DO YOU NEED MDM? in the Face of the BYOD Phenomenon, Some Businesses Will Need an All-Encompassing Mobile Device Management Solution

VOICE OF THE I.T. COMMUNITY

ITWorldCanada.com Volume 28, Number 3 I MARCH 2012

Bad guys have edge in cyberwar Canada doesn't have the resources to fight cyber crime: Critics PAGE 10

Is a ‘phablet’ right for everyone? We review Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy Note PAGE 22 DO YOU NEED MDM? In the face of the BYOD phenomenon, some businesses will need an all-encompassing mobile device management solution. But not all will PAGE 18 MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS NEWS FROM BARCELONA PAGE 14

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14842_MSA062_Security_ComputerWorld_8.125x10.875.indd 1 2/24/12 10:05 AM AGENDA OPINIONS AND COMMENTARY

platform research and develop- fields. Now, the sources of data oretical example of the patterns A big ment for the company. aren’t so structured: we’re deal- that data mining can unlock, It’s a given that technology ing with documents, images, and factually, it wasn’t true. It’s changes everything, but that’s and media files, often without an item of small relevance, but data particularly true in the big data the appropriate meta data; for the fact that it lodged the analytics field. The ability to geo-location data that may or beer-and-diapers model of data ‘aha’ process the analytics of billions may not be associated with a mining in my head for the ensu- of lines of data in memory, inno- transaction; social media feeds ing 15 years. moment vatons like the Hadoop MapRe- wherein context is everything; And it’s a handy model to duce framework for distributed metering data from electrical have when the skeptical say It’s not just computing, and high-perfor- grids; all manner of telemat- that big data analytics is just a mance computing grids make it ics from vehicles, production jumped-up version of data min- scale. There’s possible to perform analytics on machinery, etc. ing. It highlights the fundamen- a fundamental ever increasing amounts of data I remember a story from the tal difference, and my discus- difference between in near-real time. days of yore, when data mining sion with Kent crystalized it: big data analysis On the other side of the was a fresh concept. A colleague data mining is transaction- and data mining equation, we’re collecting more of mine called out a representa- focused, teasing patterns out of and more data to analyze. The tive of one of the vendors over information of limited scope, t may be a buzz phrase, the evolution of data analysis is the beer and diapers issue: ana- where as big data analytics has cloud computing of 2012, but inextricably linked to the evolu- lyze enough transactional data, a behavioural focus. We’re not II do find big data analyt- tion of data collection. In the and you’ll find a pattern that concerned with the transaction, ics fascinating. It’s just the way early days of computing, data suggests people who buy dia- according to Kent, but with my mind works; give me a big was part of the application it- pers also buy beer, so a retailler the behaviour that leads to the enough survey sample, and I self. Move along to the transac- can organize the shelves accord- transaction. Of those many new can entertain myself with pivot tional database model, and data ingly. Said colleague’s complaint types of data outlined a couple tables for hours on end. But I felt is collected from outside the was that the company rep was paragraphs ago, almost all are I needed a better grounding in application, but complying with presenting this as a fact, rather related to behaviour. the concept, so I asked the folks a specific struc- than a the- Knowing your customer is at SAS Canada for a schooling. ture of the first step to knowing what They connected me with Paul behaviour to analyze. Kent, SAS Institute Inc. in — Dave Webb Cary, N.C. Kent is the vice-president of

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 3 O P I N I O N S A N D AGENDA COMMENTARY

CONTENT CLOUD: MARCH 2012 It's our new take on the traditional table of contents. Follow the tag reference to the indicated page. In our electronic version, simply touch or click the tag to be transported to the story.

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➞ 13 SECURITY MYTHS Some generally-assumed and oft-repeated notions about security may not necessarily be true and we asked security experts to tell us their favorite ‘Security Myths’ and what they think of them. Watch the slide show at http://myi.tw/z9ocpa

➞ FROM DATA MINING TO BIG DATA SAS Can- ada’s Pat Finerty and ComputerWorld Canada editor Dave Webb trace the evolution of data analysis on IN CONVERSATION. Watch the video at bit.ly/zmkl9H or visit our video library at video.itworldcanada.com

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6 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com

NEWS I N B R I E F

ERICSSON TO BUY will continue to grow over the general manager for AMD’s ibility, security and a better OTTAWA’S BELAIR coming years, and the deal products division. user experience to cloud-based NETWORKS will help accelerate the inte- The move will be seen as applications and services. In LM Ericsson has entered into gration of Wi-Fi and cellular a setback to Intel, which had parallel, Symantec said Tuesday an agreement to buy privately technologies, according to formed a tight partnership it is partnering with VMware to held BelAir Networks, an Ot- Ericsson. with SeaMicro. All the servers integrate five new security com- tawa maker of carrier Wi-Fi Ericsson’s acquisition of SeaMicro currently sells are ponents into the virtualization network equipment, as opera- BelAir doesn’t come as a sur- based on low-power Intel Atom company’s products. tors get increasingly inter- prise, as it has been rumoured, processors, and just a few The new product, called O3, ested in using Wi-Fi to offload and is a good move for the weeks ago the companies held has several components, the their networks. Swedish vendor, according a joint press conference where first of which being released The acquisition will give Eric- to Richard Webb, directing Intel sang SeaMicro’s praises. is cloud identity and access sson a carrier grade Wi-Fi port- analyst at Infonetics. AMD will continue to sell control , a gateway that infor- folio, technological expertise, All the radio base station SeaMicro servers based on mation from users must pass intellectual property rights, and vendors need a Wi-Fi offering, Intel processors “for the fore- through before it reaches the established customer con- because operators are asking seeable future,” Lu said. By cloud. “The new control point tracts and relationships, it for it, he said. the end of this year, she said, allows IT to inject policy into said Tuesday. The terms — Mikael Ricknas it will release the first Sea- the information flow, into the of the transaction were and Howard Solomon Micro servers based on AMD data-stream itself,” says Dave not disclosed. Opteron processors. Elliot, senior product market- Established in 2002, AMD ENTERS Feldman wouldn’t say when ing manager of global cloud BelAir has approxi- CLOUD SERVER SeaMicro and AMD began marketing at Symantec. mately 120 employees. BUSINESS talks but said the deal came Symantec O3 will address It makes outdoor and Advanced Micro Devices about “unbelievably quickly.” two security issues that have indoor fixed and mobile is buying low-power server He said there were other suit- plagued enterprises recently, he equipment. Recently it Bernard vendor SeaMicro, a ors for the company, including says.“Device-centric security announced a small cell Herscovich: surprise move that non-chip vendors. controls are eroding as the new solution for carriers. ‘The big benefit puts AMD in the Jason Waxm an, general devices come into your busi- is access to a “The big benefit [to huge salesforce systems business and manager of Intel’s data centre ness ... On the other side there BelAir] is access to a with a pristine disrupts Intel Corp. business unit, said Intel would are these hundreds of public huge salesforce with a reputation.’ by acquiring one of its be happy to keep providing its cloud applications available, pristine reputation in close partners. processors for SeaMicro serv- which is making network-centric hundreds of Tier 1 carrier cus- AMD it will pay US$334 mil- ers. If AMD chooses not to use security controls more difficult. tomers around the world,” CEO lion in cash and stock for Sea- them, other server vendors, “This is something that we’ve Bernard Herscovich told Net- Micro, an 80-employee Silicon including Dell Inc., are also learned in a modern era,” says work World Canada. Combined Valley startup that has gained using Intel chips in low-power, Elliot, “anything that you de- with Ericsson’s technology it attention for building highly scale-out servers, he noted. liver that requires your users to makes for a “winning combina- dense and power-efficient serv- — James Niccolai change their behaviour, in this tion,” he said. ers for use in large-scale cloud and Agam Shah day and age, in this environ- He also said it’s too early to computing environments. Sea- ment, runs the say if joining a global wireless Micro CEO Andrew Feldman will risk of non-com- equipment giant will mean become general manager of a pliance.” increased research and devel- new division at AMD, the data Elliot said Sy- opment funds for BelAir or an centre server solutions group. mantec O3 “can increase in staff. AMD plans to sell SeaMicro- be deployed Mark Henderson, who heads branded servers directly to on your own Ericsson Canada, said his com- customers, but it bought the premises, it can pany wanted BelAir because company primarily for its be deployed “they’re a leader in this field.” technology, which it hopes to and hosted by “Integrating the carrier-class license to other server vendors Symantec, or it product that BelAir has provid- to build their own low-power can be deployed ed into the family of technolo- systems, AMD officials said. as a hybrid.” SeaMicro gained attention for building dense, gies that Ericsson supplies is “SeaMicro has a proven power-efficient servers for cloud environments On the new just a fantastic opportunity.’ technology that has been integration with Ericsson Canada is in the benchmarked in key customer SYMANTEC OFFERS VMware Elliot says Syman- middle of building a new facility sites to show improvements CLOUD CONTROL tec’s focus in working with the for the 1,000 staff it has in the Ot- in power consumption and PRODUCT, VMWARE software company is “on mak- tawa area, and BelAir is expected total cost of ownership. That INTEGRATION ing virtual environments as to move into that building. [intellectual property] was Symantec Corp. has announced secure, or more secure, than The demand for Wi-Fi tech- very attractive to us,” said Lisa a new product the company physical environments.” nology in mobile networks Su, senior vice-president and says will bring improved flex- — Brian Bloom

8 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com thanks to your survey responses our 2012 salary calculator is live!

