TechKnowledge

ON DEMAND COMPUTING,
And its many other names

On demand computing is a new look at corporate – and eventually individual – access to computer resources. IBM, HP (Hewlett-Packard), Computer Associates, Sun Microsystems, and Vertias are all predicting that in the future customers will purchase computer resources the way they purchase electricity – payment for resources will be based on actual usage, and suppliers will maintain the resources. IBM has stated that on demand computing will be pervasive within two to four years, and while other analysts don't agree with this conclusion, all believe it will continue to grow in use and popularity. At present many companies (and some individuals) must maintain resources (processors, disks, memory, software, etc.) far in excess of what is usually needed in order to handle high traffic periods or system problems. On demand computing is another - potentially cheaper – way of handling this problem.

As all new technologies do, on demand has its own set of terminology and products. First, we hear of on demand computing, autonomic computing, and grid computing. Same? Or different? They are used interchangeably.

On demand is the broadest term, and the easiest to define. It encompasses all other terms and simply means "providing IT resources to the user as needed." A more detailed definition goes on to say "Open standards and virtualization are major components of on demand computing, and grid computing and autonomic technologies are used to create infrastructures robust enough to support enterprises' increasing IT complexity," and this definition adds some of the terms that make on demand computing confusing.

Open standards is not a problem term – it means that hardware and software should follow published and accepted standards so products from different vendors can work together. Virtualization is a little more complex. It refers to pooling together resources into a single unit that can be managed from a single point. This allows resources to be assigned to a user only as needed, and returned to the pool when free. The term is most often used to refer to disk storage, where the software manages many physical disks as a single unit. This allows devices to be added without shutting down the system, handles disks from different vendors that have different sizes, speeds, and vendors, and provides the most efficient use of the physical resources by creating virtual devices, e.g. if a system needs more storage, unused space from another disk can be used. Virtualization not only applies to disk space, but to any IT resource including processors, operating systems, and application software. Virtualization is used in SANs (Storage Area Networks) and on demand computing.

Automonic computing adds more than just resource allocation. It also includes the functions of self-management. Resource allocation in today's computer centers is handled manually. Operating systems will report on increased usage demands, but resources must be allocated manually to take care of the peak activity. In order for on demand computing to work, the software must automatically adjust the allocations to follow the activity. Self-management systems are:
• Self-configuring (integrates new hardware and yields resources dynamically)
• Self-healing (the operating system detects hardware and firmware faults instantly and contains the effects of the fault)
• Self-optimizing (the system automatically computes resource utilization based on actual performance)
• Self-protecting (protects against internal and external threats to applications and data).

Grid computing has been in use in scientific computing for several years as it builds a network of processors that can be used to solve problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine. The grid system appears to an end user or application as one large virtual computing system and is moving into business computing with applications such as automated testing and data mining which process huge volumes of data.

The three vendors who are most active in on demand technology are HP (Hewlett-Packard), IBM, and Sun Microsystems. HP's UDC (Utility Data Center) defines both their on demand initiative and the software that provides the necessary functionality. IBM has actually finished building data centers for on demand computing and plans more. Sun calls their approach the N1 initiative and it includes products and services. This, however, is only the beginning of this technology. On demand computing can reduce the need for redundant resources that are maintained "just in case" – just in case there's a disk failure, just in case there's an increase in traffic, etc. Keep watching this technology – it's here to stay.


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Updated Web Site

Simpler and Easier to Navigate
Reflects Our Simpler and More Flexible Products

Updating a Web site is a lot of work - but it's also a lot of fun. We've spent a lot of time over the past two years updating our products to make them more flexible to meet the myriad of needs of our customers. The result is an easier-to-use design. All changes will be "live" by the middle of July.

In August, we'll be introducing a new, one-day CSTA (Computers: Systems, Terms and Acronyms) classroom seminar that fully utilizes TechRef, our unique online IT database designed specifically for the non-technical professional. This powerful tool enables us to cover more material in less time, and, in addition, TechRef provides attendees with the opportunity to ask questions, after their training. We'll be there to help you every step of the way: before, during and after your training. If you can't travel to a classroom location, CSTA can be taken over the Web. The material, the instructors, the price, and the follow-up support are identical.

