Software Contract Solutions 
With the continued squeeze on IT budgets, CIOs are always seeking ways to reduce their outgoings. Maintenance is one area where substantial savings can be made, but opting for third-party support requires careful assessment. Businesses can save millions by switching to a third-party support provider, but this approach comes with risks, according to Gartner. Research from the … Read more
More than three years after Microsoft’s free upgrade offer officially ended, people are still reporting successful Windows 10 upgrades from older machines. Here’s the latest extremely unofficial report. In January 2017, I wrote a post titled “Here’s how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade.” It has become the single most popular post I’ve … Read more
The threats against organizations are growing in volume and success, but can AI in cybersecurity stop the rot and turn failure into success? There is a list of growing cyber security threats, ranging from a rise in identity thefts and account takeovers to vindictive ransomware strains. Businesses are feeling the strain, especially Fortune 500 enterprises, … Read more
Once again Microsoft shows it has shed its not-invented here attitude to support customers. When Microsoft launched Azure as a cloud-based version of its Windows Server operating system, it didn’t make it exclusively Windows. It also included Linux support, and in just a few years, the number of Linux instances now outnumbers Windows instances. It’s nice … Read more
Self-service business intelligence has become the go-to tool for business decisions. Here’s how Power BI and Tableau stack up on features and pricing. Business intelligence (BI) and analytics platforms have long been a staple for business, but thanks to the rise of self-service BI tools, responsibility for analytics has shifted from IT to business analysts, … Read more
Keeping operational systems running is a full-time job, but as systems get older, they end up being out of support. CIOs face multiple challenges in keeping operational systems running while also embarking on digital transformation initiatives, according to a report from Nucleus Research for Rimini Street, published last month. Rebecca Wettemann, an analyst at Nucleus … Read more
New research shows cyber-security incidents that exposed 5 billion records cost an estimated $45 billion last year. In 2018, over 2 million cyber incidents racked up a minimum of $45 billion in losses, according to a recently released report based on statistics gathered from organizations that track data breaches. Jeff Wilbur, technical director of the … Read more
VMware rolls out Tanzu platform to help customer build, run and manage Kubernetes containers. VMware has announced an initiative that will help make it easier for current vSphere customers to build and manage Kubernetes containers as the platform evolves. The company, at its VMworld customer event, announced VMware Tanzu which is made up of myriad … Read more
VMware will spend $2.7 billion on cloud-application developer Pivotal and $2.1 billion for security vendor Carbon Black – details at next week’s VMworld user conference. All things cloud are major topics of conversation at the VMworld user conference next week, ratcheded up a notch by VMware’s $4.8 billion plans to acquire cloud development firm Pivotal … Read more
Beginning in October, Microsoft plans to tighten its licensing rules to stop customers from using their own licenses for Windows, Windows Server, SQL Server and other software on rival cloud providers. Microsoft this fall will begin closing loopholes in its licensing rules that have let customers bring their own licenses for Windows, Windows Server, SQL … Read more
