Articles by Andrew K. Burger

Software designers and developers are being challenged to build efficient security measures into their project work as computing is increasingly distributed via Web application services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) Research recently conducted by the Ponemon Institute and CipherOptics found that only 12 percent of IT professionals surveye...

The open source model of developing software is making a significant impact, not only in the software development and broader high-tech community, but more generally within corporations, other types of businesses and organizations around the world, as Part 1 of this series describes Whether it's on servers, desktop computers or mobile devices, it's...

Open source software -- think Linux, Firefox, Wikipedia, Apache, Ajax and a host of other projects -- has introduced a radically different development model -- and mindset -- to the stream of high-tech innovation. It is one that is having repercussions in the corporate world that go beyond how software, telecommunications and other information technologies are developed...

While use of on-demand Software as a Service (SaaS) is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years, many organizations continue to prefer in-house application development and on-premise deployment to support a range of key business functions and processes, as is discussed in Part 1 of this series Ease of integration, stronger tool sets for custo...

From all indications, the Software as a Service (SaaS) model of developing and distributing applications is gaining traction and is poised for a phase of rapid growth, whether it be in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) or large-scale enterprises Estimated worldwide revenue for on-demand CRM applications increased 38.5 percent year-over-year ...

Opposing tensions are much in evidence in the legal wrangle over individual privacy rights and security in the digital environment. The dizzying pace of technological innovation continues as individuals and organizations public and private struggle to come to grips with its implications and ramifications There's a clear trend towards strengthening ...

New laws and regulations inevitably follow massive and profound technological changes as societies come to grips with how new technologies may be used Given the extent of changes the Internet has fostered across nearly every aspect of modern life, it comes as no surprise that innovations dealing with Internet-related technologies are proving very f...

The number of consumers downloading music from authorized sites could exceed that of peer-to-peer (P2P) users this year, according to research conducted by the NPD Group The growth rate of downloading of copyrighted material via file-sharing services may have slowed down last year to around 8 percent, according to NPD. However, the number of P2P do...

When consumers buy software, they typically don't spend much time reading through the rather long, tortuous legalese that makes up the end user licensing agreement (EULA) or terms of service (TOS) agreement that users must agree to before getting access to a product or service However, distributed applications, social networks and Web services ena...

The growth rate for illegal downloading of copyrighted material via peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing services slowed during 2006, while use of their legal counterparts picked up, according to recent research Nonetheless, open and walled-off P2P services -- so-called darknets -- remain the primary means of sharing and downloading music, videos, image...

Although in its infancy, the market for on-demand application systems, including software as a service (SaaS), is taking root and growing rapidly in East Asia, as was seen in Part 1 of this series SaaS revenues in the region growing 80 percent annually between 2006 and 2010 from a 2005 base of US$80 million with customer relationship management (CR...

Network connectivity has quickly and quietly become necessary -- and is sometimes even taken for granted -- in today's high-tech, instant-communications environment Part 1 of this three-part series on next-generation networking takes a look at how the need to comply with new, more stringent information security regulations and reporting requirement...

Software as a Service, also known as "on-demand software," is making inroads across East Asia as organizations large and small become comfortable enough with Web services and network application delivery to risk using them for a variety of business functions In the East Asia market, excluding Japan, SaaS enterprise application revenues amounted to ...

With the emergence of wireless networking, ultra slim notebooks, PDAs (personal digital assistants) and smartphones, mobile communications have quickly become an integral part of doing business. Mobile capabilities are set to take another leap forward with the introduction of new standards for wireless broadband wide- and local-area networking Wit...

Enterprise IT departments are straining despite huge increases in network capacity in the past decade. There are growing concerns over bandwidth availability, interoperability and security, as online video, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), social networking and on-demand application services proliferate Network providers are trending toward an...

Ethernet has been steadily extending its influence as it continues to evolve beyond the local area network.The ongoing development of virtual local area network, or VLAN, standards, is paving the way for Ethernet to play a key role in next-generation networking As networks expand, so do opportunities to exploit them. Ethernet offers the means to st...

In five years, the number of mobile phone subscribers is expected to increase by more than two billion -- at that point, the way people purchase goods and services could be forever changed For now, text-messaging, or short message service (SMS), is chiefly used for communication, but businesses hip to m-commerce are brainstorming to come up with wa...

Originally established as part of a series of the global system for mobile communications standards in 1985, short message service, or SMS, has come to play a pivotal role not only in the evolution of personal mobile communications but in the development of m-commerce as well In 2006, SMS -- also known as "text-messaging" -- accounted for a large m...

Businesses and large institutions dreaming of enforcing consistent security policies are finding solace in network access control, or NAC -- programs that establish authentic users, identify network devices, perform integrity checks, take remedial actions and authorize access to information system resources based on organization-wide security policies...

Demand is high for a super system that can promise protection from external threats while organizations' networks, data and software applications become increasingly interconnected Since Cisco Systems coined the term and released its first "network access control" system in 2003, interest in NACs has expanded to the point where it's difficult to te...