In addition to CSTA, Web sessions on a Specific Technology augment anyone's technical knowledge in areas such as Business Intelligence, Wireless Technology, Networking, and Embedded Systems. We're adding one new session on Systems Software. In addition, we regularly schedule Understanding IT Jobs for technical recruiters, account managers, compensation analysts – anyone who needs to understand not just the technology, but also the details of the many IT jobs which abound today. We love how this all works together!

You'll be able to login to TechRef from the new site, chat with live SemCo representatives, and easily get the information you need by following the new navagation bar. Keep watching! The site will be "live" in mid-July. For more information, call us at 407.830.5400 or go to SemCo Enterprises.

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TechCheck

1. Okay, Bowlingual's not for you. How about PC Mascot? It's available now.

2. What databases can be used with SAP's mySAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system?

3. Do you need flash memory to run flash programs?

4. Most Unix flavors include the Bourne shell (bsh), the C shell (csh) and the Korn (ksh) shell. What's bash?

5. Which of the following technology labels is most likely to disappear from IT terminology?

a. eDatabase
b. eApplication
c. eCRM
d. eCommerce
e. all of the above

Short BI (Business Intelligence) Vocabulary

BI (Business Intelligence) software transforms data into a meaningful format that can be used to make business decisions. This category started with DSS (Decision Support System) and EIS (Executive Information System) software. The Internet and multidimensional technology provide new capabilities and the term business intelligence became popular with Internet based products that include ebusiness marketing functions. In addition to data warehousing and data mining, portals, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), Web personalization, content management software, scorecarding, and dashboards are all business intelligence products. The term was coined in 1966.

Content management Software used to build dynamic Websites. It enables non-technical users to create, manage, manipulate, and deliver content to multiple targets, including multiple Websites, email, and wireless devices. Content management moves beyond document management in that it allows information to be managed at the paragraph, sentence, or even word level.

Content scorecarding Knowledge management software. A form of BI (Business Intelligence) system that is used to quantify the value of information based on business processes. Can be used to calculate a value and eventually sell information as a stand-alone product. Some ways that value can be calculated include analyzing who used the information, how often it is accessed, and whether the information causes a change in the business process. Works with unstructured data.

Dashboard Design architecture. A user interface that organizes information in a manner that is easy to use. Often used to refer to a screen display that integrates information from diverse sources, including operating systems, networks, and one or more applications. The software was originally developed by Hewlett-Packard and used to communicate with the operating system. Now, dashboards are part of many knowledge management systems and provide the user interface to business data and procedures. The term is often used with business or corporate portals.

Data mining Analyzing data from large and, perhaps, unstructured data sets to detect trends and associations. Querying data collections with no expectations of the results. Data mining also describes using data from legacy systems for current management decisions. Commonly used with data warehousing, but can be used with any large collection of data. Report mining works with unstructured data, as does Web mining.

Data warehouse Enterprise-wide data access that interfaces current and legacy data. Data can be moved to a common data collection and integrated into a consistent format or can be replicated from one system to another to provide common access. Common usage is to take data from a production database and load it into an end-user database. Warehousing then includes the query and reporting tools to access the data. The technology was first defined in 1983 by William Inmon, and gained popularity in the 1990s.

Datamart A set of data designed and constructed for optimal decision support end user access. Datamarts created from a data warehouse are called dependent or architected data marts while those created diretly from legacy systems are called independent datamarts. Often referenced as two words.

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) Data management function. Process and type of program used in data warehousing to get data into the warehouse. This includes data loading, replication, scrubbing and extraction programs. Other data warehouse software categories are DBMS (DataBase Management System), DSS (Decision Support System), OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing) programs, and data mining software.

OLAP (OnLine Analytical Processing) Software used to help consolidate and analyze business information. Any query system that provides data manipulation, display and visualization of multidimensional data for reporting purposes. Includes EIS (Executive Information System), GIS (Geographic Information System), DSS (Decision Support System), data warehousing systems. Processes data in multi-dimensional datacube format.

