisations have the same budget in dollar terms (representing a real cut after inflation), 17% have had budgets increased in line with inflation (1-4%), and only 10% have had IT budgets increased above the inflation rate (5% or more).

Van Giang, regional sales director for Compuware Australia and New Zealand, claimed that
many Australian organisations were "flying blind" when it comes to having a sound financial basis for making IT budget cuts. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/it_budgets_have_been_axed.html

Experts Push Guidelines to Halt Data Breaches

2009-02-27T09:40:00-05:00

Amid increasing scrutiny over U.S. cybersecurity, experts from both the private and public sectors are pushing a set of recommendations they say are sorely needed to help shore up the nation's defenses against data breaches.

The resulting Consensus Audit Guidelines (CAG) map out requirements for security controls needed to protect IT installations in government and the private sector.

Their creators include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's US-CERT unit, the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense. Commercial penetration testing and forensics experts from security vendors InGuardians and Mandiant also joined the effort. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/experts_push_guidelines_to_halt_data_breaches.html

Gmail service outage points to a hole in the cloud

2009-02-26T09:18:00-05:00

A service outage that impacted users of Google services including Gmail for approximately 75 minutes early this morning, is calling attention to a potential kink in the cloud: While an estimated 113 million Gmail accounts were forced to resort to Google's new offline mode, introduced last month, a number of Google service users were also forced to wait, since Gmail also serves as the company's central source of service authentication.

The outage came at the worst possible time for users in Western Europe, including Great Britain, where users were just getting settled to work. Google Apps can work offline, though the degree of offline functionality they offer has only been increasing in small steps. Calendar functionality through Google Gears, for instance, was only introduced earlier this month, although the company announced its trend toward the "offline cloud" in April 2007. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/gmail_service_outage_points_to_a_hole_in_the_cloud.html

Kaminsky Calls For DNSSEC Adoption

2009-02-24T07:26:00-05:00

Kaminsky, who discovered the now-infamous big DNS flaw last year and got the vendor community to patch it, had for some time mostly dismissed DNSSEC as a DNS security solution. But after studying the specification more closely, Kaminsky -- who discussed his newfound support for DNSSEC here during his Black Hat DC presentation -- said DNSSEC could remedy some of DNS' security weaknesses. ... Go to source http://www.gawkwire.com/domains/kaminsky_calls_for_dnssec_adoption.html

Red Hat, Microsoft Set Differences Aside To Compete With VMware

2009-02-24T07:16:00-05:00

Microsoft through the addition of Hyper-V to Windows Server 2008, and Red Hat through the addition of the KVM hypervisor to the Linux kernel.

And they both want to compete with market leader VMware, which views virtualization as a layer of software that's separate from the operating system. When VMware is done building out its vCloud product set, it may describe Windows and Linux as "features" of its "data center operating system." ... Go to source http://www.gawkwire.com/business/red_hat_microsoft_set_differences_aside_to_compete_with_vmware.html

Gartner Warns on SaaS's Hidden Costs

2009-02-23T09:43:00-05:00

Adopting Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) might be widely seen as a way for enterprises to cut costs and speed deployment, but things may not always be as they seem, according to industry analyst firm Gartner.

Robert DeSisto, an analyst at Gartner, agreed that SaaS applications have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for their first two years because they do not require large capital investments for licenses or support infrastructure.

However, they lose that advantage from an accounting perspective beginning in the third year of a deployment, he said. That's because on-premises applications depreciate as a capital expense, while SaaS applications are booked as operating expenses and cannot be depreciated. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/gartner_warns_on_saas_s_hidden_costs.html

A Slice of Perspective

2009-02-20T20:00:00-05:00

I thought to myself what a ludicrous desire for the money. 99.99% uptime is 4 minutes of downtime each month. You know the percents of uptime we see is somewhat vague. Its an abstract idea. When you look at one host who offers 99% and some other Host offers 99.9% well of course you will say hmm 99.9% that’s better I’ll take it.

