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To
save hours later?
How much time have you spent trying to understand new technology, find out
what an acronym means, or make sense of technical resumes or job
requirements? We want to show you a resource that will give you back this
time.
TechRef is a unique IT database
that, unlike available technical dictionaries, was written for
"business people." The explanations are in plain English.
Definitions contain what products are used for, what products they
interface with, and what platforms they run on instead of a technical
explanation of how they work. TechRef
includes more than 14,000 entries covering IT skills, technologies,
concepts, products and vendors. This tool contains definitions and material
on leading-edge and uncommon products as well as older technologies and
products. The information on thousands of vendors includes a brief
description of the vendor, a link to its corporate Website and a list of
its products.
You need to see for yourself how powerful this tool can be! We've just
begun presenting 20 minute demos on the first Wednesday of every month at
12:00 noon, EDT. All you need to attend is an Internet connection, a phone
line, and a reserved seat (space is limited). Just email to reserve a
place.
If you have any questions, or if you would like to schedule a dedicated
demo just for your co-workers or associates, please call us at 407.830.5400.
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DATA
MINING = WEB MINING = BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE = ANALYTICS
Data mining has been used with data warehousing for many years. In fact,
it's been around long enough that it has acquired a new name –
analytics. This term is replacing both "data mining" and
"Web mining," and often is used with a descriptor such as:
· business analytics, which works with business data
for business performance analysis,
· clickstream analytics, which analyzes the paths
visitors take through a site for traffic control and for marketing
purposes,
· CRM analytics, which identifies visitors as likely
to buy (or not),
· supply chain analytics which provide measurement,
monitoring, forecasting and management of the supply chain,
· Web analytics, which analyzes the activity on a
Website.
To add a little confusion, "analytics" is used synonymously with
"business intelligence," as BI (Business Intelligence) systems
are those that provide business analytics through data and Web mining.
We have four synonyms: Data Mining = Web Mining = (BI) Business
Intelligence = Analytics.
All of these terms are used to describe software that uses statistical
analysis of massive amounts of data to detect trends and relationships. The
word "statistical" is the key word here. It is businessmen and
women who need to use analytics, but working with "statistics" is
not something that comes naturally. Business intelligence tools are based
on neural networks, CBR (Case Base Reasoning), decision trees, and other
mathematical and statistical models. This software doesn't just collect the
statistics, it analyzes them to spot the trends and relationships that
business users need to make a wide range of business decisions –
ranging from what products to group together, to closing a branch store or
starting a new product line.
Business analytics have shown that people who buy slacks are liable to also
purchase sweaters. Therefore when a Web visitor adds slacks to a shopping
cart and returns to shopping, the next item the visitor will see is
sweaters. CRM analytics have shown that people buying in a certain price
range will probably not spend over "X" amount of money, so the
Website can be designed to offer a sale price when the visitor gets close
to that maximum. Supply chain analytics have shown that some deliveries
take longer in the winter months, so automated ordering procedures place
the orders 2 or 3 days sooner for these products.
While some software that is classified as "business intelligence"
is really nothing more than a reporting system that will "slice and
dice" data to present different views to different users, other
systems are so intricate that many users give up when trying to learn how
to use them. Some work with a single data source such as a data warehouse,
while others can access data from multiple applications such as CRM
(Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), SCM
(Supply Chain Management) and unstructured data sources including the Web
and email. Some present a point-and-click interface while others present a
graphical picture of information and users block areas of data to query. So
many different products are classified under this umbrella, it's no wonder
it has four names! One simple fact - whichever name is used, this software
has become a competitive necessity in today's business world.
.
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SUMMER
- A GOOD TIME TO TRAIN!
Summer is definitely here (our headquarters are in Florida – believe
us, it's here!) To celebrate, we're going to provide discounts for training
throughout the summer – June through August. It's a really simple
discount policy.
