Dell in Leaders Quadrant for Midrange Enterprise Storage

From Welt Online:

Research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. positioned Dell in the "Leaders Quadrant” of its Magic Quadrant for Midrange Enterprise Disk Arrays, 20081 report, Dell announced today.

Do you think that Dell is a leader? We'd like to hear your thoughts.

Read more here.

Enterprise 2.0 Industry Reports

The Enterprise 2.0 market is expected to reach $4.6 billion by 2013. Other predictions as mentioned in ReadWriteWeb,

-predicts that social networking tools and internal wikis "will have the greatest impact on workplace collaboration"
- expects enterprise microblogs to "become a feature, not a standalone product category"
- enterprise 2.0 apps will fall dramatically in price
- "cultural resistance" to social networks will "eventually break, allowing workers to connect with like-minded colleagues and enabling a collaboration channel that previously didn't exist in the enterprise."

To see all of the expected changes in the enterprise 2.0 market check out the report here.

Windows Vista: An Enterprise Failure

Windows Vista has never been viewed as reliable by the public eye and also by enterprise professionals. So why exactly did Windows Vista fail? I came across this post on ZDNet that lists the top five reasons why Windows Vista was not an enterprise success. Here are the reasons:

5. Apple successfully demonized Vista
Over the past 2 years, Apple has changed the perception of Windows Vista to be buggy, boring, and difficult to use. Only recently has Microsoft responded with the “I’m a PC” campaign to empower the brand image.

4. Windows XP is too entrenched
By the year 2008, over 1.1 billion PCs worldwide and over 70% were running Windows XP. Windows XP was the most widely used operating system in the world and this would prove to be a lot of work for IT departments to consolidate.

3. Vista is too slow
Windows Vista has over 50 million lines of code, and so this software bloat would slow down computers running on Vista even if PCs had the latest and fastest hardware.

2. There wasn’t supposed to be a Vista
After the release of Windows 95 and 98, Microsoft was looking to step away from its traditional business model and start offering subscription services to consumers. It quickly abandoned this business model.

1. It broke too much stuff
Windows XP caught on quick because it was compatible with nearly everything. When Vista was released, a lot of existing hardware and software were not compatible with it.

Enterprise 2.0: Where do we stand?

A very common question posed in the business realm, but do we really know the answer? I came across this post on ReadWriteWeb and it summarizes eight attributes that enterprise software champions generally have now. Are we 100% there yet in terms of functionality and collaboration? No, we’re not, but we certainly are getting there. Here’s the list:

1. Software vendors now have monthly subscription fees instead of the dreaded annual contract. This means that the vendor must be good in order for the client to stay subscribed.
2. Adoption is by choice, and it is not set in stone by corporate policies. The software must be beneficial in order for it to get traction.
3. Software is usable within 30 minutes without looking at a manual.
4. SaaS is hosted, vendors don’t have to worry about the different platforms forced by IT department and can instead focus on R&D.
5. Enabling secure communication across firewalls.
6. Compatible with current modules and products.
7. Having beta models, for early experimentation.
8. Fun, relaxed environment.

Collaboration is Vital in Enterprise Survival

I came across this video on YouTube where Bjoern Brauel, CTO and Vice President of the WebMethods business of Software AG, sheds some light about the importance of adopting Web 2.0 technologies within enterprise organizations.

An idea that seems to come up several times during this 7-minute video is when asked what web 2.0 at the end of the day is all about, Bjoern answers:

“One specific thing comes on top…and it’s Collaboration”

Take a look at this video to see how Web 2.0 software and SOA infrastructure can improve efficiency and help leverage existing skills within an organization.

Google’s Cloud: Is the Enterprise Truly Ready?

Google is often seen as a fierce competitor to IBM and Microsoft since it has seen a surge in numbers of adoption of Google Apps, but its enterprise cloud structure isn’t quite where it should be yet. Searching the blogosphere, I came across this article from eWeek, in which Dave Rosenberg, CEO of MuleSource, shares that he is rather unimpressed with Google’s cloud, commenting that just because something is hosted it doesn’t make it a truly shared infrastructure.

The difference here between Google and other software is that Google’s services are delivered through a web browser, whereas other companies offer traditional software and servers that must be installed by the client. Dave Rosenberg mentions:

"We're seeing a lot of people who are using our software or other software between external systems, but the idea that we're all moving to the cloud is still probably five years away."

Dave believes that there are certain reasons why the enterprise is slow to move into the “cloud”.

1. SAAS providers like Salesforce.com keep customers locked into their own technology, thus defeating the purpose of SOA.
2. The Google Apps engine is written in only one language, Python. If there was more language support, adoption from the enterprise would come much sooner.

Rosenberg’s solution is that one of the 3 big vendors IBM, Sun or Hewlett-Packard must build huge datacenters to kick-start the future of cloud infrastructure in the enterprise. Do you think that step will truly help mold the use of the “cloud” in the enterprise?

Spaceo.us: A Social Enterprise

Enterprise architects are developing a social collaboration platform called Spaceo.us, where Web 2.0 tools like wikis, tagging, blogging, and enterprise search will be available within organizations in a corporate setting. Users have long been using web 2.0 in personal perspectives, but Spaceo.us aims to help mesh this collaborative software in the enterprise. Here’s a clip of what Spaceo.us has to offer. What collaborative feature do you feel will best improve organizational agility?

