Mother's Day will soon be upon us and we'd like to offer a
special thanks to our Mothers - by offering special prices through
April and May to anyone who is a mother - or has a
mother.
Bring a Buddy for
classroom training
Combo Pricing
for Web-based training.
Check out all the details in the
Mother's Day Specials article
below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECTIVITY: Interface,
Integration,
Infrastructure....
Inevitably the
biggest IT headache corporations face is getting software and
systems to work with each other and access the same data. Companies
have sales systems that record every purchase customers make. But
this data is not accessible by the CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) system without converting it to another format and
moving it to another database system running on a different
platform. The CRM system is responsible for analyzing customers to
categorize them. Many companies use ASP (Application Service
Provider) hosted systems for personnel time management processing.
They want the data from programs running on the ASP's system to be
accessible for business analytics. In addition, the time it takes to
produce a product is a critical part of the cost effectiveness
analysis so the BI (Business Intelligence) systems also need the
information.
This is a relatively new problem. Until lately
computers were neither big enough nor fast enough to do analytical
processing and handle large amounts of data. We didn't have software
that could process unstructured data (that found in emails,
Websites, repair manuals – data found by text searches) as well as
the structured data in databases and files. Now we've got both. And
now we want systems to talk to each other. Any new use of technology
brings new terminology, and the initial confusion comes with
infrastructure, integration, and interface. All three are used when
building connectivity.
An interface is the hardware
or software that provides access to a system resource, and there are
really three kinds of interfaces: user, hardware, and software.
Hardware interfaces are the physical equipment that connects devices
to each other, and include plugs, sockets, wires, etc. These are the
interfaces we talk about the least. The interface we're most used to
is the GUI (Graphic User Interface), which is the software that
allows us to use a mouse and point-and-click to control activity.
This interface is built into operating systems to access computer
system resources. We click on "Control Panel" to select the
appearance of our desktop; we click on programs to access the list
of programs we have available. GUIs are also built into
applications, and allow users to move information around (cut and
paste) by blocking off information and clicking on icons. Both
hardware and user interfaces are visible to everyone; it's the
software interfaces which connect programs that are known by the IT
professionals. These are the rules, programs, and protocols used to
let two programs "talk" to each other. An example of a software
interface is an API (Application Program Interface) used by
application programs to ask the operating system to perform I/O
(Input/Output) tasks. JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity) and ODBC
(Open DataBase Connectivity) are also programming
interfaces.
Software interfaces are also called middleware,
and within this category are classified as adapters (providing
connectivity between specific vendor packages), agents (programs
that performs specific tasks such as monitoring performance), and
brokers (processes requests for services such as security).
Integration refers to the hardware and software that
makes separate products function as one. Software vendors integrate
the products they produce, and this provides for easier installation
and better performance if e.g., the operating system, DBMS (DataBase
Management System), and application software come from the same
vendor. These systems share the same design and architecture
standards, and even the same programming interfaces - none of which
is necessarily available to other companies. Some IT companies offer
integration services, or are described as systems integrators. These
companies specialize in building an environment in which diverse
operating systems, databases, and network systems all work together
to support the application systems. In addition, these companies are
also integrating the application systems, which allow the CRM system
to communicate with the Sales system. Most ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning) systems are defined as tightly integrated as they follow
the same design and architecture even though the separate pieces can
be used individually. To integrate systems, you must know (or, if
it's a new system, build) interfaces.
Infrastructure
refers to the connections between the parts of a system. System
infrastructure is a combination of hardware (the physical
infrastructure that is comprised of cables and equipment), and
software (the middleware and software tools). Another way of looking
at it is by comparison. The infrastructure of a city is how you get
around the city – the roads, subways, bridges, etc. The
infrastructure of a computer system is how data gets around the
system – the hardware and the software. Infrastructure is the
broadest of all the terms, and is used to refer to overall
environments. Reference is made to the Internet infrastructure, or
general network infrastructure. An infrastructure is built by
integrating diverse software systems.
Connectivity starts
with the interfaces, which are used to integrate software and
hardware, and this integration provides the infrastructure for the
overall system. This is very important in today's IT, where
companies are constantly lamenting "I've got all kinds of software –
if only it would work together."
Back to
top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All You Have to do is
Ask!
Technology is constantly expanding,
and non-technical people interact more with IT than ever before. In
fact, non-technical people are taking over many of the tasks that
"techies" used to perform. Business analysts, testers, and project
managers are just some of the jobs now held by end-users, who join
recruiters, account managers, administrators, and trainers in
needing a thorough understanding of IT.