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2012 ANALYSIS

While it may sound like a lot of money, he says, “Ninety Cops: ‘Bad guys’ have edge million dollars would have very minimal impact on what in Canada cyber war we do. Our computers alone run $8,000 to $10,000 a BY BRIAN BLOOM find it a lot harder than their around the world, such the pop. If we have four investi- anadian police officers U.S. counterparts to get law United Kingdom, “which gators, you can see the math are barely holding the enforcement help. budgets more than $1 billion adding up rather quickly.” Cline against hordes “If you’re a citizen of the in the short term.” But Beggs says Canada’s of cyber-criminals, state- United States and you’re When contacted by Com- strategy is failing in more sponsored cyber-spies and a company, and you say, puterWorld Canada, Jessica than just this respect. More shadowy freelancers who fit ‘I think I’m under cyber- Slack, a spokeswoman for money would certainly help, somewhere in between. And attack,’ you can call up spe- Public Safety Canada, yet he contends that Canada with money, training and cialist police elements that responded to criticism of could also introduce better resources in short supply, our deal with that type of threat,” Canada’s cyber-security laws to combat cyber threats, cops risk losing the fight. he says. “In Canada, we are strategy in an e-mail by as other countries around the In a report released by the significantly under-staffed stating that the $90-mil- world have done. Centre for International and for law enforcement. lion dollar investment, plus “For example,” he says, Defence Policy at Queen’s “They lack the training, an additional $18 million in “New Zealand has put in University, co-author Ron they lack the tools. And the “ongoing funding,” will in deep interception laws, has Deibert, a professor of politi- cyber-defence centres in fact “allow the government to given the police the legal cal science at the University of Canada will only talk to you take concrete action to meet assistance they need to British Columbia and director if you’re a member of critical the evolving cyber threat.” pursue cyber-criminals and of the Canada Centre for infrastructure. There is noth- Batista says his organiza- are aggressively pursuing Global Security Studies at the ing else if you fall through tion, like many other police them. Now, that’s not really University of Toronto, argued that crack.” forces, is perpetually under- a money issue as much as an that Canada has made only a Sergeant Paulo Batista, of staffed and underfunded. But enablement issue.” belated, half-hearted effort to the Ottawa Police high-tech at the same time, he appreci- Batista says the ability of a address cyber-security. crime unit, says that, as it ates that the government is police department to pursue online outlaws operating on a global scale is very much : you said dependent on the nature As always, prevention is a lot cheaper that prosecuting the crime. The government and in- of the foreign governments dustry should be imposing strick rules and strong defences against social engineering and they have to co-operate with. network hackers. Government and Industry must be legislated to comply to security re- Countries from the former quirements and monitoring. Until now I still see people working in sensitive jobs/positions Soviet Union, for instance, who do not change their passwords, keep them written in a post-it note, or using names of “are still very close-mouthed their families, just because they can’t be bothered, are lazy or afraid they might forget! Or and closed-door with refer- workplace wireless setups still using the old easily breakable WEP encryption! As the old ence to criminal offences,” English proverb goes “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” he says. — Alfredo C In some of these cases, he adds, “the chances of a suc- cessful prosecution are next “The Canadian govern- stands, the resources avail- facing budgetary constraints. to zero.” ment is late to the cyber- able to police for prosecuting He says his field of law en- The line between cyber- security arena, and only cyber crimes are “extremely forcement, by its very nature, espionage and crime is also recently released a cyber- limited.” can be very expensive to run: sometimes hard to discern, security strategy in the fall of Nevertheless, he says, any “Little things such as forensic opening up the question of 2010,” he wrote. “It devotes victims of a cyber-attack in courses for the computer in- which agencies should be relatively few resources to the his jurisdiction shouldn’t vestigators I have, they start in charge. China is often problem, does not fully ad- hesitate to call the cops. at $3,000 to $4,000 a pop, accused of being directly dress the division of appro- “Even if we’re not able to do for a three-day course. involved in cyber-attacks priate institutional responsi- something, the awareness “And the expertise is down on foreign governments bilities, and only barely nods is important to us from an in the States. So that means and corporations, or at least at the importance of a foreign information and intelligence- I’ve got to get an investiga- of indirectly sponsoring policy for cyberspace.” gathering point of view.” tor on a plane at a hotel for the attacks. Sometimes the In an interview, Rob- Beggs says the amount of X number of days, out of the attackers are after military ert Beggs, CEO of Digital money the federal govern- office, to deal with stuff at a or industrial secrets, but in Defence Inc., a Burlington, ment is spending on cyber- substantial rate. I’m looking other cases they’re work- Ont.-based security firm that security — $90 million over a at, for one course, somewhere ing on behalf of companies works with enterprise clients, five-year period — is “clearly between $5,000 and $10,000 trying to get an edge on their agrees and says if Canadian inappropriate” in comparison to get the person qualified on companies get hacked, they’ll to other liberal democracies that certification.” CONTINUE ON PAGE 26

10 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com ANALYSIS

He spoke approvingly of the planned Interpol Global Complex for Innovation, an international law enforcement facility to be built in Singapore by 2014. “It has a new mandate, and a very useful one that we’re looking into as the way ahead.” Interpol has lauded the new centre as an example of “the future of policing,” giving police officers around the world the ability to share real time intelligence on cyber crime threats and analyze global trends in cyber attacks. The Singapore centre will also have its own command and co-ordination centre, complementing two existing ones in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Lyon, France. “We see it as a viable way ahead for collaboration,” says Black. “This isn’t a Canadian-only fight.” Besides Interpol, he adds, “there are a number of entities we work with, foremost in the G8 working RCMP: Interpol group on high-tech crime.” Interpol said in a news release that arrests linked to ‘key resource’ to Anonymous were made across 15 cities in Argentina, STACEY NEWMAN Chile, Columbia and Spain. Authorities searched 40 / ® defeat hackers premises and seized 250 items, including computer BY BRIAN BLOOM equipment and mobile phones. An investigation The RCMP says Interpol is teaching the world new continues into how the alleged hackers’ activities were ways to outsmart hackers. And Canadian law enforce- funded, Interpol said. ment is paying close attention. A prominent Twitter account linked to Anonymous, Interpol announced the arrest of 25 alleged members AnonOps, hinted that the group had been attacking In- of the Anonymous hacker collective in four different terpol’s Web site in retaliation. One tweet read, “Tango

PHOTO ISTOCKPHOTO BY: countries in late February. According to the UK’s Guard- Down II 404 Interpol.” ian news site, Interpol’s site was offline for several Anonymous often conducts distributed denial- hours, possibly due to a retaliatory strike by hackers. of-service (DDoS) attacks against Web sites, which In an interview with ComputerWorld Canada just involves bombarding a site with so many traffic as Interpol was announcing news of the arrests, requests it becomes unavailable.The arrests mark David Black, manager of the RCMP technology crime one of the biggest roundups so far of people allegedly branch’s cyber crime fusion team, spoke of “a distinct affiliated with Anonymous, a decentralized group that new effort to collaborate internationally” on cyber undertakes hacking campaigns to protest policies and crime, with Interpol being a “key resource” for the organizations it opposes. RCMP in these sorts of crackdowns. — With files from Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service

RSA HEAD CALLS py to report something good their network traffic, making small businesses might not FOR A CHANGE IN is starting to happen here,” it easier to identify breaches even have a dedicated person DIRECTION he said. Using big data “they’ll because of the abnormal traf- for security, let alone the re- BY JD SPEEDY have what they really need to fic it spawns. sources for endeavours of this RSA chairman Art Coviello, do their jobs effectively.” Behavioral security surveil- kind, he said. didn’t mince words during his Coviello called for the secu- lance isn’t new, but it also isn’t Branden Williams, global keynote at the company’s an- rity industry to stop neglecting a widely adopted technology. CTO of marketing at RSA, said nual security conference last analytics, something which The problem is that it takes a companies should look to uti- mont. “We need to stop wast- might help predict vulnerabili- whole lot of infrastructure and lize analytics and social media ing money on obsolete con- ties in the future. a whole lot of manpower to data because that same trols,” he said. “We are woefully Info-Tech Research Group make it work. data is being used in threats short of the human resources analyst, James Quin, echoed Trends must be tracked and against them. to realize this vision.” the sentiment. “What I heard acknowledged, data must be Williams said hackers can Coviello was addressing this year was, ‘Oh my god, the collected, and it all must be construct employee profiles the old guard of security cloud’s here and we can use it monitored so that breaches using information shared over management, one that relies to be more secure,’” can be detected. social networks and on the purely on bodies and man- Coviello and RSA are argu- Quin said that’s why it still Web, so companies must use agement to handle security. ing for better implementa- hasn’t been widely adopted. the same tactics to know what The future, as with most of tion of analytics in security. While some companies have the hackers know and keep tech, is in the clouds. With the cloud and big data, the manpower, and the money, them out. “After years of talk, I’m hap- companies can better map to use security options like this RSA is a division of EMC Inc.

