Articles by Andrew K. Burger

Digital cinema distribution and projection systems are gaining momentum, while the film industry is seeking new ways to pack theaters. AsPart 1 of this two-part series points out, the new formats not only offer film studios, distributors and cinema operators significant cost reductions, but also provide unrivaled viewing experiences that competing media will find difficult to match...

It was a time-tested tactic during ancient Roman times for generals to embrace their adversaries and bring them into the fold when they represented significant threats to the Empire that they could not otherwise defend against A modern variation of this practice is becoming common across the media and communications landscape. Long-established ind...

The great Internet TV race is on, and the field is crowded -- and getting more crowded all the time. The biggest names in U.S. TV broadcasting want to make sure they stay in the middle of things Part 1 of this two-part series discusses the efforts of some industry giants -- CBS, for example -- to build multichannel digital content delivery systems,...

There's a new wave of changes headed for the TV and film industries: Television viewers can choose what they watch, when and how they view programs and -- with the advent of wireless mobile broadband and smaller viewing screens -- where they catch up on their favorite shows. That's just the beginning The interactivity of the Internet, the emergence...

M-commerce, or mobile commerce, is poised to grow into a multibillion dollar market over the next decade. Phone handset makers, telecoms and content providers are pushing the technologies that will enable users with m-commerce-enabled devices to easily purchase products and services via the phone Part 1 of this two-part series discusses the biggest...

As voice, data, wired and wireless telecommunications converge, conditions are ripening for the extension of e-commerce to mobile, or m-commerce, in markets around the world So, what countries -- and companies -- are on the bleeding edge?...

Outsourcing continues to grow at a healthy rate. As the market expands to include a wider range of business processes, competitive cost opportunities in emerging markets are pressuring management decision-making Currents counter to this trend are in evidence, however, asPart 1 of this two-part series observes. Part 2 delves a bit further into the c...

Some 90 percent of brand owners outsource at least some of their manufacturing, according to AMR Research. In addition, more than half of them expect to increase their use of contract outsourcing over the next two years While it's been shown that outsourcing adds significant value -- and jobs -- to the U.S. economy, that's just the tip of the prove...

Web services and underlying service oriented architectures (SOAs) offer organizations a heretofore unattainable capacity to capture information from disparate information resources by directly representing and linking these assets, making them available selectively across their information systems environments Given their scale, scope and complexit...

There may be few things as disturbing to Internet users as the thought of someone spying on them and capturing their every keystroke. Unfortunately, this has been happening more frequently as the use of keyloggers, phishing and spoofing grows In 2006, Keylogging was the fastest-growing type of malware in what Kaspersky Lab calls the "TrojWare" cat...

As the evolution of integrated, multimedia wired and wireless networks and services continues apace, be prepared for the rise of mobile marketing -- or m-marketing -- in the United States as telcos open up their platforms to third-party content providers In addition, a wide range of companies are developing mobile advertising, e-billing, payment an...

The stage is set for further growth in Voice over Internet protocol communications with technological advances, telecom market deregulation and a growing web of fiber optic and wireless networks India is now recognized worldwide as a center for offshore call centers, but a range of companies in other emerging markets are now looking to capitalize o...

The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) got busy early this year. The technology standards division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), ARTS began in 2007 with the introduction of several e-commerce data and content management standards Among those standards, ARTS -- in partnership with the NRF's Shop.org division -- introduced...

Biometrics -- or biometric authentication -- refers to technology that measures and analyzes human physical characteristics for security purposes Physiological (or biometric) characteristics include, for instance, eye retinas, facial patterns and hand or foot measurements, whereas examples of behavioral characteristics include a person's gait and s...

Business intelligence is a fast-growing segment area in the on-demand market. BI solutions help enterprises track performance, understand business drivers, and manage an organization's overall operations A complete set of BI capabilities includes information management, query and analysis functions, and presentation of results....

Approximately 10 million Americans fall victim to identity theft each year, a statistic that is expected to increase despite the diligent efforts of government and institutions to turn the tide, as discussed in Part 1 of this two-part series Leading IT security providers are arguably in the best position to understand the nature and scale of the pr...

It's open season on Windows Vista for hackers, crackers and virus and malware propagators As any IT manager will recall, malware incursions and zero-day exploits of Windows, Internet Explorer and Office applications were all too common in 2006....

Currently, identity theft may be the most worrisome and threatening problem for online users and the businesses and institutions that support them Unfortunately, it is now easier and cheaper than ever for those bent on illicit gain to use the Internet to obtain the private, personal information necessary to impersonate you online -- the first step ...

2007 enterprise software budgets are showing a 10 percent year-over-year increase, according to a recent Forrester Research survey, with software-related spending expected to account for 30 percent of the total Companies are looking to spend that money on improving integration between applications, upgrading security environments and adopting servi...

"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." The oft-cited quotation from Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" seems apt when talking about the opportunity presented by digital communications and computing It has also ushered in a new breed of cybercriminal who tries hard to steal your personal information and use it fraudulently....