There's more
technology, more people who need to understand it, and less time and
money to spend on training. Many of our customers are using
customized training to address this problem. You'll be surprised at
how easy it is to set up the exact training your company needs by
customizing both the content and logistics of dedicated training.
Our customers define both the content and the logistics of dedicated
training.
Content: All of
SemCo's training is designed the same way software is designed – in
components that can be assembled together to meet each customer's
needs.
Choose the content you need for
your employees:
Use existing Webinars and Weblets to create different programs
for different employees. For example, your technical recruiters and
account managers need to understand the entire field; business
analysts want to concentrate on the development process, and sales
people need to know competitive products. Choose sessions from both
the Technical and Recruiting Training.
Build personalized Webinars and/or Weblets by taking information
from existing materials. We'll work with you to review the existing
sessions and assemble the information you need for your own specific
training. You choose which topics to stress and which to cover
lightly.
Build one program for people new to technology covering the
basic concepts and terminology. Build a follow-up program adding
detailed coverage and/or coverage of new technologies. Experienced
people need only take the follow-up program.
Include information about your specific IT environment.
Customers often ask us to include things like the specific
technologies the company uses, IT organization charts, and various
system charts. The information you give us is, of course,
confidential and will appear only in the materials for your
employees.
We'll also create new material for you. If you need detailed
coverage of a specific technology and we don't already have it, we
can develop it for you. Warning – we might have to charge for this.
But, this is the only customization we'll charge for. As long as we
can create what you want from our existing materials and the
materials you provide, it's part of the program.
Logistics: Dedicated instructor-led
training can be held in-house or over the Web. Web-based training
offers the most flexibility (and the biggest savings).
Choose when and where:
Choose the days. For in-house training we'll come anytime:
weekdays, weekends and many holidays. We'll do our best to fit your
schedule (the more lead-time we have, the better). Web sessions are
completely flexible.
Choose the hours. We'll schedule Web sessions so the West coast
doesn't have to be ready to go at 6:00 AM. We'll start early or stay
late for in-house sessions. We can do both and allow for a long
mid-day break for lunch, email, and returning phone calls.
Choose the place. In-house can mean your company site, a local
hotel, a local university. Web-based can be anyplace there's a phone
line and a computer with a separate Internet connection. People
attend from home or the office.
Dedicated training is an
effective way of training a group of employees, especially when that
training can be customized to the group's specific needs. We have
customers that include our basic training in a corporate University
and schedule classes "on-demand." Others build and publish an annual
schedule. We've worked with companies to conduct customized training
that corresponds with a new line of business, and have customized
training for companies who moved end-users into technical positions.
We know the options we offer work because we've been doing this for
14 years – and are doing more and more customized work as companies
have more and more non-technical people who need to interface with
IT.
For more information, call us at (407.830.5400) or go to
SemCo
Enterprises.
Back to
top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Prediction: Five years from now cell phones and
PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) will need charging every six
months – not every other day. Do you believe it?
2.
What is the relationship between memory leaks and garbage collection
(in the context of IT)? And, what's a well-behaved
program?
3. How successful is the installation of
business intelligence systems?
4. Are Web tablet and
Tablet PC synonyms?
5. Software is often defined as
being designed for small, midsize, or large companies. How big is a
midsize company?
Back to
top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Short Storage/Memory
Vocabulary |
Storage is getting bigger and bigger - and there are more and
more diverse physical types of storage.
DRAM (Dynamic
Random Access Memory) Computer architecture. Type of RAM that
requires an electric charge every few milliseconds in order to
retain the information. The dominant type of RAM used in
PCs.
EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read
Only Memory) Type of memory. Variation of ROM that is similar to
EPROM, but can be erased electrically rather than by exposure to
ultraviolet light. Any byte within an EEPROM may be erased and
rewritten, so the whole chip doesn't have to be changed. Once
written, the new data will remain in the device until it is
electrically erased. Pronounced "Double-E PROM."
EPROM
(Erasable, Programmable Read-Only Memory) Computer memory. A
type of ROM that can be erased by exposing it to ultraviolet light.
Once erased, an EPROM can be reprogrammed with a device programmer.
The ultraviolet light resets the entire chip to its null state.