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 11 ANALYSIS

A deep look at whether the electronic record-keeping province’s IT systems are being should begin with FHTs and Ontario should used to their best may have hospitals; these could then been beyond the commission’s be connected and expanded IT capability. But throughout from this base. the report are suggestions for “It is imperative, of course, further: Report possibly leveraging IT. They that everyone use compatible include: systems that can communi- BY HOWARD SOLOMON ... outsourced contracts may cate with each other.” ntario should out- make the difference between HEALTH CARE: source as much of its the continuation and the end • Centralize all back-office EDUCATION: Oin-house information of some services.” functions such as IT, human • Public school board technology systems as it can, The commission doesn’t resources, finance and pro- information technology the Drummond commission say exactly what should curement; systems may offer effective on cutting the province’s be outsourced, but it does • Accelerate the adop- platforms for co-operation billion-dollar deficit has rec- recommend when making tion of personal with other provincial ommended. decisions the province put medical electronic CAREER ministries, especially those That was one of a number weight on value-for-money records, working WATCH supporting children; of suggestions for better use and effectiveness. from the bottom PAGE 15 • For universities, gener- of IT the commission made to “Simply put, governments up. Begin with ate cost efficiencies by, help Ontario slice into its total cannot afford to remain the doctors, clinics and for example, integrating deficit, which it estimates will only centres of expertise when hospitals and ensure that administrative and back- hit $30 billion in six years, and it comes to IT service delivery they use compatible systems. office functions; balance annual spending. if more cost-effective options Then build bridges within a The 562-page report from are available,” says the report. region, then across regions; FOR THE PUBLIC the commission headed by Typically, governments are • The province created SERVICE: economist Don Drummond loath to completely outsource eHealth Ontario to do • ServiceOntario, a consoli- on reforming the delivery of systems that have sensitive exactly that. Then it became dated department which provincial services makes hun- personal data. caught up in a spending delivers high-volume dreds of recommendations for If the government follows scandal and has been trying transactions like drivers’ li- slowing spending, urging the through with the recommen- to keep its head down ever cences, needs more money, government to ask whether dation it could be a boon for since. New CEO Greg Reed especially for updated IT; many programs are necessary. the biggest service provid- has recently promised it is • Transfer the telephone- It focuses largely on the two ers, including BCE Inc.’s Bell making progress. and Internet-based big spending departments, Canada, Telus Communica- enquiries on employment health and education. But IT tions, IBM Canada and CGI. The report says in part: “In- standards and occupation- is also covered. Last year, the province’s formation technology (IT) is not al health and safety from The province has eight CIO told IT suppliers it used enough by physicians and the Ministry of Labour to ministry and one corporate is willing to look at more other health care professionals ServiceOntario. Expand IT clusters — down from over shared services. across the system in a way that the current ServiceOntario 20 a decade ago — which use The commission also allows different disciplines and managed databases to both staff and outside services urges the province to push the services to integrate their activi- occupational health and from system integrators, con- broader public service, which ties. Extensive use of IT is key to safety inspectors to permit sultants and providers. includes public schools and pushing the health care system more efficient management On the one hand, the com- universities, to consolidate to operate in a co-ordinated of enforcement activities; mission says, keeping certain their back-office systems. fashion. History has shown that • Eliminate redundant IT functions helps retain IT ex- These include everything huge IT projects are unwieldy. services, centralize com- pertise. But, it adds, “in a con- from payroll systems to con- “Most gains will come from mon functions and increase strained fiscal environment tact centre services. local and regional records, so outsourcing of IT.

: you said Government to be innova- technology charges can Outsourcing does NOT tive and lead in delivering become prohibitive. Keep- equal better or cheaper! Implied in the statement services electronically. If you ing core functions in-house Never mind all the data se- about outsourcing is that outsource everything, any minimizes those move/add/ curity issues associated with those services would be “what-if” testing scenarios change costs considerably where outsourced data would CHEAPER and BETTER than for new approaches and and allows opportunities for be hosted. And if a company keeping technology and technologies ends up costing “what-if” testing scenarios providing critical technol- support in-house. I’m not you a small fortune since ev- that are crucial to develop- ogy services goes bankrupt, convinced this is the case. ery move/add/change to the ing innovate service delivery where does that leave the Interestingly, the Drum- infrastucture is CHARGED models. Province, and the personal mond report also mentions by the outsourcers. So in- eHealth, ORNGE...need I data of Ontarians? the need for the Ontario novation without increased name more? — RMG

12 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com ANALYSIS

DELL POWEREDGE from here, with a few less Other Dell PowerEdge 12G SERVERS letters in its name than we 12G features include Dell TAKE AIM AT HP have,” which released its Express Flash, hot-swap- PROLIANT own server refresh recently. pable PCIe solid state disks BY SHANE SCHICK This was a reference to HP, that connect directly to Dell Inc. is taking shots at which launched an up- the machine. This means a rival Hewlett-Packard Co. in dated HP Proliant x86 Gen8 boost of more than 10 times a further effort to reposi- server line that boasted more transactions across tion itself beyond its roots significant automation. Microsoft SQL Server than as a PC manufacturer by “They talked about 150 HDD storage, according to releasing its 12th genera- so-called innovations. We Dell, and 28 times quicker tion blade, rack and tower were kind of looking over queries on Oracle databas- PowerEdge servers along the list of so-called innova- es through the Dell Cache- with native 10 Gigabit tions, and some of them Dell PowerEdge Cade data accelerator. M620 blade server Ethernet support across looked really familiar,” Dell Besides the hardware, its servers, storage and said. “A huge number of Dell waded into the bur- networking products. those were already in our geoning market for “big The company gathered 11th generation servers in data” products and servic- media, analysts and a 2009, and some were from es with the Dell QuickStart few marquee customers a few generations before.” data warehouse appliance, here Monday to discuss While HP’s Proliant serv- aimed at mid-market cus- how it is building upon its ers now have embedded tomers, which will work with traditional hardware stack lifecycle management, for the 12G PowerEdge servers either developing or acquir- example, Dell pointed out Dell PowerEdge and offer data integration ing software capabilities that his company has been 720 rack server. through Dell Boomi. around cloud computing, doing this for three years in- Praveen Asthana, Dell’s workload management, side PowerEdge. Three and a vice-president of enterprise system management ap- half million Dell servers have solutions and strategy, said pliances, element manage- delivered with this capabil- customers will be able to ment, managed security ity today, and the second start getting insight from and consulting. generation will provide major QuickStart within 30 min- Michael Dell noted that advantages for customers, utes of setup. in the last two years, Dell according to the CEO. “The “Infrastructure is impor- has bought 12 companies, pace of innovation is a little tant, but you have to talk which has been a way to ac- different for some compa- about applications. That’s celerate its evolution from nies than others,” he said. what your customers are a direct seller of desktops. Potential early adopters talking about all the time,” This includes networking of the Dell PowerEdge 12G he said. “We have always company Force10, Kace line include the Texas Ad- been strong in file and and, last week, backup and vanced Computing Center print, HPC applications. recovery firm AppAssure. (TACC) at the University of But increasingly we are In that time, Dell has more Texas in Austin. TACC’s big Dell PowerEdge moving into higher-order, than doubled the size of the projects include Stampede, T620 tower server more mission-critical areas: enterprise, services and a 10 petaflop high-perfor- database, BI.” data centre units, which mance computing system While Dell is working on now represents about half it plans to launch within the several products that will the company’s profits. next 11 months. work with Hadoop, not all “We’ve been on a mission “We are evaluating and big data projects will be to transform our business are very excited about the based on a platform of that and it’s absolutely work- architectural improve- magnitude, Asthana said. ing,” he said. ments,” said Jay Boisseau, “We don’t think about big Key features in Dell’s TACC’s director, estimat- data, we think about big PowerEdge 12G servers in- ing that the infrastructure insights. You can get a lot of clude the second generation could potentially offer two Dell PowerEdge insight for a small amount R720xd rack server of the company’s embed- times the performance on of data,” he said. ded system management TACC’s scientific applica- Other Dell products tools, which are designed to tions. “That’s huge for us. launched Monday include help IT departments more For our researchers that EqualLogic PS6110 Series easily deploy, monitor and means not only applica- and PS4110 Series storage manage the lifecycle of tions that run twice as fast, arrays, and vStart, a set of enterprise infrastructure. but being able to quickly pre-built infrastructure to Michael Dell mentioned solve problems that are help customers set up a pri- “another company not far twice as large.” vate cloud environment.

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 13 ANALYSIS

zone to outside. on its 3G AirPrime SL8 series Fixmo has built of modem modules, which are apps, including used in machine-to-machine e-mail, calendar, applications. Until now it had contacts, a browser only been available for the 2G and an Office doc AirPrime SL6 modems. The reader, that run modems are used in machine- inside the SafeZone. to-machine modules. It also offers tools The Open AT framework is that software mak- an operating system and set of ers can use to enable libraries that can take advan- Intel's Paul Otellini their products to tage of the modem’s central says it's not the run inside the se- processor and memory. number of cores cure container. that matter when it comes to mobile Fixmo MRM • A number of quad-core smart devices combines both prod- phones were unveiled, includ- ucts so that admin- ing HTC’s One X, LG’s Optimus istrators can now 4X HD and ZTE’s Era. When instruct the software they come to Canada, industry Mobile to take action in the analysts say, they’ll be expen- event of specified ac- sive and may also strain battery roundup tivities. For instance, life. Smart phones are already if Sentinel detects burning battery with 4G radios his year’s annual Mobile censed radio technology. The that the device has been rooted, it and high-definition screens, World Congress saw expect- small cell rollout is designed to can automatically lock down the and running resource-intensive Ted announcements of new help operators address capacity SafeZone so it’s inaccessible. The applications through quad-core quad-core handsets and faster constraints from spectrum limi- user, who may have purchased processors and other accelerators tablets. But it was also notable tations, scale coverage, provide the device, can continue to use could usurp power. for the showing off of Wi-Fi and roaming across heterogeneous the rest of the tablet or phone. small cell equipment to take the access networks, and address • Intel CEO Paul Otellini load off of operators’ networks. the explosion in mobile traffic. • Samsung Electronics said what matters more Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Sys- expanded its portfolio DO YOU in smart phones is not tems Inc., LM Ericsson as well OTHER COMPANIES of tablets with the 10- NEED the number of cores, as smaller and newer players, MAKING NEWS: inch Galaxy Note 10.1, MDM? but overall system level introduced small base stations • Fixmo Inc., a company co- as the company tries PAGE 18 performance. Intel is for use inside buildings and in headquartered in Toronto that to differentiate itself trying to make its way outdoor spaces that are dense started out developing tools from the barrage of other into the smartphone and with cellular users. These will for the U.S. National Security Android-based products by tablet markets. complement the traditional Agency, which is offering a new allowing users to write on the “The core comparison is macro cells typically found on product that will automatically screen using a digital pen. really improper in my mind, cell towers and roofs, which can shut down corporate applica- The 5-inch model just ar- but what is proper is what you cover entire neighborhoods. tions on compromised iOS and rived in Canada. There was no get in overall performance and Cisco rolled out an end-to- Android devices. word on when the 10-in. ver- the energy efficiency of that end Wi-Fi hotspot infrastruc- Fixmo MRM, which stands sion, which runs Android 4.0, performance,” ture that the company says for mobile risk management, will be available here. Otellini said. supports Wireless Broadband integrates two products. One Alliance (WBA)-approved is Fixmo Sentinel, which has • Polycom Inc. said it is finally • Nokia pitched its Windows technologies and Hotspot 2.0 its roots in NSA technology extending its videoconferenc- Phones as the best bet for op- specifications established by and regularly scans a phone ing client to one of the hottest erators and app developers, and the Wi-Fi Alliance. Cisco also to ensure that it is adhering to smart phones. to prove it, announced partner- announced the availability of a policies set by the organization. The company’s RealPresence ships for new apps with brands Small Cell Gateway for wireless Consisting of both back-end Mobile software is now avail- including Michelin Travel, Red operators to manage subscriber and on-device software, it alerts able for Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S Bull, Kraft Foods and others. and service information across an administrator to any unau- from the Apple AppStore. It will “We’re creating a platform licensed 2G/3G/4G LTE net- thorized changes to the phones. shortly start releasing the clients to attract third party develop- works and unlicensed Wi-Fi/ The second component to for handsets running version 4.0 ers that’s far friendlier and far femtocell networks. Fixmo MRM is Fixmo Safe- of Google’s Android operating more aligned with the interests Cisco is working with several Zone, which has been available system. In addition, it said Apple of operators all over the world” wireless service providers, infor a few months as a “tech iPad2s using RealPresence Mo- compared to the other leading cluding Calgary-based cableco preview.” SafeZone is a secure bile can share documents that mobile platforms, said Stephen Shaw Communications, to container that runs on iOS and use Adobe’s PDF format. Elop, Nokia’s president and deploy the new “small cell” in- Android devices. All data in the • Vancouver’s Sierra Wireless CEO, in a keynote speech. frastructure and deliver services SafeZone is encrypted and users said that its Open AT applica- — IDG News Service and that span licensed and unli- can’t copy data from inside the tion framework is now available Network World Canada