Portal High level Websites that allow browsers a one-stop location to start Web searches. Called gateway sites, as they provide a gateway to other sites. There are various kinds of portals. AOL, Excite, Netcenter (Netscape) and Yahoo are general interest portals. Other portals have been built around specific interests such as sports, women's issues, the stock market, etc. Companies are building their own portals called EIPs (Enterprise Information Portals) as gateways to their own applications, documents, reports, etc. as well as Internet sites.

Web personalization Web personalization presents information on Websites that is specifically designed for a specific visitor. Personalization can take place by having customers fill out questionnaires on their preferences to build a visitor profile, or by having visitors check boxes that indicate interest in specific Web content. The software can also track a visitor's movement through a Website, record the activity in a database, and be prepared to present information that would interest the visitor when he or she returns.


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Training Schedule

Computers: Systems, Terms And Acronyms

Classroom (one-day)

August Atlanta: 12 / DC area: 21
September Chicago: 25 / NYC area: 23
October Dallas: 21
November Chicago: 18 / DC area: 20
December NYC area: 2 / Orlando: 4

Web (includes the following five Training Modules – each 75 minutes in length and start times are ET (Eastern Time)

Platforms

August 4 (11:00 am)
September 10 (11:00 am)
October 6 (11:00 am)
November 5 (11:00 am)
December 8 (11:00 am)

Development

August 4 (12:45 pm)
September 10 (12:45 pm)
October 6 (12:45 pm)
November 5 (12:45 pm)
December 8 (12:45 pm)

Files and Databases

August 4 (2:15 pm)
September 10 (2:15 pm)
October 6 (2:15 pm)
November 5 (2:15 pm)
December 8 (2:15 pm)

Communications

August 5 (11:00 am)
September 11 (11:00 am)
October 7 (11:00 am)
November 6 (11:00 am)
December 9 (11:00 am)

Applications

August 5 (12:45 pm)
September 11 (12:45 pm)
October 7 (12:45 pm)
November 6 (12:45 pm)
December 9 (12:45 pm)

General Knowledge

All General Knowledge modules are 75 minutes and listed start times are ET (Eastern Time)

Understanding IT Jobs

August 5 (2:15 pm)
September 11 (2:15 pm)
October 7 (2:15 pm)
November 6 (2:15 pm)
December 9 (2:15 pm)

Specific Technology

All Specific Technology modules are 45 minutes and listed start times are ET (Eastern Time)

Business Intelligence

August 5 (3:45 pm)
September 11 (3:45 pm)
October 7 (3:45 pm)
November 6 (3:45 pm)
December 9 (3:45 pm)


Embedded Systems

August 6 (11:00 am)
September 12 (11:00 am)
October 8 (11:00 am)
November 7 (11:00 am)
December 10 (11:00 am)

Wireless Technology

August 6 (12:00 pm)
September 12 (12:00 pm)
October 8 (12:00 pm)
November 7 (12:00 pm)
December 10 (12:00 pm)

Networking

August 4 (3:45 pm)
September 10 (3:45 pm)
October 6 (3:45 pm)
November 5 (3:45 pm)
December 8 (3:45 pm)

Enroll Now!

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Answers to TechCheck

1. PC Mascot is a 6-inch mechanical bird that reads your e-mail out loud. It's made of silver-colored plastic and looks vaguely like an owl. When an e-mail comes in, it flaps its wings, swishes its tail, turns its head and opens its beak to say things like, "Stop! I have an e-mail for you." There are more than 100 programmable words available and you can mix and match the words as you wish. Its perch has a built-in loudspeaker and four buttons for start/stop, forward, backward and one to shut the bird up if you'd rather read the mail yourself. It plugs into a USB port on a PC.

2. SAP allows companies to use DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL. SAP originally provided SAP DB, but in 2003 turned this product over to MySAP AB who produces MySAP, the most popular, free, enterprise-level database. Future upgrades to SAP DB and future upgrades will be under the brand MySQL.

3. No. the two have nothing to do with each other.

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.

Flash program: Application development tool used to create Websites with illustrations, animations, and other effects. Requires a Flash player (which can be downloaded) in the browser system. Used for Web sites with sound and animation, and is now preferable to running applets for these functions. Runs on Macintosh, Windows systems. MX version released: 2002.