What Would You Do With a Bargain Basement Supercomputer? While Microsoft continually seeks out new markets and new competitors to conquer (old Star Trek riff), they have set their sights on the supercomputing market with a “low-cost” solution for small companies. If you have a spare $50K laying around for the software alone, MS says you can get your own cluster of servers acting like a supercomputer.

Why would law or professional services firms want a supercomputer? Conceptual searching and relationship analysis for litigation support, for one. What would you use a supercomputer for?

Collaborating on the Web? Read the Fine Print. Between Lawyers has a post and comments on using online web services like conferencing or data storage. The issues include possible data breaches like when GMail was hacked and having a third party between lawyer and client.

Blame Tech Problems on the Planet Mercury: Here is a little chuckle for a Friday. Currently, the planet Mercury is in retrograde, an optical illusion that makes it look like the planet has reversed direction in the sky. For astrologers, this is a bad time of year as accidents happen, things go pear-shaped. So when Yahoo! Messenger went down on Wednesday, the culprit was not bad code or human error, but the zigzagging planet.

We are not in the hype or bandwagon business, but a follow up to our post yesterday about the iPhone’s potential place in business is in order. In an interview with USA Today this morning, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had this to say about corporate e-mail and the iPhone:

Q: What about corporate e-mail? I understand that's an issue for many consumers, who may not be able to hook up to their company networks?

Jobs: You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks. We have some pilots going with companies with names you'll recognize. This won't be a big issue.

There you go. If we were to read the tea leaves, likely candidates are Microsoft and Motorola (who recently acquired Good). RIM, the company behind Blackberry, is less likely because their system uses dedicated data centers. Whether the iPhone can be remotely managed and wiped still remains to be seen, but Apple apparently wants to remove any barriers to the business market.

In the past week, the first reviews of the IPhone have come in and Apple has released videos, FAQs,and press releases almost daily. So the days of speculating about its features and functionality are finally over. Only wild speculation and misinformation has matched the mammoth hype, especially when in it comes to how the iPhone may fit into business. So here is our balanced opinion on the iPhone in a business setting (we have Mac and PC fans here who work together quite peaceably).

Why Should We Care? In the past few years, consumer technology has been the primary driver of new technology into the workplace. While the iPhone is primarily aimed at the consumer, there are a number of compelling features appealing to business users: ability to select a voice mail rather than listen to all in sequence; ease of use; and full web browser with wi-fi, to name a few. Throw in the iPod features and don’t be surprised a partner walks in with one.

Following are issues where the iPhone is not quite ready for business. The caveat is that Apple is treating the iPhone as a software system and has vowed to push out software updates upgrading its features and functionality. Just because it doesn’t have it now, doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.

Email. Push Me, Pull Me. The killer app for business in mobile phones is e-mail, and to a lesser extent calendaring, which is why Blackberry rules the roost. Blackberry, Good, and Microsoft’s ActiveSync are “push” technologies, sending the e-mail to the mobile device when it is received on the e-mail servers. The iPhone has push e-mail, but only from Yahoo! mail because it uses “push-IMAP,” a protocol MS Exchange server doesn’t support. Otherwise, the iPhone “pulls” e-mails using IMAP, where the iPhone periodically checks in with the e-mail server to see if there are new messages.

Rumor has it that Apple has licensed ActiveSync from Microsoft, meaning it would have push e-mail compatibility with MS Exchange. If so, the iPhone would be on par with Blackberry and Good.

Control Issues and Remote Erasure. Blackberry and Good are corporate darlings because of configuration, control, and the ability to remotely erase the data on handhelds. So far, the iPhone lacks these features. Controlling the configuration allows the IT department to ensure quality service because they do not have a myriad of different handhelds with different software and settings configurations. And the ability to remotely wipe data on a smartphone is priceless when the employee leaves the phone with confidential e-mails in the taxi or the plane.

The Slippery Slope of iTunes. iTunes is required to sync not only songs, photos, and video to the iPhone, but also contacts and calendars as well. This raises the question of whether putting iTunes on business computers will invite streaming music over the Internet, which iTunes allows, or employees putting personal music files and videos on firm equipment. Who is then responsible for backing up their personal music? These issues may be resolved with an “Acceptable Use” policy and disclaimer, but the implications should be thoroughly considered.

So, if you need justification for turning away iPhone toting members of your staff, these are:

• no "push" e-mail functionality compatible with our e-mail infrastructure.
• no ability to wipe data remotely to protect sensitive data in the case of a lost iPhone; and
  
• iTunes is not sanctioned software for a computer that IT will manage.

Remember, however, that the iPhone is in its infancy. Should Apple repeat its runaway success with the iPod or merely match Blackberry’s initial acceptance, it may be a wave that IT departments can’t resist. If that is the case, IT will be tasked with figuring out how to accommodate it rather than dismissing it.

Here are a few tidbits worthy of your attention on the Web today:

Security Honcho "Wants People at Microsoft to Think Like Criminals." Wow, can you have fun with a line like that.  Anticompetitive practices aside, this article over at CNet talks about the mindset needed to defend against cyber evil-doers. The trick, evidently, is to think like a hacker, rather than a developer or user that view security vulnerabilities as yet another bug to squash.  The  article is part of a series on web security that is worth a read.

Preview of Top EDD Providers. So if you are into Top "N" lists (that's geek shorthand for any number like 10), The Common Scold has a preview of the top 10 EDD service providers and software vendors, with details to come in the August issue of LTN. Again, if you are into that sort of thing...

...So About That iPhone Post Yesterday.The first reviews coming in suggest the hype may well be warranted, increasing the chances of a partner purchasing an iPhone and wanting to get firm e-mail on it. So if that happens to you, we have an article about security and the iPhone, and a post trying to clear up some misconceptions floating around on the "Internets." The big problem may be the inability to remotely wipe the iPhone.