These chips can be repeatedly erased and
reprogrammed.
exabyte Storage measurement equivalent
to 1 billion gigabytes (a billion, billion bytes). Not yet in
existence, but possible by 2010.
fabric Storage
terminology used in SANs (Storage Area Networks). Describes the
details of the network including devices and cards.
flash
memory Variation of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and
Programmable Read Only Memory). Information is burned into memory in
blocks, not individual bytes, and memory can be erased and
reprogrammed as often as needed. Flash memory provides the best
speeds and cost ratios, and is the most popular type of ROM being
used today.
gigabyte Storage terminology. Usually
shortened to G, or gig, and represents one thousand megabytes, or
one billion bytes (actually it's 1,024 megabytes, or 1,073,741,824
bytes).
kilobyte Storage measurement. Approximately
1,000 bytes (actually 1,024 bytes). Used to define both storage
capacity and the size of programs and data files.
megabyte
Storage terminology. Usually shortened to M or meg, and
represents approximately one million bytes (actually 1,048,576
bytes). Used to describe the size of data units, storage units, and
programs.
MRAM (Magnetoresitive Random Access Memory)
Integrated circuit, or computer chip. Memory chip used for high
speed memory that uses magnetic charges rather than electrical
charges. Could replace DRAM, SRAM and flash memory chips. Projected
commercial use: 2004.
petabyte Storage terminology.
Expressed as one thousand terabytes (terabyte = approximately one
trillion bytes) or a quadrillion bytes (actually it's 1,024
terabytes, or 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes). Used to describe the
size of data units, storage units, and programs.
PROM
(Programmable Read-Only Memory) Computer memory description.
Variation of ROM (Read-Only Memory). Information is burned into ROM
so it is retained after power is shut off. PROM chips are programmed
by a device programmer and cannot be changed. The chip is discarded
if its uses change. Variations of ROM that can be erased and
reprogrammed include EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory.
RAM
(Random Access Memory) Dynamic computer storage. Programs and
data are read into RAM when executing and reside there only
temporarily. There are two types of RAM, SRAM (Static RAM), which
retains its contents as long as electricity is on, and DRAM (Dynamic
RAM) which holds its contents only for a few milliseconds. SRAM is
both faster and more expensive.
ROM (Read-Only Memory)
Type of computer memory. Information is burned into the memory
with high voltage electricity so it is retained even after power is
shut off. ROM is typically used in computers to hold start-up
procedures and time and calendar functions. Variations of ROM
include PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory.
SRAM
(Static Random Access Memory) Computer architecture. Type of RAM
that needs to be recharged every few milliseconds. In other words,
the information stays as long as the electricity is on. This memory
is often used for cache storage as it is faster than other types of
RAM. Because it's also more expensive, it's not commonly used for
general RAM storage.
terabyte Storage terminology.
Expressed as one thousand gigabytes (gigabyte = approximately one
billion bytes) or a trillion bytes (actually it's 1, 024 gigabytes,
or 1,099,511,627,776 bytes). Represents approximately one trillion
bytes. Used to describe the size of data units, storage units, and
programs.
Back to
top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Computers: Systems, Terms And
Acronyms
April Atlanta:
28,29
May DC: 29,30
June Chicago: 9,10 / NYC
area: 23,24
Webinars
All Webinars are 90
minutes and listed start times are ET (Eastern Time)
Understanding IT Jobs
April 2
(11:30 am)
May 5 (11:00 am)
June 4 (1:00
pm)
Platforms
April 2 (1:30
pm)
May 5 (3:00 pm)
June 4 (11:00
am)
Development
April 3 (1:00
pm)
May 6 (11:00 am)
June 5 (9:30
am)
Files and Databases
May 6 (1:00
pm)
June 5 (1:30
pm)
Communications
May 7 (9:30
am)
June 6 (11:00
am)
Networking
May 7 (11:30
am)
June 6 (1:00
pm)
Applications
April 2 (9:30
am)
May 5 (1:00 pm)
June 5 (11:30
am)
Weblets
All
Weblets are 45 minutes and listed start times are ET (Eastern Time)
Knowledge Management
April 4
(2:45 pm)
May 7 (1:30 pm)
June 4 (2:45
pm)
Wireless Technology
May 7 (2:30
pm)
June 5 (3:15 pm)
Embedded
Systems
April 2 (3:15 pm)
May 6 (2:45
pm)
June 6 (2:45 pm)
eTR
Webinars
All Webinars are 90
minutes and listed start times are ET (Eastern Time)
Recruiting Overview
April 14
(11:00 am)
May 15 (11:00 am)
June 16 (11:00
am)
Understanding IT Jobs
April
2 (11:30 am)
May 5 (11:00 am)
June 4 (1:00
pm)
Weblets
All
Weblets are 45 minutes and listed start times are ET (Eastern Time)
Sourcing
April 14 (1:00
pm)
May 15 (1:00 pm)
June 16 (1:00
pm)
Screening
April 14 (2:00
pm)
May 15 (2:00 pm)
June 16 (2:00
pm)
Interviewing
April 15 (11:00
am)
May 16 (11:00 am)
June 17 (11:00
am)
Negotiating
April 15 (12:30
pm)
May 16 (12:30 pm)
June 17 (12:30 pm)
Enroll
Now!
