Semi Truths
Articles by Roger.Kay
Semi Truths
IBM, Lenovo and Cisco take top marks in server reliability
Information Technology Intelligence Consulting recently topped off its datacenter server hardware reliability survey, and results extend and confirm findings from prior years. Reliability requirements have increased as cloud workloads have become more important. The cost of downtime has risen. Among vendors, IBM, Lenovo, and Cisco did best, while Oracle got poor marks from IT managers. IBM's z Systems Enterprise was in a class by itself in terms of greatest reliability and uptime.
Semi Truths
How to stop spear-phishing cold
By now, the shape of many major hacks is apparent. They start with a targeted attack on an individual email account, and, once inside, spread to the rest of the organization. Current standards vouch only for the sending email server, not the specific sending account. Adoption of a more thorough standard, S/MIME, would narrow it down to the individual sender, ending spear-phishing entirely. Inky Phish Fence implements S/MIME for this purpose.
Semi Truths
Panasonic Toughbook CF-33: a Hummer comes to the suburbs
A review of the new convertible 2-in-1 notebook gives it high marks for durability and functionality. With hot-swappable dual batteries, this unit is ready to take on heavy-duty tasks in the field, riding with public safety, or on military sorties.
Semi Truths
Dell shifts security focus to data itself
Dell Data Guardian is a new type of security product that eschews Maginot-line-type walls and instead goes for protecting the data itself. Each file has its own encryption and security policy. This granular approach allows for a highly tuned security regime, under which some files are free to roam and others are restricted in multiple ways.
Semi Truths
Picking at the word salad of Dell EMC World
Dell EMC world was alive with buzz words this year, but there was plenty of substance if you dug around a bit. Aside from the infrastructure hardware and software that makes up much of Dell's current portfolio, executives presented views of the company's forays into augmented and virtual reality, the Internet of Things and various endpoint developments.
Semi Truths
Bringing consumers back into the fold
IBM has mostly abandoned the consumer segment over the past decade and a half. It no longer sells endpoints to individuals. But it does provide cloud services consumed by individuals. The Weather Company, which IBM bought in early 2016, is one example. More recently, it has mounted an effort to provide cognitive computing, via services like Watson, to consumers in smart homes. It hopes to do so not directly, but through channels like communications providers, which already have strong relationships with consumers.
Semi Truths
Swearing Trojan malware in China heralds things to come in the U.S.
A new piece of malware is running rampant in China, even though its crafters have already been arrested. It exploits new methods of distribution, but still relies on human weakness, which seems to be abundant. Phishing (general) and spear-phishing (targeted) techniques fool at least some of the people some of the time. Such techniques brought down the Democrats in the recent election. And yet, there are simple tools that that can all but eliminate these spoofing attack. The best tools use cryptographic identity verification.
Semi Truths
Duel of the rugged notebooks
The North American rugged market is a specialty area with tough requirements and rich margins. Panasonic is the traditional leader, but Dell's rugged division is keeping Panasonic on its toes. This article assesses their relative positions, focusing on two areas: the full-rugged workhorse notebook and the semi-rugged class of less-expensive, but still robust notebooks.
Semi Truths