So let me add a quick amount of perspective to uptime guarantees. This will be very fast and I anyone can work out the math its pretty easy but I have gone ahead and done it for you:

99% = 7 hours 12 minutes of downtime

99.9% = 43 minutes

99.99% = 4 minutes

99.999% = less than half a minute

Now for the perspective. If you wanted a writer with those percentages of accuracy you would have:

99% = 20 misspelled words out of a 2000 word paper

99.9% = 2 misspelled words

99.99% = 2 missing punctuation marks

99.999% = 1 misspelling out of 50 2000 word papers

Most types of gasoline you put into your car are a mix of fuels and additives. Some of the additives are meant to be added (such as cleaners) and some where not removed all of the way (sulphur, water, etc). This by the way is further perspective. I pay about 2 dollars a gallon. To fill up my tank once costs more than what the guy wanted to spend on his Host for a month and yet the gasoline I use is rated around 90% purity. And if the gasoline does harm my engine, the gas company isn’t going to foot the bill like a Web Host would if they dropped the connection.

Think about it. Until tomorrow Happy Hosting!

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/a_slice_of_perspective.html

Becoming an IT consultant?

2009-02-20T09:33:00-05:00

As companies continue to cut costs, consolidate staffs and eviscerate executive salaries, more and more senior-level IT professionals are eyeing corporate exits -- or being shown them against their will.

For many such tech execs, the next step on the increasingly rocky, do-it-yourself 21st-century career path is independent consulting.

But do you have what it takes, or even know what it takes, to strike out on your own? Where do you find clients? Should you specialize? What about marketing and finances? Where can you get decent, affordable health insurance once you're cut loose from corporate benefits? ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/becoming_an_it_consultant.html

What is all the fuss over SMBs about?

2009-02-18T09:30:00-05:00

So why do we hear so much about SMBs? I am going to make a very over simplified view of the host market. Though it is essentially true it does leave out a lot of smaller niches. I am going to do this to expedite the process and make this blog smaller. In hosting, there are enterprises, small and mid-sized businesses, and personal markets.

The enterprises have very precise and somewhat expensive needs. The things the require cost a lot for a host to invest in and once they do invest they can charge a high amount. Once the infrastructure is in place, this brand of Web host needs quality sales people, the type of sales people who were handlers for Vegas casinos prior to employment in hosting, for enterprise sized businesses hold onto their IT departments with a clenched fist.

The personal hosting market is vast and the needs are easy. However, the competition is just as vast and extremely cut-throat. This is the arena for large Hosts who drop their prices extremely low and move the accounts up the ladder. The requirements are easy, but the user base is a pain to work with (desiring everything in the world for 2 bucks a month) and the competition is extreme. So this area, like enterprise is a difficult one to break ground in.

Now SMBs are different. SMBs understand the cost of business and are willing to pay for quality. They won’t be paying you thousands of dollars a year but most won’t expect the world for a buck either. They have specialized needs, but not so specialized that it will break the bank procuring them. Also when it comes to niche markets, the SMB is an easy market to get into because if you solve the needs and emphasis one or more of those needs you are now a niche Host. the SMB market is vastly expanding as well. It is an area that continues to grow and will be growing especially during these hard economic times (a good web site costs about 50-100 bucks a month office space costs 10-100 times that).

So why the fuss? Well because:

Growing Market
Specific Needs, Easily Catered
Versatility of the Business Model
Willing to Pay
A Market that Invites Niche Markets and Specialization

And that is why SMBs are important. Until next time, happy hosting!

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/what_is_all_the_fuss_over_smbs_about.html

Early Mozilla mobile browser has 'showstopper' flaw

2009-02-18T09:22:00-05:00

Perhaps pre-alpha was a bit too early for Mozilla to release its Fennec mobile browser for Windows Mobile.

Early adopters who downloaded the application after it was announced Feb. 10 found it essentially doesn't work. "The bad news is the browser is basically useless for many people," Mark Finkle, a Fennec developer, wrote in a blog post describing the problem. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/early_mozilla_mobile_browser_has_showstopper_flaw.html

Data Center Capacity Running Out!

2009-02-16T09:47:00-05:00

That is according to Hampshire-based Redstation, which says that in the last six months alone, it has seen a 600 percent increase in sales. "If every data centre sees similar growth to what we've been seeing capacity could be stretched by the end of the year across the country," said Redstation's Technical Director, Peter Appleton. He also warned that organisations should look at the data centre option sooner rather than later.