Back to
top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. It's hard to predict what will happen in five
years, but consumer electronics companies, including Casio,
Motorola, NEC, and Samsung, are working with micro fuel cells for
powering consumer gadgets like cell phones and laptops. It's
estimated that in five years the micro fuel cell could be about the
same price as today's alkaline batteries and could function for six
months without charging.
2. A memory leak occurs when
memory is allocated for program use, but is not returned to free
space when the program is finished with it. During execution,
programs request storage for both program execution and data
buffering and need to return this storage to free space when they
are finished, or when the program ends. A well-behaved program does
this, but not all programs are well-behaved. In addition, if a
program crashes, the memory it has been using can remain flagged as
"in use." While "memory leak" sounds like an odd term, it really
means free space is leaking away. Garbage collection is a term that
was first introduced with the LISP programming language in the
1970s, and is a function of current object-oriented languages
including Java and C#. It refers to the automatic detection and
release of storage that is no longer being used. Individual programs
do not have to program this, and garbage collection prevents memory
leaks. Operating systems and communication systems also have garbage
collection functions.
3. According to The Gartner
Group, at least 50 percent of business intelligence projects will
not reach their full potential or will be hopeless failures,
continuing through 2004. Gartner analysts do maintain that with the
right approaches, best practice examples, and the right
methodologies, architectures and technologies, enterprises can be
very successful with BI.
4. No, a Tablet PC is a type
of Web tablet. So a Tablet PC is a Web Tablet, but a Web Tablet is
not necessarily a Tablet PC. Web tablet is an internet appliance.
It's a flat tablet that resembles a small chalk board and has a
touch screen and accepts pen input. Some tablets offer functionality
almost equivalent to laptop PCs, and others provide only Internet
access and basic functions such as calendaring and address books.
Some need to connect to phone lines and/or network cables while
others provide wireless access. Web tablets are categorized as pure
tablets (or slate tablets), with touch screens that work with pen
and stylus only, or as convertible tablets which have an add-on
keyboard and can function as a regular laptop. A sub category of Web
tablets is the Tablet PC which is really a notebook computer and
runs Windows XP Tablet Edition as its operating system. Tablet PCs
are manufactured by several vendors and come in both slate and
convertible styles.
5. There really is no definitive
answer for this, but a designation used by IBM is that a small
company has under 100 employees, a midsize company from 100-999
employees, and over 1,000 employees puts one in the large company
category.
Back to
top
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bring a
Buddy
We're trying to do our part to help
you get the terminology training you need to work in the field of IT
at a price you can afford. SemCo is offering our "Bring a Buddy"
program during April and May. Enroll one student in any classroom
seminar during those two months at the regular price of $899, and
her/his "buddy" can enroll FREE. Two students trained for the price
of one.
Combo Pricing for
Web-based Training
We're offering
"Combo Pricing" for our Web-based training. Make your selections
from Webinars and/or Weblets to build your personalized training
program Concentrate on the areas you need. This offer includes all
April and May scheduled sessions. Check the schedule on our Website
and plan your training to fit your schedule.
All sessions are
live, interactive, and instructor-led. Webinars are 90 minutes in
length and Weblets are 45 minutes long
Webinars
Applications
Platforms
Development
Files and Databases
Communications
Networking
TR
(Technical Recruiting) Overview
Understanding IT
Jobs
Weblets
Knowledge
Management
Embedded Systems
Wireless
Technology
Sourcing
Screening
Interviewing
Negotiation
Combo
Pricing:
combo#1 3 Webinars or 2 Webinars + 2 Weblets for
$450
combo#2 2 Webinars or 1 Webinar + 2 Weblets for
$300
combo#3 1 Webinar or 2 Weblets for $150
To take
advantage of either of these specials,
Call 407.830.5400 or
visit our Website at: http://www.semcoenterprises.com
|
Forward to
a Friend!