14 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com CAREER WATCH

straight to mobile. “Many countries Linux skills Canadian banks seek have leapfrogged us in demand, in terms of [mobile] IT ‘talent pipeline’ adoption rates,” he wages up said. BY PATRICK THIBODEAU BY BRIAN BLOOM Wolfe said that If you work as a Linux developer t an employer- while there is or system administrator, your pay educator fo- “cross-fertilization” should be increasing, and so should Arum hosted by between the finan- your job offers, according to a new the Ontario Trade cial and IT sec- survey of hiring managers. and Investment tors, there are still The survey found that salaries Centre in Toronto, barrier to growth. for Linux developers, system a cross-section of He said the research administrators and those with re- Canadian economic he conducted on IT lated skills increased 5% last year, movers explored the suppliers selling to with bonuses averaging about complicated rela- banks contradicted 15 per cent. tionship between other studies on The survey of approximately the IT and financial technology “clus- 2,000 hiring managers and staff- sectors in Canada. David Wolfe: systems with newer ters” that suggested ing agencies was conducted by Attending the ‘Our financial technology, he said, that local demand is The Linux Foundation, an industry forum were IT and institutions are not out of necessity. key to success. the greatest risk- group, and Dice, an employment financial services takers and don't Wolfe said it was In fact, he said, jobs board. The study only looked leaders, research- like to leap into new common for IT pro- the rule-of-thumb at Linux and didn’t benchmark ers, public servants technologies.’ fessionals working in Canada was that gains across other platforms. and academics. The at banks to tell him mid-sized software Dice has about 11,000 jobs question they tried their legacy system companies, for posted on its site that require to tackle was a basic ment in 16 cities had gotten “to the example, would have Linux experience to some extent, one: how to attract across Canada, point where we can’t to show evidence of an increase of 17 per cent from more IT talent to including a look at tweak it any more.” established markets last year, said Alice Hill, managing Canada’s financial innovation in the “It’s only in the in the U.S. before director of Dice.com. sector. financial sector. last couple of years approaching a big “It’s really hard to find talent in Catherine He said Canada’s that I’ve noticed the Canadian bank for a market that is competitive, and Chandler-Crichlow, conservative bank- screens aren’t green business. that leads to poaching and new executive director of ing industry was anymore,” he added. On the education ways to attract talent,” Hill said. Toronto Financial belatedly learning Wolfe said front, forum par- The average salary for a Linux Services Alliance that it was nearing Canadian financial ticipants noted the professional, across all categories Centre of Excel- a “major inflection institutions had paradoxical issue of of skills, last year was $86,432, up lence, said Canada point” and needed a been particularly an IT skills short- from $82,575 from the previous does not lack fresh IT strategy. slow to incorporate age at the same year, according to the survey. technically qualified “Our financial modern technology time that universi- Michael Dsupin, the CEO of people. institutions are for customers such ties are lamenting The Talener Group, a recruiting What it does not the greatest as mobile banking the lack of oppor- company that was started five need, however, are risk-takers and they platforms. tunities for their IT years ago to recruit people with IT pros with the don’t like to leap In a broader graduates. Linux skills, said there is particular critical “soft skills” into new technolo- sense, said Namir Several people demand for senior Linux develop- of project manage- gies,” he said. Anani, president said that more ers and system administrators. ment, leadership Some of the back- and CEO of the co-op options for Dsupin said companies are and business com- end technologies he Information and students, combined seeking senior Linux developers munication. observed in banks Communications with better educa- “because they don’t have a strong David Wolfe, dated back to the Technology Council tion on IT possi- background in [Linux, and] they a professor of 1960s, he said, not- (ICTC), certain de- bilities for guidance want to make sure their initial political science at ing the presence of veloping countries counsellors, could steps are with senior people.” the University of the “infamous green had gotten the tech- help channel tal- In many cases, companies are Toronto, presented screen.” nological jump on ented young people doing their first Linux-based proj- the findings of a IT departments Canada simply by into some of the ects with the help of a consulting Canada-wide study at big financial in- bypassing the step lesser-known IT ca- firm, Dsupin said. he conducted on stitutions are finally of landline commu- reers in the financial Rob Byron, a principal recruiter economic develop- replacing their older nications and going sector. at the staff firm Winter, Wyman, who focuses on system engineering and administration, said people who have Linux and cloud LISTEN UP: HIRING MOBILE APP DEVELOPERS experience have “a very market- Lara Dodo, regional vice-president at Robert Half Technology, talks about mobile app development, retaining the right skill sets and which skill sets are in demand on RADIO ITWC. able skill set right now.”

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 15 TELECOM WATCH

appliances and the Packetshaper growth opportunities, and Blue Privatized application performance monitor. Coat as a private company is now Among the advantages of being well poised to further strengthen Blue Coat a private company is “no longer its market leadership,” Thoma being shackled by the eyeballs that Bravo managing partner Orlando may help look at you every 90 days,” said Bravo said in a news statement. Daheb. “You have the flexibility to “We are enthusiastic about work- Canadian invest where you need to, maybe ing with the Blue Coat team to make some bets on some things take the company to the next level.” R&D office that maybe don’t have a 90-day “This marks our fifth plat- matriculation but have some lon- form investment in the security BY HOWARD SOLOMON ger term benefit to the company.” technology sector and our fourth U.S.-based maker of Web “I can take dollars that might in networking,” added Seth Boro, security and wide-area have been allocated to being a pub- a partner at the firm. “We’re confi- A optimization appliances says lic company and reporting every dent our approach and experience being privatized will benefit its 90 days and put that into road- in identifying strategic opportu- operations, including its Canadian maps, channel partners or better nities, coupled with Blue Coat’s research and development office. serving our customers.” innovative solutions and proven The office in Waterloo, Ont., When it was suggested that leadership in Web security and is a “very important part of our most want to go public, Daheb WAN optimization, establishes a business,” says Steve Daheb, senior said that Blue Coat isn’t the first platform for the company’s contin- vice-president for business devel- company to be privatized. “We’re ued success.” LISTEN UP: opment and chief marketing officer a very profitable company, we’re Blue Coat continues to be THE FUTURE OF at Blue Coat Systems Inc. growing. Our equity structure just dedicated to both the Web gateway MACHINE-TO- MACHINE Blue Coat was taken private on changed from public ownership to and WAN optimizations market, David Jacobson, Feb. 15 by private equity investment private equity." Dahab said, where there is demand director of emerg- firm Thoma Bravo, LLC for US$1.3 The shareholders got a premium for products because of malware ing technologies billion after flat sales.The acquisi- for their shares, he added. Thoma and the rise of social networking at Pricewater- tion will allow the Waterloo branch Bravo has investments in firewall- applications. houseCoopers LLP, to continue to add staff, Deheb said. maker SonicWall, Tripwire Inc. Recently, the company added discusses the future of machine learning Blue Coat’s products include and LANdesk Software a cloud-based gateway service to and communication the ProxySG secure gateways, “The security and network accel- offer security to corporate branch on RADIO ITWC. the Mach5 WAN optimization eration markets have tremendous offices.