1 enrollment = 10%
discount
2 enrollments = 20%
3 enrollments = 30%
4 and more = 40%
The enrollments
must be for training sessions which occur during these three months. But,
they can be any combination of training: classroom and Web. Send one person
to three Webinars: 30% discount. Send one person to a classroom session and
one person to two Webinars: 30% discount. Send two people to two Webinars
each: 40% discount. And so on.
Even though now more than ever people need to understand technology, it's
hard to schedule training. Budgets have been cut, and travel's difficult.
The discounts can help with slashed budgets, and Web sessions eliminate
travel (in fact you can attend from home with an Internet connection and a
phone line).
And don't forget – if you have a group we can schedule dedicated
training either at your site or over the Web. Our Web training is
instructor-led and completely interactive. It's a terrific option when you
have people from different locations because it eliminates travel and the
need to set up a training site. For more information, call us at
(407.830.5400) or go to SemCo
Enterprises.
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1. Are you planning to get Bowlingual? It'll be
available in the U.S. in August.
2. What's the difference
between duplexing and mirroring?
3. What do EAP, WPA and WEP
have to do with each other?
4. Are G2, G3, G5, and G8
related?
5. Which of the following does
not belong?
a. Bobcat
b. Cougar
c. Panther
d. Shark
e. T-Rex
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On-demand, or autonomic, computing
is growing in popularity. This technology uses software to allocate
resources – hardware and software – dynamically. By allocating
resources as needed, companies can do the same processing with fewer
devices.
autonomic computing Definition
of overall IT functioning which includes self-configuring, self-healing,
self-optimizing and self-protecting capabilities to the total IT system.
This includes both hardware and software. Autonomic and grid computing form
the basis for on-demand computing, which is IBM's definition of the future
of IT.
cluster Technology used to
manage both computers and storage devices. A computer cluster is a group of
computers linked together to provide multiprocessing capabilities.
High-availability clustering links a second computer that acts as a backup
in case of system failure. Computer clusters are also referred to as
parallel processing. A storage cluster is multiple disks treated as one by
a software system.
grid computing Computer
technology. Using software to build a grid of processors and other
computing resources that is available over a local or wide area network.
The grid system appears to an end user or application as one large virtual
computing system. This builds a network of processors that can be used on
the same problem and can be used to solve problems too intense for any
stand-alone machine. Grid technology is being used as an alternative to
supercomputers for scientific processing and for some commercial processing
such as automated testing and data mining. Also called incremental
computing, cluster, N+1, utility or Organic architecture. Is often part of
on-demand, or autonomic, computing.
on-demand computing On-demand
computing is producing IT products when and as requested. Similar to BTO
(Build-to-Order) manufacturing. Companies would not create software systems
and then sell them, but would build customized systems on demand. Open
standards and virtualization are major components of on-demand computing,
with grid computing and autonomic technologies used to create
infrastructures robust enough to support enterprises' increasing IT
complexity.
parallel processing Processing
technology. Linking many computer systems together so programs, or parts of
programs, can execute simultaneously. During application execution, queries
are divided into work units which are handled separately by each system.
Performance clustering is used when many items of data are necessary to
answer the query. Because each system can retrieve one piece of data, the
query is satisfied much faster than if a single system had to do all the
data retrieval. Also called clustering, performance clustering.
self-configuring Systems
management technology used in on-demand, or autonomic, systems management
software. Integrates new hardware and works with the operating system
resource allocation processes to assign resources dynamically. Reconfigures
the computing systems as processing requirements change.
self-healing system Systems
management technology used in on-demand, or autonomic, systems management
software. Can work with hardware and/or software problems:
• Hardware
failures: Detects hardware failures immediately and contains the errors to
preserve the computing. Isolates the hardware with the problem and
reallocated resources so computing can continue.
• Software failures: Predicts and repairs software failures before
they happen. Software failures occur over twice as often as hardware
failures, and software often shows an increasing failure rate over time as
software "ages." Self-healing systems can renew internal tables
and information to prevent failures.
self-optimizing Systems
management technology used in on-demand, or autonomic, systems management
software. Computes resource allocation based on actual performance. Works
with self-configuring software.
