Project Management

The first days at a new job are nerve-wracking for anyone. But for the high-expectation position of CIO, the first days and weeks are often seen as a litmus test, a chance to make or break your reputation as a leader of business, technology and people. The idea of compiling a set of best practices to orient CIOs through their first 90 days germinated with a small group of Canadian CIO Executive Council members. The larger Council membership embraced the idea and nearly 70 CIOs from around the world contributed to the Council report A Running Start: Success in your First 90 Days on the Job.

IT security is at the top of the priority list for U.S. government chief information officers. It's also an area where CIOs are making progress, according to a survey released Monday by the Information Technology Association of America.

Microsoft Corp. has been ballyhooing Windows Vista's security for years, saying that it will prove to be its strongest, toughest operating system ever.

SAP AG's planned suite of hosted midmarket applications will be available in select markets later this year. The company will offer more details on pricing and functionality after the Cebit trade show in March, according to CEO Henning Kagermann.

In the wrong hands, storage devices can siphon away valuable cargo faster than the Artful Dodger. And seemingly innocuous iPod music players have been cited as a serious security threat, too. Known as Podslurping, iPods with their large hard drives, USB 2.0 and FireWire connectivity, can be an ideal tool for file-pilfering.

Cisco says it is not releasing its NAC client software code to the open source community, nor does the company have plans to exit the endpoint security client business, despite a Cisco executive telling the contrary to the media earlier this month.

Google Inc. is pushing further into the communication and collaboration applications market with a major upgrade of Google Apps, a hosted suite for organizations of all sizes that analysts say could soon become a real competitor to Microsoft Office.

Jamie Giovanetto has made layoffs -- preparing for and handling them -- an area of expertise.