TELUS TAKES market,” he said in an inteview. Telus said its network sup- supplies Bell Mobility. Telus BIG LEAP INTO LTE “What’s important is making ports peak speeds of up to 75 and Bell share LTE and HSPA BY HOWARD SOLOMON sure you’re fast to market, that megabits per second, although wireless networks. It’s the last of the country’s big you don’t have any meaningful users will see averages of To leverage the new network, three cellular carriers to LTE, competitive gaps with your between 12 and 25 Mpbs. Telus also announced what it but Telus Communications competition.” That depends on a number calls “Optik on the go”, which Corp. made a splash when it Besides, he added, of factors, including the allows its Optik IPTV custom- finally turned on its next-gener- he’s seen “very maximum capabilities of ers in B.C. and Alberta to view ation wireless network. little demand” from the devices. certain commercial-free TV On The company launched LTE customers for LTE. Rogers recently Demand shows and movies on service in 14 cities, including “I don’t believe there announced it will sell de- their mobile devices, tablets Vancouver, Calgary, Edmon- are customers saying vices capable of handling and laptops. ton, the greater Toronto area, ‘I want to be on an up to 40 Mpbs under Telus said it recorded fourth Kitchener, Waterloo, Hamilton, LTE-capable device David Fuller: ideal conditions. quarter revenue of $2.7 billion ‘What’s important Guelph, Belleville, Ottawa, and I’m going to take is making sure LTE-enabled devices and earnings before interest Montreal, Québec City, Halifax my business else- you're fast to being sold by Telus and other charges of $874 and Yellowknife. where if you don’t market, that you include the Samsung million. The revenue was up Coverage will be broadened have LTE.’” don't have any Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE tab- more than five per cent over competitive gaps.’ to encompass 25 million people If so, that might let, the LG Optimus LTE the same period last year. The by the end of the year. change if an LTE version of smartphone and the Novatel increase came from 6.5 per David Fuller, the carrier’s Apple Corp.’s wildly popular Ovation MC679 4G LTE Mobile cent growth in wireless revenue chief marketing officer, isn’t iPhone is released. Internet Key. The 4G LTE-capa- and four per cent growth in concerned that Rogers Com- With the long-awaited move, ble Samsung Galaxy Note will wireline revenue, the company munications Inc. and Bell Mo- the country has more choice in also be available on Feb. 14. said in a statement, both driven bility turned their LTE service buying LTE devices that will take Telus’ LTE network uses by strong data growth. It added on months earlier. “What’s im- advantage of some of the fastest equipment from Huawei Tele- 148,000 postpaid wireless cus- portant is not being fastest to download speeds in the world. communications, which also tomers in the quarter.

16 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com TELECOM WATCH

could also work in other areas. For example, Zurakowski said, tem- porary virtual desktop access could be given to corporate applications for contactors. In this scenario, the IT department would give a VMware View licence to the visitor, who would also get a softphone to have local phone access. At the end of the assign- ment the View username and password would be cancelled. The Mitel server solutions only run on VMware. “It’s not on our MITEL, VMWARE said. “The capex savings general release was held radar” to port to other OFFER DESKTOP for them is very attrac- back until the contact hypervisors, Zurakowski CONTACT CENTRE tive now that they have centre integration was said, because of VM- SOLUTION the option with the finalized. ware’s market share. BY HOWARD integrated voice on the Pricing depends on However, the softphone SOLOMON soft client. The price of the number of endpoints will be certified later this Contact centres that a USB headphone is so needed. Zurakowski year to run on other thin want to take advan- low it’s basically dispos- said the Unified Commu- clients for Windows and tage of virtual desktop able.” nicator Advanced soft- Linux PCs. technology have another The news comes five phone itself could cost Mitel virtual solutions option from a Canadian months after Mitel an- $50 apiece, but there are sold through carrier company. nounced it and VMware are volume discounts. partners such as MTS Mitel Networks Corp. had found a solution to In addition to being Allstream and solu- has integrated its the problem of run- able to plant a softphone tion providers such as Contact Centre Solution ning unified commu- on the laptops of remote Ottawa-based Maplesoft with VMware Inc.’s View nications in a desktop staff, Mitel’s solution Group. thin client and virtual virtual environment. environment. The company’s One of the advantages UC stack has of a virtualized contact been approved centre application is that for running agents can use a soft- from VMware’s phone, Alan Zurakowski, vCentre in the the Ottawa company’s data centre director of corporate since 2010, business development, but that didn’t said in an interview. give softphone “One of the big attrac- access on the tions I’m hearing from desktop. contact centre owners When it made is they don’t have to the desktop supply a physical hard announcement phone (to agents),” he last August, Mi- tel said the UC solution would be commercially available by the end of 2011. It For more telecom, was ready for Internet protocol, select custom- networking and ers to test by storage news, visit NetworkWorld.ca then, Zura- kowski said, but

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 17 FEATURE

ow that tional Film Festival (TIFF), said you’ve that TIFF considered an MDM, made the but opted against it. “Look plunge at the organization; we are a N medium enterprise, and getting and embraced enterprise-wide (solutions), BYOD, whether by having all the devices work as choice or by force, one single device, whatever the you’ve got your work solutions we looked at were cut out for you. pretty costly,” he said. Creating systems TIFF execs wanted access to their data everywhere, and that allow a diverse there is a business case for it, as selection of mobile TIFF runs events with sensitive devices into your data, like guest and VIP lists. business, and for There are also the smart phones use as part of the loaded with celebrity contact business, is not an info — for instance, a contact easy feat, let alone list that includes phone numbers for Brad Pitt and Angelina securing them. Jolie – which would damage One of the biggest problems TIFF’s reputation if lost or sto- with the BYOD (Bring Your len and leaked, a real possibility Own Device) trend, wherein according to Chakravarthy. employees get to choose the But TIFF had other concerns smart phones, tablets and as well, most notably financial. laptops they use, is finding a So, what Chakravarthy security solution that isn’t un- proposed was a strategy of manageable. restricted access versus full MORE Once a business starts let- device management. TIFF BYOD ting employees choose any IT felt it was more budget- PAGE 22 type of device — iOS, Android, conscious to just avoid VPNs BlackBerry, etc. — locking (Virtual Private Network) down sensitive data and access wholesale and offer only the becomes more complex. Don’t least sensitive data for access fret, however, as there are op- remotely. “If we have a VPN tions and they vary according and any of the tablets are lost, it to business priorities, size and becomes vulnerable to attacks.” IT budget. Chakravarthy said TIFF still had the ability, through DO YOU Define your existing software, to wipe and priorities lock smart phones remotely, but Before you can properly assess moving up to full device man- your security options, you have agement via an MDM solution NEED to figure out what’s paramount was just not a possibility. “It was at your business. It’s a combina- our desire to be in that level, but tion of what your business strat- it was cost-prohibitive,” he said. egy is, any compliance issues “When we put in the numbers MDM? you face and the entrenched and explained the scenarios ... In the face of the BYOD phenomenon, vulnerabilities — essentially, everybody went, ‘We can live some firms will need all-encompassing what information is sensitive with the band-aid solution SMARCELLO BORTOLINO

mobile device management solutions.

and what that will do to effect you’re proposing.’” / your business. Independent technology an- But not all will ® For some businesses, an all- alyst Carmi Levy agreed with BY JD SPEEDY encompassing mobile device TIFF’s approach. “One size management (MDM) solution definitely does not fit all,” he is necessary, but not all. Kalyan said. “Remote lock and remote Chakravarthy, chief information wipe may be a requirement for officer for the Toronto Interna- certain types of businesses, PHOTO ISTOCKPHOTO BY:

18 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com FEATURE

but not others, so don’t corner on tablets everywhere can get the company, we can handle yourself into thinking that that information anywhere, but Data loss that by taking the enterprise the same priorities for mobile they can’t modify that informa- prevention data off the device or doing a device management should ap- tion. Just for scheduling private full wipe,” said Engels. ply equally across the board. In events, we have user ID/pass- products can Those wipes can be a problem the end, it starts and ends with word-secured Web pages that filter content, as well as a solution, especially your specific business needs, are just read-only.” including with mixed-use devices. “That as well as the resources you Big security vendors, how- full wipe can be a blunt tool have on hand to implement and ever, are always interested in conten that when you make their kids’ birth- manage them.” moving businesses to MDM comes and day pics disappear,” said Engels. solutions. It makes things easier goes from a This might be a case where Find out your for everyone involved because DLP products can be useful. options you stop having to manage so smart phone or They provide a good middle If you decide to stick with your many different products. “One tablet, to parse ground between (or comple- existing options, combining day you wake up and you have for sensitive ment to) MDM solutions. DLP multiple existing and cheaper 25 different types of agents,” products can filter content, solutions instead of putting said Brian Contos, customer data and including content that comes money down on an MDMsuite, security strategist and senior either warn and goes from a smart phone it’s more a matter of having director of vertical and emerg- or prevent the or tablet, to parse for sensitive the right people than the right ing market solutions at McAfee data and either warn or prevent amount of money. Particularly Inc. “It’s complex, it’s costly, it’s transmission of the transmission of that data. for smaller businesses (fewer slow and you’ve spent all this that data “We can do it on a laptop or a than 100 employees), you have money ... you’ve spent all day desktop, but on a mobile device, fewer all-encompassing options. tuning the car and maintaining the way they built iOS and An- Levy said that most security it but not racing it.” droid, they made it secure, but vendors have begun catering to That, and it can also bury the downside is the APIs are not smaller businesses, but those problems in your device securi- there to interrupt traffic,” said suites might not be as feature- ty because of the complexity of Engels. Which brings you back rich as their bigger brothers. having too many dashboards, to controlling the devices that “Many major vendors claim to with two many siloed divisions come into your office. While it have downsized their MDM responsible for them. “Let’s might be as simple as having solutions to meet fast-growing try to get the consoles closer an “approved device list”, that demand from SMEs,” he said. to one. You won’t get one, but can certainly ruffle feathers in “The verdict is still out whether fewer is better,” said Contos. the face of the BYOD trend. these are truly cost-effective “There’s greater risk reduction But, without those APIs that solutions or simply watered there, with fewer consoles, allow traffic to flow through down shadows of the original because of discovery.” the DLP filters, Engels said, enterprise offering.” John Engels, group product those devices can inadvertently But that’s not reason to manager of enterprise mobil- distribute sensitive data. panic. Both Levy and Chakra- ity for Symantec Corp., also varthy noted that device com- argues that MDM may be Do I need a patibility for security features, the only option for the enter- full MDM and features inherent in newer prise. “Wouldn’t it be great if a implementation? devices, are rapidly improv- device management team, ops That’s the million-dollar ques- ing. “Thankfully for SMEs, the management team, (and others) tion. Even the security solution devices themselves are increas- have the ability to top manage providers themselves say that ingly capable of supporting iOS devices, android devices, large-scale MDM solutions are some fairly robust MDM capa- etc. ... through a single console?” not for every business. While bilities, with the latest versions More eyes watching fewer large enterprises — businesses of Android and iOS including panes mean fewer problems with employees (and devices) in a range of device protection can slip by. excess of 100 — most certainly features,” said Levy. Not only that, MDMs have need this type of all-encompass- For TIFF, the solution for nifty features like customized- ing security solution, small busi- now is putting a hard limit wipes that only target sensitive nesses still need to closely ex- on what data you can access enterprise data and can wipe, amine their priorities and their remotely. “We started building partially wipe or kill devices constraints, whether compliance Web-facing apps that are just remotely. “As the useful life of issues or just business-harming read-only and are less sensitive that device dies off, because that data, to decide how much device data,” he said. “(Employees) device dies or a person leaves security they need.

