NetworkWorld

Apple this week began airing 2 new "Get a Mac" ads, and one of them features a very familiar face - Patrick Warburton, though you might know him better as David Puddy from Seinfeld.

The commercial, which is titled "Top of the Line" is a clear and obvious response to Microsoft's seemingly successful "I'm a PC" commercials which focus on the price difference between Mac and PC systems. In the latest ad, Warburton plays a "top of the line" PC, but when questioned about his capability of dealing with viruses and other PC-related headaches, he has no acceptable response, and the interested shopper, surprise surprise, decides to go with Justin Long, who of course is the "Mac".

FlightView has released one of the first webOS applications for the Palm Pre smartphone. The software gives current information about any North American flight, tracking its in-air status, and alerting the user of any delays, changes or cancellations.

The software was created by Agile Commerce, a Lexington, Mass. custom software house that has been working Palm's Mojo SDK for several months to create the mobile application for FlightView. Agile's Eric Marthinsen was one of the early webOS developers who talked with us about their experience with Mojo and webOS. Mojo provides an array of APIs and services that developers can easily incorporate into an application written entirely in JavaScript.

You knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Citrix is taking Microsoft apps mobile but it's not just on Windows Mobile:It's Microsoft Windows apps on the iPhone too.

Citrix launched the Citrix Receiver iPhone app, available now free for download from the iPhone App Store. I had a chance to spend some time today with the Citrix Receiver iPhone app connected to the Citrix Cloud Center.

For a while there a few days ago it sure seemed to some as though the Google Chrome development team had proven again that no matter how much bandwidth is made available, someone, somewhere, for some reason, is going to need or want more.

Instead, what really occurred was a lesson in the everyday risks that can come with free-wheeling corporate blogging.

Rex, an old buddy of mine, recently asked me, "Hey you have a Blackberry Storm, don't you? What do you think of it?" It was a loaded question because Rex had recently set up a Storm for one of his customers, and said, "... it only took few minutes or so setting up email to figure out this thing wasn't any good."

You see, despite RIM's impressive $518.3m fourth quarter, a 25.6% year-over-year increase, and the reasonable sales numbers of Storms sold, it's really a device that's not ready for prime time. My verdict on the Storm? Plain and simple - I HATE IT. This is one of the worst devices I've used. My recommendation? Well, based on my user experience I'd say run, don't walk, as FAR AWAY from the Blackberry Storm as possible. I'm on my second Storm and it's getting sent back just like the first one.

See the big picture of unified communications

Roll-out is more like a three-year plan

Unified communications involves a series of technology decisions and this is where users will consider IM, presence and unified messaging options and the best methods for attacking rollouts and integration.

Mike Gotta, an analyst with the Burton Group, says a best practice is to think about these decisions not in terms of single projects but as part of a program, a program that could take up to three years to complete.

How to save millions through storage optimization

While it's undoubtedly invaluable, technology often offers only part of the solution to storage optimization. "If you don't know how to drive and you're driving a broken car, buying a new car will not fix your problem [of not knowing how to drive a car]," says Ashish Nadkani, principal consultant with GlassHouse Technologies, an enterprise-storage consulting firm.

Although many enterprises have undertaken storage-tiering and data-classification initiatives, pinpointing exactly how much money they've saved as a result is a difficult challenge, Nadkani says. Cost-cutting efforts can be hurt when a storage array or type of RAID is not matched optimally to the application, he says.

Best Practices for deploying SSL VPNs

Wide client support, authentication support are crucial

• Part of the reason for using SSL VPNs is to allow users to connect using something other than a company-issued machine. If that is an important goal, check whether the product under consideration supports Windows, Linux, Mac and even the operating systems for handhelds and smart phones equipped with browsers.

• Check out the management platform and its ability to support multiple policies per user and user group. Because the technology can support such granular access, it may become desirable to issue more than one policy per person or group. For instance, a single user may require access rights that differ depending on what machine and what access method are used and what the security posture of the devices is.

Burning questions lead to best practices for virtual server management

Tips on tying physical and virtual server management together

The hottest thing in server management these days is taming the virtual server beast.

Server virtualization makes it possible to run multiple applications and operating systems on fewer hardware resources, which appeals to many IT managers looking to improve utilization. According to a recent Forrester Research poll, respondents have virtualized about one-quarter of their servers and plan to have close to 50% virtualized in two years. As enterprise IT teams look to broaden their server virtualization deployments, it's important to get in front of the management challenges.
For those who are struggling with how to manage virtual machines, here are answers to six important questions.

Best practices for a successful SIM deployment

Identifying targets security systems and setting policy are imperative measures

Security information management (SIM) technologies are pretty much imperative for corporate security these days. But IT executives won't be able to reap the full rewards without following some best practices when putting the technology in place.

"[SIM] tools are fast becoming must-haves for security teams wanting more visibility into IT activity within their environment," says Paul Stamp, a principal analyst with Forrester Research. According to Forrester, the market for SIM products is growing at about 50% annually and the technology will continue to become part of larger security-infrastructure and management plans. "[SIM] tools used to be purely the domain of the security analyst working on operational issues. These days, the information that a [SIM] tool provides often ends up on the CISOs, or even the CIO's, desk," Stamp says.

For VoIP management, specialized tools are a best practice 

Study shows these tools drastically cut IP telephony control costs

The majority of companies implementing VoIP count on the tools that come with their IP PBXs - perhaps combined with some existing network-management tools - to keep track of the new gear.

But companies that buy specialty IP-telephony management tools spend less per employee to operate their VoIP system than those who rely on IP PBX or no tools at all, Nemertes Research has found.