Blogs - A Brief Introduction

We currently host a growing number of blogs from leading, independent IT and Business analyst:

Abrahams Accessibility	Bloor IM Blog	Bloor Security Blog	Fern Halper
Laurie McCabe	Marcia Kaufman	MWD Advisors	Nigel Stanley
Office Jotter	Quocirca	The Holloway Angle	The Norfolk Punt

Recent Blog Posts

Android: Ice Cream Sandwich Accessibility Abrahams Accessibility | By: Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research | 7th February '12 Last Novemeber I wrote a blog about the inaccessibility of mobile apps. In it I used Apple iOS as an example of a accessible platform and then bemoaned the fact that many apps running under iOS were not accessible. I used iOS because it had, with...

BCS CMSG Conference 2012 The Norfolk Punt | By: David Norfolk, Bloor Research | 7th February '12 It's that time of the year again, when I remind people of the annual Conference of the Configuration Management Specialist Group of the BCS - I'm on its committee. I'm on the Committee, not because it pays me any money but because I think that...

Developing process applications: a place for everything, and everything in its place MWD Advisors | By: Neil Ward-Dutton, MWD Advisors | 3rd February '12 Over the years I’ve been part of many conversations that revolve around how ‘BPM’ is not the same as ‘BPMN’ (in the context of process automation). The point consistently made is that even when you’re tackling...

Four Vendor Views on Big Data and Big Data Analytics: IBM Fern Halper | By: Dr Fern Halper, Hurwitz & Associates | 31st January '12 Next in my discussion of big data providers is IBM.  Big data plays right into IBM’s portfolio of solutions in the information management space. It also dove tails very nicely with the company’s Smarter Planet strategy. Smarter Planet...

Getting ahead in the cloud Bloor Security Blog | By: Fran Howarth, Bloor Research | 30th January '12 Cloud-based computing is growing faster than the IT sector as a whole. There are plenty of analysts throwing numbers about regarding cloud spending. Here are some from Forrester Research: in 2011, US$40.7 billion was spent on public, private and...

Cassandra and Hadoop Bloor IM Blog | By: Philip Howard, Bloor Research | 25th January '12 I am continuing to investigate Hadoop storage options as I get briefed by more vendors and as new products get released. In this article I want to focus on Cassandra. DataStax is the leading commercial provider for distributions of Cassandra, which...

Kodak runs out of time and money Office Jotter | By: Roger Whitehead, Office Futures | 22nd January '12 Newspapers and blogs have been full of the news that Eastman Kodak and its US subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 protection from their creditors. You can get a copy of the filing here. Kodak has created a special Web site about the matter,...

Understanding the options for Big Data in the cloud MWD Advisors | By: Helena Schwenk, MWD Advisors | 20th January '12 Of all the conversations and discussions held at Salesforce’s customer day in Egham this week, one in particular struck a chord with me. Cloudapps, an ISV and partner of Salesforce, spoke briefly about the challenges of capturing, storing and...

A new, confident IBM at Lotusphere 2012 MWD Advisors | By: Angela Ashenden, MWD Advisors | 20th January '12 This week, I attended IBM’s Lotusphere 2012, IBM’s annual customer and partner event which showcases the latest products and strategy in the area of collaboration. Like last year, “social business” was squarely at the centre...

Another choice for Hadoop Bloor IM Blog | By: Philip Howard, Bloor Research | 19th January '12 I have written about RainStor previously. Hitherto it has had a single product, what is now known as RainStor Data Retention but it has now announced a second: RainStor Data Analytics for Hadoop. First, a re-iteration of what the basic product does....

Business process automation - the business fights back? The Norfolk Punt | By: David Norfolk, Bloor Research | 19th January '12 Sorry if this isn't hot news, but sometimes the business really doesn't like the IT group very much. The IT group is seen as the people who say NO when the business comes up with a neat new idea. And that is one reason why things like end user...

Systems of co-ordination: greasing the wheels of engagement MWD Advisors | By: Neil Ward-Dutton, MWD Advisors | 13th January '12 Ever since I read Geoffrey Moore’s Future of IT paper introducing the concept of systems of engagement (published last year), I’ve had a slight uneasiness about the ongoing discourse. For a long time it was nothing I could put my finger...

IBM Rational to acquire virtualised testing environment. The Norfolk Punt | By: David Norfolk, Bloor Research | 9th January '12 I am always rather concerned about the testing of large, complex, virtualised (cloud) automated business services, especially those involving 3rd-party applications such as SAP. Constraints on resources and, especially, time, may result in testing...

TIBCO nears the $1bn mark - so what's next? MWD Advisors | By: Neil Ward-Dutton, MWD Advisors | 6th January '12 Just before Christmas, TIBCO released its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results for 2011 (the intervening holiday is why I haven’t blogged about it until now). While companies like Oracle struggle to deliver performance, TIBCO...

IBMs Vision for Analytics in the Midmarket: gaining deeper business insight Marcia Kaufman | By: Marcia Kaufman, Hurwitz & Associates | 22nd December '11 I recently attended an IBM analyst meeting focused on solutions for the midmarket.  What caught my attention was the focus on analytics as an important and growing revenue opportunity for IBM.  In fact, IBM mentioned during the meeting that 70...

Newest but not bestest? The Norfolk Punt | By: David Norfolk, Bloor Research | 22nd December '11 I've just been persuaded to revisit CIX (now under new owners; the latest CIX Roadmap is here) by an old online friend I met F2F for the first time a day or so ago. For the many that won't remember it, CIX was based on an old bulletin-board-style...

Telligent acquires Leverage Software MWD Advisors | By: Angela Ashenden, MWD Advisors | 21st December '11 On Monday, Dallas-based online communities vendor Telligent announced its acquisition of Leverage Software in a move designed to bolster Telligent’s opportunity in this fiercely competitive market. The acquisition, which brings together two...

Secure disposal of old IT equipment Quocirca | By: Bob Tarzey, Quocirca | 19th December '11 Network and security devices age just like any other IT equipment. As the IT industry moves toward 100 gigabit/second Ethernet and 100 megabit/second broadband connections, many existing devices will no longer cope with traffic volumes. The need to...

Now hold your breath - the Olympic year is nearly upon us Nigel Stanley | By: Nigel Stanley, Bloor Research | 19th December '11 As we usher in the end of 2011 many of us will be glad that a pretty traumatic year has finished. With continuing turmoil across financial markets, revolutions and civil war it makes one wonder what else is set to challenge us in 2012. The answer...

Yammer has plenty of ticker - Part 2 Office Jotter | By: Roger Whitehead, Office Futures | 18th December '11 Here is the second and final part of this profile of Yammer. In it, I try the software and give my assessment of the service and its future. In use The following might not represent the general user experience and is no substitute for first-hand...