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 19 FEATURE

massive prevalence of COBOL in enterprises and the difficulty in replacing it. Why COBOL “They’ve invested so many years and man-hours and millions of dollars in it,” he says. “So they want to preserve that investment.” won’t go away And aside from the massive expenditure it would take, says Murphy, often there just isn’t a practical More than 50 years after its reason for companies to switch. debut, COBOL persists in the “There will always be some allegedly better technology. backend of many an enterprise Forget allegedly. There will always be better technology. The question is the install base and how badly or well BY BRIAN BLOOM COBOL does in comparison to the new thing and what’s the net benefit, and is it really worth upsetting the entire world to have something that’s a little better.“ On a global scale, the sudden death of COBOL “would be greatly detrimental,” says Israel Gat, a Cut- ter Consortium fellow and director of its agile product and project management practice. “Not only in terms of ... not doing new applications with COBOL, but more importantly, perhaps, in terms of the huge amount of COBOL that is still there up and running.” Estimates put the number of business transactions done in COBOL at between 60 and 80 per cent of all transactions performed worldwide. The number is significantly higher for financial transactions. Does modern mean better? Indeed, if there’s one industry whose lifeblood is CO- BOL, it’s big banks, one of the first sectors to implement it and, perhaps, one of the last ones that will abandon it. But in an indication of how much things are changing, consider the case of ING Direct, a bank founded many years after its larger peers, in 1997. At ING, COBOL doesn’t have a presence —or at least it appears so. Charaka Kithulegoda, ING Direct CIO, says his IT infrastructure runs on a combination of Java and Windows-based tools. However, he says “even some of obol has a certain seniori- the backends we use, without getting into specifics, are ty in the IT world. Nobody based on fairly older technologies.” can get it to retire—and Here Kithulegoda cautions against thinking newer nobody can find a replace- is always better. These older technologies “do things Cment either. that are extremely effective and efficient,” he says. “And that’s unfortunately referred to by the term ‘legacy.’ The question of when COBOL will meet its demise But one of the reasons that people have stuck with has been debated for years now. But there is general these things is because they are extremely effective and agreement that the Common Business Oriented Lan- efficient.” guage, first developed in 1959, will be alive and kicking Murphy agrees there is a tendency to want to replace well into this century. technology without first considering the cost-benefit -ra “I cannot foresee a date before the very late 2020s or tio of doing so. “The vendors get hung up on modern and 2030 where the dead part of that could possibly become not-modern. All one’s got to look at is does the COBOL, true,” says Phil Murphy, senior analyst at Forrester whatever it’s doing for the ultimate customer, is it doing a Research Inc. “Here’s a mechanics analogy: the metric good job or a poor job at accomplishing that? Oftentimes system is arguably a much better system than, you know, it’s the IT folks who want to say `well, it’s doing a good ¾ inch, ½ inch, linear measures, right? [It has] been for job for them but it’s not Java, so ...’ What? If it’s doing a decades upon decades upon decades. We [in the U.S.] good job for them, leave it alone and find a place where it have not switched over. Why? Well, the cost, the sheer is both COBOL and doing a terrible job for the end-user cost and size of the effort don’t result in an acceptable client and really needs to be modernized.” return on investment.” This is all the more true given the type of applications Dovid Lubin is the president of Veryant LLC, one of COBOL was designed for, says Evan Weaver, chair of the the few companies left that develop software for CO- School of Information and Communications Technology BOL platforms. Much of his business derives from the at Toronto’s Seneca College.

20 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com FEATURE

“For the most part, the COBOL programs that are COBOL and I don’t think putting a pretty face on it is out there are the kinds that take data from a database really going to change that.” somewhere, crunch them and print out reports on a big Gat says COBOL is fundamentally the product of a printer somewhere, or print off cheques, or something different era, a different way of thinking. He predicts that like that. it will fade away slowly unless tremendous work is put “It’s the real pretty straightforward applications that into reviving it. don’t have a lot of technical complexity, that haven’t “The basic philosophy and certainly the technology changed. Like, if you have employee records somewhere under which COBOL had been conceived many years ago and you have a payroll run to run, that whole process — I think it’s 50-something now — is very, very different hasn’t changed that much since the 1950s. That’s why from the way we see things today and certainly from the companies haven’t changed the stuff.” way we are doing things today. There have been several efforts to modernize — not “Unless someone really puts a lot of effort into a quite replace — COBOL over the years. Most recently, quote-unquote “new generation” COBOL — and I do Veryant has released a new version of its flagship soft- not see that this is happening — I would expect that ware, isCOBOL Evolve, which can perform a few novel little by little the language should evolve and little by functions like compiling programs in Java, and has a little various elements of the language will be imple- graphical terminal that can be launched from a com- mented by other languages.” mand line. The most dramatic changes in COBOL over the years have not come in the form of GUIs or terminal emula- tors but through the movement to make it more object- What we have now oriented, he says. is a COBOL that “What we have now is a COBOL that wasn’t conceived wasn't conceived as an as an object-oriented language. However, it has a fair amount of object-oriented elements, or aspects to it. So in object-oriented language. that sense, while I would not quite compare it, let’s say, to However, it has a fair Java, which was conceived from Day 1 as object-oriented, amount of object-oriented it has caught up on possibly the most important aspect of a programming language. So to me, the renewal, if you elements or aspects to it. please, of COBOL ... is quite remarkable.” Part of this renewal has meant migrating COBOL from mainframes to distributed platforms. “We’ve “The isCOBOL graphical terminal allows you to take seen an increasing number of migration projects, tak- an existing COBOL application that was written to run ing legacy mainframe COBOL and data to open and on terminals in the last 30, 40 years, however many distributed systems like Linux, UNIX and Windows,” years COBOL has been around,” says Lubin, “[and] says Lubin. now you can run that on a graphical window that at Murphy, however, warns that enterprises pining to first looks like a terminal, just like the original applica- get rid of COBOL are often the same ones that want tion, but can then be modernized by adding a menu to trash their mainframes, often without thinking bar, a toolbar, a status bar, push buttons — you about why they’re doing it. name it — mouse support. And it can be done “You can’t separate the distributed-versus- at whatever pace the developer chooses.” MORE mainframe from the COBOL/non-COBOL,” COBOL he says. “They always come up together. I A dog on two feet PAGE 26 think what folks who believe that leaving Weaver says tools like this certainly have some all of COBOL and mainframe behind is the value to COBOL developers. “If you’re having definition of modernization, what many of those people who are programming using modern de- folks don’t realize is that it doesn’t replace your velopment tools for their other work ... to have the same green-screen character interface.” programmer interfaces to COBOL makes as a lot of The size of the company and nature of its operations sense rather than having them use some junky old tools should be what determines the value of making the for the COBOL part.” switch, he adds. But beyond some minor tweaking, he’s not con- “If you’re a small firm, running a very very small main- vinced much can be done to improve a language that is frame and your environment is fairly simple — COBOL, now pushing 60. JCL, VSAM files — then the odds are really good that He remembers a bold attempt by Microsoft Corp. to you can move to a distributed environment and save a do so around a decade ago: “They wanted to show that ton of money. you could program .NET in any language, and created a “The minute that simple environment gets really COBOL .NET and gave examples of COBOL programs complex with languages like assembler and maybe that could do the GUI stuff in Windows and so on. databases like IMS or ADABAS or CA-Datacom, the “But it had the feel of the dog walking on its hind services expense—because none of those translate well to legs: It’s not how well it walks but just the fact that it the distributed platform—the services expense to get rid can do it at all that people are fascinated by. I don’t of the stuff that isn’t simple starts to erode the return on know of anybody who is developing new applications in investment from moving.”

