Pimm Fox

Software was supposed to prevent the boom-and-bust cycle, but it doesn't. It never will. Corporations will always pile into a market if they smell profit.

As more people gain access to your IT infrastructure, there's growing demand to secure that access at a reasonable cost.

There are three vital parts to the open standards underlying Web services security. There's authentication, which uses Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) to exchange information about a particular user. There's authorization, which grants access control via Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML). And, finally, there's the administration layer now managed through the use of Service Provisioning Markup Language, or SPML.

Look around. No, really, look around. Does your workplace operate in ways even remotely similar to the manner it did, say, four years ago? If not (because of job cuts, office closures, geographic changes, expansion, whatever), then ask yourself if it would have been useful to have seen a simulation back then of how your IT shop works today.

When Hewlett-Packard Co. announces its quarterly earnings later this month, analysts and customers will be looking for further evidence that the Compaq merger is bringing the benefits that Carly Fiorina promised when she aggressively stumped for the deal in the fall of 2001. So far the results look promising.

There's anecdotal evidence that the IT job market is firming up. Or at least that the layoffs have slowed. But there's a big change in IT recruiting.

Business managers sometimes forget that cool-looking executive dashboards bursting with data are no substitute for managing fundamental company processes.

Summer means convertibles. While exhilarating, ragtops tend to be finicky. Alternatively, sunroofs are ubiquitous, and with the press of a button, drivers can enjoy the rush of fresh air.