Attivio: The Latest in Enterprise Search

ZDNet does a good job on their review of Attivio’s latest enterprise search application Active Intelligence Engine, or AIE. AIE is able to effectively find specific information through structured and unstructured content through precision SQL querying.

So what’s so special about this feat since the enterprise already offers many search applications? Dennis Howlett brings up the notion that Google itself can not perform such complex and calculated queries based on commonalities. Even though Google is a popular enterprise search favorite, it is not able to effectively sort between enterprise applications, databases, email, documents, and other content management systems.

Hands up, even in it’s beginning stages, it looks like Attivio already has an advantage in enterprise search. With pricing ranging from $2,000 to $50,000 a month depending on system configurations, it looks as if it might give Google a run for its money.

Could a New Social Software Suite Knock Out Facebook and LinkedIn?

According to this latest article on paidContent.org Jeff Dachis, former CEO of Razorfish, has teamed up with Austin Ventures to roll out a corporate social software service that will be tailored to the enterprise. AV mentions that it will focus on “creating an industry leading strategic consulting practice and an enterprise class Social Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suite.” But how successful will this SAAS suite be with competition coming from all corners, and a lack of involvement in social software from the enterprise.

This post on A VC, describes how social software include certain characteristics like open API’s, customizable services, and the ability to upload different media. All of these characteristics are an enterprise nightmare. IT departments will have a field day trying to limit access to these sites, for security reasons.

The real benefit from social networking sites is the input gathered from the community, but how will a brand new start-up instantly gain millions of users? How will this new venture compete with LinkedIn and Xing since they already have a majority of the enterprise social networking market, and let’s not forget that Facebook is slowly closing in with enterprise tailored apps and restrictions. AV and Dachis will have to bring about new innovative concept within enterprise networking to really stray away people from Facebook and LinkedIn. Can they do it? We’ll have to wait and see.

Social Application Language…Foreign to the Enterprise

Web 2.0 applications are too often described as “social”, and the Enterprise still does not see business benefits in that word. After all, it’s hard for organizations to find business value in the term social.

Tom Foremski’s latest post on ZdNet explains how Eugene Lee, CEO of SocialText, is trying to communicate business benefits of Web 2.0 technology like the enterprise wiki. Eugene comes from a long background of dealing with enterprise companies, and so he should bring forth a lot of exciting ideas to the table.

Eugene Lee mentions:

“Businesses look for solutions and that’s what SocialText is in the business of providing,”

According to his quote, SocialText will need to get businesses past the idea of “social” in order for executives to realize the potential social applications hold. Convincing corporate management to involve social tools within their organization has long been a conflict. We’ve recently written a post on communicating business benefits of Enterprise 2.0 to management, it’s a must read for those still trying to implement Web 2.0 tools that most executives feel is foreign ideology. Hopefully, Eugene along with others, can bring an enterprise perspective to help shape where social tools are heading in the business realm…

Dishonest Enterprise Solution Sales: How Do We Stop it?

There are so many enterprise solutions out there, so what truly differentiates one application from another. Many enterprise solution sales people take advantage of unsuspecting (sometimes first-time) enterprise buyers due to their inexperience.

Here’s a great article to help prepare you for those pesky sales people. I came across this post by Michael Krigsman on ZdNet that highlights seven common lies told by enterprise solution salespeople drawn by Doug Mitchell on his free download, Confessions Of An Ex-Enterprise Salesperson: What I Really Meant When I Said.

I have heard all of these lies before, but “Lie 2. My solution does not require much of your company’s IT resources” is one of my personal favorites. It is almost impossible for enterprise solutions to perform the way it should due to restrictions and roadblocks put up by IT departments. According to Michael, the key question to ask the salesperson is What are you prepared to do when we DO encounter problems due to IT dept. A good enterprise solution salesman with a reputable application will be prepared for this question.

Read over this list before your company decides to switch its enterprise app. Buy carefully…

Adopting Web 2.0 for business use

At the Cazh1 blog, they’ve recently written a post about the best ways to adapt Web 2.0 into the enterprise. So what are they?

--The Millennials: This new generation knows the software and expects to use it. Will IT follow? What’s the downfall to this? The Millenials are at the bottom of the enterprise food chain and are not yet in a position to influence the companies.
--Consumer high tech: Many internet tools, such as Google, have been opened so that they can be used from anywhere as long as there is an internet connection. People will begin to see the influence these tools can have at work. People will be quick to point out here that technology changes fast and it will be hard to keep up with the latest and greatest thing in Web 2.0.
--The Innovation Imperative: IT needs to find a way to innovate from their side. This is a great way to allow them to find new innovative ways to use our computers. However, the management is more concerned with the bottom line and profit rather than how wikis could help their enterprise.

Have any of these things come across as things to encourage your company to adapt Web 2.0 technology for more communication and knowledge management in the enterprise? I believe, that like many other things, Enteprise 2.0 will be adapted to the majority of most enterprises. Being able to capture knowledge on a group wiki has so many benefits. Whether it’s the knowledge of a person who’s about to retire or a detailed description of how to do specific tasks, wikis will turn out to be huge. And I think these technologies will not evolve beyond their needs before the next generation adapts them.