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 21 BRING YOUR OWN

: review

SAMSUNG display technology seen on GALAXY NOTE: the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. NOT FOR As I noted in my review of the Galaxy Nexus, the HD EVERYONE Super AMOLED display is BY GINNY MIES based on the PenTile pixel After commercials for structure in which pixels Samsung’s Galaxy Note share subpixels. Galaxy S II appeared during the Super phones, on the other hand, Bowl, Twitter users joked have full RGB displays in that it looked like a Palm which the pixels have their Pilot. The Galaxy Note own subpixels. HD Super might have a pen, but it AMOLED displays suppos- is far from the capacitive edly have a lower overall PDAs of yore. The Note’s subpixel density, reduced “S Pen” works quite well sharpness and degraded with the user interface, but color accuracy than phones I wished there were more with Super AMOLED Plus apps to use it with. Tablet, displays. When I reviewed Phone or “Phablet?” The the Galaxy Nexus, I noted Galaxy Note’s 5.3-inch that I couldn’t really see a display puts the Note in an difference between the two interesting place between a different display types in phone and a tablet. terms of sharpness. The I have to say, however, Galaxy Note also handled it feels a little silly hold image and text rendering something of this size up well, with sharp, clear text to your face and making a and details on both Web phone. It is light enough, pages and high resolution but a bit too wide for my images. I noticed a little bit hands, making it feel un- of degradation on higher comfortable and unwieldy resolution images, particu- at times. The Galaxy Note larly when you zoom in, but measures 5.78-by-3.27- the image quality definitely by-0.38 inches thick and looked better than some weighs 6.28 ounces. other phone and tablets The Note has your typical we’ve seen. The main prob- touch-sensitive navigation lem I have with the display buttons below the dis- is that the colors are quite play (Menu, Home, Back oversaturated. Additionally, Search), a volume rocker skin tones look ruddy and and a power button. On the whites have a slight yellow- bottom of the Note, you’ll ish tint. This is a common find the slot for the S Pen problem among AMOLED (which we’ll cover soon). displays, however, Sam- The Note’s aesthetic is sung-made or not. Still, pretty similar to the Galaxy oversaturation isn’t always S II phones (though larger) a bad thing. Colors on the with a rectangular shape, Note look rich and bright piano black bezel, chrome while blacks are deep. piping and a textured “car- As I mentioned earlier, bon blue” battery cover. the S Pen is a far cry from The Galaxy Note’s 5.3- the old styluses you might inch display has a 1280-by- remember. The Galaxy Note 800 pixel resolution. The uses a Wacom-made “S Pen” display technology is HD for note-taking and drawing. Super AMOLED display, Wacom pens recognize both which isn’t to be confused right-handed and left- with Super AMOLED handed users. It also mimics Plus, which we saw on the the act of physically taking Samsung Galaxy S II line notes: The harder you press of phones. This is the same the pen down on the Note,

22 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com BRING YOUR OWN

EDITORIAL SALES Editor Vice-President and the thicker and bolder your Pen gestures take some revamped calendar app. The Dave Webb Associate Group Twitter: @cwceditor Publisher lines will be. getting used to as well. To calendar app takes advan- Brad McBride Staff Writer The Galaxy Note runs the go “back,” you hold down tage of the larger display JD Speedy Account Executive latest version of Android the pen’s button and swipe with a tabbed interface that Twitter: @jamesspeedy Desere Ross Gingerbread 2.3.6 with a to the left. To go to the lets you view the whole year, Brian Bloom Senior Account similar version of Touch- home screen, you drag the a week, a month, three days, Twitter: @Brian-at-CWC Manager David Hamilton Wiz to the Galaxy S II line pen from top to bottom a day, etc. Contributing Editors Howard Solomon Account Executive of phones. As you might while pressing the pen but- The Galaxy Note is pow- Jeff Jedras Desere Ross expect, the Galaxy Note has ton. And if you want to open ered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Sales Reprsentative built-in software and special Menus, you swipe from Qualcomm processor. The CREATIVE SERVICES Meagan Kellas gestures for the pen. bottom to top while press- European version, on the Senior CORPORATE There’s a handy app ing the button. Once you get other hand, has a 1.4GHz Graphic Designer Mel Manasan Chairman called S Memo Lite that used to relying on the pen dual-core Samsung Exynos Michael R. Atkins Creative Director lets you jot down notes rather than the hardware processor. I tested a few Jeff Coles President and from pretty much any- buttons, navigating the graphics-heavy games on Group Publisher Fawn Annan where in the phone. To pull Note is a breeze. You can the Note including Osmos CIRCULATION Vice-President, up the S Memo Lite app, of course use the hardware HD and World of Goo. Both Circulation Manager Content and you hold down the but- buttons as well if you don’t ran smoothly without any Cheryl Patfield Community (Editor-in-Chief) ton on the pen and double like the pen gestures. glitches and looked terrific Circulation Director Shane Schick tap on the display. If you If the S pen feels too on the Note’s large display. Doni White Controller have another app open, the wimpy (or gives you horrible Video also ran flawlessly Rob Novorolsky notepad appears on top of flashbacks of your capaci- without any issues. it allowing you to easily tive touch Windows Mobile The 8-megapixel cam- ComputerWorldCanada.ca http://myi.tw/uu switch back to it. phone), you can invest in era snapped good pictures There’s also a fuller ver- the S Pen Holder Kit (sold indoors and out. The colors @itworldca http://myi.tw/uv sion of S Memo, which can separately). It is basically a in my indoor and outdoor be accessed from your apps standard writing pen shell photos looked accurate while HOW TO CONTACT COMPUTERWORLD menu. In this app, you can for the S Pen, complete with a details were sharp. Honestly, Telephone: (416) 290-0240 Fax: (416) 290-0238 add color to your drawing or pocket clip. the phone’s dimensions make Mail: ComputerWorld, 55 Town Centre Court, text or insert pictures (either The selection of pen- it a little awkward to use as a Suite 302, Scarborough, Ontario M1P 4X4 from your gallery or via the friendly apps feels a bit camera. Have you ever tried E-mail: The publication’s address is [email protected] provided clip art) and shapes. anemic. Samsung says that shooting a photo with a tab- Also, employees may be reached using a You can also take screen- the SDK for the Galaxy let? It just feels strange. The combination of their first initial and last name, shots by simply pressing Note and S Pen will be Galaxy Note can capture HD for example: [email protected] and holding the pen to available to developers soon video in up to 1080p resolu- Online: ITWorldCanada.com whatever you want to cap- (though they couldn’t say tion. There is also a front-fac- Subscription inquiries: tel: (613) 475-3217 or 1-800-565-4007 ture. You shot then opens exactly when). I see a lot of ing 2-megapixel camera for fax: (416) 290-0239 or 1-800-565-8148 in a simple photo editing potential for creative and making video calls or taking e-mail: [email protected] app, which lets you crop the productivity apps as well as self portraits. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40063800 screenshot in either lasso or games that incorporate the — PC World RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES rectangle mode. S Pen (think Nintendo DS- TO CIRCULATION DEPT — IT WORLD CANADA INC. 302-55 TOWN CENTRE COURT Writing on the Galaxy style games). SCARBOROUGH ON M1P 4X4 Note takes some getting Right now, the E-mail: [email protected] used to. At first, I was ap- included apps that Published by: IT World Canada palled at how horrible my support pen mode are ComputerWorld Canada is published 12 times a year by handwriting looked. Once Polaris Office, S Memo IT World Canada Inc. a unit of Laurentian Media Group, Michael R. Atkins, Chairman. IT World Canada Inc. also I got the hang of using the and a game called Crayon publishes Network World Canada, CIO Canada, Computer Dealer News and Direction Informatique. ComputerWorld pen though, I started to Physics. Polaris Office Canada is distributed free of charge to the following job categories in Canada only: company executives, public enjoy it. As somebody who lets you create documents, servants responsible for computing,management/computer consultants, IT managers/supervisors, systems analysts, is constantly doodling and spreadsheets and slideshow programmers, operators and computer field engineers. prefers writing down notes presentations. You can insert Subscription rates outside of Canada: in the U.S. US$75/year; other countries US $95/year. Available to non-qualified readers to typing them, I liked drawings or screenshots in a in Canada at $2.50 per single copy. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in part being able to quickly jot presentation or use the pen or in whole without the consent of the copyright owner. down ideas or reminders. to insert text. Crayon Phys- ISSN #1484-9089. GST Registration #R122605769 The keyboard has a pen ics is a cute game where you IT World Canada Inc. is an affiliate of International Data Group, the world’s largest publisher of computer-related information mode, which will convert draw objects to get a ball to and the leading global provider of information services on information technology. International Data Group publishes your handwriting into text. from point A to point B. over 300 computer publications in 85 countries. Ninety million people read one or more International Data Group I thought it did a pretty This verison of Samsung’s publications each month. good job of recognizing TouchWiz interface has a my handwriting, though it few interesting features misinterpreted what I was including resizable widgets trying to write a few times. for the homescreen and a We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

CMC A ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 23 AUDITED BRING YOUR OWN

: products

Wi-Fi vendor Ruckus expands into hybrid mobile networks Toshiba Wi-Fi specialist Ruckus claims ‘world’s Wireless debuted as a thinnest’ tablet cellular infrastructure vendor at the Mobile with Excite LE HP hopes to World Congress, Toshiba has started unveiling carrier-class cut data centre shipping its Excite Wi-Fi access points costs with new LE tablet, which the that can accommodate company claims will 3G/4G radios, as well Gen8 servers be the thinnest tablet as a gateway to manage Hewlett-Packard Co. yet. It has a 10.1-inch networks of both types. has introduced Gen8, display, is 0.3 inches The Ruckus SmartCell its next generation of (7.7 mm) thick and lineup includes a servers, which integrate weighs 1.18 pounds (535 multi-radio outdoor new technologies HP Folio 13 grams). By comparison, access point and a designed to cut overall Hewlett-Packard Samsung’s Galaxy Tab gateway for managing maintenance and power co.’s first entry 2, which also has a hundreds of thousands costs in data centres into the ultrabook 10.1-inch display, is 0.38 of APs and small cells while maintaining market is the Folio inches thick and weighs from different vendors. high server uptimes. 13, measuring 18 1.3 pounds. Apple’s iPad The Ruckus SmartCell Gen8 servers have new millimetres thick 2, which has a 9.7-inch 8800 will combine the hardware and software and packing a 13.3- screen, is 0.34 inches company’s multiple technology for better inch high-definition thick and weighs 1.33 antenna technology performance-per-watt display. The pounds. The Excite LE with multiple radios, and a reduction in the company is claiming will be priced in Canada allowing carriers to use manual labor involved up to nine hours at $549.99 for a 16GB IEEE 802.11n for both in updating servers, of battery life on a model and $599.99 for local data service and HP said. The automatic full charge, which it a 32GB model, and will wireless backhaul and updating and server says is the longest initially ship only to the to add a cellular module load-balancing features of any ultrabook U.S. and Canada. That’s for cellular coverage. will help save millions of on the market. The a bit pricier than the It’s designed to give dollars over a three-year Folio features a iPad 2, which is $499 service providers the span, HP said. The new backlit keyboard for the 16GB model. flexibility to roll out servers address the for mobile use in The tablet runs the both types of networks need to balance limited low-light conditions. Android 3.2 OS and will as the need arises in space and provide more It’s powered by Intel be upgraded to Android a given location. As processing power in Core processors and 4.0 in the spring. It gives demand soars, both data centers, while features 128 GB of up to eight hours of may be needed in the curbing power costs. solid state storage. battery life, according same spot, according to The Gen8 servers will The ultrabook is to Toshiba, and runs Ruckus. become generally compatible with on a 1.2GHz dual-core — Stephen Lawson available in March. Gen8 the full range of OMAP 4430 processor IDG News Service servers will eventually Microsoft Windows from Texas Instruments. replace the Proliant 7 operating systems. Features include G7 family, which was There is also an HD front and rear-facing introduced in 2010 Webcam and Dolby cameras, and micro- and based on x86 Advanced Audio. USB and HDMI (high- processors from Intel HP’s ImagePad definition multimedia and Advanced Micro supports multitouch interface) ports. Toshiba Devices. gesture interactivity. already offers Android tablets with 7-inch and — Agam Shah An optional USB 2.0 dock adds extra 10-inch screens. IDG News Service connectivity. For an — Agam Shah ultrabook, it’s a little IDG News Service on the hefty side, weighing in at 3.3 pounds. — Dave Webb

