The Tech Sector Trumpets Signs of a Real ReboundFriday, October 16th, 2009 - By Keith Lukes

I think we are entering a period very similar to 1997 to 2004, where you’ll see a decade run of productivity increases. – John T. Chambers, Chief Executive of Cisco.

A recent article in the New York Times indicated that several technology companies are finally showing signs of recovery. Major vendors like Intel, I.B.M. and Google posted better than expected quarterly results and top executives at Cisco and Dell have also become more optimistic about the future potential for growth. This bodes well for the economy, as many analysts view technology a leading indicator of its overall performance. Continue Reading »

Who Is Watching Your Technology?Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 - By Keith Lukes

Recent Issues at Danger/Microsoft and Google Bring Attention to SaaS Providers

Issues with Google Mail in September, and more recently with Google’s Postini and T-Mobile’s Sidekick data hosted by Microsoft and Danger have brought to light one of the important aspects of using cloud computing: your data integrity and system performance is based directly on the technology partner you choose. These issues are not necessarily a failure of cloud computing, but an example of what can happen when you have poor IT management.  SaaS solutions can be more cost effective initially, but having your data managed by large scale third parties could lead to some dire consequences for your business. As we have seen with Danger, Google, and other SaaS providers, there is no way for you to be entirely sure your data is secure or your systems will always be available.

Today, some of Util-IT’s customers were directly affected by the issues at Postini. Fortunately, because of our monitoring and management solutions we were able to quickly work around the issue, allowing their mail to flow into their inboxes without delay. Continue Reading »