"Recent research by HP revealed that the majority of data centres across Europe have reached 80 percent capacity," Appleton told Techworld via email. "Many older data centres are unable to provide sufficient power/cooling per rack as they were not designed for high density computing."

Appleton also pointed to research by Broad Group's data centre practice, which suggests that although there will be a limited increase in data centre space over the next few years, demand will outstrip supply, doubling data centre colocation prices by 2010. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/data_center_capacity_running_out.html

Microsoft Hit With Suit Over XP 'Downgrade' Fees

2009-02-16T09:43:00-05:00

For Microsoft's legal department, as Yogi Berra once said, it must seem "like dj vu all over again."

The Redmond software giant is already enmeshed in a class-action suit over whether it mislead people who purchased PCs prior to the launch of Windows Vista -- the so-called "Vista Capable" suit.

Microsoft's lawyers are also dealing with recent European Commission rulings against it for anticompetitive practices, including illegally tying Internet Explorer (IE) to Windows. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/microsoft_hit_with_suit_over_xp_downgrade_fees.html

Four Fixes for Eight Vulnerabilities

2009-02-13T09:44:00-05:00

February's Patch Tuesday saw Microsoft Relevant Products/Services issue four security Relevant Products/Services bulletins that address a total of eight vulnerabilities, three rated as critical.

The first critical vulnerability relates to Microsoft Exchange Server. An attacker can exploit it remotely by sending a maliciously designed e-mail message to a user on an unpatched Exchange server.

"This attack can result in the installation and execution of attacker-supplied code, giving complete control of the e-mail server to the attacker," said Ben Greenbaum Sr., research manager at Symantec Security Response. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/four_fixes_for_eight_vulnerabilities.html

What's Next for Craigslist?

2009-02-12T09:39:00-05:00

Craig Newmark wants to clear up a few misconceptions about the popular community site he started back in 1995. In his keynote at the UGC Conference & Expo here this week, Newmark started with a joke and then said something that may have surprised users of the mostly free classifieds site, which almost seems to go out of its way to avoid profit.

"I don't think there's anything noble or altruistic about what we do, it is a business. It just feels like the right thing to be doing," he said.

Newmark touched on a number of topics, including Craigslist's growth and its plans for the future. The UGC (User Generated Content) conference is owned by Jupitermedia, which is the parent company InternetNews.com. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/1390.html

How to avoid 5 common storage mishaps

2009-02-08T23:45:00-05:00

Think you can guess the No. 1 threat to the security of your stored data? If you said hackers, or even trouble-making insiders, you'd be wrong. While malicious threats are an ongoing concern, it's your well-meaning employees who are more likely to unknowingly expose your company's stored data through, say, a file-sharing network or a misplaced laptop.

In fact, a recent Ponemon Institute study found that negligent insiders are by far the biggest threat to data security, accounting for 78% of all breaches. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/how_to_avoid_5_common_storage_mishaps.html

What is a 100% Guarantee and is it Trustworthy?

2009-02-06T09:26:00-05:00

Even if you are using a perfectly installed grid software suite, there will be downtime between one server dying and another picking up the pace. True can be measured in seconds or minutes, but that is still downtime.

You can use mirror sites, but again, there will be downtime that equals the length it takes for a mirror to notice that the main is dead. And, again, this too can be measured in seconds.

So 100% uptime is a myth, but does that mean a 100% guaranteed is not trustworthy?

100% uptime and 100% uptime guarantee are not equal terms. If someone offers that a 100% uptime guarantee they are not saying the network will be 100% up for the end of time. Instead a 100% uptime guarantee is a sort of insurance policy.

Let us look at this from a different angle.

A Tale of Two Servers

In this scenario, we have two alike servers one is hosted on a 99.9% guarantee and the other on a 100% guarantee. Both have essentially the same SLA, only one pays out if you have any down time and the other pays out if you have about 40 minutes of downtime. Ok so, the network gets hit by thirty mins of downtime for the month of January. With one plan you get compensated the other one you don’t. In this instance, the 100% uptime guarantee is basically an insurance policy on your site. If the site goes down you get compensated.

