May 2009

EMC continues to tease the market with its management software ambitions, taking another step this week to build on its portfolio. On May 27, EMC announced its intent to acquire Configuresoft, a vendor of server configuration and change management (CCM) software. Forrester views this as a positive development for both companies but we eagerly await more.

This morning, US President Barack Obama unveiled the outlines of a change in direction for US cyber-security policy. The first announcement relates to the creation of a new military command that will centralize and expand on existing cyber-war-fighting capabilities. This is overdue, and should bring more coherence to efforts that were already spread out between several different military branches, notably the Army, Navy and Air Force), and the intelligence services. The NSA, for example, has long had a “red-team” offensive capability in addition to defensive corps. As I understand it, the new military cyber-command will reside in the Department of Defense. Less clear is whether the new organization will just be a military operation, or whether it will also take over parts of the intelligence services’ capabilities.

The second part of today's announcements, the Cyberspace Policy Review, seeks to reform the way the US Government secures itself, its agencies and critical infrastructure like the stock exchanges. As reported in a story in the New York Times, the reforms will create a new office residing in the White House that will report to both the National Economic Council and the National Security Council. The remainder of this blog post analyzes what the plan, which was unveiled at 11 today, recommends.

by Ted Schadler

Google is a remarkable company. Need proof? Just consider how reliant we are on Google Maps to find our way around the world. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because Google empowered a couple of brothers, Lars and Jens Rasmussen, to open up the developer APIs to the mapping engine.

These same two brothers announced yesterday at Google I/O developer conference a new technology for communication and collaboration. This new collaboration engine unites email, instant messaging, blogs, wikis into a single hosted conversation. Check out the demo here and the announcement here.

[Posted by Simon Yates]

IT Forum EMEA 2009 is running next week from 3-5 June at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin, and we're looking forward to a strong turnout to learn more about "redefining IT's value to the enterprise".

In addition to our keynotes and role-focused track sessions, we'll be featuring Tech Innovation Demonstrations to specifically address Forrester's offerings in specific coverage areas. The following Tech Innovation Demonstrations will be held in the Forrester Booth in the Tech Showcase:

Forrester TechRadar™ Demonstration with Liz Herbert: Software-as-a-Service
     Wednesday, 3 June: 14:00 - 142:20pm (Berlin time)
     Thursday, 4 June: 13:20 - 13:40pm (Berlin time)

Forrester Wave™ Demonstration with Paul Roehrig: Global IT Infrastructure Outsourcing
     Thursday, 4 June: 15:40 - 16:00pm (Berlin time)
     Friday, 5 June: 10:30 - 10:50am (Berlin time)

If you'll be in Berlin, please stop by the Tech Showcase. If you're going to post on Twitter during the event, don't forget to the event's hash tag: #ifte09.