The recent outage of Google Gmail, which also affected users of Google Apps (word processing, spreadsheet, etc.) is yet one more reminder of how organizations need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of using on-demand or cloud-based applications and services. As I wrote last August, in response to a larger outage in which Gmail […]

The May 2009 issue of Cutter IT Journal — with Guest Editor Cutter
Senior Consultant Sara Cullen — invites useful debate and
analyses on the current state of outsourcing and how a recession
may change the landscape in terms of both current and future
contracts and the provider market. We will explore the strategies
that may help organizations weather the […]

The April 2009 Cutter IT Journal — with Guest Editor Cutter
Senior Consultant Rebecca Herold, recently named one of the “Best
Privacy Advisers” and “Best Privacy Consultancies” of 2008 by
Computerworld — invites insightful debate on and analyses of
approaches organizations are taking to ensure that information
security, privacy and compliance areas collaborate, and how to
address the associated convergence issues. […]

Almost a month ago I told you about the cover story Bob Charette wrote for IEEE Spectrum on the problems in defense acquisition. Today, Robin Young of the NPR show Here & Now interviewed Bob about the article. You can listen to it here. The part with Bob begins about 5 minutes in, and lasts […]

Analysis of the data we collected in our fourth annual software-as-a-service (SaaS) market survey has revealed that 97% of responders are satisfied with their SaaS deployments. Jeff Kaplan will continue to analyze the data over the next few weeks. He wrote in a recent Business Technology Trends & Impacts Executive Update:
Given the tangible benefits […]

A recent Cutter Consortium survey revealed that 63% of responding organization are using a SaaS solution, up from 32% in 2007.
Over the past four years, Cutter has been charting the growth of the SaaS market with a series of yearly customer surveys. This effort has been spearheaded by Cutter Senior Consultant Jeffrey M. Kaplan. […]

Cutter’s Bob Charette has written the cover story, “What’s Wrong With Weapons Acquisitions?”, for this month’s IEEE Spectrum. The article highlights the problems in defense acquisition: spiraling costs, extremely lengthy project delays, politics trumping technology, a lack of skilled workers, and a dearth of institutional knowledge as a result of outsourcing. Sound familiar? The scope […]

I had just gotten off the phone with a Merrill Lynch advisor who I know well. She surmised that maybe there is even more capitulation ahead. Maybe we will soon see the Dow at 8,000? Jokingly, I said I would start buying at 6,000. The fear, however, is real and the effect of […]

It is back. And it is angry.
And it is called virtualization. And it has people afraid. But not me.
Think of it. All CPU cycles completely fungible. Imagine the possibilities.
Got 500 idle desktops running Microsoft Vista? Assign the CPU and I/O resources to your core ERP system. Need to bring up seven servers with a full […]

We recently published the results of our annual Cutter Benchmark Review survey on trends and technologies for the coming year. This is the third yearly issue of CBR where we ask our contributors to look forward to the coming year and see what technologies and IT trends we can expect to endure, which ones are […]