This Week In IT: 2/8/13

This Week On Tom's IT Pro: Encryption Doesn’t Always Mean More Secure, Enterprises to Blackberry 10, VIDEO: Application Tune Ups Network Performance, Multi-Pronged Approach to IT Learning, Soon to Become Irrelevant Technologies, An IaaS Buyer's Guide: Getting Started, and more.

This Week On Tom's IT Pro: Encryption Doesn’t Always Mean More Secure, Enterprises to Blackberry 10, VIDEO: Application Tune Ups Network Performance, Multi-Pronged Approach to IT Learning, Soon to Become Irrelevant Technologies, An IaaS Buyer's Guide: Getting Started, and more.

• Enterprises to Blackberry 10: Should We Stay Or Should We Go?

Will corporate America ever again be in the throes of a Crackberry addiction? 

• VendorStack Customer Review Site Out of Beta

Reviews site for SMBs (and especially start-ups) emerged from a private beta this week.

• VIDEO: Application Tune Ups Network Performance

Before dismissing network performance problems as something you can live with, consider the adverse impact slow application response times can have on your business.

Encryption Doesn’t Always Mean More Secure

Throwing solutions at a system because they have the word encryption in them, and are easy to implement, doesn’t always mean you’re actually better protecting sensitive information. 

• Take the Multi-Pronged Approach to IT Learning

The right mix of reading, studying, and hands-on learning and experimentation will get you the knowledge you need to further career in IT. 

• VIDEO: Big Data, Big Hardware, Big Software

As data grows so must the hardware, software and access tools to give it meaning.

• Moore’s Law In Pictures: An Illustrated History of the Microprocessor

Consider the orders of magnitude (and sheer manufacturing prowess) required to morph the very first 4-Bit microprocessors into the multicore powerhouses we use today.

Slideshow: Glad to Know You! Soon to Become Irrelevant Technologies

We take a look at technologies whose days are numbered and are destined to become nostalgic memories of how we used to do things.

• New Year, New Plans: Make an IT Career Self-Assessment

Put yourself through an annual self-assessment to help figure out where you are, where you're going, and where you might like to get to IT career-wise.

• Oracle Acquires Acme Packetpay for $1.7 Billion

Acme Packet sells voice and data products, as well as services used by IP networks. 

• Sponsored: Converged Infrastructure Transforms IT

Businesses deploying converged infrastructure technologies in integrated solutions that more tightly align and even accelerate the value of information technology to help drive better business results.

An IaaS Buyer's Guide: Getting Started
For many in IT it is not a question of whether to use cloud computing but which cloud service (or services) to use. 

• Record-Breaking Supercomputer Powered by Nvidia and Eurotech

Meet “Eurora,” the world’s fastest and most efficient supercomputer. 

• Parallels Offers New Mac Integration in Microsoft SCCM

Plug-in Management Suite for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) that offers integration of Mac computers in mixed Microsoft and Mac environments.

• Seagate Bulks Up on PCIe-based Flash with Virident Investment

Hard-drive maker compensates for slow entry into the enterprise flash storage market. 

iOS 6 Security: Facebook, Twitter and Advertising

The iPad and iOS operating system is tightly integrated with social networks. Under Settings in iOS 6, there are sections specifically dedicated to Twitter and Facebook.

• Chinese Hackers Infiltrate The New York Times, Wall Street Journal’s Computer Systems

Major newspapers reveal infiltration by hackers from China in an apparent attempt to monitor the media coverage and identify its source. 

• Make the Most of Virtual Certification Labs

Today’s increasingly online world also means that just as lots of training has become virtualized, so have many IT cert prep labs as well.

• Polycom Gets RealPresence Cloud Support with Meetrix Collaboration

Bolsters RealPresence video communication and collaboration platform.

Sponsored: Converged Clouds Empower IT
The cloud a key component of enterprises ability to gain unconstrained access to information and IT resources.

• Gigabyte Announces Server and Workstation Motherboards

Company to roll out three new motherboards to cater to server and workstation vendors. 

• Pentagon to Hire Thousands of IT Professionals to Boost Cybersecurity

Plans to expand cybersecurity forces to prevent attacks and increase security of the government and nation’s computer networks. 

• Open Source Tools to Manage Macs in the Enterprise

Munki, Simian, and Cauliflower Vest: Three open source tools to help IT pros manage Mac computers in the enterprise. 

• HP Launches Public Cloud Service

Now officially offering its public cloud, HP Cloud Compute, as a pay-as-you-go service.

Is Google’s Chromebook Enterprise Ready?

Today? No. Three to Five years from now? Yes.

James Alan Miller is Managing Editor of Tom's IT Pro. He is a veteran technology journalist with over seventeen years of experience creating and developing magazine and online content. Founding editor of numerous business and enterprise computing sites at the internet.com network, James headed up the After Hours section at PC Magazine, as well as hardware and software sections of various Windows publications.

See here for all Tom's IT Pro articles written by James.

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