If you call the Stanislaus County administrative offices and ask for Richard Robinson, be sure to specify that you want to speak with the director of strategic business technology. If not, you most likely will get the county's CEO, who has the same name. When you reach the technology director, you will meet a former Accenture (Anderson Consulting) professional steeped in high-level consulting methodologies. . . .. If you call the Stanislaus County administrative offices and ask for Richard Robinson, be sure to specify that you want to speak with the director of strategic business technology. If not, you most likely will get the county's CEO, who has the same name. When you reach the technology director, you will meet a former Accenture (Anderson Consulting) professional steeped in high-level consulting methodologies. In two years, he's reduced costs in his department by 30-65%, depending on how you want to figure it, by using Linux and open-source technologies. According to Robinson, he's only getting started. "In 2002, about two percent of the county's computer servers were Linux", Robinson recently told reporters from the Modesto Bee. "This year, about one-quarter of the servers are Linux. That number is expected to increase to more than one-third by next year." Robinson also said that "he expects the county will save money in the long run by moving to Linux because it won't have to pay software licenses every year, which nickel and dime you to death and can be very costly". After reading this article, I made a call to Stanislaus County and found Robinson. He gave me another number to a VoIP phone, and soon we starting talking about Linux and saving taxpayers money. After a few minutes, I realized Stanislaus had cornered a pro. . Stanislaus County optimizes expenditures and improves productivity by embracing Linux, elevating public sector tech services.. Linux Adoption, Government Technology, Cost Efficiency, Open Source Solutions. . Anthony Pell
As information security technology evolves and our infosec tool belts get heavier, most veteran practitioners find themselves longing for smarter--not more--tools. Sure, we have antivirus gateways, in-line content filters, firewalls, scanners, biometric devices, crypto suites and intrusion-detection systems. And we pump thousands--if not millions--of dollars into technology-enabled solutions to our technology-created problems.. . .. As information security technology evolves and our infosec tool belts get heavier, most veteran practitioners find themselves longing for smarter--not more--tools. Sure, we have antivirus gateways, in-line content filters, firewalls, scanners, biometric devices, crypto suites and intrusion-detection systems. And we pump thousands--if not millions--of dollars into technology-enabled solutions to our technology-created problems. But try as we might, the Slammers, Blasters and Welchias of cyberspace still tear through our networks like meteors on a collision course. Inundated network defenders may be forgiven for asking, Are the problems getting tougher, or are our "solutions" just not enough, or both? So you can imagine our excitement when we discovered products designed to take existing technology and make it work smarter. When we first turned our sights on the SIM (security information management) market a year and a half ago (see "netForensics Leads a Weary Fleet,"), we had high hopes. SIM vendors enticed us with claims that by centralizing logs, using database and visualization tools, and correlating security device and system logs, defenders could decrease workloads and increase efficiency. Who could resist? Last year's testing, however, told a different story. We found first-generation SIM systems incredibly difficult to deploy, and they delivered only a few pieces of the big picture. This year, we went into our testing a little less optimistic, a lot wiser and more prepared. When we asked ArcSight, e-Security, GuardedNet, Intellitactics, netForensics, NetIQ, NetworkIntelligence and OpenService to send products to our labs, NetIQ declined to participate in our tests, and OpenService couldn't get us product in time, so we ended up with six SIM systems to test. The link for this article located at SecurityPipeline is no longer available. . As technology advances, security tools adapt accordingly; however, do these solutions genuinely empower defenders in their battle against threats?. Smart Security Tools, Network Defense Solutions, Information Security. . Anthony Pell
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