24 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com SHARK TALES

IN SPACE By way of The Register comes news that Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire, in partnership with civil- ian space company Virgin Galactic, wants to push its Playboy Clubs into the final frontier. The club, according RIGHT ON THE PALM to an article and design OF YOUR HAND sketches in the maga- How many times have you looked zine, would consist of a at your iPad tablet computer and zero-gravity superstruc- thought, “Jeez, this would be so much ture with a rotating ring more useful if I could strap it to the around it, which uses palm of my hand ...” centrifugal force to create What, you neither? artificial gravity. Let’s not dismiss the notion out But why would the of, um, hand. Accessory company extremely high rollers StudioProper has launched the Wallee who rocket out to the club Hand Strap, for those of you who fear spend any time in artifi- you’re too fumbled-fingered for a slick cial gravity when all the iPad, or just want to play ping-pong real fun’s going on in the with your tablet. gravity-free hub? While we’re struggling here for a A club would practical use-case, we have asked for feature tram- a review unit. There’s no way of know- polines on the ing till we’ve taken in for a test drive. walls so danc- Stay tuned. ers can hurtle around the room. Play- boy Bunnies with rocket packs would circulate serving liquid globules as drinks. Plans also call for a three-dimen- FACEBOOK STATUS: DEAD “a community of over-sharers” — sional games room and The QMI news agency reports that can you imagine what lurks in their “pleasure orbital domes, a new Facebook application allows hearts so deeply that they won’t or PODs — “the first zero- Playboy's users to post a status update ... (scary share it till they’re dead? proposed space gravity sex suites,” accord- club (not exactly typeface) from beyond the grave ... There can only be trouble ing to Playboy. as illustrated) (menacing laugwhter). in this: the guilt of un- As The Register’s cor- would offer If I Die allows a user to post a requited love revealed plenty of respondent notes, though, zero-gravity written message and/or/video, then to the world, the “for every action, there will ‘activities.’ choose three trustees to confirm humiliation of secrets be an opposite reaction their passing and post the message. revealed, the pros- — think of the fact that “Reaction has been mixed,” says ecution of longstand- if you give something a QMI, but here at IT World Central, we ing grudges without slight shove in zero gravity, can only see this leading to tears, an- fear of retribution ... it tends to fly across the ger, humiliation, bemusement, insert no, this can’t end room and you can see how your uncomfortable emotion here. well at all. hanky-panky might take a Given the demographic of Face- bit of practice.” book — let’s diplomatically call them

ITWorldCanada.com I MARCH 2012 I 25 FEATURE

THE LOST ART mer employers. But Gat says they’re finding that the com- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 OF COBOL this kind of arrangement is pany’s got nothing for them to There’s another investment becoming harder as some are do.” competition, says Beggs. companies have to consider. moving to places like “sunny Don’t expect a large new And we shouldn’t And that is what kind of employ- Florida.” cohort of COBOL develop- forget that there are ees they invest in. How many “I believe that this is an ers either, says Weaver. While plenty of threats closer COBOL programmers are left? important consideration as it’s Seneca College is one of the to home, he adds. And is it worth it to hire one? not only that the generation few institutions in Canada that “A lot of the espionage Dovid Lubin, president of that knew and did COBOL is still offers courses in COBOL, we’re seeing is actually Veryant, a company that devel- retiring, but they are probably students who take it as an one business competitor ops software for COBOL plat- retiring to many places where elective aren’t necessarily very against another business forms, says COBOL program- they might not be available.” gung-ho about it. competitor,” he says. mers make up “a dynamic, And many of the 60-some- “Really, it’s almost sort of “I’m seeing law offices vibrant, active community.” thing full-time COBOL develop- like an enforced elective for right now, for example, “Some companies have their ers who are still employed might us in that they either take an where one law office has own team of COBOL develop- not even have the option to stay advanced C++ course or they targeted computers in ers. We have some companies at their jobs much longer, says take COBOL. We give them another Canadian law that have hired Java program- Evan Weaver, chair of Seneca that choice and often what we’ll office in order to gain mers or .NET programmers and College’s School of Information find is the weak students will access to obtain infor- trained them in COBOL to con- and Communications Technol- take COBOL because, well, the mation pertaining to an tinue to maintain and enhance ogy in Toronto. “Increasingly—I kind of problems you solve with upcoming court case.” the existing COBOL code that’s know a bunch of people down COBOL are straightforward “I had one construc- so valuable.” in the New York area who have business problems—a little bit tion company, a contrac- However, Israel Gat, a Cutter been the COBOL people for a easier to understand. tor, actually place a key Consortium fellow and director zillion years—they’re starting to “The kind of things we’ll logger with remote ac- of its agile product and project get laid off, finally.” attack in an advanced C++ cess onto the computer management practice, sees a “While they used to keep the course are usually quite com- of an administrator of major COBOL skills gap open- COBOL people around, [now] plex. So we’ll find a lot of our a competitor so that ing up in the near future. “I they’re keeping around just people who aren’t very ambi- they were under-bid- actually believe we are facing enough to keep the COBOL tious in terms of programming ding. They were under a potential crisis in terms of stuff running. And because will take COBOL to avoid taking bidding by a couple COBOL skills because a lot of many of those people haven’t something else, and end up hundred dollars on con- those guys are simply retired.” taken an active part in be- doing business-type program- tracts that were worth In the past, new COBOL coming familiar with the new ming rather than complex close to $1 million and retirees would continue to do languages, the new program- technical programming. “ they’re winning because, consulting work for their for- ming environments and so on, — Brian Bloom hey, they’re coming in at a couple hundred dollars under.” But the real losers in this game, unfor- LIFE AFTER COBOL Phil Murphy, a senior analyst guage and database combina- tunately, are often the So what, in the end, will replace at Forrester Research Inc., tion for it to be as performant police departments, says COBOL? Not one language, the says that for better or worse, and flexible as it can be?” Batista. experts say, but rather a series COBOL is on its way out. But And if the old system worked “The nature of the of different languages. companies may be deceiving better, he says, don’t be afraid business we’re in is we “There will never be a single themselves if they think their to go back to it. Migration consume money,” he preferred language,” says lives are going to be much can be done in more than one says. “The bad guys Evan Weaver, chair of Seneca easier once it’s gone. direction. make money. So we’re College’s School of Informa- “Have firms gotten rid of “I talked to a credit card always going to be at a tion and Communications COBOL and replaced it all with processing firm that was mov- disadvantage.” Technology in Toronto. “I know Java? Yes. But now instead of ing from distributed platforms “I would love to have in the late 1990s everybody having a COBOL problem, they and databases to the main- an endless supply of was saying Java was the way have a Java problem. So they frame because every time money. No doubt about everything was going to go. got rid of COBOL—they didn’t they added a new customer, it. But my coffers are And then it didn’t. get rid of the problem.” the credit card processing for limited to an X amount “A lot of the sort of enter- Again, Murphy says we the new customer, they were of money a year and I’ve prise stuff that used to be should focus not on finding spending money on Oracle got to create my investi- done in COBOL by the large answers, but rather on asking licenses, on HP licenses, on gations around what is organizations is often being ourselves better questions. server racks, and the startup offered financially.” done in Java now. Of course, “It’s not ‘what, oh what, can of each new client was too When it comes to cy- it’s completely different kinds replace COBOL?’” he says. “It expensive. bercrime, he says, police of applications—the things that is, ‘what workload are we trying “The mainframe represented have to set priorities. “It COBOL isn’t good at, like dis- to do here?’ Based on the char- economies of scale that it boils down to a triage tributed processing and Web acteristics of that workload, needed. So, it’s kind of happen- of where resources are interfaces, and so on.” what’s the right platform, lan- ing both ways.” best used.”

26 I MARCH 2012 I ITWorldCanada.com

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1Based on the results from IBM’s Technology Adoption Program. Results may vary depending on the client’s existing environment. Final results can be ascertained after a return on investment analysis. Prices are current as of 08/05/11, valid in Canada only, and subject to change without notice. Offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice. Please contact your IBM authorized Business Partner or IBM representative for more information. All rights reserved. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Smarter Planet and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. © International Business Machines Corporation 2012.

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