Ok I get but is it trustworthy?

So a 100% uptime guarantee is in fact an insurance policy on your network. All things being equal there are two reasons for a Host to offer this:

1. They have an airtight Service Level Agreement (SLA) and will use it to beat you over the head when there is downtime.

2. They believe their hardware is strong enough to allow acceptable loss to customers gained.

It is also possible that the Host is unintelligent and has bad business practices… but we won’t talk about that here.

I will use SuperbHosting as an example of what to look for. When looking for how much downtime would give you money back I will say look for a guarantee that monitors uptime by an hour or less. An hour is around 99.9% for a month’s worth of time. In Superb’s SLA they go up to 100% of the money you pay. Non-reputable Hosts have a ceiling around 50-75%. One thing I like about Superb is that you can quit service with no penalty if you find their network is not up to your liking.

You might say well that’s terrible, but there have been numerous horror stories where people got into year long contracts to find it wasn’t working for them so they decided to leave and ended up getting hosed by fees for switching. This allows for a clean break and should be something you look out for.

The biggest thing though is to look to see if people were compensated. Some Hosts can tell you they will give you $300 dollars for every minutes you are down only to not pay you.

To rehash, 100% uptime is non-existent, 100% uptime guarantee exists, and lastly, reputable Hosts will have a reasonable measure standard, plain language SLA, and will actually follow through on payment. As always happy hosting!

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/what_is_a_100_guarantee_and_is_it_trustworthy.html

Cybercriminals Try Phishing With Fliers

2009-02-06T09:23:00-05:00

As part of their ongoing effort to convince people to visit malicious Web sites, cybercriminals are experimenting with a new medium: phony advertisement fliers.

In a post on the SANS Internet Storm Center blog, security consultant Lenny Zeltser describes a scheme to drive traffic to a malicious Web site using pamphlets left on cars. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/cybercriminals_try_phishing_with_fliers.html

Parallels Day 2: Conference Sessions and Exhibits

2009-02-05T13:22:00-05:00

Touring the exhibit hall this year was a lot different than last year's Parallels Summit. The Hall was far bigger and more open. You did not have to walk through it to get to the other areas, although you could, it wasn't essential. When I first arrived to check out the hall, I thought the foot traffic was a lot less than the previous year, however as the day wore on the number of people on the floor greatly increased. After talking to various vendors, many echoed those sentiments.

From the exhibit hall it looks like the companies to follow this year are CloudMark (more on them in a separate post), keepit, Open-Xchange, SmarterTools, and Sarito (makers of Horde Skins plus).

This year's Summit also included many schools and universities in attendance. Some showed up to cut costs (there even was a specific conference session on this called Virtualization Super Story: Oregon City School District Cuts IT Budget 60%) while others came in order to look for software and hardware for their IT classes. Hopefully, more academics will come out next year so they can see where the future of the Web Hosting industry is headed.

Although the tone of this Parallels Summit was focused on Cloud computing, I think there are a few more important lessons that can be learned from this
Summit:

* Know your customers
* Understand your market
* Due to the economy, look for acquisition opportunities.

Especially the last one. With the global economy slowing down, now is a great time to buy out the smaller companies. Combine this with understanding your market and knowing what you customers need, 2009 can be a very profitable year.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/parallels_day_2_conference_sessions_and_exhibits.html

Parallels Day 1: Press Rooms and the Cloud

2009-02-03T16:55:00-05:00

After a healthy breakfast (which sadly, did not include self-service coffee, but that’s probably a good thing) everyone went to the main room for a whirlwind three speaker set: John Eng, Serguei Beloussou, and Morris Miller. This set started off with video testimonials, a trend popularized by FastServers some two years ago. My hat is off to the folks at FastServers.

The Summit boasts some healthy statistics:

1000 + attendees
100+ ISVs
50 sessions
And Serguei backed by a laser light show!

These stats are nice, but lets put them into perspective. Last year there were 500+ attendees, 20+ ISVs, less sessions, and more important, no laser light show.

The word on everyone’s lips for this Summit is Cloud Hosting and what it means to the future of Web Hosting. I think Serguei said it best when he said, “The problem with the cloud is that it is… cloudy.”