You could accuse us of trying to make bank on the iPhone hype, but don’t say this scenario is implausible: In a couple of weeks, the superstar partner walks into IT with her brand new iPhone. And after surfing a few web pages on the firm wi-fi and watching a clip from The Office, she then says, “I want to get my work email on it.”

So what do you do? Can you really suggest the bare bones Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) after she demonstrates flicking through her GMail? Are you forced to enable IMAP after all these years?

Now, the iPhone won’t be replacing Blackberries in the law firm any time soon, but the point is personal technology encroaching on “work” tech. Like instant messaging and wi-fi, these days new tech is being introduced in the law firm from attorneys and staff bringing it from home rather than from the IT department. You probably went with Blackberry back in the day because a hot shot partner saw a colleague's device and wanted one for himself.

To quote a Zen saying: “the only constant in life is change.” In IT and administration, your job is to maintain a consistent, high-quality level of service. Sometimes that means saying no. But the other mandate is to provide tools that make the firm and its employees more productive and effective. That means saying yes and using a little ingenuity. The iPhone promises a very easy user experience for calling, voice mail and others beyond e-mail, which is Blackberries forte. Should it deliver (a very big if), then it is time to reevaluate the firm’s policy—and embracing change.

If not the iPhone, it will be something else.

This Wednesday, June 27, 2007, SAGE and the Information Systems and Technology Section of the ALA Capital Chapter kick off  a series of presentations on the ins-and-outs of Microsoft’s Office 2007. The first meeting covers the basics about Office 2007: what is new, what has changed; and what it all means.

SAGE’s Director of Consulting, David Carns, will cut through the confusion over the many versions of the office suite, the “ribbon,”, the new file formats, and other changes for which your firm should prepare. This session sets the stage for more in-depth reviews of each application: Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint. The focus will be on preparing your staff and firm for the transition to Office 2007.

The session will be from Noon to 1:30 p.m. at the offices of Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP, located in downtown, Washington, DC at 2120 L St. NW - Suite 700. To register, please contact Kenny Mitchell at 202-383-3402.

As you may know, yesterday we did a couple of short presentations on the many flavors of managed IT services at the ALA Capital Chapter’s Spring Expo. Well, before we could talk about the variations, we made the case for how managed IT services like SAGE OnSight provide more value for your IT budget dollar. In fact, we have a chart that illustrates the case.

The chart compares the functions typically performed in a small to medium sized firm against what a managed IT solution like OnSight provides. The chart depicts a real world scenario, where preventive measures like daily server checks, patch testing and monthly maintenance aren’t performed, usually because of special projects that eat into time that should be devoted to operations. With a managed IT service, you also get the preventative measures, strategic direction and access to expert resources.

Now keep in mind that we are talking about working with the same IT budget. And it’s not a situation where you have to fire your current IT staff. Often managed services complement existing staff. Taking all of the above into account, managed IT services provide tremendous value. We just needed to make the chart to really drive home the point to ourselves as well!

A good rule of thumb is that IT spending in law firms should be 3-6 percent of gross revenue. IT budgets in that range should provide a reasonable level of service and stability for the firm and its staff. To make the budget go farther, consider going with a managed IT service provider that can provide additional resources and high quality service. Managed IT solutions typically exceed the level of service that in-house resources alone can provide on a regular basis.

There are many different flavors to managed IT Services, however. This will be the topic of discussion during SAGE’s Learning Pavilion Sessions at Thursday’s ALA Capital Chapter Spring Educational Forum and Expo. It is important for each organization to find the service that best fits its needs. Subtle variations in service and support can mean the difference between having the service be the right fit or a disastrous and expensive foray. SAGE consultants with experience on both sides--provider and client---will discuss various factors beyond the "spec" sheet that firms often overlook, but should really be at the forefront of their decision making.

Please join SAGE for either the 11:30 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. session in the Learning Pavilion at the ALA Capital Chapter Educational Forum and Expo, and stop by the SAGE booth to learn even more.

Across the pond, a study of IT claims that UK businesses lose 31 days from poor IT management. Of course, that’s the attention grabbing headline [it works, doesn’t it?], and the findings are not nearly so catastrophic. The lesson learned is that IT is a great asset, but like any asset in an organization, it requires time and money for maintenance and upkeep. Failure to do so has dire consequences, like diverting resources and lowering productivity.

The culprit is not the hardware or software, but management and maintenance. In fact, any gains in productivity, efficiency, or quality degrade over time because of poor upkeep. In the survey, 77 percent cited that insufficient upkeep wasted an estimated 13 percent of their investment in IT.

Why? Projects are high profile while operations are considered monotonous and ho-hum. Smaller firms offer divert resources from operations for projects, and service suffers and gains aren’t fully realized. Operations, however, are what keep people productive and work going out the door.

So besides giving operations its due, split IT staff along projects and operations responsibilities if your organization is large enough, or call on outside help for projects when necessary.

Firms looking to be more secure with their data both internally and with their mobile devices should focus first on the cultural barriers to greater security within their firm. Attorneys and professionals who don’t want to be inconvenienced by enhanced security like multi-factor authentication need to be persuaded that the risks far outweigh the inconvenience. Loss of client confidence, professional liability, and the potential for restitution damages are very dire consequences from not securing company, employee or customer data. Making busy professionals understand the trade-offs required for a more secure environment will lay the cultural groundwork that can lead to the introduction of heightened security measures like passwords on handhelds, encrypted drives, and SSLVPN connections for remote access.

We recently presented to ALISM on the topic of securing mobile data. Please talk to us if you have questions or concerns on this topic. We might be able to help.