InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

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Exclusive research of 230 IT pros and 68 carriers providing 4G services shows that while customers are pleased with service now, the future looks far less certain.

A managed security service provider should lift at least some cost and resource burden from the IT department's shoulders. But what if it doesn't? What if you aren't any more secure after entering into a contract with an MSSP? And how do you even know if it's doing everything it promised? There is an art to managing the MSSP relationship after the initial deal is done. In this report, Dark Reading provides recommendations for testing the mettle of MSSPs and for dealing with providers if their performance isn't up to snuff.

In this follow-up report to 'Understanding Software-Defined Networks,' we examine IT deployment plans and explore the technology ecosystem around SDN. This report drills into the current and planned efforts of the Open Networking Foundation, which is driving standardization of the OpenFlow protocol, and provides details on SDN strategies from 17 vendors.

SMBs may not have the IT resources that their bigger peers do, but they do have the same responsibilities when it comes to security. Fortunately, SMBs can build a strong security posture using a few key products, many of which are free. In this report, Dark Reading examines the challenges that SMBs face when it comes to security and recommends the five security tools every SMB must have.

When it comes to monitoring, the application space is often forgotten. This leaves a gaping hole because the behavior of applications can reveal a great deal about security events and their causes. The inherent variability of applications can make monitoring a challenge, but enterprises can extend existing tools to include the applications space. In this report, we make the case for the development of an applications monitoring strategy and provide recommendations for implementation that tap into existing products and processes.

Database activity monitoring, or DAM, is an effective compliance and security strategy. However, not every DAM system will work the same in every organization. Indeed, not every organization can even make use of every feature that DAM systems provide. In this report we examine what DAM can and can’t do, and recommend how to evaluate and implement the best system for your organization.

The competition for tablet dominance is heating up as Google and Microsoft, refusing to go down without a fight, release competitive new products to take on the Apple juggernaut. But for IT pros charged with managing BYOD programs, all that adds up to is more confusion. We analyze Apple’s new Mini and refreshed iPad, Google’s Nexus duo and Microsoft Surface.

Even as mobility and cloud take off, too many companies still leave data in the clear, spooked by operational and performance concerns. Yes, key management is still a problem. But here are five ways to use encryption without breaking your existing infrastructure, plus a look ahead at the next big thing: identity-based encryption.

If there’s one thing that’s true about security, it’s that an organization can never be completely secure. The trick is to determine what’s most valuable to your organization, and how big the threats to those assets really are. That’s putting risk-based management simply, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. In this report we provide some perspective around risk-based security, as well as recommend some best practices for developing and effectively implementing a program.

Our Outlook survey finds 71% of companies with rising demand for IT projects, just 8% cutting IT staff and 60% expecting higher IT budgets than in 2012. But IT’s priority list continues to trend toward IT-centric projects and needs to focus more externally on projects that affect the customer directly.

The confluence of smartphone-fueled employee mobility and ubiquitous cloud services means it's time to update your data loss prevention strategy. The key: Data protection isn't something you can buy. "DLP 2.0" needs to expand into a smart set of policies backed up by a mix of products.

We hear a lot about controlling devices and data. But there's a third consideration that's just as critical -- and a lot less high profile. Don't let an intense focus on employee mobile devices leave you exposed via insecure apps.

Vulnerability scans are valuable, but you have to think and act like a hacker if you want to truly understand the ways in which your organization could be compromised. In this report, Dark Reading recommends the tools and methodologies that can be used to test your organization’s security.

What do concepts like the semantic Web, mashups, Web 3.0 and open data have to do with your enterprise relational databases? Much like consumerization continues to drive innovation in end user computing, these technologies deliver benefits that your business should be exploiting.

While 86% of organizations we surveyed said application services are very or critically important in their organizations, fewer than 40% use application performance monitoring tools, and 51% of organizations that have rejected APM say the products require too much staff time to implement correctly. Find out how to get the benefits of application monitoring while avoiding the complexity and performance headaches.

Nine in 10 IT pros think mobile will increase in importance, but fewer than half have deployed or are in the process of deploying mobile device management systems. Our review of suites from Good Technology, Symantec and Research In Motion, plus analysis of the most important MDM capabilities, reveals why some companies are holding off.

Today’s 802.11n wireless LANs can reach 450 Mbps to 600 Mbps -- not too shabby. But hold onto your hats because here come next-gen Gigabit Wi-Fi products with 802.11ac enhancements that could deliver nearly 7 Gbps. In this report, we’ll discuss what 11ac brings to the table, which applications benefit, when products are likely to surface, features to look for and guidance on how to get the most from 11ac while protecting past WLAN investments.

Companies of all sizes are embracing data visualization, self-service BI and big data analysis, our survey finds. Advanced analytics is of particular interest to our respondents: 62% say they’re using these technologies to optimize business operations, while 44% aim to identify business risk and another 44% hope to predict promising new business opportunities. This report explores use cases in higher education and insurance, and shows how emerging analytics techniques are achieving breakthrough results.

Small and midsize businesses face the same escalated cyber attacks and increased frequency and scope of natural disasters as enterprises. Fortunately, new cloud offerings can help everyone work smarter.

Security policy has been around for as long as we have had computing systems to secure. So why is policy so often ineffective? Dark Reading examines the persistent problems companies have faced and offers some recommendations for developing, communicating and following through with a security policy.

Got mobile users accustomed to nonstop social networking and sporting multiple devices: PCs, tablets, smartphones, Windows 8 hybrids -- you name it? Then a cloud-based service may be a perfect fit for enterprise collaboration. Plenty of vendors are eager to win your business. Find out what to look for and get profiles of 11 top contenders.

Thirty-one percent of our survey respondents said they anticipate end user support/help desk will be a top area of staffing decrease -- more than for any other category. However, 16% said this area is one of two that would see the biggest increase in staffing at their companies in the next year. BYOD, social media and the general consumerization of IT may be changing the nature of the internal support role at companies -- and in some cases creating new opportunities for support staffers.

The rise in social technology adoption is not reflected in IT hiring -- yet -- but this is one area where savvy business users could break into IT: While just 9% of respondents to our survey say they plan to increase staff in the area of social/collaboration in the next year, 92% of those who identify it as a top area of staffing increase say no specialized industry certs are required, and 84% are willing to train.

Antivirus systems alone cannot fight a growing category of malware whose strength lies in the fact that we have never seen it before. Dark Reading examines the ways in which zero-day malware is being developed and spread, and the strategies and products enterprises can leverage to battle it.

Infrastructure may be cool again thanks to SDN, but network guys aren't having all the fun: 48% of the 543 respondents to our latest State of Servers poll mix and match server vendors, and 40% are intrigued by rack-based designs, like the one being developed by the Open Compute Project. But it's not all fun and games, as 63% say high virtualization/consolidation ratios are stressing their gear.