Which sadly, is very true. Many definitions of cloud hosting has been floating around for years. What is interesting is the concept of cloud hosting has been around since the first electronic computers. Back then it was a local concept, mainframe and terminals connecting to the mainframe. Single computer attached to a lot of local computers. With the Internet we are going back to this primitive setup, because well it works. Only now we have many computers interconnected with smart terminals (our computers and Internet ready devices). The Internet has grown to the point of being able to handle the traffic involved with this mass scale setup and the future for it looks bright indeed. Cloud hosting is not just about hosting sites, it’s about promoting services, increasing stability, and reducing overhead costs based on need not on some theoretical amount of resources that a user may or may not need.

However, while the debate continues as to how or what Cloud Hosting is let me leave you with a few statistics from Parallels.

In 2008, Cloud Hosting expenditures took up 4% of IT budgets around the world.
In 2010, it is estimated that this will grow to 9% of all IT budgets.
This is a 26 billion dollar increase.

The question remains, will you make the move or will you stand still?

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/parallels_day_1_press_rooms_and_the_cloud.html

Parallels Summit Day 0: Golfing, Drinking, and Watching Men in Blue

2009-02-03T14:59:00-05:00

Monday was called Day 0 by event organizers for the fact that it was a day to unwind before the conference sessions and speeches.

The day started with an invite only golf tournament. Though scores of all participants clearly show that none of us will be quitting our day jobs, fun was had by all. The course was dry and the sun was out in full, which was a good departure from the snow and cold temperatures I have had to endure for the bulk of this winter.

Not long after everyone got back, registration was opened and Parallels set a new all time attendance record.

This year's Parallels Summit official kicked off at 7pm on the dance/drinking floor of Mandalay Bay's Eyecandy lounge. Intel and Microsoft sponsored the event and picked up the tab at the bar. In two hours, the attendees rang up a $5,000+ bar tab. Not too shabby considering the long lines for drinks.

After the party I found myself in good company, being invited by Parallels to the Blue Man Group Show at the Venetian. A fun time was had by all, but sadly no one from my group was chosen to perform alongside the blue faced trio.

Day 1 of Parallel's Summit is now moments away and judging by the hefty bag worth of press releases I can already see it will be a busy year.

http://www.gawkwire.com/events_html/parallels_summit_day_0_golfing_drinking_and_watching_men_in_blue.html

Microsoft's IE loses more share, slides to new low

2009-02-03T12:00:00-05:00

Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer (IE) again lost market share last month, although at a slower rate than the previous two-month stretch, but still ended at a new low of 67.6% as rivals continued to steal users, a Web metrics firm reported on Sunday.

Apple Inc.'s Safari, meanwhile, outpaced the growth of Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox for the third month in a row, according to Net Applications Inc.

Overall, Microsoft's browser lost 0.6 percentage points of its market share last month, ending January with 67.6%, the lowest number since Net Applications began tracking browser data in 2005. In the past 12 months, IE has slipped about eight percentage points in market share, nearly as much as the 9.8% drop during the preceding 24 months. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/microsoft_s_ie_loses_more_share_slides_to_new_low.html

Virtualization Set For Desktop Surge In 2009

2009-02-02T09:46:00-05:00

While server consolidation made enormous gains in 2008, these advances are only the leading edge of changes that will come in the coming year through the virtualization of the enterprise.

Gartner says virtualization will be the number one technology initiative in 2009, a year when more cost savings will be sought with tangible urgency due to the down economy. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/virtualization_set_for_desktop_surge_in_2009.html

Mozilla delays Firefox 3.1 again

2009-02-02T09:42:00-05:00

Mozilla has delayed the third beta of Firefox 3 .1 for the second time this month, a company executive said Thursday, citing troublesome bugs in the browser's new JavaScript engine as the reason.

It's not yet clear if the latest delay will affect the delivery of Firefox 3.1's final version, which Mozilla has said several times would appear this quarter. "I can't tell you that we're 100 percent confident that we will hit Q1," Mike Beltzner , director of Firefox, said Thursday morning. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/mozilla_delays_firefox_3_1_again.html