More clearing settlement analytics

Infrastructure-as-a-service lets companies focus on their core competencies, instead of on installing and maintaining computer hardware. But with so many vendors in the market, how do you know which one is the best fit for your company? We look at 9 IaaS providers and 10 services categories to help IT pros answer that question.

Most IT teams have synthetic monitoring of their websites down. Now it's time to extend that vigilance to client-server applications.

Tried-and-true methods like defense in depth can provide breathing room while you get a secure SDLC in place -- a job still facing 56% of our 475 respondents. And they'd better get moving, because 51% of those with secure SDLC programs on their radar have developed and/or assumed responsibility for securing 11 or more Web apps.

Worried about controlling access to all the cloud applications your employees use? IT has a variety of options to help manage cloud-based identities, including Active Directory synchronization, federation and purpose-built cloud services that provide single sign-on for online applications.

The use of network monitoring tools in a security context can help companies fill gaps in protection as well as identify potential problems. Companies that aren't using network monitoring tools may find it easier to justify their use and cost when security capabilities are figured into the mix.

Only 43% of non-IT people consider their IT teams integral to the business, our survey finds, and 54% consider IT a support or maintenance organization and not an innovator. But 59% say technology's becoming more critical to the business.

In this report, we recommend database security strategies and tools for smaller enterprises and workgroups -- as well as for smaller databases -- that have a big stake in protecting their data but don't have big budgets or skilled, and dedicated, security staff.

IT organizations we surveyed believe this new approach to networking can reduce costs and improve network efficiency and security. So why have only 4% of them implemented SDN? Maybe because 32% cite 'confusion' over vendor strategies as a barrier to adoption. In this report, we aim to cut through the confusion and help IT organizations develop an SDN strategy.

Security isn't necessarily the first thing people think of when they consider enterprise directories. But directories can be used in a number of ways to tighten and extend your organization’s security. In this report, we examine enterprise directories -- through the lens of Microsoft Active Directory -- and their potential as a solution for a wide array of security initiatives.

Most of our 564 survey respondents farm out some IT functions, often to a mix of suppliers. But don't immediately think "Asia": Just 4% exclusively use offshore firms. And among consumers of outsourcing services, 54% support legislation that would penalize U.S.-based companies for moving IT jobs overseas.

Windows 8 continues the work that Microsoft undertook with Windows 7: to build a more secure operating system and browser from the ground up. The new OS makes significant changes around application controls to limit the fallout of exploits. It also offers improved password management tools, a beefed-up anti-malware package and more encryption options.

With all the hoopla surrounding Windows 8, the recent release of Server 2012 is flying way under the radar. And that's a shame, because it has a lot to offer. Here are five features that could tempt you to jump sooner rather than later--and five that shouldn’t sway you.

Do you know everywhere business documents reside? Storage pros are often tasked with aiding discovery, yet as IT increasingly relies on cloud repositories while employees substitute mobile devices for PCs, that question is getting much harder to answer. Problem is, in the event of litigation, courts won't accept "the cloud ate my homework" as an excuse. Here's how to cope.

The rules for IT are changing: While 29% of participants in our annual ranking of business technology innovators say lowering business or IT costs is a priority, that’s down sharply from 47% just three years ago. Today's focus is on the customer, with 37% citing widespread deployment of customer-facing mobile apps. Add cloud computing and big data analytics to the mix, and you can see it's a whole new game. Find out how the very best companies are changing to play by the new rules.

357 IT pros weighed in to rank 10 data center management products. EMC's Unified Infrastructure Manager earned the highest score for both overall performance and data center management features. VMware and Cisco both tied for the second spot in overall performance. On the features front, Cisco, VMware and IBM all earned scores of 77%, just two points behind EMC. Other vendors evaluated include HP, Microsoft, Oracle and Symantec.

It's almost impossible to avoid the wall-to-wall media blitz around Surface. So we'll spare you the marketing spin and focus on what IT pros need to know about how Windows 8 changes the end user and mobile experience. Hint: There's more to it than just a radically new, tablet-optimized UI.

Collaboration. Efficiency. Speedier customer service. The same factors that have long been cornerstones of unified communications projects are prompting companies to support a range of mobile devices. However, closed operating systems like Apple's iOS present a formidable obstacle for UC vendors.

This report highlights some top applications being developed and used to increase the effectiveness of instruction and the level of student engagement and higher-order thinking from elementary school through postgraduate studies.

Mobile-enabled sales and service tools are improving workforce metrics across industries. Here are seven case studies to show how mobility can transform financial services firms in retail and business banking, capital markets, insurance and wealth management.

In most industries, compliance mandates can feel like more of an annoyance than a necessity. In the energy business, strict compliance mandates could be all that stands between business as usual and a catastrophic, long-term power outage. Standards regulating the smart grid, are rightly stringent and often difficult to meet, but they can be modified and leveraged by organizations in all industries to lock down corporate and customer assets.

Is the U.S. rising or falling as a global IT innovation leader? An update of the exclusive research we conducted two years ago shows that business technology pros think the country is making modest progress in some areas.

A growing number of IT organizations are pursuing IT service management deployments to improve customer relationships and better align with the business, and ITIL is emerging as the framework of choice. To get the most out of ITIL, organizations should focus on the practical elements and avoid the impractical theoretical components. We'll walk you through the process with 10 recommended steps.

With just 8% of respondents expecting to build new facilities and constrained budgets the No. 1 impactful trend, it's clear enterprise IT's transformation to service provider is in full swing. Today it's far more important to focus on the hardware and software in your data center than on the glass house itself. Maybe that's why 67% are on board with private clouds. We'll examine how IT can quickly and efficiently meet new business requests without breaking the bank.

When it comes to justifying new projects, the 453 business technology pros responding to our spending survey are an upbeat lot. We asked about 16 possible initiatives; in every case, the outlook was “spend money to save money.” One typical scenario: 59% say a private cloud will cost more short-term, a valid assumption. But fully 86% say it’ll yield long-term savings. Maybe, maybe not, but mind your credibility.

Salaries for most of the 1,097 IT executives we surveyed are lower than they were in the previous two years: Median total compensation for CTOs fell to $129,000 from $140,000 in 2011. The exception? Those holding the chief information officer title got a $4,000 bump.