Tim Crawford

Shadow IT is a good thing for IT organizations…and here’s why... It is important to first understand what Shadow IT is and why it happens. Shadow IT is commonly referred to when non-IT organizations delve into the delivery of technology solutions…without IT’s involvement. It happens for a number of reasons. But the most common is when there is demand for a technology solution and it is believed (right or wrong) that IT is not able to assist or deliver the solution. This could be due to timing, availability, experience, bureaucracy, or a number of other factors. The bottom line is that the non-IT organization believes they can address a need better than the IT organization can. In general, is Shadow IT a bad thing? Yes, but has the opportunity to evolve into a very good thing. Shadow IT (as it is often implemented today) is a reaction to a problem with a solution tha... (more)

Tracelytics Heats Up Cloud-based APM

Gaining visibility to application performance is key. Application Performance Management (APM) solutions are not new and provide insight to tiers within an application stack. With the entry of cloud based computing in the past couple of years, the APM world got a bit more complex. APM is mature enough to consider cloud-based providers in the application stack. In the classic model, an application has three layers in the stack: 1) Database layer, 2), Application layer and 3) Web layer. Depending on the complexity of the application, it may have 5 or more layers in the mix. Today,... (more)

The New Data Center Park Trend

Building data centers in specific areas is nothing new. Data centers are large consumers of power. That’s not news either. Typically, data centers are located near sources of low-cost (and hopefully renewable) energy. Energy is a large portion of the overall data center operational costs. But power isn’t everything. Two other major considerations are connectivity [...] ... (more)

Gaining Entry to the Enterprise via the Consumer Trojan Horse

Ok, so you’re selling technology products, solutions or services. You’re looking for the largest buyers and typically look to the enterprise market. You develop the strategy and start going to work. You setup a sales team, check. You setup a channel and partner program, check. Then you start leveraging the relationships, check. But how do you cover the consumer angle? Huh? Yes. Using consumers as a sort of ‘Trojan Horse’ into the enterprise space. In just the past few years, we’ve seen an uptick in the impact of Consumerization of IT (CoIT) in the enterprise space. The movement ... (more)

Cloud Computing Turns InfoSec Upside Down

I had the opportunity to write a post for SecureWorld Post’s site. The role Information Security (InfoSec) is nothing new to many organizations. InfoSec’s methods and best practices are well understood. Note I am distinguishing between being understood and well implemented. As technology and methods make incremental changes, InfoSec processes evolved accordingly. And best practices become more widely understood. That is all well and good. Then Cloud Computing comes along. Without getting into the nuances what it is and how long it has been around, it is significantly changing the I... (more)