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Computers: Systems, Terms And
Acronyms
June Chicago: 9,10 / NYC area:
23,24
July Boston: 21,22 / Orlando:
30,31
August Atlanta: 11,12 / DC
area: 21,22
September Chicago: 18,19 / NYC
area: 29,30
Webinars
All Webinars are 90 minutes and listed
start times are ET (Eastern Time)
Understanding IT Jobs
June 4 (1:00 pm)
July 9 (11:00 am)
August 4 (10:00 am)
September 10 (11:00 am)
Platforms
June 4 (11:00 am)
July 9 (3:00 pm)
August 4 (12:00 pm)
September 10 (3:00 pm)
Development
June 5 (9:30 am)
July 10 (11:00 am)
August 5 (3:00 pm)
September 11 (11:00 am)
Files and Databases
June 5 (1:30 pm)
July 10 (1:00 pm)
August 6 (11:00 am)
September 11 (1:00 pm)
Communications
June 6 (11:00 am)
July 10 (3:00 pm)
August 5 (11:00 am)
September 11 (3:00 pm)
Networking
June 6 (1:00 pm)
July 11 (11:00 am)
August 5 (1:00 pm)
September 12 (11:00 am)
Applications
June 5 (11:30 am)
July 9 (1:00 pm)
August 4 (2:00 pm)
September 10 (1:00 pm)
Weblets
All Weblets are 45 minutes and listed
start times are ET (Eastern Time)
Knowledge Management
June 4 (2:45 pm)
July 11 (1:00 pm)
August 4 (3:45 pm)
September 12 (2:00 pm)
Wireless Technology
June 5 (3:15 pm)
July 9 (10:00 am)
August 6 (2:00 pm)
September 12 (1:00 pm)
Embedded Systems
June 6 (2:45 pm)
July 11 (2:00 pm)
August 6 (1:00 pm)
September 10 (10:00 am)
Enroll
Now!
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1. Bowlingual is software that translates your dog's
barks into English. It comes with two parts, a microphone and transmitter
that is worn on a collar around the dog's neck and a handheld receiver
unit, which gets data from the microphone and attempts to work out what the
dog is saying. The system works by analyzing and classifying a dog's
emotions into one of six main categories: sad, frustrated, needy, happy,
self-expressive and on guard. It then chooses at random from a number of
set phrases. Will be available in the U.S. in mid-2003.
2. Both technologies refer to
disk storage, and duplexing is a form of mirroring. Mirroring records
information on two separate disk volumes to protect against errors. If one
volume has errors, the data is accessible from the other volume. The two
volumes, however, are usually accessed through the same controller.
Duplexing maintains duplicate volumes, each with its own controller.
Duplexing also provides other benefits such as improved response time
because whichever disk can deliver the requested data more quickly can
respond and multiple I/O (Input/Output) requests can be split between the
disks for simultaneous processing.
3. All three acronyms pertain
to security measures used with wireless transmission. WPA (Wi-Fi Protected
Access) is a Security specification for wireless data transmission that is
based on EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) which authenticates
users. It's defined by the Wi-Fi Alliance users group and is a replacement
for WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) which has been proven to have some
problems. WPA was defined in 2003.
4. No, not all of them. G2 is
an application development platform used to build expert systems for the
operational management of manufacturing applications. Developers capture
the knowledge of the best operations experts and combine that knowledge
with real-time data, archival information and even business policies.
G3 and G5 are related. Both are desktop computers; G3 is Apple's iMac and
G5 is a microprocessor from Motorola. Its full name is PowerPC G5. And, G8
is also a computer - but it's a mainframe and part of IBM's zSeries family.
5. Remember this is a
technical quiz. Actually it's D) Shark. All the others are computers,
ranging in size from desktop (Bobcat, Cougar, and Panther) to mainframe
(T-Rex), while Shark is a storage system that supports terabytes
(trillions) of data.
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