IT must be a two-way street for
executives
I agree with John Higgins (Computer Weekly, 30 August) that one
of the major problems in IT is a lack of understanding of business,
but I think an equally challenging problem is the kneejerk reaction
of a business to blame IT for a failed project.
In my experience, once business leaders have decided that a
change is needed, they make themselves unavailable and too busy to
get involved in helping to define what a business change means in
IT terms. Often the attitude towards IT is "just do it and don't
bother me".
Furthermore, the IT department is frequently seen as unnecessary
or just in the way. In this case the business goes its own sweet
way, developing a solution that satisfies its immediate local needs
yet is in direct conflict to everything else within the
organisation.
For example, in one organisation I am familiar with, the IT
department is struggling to replace ageing systems. However, its
main problem is not the systems but the independent departments
doing whatever they want, safe in the knowledge that no one can
stop them - even if that goes against every bit of common sense and
best practice.
So I would say, yes we in IT do need to get more involved in
business, but this will always tend to fail unless the business
invites IT in at an earlier stage, and allow those people who
understand how the business systems are run to get involved.
Lee Morley
Enterprise
architect
Thin clients the answer to global energy savings
I read your article about the energy performance of two
differing systems (Computer Weekly, 6 September) with interest.
With all the concern about global warming, one has to wonder why
this has not become an issue earlier. Indeed one could go back as
far as the 1970s when energy prices rose steeply after the
Arab-Israeli war.
Energy costs and usage increased rapidly as dumb terminals were
replaced by PCs. The energy used by a PC was more than 10 times
that used by a typical dumb terminal.
While dumb terminals are no longer popular, their modern
equivalent - the thin client, with no hard disc and much lower
power consumption - meets the average user's needs and is much
easier for an administrator to manage. The savings for even a small
installation are likely to be substantial.
With the intense competition in the PC market one also might
wonder why the manufacturers have not come up with more systems
without hard discs that plug in and go, not only for the business
market but also for home use. The global energy savings would be
enormous.
Brian Bennett
Visionaries win glory only after the event
Your article on innovation (Computer Weekly, 9 August) makes
some interesting points but I do believe there is no point in
looking for visionaries.
Visionaries appear only in retrospect as the world decides what
it values the most. At the time a visionary puts forward his or her
ideas it is not possible to determine the difference between a
genius and a crank.
As in your example of Steve Jobs, visionaries also happen to be
in the right place at the right time and are able to combine
previously unconnected ideas.
For example, Frank Whittle put together the piston engine
supercharger, the steam turbine and the paraffin blowlamp to make
the jet engine. Even Einstein could not have invented the World
Wide Web.
Should you wish to test your skills at assessing genius or
lunacy, my proposals for air traffic control are on my website:
www.sensus-dp.demon.co.uk
In the case of air traffic control, either Computer Weekly's
Tony Collins was wrong through the 1990s or there is more to the
world of IT in air traffic control than is yet apparent. I think it
is ridiculous in the 21st century to steer aeroplanes around the
sky using 60-year-old radio detection technology, a cathode ray
tube and the human eyeball.
David
Parkinson
Guildford
Quarantine technology needs a wider scope
I applaud Paul Butler's suggestion (Computer Weekly, 30 August)
that businesses must implement the necessary security measures to
prevent contaminated PCs from connecting to their network.
Indeed, protecting the remote and mobile workforce has climbed
up the IT manager's agenda as the proliferation of broadband, the
increase in home working and the explosion in Wi-Fi technology have
made mobile working the norm for many companies.
However, quarantine technology needs to have a much wider scope
than simply anti-virus and patch updates, in order to forestall the
many other possible compromises to the corporate network.
Patch and anti-virus enforcement protection needs to be
incorporated into an overall organisational security policy to
ensure 100% compliance at the endpoint.
A Universal Network Access Control (NAC) enforcement and
intrusion prevention system allows enterprises to centrally manage
and enforce personal firewall, host intrusion prevention, device
control and network access control policies at the endpoint.
Adaptive policies capability allows appropriate policies to be
applied dependent on the location and network connection of the
endpoint in question.
This ensures only trusted devices in compliance with corporate
security policies can access a company's network and means that
every corner of the enterprise network is secure, even when mobile
devices are taken off the corporate network.
This type of approach needs to apply to every type of network
access, including VPN gateways and wireless switches, and to all
endpoints, including laptops, desktops, servers, guest systems and
embedded devices.
The solution should also comprise a layered approach to cover
both known and unknown risks, including those from removable media
devices such as USB keys, iPods and CD/DVD burners.
Ruth Bowen
Sygate
On speed control in commercial vehicles
In response to the letter "Car control technology has a long way
to travel" (Computer Weekly, 30 August)
Alan Wyatt comments on the safety issues of vehicle speed
control as proposed for cars.
I have not heard any comment on the obvious effects of the speed
controls already in place on commercial vehicles. These must be a
major contributory factor to motorway congestion.
Many times on a journey we see a series of lorries regulated to,
for example, 60mph +1% blocking the middle lane as they struggle to
overtake another series of lorries at 60mph -1%.
A timed short-term speed boost for overtaking might be the
solution both to the "rolling roadblock" effect, and to the safety
issues Mr Wyatt raises.
We have "average speed" enforcement camera systems - so why not
"average speed" (long time-constant) limiters?
Clive Chitty
Purchasing manager
TBS Builders Merchants
On how e-governance targets are being met
In response to the article "Online services deadline will be
met, but will the public be won over?" (Computer Weekly, 30
August)
Your article rightly mentioned that the e-governance targets
will be met by councils, but that the online services run the risk
of not being used. Although e-governance is a commendable target,
it is pointless if people are not using it.
The way to overcome this problem is to involve the audience from
the very beginning. As with any web service, it is vital that it
fulfils a valid need, so by using outreach groups to engage with
the local community and investigate which services are useful and
appropriate to local groups, councils can ensure that the projects
meet the residents' personal and social requirements.
Continuous development is equally important: running training
sessions, ongoing improvement and feedback services will guarantee
that the service evolves and develops dynamically with the
community, rather than being left behind. This approach has
experienced great success in community IT projects in regions such
as South Wales.
These services will also have a secondary effect - by keeping
the content up-to-date, interesting and relevant to the community,
councils can raise levels of IT familiarity in groups which might
otherwise have rejected such technology as irrelevant.
Whereas many government spending projects are written off as
investment black holes, simply involving the local population from
the start can ensure that such projects develop into valuable and
well-used community assets.
Mike Lucas
Regional technology manager
Compuware
On the 'peer-to-peer' bicycle loan scheme
In response to the Downtime article "Resource sharing - all part
of the cycle of life" (Computer Weekly, 30 August)
Your article described a new scheme in France for borrowing
bicycles on a short-term loan, somehow comparing it to peer-to-peer
networking.
Putting aside that straining simile for the moment, you might be
interested to know that this is not a new concept.
Back in the 1960s, "white bicycles" were introduced in
Amsterdam. These bicycles (which were white to distinguish them
from other bikes) could be found in several locations in the city
and could be used by anyone, free of charge. Not everyone was as
idealistic as the inventor of the scheme and the bikes were
eventually lost or stolen.
Not to be put off by this apparent lack of regard for others, in
the late 1990s the inventor re-introduced the scheme in Amsterdam,
but this time anyone wanting to borrow a bike had to use a
smartcard to obtain it. However, I understand that this scheme
ceased a few years later.
Going back to your comparison to peer-to-peer networking
(although I still think it is a big leap), perhaps the lack of
central control or the selfishness of some users ultimately led to
the scheme's downfall.
Jeff Roberts
IT director
Norton Rose