Briefings Direct

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: VMware.

Educators are using of desktop virtualization in innovative new ways to enable "bring your own device" (BYOD) benefits for students. This latest BriefingsDirect interview explores how one IT organization has made the leap to allowing young users to choose their own client devices to gain access to all the work or learning applications and data they need -- safely, securely, and with high performance.

The nice thing about BYOD is that you can essentially extend what do you do on-premises or on a local area network (LAN) -- like a school campus -- to anywhere; to your home; to your travels, 24×7.

The Avon Community School Corp. in Avon, Indiana has been experimenting with BYOD and desktop virtualization, and has recently embarked in a wider deployment for both this school year.

To get their story, Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, interviewed Jason Brames, Assistant Director of Technology, and Jason Lantz, Network Services Team Leader, both at Avon Community School.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: VMware.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.

The latest BriefingsDirect podcast discussion targets two major pillars of proper and successful data center transformation (DCT) projects. We’ll hear from a panel of HP experts on proven methods that have aided productive and cost-efficient projects to reshape and modernize enterprise data centers.

Learn about the latest trends buttressing the need for DCT and then how to do it well and safely. Specifically, we’ll delve into why it's important to fully understand the current state of an organization’s IT landscape and data center composition in order to then properly chart a strategy for transformation.

Secondly, we'll explore how to avoid pitfalls by balancing long-term goals with short-term flexibility. The key is to know how to constantly evaluate based on metrics and to reassess execution plans as DCT projects unfold. This avoids being too rigidly aligned with long-term plans and roadmaps and potentially losing sight of how actual progress is being made -- or not.

This is the first in a series of podcasts on DCT best practices and is presented in conjunction with a complementary video series.

With us now to explain why DCT makes sense and how to go about it with lower risk, we are joined by Helen Tang, Worldwide Data Center Transformation Lead for HP Enterprise Business; Mark Grindle, Master Business Consultant at HP, and Bruce Randall, Director of Product Marketing for Project and Portfolio Management at HP. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: VMware.

Our next VMware case study interview focuses on the City of Fairfield, California, and how the IT organization there has leveraged virtualization and cloud-delivered applications to provide new levels of service in an increasingly efficient manner.

We’ll see how Fairfield, a mid-sized city of 110,000 in Northern California, has taken the do-more-with-less adage to its fullest, beginning interestingly with core and mission-critical city services applications.

This story comes as part of a special BriefingsDirect podcast series from the VMworld 2011 Conference. The series explores the latest in cloud computing and virtualization infrastructure developments.

Here to share more detail on how virtualization is making the public sector more responsive at lower costs is Eudora Sindicic, Senior IT Analyst Over Operations in Fairfield. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: VMware.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: Akamai Technologies.

We hear about the post-PC era, but rarely does anyone talk about the post-LAN or even the post-WAN era. Yet the major IT trends of the day -- from mobile to cloud to app stores -- are changing the expectations we all have from our blended networks.

How are the campus networks of yesterday going to support the Internet-borne applications and media delivery requirements of tomorrow?

It’s increasingly clear that more users will be using more devices to access more types of web content and services. They want coordination among those devices for that content. They want it done securely with privacy, and they want their IT departments to support all of their devices for all of their work applications and data too.

From the IT mangers' perspective, they want to be able to deliver all kinds of applications using all sorts of models, from smartphones to tablets to zero clients to HD web streaming to fat-client downloads and website delivery across multiple public and private networks with control and with ease.

This is all a very tall order, and networks will need to adjust rapidly or the latency and hassle of access and performance issues will get in the way of users, their new expectations, and their behaviors -- for both work and play.

The latest BriefingsDirect IT discussion is with an executive from at Akamai Technologies to delve into the rapidly evolving trends and subsequently heightened expectations that we're all developing around our networks. We are going to look at how those networks might actually rise to the task with Neil Cohen, Vice President of Product Marketing at Akamai Technologies. The interview is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: Akamai Technologies.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: HP.

This latest BriefingsDirect discussion takes on the rapidly increasing threat that enterprises face from complex IT security breaches.

In just the past year, the number of attacks are up, the costs associated with them are higher and more visible, and the risks of not securing systems and processes are therefore much greater. Some people have even called the rate of attacks a pandemic.

The path to reducing these risks, even as the threats escalate, is to confront security at the framework and strategic level, and to harness the point solutions approach into a managed and ongoing security enhancement lifecycle.

As part of the series of recent news announcements from HP, this discussion examines how such a framework process can unfold, from workshops that allow a frank assessment of an organization’s vulnerabilities, to tailored framewor- level approaches that can transform a company based on its own specific needs.

Here to describe how a "fabric of technology," a "framework of processes," and a "lifecycle of preparedness" can all work together to help organizations become more secure -- and keep them secure -- is Rebecca Lawson, Director of Worldwide Security Initiatives at HP. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: HP.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: Embarcadero Technologies.

The popularity of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets has energized users on the one hand, but on the other hand it’s caused IT and business leaders to scramble to adjust to new models of applications delivery.

That's why enterprise app stores are quickly creating productivity and speed-to-value benefits for PC users and IT departments alike as they grapple with the new models around consumerization of IT. The author of a recent Ovum white paper on why app stores says they are increasingly important for enterprises as they consider ways to better track, manage, and distribute allof their applications.

The popularity of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, on one hand, has energized users, but on the other hand, it’s caused IT and business leaders to scramble to adjust to new models of applications delivery.

Join this podcast discussion then as we examine the steps businesses can now take to build and develop their own enterprise app stores. We'll further see what rapid and easy access to self-service apps on PCs and notebook computers through such app stores is doing for businesses.

And we’ll learn how app stores are part of the equation for improved work and process success on and off the job. Furthermore, we uncover how Embarcadero’s AppWave solution brings the mobile apps experience to millions of PC users in their workplace in the enterprise.

The panel consists of Tony Baer, Principal Analyst at Ovum; Michael Swindell, Senior Vice President of Products and Marketing at Embarcadero Technologies, and Richard Copland, Principal Innovation Consultant at Logica. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes/iPod. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Learn more. Sponsor: Embarcadero Technologies.